Racism In Ray Bradwin's 'Mars Is Heaven'

Unfortunately, in society racism is a plague that seems to be impossible to kill, no matter how many civil rights movements we have, or progressive ideas racism seem to continue being a reoccurring issue. People continue to show prejudice and hate towards other races, committing violence or shouting obscene language. Now back in less accepting times we can understand why that was the case but now with a more accepting society one that features interracial marriage, why is it still an issue? Robert Moore points out that in any culture language is an integral part of it, according to him language reflects societies thinking as well as shaping their thoughts. The reason language is such a big importance in understanding racism is because it not only exists outwardly in society it’s integrated in the culture by also being incorporated in language. The short version of this being that racism exists in the English Language.

Citizen, written by Claudia Rankine in 2014, narrates testimonies of systematic racism and every day micro aggressions through poems, essays, scripts and images. Rankine documents the racist encounters through the second person point of view for the reader to feel and understand the effects racism has on the body and mind. This paper will examine hypervisibility and invisibility of the black body embedded in the novel because of decades of racism. Rankine emphasizes the sensory emotions and feelings of the black body as a response to America’s reluctance to recognize and empathize with black men and women.

As a black man, Samuel Delany has experienced discrimination and racism in a number of settings. However, as a Science Fiction writer he mostly explores racism in that community. Samuel Delany’s, “Racism and Science Fiction” explores how “Racism is a system. As such, it is fueled as much by chance as by hostile intentions and equally the best intentions as well. It is whatever systematically acclimates people, of all colors, to become comfortable with the isolation and segregation of the races, on a visual, social, or economic level”(31). Delany blames social traditions, and material and economic conditions for supporting the system. And not actual individuals. Delany supports his argument by giving three examples of when he has experienced racism in science fiction. The issue of racism in science fiction is presented by Delany when he tells his readers of an encounter with Isaac Asimov, his convention book signing partner, and his habitual panel placement with a fellow writer.

Equality is a word that possesses many meanings and feelings which encompass centuries of wars and struggles especially with racism. While it is easy to look back at history and accept the accounts for misconduct and atrocities, it is vital to reexamine and revise thoughts and actions in order to prepare for the future. An invisible type of racism that can be revealed with reexamination often times is institutional racism. The short story, “The Comet” written by W. E. B. Du Bois, is a story set in a post-apocalyptic world. The story shows that in order to bring down barriers of racism, it requires a catastrophic event to occur. Another story that focuses on a similar concept of institutional racism, but uses science fiction as a vehicle is “The Bicentennial Man”, written by Isaac Asimov. In this story, a robot named Andrew suffers through prejudice and racism despite his many contributions to society. It takes a large sacrifice in order to allow for humans to disregard race and to take robots as an equal. Although both stories pull in elements of science fiction, it is clear that the stories incorporate a dominating theme of not just racism but institutional racism. This paper will discuss some historical context to the two authors’ experiences along with a deeper dive into the text in regards to institutional racism.

When the people from Earth attempt to inhabit Mars, they do not think of the citizens who already reside there, “after all, like the Pilgrims, these people came here to escape Earth. Maybe they won’t be too happy to see us. Maybe they’ll try to drive us out or kill us,” (Bradbury, Chapter 5). The people may be trying to escape their personal past, but it is not possible to escape the pasts of others. As they continue to infiltrate Mars, they meet many obstacles and have continuous conflicting actions with the Martians.

Both racism and violence are large themes of not just, Just Walk on By: Black Men and Public Space, but also of America during the mid-1900’s. Unfortunately, there still exists the same themes in today’s world even though the population is becoming increasingly more educated. Hate and discrimination are taught evils, not innate ones, and in order to prevent the need for stories such as Brent Staples’ to be told, society as a whole must band together to eliminate the occurrence of such a destructive, devastating

After the civil war ended many blacks and whites especially in the south, continued living as if nothing had changed with regards to the oppressions and poor treatment of African Americans. Narrator Grant Wiggins, of the novel A Lesson Before Dying, By Ernest Gaines, finds himself in a similar situation towards racism. Through his experience Grant is forced to transform Jefferson who was wrongly accused of a murder from a “HOG” into a man. Although Grant was forced to make jefferson a man, he himself became more of one as a result. Grant transformed from an ignorant pessimistic person into a sensitive and compassionate human being.

In these lines from Derek Walcott’s “A Far Cry from Africa,” the speaker emphasizes the natural human tendencies to “inflict pain.” Similarly, in his poem, “Sympathy,” Paul Dunbar explores pain from the point of view of a bird being trapped in a cage. It flaps its wings and tries to escape but it cannot. The bird symbolizes an African American bound by slavery and unable to escape. On the other hand, in Claude McKay’s poem “The Harlem Dancer,” the dancer feels as if

In paragraph three of James Baldwin's 'Stranger in the Village' (1955), he alludes to emotions that are significant, dealing with conflicts that arise in the Swiss village. Of these emotions are two, astonishment and outrage, which represent the relevant feelings of Baldwin, an American black man. These two emotions, for Baldwin's ancestors, create arguments about the 'Negro' and their rights to be considered 'human beings' (Baldwin 131). Baldwin, an American Negro, feels undeniable rage toward the village because of the misconception of his complexion, a misconception that denies Baldwin human credibility and allows him to be perceived as a 'living wonder' (129).

In The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury there are many differences between humans and martians. One of the biggest ones, aside from the obvious being from different planets, physical appearance, and telepathy is that the humans want everything to do with the martians while the martians want nothing to do with the humans. This is shown by the humans knocking on doors constantly and even just walking into a martians house in “The Earth Men” and by the martians ignoring or even killing the humans before they even interact with them much.

It doesn’t take long to figure out that race and ethnicity issues continue to affect America - a quick glance at the news will show the latest riot, hate crime, or police brutality incident. This centuries old struggle has given rise to a number of literary works on the topic, many of which take a different approach to the issue. W.E.B. Du Bois, for instance, published the work The Souls of Black Folk in 1903, arguing for blacks’ right to equality in a horrifically segregated society. In these essays, Du Bois coined the term “double-consciousness,” wherein those with black skin must view the world both from their own perspective, and from the perspective of the predominately white society. The short story Recitatif by Toni Morrison explores this concept through the removal of the characters’ races, and the film Do the Right Thing, directed by Spike Lee, tells a story to demonstrate it. While the former shows double-consciousness through the usage of ambiguity, the latter almost directly references the concept. Taken together, these two sources argue a multi-faceted version double-consciousness, wherein society alienates the characters in ways that go beyond just the color of one’s skin.

Prejudice, the chain of hatred and ignorance, has haunted our history at every step. In the twenty-first century prejudice and its destruction can be viewed in many forms of modern literature. Two of the most famous and rejoiced literatures that examine the theme of prejudice are Harper Lee’s realist fiction novel ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ and Martin Luther King’s heart warming speech ‘I Have a Dream’. Both texts explore the theme of prejudice of white Americans on the Blacks in the racially tense times of the early twentieth century. Unlike Harper Lee, Martin Luther King goes a step further to persuade the audience that there is prejudice present and we should be motivated to stop this evil from blossoming in our world.

Throughout this course we have learned about many things, one in particular would be Racism. We have learned about many different types of racism along with examples of racism. Before I go into specific examples of racism that I have learn about in this class, I will first define and explain the differences between racism, prejudice or also known as bias, discrimination, race, and racist so there 's a clear understanding of why I picked the specific examples. The definition of racism that we learned in class would be an “Institutionalized system with disproportionate unjust outcomes for a particular race”. Prejudice or also known as bias was defined as “A negative feeling, opinion, or attitude toward a certain category or people” this would be an feeling with no action acted upon, where discrimination is defined as “Action or inaction toward a category of people” which would be acting on the negative feelings or opinions of a certain group. The definition for race is a “Social construct, but a lived reality” while a racist is “Discrimination based on the category of race”. (Disadvantage privilege notes, 2016)

Racism and discrimination were incredibly prominent in Afghanistan at the time of the writing/publishing of The Kite Runner and is still prominent today, not only in some parts of Afghanistan but also around the world. No matter how much the modern world molds their views to become more and more open and tolerant, people still discriminate against others due to their looks and beliefs. Hosseini portrays these conditions of racism and discrimination in The Kite Runner through interactions between Amir and his ‘servant’ friend Hassan, and also through interactions between Hassan and others, who is often the victim of racist actions and dialogue. The socioeconomic conditions in Afghanistan during this time show the inequality between the majority (Sunni Muslims/Pashtuns in this case) and the minority (Shi’a Muslims/Hazaras) and how people discriminate against each other based on how they look and what their religious beliefs are.

Racial prejudice has become one of the most debated subjects in America. Currently, people around the world are marching and questioning society’s stereotyping and unjustified behavior towards another race. Because of actions policemen have committed, because of words said during a political campaign, and because society’s way of ignoring a problem; racism, stereotyping, and discrimination remains a serious issue. Furthermore, issues involved with race are often depict in movies such as Zootopia.