Reinforcing Foucault's A Thousand Word Cuts

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.

In the essay “Nigger: the meaning of a word” Gloria Naylor discusses the essence of a word and how it can mean different things to different people in a myriad of situations. Depending on race, gender, societal status and age Naylor outlines how a word like ‘nigger’ can have different meanings within one’s own environment. Naylor discusses how a word can go from having a positive to a negative connotation merely due to how it is spoken and by whom. Naylor shares a personal experience with her audience as she describes the first time she really “heard” the word ‘nigger’. A young white boy in her third grade class spit it in her

According to Van Dijk (2006) extended endeavor on racism and discourse, concludes that common racism and negative attitudes are derivative of elite racist discourse. In other words, the role of elites in the ‘discursive reproduction processes of the system of racism’ is prominent (Van Dijk, 1997, p32). Numbers of the prejudicial beliefs and attitudes of the public are originated from their understanding of elite discourse in the form of textbooks, massages, media, political discourse, and corporative discourse (Van Dijk, 1983: p23).

Speech is often associate with race because some individuals believe that if the person does not sound “educated” enough the person comes from a lower class and was brought up in the so called “ghettos” and this association is often made towards someone that forms part of a minority group. The author illustrates that race is tight up with speech

Foucault (1977) uses discourse to relate to how language can be used to construct ideas and thoughts about groups. Discourses and language can therefore help construct or reduce oppression (Thompson, 2006). If a group has power, they have the ‘ability and opportunity to fulfil or obstruct personal, relational, or collective needs’ (Prilleltensky, 2008). If the dominant discourse of a less powerful group is positive, the group with power may help that group fulfil their needs. If the dominant discourse of a less powerful group is negative, such as with UASC, the powerful group may obstruct them in fulfilling their needs, and therefore will cause oppression.

The primary focus that the author develops lies on the idea that the problem of racist speech does not receive enough attention. Hence, Lawrence notices that people often neglect the concerns of the black community and other people who are constantly subjected to the

The increased use of the word, “nigger”, in mainstream media by young people is the result of the lack of knowledge of historical context and thus inadequate education. The ignorance from those who use it resonate from the lack of relatability and apathy of the suffering and indignifying treatment of African-Americans when the word was used in a derogative manner. The consequence that also arise as a result of the desensitization of the word is the normalized stigma of disrespect towards black people–by allowing a term previously used in the slavery era as a norm, it is as though they are praising or glorifying the slavery. The usage of the word freely will merely be a display of ignorance, especially when black people use it. It is normalizing

In his paper, Bonilla-Silva argues that color-blind racism, which he says, “is the post-civil rights era”, has a peculiar style characterized by slipperiness, clear nonracialism, and ambivalence (Bonilla-Silva). I agree with Bonilla-Silva’s theories on “whites’ avoidance of direct racial language, “semantic moves” used by whites’ to safely express their racial view” (Bonilla-Silva) and lastly “the role of projection” (Bonilla-Silva), based on my personal experiences with friends and family and through observation of media on police brutality of mainly blacks. I appreciate Bonilla-Silva’s argument because he excavated the rhetorical maze of confusing, apparently ambivalent answers to straight questions, of answers speckled with disclaimer

However, race does not always depend on these binary antagonisms, such as the black-white paradigm. Racialization can depend on other factors such as culture, social interaction (e.g. languages), assimilation, and even, hegemonies. Although the binary antagonisms of black and white is probably to most rigid, it limits our understanding of race and racism as we only perceive issues from a black-white binary paradigm (Perea, 1997: 133). Understanding that the concept of race as binary antagonism between only black and white people is problematic as it doesn’t depict the reality of racialization and the racial discourse is consequently limited. Racialization, therefore, does not always depend on binary antagonisms because it fails to convey a racial discourse between all races without strictly following, for example, the black and white binary antagonism. Instead racialization can depend on social phenomena instead of biological

Have you ever been labeled by someone you don’t know? Has it affected your feelings? Did it ruin your day or did you brush it off? “You don’t belong here in this country get out! Come on now Lexi, he might have a bomb or maybe he’ll shoot us .” Feared Kelly pushing past an Indian man with his Wife and baby son standing in line at the food market. So devastated, the man and his family left all their needs at the store and returned home. No one has seen or heard from them since. Not many people are able to let words fly past them. Although as kids we played around and sung “Sticks and stones may break my bones, words may never hurt me”, we now realize as adults, words have a huge impact on your life and feelings. It is a disgusting feeling to know you are being put down by words based off of your race, religion, sexual preference, or disability.

Summary: Language Philosopher and author Ian Olasov wrote an article expressing the current issue in the BLM movement. The article is titled, “How Did All Lives Matter Come to Oppose Black Lives Matter? A Philosopher of Language Weighs In.” Olasov explains that the debate going on between the “Black Lives Matter” movement and the “All Lives Matter” rally is not based on rather specific lives matter or not. This whole argument is actually stimulated over the use of words chosen by the two groups. Olasov tackles how the use or terms is what’s actually causing the separation of protesters in this division. Not the matter of one ethnicity being more or less superior than the other. The author places examples of how words are commonly placed together

Racism is the belief that a particular race possesses inborn characteristics of superiority and power; it is embedded into social structures and fosters an environment that privileges one race to the detriment of all others races (Lorde, 2007 [1984], 124; Slocum, 2009, 21). Put another way, racism situates White people at an overwhelming political, social, and economic advantage over all other people. Anti-racism work, then, is undoubtedly tied to a variety of emotive responses, which are felt in varying degrees by both people of Colour and White individuals. Both Lorde (2007 [1984]) and Slocum (2009) explore the notion of moving beyond the feeling of guilt in anti-racism work and discourses.

Jack Forbes article “The Use of Racial and Ethnic Terms in America: Management by Manipulation” discusses an important issue that is probably all too often overlooked. With this country being such a diverse nation it should be a focus of ours to understand and consider issues such as this. The use of words is clearly a important in this article, so breaking down the meaning of the title is a valuable way to understand the article in more depth. Each word is placed into a title with intention because the title is the first thing a reader sees and can therefore help decide how they view the article.

Furthermore, language is one of the most pervasive agents of phenomenological conditioning. To illustrate, Fanon analyzes the language because he argues that it carries and reveals racism in culture. Interestingly, he uses as an example the symbolism of whiteness and blackness in the French culture, which is similar to the English linguistic habits. In addition, Fanon argues that one cannot learn and speak the language of the oppressor, which is racist and carries negative connotations about black people, without subconsciously accepting the cultural meanings embedded in equations of unity with whiteness and malevolence with blackness. In other words, to be white is to be good, and to be black is to be bad. Moreover, language is not only transparency

After discussing racism as one of the issues that affect teachers with English as their additional language, we move to a lesser challenge, nevertheless, a challenge, i.e. micro-aggression. Micro-aggression is another problem that teachers with English as additional language face in daily life. Let us define what micro-aggression is. Haslam (2017), Professor of psychology at the University of Melbourne, describes micro-aggression as everyday insults, imparted intentionally or otherwise by words, acts or environments that communicate hostile and uncomplimentary messages to people from disadvantaged groups. Micro-aggressive acts may be brief, ambiguous and easily overlooked, but they have damaging effects on their targets. They come under three categories, namely Micro-insults, Micro-assaults and Micro-invalidations. Micro-insults are subtle snubs or portrayal of insensitivity. “Micro-assaults” are verbal or nonverbal expressions of disrespect or evasion. “Micro-invalidations” deny the experience of disadvantaged groups, Haslam (2017).