Summary Of Race Racism And Darwinism

Racism Without Racists is perhaps one of the most eye-opening books i’ve read to date. Never before have a read a book and felt so much guilt and understanding, as well as a mix of both at the same time. The author, Eduardo Bonilla Silva, did such a great job of making statements and then backing them up with sufficient evidence to prove his point. After reading this, I feel much more educated and confident in understanding the topics discussed in the book.

In “From #BlackLivesMatter to Black Liberation” by Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, the discourse is a discussion of the issues with the struggle and fight for black liberation. While Blacks may be making superficial strides and gains, such as an African-American President, the continued struggle to end discrimination in fields of housing, education, employment, and policing is still at the forefront of Black everyday life. One theme Taylor discusses is the issue posed by “allies” who in actuality, are working against the struggle. She describes racism as being broken down into three molds: biologically, color blindness, and the culture of poverty. Racists use biology to say that certain races are “naturally” superior to others. There is a misguided

The Transcontinental railroad could be interpreted as the most memorable change in America in the 19th century. The railroad played an important role in the westward expansion and on the progression and development for the American economy. When America had acquired the West, the need for adequate transportation rose considerably. Suggestions dispersed about a railroad that would scope across the continent from East to West. Republican congresses ruled for the federal funding of railroad construction, however, all actions were on a standstill for a few years because of the Civil War. In the wake of the American Civil War of 1861-1865, the rush to put together the transcontinental railroad went underway in 1866. President Abraham Lincoln permitted the Pacific Railway Act of 1862, allowing two railroad companies the right to construct the first ever American transcontinental railroad. While there are several industries, which have left an indelible mark on California and may be more associated with California in the twentieth century, however no industry has had a greater impact on the American development of

As an art form, one could consider film to fall under Plato’s consideration of art as an imitator of nature and third removed from the truth (Plato, The Republic Book X, 360 BC). Like the painter who paints the carpenter’s work, the filmmaker can only portray an image that already exists. To call art a mirror image of nature would imply that art—including film—shows all things exactly as they are in real life. This is not true because the filmmaker can also be selective—and perhaps deceptive—in what parts of the image that the film mirrors, picking and choosing aspects of the images to portray their own ideas. Holding a mirror up implies that everything is being shown for what it truly is in its purest form and it is for this reason that the

Social Darwinism is a term and social theory formed in the late nineteenth century to describe the idea that humans compete in a struggle for existence. This competition is also linked to Charles Darwin’s theory of natural selection, resulting in survival of the fittest. The misapplied social term of social Darwinism is typically used in regards to the belief that wealthy Anglo-Saxon’s are biologically racially superior. Many people correlate the social Darwinist theory to the heightened rationalization of imperialism, racism, and capitalism, and the term typically has a negative connotation due to the vague understanding of it being attributed to a rejection of social responsibility and compassion.

Social Darwinism was a set of theories developed by various people during the 19th century. It was the adaptation of Darwin theory of evolution applied to human social behavior and ability to survive compared to other human beings. It can now easily be seen that these theories could be used to justify racial discrimination and they have been used in this way throughout history. This misconception of Darwin’s theories popularized by various academics in the west gave western nations to treat other nations badly. People like French man Joseph Gobineau had already come up with race supremacy ideas before Darwin’s theories of evolution had started to become a popular idea. He took his ideas from what he was seeing around him at the time not

Race has evolved through the scientific endeavor to forward knowledge, from a categorisation of people based on geographic origin and physical traits, to a hierarchical concept that is used as a tool to racially vilify, discriminate and marginalize particular races. The term race was introduced in the 16th century and referred to a group category of people (Smedley, 1999). From then, the concept of race was scrutinized and redefined by the western world. America bought about the concept of ‘race’ present in modern day, however the intellectual framework that served as a guide was European (Brace, 2005). Understanding of the evolution of race theories and its consequences are crucial to analyse how contemporary Indigenous Peoples are

We live in a society where categorization is introduced to us at an early age: when we go grocery shopping, we find fruits labeled at different prices based of their varying origins; when you are introduced to new people, you’ll run into that person who kicks off the conversation by asking what astrological symbol you are. A random question? Not really, as soon as you respond with a “Gemini” or Capricorn” then you are automatically pigeon-holed into that class of person. “Oh so you’re outgoing, passionate, and an intelligent person? We’d have great compatibility!” For all they know, you’re a polar opposite of that immediate categorization you’ve just been given based off a symbol, or word, or color. While categories don’t physically harm an individual, it has a detrimental impact on the progression of society as a whole. Categories such as race, class, and gender seemed to be placed into rankings, where becomes more dominant than the other. This opens the door for discrimination and inequalities to be utilized by those in a position of privilege.

Taking into consideration my early childhood, youth and adolescence, I could say that I was surrounded by people, who were friendly and shared common cultural values. However, with the hindsight at my whole life, I could say why the sense of institutional racism touches me so deeply. I was raised by my mother and my grandmother, both of whom could not read and write. Thus, for the illiterate people there were no chances to have higher status in the society. The only way to survive for them was hard physical work. Institutional racism, as a form of oppression, is more consequential and involves policies and acts that affect a large number of people. Life of my family is only one example of its impact. Even though, a lot of time has passed since then, the most recent incidents with Rodney King, Trayvon Martin and George Zimmer, illustrate how a black man continues to be viewed as a menace to society in America (Blumenfeld, 2010).

Racism includes belief systems and practices that try to legitimize, or cause, the unequal dissemination of benefits or rights among distinctive social groups. Cutting edge variations are frequently situated in social view of biological differences between people of different groups. These can take the form of social activities, practices or convictions, or political frameworks that consider distinctive races to be positioned as better or substandard than the other, taking into account the shared inheritable attributes, capacities, or qualities. It might hold that individuals from diverse races ought to be dealt with differently (Andrews, 2015).

Scientific racism feel strongly out of favor in the early 20th Century, but the origins of fundamental human and

Social Darwinism uses ideas like “evolution”, “fitness” and “struggle for survival” to explain and even justify inequalities in wealth and power. The struggle for survival is not only limited to politicians and wealthy business owners competing against each other to improve their status but also among the less privileged class struggling to get a job, obtain a promotion or just trying to make ends meet.

History has proven that racism is much more than an ideology but it’s an integral part of the human evolution (For example: Slavery, Religious conflicts in middle east, the recognition of women’s rights etc…). We can identify multiple forms of racism which humans were and are still confronted to (sexism, skin color, the appearance, religious, the cultural and physical differences, handicap). All of these factors have reached and deprived individuals from freedom, liberty of expression, equality. Not only does it affect human liberties it also divides individuals in two different categories, indeed; we can identify a dominant “race” and an oppressed “race” where the advantages and power are very unequally distributed.

After Charles Darwin published the Origins of Species, society began to turn away from religion and towards science to justify slavery and segregation by seeking out physiological and psychological differences between Blacks and Whites (Parks & Heard, 2009). Physiologically, some Whites argued that black people were the missing link between apes and humans. Psychologically, others like Frances Galton proposed his theory of eminence, or the notion that certain abilities, many of them psychological in nature, could be inherited, just as physical characteristics are (Galton, 1892). In collecting data from 12 separate groups from well to do white men, Galton (1892) concluded that the most influential men had at least one influential relative and therefore, their successful positions in life were due to genetic eminence or a predisposition for a high social rank. Even though Galton (1892) ignored environmental influences that could shape eminence and intelligence, he attracted followers even more than a hundred years later. This includes Arthur Jensen, Charles Murray, and Richard Herrnstein and their theories that black people were an inferior race because their IQ scores are significantly lower than white people’s IQ scores (Jensen, 1969; Herrnstein & Murray, 1994). Supporters of these theories, once again, latched on to tactics of dehumanization in order to justify black oppression without considering how this oppression shapes an individual’s mind and behavior.

Yet, the most significant flaw in this essay can be seen through the author’s simplistic view of the scope of racial injustice. Remarkably, the author only refers to white privilege in terms of its impact on what she calls “the problems facing Black America.” She fails to acknowledge or perhaps has no insight that white privilege involves the preference for ‘whiteness’ over all persons of color. Every non-white group is impacted by individual and institutional racism. Every non-white group grows up with the knowledge that their white peers have certain automatic privileges. Every child of color has to learn to navigate through the floodwaters of racism