The Negative Aspects Of ActinWhite

Alice McIntyre talks about how whites view racism in many different examples and stories of white talk. McIntyre defines white talk throughout the reading, “Talk that serves to insulate white people from examining their/our individual and collective roles in the perpetuation of racism. It is a result of whites talking uncritically with/to other whites all the while, resisting critique and massaging each other’s racist attitude, beliefs, and actions” (McIntyre, 45-46). McIntyre talks about the themes that were discussions of white talk: “(1) How the participants constructed differences from “the Other,” (2) how they reconstructed myths about white and people of color, and (3) how they privileged their own feelings and affect over the lived

When I think about white privilege, I see it as something I must understand to truly feel a relation to my own privileges with race. “As a white person, I realized I had been taught about racism as something which puts others at a disadvantage, but had been taught not to see one of its corollary aspects, white privilege, which puts me at an advantage.” (McIntosh 1988) When comparing other privileges McIntosh sees that her life is more influenced by her skin color than class, religion, ethnic status, or geographical location. Tim Wise explains “even though there is more than one type of privilege, they can never fully eradicate white privilege.” “Understanding the persistence of privilege requires recognizing the sleight of mind that occurs on the subject of individuals as members of groups” (Wildman 2005). Early work done by African American sociologist W.E.B. DuBois (1868-1963) showed that studies with white workers over time came to see themselves as white unlike the developing working class with recently freed black slaves. DuBois was one of the first people to initiate the concept of white privilege.

In this essay, June Jordan primarily focuses on explaining what Black English and how it’s become oppressed by Caucasian Americans throughout the years. Jordan believes African Americans have been raised to modify Black English to Standard English in order to be accepted into the societal and scholarly norms of America. Jordan states early on her essay, “As we learn our way around this environment, either we hide our original word habits,or we completely

Johnson uses words like “disdainful”, “magnificent”, “pompous”, “incompetent”, “imitate”, “supercilious”, “arrogant,” “meed,” and bold to describe the Negro in Harlem and to show their ‘supercilious’ nature towards other cultures.

With a background affected tremendously by the dark history of African Americans, language has become a significant problem to what the term Black English really means to different people. In If Black Language Isn’t a Language, Then Tell Me, What Is, James Baldwin attempts to analyze what a language really means and how Black English evolved to fulfill an important role for Americans. Black English sounds proper to blacks, but to whites it may not be a proper use of language. Throughout this essay, Baldwin uses a specific tone and relates to his audience by opening his mind to both emotion and logic while still upholding his credibility. Baldwin tries to persuade the audience to respect the language of Black English using his personal experience. The history of different languages mentioned in the essay is used to help convince the audience of thinking about the term language from a new perspective. Whites and Blacks both may speak the same language, but that does not mean that they understand each other because the language can be spoken in different matters. As Baldwin states, “The white man could not possibly understand, and that, indeed, he cannot understand, until today”. A white man or black man had to be careful about the words they used in front of each other because some words would be considered offensive for one another. Baldwin uses African American language and culture to reveal the impact that the English language Americans use has created.

The use of the term nigger can be used as a amicable greeting between two blacks, or as a “hideous pejorative” (Marriott 94) towards blacks. Marriott notes that the use of nigger is usually condoned and used by younger blacks as a “term of endearment” (98), in hopes to gradually alter the meaning of the word. Their goal is to normalize the usage of nigger between blacks to “dull its edge whenever whites use it” (Marriott 95). This has been proved somewhat efficient, as most whites dread the word and express feelings of disgust whenever it is heard from the mouth of whites. Many younger blacks believe their efforts are stimulating a progression in society, but older blacks and the majority of whites assert just the opposite- it illustrates “anything

White privilege is the ability for whites to maintain an elevated status in society that masks racial inequality. It is also considered a system of advantage based on race, as well as societal privileges that benefit white people. It is usually known as the “other”, or the opposite side of discrimination. Some people in society, typically people of color, feel as though people with white skin have benefits over people of color, just because they’re white. White privilege is sometimes seen as a higher social status, having the freedom to move, buy, work, play, and speak freely as one wishes. The effects of white privilege are predominantly evident in professional and educational settings. Some critics argue that the concept of white

This essay will address key aspects of white privilege and pick the two most important aspects with explanations signifying the reasons for their choosing. An explicit aspect of white privilege is the fact that it is an automatic add-on to anybody satisfying the definition of “whiteness”. Whiteness is defined by Frankenberg (1993) as a concept/identity historically, socially, politically, and culturally produced involving systems of domination (p. 40) thereby privileging anyone who satisfies this definition. Another notable aspect of white privilege is the fact that white people are taught not to recognize their privilege (McIntosh, 2002, p. 33). On a more subtle level, white privilege is an ongoing, institutionalized remnant of colonization. Another aspect of white privilege is its ability in creating dichotomies with PoC. For example, whiteness is associated with “innocence” and “goodness” while blackness is associated with “evil” and “badness” (hooks, 1992, p. 49).

White Fragility is an essay by Robin DiAngelo that critiques the inner workings of how white majority population poorly converse and interacts with the racial social construct that resides in modern American culture. Not privileged with the opportunity to ignore racial tensions, blacks are ready to discuss the disadvantages they face daily in America’s white privileged culture. DiAngelo states that since whites have not had been forced to develop a mode of conversing about racial inequalities in black culture; therefore whites become uncomfortable, evasive, and angry. Because of evasive language when triggers such as “suggesting that a white person’s viewpoint comes from a racialized frame of reference”, the construct of white supremacy is

I think this because look at how the term first came about; it was created as a way to identify someone. Then as years progressed, it evolved to mean a person with power and used to define someone, telling them where they stand on the social hierarchy. Now, “white” goes far beyond skin color. Being “white” is a concept, if you have money, no matter what skin tone, you are white or white washed. White doesn’t mean to be white, it means to be privileged, so if you are privileged you are

Thesis: Even with the creation of Black Studies as an academic discipline, the culture and influence of white dependency still seem to block people of color’s mental potential, and inherently their ability to progress as a group.

Whitewashing can be referred to as the misrepresentation of minorities in film, specifically referring to placing racially diverse rolls into stereotypical parts. The misrepresentation of racial diversity is a recurring theme in today’s Hollywood movies. It is more likely for someone to land a job in Hollywood if they are a white

However, the historical significance of the word nigger is deeply rooted in American History. For example, Kennedy’s book presents historical examples of nigger in its most pejorative context: “Michael Jordan was suspended from school for hitting a white girl who called him a nigger” and “Tiger Woods was tied up in kindergarten by his older schoolmates who called him nigger” (Kennedy 22). It is precisely because of this history that many African Americans are in favor of banning the word from the English language. Although the historical significance of the word nigger often triggers deep-rooted hostility in the African Americans, it has also progressively evolved into a term of endearment in the modern day African American culture. Consequently, a fine line exists between past and present definitions of the word nigger that opens up the possibility of misinterpretation and the potential of further damage.

I know people who will befriend you for the sake of being cool, or the guy who has colored friends or vice versa. But we all need to be aware of this kind of friends and get rid of them. When you entertain them, you will be the one to blame not them, because somebody cannot force you to be their friend. All the writer is saying is true, again there are nice people and who might be saying stuff to you and you overthink and misjudge them. I have Asian friends, white friends, black friends who always tell me I speak “too proper English”, (as the writer puts it) and I don’t take it offensively or overthink and over analyze it, because I know they are being genuine and they are saying the truth, and I always tell them “you guys need to adopt the British education system which I went through”. I have a white friend from Boston and we always make fun of Boston English, and he doesn’t take offense he laughs at it and even talk with a deeper Boston accent. I think some of the things that bring all this commotions is the way media portray things and how we are influenced by them, if we start taking everything people tell us and put them under the “microscope” I am sure that’s what brings even a bigger divide among the different races and

It is like there is this eccentric shame in considering yourself white from a historic point of view. White, as the dominant group holds a certain standard and power, they constitute the social norms. Another great exampleTatum claimed was the perception of gender dominance, women mention themselves to be women while males usually did not. This was recorded in many aspects of society: religion, gender, race, sexual orientation. I believe in a way it corresponds with oppression and guilt.