Two Types in Society: Those Who Question and Those Who Accept

Institutional racism is a global phenomenon. The never-ending list of disadvantages minorities face on a day to day basis is catastrophic. Nevertheless, one thing that can be done is to improve awareness. Institutional racism should be recognized by those higher in social status since minorities only make up a smaller percentage of the earth’s population. This limits the amount of control they have, leading to systemic oppression and restricting the number of opportunities people of color can have. From redlining to mass incarcerations to police brutality, minorities are left with a disadvantage to nearly all the social institutions. However, for white Americans, that is not the case. White privilege is not something that white people do, create or enjoy on purpose, it’s the apparent preference of white skin over people of color. This benefit leads to the “perks” in life, creating the foundation for this institutionalized racism. In the literary works, "Master Harold and The Boys," "White boy Privilege," and "incident," the outcomes of white privilege and how it affects people of color

Throughout the past couple of weeks, the readings revolved around oppression. These readings have talked about oppression as being pervasive, restrictive, hierarchical, intentional, unintentional, institutionalized, and so much more. These examples show us how oppression is taking over our society, and it is going to take a lot for it to finally disappear. One way that individuals believe oppression can start to deteriorate is through the process of social justice. The end game of social justice is to make sure there is equality for everyone present in our society today. Yet, we know that having social justice present is a process that will not happen overnight. By breaking down and analyzing oppression, it could help many individuals understand

Oppression and discrimination has plagued our society since early times. As a collective society one would think that over time oppression and discrimination would turn into acceptance and equality. Conversely, our society has taken sluggish steps towards diversity, acceptance and equality. Our society is focused on labeling people and putting them into limiting boxes. Oppression occurs across various groups of people based on gender, sex, race, religion, and disability. Members of these diverse groups are discriminated among work places, schools, and other places. Work places and schools promote diversity and non-discrimination, however little seems to be practiced. Oppression across generation leaves damaging consequences hindering society in the growth towards a more accepting environment.

Multitudes of individuals’ are convinced of the idea that the world is a minor step away from achieving equality for all. Unfortunately, individuals often overlook various occurrences of inequitable treatment in their own lives; due to their modernized outlook on fairness, as well as what the term “being fair” truly stands for in society. Throughout the social justice unit, several short stories as well as seminars in particular have created a substantial impact on my perspective towards the contentious topic. These distinct works corroborate the adverse reality of the fact that oppressing others due to eminence as well as stereotypical views often generates prejudicial treatment towards the subjected individuals. The theme established is clearly illustrated throughout three specific pieces discussed in class, which includes the war/dictatorship seminar, the women’s equality seminar, as well as the short story “Harrison Bergeron”.

(Spade, 5). This operation of norms is used to justify the exclusion of powerless populations from "programs that distribute wealth and life chances" and attempts to validate "the targeting of these same populations for imprisonment and violence" (Spade, 5). In reality, biology destines some groups to flourish, to acquire enhanced opportunities, and to be treated in a way that benefits their success. At the cost of this group, comes the groups that are being held back and facing an inevitable doomed future; the norms produce "security for some population and vulnerability for others" (Spade, 5). Through dividing power based on individuals' biology, the sexist and racist mindsets are reinforced and the "conditions of violence, exploitation, and poverty" are upheld (Spade, 5).

In Young’s “Five Faces of Oppression,” she describes that oppressed people cannot express their own needs, thoughts, and capacities in the same way as non-oppressed people. She puts forth five categories of oppression, including exploitation, marginalization, powerlessness, cultural imperialism, and violence, which serve to engender and maintain oppressive forces. Young also describes how oppression is deeply embedded into the norms and rules of our society, which is related to “The Cycle of Socialization” article by Harro, which describes how humans are socialized from birth based on their social identities. Based on these messages and the systems in place to maintain oppression, oppression is not only systemic and structural, but also very individualistic and personal.

In America, the issue of race is considered in terms of blackness and brownness, never whiteness, which feeds into the creation of white privilege. Whites might recognize the hardships that persons of color experience, but no thought is given to how that disadvantage works to give whites an advantage. In truth, “[t]hat which keeps people of color off-balance in a racist society is that which keeps whites in control” (Wise, 2016, p. 163). To that end, privilege essentially bestows dominance to members of the white

Our social world, with its rules, practices, and assignments of prestige and power, is not fixed (….) By writing and speaking against them, we may hope to contribute to a better, fairer world (Delgado et al. 3)

Besides educational and socioeconomic status, race and ethnicity is a status that is incredibly impactful in teenagers lives and it is singlehandedly the most influential social status in the lives of teenagers today. Race and ethnicity determines what others think of a person on first sight. The way our society is structured has created preconceived biases within all people against certain races. These biases and prejudices are what cause the oppression of certain races. Similar to education and socioeconomic status, race and ethnicity effects jobs people can obtain, the places they live, and how people are treated. People of color have been long oppressed in the United States, when teenagers began to emerge as an age group only white teenagers were focused on in the media, it was said that “As far as the national market was concerned, there was no other kind of teenager… Black teenagers were still invisible as far as mainstream society was concerned” (Palladino). The same was said for Mexican-American teens, “For instance, Mexican-American ‘pachucos,’ the would-be bobby soxers of a less prosperous community, offered a very different image of teenage life, an image rarely seen at the time, outside of social worker reports or professional journals...Like other minority youth, pachucos, were just not considered part of the ‘American’ scene” (Palladino). The United States has been built on the ideals of white supremacy, meaning that race and ethnicity determines whether one

The process of change and the end goal is social justice. This means complete and total involvement of each part of society to make this change possible. The goal to be achieved is where every person and group within every part of society can benefit both physically and psychologically with an equal part of the community. In order to envision the possibility of a socially just world, oppression in all its forms must first be recognized. Oppression is pervasive in the concept that it is instilled internally to an individual’s mind through the exposure in their society. Over time by means of example, experiences, and patterns observed the pervasion occurs from the inside out. There is also a restrictive nature to oppression creating limitation to an individual’s development of themselves. For example, economically speaking a father’s financial status may then effect that of his children’s lives. Based on their experiences as a child can then effect their own self limitations for their lives as adults. The standard of power has different levels of hierarchy with the level of status between the dominant and minority groups. For example power remains at an advantage to Caucasians whether it be a position of power or of finical success (Bell 2013, pg. 22). At the same time, some people may experience what is called cross cutting or multiple complex in regards to the group they identify with. This means a person belongs to more than one particular group either dominant or a targeted. An example of this is an African-American man who benefits in financial or social status at his workplace as a man but in a situation with the police he may experience discrimination or stereotype based on the color of his skin (Bell 2013, pg. 23). Oppression dwells within the human mind. It is internalized by the victim of the oppression but also the persecutor. They may in turn share the same opinion or view

Humans have been subject to privilege and oppression in virtue of their membership to social groups. The two proposed solutions are either to work toward the elimination of those social categories which underwrite privilege and oppression, or work to eliminate privilege and oppression on the basis of social categories, while maintaining the categories themselves. This paper will argue that we should adopt neither suggestions as they are essentially faced with the same objections and would fail under theoretical and empirical tests. Instead, this paper will provide a progressive suggestion for action in consideration of Spinner-Haldev’s account for enduring injustice.

As Collins states, “whether we benefit or not, we all live within institutions that reproduce race, class and gender oppression” (Ferber et al., 2009). It’s our personal experiences with each of these types of oppressions that give us insight into our own lives and the roles we play in being both the privileged and the oppressed. As Allen Johnson points out, “privilege is always a problem for people who don’t have it and for people who do, because privilege is always in relation to others. Privilege is always at someone else’s expense and always exacts a cost. Everything that’s done to receive or maintain it – however passive and unconscious – results in suffering and deprivation for someone” (Johnson, 2016).

Iris Marion Young, an American political theorist, is the author of “The Five Faces of Oppression” (1990). In this book, Young explicates the unjust effects of oppression in today’s societies. By definition, oppression is described as prolonged cruel or unjust treatment by a ruling group inflicted on another group. One of the five forms of oppression is marginalization. This type of oppression may be the most dangerous one because it socially excludes an individual from the participation of society based on race, religion, disability, appearance or affiliation with a particular group. I agree with Young’s idea of justice, in which a person should not be treated in an oppressive or demeaning manner, all due to the current social structure of marginalized individuals roles in society.

As humans, our natural instincts for categorization give us a sense of safety- a sense of being in control. Even from the beginning, children are trained to understand which blocks fit into which slots, and where things are supposed to be put away. We find satisfaction in categorizing things even when we don’t realize we are doing it, such as with people. Thus creating the recent raging topic of inequality. Not to say inequality has not been present since the beginning. However, it is only in relatively recent times that people have started to stand up and fight for their well-deserved rights. These people are enervated by the lines drawn between themselves and others. Most of life consists of stereotyping others to understand them with a simple and formative ideal, but people are much more complex than a single idea. We should not be afraid of the differences that stand between one and another, but rather recognize it and use it for mutual growth. By understanding why we are different, we will no longer live in fear. In Chloe Neill’s book, Veil, she combines the perpetual workings of this fear and how the people affected by it react to its power. Akin to the inner workings of America, we all follow the same universal ideal. Freedom. However, there is a percentage of us that are blindly content with their own freedoms while forcing the repression of another.

Although some individuals may wish or even naively claim that we live in a post-racial society, the reality in twenty first century America is that individual and institutional racism continues to take a horrible toll on young people of color, who are at greater risk of race-based violence, unjust criminalization, as well as economic, political and educational discrimination. The powerful advantages that come from being born white are immeasurable and painfully real. It is critical that white individuals recognize the depth of their privilege, but doing nothing more than that can appear self-congratulatory, and as an attempt to exempt them from responsibility. An example of one writer’s over-simplification of white privilege can be found