What It Means To Be American Essay

What does it mean to be an American? In my eyes to be an American means to have privileges, rights, and freedom. America isn't perfect, but it is one of the only countries that have rights given to people of different diversities and gender. America does not have tremendous poverty. Instead we have choices given to us by the people who fought and died for the American people. Without George Washington and the other patriots who planted the first seed in the ground and help plant the American nation we live in now who knows what America would be like now.

By claiming that Yiannopoulos is a white-supremacist, the name Milo Yiannopoulos becomes connotative of the extremities of the political right: fascism, Neo-Nazism, and racism. He is reductively presented as a malovent, transgressive speaker which has a profound affect upon the public’s perception of him. For his detractors, the proliferation of this perception served to reaffirm their negative perception of Yiannopoulos whereas article readers who had not yet heard of Yiannopoulos would be predisposed to disagree with Yiannopoulos as to agree with Yiannopoulos is to agree with a white supremacist rather than a political speaker; for some, this depiction of Yiannopoulos would completely invalidate his viewpoint, thus hindering political discourse. Furthermore, these connotations of racism subsequently extend to anyone who supports him, further damaging political discourse as it allows people with opposing views to claim his supporters are white supremacists, and therefore do not hold a valid opinion. Many readers continued to have this opinion of Yiannopoulos following the retraction of extremist allegations as the retractions were not publicised, and can only be traced by reading the statement at the end of the article; the

Yesterday, I posted a statement on Facebook that stirred a little bit of conversation. My initial point said,

For instance, the statement of, “There is a lot of trite rambling about how the president isn’t really reflecting American values when, in fact, he is reflecting the values of many Americans.” She was able to summarize my thoughts in that one sentence. The president of the United States has been exposing the true values of white conservatives since his term started. This should not be a shock for anyone. I could even say that he is doing us, the Hispanic community, a favor by exploiting these values. Mr. Trump is shedding light on what America is really composed of. In addition, he is exposing American values as well as revealing racism that has always been existent in this country. He did not reveal any new racism, he is finally unraveling the truth. I agree with Dr. Gay’s opinions because it is the only explanation for the events that has occurred. Many Americans feel comfortable, safe, and fearless because they can project their racism on this persona. Those groups or individuals can speak out knowing that there is a person with a platform to stand up for them. This is the reality, so there is no reason to sit and keep

I notice myself being careful to ensure my words aren’t minced and my ideas aren’t misconstrued. Last year when I was driving my neighbors to school when I said I didn’t like Obama’s reluctance to reform social programs, to which one girl shot back at me with “Do you hate women? And black people?” I immediately felt the need to qualify my own statement, reminding her that my father is visibly black and I am a woman. But now that memory stands out to me as an example of our unwillingness or perhaps even our inability to engage with those who have opposing

A common presidential debate question has become “Is it black lives matter, or all lives matter?” Hilary Clinton, Ben Carson, Martin O’Malley and many other politicians have all firmly stated, “All lives matter,” in response to moderators and protestors alike. This response illustrates a failure to understand the importance of being able to say black lives matter and to openly support the Black Lives Matter movement. While it is obvious that all lives matter, protestors are trying to get powerful figures to acknowledge that it is black history that is being erased, it is black children that are affected by failing schools, and it is black people who are targeted and oppressed by those in power. By failing to say “black lives matter” and failing

During the debate I learned that people really do have different view points on hate speech. As I did more research I realized

A time like Gates father when I should have spoken up, but choose not to, was recently this summer when I was a summer intern at the "H. Carl Moultrie Superior Courthouse" in my hometown of Washington, D.C. I and all my co-workers were downstairs in the mail room and a man who works at the court building came in the office with an attitude. He was supposed to be removing the boxes in the Mail room because they weren't supposed to be in the mail room.When picking up the boxes he said, "you people should be picking up these boxes". Meaning "us" black people should be picking up the boxes and not him because he's caucasian . When the comment was made everybody in the office immediately, got offended one of my male co workers asked him what he

It was at school. The frightening place for teenagers. Where every then and again your reminded of what a big failure you've become and how insecure you can really get. But this one particular conversation has nothing much to do with that. It crosses my mind a lot generally and I'm sure not too many freshmen in highschool see it or even realize as much of a big problem. It was somewhere along the lines of racism. I know, I know. This scary system we are so afraid to be and discuss but yet we tend to live in it on a daily basis. Basically, a friend of mine was stating how any person black could be racist towards anyone white. I simply told her(awkward chuckle) danni , I dont really think black people have the power to be racist or even benefit

Without proper communication skills, many times our intentions and words can get lost in another person’s translation. And that day, I felt my words/intentions were lost. I meant no harm by addressing my views since Stanley created a safe space for us all to talk. But after that day, I realized somethings are better left unsaid especially if no one is willing to alter their perspective. That was the first time I felt I was judged for expressing myself. In the end, my message didn’t come across the way I wanted it

After that BLM just got very bad reviews and people began to see them in a negative point of view, which is not at all what they stand for. But because of that one bad thing that someone decided to do everything that the BLM group have been trying to make appointed just went down hill. The whole point of BLM is because many colored people were getting shot with out a reasoning (as they say) and dying. But, most of the reasons was because the people who ended up getting shot were the ones who weren't listening to the authorities. Many I'm basis because I was born in a really Christian family and i was always taught from the very beginning to always listen to the people who have the authority over you if its your parents, grandparents, teachers, strangers, or even siblings you always listen and reply with "yes ma'am" and "yes sir" and do what they say when they say it no matter the situation or circumstance. In this case it is the cops, and while yes while no one deserves to get shot and die if you don't listen and the cps feel like you are a threat to other people then serious things will

The Audacity of Hope by Barack Obama is the book I chose for my summer reading because the author is a man who truly inspires me as an American, an aspiring politician and a person. It’s crazy how three words posted on social media can alter the way your peers view you. A simple hashtag “#ImWithHer” posted on my spam instagram page a few days before the 2016 election has gotten me labeled as “that obnoxious feminist girl who doesn’t know how to use instagram properly and blazons her worthless views to people who don’t care”. It’s an expectation that everyone is entitled to their own opinion, so I didn’t think sharing this information would have the effects it did. Eight direct messages, some from people I’d never spoken to, and countless

I am glad I defended what I believed in, rather than sit idly by and listen to a group being condemned based solely on their religious affiliation. I was raised to not judge someone based superficially and I have stuck by those words to go through everyday trying to share knowledge and perspective. I believe it was important to explain to my youth group the importance of recognizing how a stereotype can mask the true characteristics of an individual. It is purely human nature to categorize people and label individuals with characteristics that are pertinent to their group; however, one fails to see the true traits of the individual. It is ultimately detrimental to judge a person based solely on the group they are associated with, and I will give everyone the benefit of the doubt until I am proven wrong. I will continue to challenge the beliefs of others that associate characteristics about an individual based solely on predictions derived from a

It was the first time I came across an argument so offending first person. Now I check up on transgenderism being allowed into the military and have seen that then it wasn’t, but now it’s legal and brings me a great happiness to see that any transgender is free to fight for freedom. I honestly feel like we both had are points to come across but different people think in different ways my own opinion is I won with the points I stated. I also feel I could have been more approaching and understood where he was coming from, but in my eyes I do not see a difference between someone who is considered a male/ female or a person who is just trying to find their own identity in the

After listening to my recording I was not moved or shocked by my responses as I have invested much of my time and my thoughts on the issue of racism. Many answers are fixed points for people, all of the questions listed under A and many under C. This is understood and therefore it is unnecessary to point out the obvious, yet I will point them out because these things have such an important impact on the rest of the questions.