Why Racism Is an Issue in Need of Solution

“The scars and stains of racism are still deeply embedded in the American society.” US Representative, John Lewis said this in his return to the steps of the Lincoln Memorial he spoke on 54 years ago, during the March on Washington. Racism has been around since the beginning of time, but it is not human nature. Racism is something that is taught, and given the amount of time that has passed since To Kill A Mockingbird and the March on Washington, one would think that racism wouldn’t be a serious issue any more. Although race relations have improved along with other social issues from the time of To Kill Mockingbird, racism and discrimination are major problems in today’s society.

In today’s society, we can all agree that racism is like a cancer. It’s an evil action that destroys human lives and together we must confront it and most importantly find ways do eventually eliminate it and fight against it. Many of you can agree that this has not be an easy task, as racism in the United States goes all the way back to when America was still a colony, and only granted rights to white citizens and denied it to other races and ethnic groups. Our book defines racism as “An ongoing, multidimensional, and dynamic process inherent to the development and maintenance of an institutionalized, hierarchical racial classification system that operates simultaneously, on individuals, group, and system levels and involves intentional and intentional, negative, erroneous, or stereotypical beliefs about race and the

Have you ever been discriminated due to your race? Well, the article, “A talk to teachers,” written by James Baldwin (1993), addresses the idea on how the education system is lacking to educate children about black history, by directing to the society and past historical views. In brief, the author indicates that the world is a dangerous place in time, processing in revolutionary situations. The world is seen as bad faith and full of cruelty which has to be resolved within decades of human support. Human support involves the action of changing the society to the point that everyone has equal freedom (no matter what race or ethnicity). Black people were considered to be “black slaves” to white people and have lack of success/opportunities due

The idea of racism has evolved and has become less prevalent throughout the last century. Schools and public areas are unsegregated, voting rights, racial slurs being considered as unacceptable behavior etc. American sociologist and race theorist, Howard Winant states that’s “The ensuing approaches increased recognition of racial injustice and inequality, but did not overcome the discriminatory processes” (Winant,2000)Although the United states has come a long way to try to end racism, one cannot ignore the fact that it still exists. It is something that may seem invisible in society, but everybody knows that it still thrives and that it’s racial attitudes affect the way our society functions. One of these invisible forms of

John Lewis once said that “The scars and stains of racism are still deeply embedded in the American society." Racism has become a huge issue in people’s everyday life and not many may notice, but that’s because it’s been around for so long that it’s not new to anyone and it is the normal, when in reality that means it is so bad that not many people notice anymore. [African Americans experience racism in two main places their workplace and their education, and in a certain way, police brutality.]

Today, we have a diverse student population within our public schools. However, more can still be achieved for equality in our society. The struggle with racism and segregation are still very present in America; we see proof of their existence in the news almost every day. The shootings in Charleston, SC and Ferguson, MO are evidence that heinous crimes, which extend beyond education, are still committed in America based on race. However, the removal of the Confederate flag and movements to end racially-motivated crimes are signs of

Racism is a word can be defined in many ways. For some, racism has been a way of life, and to others it represents closed mindedness and an issue of the past. Issue of race will always have to be considered and can never be entirely abolished, but that does not mean people should not be constantly aware its profound impact on the public. Although the civil rights of African Americans has greatly improved over the last few decades, it is still a prominent issue in today’s society. In Richard Perloff’s essay, “Emmett Tills death resonates 60 years later” states that racism continues to haunt America today, sixty years after Emmett Tills horrific death.

Racism has been the most provocative topic in American history; it has seemed to transcend other struggles, and fester its way into almost every facet of American culture. It has grown like weeds in an unattended garden in to the ideology of America. Politicians use it as a tool for reelection, corporations use it as a way to exploit, and the media uses it as a way to control. But the underlying question is where did it come from, how did it translate itself into political power, and how and what did African Americans do to combat that power. Many of the answers to

Explanations that justify the use of racism directly relates to differential treatment of minority groups and contributes to racism’s existence as an unstoppable social problem. The foundations of these explanations are based on the common misunderstanding of the definition of race. Thus, problems that tend to concentrate in one race are mistakenly judged as “race problems”. This judgement leads to the establishment of a system of inequality between a superior race and inferior races. However, the logic behind these explanations don’t account for the true reasoning behind minority individuals value status. In fact, these explanations contribute to minority individuals’ further struggle in life.

Brill (1999) explored what it means to be black in America. He reviewed the parts of history that effect blacks today. He, also, examined the effects of slavery and affirmative action on the black community. As cited by Brill, in 1832, De Toqueville predicted that whites and blacks could never live equally in the society. He predicted that, once freed, former slaves would revolt due to the lack of civil rights that they would receive in America. Shockingly, these words hold true even in 2014. The evident tensions that exist today in cities like Ferguson, Missouri are racially charged and are due to the lack of equality that exists between blacks and whites in our country.

Racism is not something new; it has been a major dilemma that has taken place for hundreds of years. Taking that into consideration, these tragedies, such as the one that recently occurred in Charlottesville, Virginia create noteworthy opportunities for schools across the country to discuss and learn from these events. To illustrate, these catastrophes allow us to create awareness about how immense of a conflict racism and white supremacy still is around the United States. In fact, talking about these occasions in classrooms will teach students the different ways slavery has significantly impacted American history. Nonetheless, educating students in every grade and age about the issues their country are facing, like racism, will give them the

I have always advocated for social equality and have been aware of the prevalence of racism. However, my forethought now seems insignificant compared to the degree of racism that James W. Loewen suggests is indoctrinating the minds of America’s youth. Loewen takes readers on an enlightening journey through his book, Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong. The book intends to expose the false claims and lack of information in standard American high school history textbooks. He aims to correct the stigma behind how and why American history is so misrepresented and why it is important to represent history accurately and not limitedly. He proposes a few ways in which we can reform the teaching of history as well. Throughout the book, he largely focuses on the shortcomings or outright fallacies of historical textbooks in regards to racism, government, colonialism, and patriotism. Loewen serves this book to bring about institutional change where he feels that it is needed and to stress the importance of factual historical information and realpolitik. He displays vast amounts of logical and thoroughly descriptive anecdotes and facts, however, the scrambled organization of his topics, and his clear devotion and passion for the theme of social justice and anti-racism present the problem of bombardment. Furthermore, he does not appeal to his suggested audience in an adequate rhetorical manner that is consistent with his declared purpose of the

In a New York Times article, Jennifer Harvey responds to the question, “Are We Raising Racists?” This article gives feedback on how we should raise the next generation but, the author of this article clarifies that she is not the perfect parent and merely gives suggestions for people to follow. Various themes in the article that related to what we learned in class. The first theme was one of the five fallacies of racism, ahistorical fallacy. The author introduces this theme when she revealed to her daughter that George Washington owned black slaves even though he was recognized as a great leader in history. The daughter questions why we celebrate a slave owner as a great man. Ahistorical fallacy is a biased view on history and omits significant

One of the biggest mistakes that the white population makes in Mainstream American society regarding the way they view racism is the way in which they actually think or envision racism. Racism is thought to be events that have happened in history, but that don’t necessarily happen “anymore”. Many of American’s that are white typically think of significant occurrences such as slavery, segregation, wars between races, and internment camps. Racism is viewed very differently for the non-white population. Discussed in lecture by Professor Chernega, “non-whites think of racism in terms of something that happened to them yesterday, today, or even potential racism they will face in the future” (Chernega, 2017). This produces two very different views that two different populations experience simultaneously. There is a reason for this difference in understanding what discrimination means. It is no surprise that blacks have faced a much longer period of discrimination when compared to whites. Another idea that plays a large part in the reason for these differences of understandings is the way in which history is told. Many historic stories are told as if racism is something that only occurred in the past and doesn’t necessarily happen anymore. More often than not, racism is not addressed as a current issue when historic events are explained. Author Kohl discusses the issues regarding children’s literature

Racism is an ongoing force that negatively impacts the lives of Americans every day. The racist mindset in America stems from the times of slavery, where blacks were thought to be inferior to whites. Throughout history, the ideology of race and racism has evolved and developed several different meanings. Today, we can still see the devastating effects of racism on people of color, as well as whites. “Racism, like other forms of oppression, is not only a personal ideology based on racial prejudice, but a system involving cultural messages and institutional policies and practices as well as beliefs and actions of individual” (Tatum, pg. 9). As a result of this system, it leaves the