In America, the racial divide between whites and blacks is quickly growing. To fully understand racism, it is necessary to look at how power in the hands of white people has consequently led to oppression and racism towards people of color. Many people, particularly whites, believe that racism stemmed from physical differences between whites and people of color; however, if one truly examines racial differences they will see that these so called “differences” are more social than physical. For centuries, white people have held specific biases and prejudices against people of color, claiming that they were inferior to whites. This notion of subordination began because the white men held the highest form of power one can hold; the power of…
Daniel Akst, in his essay “Saving Yourself”, discusses the need for thrift during the U.S. economic recession. According to Ackst economist Thorstein Veblen developed the theory of conspicuous consumption while economist Simon Patten promoted consumer spending and capitalism as tools of social change. Thrift declined following World War II and the Great Depression due to the promotion of spending as a way of strengthening the U.S. economy. Akst discusses how purchasing second-hand items may be necessary due to economic problems. Akst gives a very informative, descriptive, and detailed article about the spending habits of people. He gives the impression that he really researched this topic. I felt that Akst brings up several good points and is very persuasive.…
Daniel Gilbert’s article “Immune to Reality” reveals how humans tend to make up excuses for their behavior in defence to the psychological immune system. Gilbert looks at the mechanisms we use to fend off unhappiness and spells out the details of what he calls the psychological immune system. Like the physical immune system defends us from illness, the psychological immune system defends us from unhappiness. Gilbert says, "Ignorance of our psychological immune system causes us to predict incorrectly the circumstance under which we will face". In other words, every day people are shocked because when they have thought a situation would make them happy, but that results to the opposite.…
Young people are most often guided by their parents and guardians of what they should or shouldn’t do. However, some unfortunate ones are left alone to find their own paths. In their search of making their own destiny; some young people choose to fight against all obstacles to reach goals that will lead to a successful fortune, while some will walk an uneasy way and repeat themselves in the misery of self-destructiveness and self-sabotaging behaviors. In Tobias Wolff’s memoir This Boy’s Life, the author presents a life that is built up on continuous self-destructive decisions; making himself his own worst enemy and causing all kinds of pitiful situations which he hopes to change and evolve into a better self, only to once again find him fallen into the very trap set up by no one but himself.…
Imagine a writer who never shares his writing and who represents fiction as non-fiction. Imagine a young man who wants to be a writer so much that he believes his own "lies." In Tobias Wolff's novel _Old School_, the author poses an ethical dilemma to the reader concerning issues of personal identity and honor. Taking place at a preparatory school in the 1960s, the unnamed narrator struggles with moral issues that surround the development of his authentic self. His desperate desire to win the school's literary contest to meet the famous author Ernest Hemingway results in the narrator's singular experience of plagiarizing another writer's short story. Throughout the novel, Wolff demonstrates that…
The author presents the readers with different experiences in her everyday life regarding racism. Each example contains racist actions, although not drastic, it’s subtle enough to be detected by people of color that might be oblivious to white people. These daily racists actions, whether intentional or not validate micro aggressions meaning, instances of racism that are communicated unnoticed to people of color on a daily basis.…
The stability of racism in the United States has changed over centuries of its existence. Instead, racism shifts and molds into often unrecognizable ways that fit seamlessly into the fabric of the American consciousness to make it utterly invisible to the majority of white Americans. In the current era of political thinking, colorblindness, or society’s unwillingness to discuss or even recognize race in any way, seems to be the dominant perspective. Michelle Alexander, in her book, The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness shatters this dominantly held ideology.…
America is in denial. “I don’t see color” and “It’s not about race” are the first phrases heard when a racial issue presents itself and although they sound like harmless, well-meaning words they continue to suppress the black voice in America. When 18 year old Mike Brown was shot and killed in Ferguson, MI earlier last year the masses came together to mourn for the loss of child. However, for every outpouring of sympathy, there was a racist comment to match it. Everyone across the nation had something to say about this small town boy’s death.…
These elements tend to foster pride for individual identity; denying people their identities is not indicative of racial progress, rather it is a step backwards, placing us in America’s rampant tendencies of racism whilst attempting to conceal unequal power structures of America. The denials of identities have led to dehumanizing situations. During the late 19th and early 20th century, America created initiatives for Indian Boarding Schools, which were used for the purpose of forced assimilation of Natives. These schools were used to “kill the Indian, save the Man.”, and impacted the culture, language, and traditions of Natives. This attempt of enforced assimilation is drastic but correlates highly with thought processes of the minimization of race. Colorblindness tends to equate race to something negative with phrases like “I don’t see color, I just see people.”. What these people are saying when they claim colorblindness, is that they see people despite their race. Many people in modern day society claim colorblindness, saying that race is not a characteristic that they see nor is it one they use to form any opinions about another person. White people use the colorblindness argument assuming that seeing race would lead to their demarcation as racist. The fear of discussing topics related to race and ethnicity reinforces the idea that having a racial and ethnic identity other than whiteness is wrong. But rejecting to discuss topics of race and ethnicity proves that to some degree, these people hold prejudices and thoughts about other races they have yet to challenge, and are not willing to critically analyze their position in society which allows them to opt out of discussion on race. By discussing race, it is reaffirmed that there is nothing wrong with having a racial and ethnic identity, rather the problem lies with the structure and makeup of our…
Unfortunately, we quickly discovered that every rung of the socioeconomic ladder has its own chips of racism. Even in a brand-new school in an “upper-middle class” town, I would receive comments such as “I’ve seen your…
In the documentary “I am not Your Negro” directed by Raoul Peck, the most memorable moment for me is the section focuses on integration at American public school. It is difficult for me to believe that many people march on the street only because an African American girl is going to school with the white kids, and I feel really angry and shocked when people are saying things like “when a negro child walk into the school, all decent parents should take their white children out of the broken school”, or “God can forgive adultery, but he is angry about integration ”. Even though those comments and events can have a huge impact on social discrimination and hurt to African American, they are real things that happened in the American history, and…
Scott, Karla D. "Broadening the View of Black Language Use." Our Voices: Essays In Culture, Ethnicity, And Communication. By Alberto Gonzalez, Marsha Houston, and Victoria Chen. 4th ed. New York, NY: Oxford UP, 2007. 183-89. Print.…
I am a firm believer that race reconciliation will only occur when we are honesty with one another. By acknowledging our differences and embracing our similarities we break the cycle of racism that has plagued so many generations. As the years went by and I was able to really have conversations with my parents regarding race, I realized there was so much I wish they had share with me and my siblings. The best way to facilitate the learning and support of those who have experience racism is being open to communicating about difficult issues regarding…
A significant demographic transformation is on the horizon for the United States of America. Bennett (1995) estimates that "by the year 2000, over 30 percent of our school age population will be children of color" (p.18). Additionally, research has indicated that ethnic minority students are disproportionately poor, dropping out of school, being suspended or expelled, and achieving far below their potential relative to the ethnic majority (Bennett, 1995). Consequently, teachers must prepare themselves and their children for the ever changing challenge of interacting and communicating with diverse races. Reduction of fear, ignorance, and personal detachment are possible benefits to a Multicultural education. The following excerpts are taken from Paul Gorski (1995), a University of Virginia Doctoral student during a case study interview: The idea of political correctness with the black race astounds me. I found it extremely interesting that some blacks in our class prefer to be called African American. In all of my classes...I have felt like I was stepping on egg shells as to not offend the blacks…
West, Cornel. Learning to Talk of Race. New York Times Magazine. New York: New York Times, 1992. 350-55. Print.…