racism

Racism has predominately focused itself around the African American population, however, has not been associated with “white” individuals. There has always been a racial divide between the two groups and this is evident in bell hooks’ article, which illustrates how “whites” have made their identity as fear, power and terrorism. This chapter also goes on to discuss how the “blacks” have experienced different aspects of terrorism by the dominant white society. Due to both white supremacy and white privilege, African Americans were treated extremely poorly as slaves instead of humans. There was the belief that “whites” were misusing the power they had, and the misuse of power would lead to negative impacts on the black community. Although the black community adapted to the values and the habits of the “whites,” they were hoping for the “whites” to finally get over the need to terrorize their people. In the article, Hooks discusses that even though times have changed, the black population still feels as if they are being terrorized and are rarely close to the “whites.” Through the misuse of power due to the “whites,” which led to the rejection of the black community by society, it has made the “blacks” feel the need to give up their identity and try to fit in with the white society. hooks goes on to describe a situation that she had encountered when she went to a cultural studies conference. She felt that there was white dominance in the way everything was organized. Within her article, Hooks tries to educate people more about the whiteness, so that individuals can move away from the typical race that exists and recognize the confrontation that still exists in order to identify the other skin colour. The way whiteness is designed; it brings up different types of stereotypes in the mind of other people in society and gives it a lot of different meanings. She argues that stereotyping is a way of talking negatively about other races and not being racist at the same time. The differences between the “whites” and “blacks” is not something that black individuals have always created but things such as domination, imperialism, colonialism and racist are the many reasons why black individuals have felt contrary about their own race.
“Whiteness” to the black community appears to be better than their own colour and race. At the beginning of the article, hooks talks about some of the discussions that students were having in the classroom. When these discussions took place, it amazed the “whites” as they were listening to how the “blacks” noticed whiteness. The shock after listening to these comments that black individuals were saying goes to show that white students at the time were uneducated about the other races that existed around them. There was also the point that hooks made stating that whiteness is present without the awareness of blackness. She uses Baldwin’s notion to support this argument in which he stated that wherever white men go, they take control. The experiences that Hooks encountered herself are outlined within her article
The article, Representing Whiteness in the Black Imagination, gives a better understanding of what people thought about the whiteness issue that “blacks” were facing during the 19th century. bell hooks has also demonstrated that an image of white people has been created in the black community because of the things that have happened in the past. This consisted of the misuse of power from the white individuals. “For years, black domestic servants, working in white homes, acting as informants, brought knowledge back to segregated communities – details, facts, observations, and psychoanalytic readings of the white other.” The imagination of “whiteness” has also affected Hooks as an African American.
This article targets many of the arguments that have been discussed within the course. hooks describes how black females had been differentiated in comparison to white females, from the point of view of a young black female who grew up in a community where black people had been the victim of racism. Even though this article was predominantly about the black community, it also narrows the focus on how females are viewed and essentially victimized. As presented in Frankenbergs article, there is the understanding that while females had also been victimized due to white racism. Her article mainly focuses on how black and white females are observed in society and how racism shapes white females.
Both of the articles have given a distinct and clear understanding of what occurred in the 19th century. hooks portrays how white people dominated the black community in America. The stereotypes against the “blacks” can still be seen in our society and Hook’s use of personal experiences gives the reader enhanced knowledge about the prejudice they had to go through. Frankenberg being a white feminist also shares her experiences of racism that has helped shape the life of a white woman. Therefore, the power that the white society had certainly made a negative impact on the lives of several “blacks” and has made it harder for them to accept themselves for whom they are.