ktmeng/mec huggingface dataset:
Topic: racism

Until it was abolished in 1865, slavery thrived in the United States since the nation’s beginnings in the colony of Jamestown in 1607. In 1776, the founding fathers stated that “all men are created equal” when they declared independence and started a war that freed the 13 colonies from the oppressive rule of Great Britain. However, after “the land of the free” had been established, slavery had yet to be eliminated. After the war of 1812, sectionalism began to grow prevalent in America. The Industrial Revolution in the early to mid-1800s advanced the country technologically while further dividing it as the North became industrialized and the South became more agrarian and reliant on slave labor.
Topic: racism

Tensions built over the 40 years of compromise. Abolitionists worked to gain support in the North while they caused outrage in the South. In the government, everything had to be compromised and everything was a competition, such as legislature and westward expansion. Fortunately, when sectionalism and tensions around slavery boiled over, Abraham Lincoln came to the forefront of US politics. He created a reputation for himself and the Republican Party with a political platform against the expansion of slavery. He became known in the South as an abolitionist through the Lincoln-Douglas debates, and his election in 1860 sparked the secession of 11 southern states from the Union and the beginning of the Civil War.
Topic: racism

Abraham Lincoln’s ability as a politician was crucial in his role as commander-in-chief of the US army during the Civil War, because to end slavery, Lincoln knew he had to win the war. The first thing Lincoln did as president, in his Inaugural Address, was try to calm the frantic South, re-stating that he had “no purpose, directly or indirectly, to interfere with the institution of slavery where it exists,” (Halsall). Lincoln’s primary goal was to preserve the Union. As he put it, “If I could save the union without freeing any slave, I would do it,” (Majerol, 25-26). He needed the support for the war from the Northern citizens, many of whom were not abolitionists. Lincoln was faced with another difficult issue throughout the Civil War. Four states—Missouri, Kentucky, Maryland, and Delaware—held slaves but remained in the Union.
Topic: racism

If Lincoln waged a war that strongly opposed slavery, he risked losing those Border States to the Confederacy, which would probably cost him the war. Another issue that Lincoln had to deal with over the course of the war was incompetent generals. Lincoln discharged many of his generals throughout the war, which made it difficult to carry out his plans. In a telegram to General McClellan, Lincoln urged him to attack Lee “The present hesitation to move upon an entrenched enemy is but the story of Manassas repeated,” but McClellan ignored the order (Ayers et. al, 369). It was not until Lincoln appointed Ulysses S. Grant commander of all Union armies that he started having consistent success. If Lincoln had not been elected president, slavery may have continued for much longer in America.
Topic: racism

Besides the fact that Lincoln, as commander-in-chief, lead the Union Army to win the Civil War, the many proposed compromises in 1860 and 1861 might have allowed slavery to continue in America, such as the Crittenden Compromise. Another important way that Lincoln’s skill as a politician benefited the Union was his treatment of the Confederacy. Lincoln reasoned that since it is unconstitutional to secede from the Union, the Confederacy and its government was illegitimate, and Lincoln’s administration refused to recognize the Confederacy’s independence. This became important later in the war when other nations refused to recognize the Confederacy’s independence.
Topic: racism

When the time was right, Abraham Lincoln masterfully changed the ideology of the war to focus on slavery, and he used the slaves themselves as a powerful force in the war and on the home front. Lincoln did this through the First and Second Confiscation Acts, the Emancipation Proclamation, and his Second Inaugural Address. Early in the war, three slaves escaped to the Union Army, raising the question of what to do with fugitive slaves. Under the Fugitive Slave Act, they had to be returned to their owners in the Confederacy. However, Lincoln adopted an ingenious policy of taking slaves as “contraband of war,” treating them as property as the Confederacy did.
Topic: racism

Lincoln went on to sign the First Confiscation Act in August 1861, which emancipated slaves that escaped to Union lines. In July 1862, Lincoln signed the Second Confiscation Act, which essentially gave him the authority to emancipate the slaves in Confederate territory (on the grounds that they helped the war effort and were contraband). This legislation helped the Union Army greatly. Over 190,000 soldiers, sailors, and workers came to the Union Army from the Confederacy (McPherson, 193), and at the end of the war, African Americans made up 20 percent of the Union Army (Majerol, 26). The escaped slaves also influenced soldiers in the army who now “were talking with real men and women who had been (and perhaps still were) slaves,” (Goodheart, 15). However, a vastly more important document was the Emancipation Proclamation. Lincoln drafted the document in July 1862 and showed it to his cabinet. William Seward reminded him of the importance of timing, so Lincoln waited until the army won the Battle of Antietam to issue the Proclamation. In a letter Lincoln wrote in 1864, he stated “when, early in the war, Gen. Fremont attempted military emancipation, I forbade it, because I did not then think it in indispensable necessity.” Lincoln then cites two more examples of him holding off efforts at emancipation (Fehrenbacher, 257). When it was issued on January 1, 1863, the Emancipation Proclamation was a turning point in the ideology of the war. It took a war that had been officially about preserving the Union and made it about ending slavery. The Emancipation Proclamation was a bold move for Lincoln to make because of the pro-slavery Border States.
Topic: racism

Lincoln had made “earnest, and successive appeals” there for compensated emancipation, but was rejected (Fehrenbacher, 257). He then had to make a choice between “surrendering the Union” or “laying a strong hand upon the colored element,” hoping to outweigh losses with benefits (Fehrenbacher, 258). Over a year later, Lincoln said he felt no losses, and a gain of 130,000 soldiers, seamen, and laborers. Lincoln certainly had good timing when he issued the Emancipation Proclamation. Britain and France were coming closer to aiding the Confederacy, and in Britain’s case, they only wanted the Confederacy to win one more battle to prove that they were on the winning side of the war. Antietam was a terrible loss for the South, and Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation prevented Britain and France from aiding the Confederacy because they both had anti-slavery governments, and the war was now about slavery. The Emancipation Proclamation was a wise move for Lincoln as an abolitionist, because it allowed blacks to fight in the military, which might lead to citizenship and the right to vote for blacks (“Civil War Black Soldiers”). Lastly, Lincoln focused public attention on the issue of slavery in his Second Inaugural Address, reminding the people know what their brothers were fighting for.
Topic: racism

Abraham Lincoln’s most important quality was that he was a great politician, which allowed him to manage the difficult situations put before him in order to provide actual results that ultimately ended slavery in America. Among these results were Union victory in the Civil War, the Emancipation Proclamation, the First and Second Confiscation Acts, the Gettysburg Address, and the Thirteenth Amendment. The Union victory in the Civil War is a simple fact, but it was the most indispensable step to the end of slavery in America. Ending slavery meant nothing if the Union did not win the war and control the South again. Additionally, without a war in the first place, slavery might not have ended. It is possible that a compromise could have held the divided nation together without putting an end to slavery. Lincoln’s talent as a politician was also crucial in the Emancipation Proclamation when he released it in time to prevent any foreign nations from intervening and aiding the Confederacy.
Topic: racism

Lincoln showed his skill as a politician in the Lincoln-Douglass debates, when he took a careful stance on slavery that he thought would best suit the needs of the nation at the time. Lincoln was constantly stressing that he was not an abolitionist, and it was ridiculous to assume that “Just because I do not want a negro woman for a slave I must necessarily want her for a wife,” (Fehrenbacher, 106). Lincoln proved himself when he ran against Douglas in the presidential election of 1860 and won. Lincoln orchestrated the defeat of the Confederacy and the end of slavery using his political position as president and commander-in-chief, and his cunning as a politician to influence the people of America.
Topic: racism

It could be argued that the slaves played a more vital role in securing their freedom than Abraham Lincoln did. The slaves had influential leaders such as Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglass. The Underground Railroad freed hundreds of slaves, and it was led by a former slave, Harriet Tubman. Frederick Douglass wrote a book about his life as a slave which influenced public views of slavery in the North. He also published an abolitionist newspaper, the North Star. He also showed people that slaves were treated like animals and stripped of the quality that defines humans: independent thought. “these words sank deep into my heart, stirred up sentiments within that lay slumbering, and called to existence an entirely new train of thought,” (Douglass, 20).
Topic: racism

He told about how he was like other slaves until he learned to read and write, and became a human who was able to create his own destiny. These contributed to raising tensions and starting war, which was a necessary evil for slavery to be abolished and the Union to remain whole. These contributions also put pressure on the government to oppose slavery. Moreover, the 190,000 soldiers, sailors, and laborers who escaped slavery and came to the Union Army contributed greatly to the war effort, fighting valiantly and supporting the Army off the battlefield as well. By the end of the war, these soldiers made up 20 percent of the Union army, as well as influencing public opinion in the North.
Topic: racism

These were valuable aids to the end of slavery in America, and without them, slavery might not have ended in 1865. However, they are insubstantial compared to the contributions of Abraham Lincoln. First, the emancipation of nearly 200,000 slaves happened because Lincoln had not issued the Emancipation Proclamation and the First and Second Confiscation Acts. He transformed the ideology of a nation when he directed the war at slavery. In comparison with Lincoln’s monumental tasks, the contributions of slaves are insignificant.
Topic: racism

In conclusion, Abraham Lincoln was a more important constituent in ending Slavery in America than the slaves themselves because of his contributions as Commander-in-chief to win the Civil War and emancipate the slaves, and he was able to do this because he was an outstanding politician who handled the circumstances with unparalleled capability. Lincoln dealt with the difficult issue of fighting a war in which he could not make many bold decisions for fear of the Border States seceding, and he applied his ability as a politician to lead the Union to victory.
Topic: racism

Lincoln faced another difficult issue of how to treat escaped slaves during the war, and altered the entire ideology of the war so that the focus was slavery. He did this with his First and Second Confiscation Acts and, most importantly, a well-timed Emancipation Proclamation. Lastly, Lincoln’s capability as a politician led to concrete actions he took towards ending slavery, including the Emancipation Proclamation, the Thirteenth Amendment, and of course, winning the Civil War, the element without which the end of slavery in America might not have been possible. Lincoln influenced the history of America and (unintentionally) became a martyr. Today, racial discrimination does not exist in US legislation and America is constantly getting closer to complete racial equality.
Topic: racism

! Brent Staples, the author of Black Men in Public Space, utilizes a variety of strategies in his work to best develop his ideas. In his work, Staples uses not only consistent diction and language that set the atmosphere to best present his ideas to the readerto create a queer yet thrilling contrast between his relatively casual writing style and the critical issue he is dealing with, but also the ﬁrst three abbreviations of the PELIDS writing style, pathos, ethos, and logos, in order to solidify the relationship between his ideas in the writing and the reader with empathy and credence.
Topic: racism

An example of this critical contrast between a serious issue and the casual tone applied by the author is the tone by which Brent Staples recalls past, personal experiences with racism. He ﬁrst lays out a laundry list of disturbing events that occurred throughout his life, then he describes these events as trivial due to their frequent occurrences, and leaves it at that. By using black humor, Staples is able to maintain this atmosphere of serenity and simultaneously present shocking evidence of racial segregation.
Topic: racism

Supplementing the casual, yet personal atmosphere established by the author’s careful use of diction and language, Staples uses pathos, ethos, and logos. Through the use of ethos, Staples establishes the credibility of his writing as that of an intelligible, graduate student of the University of Chicago. Thus, Staples solidiﬁes his ideas that are presented as legitimate concerns, and not the words of an uneducated black man who banters on about the unfairness of racism.
Topic: racism

He backs up his claim with sufﬁcient evidence by utilizing logos towards the end of the story when he announces his variation of the cowbell that hikers wear in bear country, which in this case would translate the cowbell to Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons” and the bears to racially discriminant white people of society. He wraps all of this in a controlled manner, a use of pathos, which (he explains) originates from his numerous encounters with such prejudiced events over the past few years, thereby creating an eruption of empathy from the reader, and thus a better development of the ideas present in the writing.
Topic: racism

One in five people living in Australia have experienced racist abuse During the past year, 1 in 5 people living in Australia was a target of racial discrimination (around 4.6 million people). This is an increase from 1 in 8 the previous year (Source). 1 in 5 people living in Australia has been a target of verbal racial abuse (Source). Verbal abuse is the most common form of racism (Source). Nearly half of all Australian residents from a culturally and linguistically diverse background have experienced racism at some time in their life (Source).
Topic: racism

We live in world where police officers are suppose to be protected and help us out when needed. The reality of it is police officers are out here on the beat violating are constitutional rights. Stop and frisk was to help fight crime on the streets but all it caused was racial profiling by officers everyday for the last twelve years. Stop and frisk has been used and abused and young adults are afraid to leave their house because they know they will be harassed for no good reason.
Topic: racism

One of the most controversial police procedures is the stop and frisk search. This type of limited search occurs when police confront a suspicious person in an effort to prevent a crime from taking place. The police frisk (pat down) the person for weapons and question the person. Stop and frisk was adopted from the English command law by many American courts. In accordance with English common law, without statutory provisions, a police officer has the power to stop, question, and frisk suspects given reasonable circumstances.
Topic: racism

Based on a standard, which holds less than probable cause, this power is granted upon the standard of reasonable suspicion. The whole theory behind stop and frisk in urban communities is the broken window theory which is if there are houses in the area that are abandon it can lead to young adults getting into mistress in order to avoid that police officer would stop and question these peoples were about. Over the years till present time stop and frisk has been much more then stopping someone and question them and looking for contraband. What was suppose to protect and keep the street clean has turned into violating innocence people.
Topic: racism

The first big case that caused the supreme court to allow officers to authorize a search and seizure that not even a magistrate would not possess due to a case Terry v Ohio in December 12,1967 “The Petitioner, John W. Terry (the “Petitioner”), was stopped and searched by an officer after the officer observed the Petitioner seemingly casing a store for a potential robbery. The officer approached the Petitioner for questioning and decided to search him first.” (Casebrief) The officer choose to do a quick search after approaching the three men that where involved and he found two revolvers, these men where taken in and the Supreme Court denied their appeals. This cases shows why stop and frisk went into affect to prevent people from breaking the peace in comminutes. Over the years it has changed into being racial stops and innocent people have been stop. In my opinion I feel as though stop and frisk started out with the right intentions and if there is something odd standing out a cop should have the right to question it an protect the people.
Topic: racism

During my research I learned that stop and frisk is a current event in New York and the Mayor is trying to fix things. The article I read had a lot of information that stood out to me and I thought was very interesting. This article is about “The move by the Law Department, which will officially be taken in legal papers expected to be filed by Monday, fulfills a campaign promise by Mr. de Blasio and represents the latest step by his administration to shake off its predecessor’s legacy of aggressively defending the stop-and-frisk practices of the Police Department.” (Goodman 2014) This article is about the end of stop and frisk, as we know it. Mayor de Blasio goal when he came into office was to stop the racial profiling that has been overused to the young adults in are neighborhoods. The underlying message of the article is “ paying the way to a reduction in racial profiling, a greater guarantee of equal treatment under the law, and better relations between police and the community, this move offers a guide to other cities across the nation committed to ensuring safety, justice and fairness for all cities.” (Goodman 2014)
Topic: racism

The evidence that backs up this racial profiling claim is static from the nation urban league. “From 2002 to 2011, black and Latino residents made up close to 90 percent of people stopped, and about 88 percent of stops more than 3.8 million were innocent New Yorkers.” The bias of the author is against stop and frisk. This will affect the perspective of the article because it will show all the flaws in the NYPD. This article showed me that when you have people who care you could make a change in the world. The mayor has stop and frisk in new york and he has only been In office for a few months. The statics in this article shocked me because why are so many young adults of color are being stop just because they are walking down the street. We should be able to feel safe and protected not harassed and be judge by the color of their skin.
Topic: racism

Through out my research I found some amazing statics that I would love to share. The first statics I really liked was “According to statistics compiled by the New York Civil Liberties Union, “From 2002 to 2011, Black and Latino residents made up close to 90 percent of people stopped, and about 88 percent of stops – more than 3.8 million – were of innocent New Yorkers.” (Morial 2014) although the next statement I will be quoting is not a static it is proof of how far the damage goes back due to racial profiling. “The law’s main backers in the Council, Jumaane D. Williams and Brad Lander, commended Mr. de Blasio and said in a joint statement on Wednesday that the law helped to improve relations between the police and minority communities and would “reverse the damage done over the last 12 years.” (Goodman 2014) The damage has been done to the past young adults but with people will to make a change we can protect are up a coming new young adults from suffering the same racial profiling from stop and frisk. “In 2013, New Yorkers were stopped by the police 191,558 times. 169,252 were totally innocent (88 percent), 104,958 were black (56 percent), 55,191 were Latino (29 percent), and 20,877 were white (11 percent). (Nyclu 2013)
Topic: racism

Stereotype is an image or idea of a particular type of person or thing that has become fixed through being widely held. Discrimination is to make an unjust distinction in the treatment of different categories of people, especially on the grounds of race, sex or age. Prejudice is a preconceived opinion that is not based on reason or actual experience. (Source: Concise Oxford Dictionary) Stereotype is to decide, usually unfairly, that certain people have particular qualities or abilities because they belong to a particular race, sex or social class. Discrimination is the practice of treating one particular group in the society in an unfair way. Prejudice is to influence someone so that they have an unfair or unreasonable opinion about someone or something. (Source: Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English) Globally, stereotypes, discrimination and prejudice are understood as related but different concepts. Stereotypes are regarded as the most cognitive component, discrimination as the behavioral component of prejudicial reactions and prejudice as the affective. In this tripartite view of intergroup attitudes, stereotypes reflect expectations and beliefs about the characteristics of members of groups perceived as different from one’s own, discrimination refers to actions, prejudice represents the emotional response. Stereotypes are not only harmful in their own right; they do damage by fostering prejudice and discrimination.
Topic: racism

Although related, the three concepts can exist independently of each other. According to Daniel Katz and Kenneth Braly, stereotyping leads to racial prejudice when people emotionally react to the name of a group, ascribe characteristics to members of that group, and then evaluate those characteristics. Moral philosophers have defined discrimination as disadvantageous treatment or consideration. This is a comparative definition. An individual need not be actually harmed in order to be discriminated against. He or she just needs to be treated worse than others for some arbitrary reason. The United Nations stance on discrimination includes the statement: “Discriminatory behaviors take many forms, but they all involve some form of exclusion or rejection.” (Source: Wikipedia) Stereotyping, prejudice, and discrimination reflect the human tendencies to conceptualize and value certain configurations of phenotypic features differently, and act on these thoughts and feelings in our interactions with members of racial categories. Racial categorization reflects the process of placing people into distinct groups based on variation in phenotypic physical features of the face and body such as skin color, hair color and texture, eye shape, nose width, and lip fullness.
Topic: racism

Racial stereotyping, prejudice, and discrimination reflect the human tendencies to conceptualize and value certain configurations of phenotypic features differently, and act on these thoughts and feelings in our interactions with members of racial categories. In both overt and subtle forms, stereotyping, prejudice, and discrimination exhibited among individuals belonging to different racial categories has long been a significant source of social strife in American society and abroad. In general, individuals with physical features associated with Whites (lighter skin color, lighter and straighter hair, rounder eyes, narrower nose, thinner lips) are advantaged compared to individuals with features associated with other racial categories. (Maddox, 2012) In Ghana, stereotyping, discrimination and prejudice is alive and kicking in Ghana like it is in any other society. Specifically, the statement brings to the fore some of the unhelpful ethnic slurs or ethno-phaulisms that cut across Ghana’s multiethnic society. There are ethnic stereotypes like Ashanti men are braggers throw their money around and have a superiority complex but they are very ambitious and hard working. Ga men are big talkers but are not big spenders, they are too stingy. Ewe men use juju too much, but are good scholars. Fanti men are romantic and sophisticated but are too honest, so they lack tactfulness and diplomacy. Dagomba men are tall, dark and handsome, but expect one or two rivals wives if you marry one. Akuapem men are very polite and gentlemanly. Kwahu men are very business-minded but stash their money in their house rather than in the bank. 2.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
Topic: racism

* People stereotype, discriminate and prejudice against others in the society because of the desire to dominate and control members of other groups. * People stereotype, discriminate and prejudice because they are unable to obtain all the information to make a fair judgment. * Negative stereotyping, discrimination and prejudices cause conflicts among individuals. * Understanding and appreciating other people’s values and culture will help decrease stereotyping, discrimination and prejudice in the society. 2.6 JUSTIFICATION OF THE STUDY
Topic: racism

Gender: Women over the years have fought shoulder to shoulder with men to gain recognition and freedom from all source of discrimination and recognition from their hard work and worth. Ethnicity and tribalism: Tribalism infers the possession of a strong cultural or ethnic identity that separate one member of a group from the members of another group. Religion: It involves treating someone differently because that person is associated with an individual of a particular religion or because of his or her connection with a religious organization. Age: It involves treating someone unfairly or less favorably because of his age. Age discrimination can take a form of harassment for example offensive remarks about a person’s age such as teasing offhand comments etc. Program of study: with the program of study, some people look down on other people’s program of study because they feel theirs is better than the others. 2.9 METHODOLOGY
Topic: racism

Social survey design is a popular and commonly used strategy in social science research and is frequently used to answer who, what, where, how much and how many questions. They allow the collection of large amount of data from a sizable population in a highly economical way. Social Survey Design allows researchers to carry out studies in natural real life settings using probability samples thus increasing external validity of the studies. Using a social survey design will give you more control over the research process and when sampling is used, it is possible to generate findings that are a representative of the whole population at lower cost than collecting the data for the whole population. 1.9.2 SAMPLING TECHNIQUE
Topic: racism

Questionnaire includes all techniques of data collection in which each person is asked to respond to the same set of questions in a predetermined order. 1.9.5 SOURCES OF DATA  Sources of data include the primary source, secondary source and the tertiary source. We will use all the three sources of data. Primary sources include journals, memoirs, dairies, newspapers, reports, interviews, raw data and many more. Secondary sources include books, television and radio documentaries, conference proceedings etc. Tertiary sources Google, Wikipedia, dictionaries, encyclopaedias, Ghana web, Modern Ghana etc. 1.9.6 UNITS OF ANALYSIS
Topic: racism

The unit of analysis is Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology which has a student population of about 45,000. Established in 1952, KNUST has a rich history in its evolution into a first class University over the years. Kwame Nkrumah, the African Personality of the Century and pioneer of African independence is the founder of KNUST. KNUST believes in achievement through diligence and commitment. 1.9.7 LIMITATION OF DATA COLLECTION
Topic: racism

The terms stereotype, discrimination and prejudice are often used interchangeably in everyday conversation. But when discussing these terms from a sociological perspective, it is important to define them: stereotypes are oversimplified ideas about groups of people; discrimination refers to actions toward them and prejudice refers to thoughts and feelings about those groups. (Colledge, 2013) Stereotype is an image or idea of a particular type of person or thing that has become fixed through being widely held (Source: Concise Oxford Dictionary). Stereotype is to decide, usually unfairly, that certain people have particular qualities or abilities because they belong to a particular race, sex or social class(Source: Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English) Discrimination is to make an unjust distinction in the treatment of different categories of people, especially on the grounds of race, sex or age. Source: Concise Oxford Dictionary. Discrimination is the practice of treating one particular group in the society in an unfair way. (Source: Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English) Prejudice is a preconceived opinion that is not based on reason or actual experience.
Topic: racism

(Source: Concise Oxford Dictionary). Prejudice is to influence someone so that they have an unfair or unreasonable opinion about someone or something. (Source: Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English) THEORIES RELATING STEREOTYPING, DISCRIMINATION AND PREJUDICE What are the reasons for stereotyping, discrimination and prejudice people? Let’s look at the theories that social scientists have suggested: To be able to measure the existence and extent of stereotyping, discrimination and prejudice of a particular kind in a particular social or economic domain, it is necessary to have a theory of how such issue might occur and what its effects might be. Scapegoat Theory: This prejudice springs from frustration among people who are themselves disadvantaged (Dollard, 1939). A scapegoat is a person or category of people typically with little power, whom people unfairly blame for their own troubles. Authoritarian Personality Theory: According to T.W. Adorno et al. (1950), extreme prejudice is a personality trait in certain individuals. This conclusion is supported by research showing that people who display strong prejudice toward one minority usually are intolerant of all minorities. These people look upon society as naturally competitive and hierarchical, with “better” people (like them) inevitably dominating those who are weaker.
Topic: racism

Culture Theory: This theory says that stereotyping, discriminating and prejudice may be characteristic of certain people, but some of this is found in everyone because it is embedded in culture. Think of a child growing up and their parents telling them they should marry from the same ethnic group. Conflict Theory: Part of this theory is when powerful people use prejudice to justify oppression others. An example is when minorities claim that they are victims and therefore are entitled to special consideration based on their race. (DJL, 2008) WHY PEOPLE STEREOTYPE, DISCRIMINATE AND PREJUDICE AGAINST OTHERS IN THE SOCIETY The ability to form general categories is an essential feature of human thought. Without it, we could not make sense of the world. Being able to classify our experiences, the people around us, and the material objects of our culture under general headings enables us to behave in new circumstances. We can then respond in appropriate ways to things and people we have never seen before. It allows us to carry over what we have learned in one situation to another similar situation. However, unlike other forms of categorization, stereotyping provides categories that are little, if at all modified by experience and knowledge.
Topic: racism

People will often ignore or re-interpret experiences in which an individual does not conform to the stereotype of the group, rather than change the stereotype. (Lorne Tepperman, 1991, p. 187) People discriminate out of ignorance and Selfishness and that they don’t think about how it would make other people feel also to make them feels better. (Why do people discriminate, 2012) When people encounter instances that disconfirm their stereotypes of a particular group, they tend to assume that those instances are atypical subtypes of the group. Example: Ben stereotypes gay men as being not athletic. When he meets Al, an athletic gay man, he assumes that Al is not a typical representative of gay people. People’s perceptions are influenced by their expectations. Example: Liz has a stereotype of elderly people as mentally unstable. When she sees an elderly woman sitting on a park bench alone, talking out loud, she thinks that the woman is talking to herself because she is unstable. Liz fails to notice that the woman is actually talking on a cell phone. People selectively recall instances that confirm their stereotypes and forget about disconfirming instances. Researchers find it difficult to measure prejudice. One reason for this is that people differ in the type and extent of prejudice they harbor. For example, a person who makes demeaning comments about a particular ethnic group may be bigoted or just ignorant. Also, people often do not admit to being prejudiced. (Source: (Lewin, 2012), 14th November, 2012, 10am)
Topic: racism

Why do we form opinions about other people based on their appearance, posture, language, and so on? We do this because different factors contribute to why people stereotype each other. We stereotype, discriminate and prejudice other people when we are unable or unwilling to obtain all of the information we need to make a fair judgment about people or situations. In the absence of the so called ‘total picture,’ to stereotype people in many cases allow us to ‘fill in the missing pieces of information.” Our society often innocently creates and perpetuates stereotypes, but these stereotypes often lead to unfair discrimination and persecution when the person been stereotype is unfavorable. For example, if we are walking through a park late at night and encounter three senior citizens wearing fur coats and walking with canes, we may not feel as threatened as if we were met by three high school-aged boys wearing hoodies. These generalizations root from our experiences we have had ourselves, read in books, and magazines, seen in movies or television, or have had related to us by friends and family. In many cases, these stereotypical generalizations are reasonably accurate.
Topic: racism

Yet in virtually, every case we are resorting to is prejudice by ascribing characteristics about a person based on appearance, without knowledge of the total facts. By stereotyping, we assume that a person or a group of certain characteristics. Quite often, we have stereotyped a person who might be a member of a group with which we have not had firsthand contact with before. (Why do we stereotype?, 2012). According to psychologist Gordon Allport, prejudice and stereotypes emerge in part as a result of normal human thinking. In order to make sense of the world around us, it is important to sort information into mental categories. “The human mind must think with the aid of categories,” Allport explained. “Once formed, categories are the basis for normal prejudgment. We cannot possibly avoid this process. Orderly living depends upon it.” This process of categorization applies to the social world as well, as we sort people into mental groups based on factors such as age, sex and race. (Cherry, 2013) SOURCES OF STEREOTYPING, DISCRIMINATION AND PREJUDICE IN THE SOCIETY AUTHORITHAIANISM
Topic: racism

Unpopular minority groups are often used as scapegoats for other people’s problems. They are blamed for wide varied things that they could not possibly have caused. The term originates from a Hebrew tradition. On Yom Kippur, a goat was set loose in the wilderness after the high priest had symbolically laid all the sins of the person on its head (Leviticus 16:20-22). One explanation of scape-goating is the frustration-aggression theory. Its three basic principles are that; (1) Frustration produces aggression.
Topic: racism

Although prejudice and discrimination are sometimes associated with certain personality traits or with frustration, both are learned. South Africans do not need authoritarian personalities to have strong racial prejudice, because they learn such attitudes from their culture. Most prejudice is acquired early in the socialization process. Children adopt their parents’ prejudice as naturally as they adopt their parents’ language, and discrimination follow prejudice as regularly as night follows day. Some of the most common prejudices are taken from ethnic stereotype- ideas that portray all the members of a group as having similar fixed, usually unfavorable characteristics. ECONOMICS
Topic: racism

Conflicts between ethnic groups foster prejudice and discrimination. Some social scientists particularly Marxists, are convinced that all conflict stems from economic causes. Whether one accepts this idea or not, there is ample evidence that, the realities of economic completion lies beneath much prejudice and discrimination. In times of high unemployment, members of the dominant group can protect their jobs by making sure that members of subordinate groups are dismissed first. It has long been noted that anti black prejudice is high among white-working class men who compete with blacks for low paying, unskilled jobs. POLITICS
Topic: racism

The quest for power promotes prejudice and discrimination just as the quest for money does. Dominant groups use discrimination as a technique for maintaining their power, appealing to popular prejudice to justify their discrimination. In some societies, political discrimination is obvious and accepted fact of life. For example, South African does not allow native Africans to vote and until quite recently, many American communities denied the same right to their black citizens. (Coleman, 2002, pp. 193-196) ROLE OF STEREOTYPING, DISCRIMINATING AND PREJUDICE IN TRIBAL CONFLICTS Stereotypes distort history through oversimplification but they are also extremely dangerous breeding grounds for bigotry, fear, resentment, irrationality, animosity, hatred and ethnic conflict and cleansing. Stereotypes generate self-serving attitudes such as we deserve more because we sacrificed more than others, they are suffering because it is their own fault, and it is their problem since they are killing their own people and it is their government and we have nothing to do with it. In extremes cases, stereotypes have culminated in mass violence, the mass displacement of millions of fellow citizens, ethnic cleansing, pogroms and genocide. (A.B.K. Kasozi, 1999; G. Prunier, 1995; P. Gourevitch, 1998 and M. Mamdam, 2002). The concept of tribe was derogatorily developed in the 19th century by racist western scholars and journalists to designate alien ‘non-white’ people as inferior or less civilized and as having not yet evolved from a primary state. From Kukubor, the following stereotyping, discrimination and prejudice can lead to tribal conflicts. From (Kukubor, 2006),
Topic: racism

This advocacy represents a belief that different ethnic groups should live apart, have absolute control over certain natural resources, can be exposed to special benefits. This advocacy began in the Ashanti Confederacy at pre-independence unsuccessfully agitated for a Federal state so as to appropriate the perceived wealth of the Ashanti. Extreme pride in one’s ethnic group and Obsequious patriotism is good but extreme pride in one’s ethnic group has proven to be the fascist of all regimes. CONSTANT REFERENCE TO A PERSON’S ETHNICITY
Topic: racism

benign. But constant reference to the person’s ethnic group after a long period f knowing that person, no matter how innocent the references may appear, establishes unmistakably tribal patterns. BELITTLING OTHER GROUPS AND INDIFFERENCE TO THE FEELINGS OF OTHER ETHNIC GROUPS. Constant criticism and ridicule of the opinions of other ethnic groups, which is often done sarcastically without explicitly making mention of the ethnicity of persons. It is also typical to make fun of members of the ‘inferior’ ethnic group. EXCESSIVE HATE FOR A PARTICULAR ETHNIC GROUP
Topic: racism

This is where one adopts an exaggerated reaction to any perceived misconduct from a person of the other ethnic group. In this situation, the punishment is out of proportion to the original wrong, whether real or perceived, and completely ignores the provocation that have led to the misconduct resulting in conflicts. NON- RECOGNITION OF THE ABILITIES AND ACHIEVEMENTS OF OTHER ETHNIC GROUPS. This attitude is so endemic in our political history. Some ethnic groups in this country have consistently denied the intelligence, cultural level, social status or other qualities of other ethnic groups in the face of overwhelming evidence. CONDESCENDING ATTITUDE OR BEHAVIOR.
Topic: racism

People show condescending attitude towards other members of different ethnic groups. They exhibit this by attacking other members which cause them most offense. They even employ members of other groups they perceive as enemies and use them to attack members of that ethnic group. These ‘employees’ may openly condemn the culture of their ethnic group as backward and shower praises on the members of ‘superior’ ethnic group. Furthermore, these people have no insight into their own prejudice. They believe that their prejudice is based on objective grounds that cannot be compromised. By this strong fixation, an individual is capable of violence and other forms of crime towards members of what he views as the ‘inferior’ ethnic group. For Hima/tutsi elite being called superior and alien had “a feel good effect”. They were proud to be told that they had racial affinities, however distant, with the new colonial masters Overtime they developed a superiority complex, which they used to claim privileges and entitlements, including being appointed colonial chiefs. They then reinvented the pre-colonial past to live the impression that their superiority had existed since time immemorial. Like the new colonial masters, they grounded their rights and privileges on the right of conquering and subjugating the natives some four to five centuries before the advent of European conquest and occupation. On their part, the natives felt dejected and resentful.
Topic: racism

They carried the burden of taxation and forced labor. Under colonialism, they served two sets of masters – the white and Hima/Tutsi elite masters. In due course, they sought to turn their supposed native status to their political advantage. In Rwanda and to some extent Ankole, the so-called natives began to make political demands on the ground that they were the natural majority. The extremists even went to the extent of demanding the return of the Tutsi/Hima aliens to their original homelands, where they came from, and wherever that might be (Doornbos, 1978:31). This led to the tensions of the 1940s and 1950s and the expulsion of the so-called Bayarwanda in the early 1980s. ( www.grandslacs.net/doc/3782, 1:15pm, 15th November 15, 2012) STATEGIES FOR DEALING WITH STEREOTYPING, DISCRIMINATION, PREJUDICE RELATED SITUATIONS The key to reversing stereotypes is to contradict them, in direct interactions between people, in the media, and through education. Between the individuals: once people get to know a person from “the other side,” they are often will determine that the other is not nearly as bad as they originally had assumed. Even when people learn that they share fear or sadness, they can begin to understand each other more. When they come to understand that the other is afraid of being hurt, or losing a loved one in war, just as they are, that brings people together. Depending on the context and other interactions, the image of the group as a whole may become more positive as well. In the media: the media also plays an important role in both perpetuating and in breaking down stereotypes. If they characterize particular groups of people in certain ways, their viewers (or readers) are likely to do the same. So if a movie or the motion picture industry in general, characterizes a group of people negatively, they are likely to be perpetuating negative stereotypes and making conflicts worse. If they emphasize the positive aspects of groups that contradict prevalent stereotypes, they can have a significant role in building mutual understanding.
Topic: racism

history of different racial and ethnic groups can help build inter-group understanding if it is done in an effective and sympathetic way. Changing stereotypes is largely the job of individuals. Each of us should examine the assumptions that we make about others and ask ourselves where those assumptions come from. (Source: (Why do we stereotype?, 2012) Training people to become more empathetic to members of other groups is one method that can reduce stereotyping, discrimination and prejudice. By imaging themselves in the same situation, people are able to think about how they would react and gain a greater understanding of other people’s actions. Other techniques that are used to reduce prejudice include: * Passing laws and regulations that require fair and equal treatment for all groups of people. * Gaining public support and awareness for stereotype, discrimination and prejudice social norms. * Making people aware of the inconsistencies in their own beliefs. * Increased contact with members of other social groups. (Cherry, 2013) Pettigrew (1981) and others proposed that stereotyping, discrimination and prejudice can be reduced by increasing contact between groups (the contact hypothesis), social learning, social re-categorization and weakening stereotypes. INCREASING CONTACTS BETWEEN GROUPS
Topic: racism

The common in-group identity model (Gaertner, Dovidio et al., 1993) * When members of different social groups come to see themselves as members of a single social entity, their attitudes toward the former out-group members become more positive * Crucial factor is existence of situation in which groups work together cooperatively toward shared goals * Strong support for common in-group identity model from lab and field studies, but hard to implement in real life settings WEAKENING STEREOTYPES
Topic: racism

Stereotypes can be reduced if persons can be made to engage in attribute-driven processing thinking about the unique characteristics of individuals. Factors that encourage attribute-driven processing: * Give person incentive to think accurately about others (Neuberg, 1989) * Inform persons that their own outcomes depend on another’s performance, or that it is important that they form an accurate impression of other * Successful outcomes for members of other groups (e.g., career success) can counter stereotypes because we often attribute positive characteristics to those who have good outcomes. (Reducing Stereotyping, Discrimination and Prejudice, 2012) CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK