ktmeng/mec huggingface dataset:
Topic: racism

”(Nash, 2001, p. 6) Nash points out that this was perhaps the most tragic failure in the American system, and one that has left a permanent blemish on the nation. The second chapter therefore begins with the main questions that become immediate after analyzing the initial enthusiasm and the eventual failure. Nash explains that he diverges from the common view according to which the newly formed union of states was too young to be able to act correctly from a political or social point of view.
Topic: racism

Moreover, he also insists that the Southerner’s self-interested opposition was not the halt of the abolitionists: “In explaining the failure of the new nation to come to grips with slavery, historians have repeatedly pointed to the precariousness of the newly forged union of the states and the intransigence of the lower South, particularly Georgia and South Carolina, in thwarting the widespread desire of those in the North and upper South to see the traffic of slaves ended for ever and the institution of slavery on the road to extinction.
Topic: racism

”(Nash, 2001, p. 25) Nash comes here close to the center of his demonstration throughout the book. His main idea is that the failure should not be blamed on the contention between the North and the South. The southerners were indeed guided by their economical interests in preserving slavery as an institution. The slave owners and the slave traders were equally unwilling to part with the profitable system of slavery. In Nash’s view however, neither of these motivations were actually the reason for the failure.
Topic: racism

In the fourth letter attached for documentary purpose at the end of the book, the reaction of the black community against this growing hostility becomes clear: “I proceed again to the consideration of the bill of unalienable rights belonging to black men, the passage of which will only tend to show that the advocates to emancipation can enact laws more degrading to free man and more injurious to his feeling than all the tyranny of slavery or the shackles of infatuated despotism. ”(Nash, 2001, p. 196) Slavery was an open attack on the other race.
Topic: racism

However, the racism implied in the acts and bills issued after the revolution had waned are indicative of the extent to which this ideology pervaded the white communities of the time. The point of the demonstration seems therefore to hold: the failure to treat the black people as equal after their liberation was due to the inherent racism of the whites. Although freedom and human rights were advocated as grounds for the revolution, the bills issued afterwards point to the inability of the whites to conceive racial equality with the blacks.
Topic: racism

Nash argues therefore that this enthusiasm was perhaps not grounded on a real understanding of the circumstances and that it was more of a theoretical conclusion rather than an actual analysis of the situation. The northerners did not agree with slavery in principle as being a savage and base practice, but were not ready to regard the African Americans as their equals. This fully explains why the revolution actually completed in a series of compromises rather than in the triumph of democracy and humanism, as it should have been expected. Gary B.
Topic: racism

Nash offers in his book a historical account with a timeline of the objective facts and events during and briefly after the revolution, but also a pertinent theory with respect to the inherent concept of race within the American civilization. He lies out and analyzes a block of data as well as authentic testimonies and documents of the time. It is obvious that he insists more on opinions and declarations from the time of the revolution, rather than on mere facts. Thus, he bases his analysis on the concepts and ideologies which circulated at the time.
Topic: racism

The supportive material offered for investigation at the end of the book is also very useful for the reader, as it backs up the demonstration that Nash makes. Race and Revolution is, as the title emphasizes, more than a simple historical account. It is an analysis of the concept of ‘race’ and its importance in American history. Nash chooses the time of the revolution to investigate the concept of race precisely because this seems to have been a turning point in the relationship between the white and the black communities.
Topic: racism

Moreover, at this point, the evolution of the racial conflict seems to have been clearly predicted. The book casts a new light on the revolution itself, which had been preserved as the remembrance of a glorious cause, disputed among the two regions of the United States, the North and the South. Nash draws attention to the actual picture of the revolution as a civil war in which the cause itself was not very clear. The text is therefore structure according to this main point of the demonstration: the reason why slavery became even more powerful at the very moment of the foundation of the United States as a nation.
Topic: racism

The allusion to the implicit racism at the core of the national experience of America is inescapable. Nash interlocks therefore the two events: the failure to abolish slavery and recognize the African Americans as a people with equal rights and the foundation and unification of the nation itself. He contends therefore that these two events are symbolically related, as the concept of race is deeply rooted in the American experience and culture. Nash’s work is therefore an important analysis that provides new insight on the history of America, of race and on that of the African Americans.
Topic: racism

The book is all the more fundamental since there has been only very little historical investigation of the African Americans as a separate race at this particular moment in time. In fact, most of the accounts of African American history skip the period of the revolution all together, thus failing to shed light on a very important moment. The role of the blacks in the Revolution itself is also usually ignored by historians. Race and Revolution thus draws attention to essential and yet un-investigated aspects of the American Revolution.
Topic: racism

The revolution, as Nash observes, is usually discussed as a great movement of emancipation and unification of the colonies on the territory of America. Given its importance as a historical event, the underlying racial debate on the question of slavery at the time is skipped or ignored. Nash demonstrates that this is an important moment for the evolution of the interracial relationships in America precisely because it actually functioned as a crossroads in the history of the United States. If a different course of events had taken place at the time, the conflict between the two races might have had a very different outcome.
Topic: racism

Thus, the American Revolution was a decisive moment for the interracial contention precisely because is an early form of abolitionism. While endeavoring to obtain their own independence and rights from England, the colonies debated the fundamental question of slavery and whether it should be abolished. The moment is a turning point in history precisely because the choices made at the point where the nation was founded influence the subsequent ideological growth of the nation. Thus, Nash implies in his book that the idealism of the revolution was dashed by the failure of the colonies to abolish slavery at that time.
Topic: racism

He also draws attention to the fact that some of the early abolitionists advocated the freedom of the black slaves for the same purpose of convenience, because they believed that white workers would be a better or more profitable option. The struggle caused by racial contention was therefore a complex and long process, in which idealism played a very small part. The actual battle took place between various political and economical interests. Nash also highlights that slavery actually increased its rate in the middle of emancipation again due to economical interests.
Topic: racism

The invention of the cotton gin in 1793 for instance brought a tremendous enhance to the plantation of cotton and implicitly to the need for slaves as working force. The causes that the revolutionaries fought for were thus not as simple and luminous as they are usually thought to be. The slavery debate at the time of the early republic best demonstrates that the social and political scenes were already very complex theatres. Gary B. Nash’s Race and Revolution is therefore a complex investigation of many aspects of the American Revolution and the slavery debate that took place at the time.
Topic: racism

The structure and the coherence of the ideas make the book an insightful and useful glance at the events that took place during the American Revolution. The importance of the book can be therefore estimated as quite high, since it sheds lights on new aspects of the revolution and of the early republic. It also demolishes the myth of the revolution as one of the most glorious moments in American history. While there was indeed a stream of idealism permeating the nation at that time, there were also many economical and political interests at play.
Topic: racism

What becomes clear after reading Nash’s book is that the revolution did not have enough ideological force to suppress racism and implicitly slavery. The abolishment was in fact a slow, gradual process that can be said to have spanned the entire nineteenth century and more than that. Despite the fact that among the revolutionaries there were people who had an enlightened idea about democracy and human rights in general, their force was not sufficient to alter the course of history and prevent further racial conflicts.
Topic: racism

The fact that the racial war was not won at the time even though independence was gained, proves that race is an inherent concept that will probably always generate conflict and debate. Nash’ book demonstrates that even at a time of idealism like the revolution, racism was still at its height and impossible to suppress. It also proves an important and general remark on the course of history itself, as it pinpoints the complexity of the events during the revolution. The structure of the historical events is never simple and unanimity is very hard to be achieved on a certain point.
Topic: racism

Therefore, the work emphasizes many aspects of the American Revolution, stressing its importance as a event in the history of the African Americans and in the history of race itself, as a concept. It provides a useful reading precisely because it makes a clear and concise demonstration of the way in which racial debates are fundamental to the American nation itself. The paradox at the center of the American civilization is thus unveiled and discussed: along the tumultuous history of the United States, a very high idealism and democratic principle has mingled with the desire for progress and economical advancement.
Topic: racism

The history of the United States seems to be permeated by example of opposite aspects entering into an irreconcilable conflict. The highly democratic and enlightened principles of the American Revolution are shadowed thus by the racial debate underlying the main events. As such, the book is an interesting reading for anyone desiring to perfect his or her knowledge of the history of the United States and its cultural paradoxes. References: Nash, Gary B (2001). Race and Revolution. Maryland: Rowman and Littlefield
Topic: racism

Migration is the movement of people across a specified boundary for the purpose of establishing a new or semi-permanent residence. External migration is where residences change between a residential unit in the Demographic Surveillance Systems (DSA) with one outside it, and internal migration is where residences change from one residential unit to another in the same DSA (Indepth 2008). Migration is a process of civilians moving from one region to another region by some push and pull factors. Certain push and pull factors like brain drain, racism, better living standards and higher chances of employment cause a particular person to migrate.
Topic: racism

In recent years, there has been a significant rise of migration within the global community. Although, migration has some disadvantages in the sense of racism and brain drain, its benefits far outweighs the disadvantages that come with it. The trend of migration is a positive phenomenon as it contributes to the ever needy job vacancy in the host country, as well as strengthening the economy in both origin and host country and creates a better society with a variety of culture in the host country.
Topic: racism

According to CNN World; the National Unions of Students in Europe (ESIB) was suffering a serious long-term internal brain drain because more European students are going to Britain due to educational and employment reasons. Many people from Poland migrate to the West due to high unemployment rates in their own country, in 2004, 100,000 EU (European Union) students were enrolled in UK higher education, of which 54,000 were on undergraduate and 46,000 in postgraduate courses, according to Britain’s educational authority, DES (Department of Education and Skills).
Topic: racism

This states that the U. S. is losing out to the U. K. in attracting international students (Stenman 2006). Thousands of skilled young South Africans tend to emigrate in search of a better living, thus, draining the country of much-needed economic resources such as manpower. According to BBC News; 100,000 people every year leave South Africa and the 70% that are still in there say they are considering emigrating, despite their government asking them to stay and work in the country. Racism is an act of discrimination or prejudice based on one’s race.
Topic: racism

It’s a negative social behavior to people with different cultures and races. This is one of the major issues the world is facing. Immigration can be a social issue, where racism is used to exploit feelings and express woes of the local population towards the immigrants (Nittle 2011). According to the New York Times; a group a West Africans migrated to Rocky Mountains, North America in search of economic opportunity were involved in a disagreement with Wal-Mart, accusing it of discriminatory actions, they argued that they were been dismissed because supervisors wanted them to give their jobs to locals.
Topic: racism

Most of the African employees were repeatedly disciplined for not meeting the production necessities. Eventually, they were fired; non-African workers were not subjected to the same criticism. As reported by CNN U. S. ; a poll has been conducted to 1,031 Americans, including 328 blacks and 703 whites by Opinion Research Corp. for CNN indicates that all Whites and Blacks disagree on how a serious problem racial bias in U. S. 50% of black respondents states that racism is a “very serious” problem, while 18% of whites shares the same thought. 48% of whites and 35% of blacks considered that it is a “fairly serious”.
Topic: racism

When asked if they consider someone a racist, 48% of blacks and 43% of whites agreed. However, 13% of whites and 12% of blacks considered themselves racially biased. The modern era has brought many changes to the world due to migration. Many countries are considering it as a way to improve their economy based on more job opportunities, and developing a country to be more integrated. Despite negative effects to the economy and labor force caused by brain drain and
Topic: racism

Migrants contribute to the economic development of a country in many ways, such as, fulfilling labor force shortages, investing in the economy, and supporting international trade through knowledge of overseas marketing strategies, business networks, and cultural integration. Immigration results in an open global market, giving a general perspective to the social and economic growth of society, thus, increase the horizon of development (Australian Human Rights Commission 2005). Employed immigrants nvariably increase the nation’s wealth by intensifying competition and expanding the distribution of employment. As the immigrant’s income increases, more demand is made for products and services beyond the basics, thus, immigrants bring an effective boost to the economy (Boudreaux 2000). According to the World Bank (2010); developing countries received US$325 billion remittances in 2010, not much over US$316 received in 2009, but are likely to increase by 6. 2% in 2011 and 8. 1% by 2012 due to economic development by migration.
Topic: racism

Rich industrialized countries offer far higher basic salaries than developing and third-world countries. In addition, first-world economies like of America and Australia also have a fixed minimum wage ensuring that even migrant workers from less-developed countries receive a higher basic salary. Migration enables people to relate to new ways of life. It leads to an exchange of knowledge and experience between races or nations It also serves as an opportunity to collaborate with people of other countries to be a multi-racial community and to unite with each other and share their views (Gabriel 2011).
Topic: racism

As migrants pursue their expedition, they gain new information due to the new environment that revolves around them. The immigrants’ pattern of movement reflects the conditions of an ever-changing world, sequentially, dramatic impacts of cultural experience of the places they’ve been often leaves a mark in them, these marks include, attitudes, languages, institutions, traditions, architectural manners, foods and music—all linking to the past, present and future generations of that place and it’s people (“Human Migration:” 2008).
Topic: racism

First-world and developing countries like U. S. Canada and Australia have always included a large immigrant population; Australia is a multi-cultural country that consists of people from diverse culture and background. The Australian society guarantees respect, freedom and equality among individuals, it allows people to contribute to the social, political and economic life of Australia, and it gives benefits to all citizens from productive diversity, it includes the cultural, social and economic incentives arising from the diversity of the country’s population (Australian Human Rights Commission 2005). A pull factor of migration is a search for better standards of living.
Topic: racism

Standard of living is used to suggest a person’s wellbeing; it refers to the economic level of an individual such as; level of wealth and basic necessities available to a certain place, it is also an ambition that people set for themselves as a consumer (Nardinelli 2008). People migrating to more developed countries will often find that the same work they were doing back home is rewarded abroad with higher salaries and welfare benefits, thus, migrants are drawn to those developing countries where they can maximize their profit and benefits (Levin Institute 2006).
Topic: racism

Many people in Australia enjoys a high standard of living, this is best illustrated by the cost of housing, desirable family homes there are sold for less than US$290,000 and average mortgage is equivalent to US$255,000 making it affordable to all citizens, employment due to the changing settlement experience of New Migrants Reports shows that 95% of skilled-migrants found a job within a year or arriving in Australia and 94% of them express employment satisfaction, diversity due to approximately quarter of the population there was born outside Australia, thus, demonstrating how welcoming the country is to migrants, geography and landscape due to clear blue oceans, beaches. Desert, rain forests and those who considering to migrate there are bound to discover a new environment that they will enjoy (Iradale 2010). In conclusion, the migration phenomenon changes the life of everyone in this world due to the advantages that pertain to the development of countries and their people.
Topic: racism

These advantages includes: contribution of migration to the economic growth as it makes a developed country even more developed, exchanging cultural experience and gaining new knowledge due to social interaction, and better standards of living as a foundation to success. However, migration has its disadvantages that’ll lead to a country’s downfall like brain drain and racism. Migration also contributes to the economic growth as it makes a developed county even more developed. Thus, it’s everyone’s responsibility including governments to cooperate as a whole, to make the world a better place to live in and to promote innovation for future generations to come. If we are to minimize poverty, migration should be promoted to improve the quality and preference of lifestyle. Introduction to migration policies should be enforced to countries in order to maximize benefits.
Topic: racism

In the story, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, there are lots of styles. Two of them include racism and displacement. At an extremely young age, Maya fulfilled the results of racism and partition in America. She had been told about the differences in between blacks and whites, which developed her belief that only blonde hair is beautiful and that she is a fat black girl stuck in a nightmare. However, Stamps, Arkansas, was so segregated that as a child Maya never ever actually saw white individuals that made her think that they didn’t exist.
Topic: racism

Maya is moved around to seven different homes between the ages of three and sixteen. As said in the poem she tries to recite on Easter, the statement “I didn’t come to stay” becomes her shield against the reality of her rootlessness. Maya is always humiliated, making her unable to put down her shield and feel comfortable staying in one place. When she is thirteen she moved to San Francisco with her mother, Bailey, and Daddy Clidell. She finally feels that she belongs somewhere for the first time.
Topic: racism

Another suggestion as to how racism makes it’s way into our heads is through the almighty media. As we grow up, media becomes a factor of our lives whether or not we want it to be, and is also a major source of how racism keeps itself active. Since the 70’s the media has been giving us racial labels, one of the largest supplies coming from crime shows like “Law and Order”, and “CSI”. When dealing with crime, people of color are reflected in the demarcation of “them” and “us”. Whites are often represented as the “good guy”, or the strong, law obeying citizens. They often target people of color, sometimes without any sort of evidence. Directors and writers use racial stereotypes to make a more complex story with more suspects.
Topic: racism

In the novel, “The Power of One,” by Bryce Courtney, a young, white, African boy named Peekay lives in a world where the government, the country, and the world revolves around racism. World War II is coming to an end, and in South Africa, the whites seem to hate the blacks just as much as the blacks hate the whites. Peekay was raised by a compassionate and loving black woman he refers to as “Nanny”, due to the unsafe conditions at home with his bad, mentally ill mother. He grew up with Nanny and his best friend, who was also black. To Peekay, racism didn’t exist.
Topic: racism

“Adapt, blend…develop a camouflage.” This thought went through Peekay’s mind once he had been exposed to racism, having been forced to attend a boarding school full of bigger, darker students. In Chapters One and Two, as a mere five-year-old, the bright protagonist Peekay is already addressing the necessity of affecting camouflages in order to survive the system. He is often forced to act differently around people of different skin colors in order to fit in better to prevent himself from getting beaten or teased.
Topic: racism

Peekay faces his first taste of racism the very first night at the boarding school. One boy, known as “The Judge”, who was much older, stronger, and darker than Peekay, comes up with the nickname “PissKop” for Peekay, because of Peekay’s habit to wet the bed that was caused by The Judge’s, along with the help of many other older black students, tendency to beat Peekay and spit in his face. The Judge also convinces Peekay that Hitler is determined to march all Englishmen in South Africa into the ocean, and even forces Peekay to eat human feces.
Topic: racism

Upbringing is a very strong factor of what influences people to become racist, or to have even slight racial views. In Peekay’s case, he had gone from one extreme to another. At home, Nanny and his best friend were the only people he could call family, besides his mother who spent time at what Peekay called “The Mental Breakdown Place”. When sent to the boarding school, he wasn’t expecting the black students to dislike him because of his skin color. He saw the black kids as merely bullies, and before they started bullying him hadn’t anticipated them to gang up on him because they were black. This is what caused Peekay’s neutrality with the racist society in which he lived. He gave each person a chance to be a good person, because he had seen the good in different ethnicities to which many people were stubborn to open up their minds.
Topic: racism

The power of one, or the idea of how one person can make a significant difference, is an important idea in relation to challenge in the novel. Giel Piet, one of Peekay’s boxing coaches who had been sneaking tobacco to all of the prisoners, was forced to eat feces by Sergeant Ballman, a white racist who works at the prison. If Giel Piet had refused to eat the feces, the guards would have found the tobacco, resulting in the prisoners getting beaten along with Giel Piet . As Peekay witnessed this happen to his coach, he thought, “It made me angry. Angry it was done. Angry I couldn’t do anything to stop it.”
Topic: racism

But how does racism really affect society? Visibly identifiable members of racial and ethnic oppressed groups continue to struggle for equal access and opportunity, particularly during times of stringent economics. Often, the targeted race has a harder time doing things such as finding a well-paying job or house. While there have been some sizeable gains in the labor force status of racial minorities, significant gaps remains. Racism is rampant in all areas of employment. For many members of exploited racial and ethnic unit, there is always an economic depression. Studies show that people of color are the last hired and the first fired. As a result, budget cuts, downsizing, and privatization may disproportionately hurt people of color. In February 1995 the unemployment rate for African Americans was 10.1 percent as compared to 4.7 percent for white Americans (Berry, 1995). The unemployment rate for adolescents of color is approximately four times that of white adolescents. What’s more, In America, the Majority of unemployed men are black, and compared to other races, Blacks and Latinos on average have disproportionately low income.
Topic: racism

Other than simply getting a job, getting and keeping a house is often a difficult task for those of color. The job of a landlord is to rent out houses to reliable people or families, though a racist landlord could make it difficult for a family of color to find a home. Widespread housing discrimination against Americans of color in U.S. neighborhoods is sometimes referred to as a “national” problem, something that must be fixed by new government policies. Housing segregation in the United States developed slowly and deliberately. By law, property owners may not refuse to rent or sell housing, make housing unavailable to, set different conditions or privileges for sale or rental of a property, impose different rates and terms on a loan, refuse to make a mortgage loan, or discriminate in appraising property due to a client’s ethnicity, and because racism cannot be seen, these rules are very vague. Available evidence suggests that blacks and Hispanics face higher rejection rates and less favorable conditions in securing mortgages than do Whites with similar credit characteristics (Ross & Yinger 1999). It has been reported that blacks pay more than 0.5% higher interest rates on home mortgages than whites do and that this difference persists with income level, date of purchase, and age of buyer.
Topic: racism

During the Great Depression, people of color had a much harder time getting past the financial hardship because of the racial stereotypes that had before been thrown around. In the book, Whitewash Race: The Myth of a Colorblind Society, Michael K. Brown says “In the late 1930’s, black unemployment rates were two to four times higher than white unemployment rates.” Few Blacks had any financial savings to caution them from the full affect of the Depression. Blacks that had before has troubles getting a well paying job the faced the same challenge with a much larger margin for failure. Mrs. Roosevelt was particularly fretful about the financial difficulties encountered by racism.
Topic: racism

Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, by Mildred D. Taylor, is a story about a black family, the Logans, from the south, living frugally in order to preserve and keep their patch of farmland. Because the story takes place during the end of the Great Depression, one of the worst times in history to be a black farmer, money has become very sparse for the family and for the neighborhood. The children of the family, Cassie, Stacey, Christopher-John, and Little Man, live in a world where white kids rule and they know it. White kids had the freedom to do anything they wished to do, from threatening the kids they thought were inferior to hammering kids who socialized with black kids, or even walked with them to school. This was the case for T.J., a friend of the Logan kids who often walked with Cassie and her brothers to school, more often than not with a price.
Topic: racism

While walking to school on the first day, Cassie and her brothers are cascaded in red dust as a bus full of white kids skids past, though they eventually get their revenge on the kids by sabotaging the bus. This is significant not only because it shows us just how boorish white kids were to black kids, but it also shows that black kids had to walk to school, and to some black kids, according to Cassie, the walk is so long they are forced to drop out of school. Cassie, being in fourth grade, attends a school especially for black kids. On the first day back to school, she and the other students are staggered to realize that that year they would be having books in the class, something that at that time was a luxury for an all-black school. Though once Cassie sees the books, she quickly sees why the books were given to them. The books were old and dirty, and on the inside of the front cover clenching to stay on was the label “Nigras.” Infuriated, Cassie refuses to take the book, and is ultimately whipped for her quarrel.
Topic: racism

It isn’t until a black man is killed by a group of white men without consequence that the Logan kids grasp the idea of how dangerous living in a racist, white community could be. Racism becomes the problem revolving around the Logan family. Cassie doesn’t understand why they are treated differently and doesn’t want to back down because of the color of her skin. Stacey, on the other and, agrees to keep a low profile in the white community as to not trigger any alarms that may cause an issue.
Topic: racism

This novel does a good job of showing how the effects racism on a specific race simply cause racism itself to stay functioning. After all they endure, at the end of the book the Logan family are a healthier family than they were at the start, mainly because of their capability to see through each other’s skin color, something the rest of the town was unable to do. The disruption of the school bus, though it was simply a small revenge, shows how close the kids had become because of everything they had been through because of the white kids. Racism brings races together, making races seem like a tighter bondage, and ultimately making it easier to target races.
Topic: racism

Racism had existed throughout human history. It is regularly defined as the detestation, or belief that someone is less than human, because of skin color, place of birth, and mores. All of these arguments are based on a false understanding of race; in fact, some contemporary scientists could argue that the classification of races used today is inadequate, and that there are more meticulous and proper ways of categorizing humans. What may seem to be considerable “racial” differences to some people, such as skin color, hair, and facial shape, are not of much scientific significance. It has been said that there have been greater biological differences between people of the same race than if we were to compare the same trait to a different race. One philosopher writes: “There are few genetic characteristics to be found in the population of England that are not found in similar proportions in Zaire or in China….those differences that most deeply affect us in our dealings with each other are not to any significant degree biologically determined.”
Topic: racism

As humankind progresses, our way of thinking becomes more complex, as does the world around us. The values we once had aren’t forgotten, but replaced with new values as our old ways hide in the back of our minds. Though they are present and may re-emerge if a change in life conditions calls them up, they are no longer the dominant. This genuinely is the hope for mankind in their fight to end racism. In the future, if we can surmount the silliness of racism to the point where no one senses it, we will be in fine condition. The most effective way to begin this, through the words of Morgan Freeman, is to “Stop Talking About It.”
Topic: racism

Thomas Shapiro, in his book entitled The Hidden Cost of Being African American, reveals to the public why African Americans can be so disconnected from the economic mainstream in America during our time as a supposed “post-racial” society. Some proportioners of the post-racial ideology claim that since we have an African American president, and blatant racism has been made illegal it is clear that we as a country are devoid of racial prejudice. However, this is simply not true.
Topic: racism

Due to the difference in wealth African Americans are more susceptible to shock and are be unable to capitalize on certain opportunities making the next generation inherit less to. The cycle continues, and at it’s core is the racially segregated neighborhoods most of us call home. African American homes do not grown as fast in value as white homes do. This is because people looking for a home generally look for amenities that would be found in white neighborhoods such as, parks, good schools, and nice views.
Topic: racism

This in turn raises the cost of living in those neighborhoods which means higher taxes which translates into better amenities. So the neighborhood just keeps getting better and more expensive. What’s disturbing is that although most whites would consider themselves okay with a black family moving in next door, less and less whites would be okay when more than one black family moves into the neighborhood. Not because they are racist, but because they do not want their home value to go down. So what do they do? They sell.
Topic: racism

Which leads their other white neighbors to get scared about the value of their own home, so they sell as well. Before you know it “white flight” occurs and property values are half as much as they used to be. That’s the hidden cost of being African American, and thats what Thomas Shapiro believes is the reason for these disparities. No matter what African Americans do their homes are not worth as much, and homeownership is the key to wealth. Most whites feel no guilt for the hidden cost they’ve imposed on African Americans. They also fail to acknowledge the disparities between the races.
Topic: racism

People who’ve inherited thousands of dollars from their parents and whose parents payed for their school believe that there are self reliant and that anyone, if they work hard enough, could be in the same position. But that is simply not true. One story Thomas talks about that really shed some light on this issue for me was when an upper middle class woman didn’t concern herself with the local public school because she would never send her children there. These are just more obstacles we must face in order to close the gap on racial inequality.
Topic: racism

Although Thomas Shapiro might seem extreme to some, most will agree something should be done. The first thing that must be done that Thomas Shapiro has done in many of his works is to bring these issues and disparities to light so Whites cannot hide from the truth and feel good about themselves. The truth is I used to be one of the ignorant Whites that figured that everyone has an equal shot. But the fact that so many white families not only do nothing to help solve these disparities (that would be too much to ask) but decide to ignore them and are blind to whats going on is a very serious issue.
Topic: racism

The issue wont solve itself, it hasn’t for over 50 years. The existence of isolated and racially segregated housing has preserved racism, and unfortunately that racially segregated housing is very resistant to change. These unfortunate truths help further ignorant stereotypes that inhibit our society from attaining true racial equality. But the fact is that the emergence of the black “ghetto” did not happen by chance. It came from deliberate housing policies and projects that were designed to enforce legal racial segregation.
Topic: racism

As a result, it is clear that this has had a lasting impact on American as a whole, and is at the core of the problem with the wealth disparities between African Americans and whites. Deliberate government policies helped create racial segregation. Therefore, policy makers should work towards dismantling the still existing housing segregation through a policy of integration. The fact that before the civil war, African americans and whites lived side by side in the same community, and now over a hundred years later we do not, is staggering.
Topic: racism

I would like to begin by stating that, I really delighted in enjoying the film CRASH, a few of the things displayed in the movie are extremely sensible and much of it can’t even be taken into words. Two of the habits that I saw most, are bias and stereotyping. It was the reason for where all the occasions eliminated from. These habits are considered as thoughts and feelings that nearly everybody has felt more than when. This film shows us the different point of view of people in our society; it gives us an insight of the stereotypes that have actually developed within our society and within the world.
Topic: racism

It invites us to see and understand how such a small stereotype and negative attitude can go a long method and impact individuals differently. In the film Crash it appears that feelings run high with racial and ethnic inequality such as disappointment, aggression, and reliable personalities. According to Diana Kendall in Social Issues In a Diverse Society, the frustration-aggression hypothesis is “People who are irritated in their efforts to accomplish an extremely wanted objective tend to develop a pattern of aggressiveness toward others (51 ).
Topic: racism

” To put it simply, when individuals feel as though they are being prevented from attaining a goal, their frustration will typically turn into aggressiveness. In the motion picture Crash, Farhad, the Iranian/Persian storeowner attempted to live his best to pursue the American dream by running his own store. He hired a Latino locksmith professional named Daniel to have the lock at his shop changed but conflict emerged between the Sas 2 two and in the end, Daniel didn’t change the lock.
Topic: racism

Farhad was currently an annoyed middle aged male who struggled to make ends meet, and now having his shop robbed has him act out strongly without anybody to blame. So, he decides to snap his anger towards Daniel, hoping it would assist him feel much better. Expectations of Arabs to be violent terrorists, Farhad is not even Arab. Technically, he is Persian, but what the store owner anticipates from him, he ultimately gets when Farhad “shoots” the little Hispanic lady. Farhad believes the Hispanic male is ripping him off so when his shop is looted, the Hispanic man is blamed although he had nothing to do with the damage.
Topic: racism

Crash is full of many other sociological concepts, examining issues of race, social class, and gender, as well as many others. In this movie, we can see the theories of Durkheim and Marx for sure as well as many other concepts. Crash is one of those movies that make us rethink even what we think we know about the world we live in. Another sociological concept that Crash demonstrates is the Thomas Theorem. Basically, this theorem tells us that if we believe situations to be real, they become real to us. Our own subjective reality becomes our objective reality.
Topic: racism

It follows then that if we believe certain things about an individual, he/she begins acting in exactly that way. It also follows that certain crimes or problems do not have an objective realities. Using drugs would be one example of that sort of victimless crime. The best example of this in the movie might be when Jean Cabot grips her purse when passing by Anthony (Luda cris) and Peter on the street. She believes black people to be a threat. Her subjective reality becomes real in the next minute when the two young Sas 3 black men carjack them. What the characters believe about others has become real in these instances.
Topic: racism

Another sociological term demonstrated in Crash is the theory of micro-aggression. Microaggressions would be defined as “Microaggressions are subtle insults (verbal, nonverbal, and/or visual) directed toward people of color, often automatically or unconsciously. ” While the individual effects of these particular instances may be small, the cumulative effects can be devastating. In Crash, I believe the character that most exemplifies this is the film director. Examples of these subtle insults would be things such as people telling him that he just isn’t really black to them or the comments about language on the set of the movie.
Topic: racism

He advises him to tell the black character to make his language “more black. ” These are subtle but insults nonetheless. These kinds of comments, combined with the powerlessness he feels when his wife is sexually assaulted lead to the blow-up where he almost gets himself killed. He has endured these subtle forms of racism his whole life, and he reaches a breaking point where he just isn’t going to take it The last concept that is displayed in Crash is the sociological concept of ethnocentrism. This means that we judge other cultures by the standards of our own.
Topic: racism

Not only that, but we also believe that our own culture is superior to everyone else’s. Graham and his Latina girlfriend fight and he pokes fun at her culture by calling her Mexican even though she isn’t. Asian Americans speech patterns are made fun of, like the term “blaking” for braking. These characters don’t celebrate or even accept the characteristics of other cultures. They only mock them, assuming the superiority of their own culture. They fail to try to understand one another through Sas 4 ethnocentrism. Officer Ryan makes fun of the name Shaniqua, a more common name of African American culture.
Topic: racism

All in all, Crash is a movie full of sociological concepts. Many more could be analyzed in cry, sometimes at almost the same time. When we laugh, however, we must question the underlying sociological assumptions or concepts that make us laugh. Are we laughing at some of the racist jokes because of our own ethnocentrism. Are we failing to see the microaggressions directed at members of minority groups all the time. Are we as guilty as Jean Cabot at making our own realities our truths? Do we have beliefs about certain groups of people and essentially make them come true for ourselves? Crash asks us to question all of these things.
Topic: racism

The Klan used public violence against blacks as intimidation; attempting to keep them out of jobs and off the land that whites believed they did not and should not own. To the Klan Blacks were a inferior race and should stay that way; working for whites as a labor force. As the years went by the Klan attempted to create a hierarchy with the various chapters in the south, however the plan failed and the various chapters went on to terrorize their areas and settle feuds that were boiling.
Topic: racism

The Klan choose to ride at night and use the darkness as their ally as they terrorized the black community. When they would ride at night they often dawned white masks to mask their identity from the community, mainly for the simply reason that the members of the Klan were often high ranking officials of the military or of the community. When the Klan would ride they often targeted black political leaders as well as heads of the families, along with the leaders of the churches, and community groups because these men and women were a icon in the community. The Klan was also against blacks voting, in a matter of weeks that Klan had killed or wounded over two-thousand black voters in Louisiana before the Presidential election of 1868.
Topic: racism

By 1868, just 2 years after the creation of the Klan its activities began to fade and die down. In 1870 the government stated that the Klan was an organized terrorist group and began to indict members of the Klan. A reporter in Georgia wrote in January 1870, “A true statement of the case is not that the Ku Klux are an organized band of licensed criminals, but that men who commit crimes call themselves Ku Klux.” (1) As the Klan decreased its unpopularity also shot down, in 1870 the Klan was destroyed in South Carolina and discriminated against in the rest of the south. In 1872 the Klan was completely disbanded and didn’t come back till 1915.
Topic: racism

In conclusion, the Klan was a group of men and some women that still held the beliefs that the black community was underneath the whites. They did not see them as equals and did not agree with what the north was trying to do after the Civil war. In the beginning the Klan was strong and had nearly 550,000 members that terrorized the south, but the lack of leadership and differing views ultimately led to their demise and eventual destruction of the Klan.
Topic: racism

According to this book race, class, and gender “shape the experiences of all people in the United States.” There are ways in which different groups can be both privileged in one way while disadvantaged in another. Americans have started describing these different groups using the term diversity. Diversity awareness has started initiatives to prove diversity is pleasing and important, and that it should be celebrated. One more important topic discussed in this chapter is the directions to study exploitations and exclusions of some groups along with the inclusion of others.
Topic: racism

The thesis of “Why Race Class and Gender Still Matter” is that developing knowledge of how the progressively universal center of society effects the configuration of race, class, and gender interactions will inspire inclusive outlooks in the United States. The author’s language ability is voice-intimidating. The author uses very advanced language. Specific words I found difficult to understand were matrix, salient, domination, and framework. The author provides evidence when talking about Hurricane Katrina and the damage that hurricane did. However, most statements are not backed up with evidence of studies or statistics. The author employs the logic of problematic.
Topic: racism

I found this reading to open my mind up for what is to come in the future weeks of this class. Since it was only the opening chapter I did not find anything to be implicit or explicit. My biggest question is what is meant by a matrix of domination? This chapter says “we use the approach of a matrix of domination to analyze race, class, and gender.” I realize that it refers to levels in the social structure of the U.S. but how are these levels defined and what makes one disadvantage worse than another?