ktmeng/mec huggingface dataset:
Topic: racism

began officially on March 15, 2011. Since then, hundreds of thousands of citizens of Syria have been killed. Wynn Flaten, a Syrian response director, stated that “It is utterly heartbreaking to see the constant calls from humanitarian organizations to put an end to the violence, suffering, and devastation of Syrian people, go unnoticed.” Donald Trump was incorrect to say that people are dumped here because the United States wants to help people. That’s why many refugees come to America; it is one of the only places in the world where people have complete freedom. 5.6 million Syrians have fled Syria as refugees and about half are children. Despite Donald Trump’s claims that America deals with the world’s problems, many other countries took in refugees. Turkey, Lebanon, Iraq, Jordan, and Egypt total 5.5 million of the refugees, whereas America has taken in a little over 18,000. Many religious groups are also fighting each other. In 2018, there are still 2.9 million people not getting help in Syria because they are in hard to reach places. To make matters worse, they flee to the United States of America only to face racial discrimination. Syria isn’t the only country people are fleeing from. Afghanistan, South Sudan, Myanmar, and Somalia are other major countries refugees are escaping from. The racial discrimination they are facing is horrific. One UUSC article expresses that “In the United States, President Trump has drastically lowered the refugee admissions cap and signed an executive order that barred entry to the United States to refugees from 11 countries, including war-torn Syria. The United States is also witnessing a surge in xenophobic and Islamophobic political rhetoric, and with it a rise in reported hate crimes against Muslims and other minorities.” and because of these so-called helpful new policies in the United States, people aren’t getting the help they need, while also facing racism.
Topic: racism

A hero who made a difference in her fight against racial segregation and discrimination was Rosa Parks. Parks was most known for her fight against bus seats. She was told to get up from her bus seat to allow a white man to sit and she refused. This activated many protests campaigning for her and against. Though the bus boycott of 1955 in Montgomery, Alabama is her most famous moment, it isn’t all that Rosa Parks did to drive the new law towards complete equal rights. Born in Tuskegee, Alabama, on February 4, 1913, Rosa Parks was one of many to be a negro in the wrong place and time. Nevertheless, the fact that she didn’t have many rights didn’t stop her from fighting to get some. She left school at sixteen to care for her dying mother and wouldn’t return for many years to get her diploma. In 1932, Rosa married Raymond Parks, who was an active member in the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Being an African American woman in the early twentieth century brought many challenges. She could only drink from a certain water fountain, borrow books from a certain library, and attend certain clubs, schools, etc. Parks was arrested in 1955 due to not giving up her seat to a white man and was later released by bail. This led many other African Americans to do the same. There was a planned boycott on the day of her trial, Monday, December 5. Many were informed of said trial and the planning had been completed. Homes were bombed, including Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s. This didn’t stop the boycotters. On November 13, 1956, the Supreme Court ruled that bus segregation was unconstitutional and Parks was named the “mother of the civil rights movement”. In the years following, Rosa Parks wrote an autobiography. In 1999, Parks was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal and after she died at 92 in 2005, she became the first woman in the nation’s history to lie in state at the U.S. Capitol.
Topic: racism

Yet another hero who fought for the rights of African Americans is the famous Harriet Tubman. She was born in 1820 in Maryland as a slave. Tubman was deeply religious but remained illiterate for her whole life. She found courage in rescuing friends and family from the tie to slavery. Harriet Tubman was the most famous conductor of the Underground Railroad, a network of secret houses and routes used by African Americans to escape to the north. It is estimated that Tubman helped over 300 slaves receive freedom. During the Civil War, Harriet acted as a scout and spy. She helped to raise money to aid soon-to-be slaves. Harriet had eight siblings, and was nicknamed “Minty” by her mom. Harriet successfully escaped in 1849, along with two of her brothers, Harry and Ben. They ended up having second thoughts and soon returned to the plantation. In her very last trip to help free slaves, she brought the Ennals family, who had to drug their infant to keep from making noise. She was also the first woman to lead an assault during the Civil war. When Harriet was fifty nine years old, she married Nelson Davis, who was twenty two years younger than her. Nelson had tuberculosis and could not work. They adopted a baby in 1874 named Gertie. After the Civil War, Harriet began advocating for women’s suffrage. She gave many speeches in large cities such as Boston, New York and Washington. Due to an injury to the head when she was a slave, she underwent brain surgery but refused anesthesia. Instead, she chewed a bullet which is what soldiers did during the civil war. Harriet Tubman died of pneumonia but was buried with military honors.
Topic: racism

A current advocate for Mexican Americans is Eva Longoria. Though not as well known as Rosa Parks, Longoria is doing much work for Hispanic Americans. Eva Jacqueline Longoria Bastón is an American Actress who does non profit work for an organization called the Eva Longoria Foundation. Eva was born on March 15, 1975 in Corpus Christi, Texas. She was born to Mexican American parents. She actually did not learn the Spanish language until 2009. Longoria has acted in many movies, but she has done much more towards correcting the education gap plaguing Latinas. Eva Longoria created Eva’s Heroes in 2006 which helps developmentally disabled children. Her most successful organization, the Eva Longoria Foundation, helps provide Latinos with a chance at high school and college. Longoria was name Philanthropist of the year in 2009. She also was a huge supporter of Barack Obama, and helped him to carry votes by creating the Latino Victory Project. Eva is currently very interested in immigration. She has immersed herself in the issue of immigration and has deemed Arizona’s SB 1070 immigration law as unconstitutional. The law was quote “On April 23, 2010, Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer signed into law Senate Bill 1070 aimed at preventing illegal immigration that has significantly affected the Mexico-bordering state over many decades. The law, entitled Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act, would require law enforcement officials to enforce existing federal immigration laws in the state by checking the immigration status of a person they have ‘reasonable suspicion’ of being in the U.S. illegally. But a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in 2012 and a settlement with plaintiffs in 2016 have collectively gutted the law.” Longoria is one of many current fighters for the equality of minority races.
Topic: racism

There are many devastating things happening in the United States. It can be argued that things are going downhill, and America isn’t learning from their past mistakes. Racial discrimination and immigration are topics a lot of Americans don’t like to talk about, but equality is at stake. Not many people realize how truly awful things are in the world right now, and instead of everyone just trying to getting along, or at the very least ignoring each other, people are dying at the hands of causes that shouldn’t even exist. It shouldn’t be a questions over whether or not one race is more superior. The color of someone’s skin doesn’t define how smart they are, or how much they can do. All races are beautiful in their own way. Neo-nazis, white supremacists, black separatists, the Ku Klux Klan, etc. need to see that loving your own race doesn’t mean that other races need to be put down. Everyone can win. One race doesn’t have to be angry for another to be happy. The heroes of America’s past and present that are fighting for equal rights are just trying to show that racial discrimination is wrong. I think that fighting for what you believe in is an extremely courageous thing to do. Donald Trump’s immigration views are something that can be fought against. It’s something that will be fought against. The first amendment states that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” This law means that people are free to believe and think what they want. I will never promote violence among groups of people, but simply educate people on the way that all people deserve to be treated. Racism is wrong, and no one deserves to be treated as if they are less pure than anyone else because of the color of their skin.
Topic: racism

This will be done through defining racism, the forms of racism, and how these forms relate to school education. And also through past history of this countries policies such as the anti-Chinese policy and the White Australian policy are a reflection of how our society has been shaped around racism and discrimination. Today’s education system will be used to give examples of how the two forms of racism are still quite apart of its policies through the use of deculturation process of our indigenous children and immigrants (NESB) entering our schools.
Topic: racism

Race in the American society has been one of the most controversial social issues that conceptually denote the primary classification of human beings, and it is the ideology upon which white superiority justified natives colonization in their land and the enslavement of Indian and African American. The context of race as used today in the American society emerged in a racist social construct of ‘race’ influenced by pseudo-science in the 18th and 19th centuries by scientific racists that defined race as being a genetic reference of superiority and inferiority(Medvei, 1982, p.
Topic: racism

152). In essence, the definition of race during this period employed a fixed and immutable diverse biological differences in skin color which classified groups of different races as being either of superior character or inferior in the absence of personality’s differentiation. This paper will critically discuss the idea of race in the 18th and 19th centuries in the American society and compare the similarity and difference indexes of these definitions about the arguments of Ferguson’s, Johnson’s and Perry’s about race as being inaccurate during the two centuries.
Topic: racism

The three scholar, in their articles “Race,” “Slavery” and “white” respectively share diverse views on race and how it should be understood in a different background setting like America. Ideally in America, during the 18th and 19th century presented theories suggesting that racial differences among people of different origins misrepresented the element of as a representation of biological differences in beauty, intellectual capacity and natural character between different races. On the contrary, it was heterogeneously a compound that included physical, intellectual and cultural characteristics that were genetically imprinted on each race.
Topic: racism

According to the narrative of Frederick Douglass (1845), attending an antislavery convention in Nantucket, having escaped from a prison house and eloquently discusses the subject of principle and viable measures in support of the abolishment of the slave trade disapproves the notion that African American’s are intellectually inferior (“Africans in America/Part 1/Alexander Falconbridge,” n.d.). He leads a discussion of the rational minds of fellow countrymen seeking retribution of slaves from their masters and committed to the course of emancipation and universal liberty of ‘Negroes.’ As a slave himself, he speaks of his gratitude to the gathering for supporting the idea that slavery was indeed a misguided school of thought for both the human intellect and heart (“Slavery | Keywords for American Cultural Studies,” n.d.). The argument in the narrative supports the views of the Walter Johnson who demonizes slavery in the essay, “Slavery’. Like in the narrative, Johnson arguments that slavery was the story legitimizing violence, kidnapping and forced labor that emerged in the 15th century and seemed to persist up to the early 1900s. He attributes that the only people who can tell the story of slavery are the slaves themselves, an argument Frederick emphasizes in his narrative of Slavery.
Topic: racism

Pamela Perry (2002) challenges the idea that physical appearance reflects the fundamental attributes of a person. The typical use of white and black to represent “light” and “black” propagated by naturalists and European historians to interpret white to mean perfection and purity. The privileges of the ‘white’ category that catalyzed the construction of these theories on race were inaccurate. Precisely, the superiority complex of the race was a social construct to maintain dominance and oppression (“White Keywords for American Cultural Studies,” n.d.). The African American construction of race for economic gain and did not represent their superior moral qualities. Pamela Perry quotes Richard Dyer”, “white power secures its dominance by seeming not to be anything in particular” (“White Keywords for American Cultural Studies,” n.d.). In the testimony by Alexander Falconbridge in his one voyages to buy slaves supplements the argument of Pamela that indeed physical appearance does not correlate to one’s moral qualities. Alexander Falconbridge recounts inhuman treatment of the slaves in the trade (“Africans in America/Part 1/Alexander Falconbridge,” n.d.). If indeed the White were pure as they claimed, then the account of how the trade was conducted proves the idea of white purity is not an accurate inference of race. The subject the Africans to horror from the point of acquisition at the Liverpool harbor (“Frederick Douglass, 1818-1895. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave. Written by Himself,” n.d.). In the case of sea disasters, human beings are disposed of like animals. Concomitantly, the accounts Alexender reinforces the argument of “White” that indeed, physical appearance does not reflect inner nature and race is just physical, our inner being is similar.
Topic: racism

The poetry of Phillis Wheatley, “On Being Brought from Africa to America” argumentatively disqualify the ideas of the Africans as being a doomed race who cannot learn the civilized ways of the white people because they are inferior in her inference, “Their color is a diabolic die.”. She concludes race is not a basis for affirmatively passing judgment on the black race as doomed and cannot become Christians. Phillis says,
Topic: racism

She is of African descent and writes poetry with impressive eloquence and fights for her liberation of her people through poetry. Phillis subjectively gives meaning to Ferguson’s essay of ‘Race’ in regards that studying race incorporates an in-depth analysis of freedom and the ability of each to acquire and utilize knowledge. The political and economic constructs of race lack to apply epistemology of the races. In a way, to understand race accurately, it requires a subjective racial differentiation that excludes violence inscribed in the historical context of the preconceived notions of the African American race.
Topic: racism

As this paper shows, the understanding of Race in America in the 18th and 19th century was the foundation for definition of the race today and was biased. In a way, the way race was defined fueled social injustices to the non-white races. Moreover, it created a state of inequality and gave the racist white an avenue to exploit people of different origins for their economic gain. The social constructs hold no proof but in essence were racist ideologies to give the excessive white power over other races.
Topic: racism

Racism is the act of prejudice or discrimination against someone on the basis of color, ethnicity or place of origin (Stoner, 1); in other words, it is when hatred and contempt are inflicted upon someone because of their race or ethnicity. Shakespeare’s captivating play, ​The Tragedy of Othello​, is one that is significantly influenced by the impact of racism, for it was written during a time when racism, particularly against black individuals, was in full effect. It is during this time period, known as the Elizabethan era, black individuals were verbally separated from those who had white skin, and were treated unjustly in society, all of which is experienced by the protagonist, Othello.
Topic: racism

From the opening scene in ​Othello​, Shakespeare makes it clear that racism is a major concern of this play, but to understand how Shakespeare implemented racism in ​Othello​, it is necessary to understand how racism took place in the Elizabethan era which is one of the most obvious time periods where discrimination against black people was utmostly occurring. People who lived in the Elizabethan society primarily consisted of English whites; black individuals were rarely seen, and this could explain why black people were perceived to be strange and unusual.
Topic: racism

Judging by the way he stands up for himself as well as the people of Venice, Othello is a man of virtue and courage, yet with all positive attributes, the people of Venice perceive just one characteristic…his race; in other words, Othello is put in a situation where he can not appease the people of Venice as long as he is a black man; with only one exception, the Duke of Venice, Othello is practically an outcast to many. Furthermore, he is often called a “Moor” by many, which is a term that indicates a black individual from Northern Africa.​ “​Othello​ has a harmony of racism. This harmony is provided by the tireless verbalization of “Moor” meaning “Black” (Mutlu, 3)
Topic: racism

​ In other words, by calling Othello the ‘Moor,’ one is emphasizing his race. This shows that he is not even respected enough to be called his name, nor is he considered to be a man of great virtue, for all one sees is the color of his skin. ​ ​This is one of the many ways racism is depicted in this play, for every time Othello is named, they must mention the fact that he is black. Moreover, even his wife, Desdemona, indulges in such a racist act. “So much I challenge that I may profess/ Due to the Moor my lord” (1.3.186-187) This shows that Desdemona is under the pressure of society to always acknowledge that her husband is a black man. The depiction of race and ‘blackness’ is seen more clearly further in the play, for the imagery of animals is commonly used to address Othello. Aside from being referred to as a “Moor”, Othello has been regarded as “an old black ram” (1.1.85 ) as well as a “Barbary horse” (1.1.108), or an African horse, by Iago. Furthermore, he has been called “thick-lips” (1.1.63) which indicates that it was believed that Black people possessed bigger lips; this does not only racially attack Othello physically, rather it initiates a topic of sexuality. “[Stating that one’ possesses “thick lips” does not only reduce one to a racialized physical attribute… but also alludes to their hypersexual nature, as lips, especially big lips, is often a symbol of sexuality” (Bayles, 2) This indicates that Othello is not only being racially insulted, but is viewed as a sexual object, which was a common way people perceived black people during this period of time. In addition, Othello was referred to as the ‘sooty bosom’ (1.1.70) which directly accentuates Othello’s darker skin color; in other words, by calling Othello a sooty bosom, one insinuating that having darker skin is dirty.
Topic: racism

Among those who hate Othello, Iago, the standard-bearer of Othello, has shown contempt for Othello, not just because he was not selected to be his second-in-command, but because he is black. In other words, while he resents Othello for supporting Cassio, a scholar, and not himself, it seems from his speech that his skin color is the thing he most hates about Othello.(Stoner, 2) He believes that Othello should not be allowed to be a general, nor should he be allowed to be married to Desdemona because he is a black man.“Even now, now, very now, an old black ram/ Is tupping your white ewe” (1.1.85-86) This shows that Iago believes a black man sleeping with a white woman is a taboo.
Topic: racism

The imagery of racism is further depicted when Brabantio, the father of Desdemona, learns that his daughter had married Othello. Iago urges Brabantio by stating several racist phrases about the union of Othello and Desdemona.“Awake the snorting citizens with the bell,/ Or else the devil will make a grandsire of you” (1.1.87-88); In other words, Iago advises Brabantio to break the marriage of Othello and Desdemona before they produce black children. “We come to do/ you service and you think we are ruffians, you’ll have your daughter covered with a Barbary horse; you’ ll/ have your nephew neigh to you” (1.1.106-109); In other words, Iago states that their union will result in a family of horses. This further reveals how Shakespeare used imagery to show the perception of black people as animals. Brabantio has constantly made it known that he does not want Desdemona to be married to a black man, for he believes that would be going against nature. He is so blinded by the fact that Othello is black that he does not see him as a noble General who should be highly respected.
Topic: racism

Every father would want such a man for their daughter, but that wasn’t the case for Brabantio, for Othello had just one flaw…his race. “To fall in love with what she feared to look on?/…Against all rules of nature, and must be driven”(1.3.98-101) This shows that Brabantio believes black people are to be feared, and not to be love; a white woman loving a black man can be considered an abomination, for it is not natural.
Topic: racism

In addition, Brabantio believes that Desdemona did not willingly agree to marry Othello, for she must be under a spell. “She is abused, stol’n from me and corrupted/ By spells and medicines bought of mountebanks” (1.3.60-61) In other words, Brabentio believed that Othello used witchcraft to captivate his daughter. He thinks that if there were no bewitching, his daughter could not bear and stay with him because the blackness of Othello would give horror to Desdemona. This was a common stereotype of black during this time period, for they were commonly accused of indulging in witchcraft.
Topic: racism

To many whites, Africa was a strange and heathen land rampant with demons and devils who were the objects of worship by its inhabitants. Devils were often in the thoughts of the colonists and [they believed devils] were found at almost every turn. The belief that Blacks were inherently connected to the worship of satanic forces no doubt greatly influenced many Whites automatically to suspect them of witchcraft. (McClain,107) This proves that Shakespeare related the accusation of Othello using witchcraft to attract Desdemona to what was currently occuring during that time period; based on this, one can assume that black individuals were believed to be satanic, and for this reason they were commonly feared.
Topic: racism

In ​Othello​, the act of racism has also been demonstrated by the symbolism of ‘white’ and ‘black’. During the Elizabethan era, being “fair”, or white, signified righteousness; in other words, if one was white, they were perceived to be a person of virtue whereas a black person was viewed as the opposite. This distinction places greater symbolic importance on ‘fairness,’ as it is used as a term for whiteness, and thus undermines Othello’s skin color. “Your son-in-law is far more fair than black” (1.3.289) In this scene, although the Duke of Venice speaks well of Othello, this statement he made does not directly attack Othello, but attacks black people in general. He is stating that Othello is fair and not black, in other words, Othello is a black man, but has the attributes of one who is white. This shows that white-skin was believed to symbolize goodness, while black-skin symbolized impurity.
Topic: racism

Throughout ​Othello​, one can certainly view a strong imagery of racism that existed in Shakespeare’s time; in other words, it is safe to note that Shakespeare wrote this play as a reflection of the racial issues that were occuring during the Elizabethan era. Based on the status of Othello as General, one can understand that no matter how noble an individual was, as long as their perceived to be Black, it was considered to be a good reason enough to be disrespected and practically dehumanized by society. Moreover, Shakespeare associating images of animals and witchcraft to represent Othello and African culture reveals the cruel side of the Elizabethan era, and how difficult life was for a black individual living in England during this time period. For this reason, Othello is a true illustration of Shakespeare’s perception of racism in the Elizabethan era as well as the extreme racial prejudice against black people that used to exist.
Topic: racism

You all have heard the testimonies of what happened to Mayella Ewell on the evening of November 21st. This sincerely is a tragedy, however most of it is not true. Somebody clearly had beaten Mayella but there is no apparent evidence that it was Tom Robinson. Tom’s testimony is very divergent from Mayella’s and Bob’s. He claims he was going home and passed the Ewell place, which seemed unusually quiet. Mayella asked him to come in to fix a door, even though nothing seemed wrong with it.
Topic: racism

She then asked him to get something down from the top of the wardrobe. When he stood on the chair she hugged his legs, causing him to get frightened and knock over the chair. Mayella then hugged him and attempted to kiss him. Bob Ewell saw this through the window and Mayella screamed. Tom then ran out of the house. He never forced himself on her or hit her. However, Mayella testifies that she had asked Tom Robinson to chop up some chiffarobe for her.
Topic: racism

She then went inside to get a nickel to pay him and he attacked her from behind and she fainted. The next thing she had remembered was waking up to her father hovering over her. Mayella hesitates a lot when she is asked a question. Almost as if she is trying to think of a response that matches her father’s testimony. This may lead one to wonder; If Mayella isn’t entirely sure of what happened on this day why isn’t anyone doubting her? Is there more to the story that Mayella and Bob are leaving out? Mayella may pose as the victim here but in reality, Tom is.
Topic: racism

Tom has always been known for having a good character. He has three kids and a wife that he tries his hardest to care and provide for. The only people who ever said anything bad about Tom was the Ewell family. Tom has always gone to church. The pastor at his church talks highly of him and tries to help the Robinson family through the hard time, for example, “You all know of Brother Tom Robinson’s trouble. He has been a faithful member of First Purchase since he was a boy. The collection taken up today and for the next three Sundays will go to Helen-his wife, to help her out at home” (160). This shows even the people that go to his church think he’s a good enough man that they decide to help his family out by donating to his family despite being in the middle of the Great Depression. Another person who emphasizes how Tom is a good man is Link Deas, Toms employer. During the trial Link Deas stands up and stresses that Tom has always been a conscientious worker; “That boy worked for me eight years an’ I ain’t had a speck o’ trouble outta him. Not a speck” (261). What would you do if you were a guy like Tom Robinson walking home and spotted a poor girl in need of help, would you have stopped and aided her struggles? Of course you would. If you are the type of man Tom is you would of helped her despite being cold, poor, or hungry. I fervently believe people like Tom Robinson make our world a better place.
Topic: racism

Tom should also be considered innocent because of his hand. There is no way Tom could have been the one to hit Mayella. She was struck by somebody’s left hand;“If her right eye was blacked and she was beaten mostly on the right side of her face, it was tend to show that a left-handed person did it” (238). Tom has no function of his left-hand because of an accident with the cotton gin when he was younger. Everyone in the courtroom notices his left hand isn’t capable of beating Mayella;“His left arm was fully 12 inches shorter than his right, and hung dead at his side. It ended in a small shriveled hand, and from as far away as the balcony I could see that it was no use to him” (248). However, consequently, Bob Ewell is left-handed. Imagine having a body part that has entirely no use to it and then being accused of beating someone with it. That would be quite preposterous. Wouldn’t you think that would be taken into consideration of deciding guilty or innocent? That’s not the case for Tom Robinson. This poor man is still being accused despite the explicit evidence that it most certainly was not him.
Topic: racism

Throughout Mayella’s testimony you could see that she was having troubles matching her story to her father’s. She would hesitate before answering as if she was trying to remember what here father had said during his testimony or she would just change her story. During her questioning she made it very clear she was unsure about what she was supposed to be saying. An example of this would be when Atticus asked “Do you remember him beating you about the face?”(247). Mayella replied ”No, I don’t recollect if he hit me. I mean yes I do, he hit me” (248). Bob Ewell didn’t have a very convincing testimony either. Bob says he heard Mayella scream so he looked through the window and he allegedly saw Tom raping Mayella. So he ran inside to Mayella, then ran to Mr.Tate, the sheriff , and finally ran back home. But he never got a doctor. “‘Mr. Ewell,’ Atticus began, ‘folks were doing a lot of running that night. Let’s see, you ran to the house, you ran to the window, you ran inside, you ran into Mayella, you ran for Mr. Tate. Did you, during all this running, run for a doctor?’” (234). I find this very odd that Mr.Ewell never ran to get a doctor. Especially if he is so worried about his daughters well-being. If Tom was the one that beat up Mayella why didn’t Bob get his poor daughter any medical attention? It is made very clear that Tom Robinson had nothing to do with the beating of Mayella or anything that these two claim happened to Mayella on that evening.
Topic: racism

Imagine being the one on trial. You know you are innocent yet it seems as if everyone in that courtroom is rooting against you. What would you feel like? Unwanted? Scared? But why? All Tom ever did for Mayella is show her kindness. Tom Robinson is not guilty, he was just simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. Tom could not of hit Mayella because he has no function of his left hand. All the beating was done to her right side. Proving it had to be a left handed man that struck her. Mayella also can’t seem to get her story straight. At first she doesn’t even recall to Tom ever hitting her. Tom has always been a good man, a good father to his kids, a good husband, and a good son. He wouldn’t dare to do something so abhorrent. Bob Ewell is known to be the “Disgrace of Maycomb”. But since he is white and Tom is colored you believe Bob’s word over Tom’s. During this trial we need to put aside the racial differences and look at the fact that there is no possible way Tom beat and raped Mayella. Tom Robinson shouldn’t not be convicted of this crime. He has kids and a wife. You all seem him as the man he, which certainly is not a big violent black man. Do the right thing. Do the thing Tom Robinson would do for all of you, help him in his time of need. He shouldn’t have his whole life turned upside down because of some false accusations made against him.
Topic: racism

This article focuses on poverty and inequality, talking about how poverty puts people in the condition in which they may not make significant choices. Instead, we might expect terms like the guaranteed basic income or the bad income tax, in which we make people wealth and treat them with the pride their world entitles them to. Not just could it encourage those who are suffering get by, but rather than treating them like cultural degenerates, it could hope and enable them to create their personal financial decisions.
Topic: racism

Krumer-Nevo is just when she speaks about the need to react Othering at IDI research and, especially, this inclination to determine our research participants by our own socio-economic or theoretical model which blinds us to the experience of the real content we need to learn more about. Shedding our stereotypes means placing “ away the normative knowledge gained from one’s membership in a country, the house, an educational system of values that beliefs, positions, and attitudes developed in this knowledge of socialization…work against the power to see those who survive in poverty “ (p.
Topic: racism

Thomas Sowell talks about economic inequality, racial inequality, and those myths that have continued to incorrectly depict this structure of poverty among various racial and economical classes. He explains the system possibilities behind these pervasive myths and proposes fact-based answers for apparently uncontrollable situations. Sowell talks about his past experience as a senior high school dropout and his first full-time job as the Western state messenger delivering telegrams. He admits to flirting with communism at his early decades as he first attempted to cope with the housing difference he imagined across the neighbourhoods of the city of New York.
Topic: racism

Inequality is most frequently talked about in the context of lower- income households but income disparities also live in wealthy societies, dividing middle-class and high-income households. This size of high-inequality/low-poverty counties peaked in 1999 during the period of rapid economic increase and comparative economic prosperity. Nearly 21% of counties were separated as high-inequality/low-poverty at 1999. By 2008-2012, this contribution of high-inequality/low-poverty counties had fallen to 16%.
Topic: racism

In the novel, The Street, Ann Petry portrays blackness that give the readers a look inside the life of a discriminated African American woman in the 1940’s. The author combines feminism and naturalism to depict the domination of men and the barbaric behaviors that live inside of every human being. The concept of this novel is trying to grasp the understandings of blackness in the social world and why it tremendously injures the African American community while using personification, the setting and naturalism to elucidate it.
Topic: racism

Looking into depth of the term blackness, it has a complex history. Blackness was constructed as the contrary by white people and developed into a social norm that colored people are not suitable to be associated with whites. This ties into some of the harsh realities we see in this novel such as white privilege. Petry does a remarkable job at delineating the term blackness in her story telling, “If you looked at them from inside the framework of a fat weekly salary, and you thought of colored people as naturally criminal, then you didn’t really see what any Negro looked like.
Topic: racism

Personification is one out of the three, specific literary elements that are present in this novel. In the very beginning of the book, Petry starts off the story with a vivid description of the wind, “Fingering it’s way along the kerb, the wind set the bits of paper to dancing high in the air, so that the barrage of paper swirled into the faces of the people on the street” . This is an example of one of many personifications in this story. Ann Petry describes the wind as a person with ‘cold fingers’ that makes anyone who is out and about on the streets absolutely miserable. The wind is doing its best to get pedestrians to stay clear out of the streets. The use of this personification is to describe the relationship between the city Harlem and the people who live in it, such as Lutie. The wind strongly symbolizes the hate and the discrimination that Lutie faces in this novel, and the wind is doing it’s best to drive her out. It gives her the chills and constantly mangles with her as she tries to strive for a better life.
Topic: racism

Although Petry uses personification in a negative way numerous times in the story, she also uses it in positive way. At this point in the story, winter has left and spring is just beginning, “She had walked along slowly, thinking the sun transformed everything it had shone on” . This quote is an example of the transitioning of the mood and energy in the story. Everyone seems to be out on the streets taking advantage of the sun beaming with warmth. Petry explains how everyone roaming the streets had an unexpected look of ‘graciousness’ on their faces. This symbolizes finding the light in the darkness. Lutie is so enraged majority of the time in the story due to the obstacles she faces as a black woman who is constantly sexualized and unrespected. She tries her hardest not to surrender herself to the harshness of the streets. But in this moment of the story, for a brief second she feels the things are looking up in the black community of Harlem.
Topic: racism

The setting is another crucial literary element that ties into trying to understand the concept of blackness in this book. Petry uses imagery to paint a graphic image in the readers head of how this affects Lutie throughout the story. 116th Street in November represents the poverty and the terrible living conditions African Americans faced living in the slums of Harlem, “It found all the dirt and dust and grime on the pavement and lifted it up and lifted it up so that the dirt got in their noses making it difficult to breathe” . Going back to the first page, we find out immediately that Lutie is planning on living in an environment that isn’t welcoming or friendly. Petry foreshadows how this specific setting will manipulate Lutie’s future that sends her spiraling into failure, letting the streets devour her.
Topic: racism

When going more into depth about the setting, we can understand how Lutie is unsuccessful in almost everything that she tries to pursue. As a black woman in Harlem, it is incredibly hard to thrive when you are constantly oppressed for the color of your skin and your gender. There are many historical reasons for the cause of the poverty in the city. Although slavery was over, blacks were not free from the discrimination. Which created severe restrictions that forced African Americans into the projects. Thus making it almost impossible to truly be victorious in an environment like so. This is one of the many reason as to why the urban setting was not fit for Lutie and her son, Bub. The relationship between Lutie and the setting has been rocky from the start. Using both personification and the setting, Petry makes it known that from the very beginning that Lutie is not going to enjoy Harlem at all.
Topic: racism

Naturalism is the final literary element that completely mends the concept of Petry’s story together. Naturalism is the theory that ethical statements and actions can be brought forth by unethical ones, “Each person inherits compulsive instincts especially hunger, the drive to accumulate possessions, obsession with status, and sexuality and is then subjected to the social and economic forces in the family, the class and the milieu into which that person is born” (Ann Petry and The Street, D2L November 2, 2018). To expand on this, Petry uses this story to portray the harsh struggles black women face in the 1940s and 1950s. Not only are they suffering from the poor treatment due to their gender and skin color, they are also suffering from the male patriarchy. Petry depicts this by exploiting the truth about the cruel reality of being a single mother in the city of Harlem.
Topic: racism

Petry uses feminism in, The Streets, by exposing the way black men treat women in Harlem in the 1940s. The domination of the men in Lutie’s life, such as Jones and Boots, play a huge part in her downfall. Petry uses naturalism and feminism to portray the way Lutie was blinded by a mans manipulation. Not only did Lutie let the environment take advantage of her she also let men do the same. The combination of the grim setting, discrimination and male domination hinders Lutie tremendously. Which plays a huge part in the murder as well as her abandoning her son, Bub. The lack of free will in naturalism always somehow leads back to the oppressor, “He was still safe, and there wasn’t a thing she could do that would really harm him, and if she actually did start any trouble, why, his story would land her behind jail bars” . In this quote, Petry is trying to let her audience know that regardless of race at this point, the man will always have the upper hand due to the discrimination of women. This destroys Lutie in the novel because she is trying to find the willpower to stay positive through this all.
Topic: racism

Blackness is the creation of infrastructure of racism in America through white supremacy and the social norm to validate and promote race ideas. It is defined as the cultural identity of African Americans. It can also be portrayed in a negative way or a positive way, depending how people use it. Positive as in listening and acknowledging black accomplishments to degrading and discriminating merely for the unique features of people of color and the history behind the melanin. As for the time period in this novel, the 1940s-1950s, we know the formation of white citizens councils who championed the inherent inequality of the races that has played a big part. Such as the black codes. This gave new restrictions on African Americans after the civil war, the Jim Crow Laws. The context and history in this novel is the explanation of the status of the African Americans. To sum up the concept of the Jim Crow Laws: separate but equal. Yet in reality, we know that blacks were truly not equal
Topic: racism

The concept of blackness is the true theme to this novel. Petry uses personification, naturalism, and the setting to defy what it means to be a black woman in America in the 1940s. Blackness has affected and influenced the way the characters respond to their actions in the novel. It is the reasons for their downfalls and very few of their accomplishments. As black woman living in the slums of Harlem, it is incredibly hard to thrive off of the environment you are tossed into. Lutie tried her best to work her way around the social history of blackness and failed miserably leaving her with a murder on her hands and abandoning her son. This is common coming from the ghetto’s of a city and as a society we must face these problems and acknowledge them.
Topic: racism

The topic of my choosing is going to be racism. I believe that racism is a prominent problem in America and I do not believe it has gotten any better. I believe that racism is thrown around too lightly these days because people simply do not care what other people think. It is time for this nation to grow up and let go of racism. There is no sense in purposefully being derogatory to another human being. The color of your skin does not matter and neither does your race.
Topic: racism

Naturalization Act of 1790 restricted citizenship to free Whites. Congress passed the Civilization Act of 1819 to take in the Native Americans. This law provided United States government funds to support Protestant missionary educators in order to convert Native Americans to Christianity. In 1863, President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation as the nation approached the third year of the civil war which declared, “all persons held as slaves” within the rebellious states “are, and henceforward shall be free.
Topic: racism

In 1864, the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution abolished slavery. In 1866–1877, while trying to reconstruct the country, the Union tried to bring the Southern, or Confederate, states back into the union in order to attempt to make a non-slave society with civil rights for slaves. Black and white teachers from the north traveled south to build schools and teach former slaves eager to become literate. With the protection of the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments and the Civil Rights Act of 1866, African Americans participated in politics, voted, used public accommodations. The former confederates fought against reconstruction and eventually eroded newly gained rights of freedman.
Topic: racism

Very few people are willing to say it and even fewer wish to acknowledge it but, there is even racism in our schools, the government, and the media. The government seems to be more confused on racism than any other thing. All of these affirmative actions are being considered and passed but, there are also a large number of anti-affirmative action laws that are being passed. According to the National Employment Lawyers Association, or NELA, we still need affirmative action for many reasons. According to NELA, women earn 71 cents for every dollar earned by men. For every dollar a white male makes, African-American men 72 cents, African-American women make 64 cents, and Hispanic women 54 cents. How much melanin is in your skin, is determined genetically. This is not something that you can change. Your skin color is determined based on your genetics and it should not have an effect on your life.
Topic: racism

Racism in America is alive and well, but some Americans think its nonexistent. What is racism? It is the act of discriminating against an individual and treating them unjustly based on their race profile. The individual who acts racist usually does so because they believe that their race is superior. Unfortunately, racism has been the foundation of our country since the colonial era until our current time period. This country was built on the racist belief that those of English bloodline was superior starting with the Native Americans and then moving on to enslavement of Africans.
Topic: racism

Fear of loss and displacement (FEAR)- Humans naturally seek to protect their own kind, which means they fear for any loss of what makes them who they are; it can be anything including our jobs, status, territory, possessions, personal significance and even our own identity. Humans fear being replaced by anyone who is seen as more appealing and desirable than what they are. When someone is replaced by a person who is better than what they are which makes them feel unworthy. Fear is one of the biggest contributors of racism especially from loss, which causes a person to see difference between the two people and is seen as threatening of what as what they see as their rights.
Topic: racism

Ignorance (The condition of being uneducated, unaware or uniformed)- What continues racism is ignorance in the world. If a person grows up doing something their whole lives and everyone else around them does the same thing, it is seen to be right even if it is morally wrong it may be to another human being that does not share the same outlook on life. A group of people will not see anything wrong with their actions because they see their actions as correct. The only way to stop this ignorance is through education and awareness of their actions and what the consequences may be. Until a person’s ignorance is educated, it will continue to thrive racism.