The Controversial Topic (17) The general argument made by Matt Bai shows “a depressingly familiar pattern in American life, in which anyone who even tried to talk about race risked public outrage and humiliation.” More specifically, he argued that Obama being elected is not just about hope; he confused the conversation by not discussing racism, and he did not use his power to overcome racism. He writes “political leaders have discovered that you still can’t raise legitimate questions about racism without being accused of ‘playing the race card.’” The writer accentuated the fact that “Obama himself tries to avoid discoursing on the issue,” which showed that this controversial problem was too hard to resolve.…
In W E B Dubois novel, Souls of Black Folks, he shares with the reader how the African American is a two-part being; they are American and African. He says that they are two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings; two warring ideals in one dark body, whose dogged strength alone keeps it from being torn asunder. This line explains the entire attitude for the book. He explains how the African part is often considered a problem and that the Negro is a sort of seventh son … etc. He uses this analogy to show how similar to the last, the African American race is often forgotten and over looked and sometimes, for the lack of a better term, the least favorite of the other siblings. So…
Many delegations have occurred within the last decade when it comes to how our society view African Americans. The media has portrayed images of African American men to either be rappers, criminals or professional athletes. Arguing the non-existence of racism in this text would be absurd. The case involving Trayvon Martin a 17-year-old African American that was shot by George Zimmerman a white male. That alone caused a lot of controversy amongst the African American community. After Martin's death, rallies, marches and protests were held across the nation. Along with the negativity that was surrounding the elections of Obama being that he is the first African American to ever be president. Also being questioned if he has the capabilities to…
In her article “Black President, Double Standard: Why White Liberals Are Abandoning Obama,” author Melissa Harris-Perry focuses on electoral racism in U.S. politics and the significance of the election of U.S. President Barack Obama in 2012. The discussed topics include how African American leaders are held to a higher standard than white leaders and are often scrutinized on their public policy decisions. A comparison of the presidencies of former U.S. President Bill Clinton and U.S. President Obama is provided. Also included are statistical information which provide data on the unemployment rate during the term of both presidents and their polls on the reelection. The article offers additional information on the comparison of Obama with Clinton in regard to the current president’s chances for the presidential reelection in 2012. The author believes that the decline in support for Obama from white Americans could reflect in 2012 reelection, thereby indicating how subtle racism plays a decisive role on Obama’s performance as president.…
In modern times the thought that black people should continue to be judged by their looks and seen as less of a human being is very real. Black people are seen as a threat by simply existing and are being controlled by the rules and laws that were set into place after slavery “ended.” In order to preserve white privilege and power, black and brown people have been denied the ability, more times than not, to succeed and bring…
America as many may know, is a country bounded by the label of “the melting pot.” This title once described the country to a T. Over time, things have changed, the overall attitude of America has shifted. Now-a-days you would only think this from an outside perspective.” In the case of the African Americans has the melting pot failed to bring a minority into the full stream of American life,” (Kennedy, 27). Kennedy believed that discrimination was one of the biggest flaws in the failure of the melting pot, and it is not only African Americans, but it is other races too. We may be called united, but are we really?…
In America, the racial divide between whites and blacks is quickly growing. To fully understand racism, it is necessary to look at how power in the hands of white people has consequently led to oppression and racism towards people of color. Many people, particularly whites, believe that racism stemmed from physical differences between whites and people of color; however, if one truly examines racial differences they will see that these so called “differences” are more social than physical. For centuries, white people have held specific biases and prejudices against people of color, claiming that they were inferior to whites. This notion of subordination began because the white men held the highest form of power one can hold; the power of…
Despite Obama’s race, he is able to confront the criticism that he is faced with in an elegant way. He is able to relate to all races, and therefore breaks the race line.…
The author continually returns to the point that the increase number of people vote for the candidate who has the same cultural integrity as they do. That is why one of the author’s arguments is that people are wary of the discrimination towards Barack Obama because of his race. In order to justify this argument, the author provides the comments written by people in the blogs. One of the comments was even written by an anonymous person. These people write that white privilege and discrimination against black people still exist and this benefits the Republican Candidate. First of all, blogs are not the credible and reliable source to use in order to support the arguments. It is difficult to identify the real situation by looking only at two comments that have been given by the author. It is not excluded that there have been people, from the same blogs that the author uses, who on the contrary comments that white privilege does not exist anymore and that race does not play an important role in the election, what matters is the stances of the candidate. This is indeed more logical because Barack Obama eventually has won the elections. Similarly, other people may write that they afraid of the discrimination by black people against white ones, but this would obviously…
In the last two years, there has been much controversy about the new (44th) President of America, Barack Obama, who is black. Many people disliked him for a number of different reasons. Here is an online…
In the past, African Americans have had to endure many hardships because of the color of their skin. One might ask, “Why did the Blacks have to sit on the back of the bus and attend different schools than Whites did? Aren’t all Americans equal?” As recently as sixty years ago, that wasn’t the case. Frustrated and fed up with the discrimination of African Americans, Martin Luther King Jr. led the Civil Rights Movement to quell the racial prejudice that encompassed America. Civil Rights activists kept rallying because they felt American citizen deserves to be treated fairly and to have as equal of an opportunity as any other person regardless of their background; The “Rights of Man.” Just as Paine advocated the “cordial unison” of America, African Americans advocated the integration of blacks and whites. Now, they finally have what they’ve been fighting for: equality for all people, whether they are white, black, brown, or yellow. In today’s world, African American history has been made with the election of Barack Obama as President of the United States. Since George Washington, there has never been an African American president, let alone the possibility of one. American…
We live in a world that revolves around racism. Every single person we encounter comes with a set of predispositions based solely on race that society has constructed. In his article “Fear of a Black President”, Ta-Nehisi Coates discusses how America conveys the false idea that racism is extinct simply because our president is Black. But how could racism be over when Americans constantly use racialization to marginalize one another? The harsh reality is that every race faces some form of discrimination and unless we acknowledge this; racism will remain inevitable in American society.…
Racial connections between African-Americans and Asian-Americans have experienced both instances of solidarity and mistrust throughout histories of their encounters. Solidarity movements between the two groups existed, in an effort to combat U.S. discriminatory policies in the 20th century, as well as instances of racial tensions, such as African-American boycotts of Korean businesses in an effort to stand against racial discrimination. In an effort to secure resources and power, African-Americans and Asian-Americans have drifted apart in a racial divide. Asian and African-Americans, in their demand for resources and power, often collided in their interests. In the prospects of moving up the racial hierarchy, African-Americans and Asian-Americans…
Black men in America are struggling with being colored. They have to be the best at all they do without imitating the white man. They have to play it smart in everything. If a black man is too smart he could lose. For example, on the show The Apprentice' Kwame was a very educated black man with an M.B.A degree from Harvard University. He was a finalist with a white man who had a bachelor degree from Indiana University. Kwame lost The Apprentice' job because in the words of Donald Trump Kwame was over qualified. That sounds ridiculous to me as a black young lady. We have to give our all and more just to be enough now we're over qualified? This is basically saying to our black men they will never be equal to a white man. How can this be when black men built the so called "United" States of America? When blacks got free white men didn't know what to do with their land. They had no way of knowing how to raise crops and pick cotton. Yet, a black man can't measure up? Had the situation for Kwame and the white man had been different Donald would have fired Kwame for not being educated enough. Our black men will always struggle in America. Black men should come…
When we talk about race, we are not talking about a simple idea that everyone has recently decided to adopt in our society. The idea of race and racial ideologies that are present in our society today, have evolved greatly since the 1600s and have been embedded in us since the colonial era. It has transformed from old racism to a new colorblind racism. This idea of race was mainly established during the colonial era. Colonialisms use of enslavement and dehumanization of African Americans have contributed to the many common racial stereotypes that our present in our lives. One of the biggest reinforcers of racial stereotypes would have to be media, due to the great influence it has upon peoples everyday lives. Racial stereotypes are present in our society, we must first define controlling images and learn how racial stereotypes, which present African Americans as unintelligent, justify and reinforce inequality. Controlling images are related to the dominant narrative through the dominant cultures power of controlling the media in order to expand their hegemony.…