...The Complexity of Privilege and Domination Privilege always occurs at the expense of others. Allan Johnson states, “The trouble we’re in privileges some groups at the expense of others. It creates a yawning divide in levels of income, wealth, dignity, safety, health, and quality of life” (Johnson 7). Allan Johnson states this in Chapter 1 of his book Privilege, Power and Difference and it is one of the most powerful statements in the whole book. Privilege creates a great divide between people. This can have a negative lasting effect, if not under control. Society has divided people into two groups: superior and inferior. The superior groups are the ones that are privileged in society and the inferior ones are ones that are underprivileged; however, there is a certain complexity that comes with privilege. There are so many different combinations of race, gender, class, sexual orientation or disability status that can occur so finding a person who fits all of the above is difficult. Ideally, it would be a white, wealthy, heterosexual male who is not disabled. Majority of people in the world do not fit that description. It is much more likely that an individual would be privileged in one or two of those categories. The complexity of privilege lies in the fact that individuals who are seen as superior and therefore privileged are entitled to have more opportunities than those who are underprivileged and inferior; however, this is not guaranteed. Allan Johnson’s...
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...Ever since the United States’ conception, racism has been a very sensitive topic due to people feeling threatened by other “lesser” ethnicities. As antiquated as the concept may be, it still tends to find its way into the conscious and even subconscious of the American people. In the LA Time’s Scholar Won’t Face Charges, the author writes of Henry Louis Gates Jr. who was racially profiled for presumably breaking into a home. This home happened to be Gate’s but the police arrested him anyways. The author writes, “The city of Cambridge called the arrest ‘regrettable and unfortunate.’” (LA Times). Gates was arrested because he was a black man breaking into a home and officers presumed the worst, a subconscious decision. Although racism does indeed...
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...needs. Discuss how class shapes life chances using segments from the film, People Like US: Social Class in America below: The working class vs. the middle class In the work, the working-class people more easy to injury at work than the middle class t. And, the working class people are least possibly have the extra money to buy essential, moreover luxurious things and holiday. The social class in US, the middle class family has the better survival qualifications, therefore they have the social activity, and their child can have a better education compared to the working class people. “Bourgeoisie Blues” – the black middle class The video explained that since the 1960 s the black middle class is growing by leaps and bounds, African Americans have chance entered white-collar jobs and have better education than before. They are no longer isolated by color identification in white middle-class community or in some areas; they developed their own black middle class community. But they still don’t have the same...
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...was not passed the way we live today wouldn’t be the way it is right now. We wouldn’t have a black President; black and whites would have to used separate bathrooms, water fountains, and be separated on the bus. More importantly, you walk down the street today and see white girls with black, Chinese, or Latino boyfriends. Post-racial America has fallen upon our generation and sooner or later, color won’t even be a thought to judge someone by. We live in a post-racial America because people who are racist are looked down upon in the world we live in today. The research provided will explain why we do live in a post-Racial America. America today has stereotypes for all different races. White people have money, black people are involved in crime, Asian people get straight A’s, and Latinos live off the system. Racism isn’t as harsh today as it was in the past. There are still racist people in the world and that will never change, but it has declined since 1865. During the Civil War, the North wanted to prevent the expansion of slavery into territories in the West that had not yet become states. The South wanted no prohibition on where slavery could exist. The primary reason for the Civil War was the issue of slavery, more importantly the economic value it had to the South. The Secession act of South Carolina specifically mentions that the North wanted to take away the property of the South. However, it is important to remember that by no means was every Northerner an...
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...States of America Prosperous and United in the 1920’s? America was not prosperous or united during the 1920’s. Although there were reasons to show that The United States were prosperous during this time, there are stronger arguments and ‘harder’ evidence to show that most of population were neither prosperous nor united. These arguments are, the collapse of the American economy in the late 1920’s and the countries economical situation, prohibition and the truth in society a large part of this being racism. There are signs of prosperity and unity in the 1920’s for the Americans; evidence of prosperity is that sales in radios went from 60,000 to 10,000,000 this wasn’t because they were a necessity it was because they could be bought, a statement of wealth. Woodrow Wilson started progresism. Henry Ford made the model T car the first mass produced. They went from $3 billion in debt to $3 billion in profit. Businesses were averaging 80% profits. This all sounds fantastic and how does this mean there was no prosperity or unity? Maybe America was dancing on a volcano that they weren’t prepared to erupt. Late October 1929 the American economy collapses. From a massive high to major low, politicians claimed “Invincibility,” “Untouchable” and “On a Permanent High,” days before the crash. Surely a country cannot be prosperous when they go into recession or when there economy collapses. The economy collapsed mainly due to the fact that America went into ‘isolation,’ America wanted nothing from...
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...Male privilege…In black and white Dorrell Anthony Alexander Western Washington University What is “Privilege”? When we speak of privilege, what exactly are we speaking of? Many find it easy to get the basic fundamentals of a “right” and a “privilege” confused, so for foundational purposes, I would like to lay out how they differ. First, let’s talk about two of the different kinds of rights; “natural” and “legal”. According to Merriam-Webster (2013) Natural rights are “rights which are "natural" in the sense of "not artificial, not man-made”; “as in rights deriving from logic, from human nature, or from the edicts of a god”. They are ”universal”, (they apply to all people, and do not derive from the laws of any specific society),”They exist necessarily, inhere in every individual, and can't be taken away” ( Merriam-Webster, 2013). For example, it has been argued that humans have a natural right to life. They're sometimes called inalienable rights. Legal rights, in contrast, are “rights based on a society's customs, laws, statutes or actions by legislatures” (Merriam-Webster, 2013). An example of a legal right is the right to vote of citizens. “Citizenship, itself, is often considered as the basis for having legal rights, and has been defined as the "right to have rights"(Broidy and Agnew, 1997), Legal rights are sometimes called civil rights or statutory rights which Broidy and Agnew (1997) believe are “culturally and politically relative”, since they depend on a specific...
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...and I decided to watch it. This was a really good film and it showed how racism plagued our country not so long ago. Conflict Theory, originally the brainchild of Karl Marx, is the theoretical perspective that best fits this movie (Brym and Lie, 11). Racism, prejudice, and discrimination are the main focus of this movie while also telling the story of a young teenage girl named Lily (The Secret Life of Bees). Lily doesn’t see in colors or race, but sees only in the love, character, and value of a person. Lily, a young white girl,...
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...of upward mobility through education engenders negative social reproduction, which in some cases prescribes that one would be fated to become a future blue collar worker, much like one’s parents and peers. However, MacLeod also highlights the paradoxical discrepancy in the less than favorable outcomes of another group whose members do adhere to the dominant achievement ideology, The Brothers. MacLeod explains that, “If the Hallway Hangers [group of white boys] show that opting out of the contest is not a viable option, the Brothers [group of black boys] show that dutifully playing by the rules hardly guarantees success...
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...African American History Final Exam Essay By: Omar Sneed Given the history of race relations in 20th century America, few voters who were born before the 1970s regardless of their ethnic background or race every expected the election of an African American as President of the United States to occur in their lifetime. Nevertheless, it became a reality and in great part the following events, conditions and situations that took place between 1900 and the year of 2000 created a social political and economic environment that allowed this historical event to take place. First of all, the American people shared the same value system regardless of their race. After the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960’s, the attitudes of the people evolved from privilege being reserved for whites only to a quest for the survival of humankind. There was a marked growth in the black middle class with the inception of the Harlem Renaissance which brought about the perception that African Americans had value in that they could entertain and were skilled at it. Another factor that was conducive to the outcome was the fact that racism began to decline and younger generations were much less racist than their parents and grandparents were. This evolution of attitudes towards African Americans brought about an awareness and testament to the world to what African Americans had to offer largely in part to the post civil war era whereby African Americans were progressive and they were interested in...
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...affectionately known for black liberation theology, a theology grounded in the experience of African Americans, and related to other Christian liberation theologies. James H. Cone approach provided a realistic snap shot of a new way to articulate the distinctiveness of theology in the Black Church. Frustrated and outraged at the White Church of playing a significant role in the oppression and racism of black people. Cone believed that the Black Church is a powerful force [in his life] and did not do enough in regard to racism among African Americans. Cone exploited scriptures, slave spirituals, blues, and other prominent African American thinkers such as David Walker, Henry McNeal Turner, and W.E.B. DuBois to help shape his theology. Malcolm X and the Black Power Movement and Dr. Martin Luther King also influenced his theology. Cone formulates a theology of liberation from within the context of the Black experience of oppression, interpreting the central kernel of the Gospels as Jesus' identification with the poor, oppressed, and the resurrection as the ultimate act of liberation. This theology cited as attempts to understand the meaning of faith, the meaning of God, in a world that is broken. Cone devoted his professional life to the study of religion from an African perspective. This groundbreaking influential work links the study of Jesus Christ life with the African American experience. Reverend Dr. Martin Luther...
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...“Being Colorblind Does Not Offset Innate Advantages of White Privilege,” he says that despite “progression” of anti-racism in America, our society is still racist. He states that the very method, “colorblindness,” is racist. He argues that being colorblind is a privilege only whites can have. He states that whites are privileged because they do not have to worry about how they are judged by the people they encounter. Jensen explains more in depth this statement by showing how racism affects non-white people, but not white people. Jensen does, however, propose a solution. He suggests that instead of de-racing people, Americans need to acknowledge differences in cultures, and also understand the obstacles different people face due to racial and social norms. Jensen makes his final claim that despite the perception of America as being a level playing field, non-whites are still constrained by social barriers. With the Grain For most of my life, I have lived in places with little diversity. I grew up in a small town called Smithville, which had very little diversity. There were only one or two black families who lived in Smithville. There were even less Asian and Hispanic families there. The vast majority of people were white. All the teachers in my elementary school and high school were white. I did not encounter much diversity in Smithville, but the lack of diversity there resulted in the existence of racism. There were some people in the town who were racist towards...
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...repeatedly makes headlines of newspapers. The shootings and killing of African-Americans teenage boys have been the trending topic lately. It is hard to distinguish why these events happen. Certainly, there is no one, or race, to blame for this happening, however, understanding the root cause may help. The high incarceration rates of minorities is an examples and the killings proves how the criminal justice system is extremely flawed to this day and has always been built off of the privilege whites inherited and that blacks do not have. It has been proven time and time again that black and whites are not equal within the criminal justice system. History even says that the early conception of the criminal justice system and punishments were formed under conditions of colonialism and slavery. An example is white police offers repeatedly killing African American Males and being found not guilty; from Emmitt Till to the Ferguson case. Which is history repeating itself, the more things change, and the more they remain the same. In each generation, new tactics have been used for achieving the same goals—goals shared by the Founding Fathers (Alexander). Which is also known as institutional racism, which is systematic domination of people of color, embedded and operating in universities, corporations, legal systems, political bodies and other collectivities. History has shape the way African Americans are treated, and how people perceive them still. Which conveys that skin color...
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...T/Th4-6pm Racism is something we've all witnessed. Many people fail to believe that race isn’t a category, but a classification of people with no variable facts. In other words, the difference we make between races has nothing to do with genes. Race was created socially, primarily by how people think ideas and faces we are not quite used to. The definition of race all depends on where and when the word is being used. In U.S. history, the meaning of the label “white” has changed over time, eventually adding groups like the Italians, Irish and Jews. Other groups, mainly African, Latino, American Indian, Pacific Islander, and Asian descendants, have found the path for worldwide social acceptance much more difficult. The irregular border of ethnicities touches educational and economic opportunity, political representation, as well as income, health and social mobility of people of color. So where did this type of behavior begin? There are many ideas thrown around as to how racism began, though the truth lies in the history of mankind. Before people were able to travel and experience difference groups of people, we stayed in the same kind of area with the same kind of people. We feared things that were different, and were lacked the power to face those kinds of things. All this changed once we did but the fear never left. The truth is racism began as soon as people faced those of different races. We’ve always the fear of change or the unknown. It seems that is racism has been around...
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...Racism and Violence in American Literature Racial tension between Black and White Americans has been viewed as one of the darkest chapters in the American history. The issue has been discussed in various forms of the media during the time. Literature is one of the most efficient means where racial discrimination is described in a very vivid yet precise way. The story “That Evening Sun” by William Faulkner and the play “Dutchman” by Amiri Baraka are two of several works of American literature that addresses the matter. Regardless of their different genres, these two works have employed many poetic devices such as metaphor, imagery, symbolism and repetition in order to address several subjects that belong to the core of human baseness: racism, abuse, sexuality, exploitation and murder which can be summed in the category of violence. “Dutchman” by Amiri Baraka, which was shown for the first time in 1964, is a play that addresses strongly the racial tension between Black and White Americans. The play has used several symbols and metaphor to serve the author’s purpose of describing the extreme hostility and dirty temptation that the implausible female character, Lula, has exposed to the young black man, Clay. The apple that Lula eats can be viewed as a symbol of sexuality and indulgence that are considered illegal or immoral. “You want this? [...] Eating apples together is always the first step. Or walking up uninhabited Seventh Avenue in the twenties on the weekends. [...] Would...
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...The Bias Challenge Anyone who is interested attaining a better personal understanding about their personal bias should take part in a bias challenge. These challenges can be attempted if you are curious to see if you have any bias or to take a closer look at your bias and see how they could be based on your personal inherent beliefs that are influenced by your culture. No matter which culture you are associated with, there is a hierarchy scale when it comes to ethnicity. Within that hierarchy scale, it can be observed that certain groups have privilege but those same privileged groups do not have that same internal perceptual view of themselves. For example, Caucasians are view as being high on the hierarchy scale while Latino Americans are low on that same scale. Unfortunately, Caucasians do not perceived themselves to be any more privileged than the next person. Could the reason be due to never experiencing the same transgressions that lower ethnic groups on the hierarchy scale have been subjected too? In order to answer that, I had to ask that question to myself. Surprisingly the answer did not immediately come to mind. One would think that if you ask yourself if you have any bias towards other ethnic groups, you would immediately answer a resounding “NO!”. While I did not think that I did, I could never be sure because I had never experience any sort of bias growing up. As a Canadian, I was surrounded by a society that was considered to be that of a collectivism...
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