...in how people lived their lives. In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird Harper Lee used real-life events to connect with the events that happened in the novel. She made connections with the Jim Crow laws, mob mentality, and the Scottsboro trials. The first connection made through To Kill a Mockingbird and real-life events in history are the Jim Crow laws. The Jim Crow laws were unfair laws that separate blacks from whites. Whites were considered more important than blacks, and blacks were considered second-class citizens. There were punishments put in place if any of the Jim Crow laws were broken/ violated. In the image that represents the Jim Crow laws the...
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...Whom Do We Stand By? African Americans have felt discriminated over many centuries starting with slavery. They have experienced segregation and unethical treatment from people around them. Race and racism, two highly talked about topics, are never completely out of the news. The most controversial topic recently is related to the many blacks that have been shot by police officers, which have led to death or serious injures. This has happened numerous times across the United States. I do believe that African Americans deserve to be treated equally and the police officers taking part in these acts need to be held responsible for their actions. One of the first recorded incidents of racial discrimination towards African Americans was the action of slavery. Slaves were forced to work against their free will. Even though slave life depended on the slave holder, all conditions were not tolerable for a human being. Life as a slave meant working sunup to sundown six days a week, having food sometimes not suitable for an animal to eat, and living in a shack with dirt floor (“Slave Life”). This all took place while the slave holders enjoyed cracking the whip. After slavery took place for a long period of time, Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President, issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863 (Balser). The proclamation declared that “all persons held as slaves within the rebellious states are, and henceforward shall be free (Balser). As you can imagine, African Americans...
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...The Peaceful Protest of the March on Washington In 1963 a group of people who were united together marched to a nation’s capital to defend equality for all. The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom was the united face of America in the 1960’s (“1963 Civil Rights March on Washington”). This key event during the Civil Rights movement pushed forward in the creation of the Civil Rights Bill, which granted everyone the freedom to vote and outlawed segregation acts. Even if someone’s ancestors were not discriminated against because of skin color the protest still showed a path to equal rights to all genders, nationalities and religions. The time of the march was perfect in itself, happening during the peak of inequality protests and setting...
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...most prominent method used was slavery, then after slavery ended segregation was another method, and lastly African Americans not being treated equally or having the same rights was another method that was used to discriminate against the African American race. To start with, the first method that was used to discriminate against was slavery which was the most prominent and abrasive method used to oppress the black race for hundred of years. Slavery caused the black race to basically be treated as property and not a person for hundred of years and even when slavery finally ended blacks still were not treated equally and were discriminated against. Slavery was also the most brutal of methods used to oppress the black race and the longest method used to discriminate the black race. During slavery blacks had no rights what so ever and and no say in what they did because there masters told them what to do and when to do it and they had to follow their orders. Also, during slavery blacks were not able to be their full potential because they were not even considered to be people and were treated as property. Also, during slavery slaves couldn’t even stay with their families a lot of the time or their significant other so hypothetically everything was taken from them and they had nothing. Slavery also occurred for hundreds of years and it wasn’t until 1865. The second method that was used to discriminate against African Americans was segregation which happened after slavery eneded....
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...organizing is a way for people in the community to voice out their opinion as one and be heard by the people in the power like the local officials. Community organizations are a good way of making people brings their concerns in the public, their issues to be solved by those who can. Collective group often get the attention of the officials because their voice is stronger and they tend to get more attention than an individual asking for a change in the world. For a community organization to succeed it will need a good community organizer who will make plans on how to keep the voice of the group be heard and be noticed by those in the power. In this paper, I will not be limited to community organization but I will also be talking about prejudice and the ranges of prejudice we have in this world. We have our prejudices against people that are old, people from different race and people from different culture. History tells us how prejudice can affect someone’s ideas and how in the past it affected the lives of our ancestors. Psychology books and history books have been talking about how people are being subject to prejudice yet today there are still people out there that remains to be victims of prejudice. Prejudice is one issued that our people in the past have been trying to win over and one of the examples that we have was the story of the Jim Crow era when Reconstruction was introduced. This era signify the change of relationship between the white people of the south and the...
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...1. Why did the native white population in the large Northern cities see immigrants and blacks as such threats during the twenties? (Prologue) Many immigrants were refugees from foreign countries who were working people in the U.S.. Native whites treated them as wretched refuse of Europe’s teeming shores. Whites thought blacks were breed apart, they were frightened in blacks’ volatility, carnality, and their utter incapacity to learn the lessons of civilized society. In the past, only a few blacks lived in cities, but now they were everywhere alongside decent white people. 2. What led to the emergence of racialized ghettos in large Northern cities? Urban whites carved a color line through the city. White shopkeepers prevent blacks from their stores and restaurants. White landlords wouldn’t show blacks the apartments outside the ghetto. White real estate agents wouldn’t show the houses in white neighborhoods. Banks wouldn’t offer them mortgages. Insurance agents wouldn’t provide them with coverage. Blacks had to be hidden away in handful neighborhoods, and walled into ghetto. 3. How would you describe the white people who lived on Garland Avenue?(1) Most of them were natives, and they didn’t have the education. However, they had skills to find solid jobs. Most of men were working class, women were housewives. Although families along Garland Ave had many advantages, the stress from mortgages, unexpected assault on income, and sudden recession made they...
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...the U.S. First, a man was on the moon by the late 1960’s and scientists were advancing in every way. Jim Crow Laws were abolished and racism was finally overcome. The March on Washington, Civil rights movement, and great leaders like Martin Luther King Jr. were prominent in ending this secondary to nothing crisis. Bravery and overflowing pride outlined the 60’s for all African-Americans. Proud individuals fought and struggled to make America the land of the free. People were hopeful, they knew America could jump over their obstacles to be the world's greatest nation. First, televised debates, then rock and roll music and computer technology and America was finally starting to...
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...America's Black Youth By Carl L. Young An Alternative Plan Paper Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Science In Sociology: Corrections Minnesota State University, Mankato Mankato, Minnesota Spring 2013 Final Draft 4/20/2013 1 This Alternative Plan Paper has been examined and approved by the following members of the Examining Committee. _____________________ Dr. Leah Rogne, Advisor _____________________ Dr. William Wagner _____________________ Dr. Penny Jo Rosenthal _____________________ Dr. Nadarajan Sethuraju ________________ Date 2 A bstract This alternative plan paper examines the circumstances that have evolved as a incarceration of the Black community. In the last thirty years, the federal government of the United States of America has engaged in camp which has involved a variety of policies to stop the production, distribution and sale of illegal narcotics. Hundreds of billions of dollars have been spent in a war that has targeted the most vulnerable in our society, impacting its youth for generations to come. This alternative plan paper addresses the impact of the War on Drugs and the criminal justice policies that have impacted the life chances of Black youth...
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...Action for America's Black Youth By Carl L. Young An Alternative Plan Paper Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Science In Sociology: Corrections Minnesota State University, Mankato Mankato, Minnesota Spring 2013 Final Draft 4/20/2013 1 This Alternative Plan Paper has been examined and approved by the following members of the Examining Committee. _____________________ Dr. Leah Rogne, Advisor _____________________ Dr. William Wagner _____________________ Dr. Penny Jo Rosenthal _____________________ Dr. Nadarajan Sethuraju ________________ Date 2 Abstract This alternative plan paper examines the circumstances that have evolved as a result of the Reagan Administration’s War on Drugs and the increase of mass incarceration of the Black community. In the last thirty years, the federal government of the United States of America has engaged in campaign known as the “War on Drugs,” which has involved a variety of policies to stop the production, distribution and sale of illegal narcotics. Hundreds of billions of dollars have been spent in a war that has targeted the most vulnerable in our society, impacting its youth for generations to come. This alternative plan paper addresses the impact of the War on Drugs and the criminal justice policies that have impacted the life chances of Black youth nationwide and calls for a new social movement, introducing a 21st century Black Youth Manifesto to ask the youth of the Black community to pick up...
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...101-01 Research Paper October1, 2013 Racial Profiling and the Effects it has on Blacks in the Criminal Justice System. Some people wonder what is racial profiling. Racial profiling deals with miss-education, slavery, and incarceration. Since the beginning of slavery African Americans have suffered due to their identity. Racial profiling deals with selecting a person for their complaint of a specific racial group. The main reason in advocating racial profiling in the background of criminal study can enlarge the possibility of arresting criminals. Paul Bou-Habib stated, “If the rate at which members of a specific racial group commits a crime is higher than that of other criminals will be caught if the police concentrate their efforts on investigating members of the racial group in question?” (2011, p.34). It is injustice, when police officers, political officials, and judges have learned how to automatically have a racist attitude towards blacks. For example, my friend was in McDonald’s parking lot and he was in the process of switching seats with his friend because he was exhausted of driving. While leaving the parking lot, the officer had pulled them over because he seen a black guy get out of his car and thought something seemed suspicious. The officer implied that my friend did not use his right turning signal. The term “driving while black has been used to describe the practice of law enforcement officials to stop African-American drivers without probable cause” (Weatherspoon...
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...our lives? Why? Affirmative action is a term most Americans are familiar with, but a term that is not always well understood. To clarify, as defined in Politics in America by Thomas Dye, affirmative action is any government or private program designed to help offset the effects of “past unequal treatment of minorities and/or women by giving members of these groups preferential treatment in admissions, hiring, promotions, or other aspects of life” (Dye, 2009, p. 551). Over time, affirmative action has resulted in an array of policies or programs specifically designed with the intention to enhance employment and business opportunities, or educational programs for groups, such as ethnic or racial minorities, as well as women, who all, as a group, have suffered discrimination. However, the approach in which these policies or programs are employed, the forms of action they entail, and the far-reaching repercussions they convey for our society may deviate from one specific program to another. Since its founding, the belief in human equality has guided the American republic. Of the truths held to be self-evident in the Declaration of Independence, the very first and foremost is that “all men are created equal.” This certainty is deep-seated as we recognize intuitively the equality of individuals validates universal involvement in government. The recognized equality of its citizens is the base, the philosophical foundation of our democracy in America. Wait a minute. What did I just...
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...book To Kill a Mockingbird, the author Harper Lee utilizes the genre of southern gothic. The southern gothic genre is the best choice for the story that author Harper Lee wanted to tell. The reason why is because this genre allows the story to have an eerie mood fitting with the narrator, Scout who is a child and sees certain places or people as uncomfortably creepy or as jarring. It also allows the issue of unjust racism in the most inappropriate places, in this novel, it is a court of law which should be the most just and fair place, but is not. This story takes place in the early 1930’s and follows Scout Finch when her father, Atticus begins to defend a black man accused of rape. This man's name is Tom Robinson and this case shows Scout and her brother Jem how atrocious the racist ways of thinking happen and how they affect people in their lives. Southern gothic is a genre of writing found only in American Literature. It...
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...was his uniting of a fiercely divided country and his creation of a truly democratic society in South Africa. A great leader will always fight for what they believe in. Nelson Mandela's dream was building a society in which all South Africans could live in freedom and prosperity. He wanted a free, non-racial, and non-sexist society for all South Africans. In Mandela’s early years he was raised by the Thembu tribe located on South Africa’s southeastern coast. He wanted to escape the Thembu traditions of marrying a woman of his regent’s choice so he fled to Johannesburg. In Johannesburg, Mandela was able to find work at a Jewish law firm in 1942. His entry level position encouraged him to obtain a bachelor’s degree in law. Through this law firm, Mandela was introduced to many different ideas, communists, politicians, and the African National Congress. During this time, South Africa was ruled by a white government which believed in racial segregation and discrimination. “The government passed a series of sweeping laws that transformed from custom into law the system of racial segregation. In addition to requiring all of South Africa’s racial groups to live in separate, designated areas, the laws prohibited marriage between people of different races, mandated that all South Africans to be registered according to their...
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...cities show that much of the racial disparity is the result of decisions by local law enforcement officials to concentrate enforcement in minority inner-city neighborhoods rather than, for instance, in majority white suburbs (Disproportionate Incarceration. 2009). The proof of this lies in the data that one in nine black men between the ages of 25-29 are incarcerated compared to one in 30 other men of the same age. Why? The purpose of this paper is to investigate how racial discrimination in the justice system still exists and how it correlates to the misconception that drug abuse and drug dealing activity is more prevalent among African American males in this age group. Another factor to be addressed is how society has victimized the black man in the “get tough on crime” and the “war on drug” movements. And finally, this paper will address how continued discrimination affects peoples’ ability to change. Race and Imprisonment in the United States Statistics show that African-American men make up 13.6 percent of the U.S. population and 40.2 percent of the U.S. prison population. Even though rates of drug use and selling are similar across the races, people of color are far more likely to be stopped, searched, arrested, prosecuted, convicted and incarcerated for drug law violations than are whites. Michelle Alexander, the author of "The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness," wrote “ there are more African American men in prison...
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...crime rates, discrimination and few opportunities for advancement. These areas are often locations where racial and cultural minorities live. Racial disparities exist within the criminal justice system and have shown many problems of inequality between the white and black race. In addition to having inequality within the criminal justice system, the criminals also have impacted their family members in different ways due to being incarcerated. The media has misrepresented African Americans by emphasizing African Americans participating in crimes while ignoring crimes committed by whites. People in society are assuming that only black people commit crimes, which is unfair because the incidences of people committing crimes are about equal between the races. Racial disparity favors white people over black people in the criminal justice system. Therefore, society must reevaluate the way society portrays who commits crimes, and where they are committed. Throughout many decades of history, black people had been discriminated against and treated as second class citizens in American society, even though they participated equally in the workforce. Discrimination has happened from slavery until present times. For example, during the 17th century until 1865, slaves were viewed as inferior people because it was a popular notion that they were ignorant and did not deserve the opportunities that the white culture had. According to Banks, slaves were not allowed any rights or freedom that the...
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