...Political Ignorance: Hatred amongst African Americans in US History Tia Taylor Eth 125 Political Ignorance: Hatred amongst African Americans in US History Thanks for visiting the Blogsite again. You may think this will be just another opinionated article on African American culture being posted because it’s voting season. In fact, you’re correct. This article was dedicated to provide a realistic inside look into the history of the African American culture because there is a trend of American citizens stating they are voting for Obama because he is black. There are quite a few who have no other reason as to why they are voting for him other than that and since they may not be able to explain their answer, maybe this will help those that are angry and/or confused. Yes, it is quite simple minded to say you’re voting for Obama because he is black. It is also quite simple minded to say a person who said that is ignorant. In fact, we must remember that those who state that may have happened to grow up under a long ancestry of racism and hate just as the white kid down the street who draws Nazi symbols on his desk at school. Just like him and his older brother who might be a prejudice employee at his job, it’s not their fault they are that way. It was their environment and maybe if you understand a person’s environment and their background, you will understand why statements like this are being made all over social media websites. I’ll make these breakdowns as short and simple...
Words: 1679 - Pages: 7
...designated for white citizens (Plessy v. Ferguson 1896). The laws that forbid him from sitting in the white citizens' train car were known as the Jim Crow laws. First created in 1877 and named after a derogatory blackface character, the Jim Crow laws segregated black and white citizens in all aspects of life. For example, the laws designated specific drinking fountains for blacks and whites and restricted them from attending the same schools. After Homer Plessy was arrested, his trial quickly rose to the Supreme Court in 1896. In the infamous Plessy v. Ferguson case, the justices ruled it constitutional to segregate...
Words: 1444 - Pages: 6
...Corrie Gripenstraw Dr. Jackson American Government November 2, 2015 Book Analysis This paper will present a brief overview of the author and the book, followed by the book’s thesis. It will discuss the major power structures and institutions that are supporting the criminal justice system. This book aims to dispel the common misbelief that the issue of racism is no longer relevant in modern day America. The main idea of The New Jim Crow is that the War on Drugs is, at least in part, racially motivated. It traps African American men in a cycle of poverty. One of the main effects of the War on Drugs is the denial of thousands of African Americans the right to vote. This is eerily similar to the original Jim Crow. The book opens with the case...
Words: 369 - Pages: 2
...is a nationalist country. While our culture may parody this idea often by spreading fun phrases like “‘murica” and “thanks Obama”, this nationalistic sense is a de facto aspect ingrained within Americans, particularly in people who hold powerful positions in the nation. Within seconds of feeling any facet of our nation threatened, we become defensive as our nationalistic senses rise. Although Americans may think of defending ourselves from terrorist attacks or other poignant incidents etched into our history, we rarely think of the instances where we have sacrificed the well-being of our own people in order to maintain the prevailing culture of the United States. As demonstrated both by the observations of Michelle Alexander in The New Jim Crow and the firsthand experiences of James Baldwin in A Talk to Teachers, the marginalization of people of color has occurred for years in order to impede the nearing changes that would shift our society and culture. Upon reading both Alexander and Baldwin’s works, it becomes clear that people...
Words: 962 - Pages: 4
...was nowhere to go, nothing to buy and no money to buy it with, nothing to see...” During the nineteen twenties and thirties America took a big down hill slide. The stock market crashed, people lost their jobs, and most middle class families were in poverty. When the stock market crashed on October 28, 1929 America went rampant. All the citizens who had shares in corporations were trying to sell them back all at once. This led to factories and corporations to close down. Since the factories and corporations were closed, people had no source of income. There was also a glitch in the banking system so everyone who had a bank or savings account lost everything in their account. When people got word of this situation they went to the banks to try to cash out all of their money. This caused a big interruption in the banks counting systems. During this time there was also a drought so farmers income also went away and people now had no source of food....
Words: 625 - Pages: 3
...Directions: Answer the following questions after viewing "Slavery By Another Name" and list any resources that you use to expand upon your answers. The entire submission should be a minimum of 500 words. Word count- 1. What impact did the Jim Crow era have on African Americans achieving equal opportunities in the American Society? The Jim Crow era definitely set back African Americans in terms of achieving equal opportunities in America. The main reason being the cause of seeing blacks as only slaves. Propaganda was being thrown at the American society that blacks were nothing less than dogs and should be treated like so. The Jim Crow era consisted of separate educational institutions, restrooms, water fountains, restaurants, transportations. On the verge of those, blacks were being convicted of petty crimes and taken as...
Words: 611 - Pages: 3
...anti-black rhetoric. A central tenet that was key to this political strategy was the belief that black poverty was created by black subculture that produced street crime, illegal drug use, and delinquency. In addition, black poverty was directly correlated to overly generous relief provided by government assistance, and conservative political discourse produced images of ‘welfare queens’ and their dangerous offspring.15 Following Nixonian political strategy, Reagan campaigned for the presidency using this same coded anti-black strategy which appealed directly to the ideological right-wing of the Republican party and confounded liberals due to the lack of direct racist language during campaign. Reagan campaign speeches consisted of crime and welfare content, and repeated anecdotes were about the story of a welfare queen whose tax-free income netted $150,000. After becoming president, Reagan announced his “War on Drugs” in October 1982 despite the fact that two percent of the U.S. viewed drugs as an important issue facing the nation. Immediately budgets of federal...
Words: 1305 - Pages: 6
...classes becomes more available within a society that does not apply a caste system on its members. Ultimately, it is an individual’s personal responsibly to determine their outcome. This goes beyond race, social class, and culture. I believe America has equal opportunity, but not equal outcomes. As Martin Luther King famously said in his “I Have a Dream” speech, “be judged not by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” We are unique individuals and have an opportunity to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. These rights are natural rights that are given to us by God. Today the President of the United States is of mixed White and Kenyan heritage. Any remnants of a caste system, perhaps from the days of Jim Crow and the laws of “separate, but equal” are but all behind us in America. If you look at the achievement gaps in the Jersey City, NJ public schools, there is a significant gap in the graduation rates of different ethnic groups; fewer Black and Hispanic/Latino students graduate than Asian and White students. Blacks are graduating at about 55%, Hispanic/Latino’s at 65%, Whites at 80%, and Asian’s at 90%. (Lyles 18) Also, if you look at SAT Scores the gap is also visible between Blacks and Hispanics and Asians and Whites. Total mean SAT score for Blacks is 1168, Hispanics is 1222,...
Words: 790 - Pages: 4
...Introduction to Africana Studies | The Life Span of Jim Crow, Start to Finish | Sherman T. Gant | S.Gant 12/3/2009 | It’s hard to define a beginning to slavery in the United States. It is said to have begun in the mid 1600’s. The American Civil War began in 1961 when 11 states seceded from the United States. The North or the Union fought against the constitutionality of the secession and the expansion of slavery. Slavery came to an end when the North won the civil war, along with the passing of the 13 amendment. Although slavery was abolished in 1865, it did not give African Americans equal opportunity for education, employment, or basic human rights. Whites in the South during the late 1870s and early 1880s, established Jim Crow laws. Merriam-Webster’s dictionary defines Jim Crow as the ethnic discrimination especially against blacks by legal enforcement or traditional sanctions. This act, along with racist terrorism and mistreatment downgraded African Americans to a humiliating second class status for decades; until the U.S. Supreme Court started to dismantle Jim Crow laws in the 1950s. This paper will examine the force and the legacy of Jim Crow laws, from the start and finish, and the ongoing effect in today’s world. What was Jim Crow? Following the civil war, Congress passed three amendments to the U.S. Constitution. The thirteenth ended slavery December 18th 1865, the fourteenth banned discrimination July 28, 1868 and the fifteenth gave African-American...
Words: 2194 - Pages: 9
...The Great Depression: A time of substantial poverty, homelessness, and unemployment (McCabe 12). The stock market crash of 1929 triggered the Great Depression, which did not come to an end until 1941 (McCabe 12). The Great Depression and other various events in the 1930’s inspired Harper Lee’s world renown novel, To Kill A Mockingbird. Three events that profoundly correspond to the novel are the Jim Crow laws, mob mentality, and the Scottsboro trials. The first influence on Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird are the Jim Crow laws. The Jim Crow laws are a set of anti-Black laws in order to keep whites on the top of the racial caste system (Pilgrim). The Jim Crow laws vary from ordering Blacks to let White motorists go first at intersections...
Words: 1052 - Pages: 5
...After the collapse of Jim Crow, especially seeing the great success experienced by some African Americans, we start to feel the system of racial caste is officially dead and buried. However, that is just an illusion. Behind the rhetoric of institutionalized equity, our criminal justice system is working as the new Jim Crow preventing blacks from participating in our electoral democracy. While Constitutional amendments guaranteed African Americans "equal protection of the laws" and the right to vote, through a web of laws, regulations, and informal rules, all of which are powerfully reinforced by social stigma, they are confined to the margins of mainstream society and denied access to the mainstream economy. During the Reconstruction Era, whites felt threatened and outraged as African Americans were exposed to more social and economic opportunities and started to obtain political power. To turn the table and regain all the black labors they had for free for centuries, southern states drastically increased the penalties for minor offenses. Southern conservatives founded Ku Klux Klan, which fought a terrorist campaign against Reconstruction governments and local leaders, complete with bombings, lynchings, and mob violence. I can never forget those horrible pictures in which some white onlookers were smiling or laughing with the blacks burning or hung on the tree in the background. How sick they had to be to enjoy watching another human being tortured and murdered? Reconstruction...
Words: 693 - Pages: 3
...December 1st 2015 The New Jim Crow "The New Jim Crow" highlights the racial extents of the War on Drugs. It argues that federal drug policy unfairly targets communities of color, keeping millions of young, black men in a cycle of poverty and behind bars. The book begins by challenging claims that racism is dead. Those who believe that full equality been achieved would do well to notice many African Americans' reality today. An extraordinary amount of blacks are still barred from voting because in nearly every state, as convicted felons cannot vote. Hundreds of thousands of African Americans have served time in prison as a result of drug convictions and are branded felons for life. Voting is also barred for those currently incarcerated. Alexander uncovers the system of mass incarceration: a system comprised of laws, rules, policies, and customs that control criminals both in and out of prison. The greatest instigator of mass incarceration is the War on Drugs. Rather than combat drug activity, the War on Drugs has served as a deliberate strategy to control people of color and remove them from the political process, which is racist in both application and design. Alexander suggests that the War on Drugs and mass incarceration constitute a "rebirth of caste" in America. Beginning with slavery and continuing with Jim Crow segregation, mass incarceration places entire groups of people into discriminatory positions in society, permanently. The War on Drugs began in earnest in...
Words: 1065 - Pages: 5
...where poverty had reached an all time high after the stock market crash in 1929 (McCabe). The novel To Kill a Mockingbird takes place during this time, and faces many challenges related to The Great Depression. Harper Lee, author of To Kill a Mockingbird, used inspiration from these real-life historical events to hook into her novel. Some of these significant historical events include the Jim Crow laws, mob mentality, and the Scottsboro trials in conjunction with racism. One of the first known influence on Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird are the Jim Crow laws. The Jim Crow laws were a collection of unrelenting anti-black laws (Pilgrim). These laws weren’t just simply a set list of rules,...
Words: 988 - Pages: 4
...music, literature, arts, and poetry. The Harlem Renaissance was an important period of increased political involvement in black history. Another important movement for African Americans was the Black Arts movement. The Black Arts movement saw the rise of music and literature that embraced a pronounced political and racial consciousness. The Harlem Renaissance and the Black Arts movements are only two of many periods that has shaped the African American experience. The African American experience was also shaped by rich cultural, economic, political, and religious movements and people that refused to be minimized by the mainstream culture. There has been a lot of issues and concerns for African Americans in the U.S, past and present. Poverty has been the main political, social, and cultural...
Words: 639 - Pages: 3
...After the Civil War ended in 1865, the States tried to rebuild themselves and come back together as a country. One question about Reconstruction still lingers today: Did this period of time help African Americans with having the American Dream? According to my research, Reconstruction (mostly) did not help African Americans, but some laws made during this time would benefit them. African Americans were looked down upon when Jim Crow Laws were enacted and during the forming of the Klu Klux Klan. To begin with, Jim Crow Laws were laws that enforced segregation on African Americans and other people of color. Based on the “Separate but Equal” policy from Plessy vs. Ferguson, there were two different facilities, even water fountains, for each race: Colored and White. African Americans could not go into any white facility. There was no change in how they were treated between the Civil War and Reconstruction; they just were not slaves anymore. These laws were made from loopholes in the Constitution and other laws, basically giving African Americans the same rights that they...
Words: 554 - Pages: 3
