...Racism: A Learned Behavior I. Introduction Racism is one of the most controversial social topics in the world today even in the 21st century. As the term has been associated through the centuries for negative connotations such as discrimination, prejudice and even violence, racism remains to be a volatile issue affecting millions of lives today. The definition of racism is based on the belief that a particular race based on physical genetic features is more dominant than another. As such, the one that views that his or her ethnicity possesses human traits and capacities that are inherently superior compared to another is an exhibition of racist behavior. As such, this belief becomes the basis for particular ethnic groups to discriminate on others that can be seen through institutional racism. This is when an entire ethic population denies another racial group basic civil liberties and benefits thus, continuing on the cycle of preferential treatment of a particular race. It is important to note that the United Nations has declared that racial discrimination and ethnicity discrimination are one and the same. Significantly, the partition of races can be traced back in history as early societies have traditionally divided human populations based on their race. As such, through the centuries sociologists, anthropologist and psychologists have tried to determine the root cause of racism especially with the detrimental effects of discrimination as a result of racist...
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...In the 1940s, Japanese Americans faced much persecution. The events of World War II created vast amounts of racism in the United States, especially toward Japanese Americans. They were forced into internment camps; they were taken away from their own lives and treated poorly there. The novel Tallgrass by Sandra Dallas envisions what it was like to live near an internment camp, and it gives a glimpse of how people viewed Japanese Americans during this time. This novel and David Guterson’s novel Snow Falling on Cedars are similar. Both novels were written within the same fifteen year time period, and they shed light on the prejudice against Japanese Americans during and after World War II. Snow Falling on Cedars is primarily an investigation...
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...Latter-Day Saints", 2013). Mormonism originated in the 1820s, as described by the Church’s website, when Joseph Smith Jr. was confused and frustrated by the various Christian religions and was unable to choose one to follow. He turned to the Bible, which told him to ask God when he lacked wisdom. So he prayed to God, and was visited by the Heavenly Father and his Son, Jesus Christ. According to one of the members of the governing body of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Bruce McConkie (1958), “Mormonism is indistinguishable from Christianity”. However, there are some distinct differences between Mormonism and other Christian religions, and other religions in general. These differences have led to a history of discrimination and persecution, so much though that the Church today keeps many of its ceremonies, practices, and beliefs private. The Church of Jesus Christ and Latter-Day Saints has had a vast impact on American culture which includes a recent Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney. The differences between Mormonism and Christianity are subtle. Mormons believe that their Church is the “True Church of Christ”. According to their scripture study publications, the Christian religion became corrupted during “The Great Apostasy” shortly after Christ’s death and resurrection ("The Message Of The Restoration Of The Gospel Of Jesus Christ", ). God, The Heavenly Father, chose to reestablish the true Church on earth through Joseph Smith Jr. Basically, Mormons are saying that other...
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...Muhammad Usman Qureshi Mr. Michael Steele 15 January 2016 Racism Speech Festival-16th Jan Honorable judges and respected guests, Imagine living our lives in constant paranoia, where we feel like we are being watched everywhere we go. Imagine living our lives, where we feel like we are judged on everything we do. Imagine living our lives, where we are judged for the color of our skin. This, ladies and gentlemen, is racism. Racism causes thousands of cases of deaths and destruction across the globe every, single, year. In our modern society, ‘racism’ is a combination of prejudice, prejudgment and bitterness directed against someone of a different skin color, different culture and even a different belief. There are different forms of racism; interpersonal racism, institutional racism and internalized racism. No one likes to be left out, so Why do we judge? Why do we pass the torch of stigma to this world? Why do we ignite the flame of hatred? 50 years ago, Martin Luther King dreamed of the day these children will no longer be “Judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.” But today, we see that racism remains as a very real threat to our world. We’re not born with racism; we are born as blank pieces of paper and act upon what is written on it. We act upon what society tells us. Is this what our society is? A community of individuals that strive to discriminate Asians, Africans and Arabs? Statistics by the Oxford...
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...Matrix Complete the matrix below by answering the questions for each group. | Race vs. Ethnicity | Origins and Past Experiences | Challenges in the U.S. | American Identity | Personal Experiences and Comments | | Is this an ethnic or racial group and why? | Where did this group originate? How did this group become a part of American culture? | What challenges has this grouped faced in the U.S.? | How is this group portrayed today in American society? | Have you witness any racism or prejudice toward this group? Any additional comments? | Native Americans | Racial groupConsidered a minority because of obvious physical differences | Asia – migrated here across the Atlantic | Faced prejudice and mistreatment, have been taken advantage of , had land taken from them | Not given the respect that they deserve | No | African Americans | Racial groupConsidered a minority because of obvious physical differences | West Coast of Africa - brought here on slave ships | Prejudice, persecution, been slaves | Negative image, stereotyped, victims of racial profiling | Yes, still taken advantage of today. Many of the elderly are ripped off daily by supposedly educated people who prey on the poor. | Hispanic Americans | Ethnic group National origin and culture | Various countries in Latin America, Spain, and Portugal- | Prejudice | Not treated fairly in many cases | Yes, worked by people for under minimum wage | Mexican Americans | Ethnic groupNational origin and culture |...
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...unjustifiable. It must constantly prove that it belongs to a hostile environment. Certainly, there are examples where social interactions led to a decrease in racist attitudes, but usually this occurs without the system of institutional racism is itself affected. The beneficiaries of affirmative action often divert their eyes from the final goal (remove oppression of institutional racism) because they need to defend the system to keep their personal benefits. The fact that slaves have become overseers on plantations has mitigates slightly, if at all, the harshness of slavery. And these supervisors were also in the unenviable position of defending a system that oppressed them, while giving them an "advantage" relative compared to other slaves. In fact, some people have no problem to hold this kind of position now, but others will struggle to manage their...
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...Racism in Work Racism is the conviction that qualities and capabilities could be credited to individuals basically on the foundation of their race and that some racial assemblies are better than others. Racism and separation have been utilized as capable weapons empowering fear or contempt of others in times of clash and war, and actually throughout investment downturns. Banters over the beginnings of racism frequently experience the ill effects of an absence of clarity over the term. Numerous conflate later types of racism with prior manifestations of ethnic and national clash. Much of the time ethno-national clash appears to owe to clash over land and key assets. In a few cases ethnicity and patriotism were outfit to wars between extraordinary religious realms for instance, the Muslim Turks and the Catholic Austro-Hungarians). As Benedict Anderson has recommended in Imagined Communities, ethnic character and ethno-patriotism turned into a wellspring of clash inside such domains with the ascent of print-private enterprise. An alternate conceivable wellspring of racism is the misconstruing of Charles Darwin's speculations of advancement. Some took Darwin's hypotheses to suggest that since a few "races" were more cultivated, there must be a natural premise for the contrast. In the meantime they spoke to organic speculations of ethical and erudite qualities to defend racial persecution. There is an extraordinary arrangement of debate about race and discernment, to some degree...
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...Throughout the past years racism in the Middle East has increased dramatically, especially religious racism. Religious racism in the Middle East is more than gender or race (1). Religious racism can be found more in country like Egypt, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Lebanon (1).However some other form of racism likes ethnic can be found in many Middle Eastern countries. Religious racism has started to occur in most of the Middle Eastern country, since the invasion of Muslims people to country like Egypt and Lebanon in the seventh century. When Muslims invaded these country all the people who lived at these country were Christian, so Muslims started to collect taxes from Christian and treat them like slaves. Muslim enforced Christian to change their religious to Islam if they didn’t pay these taxes or don’t like Muslims is treatment and rule. Now day, Christian in the Middle East doesn’t pay tax to Muslim but they get less job opportunity, face a lot of difficulty if they want built churches or make some renewal to a church. For example, in Egypt, Christian need to get permission from the president of the country to built churches and after getting this permission they face a lot of trouble from the city is government. On the other hand Muslim built their praying house Mosques without facing any problem; these Mosques is build by the government and all future expenses gets funded it by the government. Also the constitution...
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...The ignorance of humans has created prejudice and brooding hate in societies. This reoccurring theme has been examined by Harper Lee in the classic To Kill A Mockingbird. Set in the late 1920, the society of Maycomb evidently showcases racial, gender-biased and social class prejudice, due to their narrow-mindedness. The racism exhibited in Maycomb, defines the large egos of the citizens. Scout's third grade teacher, Miss Gates represents the hypocrisy of the county. Miss Gates enunciates carefully to her class " We are a democracy(328)[...]over here we don't believe in persecuting anybody. Persecution comes from people who are prejudiced. Prejudice[...]There are no better people in the world than Jews, and why Hitler doesn't think so is a mystery to me."(329). Shortly after, Scout overhears Miss Gates at the courthouse,...
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...How It Feels To Be Colored Me (Interpretation) Where does racism come from? Are we born with discrimination or racism? Is it easier for some to hold back their anger when being discriminated against? How It Feels to BE Colored Me, is a book reflected on racism and discrimination. Hurston goes on to describe how she experiences her life events. She grew up in a small town Eatonville, Florida. At the age of thirteen, she begins a new chapter in her life in a city outside of Eatonville, Florida. From there, she talks about life experiences she encounters and discusses some of her reactions to those encounters. In the beginning of the essay, Hurston talks about her childhood. Her childhood was an easy going one. Hurston grew up in a small town described to be exclusively of only colored people. While living there, she, from time to time, would see what she refers to them as Southerners and Northerners. Right here, she is already distinguishing the difference between her people (Southerners) and the people to the north of them (Northerners). Although she doesn’t know it, she is already beginning to label others. Why? This might be due to the fact that she is a part of a town that is mainly colored people. But the Northerners were something else again. They were peered at cautiously from behind curtains by the timid here (Hurston, 265). She goes into detail on how white people are unknown to her in the city she grew up in. If we were to dissect this sentence, a bigger picture...
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...Rhetoric and Ethics Assignment "The Ethic of Expediency" by Steven B. Katz discusses the ethical problems of technical writing. The author suggest that the ethic of expediency enables deliberative rhetoric and gives impulse to most of our actions in technological capitalism. Katz explains that the problem with deliberative rhetoric and technical communication is epistemology and ethics. He uses a Nazi memo as a technical writing sample, which embodies the rhetoric and ethos of the Nazi Party but fails to take any account for ethics. He also uses Aristotle's Politic and Rhetoric to make the connection between rhetoric, ethics, technology, and expediency. Katz concludes that the deliberative orators aim is utility, to determine means to ends- a question of expediency. Aristotle believed that practical wisdom must be accompanied by moral virtue to supply the right end. Hitler used Aristotle’s work to form the ethos in Nazi Germany. However, with Hitler, there was no distinction between "practical wisdom" and "moral virtue", between expediency and the good as long as rhetoric serves its end, that is, the State. His belief in the efficacy of science and technology as the basis of ethics and politics resulted in mass extermination. Based on the ethic of expediency, rhetoric for Hitler was pure technique, designed not to encourage debate, but rather to indoctrinate. Hitler created an ethos of expediency to carry out his program for the “greater good” of Germany. Katz believes that to...
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...Argumentative Research Paper Preventing immigration because of nationalism and racism is a violation of human rights. Immigration has become the topic of many legal and political discussions. Not a very long time ago, approximately 80 years, some countries, because of their nationalist and racist ideologies tried to stop immigration and even implemented racial cleansing, while others defended immigrant rights against the ideas of pure-blood and xenophobic insanity. Actually this case has not closed yet. The majority of governments still refuse to accept immigration as a human right. Standards for immigrants are generally very poor; they do not share the equal rights of the citizens of the country. While some countries have some laws and regulations to solve this problem, generally most nations are not welcoming of immigrants. Preventing immigration because of nationalism and racism is a violation of human rights. Xenophobia is a fear of anything or anyone that is strange or unknown. Many nations’ immigration policies are based upon xenophobia, and this has come to inform policies and attitudes of nationalism. Jeong (2013) defines nationalism “as a feeling of superiority and contempt for foreigners’’ and in his study he describes the effects of national feelings on immigration. Jeong claims there is a connection between restricted immigration and high levels of nationalism. For instance, many US citizens have concerns about whether there will be anyone called “American”...
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...Oftentimes, literature depicts circumstances in which one can extrapolate meaning and relate it to life. Such is the case in Mark Twain’s novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. In the book, Twain expertly illustrates the character of Huck Finn as well as southern society. Through his storytelling, one can find lessons that are vital to society today such as the consequences of being dishonest, the negative impact of the prevalence of racism, and the importance of choosing your own morality. Lying – it is something so innate to us humans that many of us do not think about it at all. Odds are every single one of us tells multiple lies each day, no matter how small. The con men of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the Duke and the Dauphin, are two pathological liars who use their craft to beguile unsuspecting victims for monetary gain. Again and again, the pair of con men performed the play “The Royal Nonsuch”, a performance that was advertised by them as being something worth seeing but in actuality was a scam. They narrowly escaped persecution on several occasions due to luck being on their side. Ultimately, Twain shows how there was consequences of the repeated deceit of the Duke and the Dauphin with them being tarred and feathered. In taking this example and applying it today, one can see that there are always ramifications to leading a dishonest life. Another facet of human society that is prevalent in Huckleberry Finn is discrimination between races, namely white intolerance...
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...backwards onto the ground(142)”. Boggs challenged an opponent that he could not beat because of his drunkenness and died because of it. Boggs was known to tell tall tales and promise much more than he could deliver, but in the end the one who boasted the most was the one who died. Racism plagues Jim as well as Huck on their long river journey. Huck faces persecution because of the aid he provides to Jim. Jim faces cruelty of slavery and the consequences of his running away. Even Huck who helps Jim so much still brings forth much of his upbringing along their journey. Jim stayed with Tom after he had been shot and Huck complimented by saying, “I knowed he was white inside (263)” as if the color of Jims skin still somehow judged his character. Huck’s thinking was not meant to be negative, but his childhood habits still affect him. Huck has to face the racism that burdens Jim as well when he encounter some slave hunters and must lie to save Jim. “I won’t let no runaway niggers get by me if I can help it (94)”, Huck tries to reassure the slave hunters that he is no “low-down abolitionist”. Racism was a great danger to runaway slaves as well as the people who tried to help them. Child abuse, alcoholism, racism; all of these things bring challenges to Jim and Huck along with other characters they meet along their journey. However they all manage to overcome the obstacles that these problems present. These characters wanted freedom from these burdens to have a better life. Mark Twain uses...
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...of racist American citizens, causing an uproar by the public, furthering the issue even more. Page grew up in the fifties, when racism was unyielding and far too many innocent people faced discrimination and persecution. After that, racism was heavily lessened by much needed programs, such as Affirmative Action and the Supreme Court ruling on the case of Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka. Since then, America has come leaps and bounds past the idea that one group of people can be less than another based off of skin pigmentation. However, while speaking about his son, Page fears that he will go from “someone who is perceived as cute and innocent into someone who is perceived as a menace, the most feared creature on America’s urban streets today, a young black male” (Page 336). The fact that some still feel this way is embarrassingly disheartening and I couldn’t agree less. Many older African Americans who have dealt with severe segregation firsthand, Page for instance, have a justified hatred and fear towards whites. These feelings often get passed down from generation to generation, keeping the tension, discrimination, and racism alive. Since racism is typically thought of as white people being racist to blacks, some may argue that black people cannot be racist since they are a minority. However, according to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, racism can be defined as “a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce...
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