...Racial Profiling” refers to the discriminatory practice by law enforcement officials of targeting individuals for suspicion of crimes based on the individual’s race, ethnicity, religion, or national origin.Criminal profiling is generally viewed as a tactic used by police (any member of law enforcement, including, but not limited to, any local, state or federal individual), who is duly authorized to protect and serve the public. This also includes security guards, airport security, etc. This paper will examine some recent examples of profiling and will seek to determine whether law enforcement has acted out of fear, or racism in a post-racist America. Profiling for the purposes of this argument will be justified by the following principles:...
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...EN1320 EN1320 04/13/2013 04/13/2013 Essay 3.1 Rhetorical Analysis Obamas “A More Perfect Union” Speech Essay 3.1 Rhetorical Analysis Obamas “A More Perfect Union” Speech On March 18, 2008, Senator and future President Barack Obama delivered a speech that was titled “A More Perfect Union” (Obama Race Speech, 2008). This speech took place in Philadelphia, PA at the National Constitution Center. This speech was given during the 2008 Presidential race and looks to address the concerns regarding video of controversial and racially charged comments made by former pastor Jeremiah Wright which seemed to playing on loop in every media outlet possible. He also addressed the subjects of racial tension and race and inequality in the United States. From the beginning of the speech, it is evident that the most effective appeal that Obama chooses to use is ethos. As a rhetoric tool, ethos is used to establish character. Ethos is an appeal to ethics, and it is a means of convincing someone of the character or credibility of the persuader (Examples of Ethos, Logos, and Pathos). In order to establish an effective ethos, the speaker must present themselves in a way that will make the audience believe what they say. A strong example of this is when he uses the quote “We the people, in order to form a more perfect union”. In referring to the U.S Constitution, this compels the audience to make a connection of significance and importance between his speech and that of the Constitution...
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...ABSTRACT Over the years racial profiling has become a significant topic especially among law enforcement agencies across the United States. Many cities and states have made a conscious effort to study racial profiling and ascertain how race and ethnicity plays a significant role in stopping vehicles by law enforcement in their jurisdictions (Cleary, 2000). This literature review will examine the argument of whether racial profiling is practiced significantly by police agencies nationwide, and whether such practices are beneficial or not? The determination of whether race is a significant factor in the likelihood of being stopped by law enforcement is the purpose of this research. Are African Americans Targeted by Police Because of Their Race? A Review of the Literature Examining whether or not African Americans are targeted by police because of their race is an effective topic because African Americans experience it every day and the experience is not a new concept. The argument over racial profiling is based on two questions. Does racial profiling actually occur and if so, is it being used as a legitimate tool by law enforcement? The extent of racial profiling by the public is unknown; however, research reveals that “both race and personal experience with racial profiling are strong predictors in the attitudes toward profiling and that, among blacks, social class affects views of the prevalence and acceptability of the practice” (Weitzer and Tuch, 2002) thus furthering...
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...Post-National Enquiries Post-National Enquiries: Essays on Ethnic and Racial Border Crossings Edited by Jopi Nyman Post-National Enquiries: Essays on Ethnic and Racial Border Crossings, Edited by Jopi Nyman This book first published 2009 Cambridge Scholars Publishing 12 Back Chapman Street, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE6 2XX, UK British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Copyright © 2009 by Jopi Nyman and contributors All rights for this book reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner. ISBN (10): 1-4438-0593-9, ISBN (13): 978-1-4438-0593-3 TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgments ..................................................................................... vii Chapter One................................................................................................. 1 Introduction Jopi Nyman Part I: Crossing Racial Boundaries Chapter Two ................................................................................................ 8 Between Camps: Paul Gilroy and the Dilemma of “Race” Tuire Valkeakari Chapter Three ............................................................................................ 30 Breaking the Apartheid: Blocking Actors of Color in Globalized Multicultural...
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...Karla Veloz Professor Wendy Tronrud English 130 29 April 2016 All living is listening for a throat to open — The length of its silence shaping lives. When he opened his mouth to speak, his speech was what was written in the silence, the length of the silence becoming a living. And what had been “I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States…” becomes “I do solemnly swear that I will execute the office of President to the United States faithfully…” (112-113) Silence versus Voice: Exploring the Effects of the Stop-and-Frisk Law on Black Citizens in Claudia Rankine’s Citizen: An American Lyric. In Citizen: An American Lyric, Claudia Rankine’s prose poetry sheds light on the racial aggressions...
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...Persuasion and Resistance: Race and the Death Penalty in America Mark Peffley Jon Hurwitz University of Kentucky University of Pittsburgh Although there exists a large and well-documented “race gap” between whites and blacks in their support for the death penalty, we know relatively little about the nature of these differences and how the races respond to various arguments against the penalty. To explore such differences, we embedded an experiment in a national survey in which respondents are randomly assigned to one of several argument conditions. We find that African Americans are more responsive to argument frames that are both racial (i.e., the death penalty is unfair because most of the people who are executed are black) and nonracial (i.e., too many innocent people are being executed) than are whites, who are highly resistant to persuasion and, in the case of the racial argument, actually become more supportive of the death penalty upon learning that it discriminates against blacks. These interracial differences in response to the framing of arguments against the death penalty can be explained, in part, by the degree to which people attribute the causes of black criminality to either dispositional or systemic forces (i.e., the racial biases of the criminal justice system). he conventional wisdom on public opinion toward the death penalty in the United States, as summarized nicely by Ellsworth and Gross, is that people “feel strongly about the death penalty, know little...
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...Legalization of Marijuana Marijuana is the third most popular recreational drug in the United States. Despite the harsh laws against marijuana use, approximately twenty five million Americans have used the drug in the past year and more than fourteen million continue to use marijuana on a regular basis (norml.org). In turn, not only is the criminal justice system over-flooded with marijuana cases, but law enforcement is focusing valuable time on finding marijuana “criminals”. With the legalization of marijuana, the United States judicial system would be able to handle more important cases in a timely manner and law enforcement officers would be able to spend more time on more important crimes. However, the judicial system is not the only one standing to benefit from the legalization of marijuana. The United States stands to greatly benefit economically on the legalization of marijuana as well. The legalization of Marijuana would benefit our society in many ways. Being aware of all of this, I was curious to know why so many people oppose legalization of the drug. However, it was important for me to gather knowledge from credible sources. I did not want to learn the benefits of marijuana from a “stoner” blogging from his parent’s basement, nor did I want to learn about the negatives of the drug from an extremely right wing conservative who will stand against it- just to be against it. First, I went straight to George Mason University’s online library in the hopes...
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...Abstract All eyes are fixated on the country which boasts of the highest levels of democracy and the ‘champion’ of human rights in the world. The United States of America is at a critical stage in its historical development poised between political regression and economic decomposition. The year 2014 was marred with a myriad of African-American shootings, incarceration of protesters and other deplorable acts of police brutality. It is my view in this paper that these incidences are much more profound and anchored in historical aspects the most astounding being racism and oppressive legislation proffered since the days of slavery and Black oppression. I will deliberately use the ‘Black and White’ epithet so as to traverse my arguments. The years in between the Occupy Wall...
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...He discusses poverty – insofar as he suggests that money affords one access and the opportunity to receive more; with more opportunity comes more access and more access provides social capital. This is what explains the lack of fluid social capital among the lower class. While poverty is not necessarily an issue of race issue but more so class, racial inequality & racism still very pervades contemporary American society. Structure & agency are also enabling agents to inequality in America; adequate agency is required to surmount barriers created by certain structural forces designed by society. Macleod comes to the conclusion that individual agency is ostensibly inferior to social institutions and structural constraints. One’s outcome is more dependent on their social milieu, more than anything else; this, he purports, is what accounts for demographic patterns of...
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...Rothman’s analysis occurs when the press demanded that President Obama make a statement regarding race relations in America. When he refused to do so, he was promptly reproached by many including law professor Paul Butler who believed that the president went “out of his way to try to appease [his opponents]” (21). Rothman surmises that Butler blames the president’s “haters” (21) for his lack of action. Because Butler’s comment is an ad hominem that attacks the president’s character, Rothman’s conclusion is valid. Furthermore, because the media wrongfully reported on the now-fired officer and sharply criticized the president for not acting as they had anticipated, Rothman’s argument is still justified, for the media further...
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...research, areas of highest research interest, strengths and weaknesses of the various methodologies, and direction for future studies. In the study done by Hartmann, Gerteis, and Croll, the focus was on the theoretical aspects of whiteness studies. The findings led the researchers to estimate that in the United States, 15% of the population exhibit what may be called ‘categorical whiteness’ (404). The study by Hartmann, et.al, was carried out using data obtained during a recent national survey, which helped provide an empirical assessment of the theoretical underpinnings of whiteness studies (Hartmann, et.al 404). Three propositions regarding the awareness and conception of whites about their own racial status were analyzed. The propositions included: the understanding of racial privileges, the invisibility of the white identity, and adherence to individualistic and color-blind ideals. The findings turned out to be consistent with those previously spelled out in whiteness theories. Hartmann, et.al, discovered that white Americans are much less aware of privilege compared to individuals belonging to minority groups...
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...reveal a more active dialogue between the subculture and processes of capitalism, rather than perpetuating a working-class incitement to overthrow the dominant? • The Z-boys website highlights the multicultural, multiethnic aesthetic of the 1975 skateboarding team. Does Hebdige’s citing of black culture’s role in the formation of punk help locate the inter-racial influences of the Dogtown skating scene? Or does Hebdige’s insistence on the metropolitan render the ‘ethnic’ experience a historically specific moment with essentialist characteristics? • In relation to the above, is Hebdige’s London-based study congruent with the California skating/surfing scene of the early-to-mid 1970s? Do the Z-boys conform to Hebdige’s notion of the ‘spectacular’? • McRobbie and Garber identify a patriarchal discourse within Hebdige’s work, in which they suggest ‘(girls) are absent from the classic subcultural ethnographic studies, the pop histories, the personal accounts…of the field’ (Gelder & Thornton (eds).1997, p112). Does this assertion coincide with the difficulties in applying a structuralist approach to the analysis of the sole female member of Z-boys? Theoretical Framework • Hebdige- Subculture: The meaning of Style. Structuralist approach, • (BCCS)Marxist based. Utilises semiotics to locate working-class modes of consumption in reaction to dominant forms of production. • Stratton- On the importance of subcultural origins. Stresses subcultures are...
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...Barbara Jeanne Fields Slavery, Race and Ideology in the United States of America Two years ago, a sports announcer in the United States lost his job because he enlarged indiscreetly—that is, before a television audience—upon his views about ‘racial’ differences. Asked why there are so few black coaches in basketball, Jimmy ‘the Greek’ Snyder remarked that black athletes already hold an advantage as basketball players because they have longer thighs than white athletes, their ancestors having been deliberately bred that way during slavery. ‘This goes all the way to the Civil War,’ Jimmy the Greek explained, ‘when during the slave trading . . . the owner, the slave owner would breed his big black to his big woman so he could have a big black kid, you see.’ Astonishing though it may seem, Snyder intended his remark as a compliment to black athletes. If black men became coaches, he said, there would be nothing left for white men to do in basketball at all. Embarrassed by such rank and open expression of racism in the most ignorant form, the network fired Jimmy the Greek from his job. Any fool, the network must have decided, should know that such things may be spoken in the privacy of the 95 locker-room in an all-white club, but not into a microphone and before a camera. Of course, Jimmy the Greek lays no claim to being educated or well informed. Before he was hired to keep audiences entertained during the slack moments of televised sports events, he was...
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...society. Different racial groups have developed biases and prejudices against others and for many decades the consequences of this inexcusable charade of insensitivity have plagued the spheres we live in. Many scholars have questioned and hypothesized various means of eradicating racism in communities and many techniques and strategies have been devised. One such method is multiculturalism. This ideology is a derivative of the contact hypothesis, a concept developed by psychologist Gordon Allport, which theorizes that under appropriate conditions interpersonal contact is one of the most effective ways to reduce prejudice between majority and minority group members. If one has the opportunity to communicate with others, they are able to understand and appreciate different points of views involving their way of life. As a result of new appreciation and understanding, prejudice should diminish. Consequently, some policy makers and sociologists have surmised that by implementing this practice and creating “multicultural” communities, the severity of racism and racial prejudices could lessen or even be eradicated. For the most part, however, it seems that multiculturalism will do little or nothing to alleviate prejudice and discrimination. So we are left with the question: “Is racism permanent?” Are sociologists and policy makers enforcing the right measures to combat racism through ‘multicultural education’ and multicultural communities? Henceforth, the main argument of this paper is...
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...inferior in the same manner that Blacks are portrayed as intellectually inferior on tests devised by white psychologist. Furthermore, The hereditary perspective of intelligence is challenged by empirical evidence that centres on children with white ancestry to assess whether white genes influence intelligence while citing several sources that support the environmental explanation of the race gap in test scores. Consequently, this discussion questions the reliability and validity of intelligence tests that are used to reinforce the Black intellectual inferiority myth. The conclusive argument suggests in no uncertain terms that the Bell Curve is nothing more than the repackaging of racist pseudo-scientific conclusions by right wing academics, intent on rekindling a political debate premised on a racist manifesto to justify the withdrawal of intervention programmes that challenge existing social and racial hierarchies, that are perceived to transfer white power and privileges to undeserving Blacks. Special Thanks to: Dr. Madge Willis Morehouse College...
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