...their contributions changed the way society acts today. Martin Luther King Jr. was born on January 15, 1929. He was raised in an environment where African-Americans were singled out and isolated in the southern part of the United States. He enrolled and graduated from a public school at the age of fifteen and earned his diploma in Sociology from Morehouse College in 1948. He later enrolled at a graduate school in Boston where he met his wife, Coretta Scott, who understood Martin’s purpose in the African-American society. Martin continued the legacy of his father and grandfather and joined the Ebenezer Baptist church, serving as co-pastor alongside his father. In this little Baptist church is where Martin Luther King Jr. began to instill has beliefs and values amongst the African-American society. As an African-American minister and belligerent leader, people looked up to him as he fought for the rights of the African-American society. Cornel West was born on June2, 1953 in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He attended Harvard and received his graduate degree from Princeton. His influential book, Race Matters, was published one year after the Los Angeles riots. He was admonished by Harvard president Laurence Summers in 2001 for his political pursuits. He eventually resigned his position with Harvard and moved to Princeton. He has garnered many enemies through his advocating of the black, brown, poor and working class people. Martin Luther King Jr....
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...Rhetorical Analysis of the “Ballot or the Bullet” and “Somebody Blew Up America” The purpose of this essay to compare and contrast the rhetoric in Amira Baraka’s “Somebody Blew up America” and Malcolm X’s “The Ballot or the Bullet in regards to ethos, pathos, and logos. Amiri Baraka, born Everett LeRoi Jones, was an African-American writer of poetry, drama, fiction, essays, and music criticism. Baraka read his poem “Somebody Blew up America?” on the September 11th attacks and was heavily criticized for anti-Semitism and attacks on public figures. His poem is free verse and has no set structure but maintains its rhythmic elements for oral sharing. The poem was meant to be shared orally so that Baraka would be able to emphasize and share lines specifically for an audience. Malcolm X, born Malcolm Little, was an African-American Muslim minister...
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...1. For this media analysis assignment, I have chosen to analyze the Trayvon Martin case. I decided to write about this case because the incident only occurred two years ago, which means the problem still exists today. I feel this case is important to call attention to because it highlights the violation of political and civil rights of the people and it emphasizes the larger issues that the United States are facing. This news story did not only circulate in the United States. It reached different parts of the world with the news going viral through the internet, social media, television channels, and international newspaper headlines. Trayvon Martin, a 17-year old African American teenager, was walking back home from a relative’s place when he was fatally shot by George Zimmerman. Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch coordinator, was suspicious of the teen, so he followed Martin and disregarded the police’s orders of not going after him. Although Martin was not armed, Zimmerman claimed that the shot was fired as a result of self-defense. Many people, both nationally and globally, were caught up with following Trayvon Martin’s story. At the same time, protests were growing rapidly across the nation. This case helped raise questions about the media coverage and how media can be misleading, biased, and effective. Also, the case aided in the examination of the state’s self-defense laws and magnified the issue of racism. I am going to stress how messages of the media are framed and try...
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...rap, an art form and culture nearly thirty years old originating from The Bronx, New York, has provided a forum for Black and Latino youth to express their respective cultures and speak on a number of issues. Today, Hip-hop is a global phenomenon that appeals to almost all ethnicities and is synthesizing a new culture that goes beyond race, education, and income. Hip-hop has been under continual metamorphosis since its 1970’s inner-city inception. Some of the original artists like Kurtis Blow chose to lament everyday life in the ghettos. Others, Sugar Hill Gang among them, took a more dance inspired approach to the music. But for both these and other artists from the early years of rap through the late 1980’s including KRS-One, Public Enemy, Queen Latifah and LL Cool J, fast beats and socially relevant lyrics were among the primary components of the music. By the 1990’s a new face of rap music emerged. It began with Ice T and later gained popularity with artists such as NWA (Niggaz Wit Attitude) whose first album shocked and titillated the rap world with their obscene lyrical content and unabashed “gangsta” style, since then dubbed by the media as “gangsta rap.” Despite the growing acceptance of Hip-hop within white America and the middle class, Hip-hop is, at times understandable, also under siege. Comments made on rap or Hip-hop by Bill O'Reilly, popular talk show host on the Fox News Channel solidify that: Did you know that in 1999...
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...Darius Norris History: 150 Dr. Linda Wynn Research Paper 4/1/2015 Darius Norris Dr. Linda Wynn History: 150 April 1, 2015 Male African Americans & Racial Profiling in American INTRODUCTION Considering our time and age racial profiling one of the most untouched subjects in history, especially in the law-enforcement community. Most people get it confused with criminal profiling which is not the same. Racial profiling is any police-initiated action that relies on the race, ethnicity, or national origin rather than the behavior of an individual or information that leads the police to a particular individual who has been identified as being or having been, engaged in criminal activity. Criminal profiling is any police- initiated action that used the compilation of the background, physical, behavioral, and motivational characteristics for a type of perpetrator that lead the police. Now imagine driving to the store on a cold winter day, dressed in a hoodie to keep warm. You simply pull into the parking lot in hopes of getting something nice for your daughter for the holidays. Driving the posted speed limit, you pull slowly into a parking space in the back of the store. All of a sudden, a car pulls up behind you, blocking you in. You look in your rearview mirror only to find the community crime watch officer staring you down. The officer immediately treats you like a suspect, smothering you with questions concerning what you’re doing, where you’re going; yet never...
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...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 the need to investigate class influences on evaluations of the police. The Rodney King beating is evidence that racial profiling does exist. A 1999 Gallup Poll research study revealed that 77 percent...
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...profiling debate for two reasons: being entirely about race (The phrase itself implies that one's blackness is the primary offense leading to a pretextual stop) and because of the way it is constructed as a practice that targets men (3) equating racial profiling with "Driving While Black" implies that racial profiling mainly affects African American and Latino men and conceals or ignores the ways that women of color are racially profiled on the highways and elsewhere. (this is where she wants to jump into and expand the notion that racial profiling is intersectional by intersecting into other people’s lives rather than just black men) 3. Part 2- ‘Gendering’ racial profiling: how women of color are profiled: provides examples of individual anecdotes that illustrate that women are also victims of “Driving while Black” (Linda Johnson, Jhenita Whitfield, Marlene Adams) a. Racial profiling off the highways: In airports and bus stations (1) the most prominent display of racial profiling of women of color has taken place in various United States...
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...of her skin. The term redskin is a derogatory and offensive word to insult a Native American. Native Americans have been an important and beneficial part of our history. Before Christopher Columbus set sailed, Native Americans lived peacefully and thrived. Native Americans have been inflicted with agony of discrimination since Columbus landed in 1492. Now an adult, Harjo began a mission for Native Americans so they shouldn’t face discrimination like she once did. She focused part of her work on the removal of Native Americans as mascots. In an interview, Harjo explains that the Washington Redskins is a prime example of an offensive mascot. She refers redskin to the R-word because she believes it has the same meaning as the N-word. (http://inamerica.blogs.cnn.com/2013/04/04/native-american-mascots-pride-or-prejudice/) When searching the definition in Merriam-Webster, it’s defined as an offensive word and shouldn’t be used. In...
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...United States has recently been combating a war on its own soil, the War on Police. In the last five years, we have seen more negative coverage of law enforcement via the media. Mainstream media has found a way to give only parts or bits of information and use it to their advantage. The information the media uses is not always complete and journalist spin it in a way that is either negative or puts law enforcement agencies in a tough situation in a stressful time. The following will take a look at the most recent coverage the mainstream media has done on law enforcement officer-involved shootings. The following analysis will consist of three parts. First, a general analysis of...
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...way. This abhorrent discrimination between two human beings has not become a relic of the past; rather it still persists in our modern society in some form or the other. The United States of America is no stranger to incidents where these objectionable incidents are recorded widely, and it is not just relegated to poor neighborhoods and other similarly shady areas. Rather, it has become a permanent feature in the corporate world, Government and other similar places where these sorts of differentiations would be least expected. One community that has always been constantly repressed is the African American community. Their forefathers were brought to America’s shores as slaves, in times when slavery was still tolerated. To this day, many people in America still consider them as alien to their land. This of course leads to a host of problems across America that shows up when African Americans across the country are questioned about their fortunes. This sort of discrimination is often encouraged by many people that rather disturbingly have a lot of authority and power in making and implementing laws. Their argument is that discriminating and acting against the Black community is a viable way of making sure that Crime is kept in check. Distinguishing between color, creed, religion and race should be resigned to history. How many wars have we fought? How many lives cut short owing to this hate and fear? We of all societies should be able to recognize and judge that this kind of discrimination...
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...Introduction The purpose of this thesis is to show Islamic stereotypes in American movies made before and after the attacks on 9/11 and this was inspired by the movie, American Sniper, and the backlash and the response that the movie got and it begs the question why did people react the way they did and way they did it. After the movie came out, the people who saw it had a strong opinion about it, either that it was a patriotic movie or that it was offensive to Muslims. Many Americans have grown up in a post 9/11 world and don’t remember what the world was like before that fateful day and as a consequence have grown up with the “War on Terror” and trying to find the people responsible for the attacks on that infamous day in September. After...
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...American Propaganda and the Suppression of Dissent in World War I “May we never confuse honest dissent with disloyal subversion. “ – Dwight D. Eisenhower On June 28, 1914, the Archduke of Austria-Hungary, Franz Ferdinand, was assassinated. That event marked the first phase of World War I (Grayzel 10). Soon afterward nations throughout Europe announced declarations of war. By the end of October countries as far away as Japan, China and Brazil had become involved (Grayzel 11). Susan R. Grayzel in the “Introduction: The First World War and the Making of a Modern, Global Conflict” from The First World War: A Brief History with Documents”, explores a variety of contributing reasons for the Great War (Grayzel 9). The causes most often cited included the rise of nationalism, increased militarism, imperialism, and a willingness among the population to allow their governments to persecute a war (Grayzel 9-10). Ironically, it was a complicated series of competitive alliances and international peace agreements that caused such a rapid global escalation of hostilities (Grayzel 5). With its vast immigrant population, and their own ties to European and Asian interests, America was not immune to finding itself dragged into the war. Hence, during the first years of the war, President Woodrow Wilson struggled to maintain neutrality. So much so that he issued a declaration of neutrality to Congress on August 14, 1914. In his speech he entreated Americans to remember, “Every...
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...Gangstas, Grills, Guns and Georg? The Application of Simmel’s Theory in Analyzing Hip-Hop Fashion If fashion is determined by the elite upper-class and subsequently imitated by the lower classes, why do people imitate Hip-Hop’s style of flat-rimmed baseball caps and oversized jeans – a style that is typically associated with lower socioeconomic classes? Georg Simmel contends that the tension between wanting to imitate or conform versus wanting to distinct one self, dictates the future of fashion in an endless circle of styles coming into fashion and styles going out of fashion. Whether styles last or disappear, the constant remainder is fashion, propelled forward by the need of individuals to constantly distinguish themselves from others, but at the same time a desire to conform and be identifiable by others. I apply Simmel’s theory to the development of Hip-Hop fashion and culture and argue that Hip-Hop fashion originated from a need for distinction; that there is an important shift between imitation and distinction; and that there is a significant change in the type of elite who is imitated, especially in Hip-Hop fashion. Simmel’s Theory on Fashion For Simmel, fashion broadly speaking “is the imitation of a given example and satisfies the demand for social adaptation. . . . At the same time it satisfies in no less degree the need of differentiation, the tendency towards dissimilarity, the desire for change and individual contrast” (Simmel 543). Additionally, Simmel...
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...An Effort Closer to A Better Country “The Inaugural Address of John F. Kennedy is considered one of the greatest speeches in twentieth-century American public address,” says Sara Ann Mehltretter from Penn State University. The 1960s was an important time during American history. In John F. Kennedy’s Inauguration Address, he used ethos, pathos and logos, to grab the audience’s full attention about the worries of communism and nuclear warfare. Historical Background During the early 1950s, the Korean War is taking place. The current president ordered makings of hydrogen bombs. In 1955, Rosa Parks, an African American, refused to give up her seat on the bus to a white man. Which caused a boycott, that lead to bus segregations being unconstitutional by The Federal Court. The time of the election of John F. Kennedy as president, the 1950s were known by an unpleasant tension that was ongoing between the United States and the Soviet Union, historically known as The Cold War. The Cold War...
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...Analysis of Racial Profiling In the Criminal Justice System Police officers today face many challenges. Some concerns include dangers or safety concerns related to being a police officer, questions of the use of force and the public’s perception of officers being corrupt. Additionally, with cases of deaths and accusations that have come to the forefront about police throughout the United Stated, questions about police racial profiling have also come to light. Today’s police are considered to be corrupt and prejudice against minorities. Their image has been tarnished and police are now seen as the enemy. Many compare today’s law enforcement officers to the police officers that were prejudice and brutalized blacks during the civil rights movement. If police are to change the public’s perception of them so they can get back to the business of protecting and serving, they must address issues of racial profiling, police brutality and the criminal just system must partner with the community to reduce crime rates and recidivism rates among minorities. First, racial profiling is defined as “any police action initiated on the basis of race, ethnicity, or national origin of a suspect; rather than on the behavior of the individual or on information that leads the police to a particular individual who has been identified as being, or having been, engaged in criminal activity (Ramirez, 2008, p.3). Originally, racial profiling was used to combat the issue of drugs and assist with...
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