...when she was at school was used against her. Out of jealousy, the word was used as a curse or derogatory term to humiliate her. For that moment, the word nigger had a negative connotation. But, what about the times it was used positively like what I've mentioned above? Well, according to Naylor, the word itself is harmless but it is the consensus that gives power it. The collective opinion of people controls the meaning of a particular word. 2. Naylor explains what happens when a community decides to take over a word and renegotiate its meaning by giving us examples or a glimpse of her experiences with regards to the use of the word “nigger” in both positive and negative context. The word nigger did not become an internalization of racism for the black community because, according to her experience, they transformed the meaning of it. Those gatherings changed the meaning of it to signify the varied and complex human beings...
Words: 1636 - Pages: 7
...is associated to the concept of racial equality, which can simply refer to ‘social equality for peoples of all races’ (Crenshaw 1988). In spite of this however, there remain deeply entrenched processes of discrimination resistant to legal and political interventions throughout society (Solomos 1993). This essay will discuss the claim ‘there ain’t no Black in the Union Jack’ in relation to these processes of discrimination which have encouraged the mis representation and exclusion of Black people within British society. The first part of the essay will outline the meaning of race and racism in the 21st century. It will then go on to discuss processes of exclusion, which are reinforced by the media and politicians representation of black migrants and the existence of so called ‘White spaces’. These exclusions of black people can be seen to prevent them from identifying as British thus excluding them from being part of ‘the Union Jack’. Whilst the concept of racism has been restricted by the notion of ‘colour’ as it has concealed the full range of ways in which racism has operated in Britain, including against Jews, Gypsies and the Irish (Jewesbury 2008), throughout this essay the term will only be discussed in the political sense to ‘denote people who self- identify, originate or have ancestry from global majority populations (i.e. African, Asian, Middle Eastern and Latin America) and Indigenous and Bi-racial backgrounds (Nagarajan 2013). Essentialism forms the backbone of what...
Words: 1843 - Pages: 8
...“Fighting racism and Oppression” “I am a Muslim”, a line that has been very hard for me to say due to its negative connotation ever since the 9/11 attacks and beyond that. Ever since the day of 9/11, I have been in fear to show who I am, what ethnicity I am, and what religion I practice. Due to the cause of the attacks, people had the wrong perception to what being a Muslim really is, for people thought it was battle against Muslims and not a battle against terrorists. In Zayn Kassam,” Can a Muslim be a Terrorist?” He answers, “Sure, why not, I wonder, for so can a Jew, a Hindu, a Sikh, a Catholic, or, indeed, a member of any faith (776).” Another example of unfair assumption that is portrayed is in George Orwell’s, “Shooting an Elephant,” for in his essay he was a white British police officer that was hated by the Burmese people, because of the British rule over Burma, and the assumption that white people are violent and hateful. In addition, because of the British rule the Burmese people assumed that all British officers and British were alike due to their unfair ruling. In this essay the narrator George Orwell was assigned to go kill and what it seems to be an untamed Elephant, but due to his conscience he would feel resentment if he was to kill an Elephant, because of his non-violent and none hateful nature. Furthermore, he is in a situation where the people of Burma expect white man to do rampant, but on the contrary he does not feel that there is a need to kill the elephant...
Words: 1587 - Pages: 7
...teenager. Richard Rodriguez describes how speaking a distinct language created a barrier between his family and the rest of the country whereas Audre Lorde retells her first encounter with racism when she visited Washington D.C. Richard Rodriguez’s essay “Aria: A Memoir of a Bilingual Childhood” and Audre Lorde’s essay...
Words: 905 - Pages: 4
...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...
Words: 8908 - Pages: 36
...worth much. When Angelou stated, “Champion of the world. A Black boy. Some Black mother’s son.” (Paragraph 27), this defined struggle. This battle against the White Contender was not your ordinary victory. The victory would exemplify the Blacks, not only defeating a White man and it being okay, but also would portray an aspect of Blacks defeating the system. For once in their lives, it gave African Americans a sense of empowerment. This was their first step of defense, where no repercussions would be taken in exchange for victory. This essay is an example of a student's work Disclaimer This essay has been submitted to us by a student in order to help you with your studies. This is not an example of the work written by our professional essay writers. Essay Writing Service Essay Marking Service Example Essays Who wrote this essay Become a Freelance Writer Place an Order “If Joe lost we were back in slavery and beyond help. “ “My race groaned. It was our people falling”. (Paragraphs 16 and 17).[Reference?] These two quotes represent struggle and years of pain. They knew what it was like to experience violence first hand. It was not a myth nor story they heard about, they felt the pain on a daily basis. Not only would this defeat be a lost for Louis, but it would represent defeat to the entire Black culture. If this were to happen,...
Words: 1619 - Pages: 7
...English 123 II – 2.2 Final Project Milestone One: Annotation Bibliography By Vincent Berry WHAT IS YOUR RESEARCH QUESTION? Are record labels racism and political in the music industry? What impact does racism and politics have on the artist and fan base? SUMMORIZE SOURCE INFORMATION FOR EACH ANNOTATION Suisman, David. "Co Workers in the Kingdom of Culture: Black Swan Records and the Political Economy of African American Music." Teaching the Journal of American History Vol. 90, No. 4.March 2004 (2004): 1295-1324. Web. 1 Mar. 2004. African American owned Record Company, which produced records for African American consumers, was faced with attempts by a large record corporation to force them into bankruptcy. Why would a large company do this for such a small African American owned company? How would it merit attention from African American people in this medium when you have more important subjects like voting rights and lynching? Moreover, why would it merit any attention at all, not to mention, selling records to black consumers. This article answers these questions and investigates the rise and fall of the small record company and explores the political economy in which it operated. Black Swan Records created by Henry H. Pace, who saw a way to respond to a hostile environment that African American people faced with, both in the entertainment industry and in American society. The protégé of W.E.B Du Bois, also saw that African Americans were not equally even when they...
Words: 1774 - Pages: 8
...Anthropology As It Relates To Racism Jeffery Bridgewater ANT 101 Introduction to Cultural Anthropology Instructor: Matthew Harms August 20, 2015 The history of anthropology and racism is knotted and complex. Thoughts of human nature and life anthropology need to include replications on anthropology and racism today. The essential to answering the question of what is Anthropology is the real mystery? In this essay we will discover how anthropology and racism are intertwined and affect our lives. Racism today takes the form of financial and political differences, arranged along the collective group of race. These two things are both facts and still very much present. Before saying anything about the human evolution and biology, it would be necessary to understand ideas of the race shape scientific investigation. The human evolution to categorizing hominin species to discussions about Neanderthal and denisovan breeding and potentially entering the race of ideas, configurations of anthropology and racism today. I like to give you a little insight to how we will look into races the black race is a race that has been abused in time past. They tend to be violent especially to themselves. They are group of that have some that think only of themselves or do anything to move up the latter. The things that is so amazing about this group of people is how they will come together when one of there on has been wronged be another race but they turn around and do it to themselves....
Words: 1210 - Pages: 5
...where African American artist (musicians and poets) called themselves the “New Negro”. The two Poets I chose to discuss throughout this essay are Langston Hughes and Claude McKay. I will be discussing their roles during the Harlem Renaissance, The elements of double consciousness within their poetry, and the primary themes seen in poetry during this time period. Langston Hughes Langston Hughes was one of the most influential writers during the Harlem Renaissance. His unique style of writing incorporated Jazz and Blues music into poetry. Langston Hughes played a significant role during the Harlem Renaissance period, his work became the voice for the average African American struggling to deal with the stress / pressures of being racially discriminated against. His poems encouraged them to love their brown skin and accept who they are and not how they are seen by their white counterparts. Instead of African Americans sacrificing their identity (culture) to blend into the white society he encouraged Negroes to have a sense of pride in their ancestry and celebrate their spirituality and culture. His poems spoke against racism and acts of violence against Negroes. Claude McKay Claude McKay was born in a small predominately black town in Sunny Ville, Jamaica at 17 he moved to Kingston Jamaica where he had his first encounter with racism. He was disgusted at how blacks were thought to be inferior and only capable of...
Words: 1561 - Pages: 7
...about the race of Santa Claus and Jesus Christ. Carson also questions why people were more worried about the race of these two people, and then shares how no one talked about the message of Jesus Christ, or the symbolism behind Santa Claus. In the middle of the essay, Carson begins by looking at how the Bible gives detailed explanations and descriptions of countless people throughout the many books, yet it does not express the physical appearance, is something that Carson believes is a sign that God does not care about the color of a person's skin, because at the end of the day it does not matter. After the paragraph about the Bible, Carson confronts the arguments of those who feel like not caring about race is racist. But Carson not only addresses their arguments, by saying that racism was based on the ignorance of people, which in turn caused hatred, and that those people who were kept ignorant were not rushing to reveal the truth. Towards the end of the essay, Carson then explains how people are listening to those who want nothing more than to spread separation and discord between the different races, instead of talking about issues that truly matter, like keeping the government in check. The last portion of the essay is where Carson gives examples of what if scenarios. Like what if a zoo had only one type of animal, or if every fish looked exactly alike, and how these would not be worth while to see, just like the world would not be meaningful without different types of people...
Words: 1517 - Pages: 7
...women that face all types of problems life had to offer them. These two stories shows feeling, pain, hate, and disappointments in Country Lovers and The Welcome Table. Both of these women had to struggled with their emotions and all they had to go through. Both stories are told in third person omniscient point of view, you can tell by the way the narrator describe the characters and how they’re feeling in both story. “The Welcome Table,” the old woman had her faith to guide her. To carrier her through the hard times. All she wanted was just to attend church. There is a rascal tension centered on both of these stories, in “Country Lovers” the black woman in this story was a pretty black woman fell in love with someone she grow up with a white man, she had a baby for him. This paper will explain every little details concerning The Welcome Table and Country Lovers. “The Racial Conflict And Discrimination In The Welcome Table And Country Lovers” Every story narrows a broad underlying idea. Shaped in a unique way, and makes the underlying idea concrete. That’s how themes are created. The theme is a representation of the idea behind the...
Words: 1987 - Pages: 8
...One would not read Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf to learn about Germans’ anti Semitic views in the 20th Century, or to learn about how the Jews “bastardized the white race” (Hitler 56). Surprisingly, Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness is still taught in high schools in 2016 even though the likes of Wilson Follett in 1915 have noted that the novel “Contained an implicit moral injunction to the white man: keep racial purity” (Adelman). Students would learn about the state of colonialist Europe at the end of the 19th Century equally from history books as they do from Conrad’s Heart of Darkness. Until racism is completely eradicated from our society today, it is not acceptable to propagate any form of literature or art which supports it. Similar to sexism, racism is...
Words: 967 - Pages: 4
...Racism: Yesterday’s Norm, Today’s Problem, Tomorrow’s Memory I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal." * Martin Luther King Jr. Racism is literally defined in the dictionary as, “A belief or doctrine that inherent differences among the various human races determine cultural or individual achievement, usually involving the idea that one's own race is superior and has the right to rule others. “ From this, one can derive that racism is not only occurring between blacks and whites, but between all races; and not only in America, but all over the world. However, when trying to solve a problem one must start somewhere, and since the U.S. is a world leader, if it changes its values, much of the world will follow. Therefore, this essay will focus on relative solutions readers can relate to as residents of the United States of America. Nevertheless, a problem can’t be solved without first finding its causes. The reasons’ of why racism exists include: xenophobia, prejudices, governmental influences, etc…Yet, the paramount reason for racism is IGNORANCE! People are afraid of what they don’t know or understand. They feel the need to oppress rather than embrace other cultures because they are not similar to their own. This ignorance spreads like wildfire and turns others into ignoramuses as well. It is like professor Benjamin said, “In a pen...
Words: 589 - Pages: 3
...Caught Between Cultures Gloria Anzaldúa’s The Homeland, Aztlán / El Otro México, explores the political and social impact of creating borders between places and their residents. Through use of her unique and diverse writing style, Anzaldúa is able to capture the struggle faced by displaced Mexicans and their posterity. Not only is she able to accurately portray their hardships, but she is also able to alienate her white audience by using both English and Spanish. This is done in a way that provides some insight into the cultural barriers that Mexican-Americans encounter. Her use of historical context illuminates the injustice that these people were subject to, while her incorporation of firsthand experiences and family history give the reader a more personal view of the trials and tribulations of a typical Mexican family. The combination of these different writing techniques make the reader empathize with the Mexican people’s struggle, by providing a new perspective on the conflict between Mexico and the United States and its impact. Anzaldúa uses a substantial amount of background information and history to provide context for her audience. She begins by explaining that the oldest evidence of human existence in the United States, is from the ancestors of the Chicanos, who settled there in 35,000 B.C. (Anzaldúa 41). This initial piece of history is important because it shows that the ancestors of the Chicanos were the first inhabitants of the land that is now modern day...
Words: 1082 - Pages: 5
...immigration is a prominent part of politics today more than ever. Leslie Marmon Silko’s persuasive essay, “Fences Against Freedom,” exemplifies the constant battle on racism and immigration our nation faces today. Through her own experiences, she has concluded that the government evokes racism among the population in a negative manner. Silko’s essay explains that the government is a body that is not to be trusted and that their mischievous ways trickle down the ladder to us. She speaks for all persons with mixed ancestry on the point that their lives are daily struggles as a result of our nation’s leaders and their misperceived views on race. Racism is one of the leading social problems that Americans can associate themselves with because it is seen everywhere and it is spreading the wrong message. The ineffectiveness of Silko’s argument, that the government and media is to blame for the apparent racism in the country today, is exemplified through her constant contradiction of statements and child-like motives. Silko blames the government for their actions that have affected her life as well as many other people of different race. Leslie Marmon Silko grew up in Native American home in Albuquerque, New Mexico. She is well known for her English and writing skills and she was raised as a Laguna Pueblo child since 1948. Silko loved stories ever since her grandmother and aunt told old culture folklore. They had a prominent effect on Silko and therefore, after attending catholic school...
Words: 1459 - Pages: 6
