...“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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...In Barack Obama’s speech, “A More Perfect Union,” we see the true message behind his speech. His ideal for this country and its success is based on a unity within the people. No matter what race, gender, or religious background people have, we all must come together to unite our once promised union and move forward. The goal that Barack Obama intends to resolve is the coming together of all people to see the problem as a whole, rather than focus on the small judgmental flaws of the individual. A big factor in Obama’s speech is race. He speaks of the people having much focus on race and diversity within the union, that people are missing the big picture. Obama believes that the people must attack this problem now, instead of setting it aside for a future outbreak of the situation. Racial conflicts are still a big factor in America. The past issue of segregation and slavery has caused people to lose focus of problems that will have an effect on the union as a whole. Barack Obama believes that people of all races can overlook the past racial differences and further the unity of a more perfect union. Caucasian and African Americans will see that discrimination is in the past. Americans will help provide future generations with opportunity, and will come together to benefit all of America as a perfect union. I agree with the vision and message of the Obama speech, “A more Perfect Union.” I agree with the fact that people today in America are still held back with...
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...context in which something happens and is meant to be understood. Lastly, purpose is the motive or the message which is conveyed and understood. Pentadic analysis has its roots in Burke's Theory of Dramatism which looks at life as a play where symbols and language are used to express thoughts as a way for humans to comprehend the reality of the world. Burke developed this theory as a way to attempt to understand the bases of human conduct and motives. Thus, the purpose of a pentadic analysis addresses the content of what is being done and what are the motives of a certain artifact as crafted by a rhetor. Burke believed that ratios interconnect important terms and map out a clearer picture of the underlying intentions or motives in a situation. Act-scene and act-agent are the most commonly used for rhetorical criticism. Act-scene shows that the act can not be fully understood without taking the scene into account as the backdrop against which it happened. Act-agent highlights the importance of the agent on the act and shows their relationship of mutual dependence....
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...way where nobody would be offended or believe that he is choosing sides. Barack Obama’s speech in the 2008 election reveals how differently American voters can feel about certain topics just because of what they see in media despite the differences of opinions between the parties. Obama was put in a difficult position to persuade and...
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...Every four years the American society choose their leader and representative. Their decision influences not only their motherland but all countries in the world. Till 2008, there were no elections that were assumed to be historic before announcing the final result and before they actually took place. It was the president’s decisions that made one’s tenure significant and unforgettable. 2008 year’s voting altered this jurisdiction. An African American senator has been nominated and finally won the most momentous election in the world. Certainly, Africans and their descendants have been a part of the story of the America since the late 1400s. As scouts, interpreters, navigators, and military men, blacks were among those who first encountered Native Americans. Beginning in the colonial period, African Americans provided most of the labor on which European settlement, development, and wealth depended, especially after European wars and diseases decimated Native Americans. Their slavery legally lasted till the XIX century, when in 1865 Thirteenth Amendment to the USA Consitution was passed. The legal act banned bondage. However, African Americans faced many obstacles and prejudices not encountered by whites, even in areas where slavery had been abolished. They were barred from most educational institutions, limited to the least desirable residential and farming areas, often prohibited from practicing trades and opening businesses, and generally segregated in public conveyances...
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...African American History Final Exam Essay By: Omar Sneed Given the history of race relations in 20th century America, few voters who were born before the 1970s regardless of their ethnic background or race every expected the election of an African American as President of the United States to occur in their lifetime. Nevertheless, it became a reality and in great part the following events, conditions and situations that took place between 1900 and the year of 2000 created a social political and economic environment that allowed this historical event to take place. First of all, the American people shared the same value system regardless of their race. After the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960’s, the attitudes of the people evolved from privilege being reserved for whites only to a quest for the survival of humankind. There was a marked growth in the black middle class with the inception of the Harlem Renaissance which brought about the perception that African Americans had value in that they could entertain and were skilled at it. Another factor that was conducive to the outcome was the fact that racism began to decline and younger generations were much less racist than their parents and grandparents were. This evolution of attitudes towards African Americans brought about an awareness and testament to the world to what African Americans had to offer largely in part to the post civil war era whereby African Americans were progressive and they were interested in...
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...are the deciding factors in an election. Firstly, many argue that in the U.S. race has large influence in voting behaviour. For example, in 2012, 93% of African Americans voted for Obama as did 71% of Hispanics. This suggests that racial minorities are more likely to favour Democrats, because of their liberal attitude on issues that are more likely to affect ethnic minorities, as seen with Obama’s promised immigration reform in 2012. This is also seen in the UK, where the Labour party have typically performed better amongst racial minorities. However, some would argue that this is not always the case. The African-American vote for Democrats has been stable (80%+) for over 30 years, but the Hispanic vote has not. Hispanics are typically swing voters. For example, on social issues such as abortion/same-sex marriage, some Hispanics tend to take a more social-conservative stance which attracted them to Bush in 2004, who received 44% of the Hispanic vote in that election (compared to 31% in 2000). However, in the 2008 election, their vote was 67% for Obama in 2008 and 71% in 2012. They were attracted back to the Democrats as the party of minority rights, welfare and supporters of the ‘Dream Act’ allowing for naturalisation as well as Obama’s executive order on Hispanic...
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...THE COMPARISON OF PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION JOURNEYS, BETWEEN PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA AND PRESIDENT MUHAMMADU BUHARI INTRODUCTION | | BARACK OBAMAThe “Rise of President Barrack Obama” case reviewed upon on how the background of Barack Obama, his tussles and the leadership virtues made him the 44th President of the United State of America. Born in Honolulu Hawaii, on August 4th, 1962 to a black Kenyan native and a white woman from Kansas –who were married for only three years. He graduated from both Columbia University and Harvard Law School. In 1995 he was elected into Illinois State Senate and got elected into the US senate in 2004. He went on to become a democratic candidate for president by 2008, defeating Hilary Clinton. | GENERAL MUHAMMADU BUHARIAs the 23rd child of his father, Buhari was born on the 17th of December 1942 in Daura, Katsina State, to the father Adamu –who died when Buhari was four years old- and mother Zulaihat. He began his education at a primary school in Daura and then proceeded to Katsina Model School and Katsina Provincial Secondary School.Buhari joined the Nigerian Military Training School in Kaduna, where his military career began and he became the Head of state from 1983-1985.After three failed consecutive Presidential election contests, Buhari announced his fourth campaign in 2014, could this be his fourth failed contest or is the fourth time a charm? | VISIONS OF CHANGE Irrespective of their clear good objectives, politicians...
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...Section A -Focus on attitudes to race in Obama’s America 1. Give an outline of the different attitudes to the situation of African Americans presented in text 1, 2 and 3. Yolanda Young’s text (text 1 - “Black is being seen in a whole new light”) is about her own experience. She writes about that nearly 20 years ago, she could walk down the street and not being noticed at all, as if she was invisible. But since Obama got elected she now gets noticed and she becomes overwhelmed with compliments. Yolanda Young is stating the fact that, in the modern world, there are many black stars “Of course there have always been black women who were embraced as beautiful: super-models Tyra Banks and Naomi Campbell come to mind”. Also a test was made with a couple of black children. The children was handed over a white and a black doll and was asked which of the dolls were the best and the prettiest. Almost half of them said that it was the white doll. Eric Holder’s text (text 2 - “Black History Month”) is about a speech which he is making. His attitude against the black people in the US is very positive. He thinks that it is really important that everyone is treated equally, and that everyone, no matter race, is feeling welcome in the country. “As a nation we have done a pretty good job in melding the races in the workplace”. People have to talk honest and openly about the racial problems in order create a gathered nation. Walter Backstrom’s text (text 3 - “The obsession over race continues”)...
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...time he was already Powell was already a 4-star general which preceded the events that led to his appointment as Secretary of State, where he was the first African-American to hold the position and gave his notorious speech in front on the United Nations dealing with the weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, which dramatically changed the public’s perception about him. Each story instead focuses on how they were brought up. While each book contains a different central message, Powell and Obama reveals an honest reflection about the upbringing of their lives and the challenges they had to face in their path to become the great American politicians they aspired to be. Obama and Powell used contrasting styles in narrating their life story. Obama’s book had a more captivating story about his personal...
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...Race In America: “We Would Like To Believe We Are Over The Problem” In the article “Race In America” written by Maryann Cusimano Love, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and New York Times best-selling author, argues that race is still a problem in today’s society. Love provides evidence from sources like Senator Obama’s presidential bid, the Virginia state legislature, statistics from the 16th Surgeon General of the United States Dr.David Satcher, and information from MLK Jr.’s speech along the lines of the Civil Rights Movement to show that racism still divides us as a country. Thus to prove to her readers as well that inequality of blacks versus whites in America still persists even after all that has changed for African Americans...
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...The United States has passed down the bloody heirloom that indicates that whiteness is the superior and ideal standard for an American. It gave America’s white founders a privilege that to this day continues to allow whites to prevail over all other races. The bloody heirloom is introduced in the article, “The foundation of Donald Trump’s Presidency is the Negation of Barack Obama’s Legacy” by author and national correspondent for The Atlantic, Ta-Nehisi Coates. In his article, he argues that Trump won the 2016 presidential election solely because of the fact that he explicitly embraced the power of the white supremacy and racism. On the other hand, journalist and playwright George Packer refutes this idea. In his article, “Hillary Clinton...
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...some drugs for me?” This is the reality of society. We say racism is gone, but this is how we view each race and define each race. In fact, this is the reality of how each race of child is influenced and raised. Racism still exists not because we haven’t talked enough about it, but because we never try to change it. Likewise, born in a foreign country, I faced this unchangeable problem as an international student with different views. Also through these diverse experiences I came to frame my identity racially and personally throughout my life. “Hey, is racism harsh in America?” “How fast are black people? Do they actually carry guns?” These are questions that I was asked when I went back to Korea this summer. Unfortunately, Internet is a huge network nowadays and it affects everyone in the world. Those questions were not randomly asked, but because that is what people see in movies and news reports. Most racial stereotypes are framed according to what is in the media, the reason they are constructed. For example, recently there was a huge issue in Texas about a 14 year old Muslim genius boy who was arrested because his invention, a homemade clock, was assumed to be a bomb by the teacher. He was arrested and handcuffed because he was a Muslim. I doubt this would have happened if it were another race. Looking at this phenomenon, no one can deny that personal identity and race identity are both consciously and unconsciously created in this society. Likewise, I cannot deny the fact...
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...child. In the back of the pictorial one of the attendees is protesting his view of socialism by carrying a red flag with the work socialism publicized on the flag. This pictorial gives a quick look in to history regarding America’s relations with surrounding nations. Aguinaldo’s criticism of America’s policies towards the Philippines echo in the 1894 cartoon is when the Spanish was eradicated from the Philippines. It was at this moment that the American guerrilla began. Cuba was under the Spanish control and America became an ally and attempted to free Cuba from their tyrannical control. The Spanish also controlled the countries of Puerto Rico and Guam at this time. Due to the corrupt treatment, Aguinaldo deciphered that those in America viewed all native of the Philippines as savages. Due to this view the land of the Philippine Island was transformed from “a land of despotism and vicious governmental methods into an enlightened and progressive republic, with America guiding them”. The documents suggest that American citizenship would not be allowed to people who were conquered. This believe was established because Americans believed that those individuals that were conquered would first need to be taught how to live as an American. This included exposure to discipline and the American standards. Aguinaldo expressed that he “refused to accept the American policies because of the...
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...Race in Obama’s America Axel Bevort – 2.b Section A In the first text, Yolanda Young, a lawyer and columnist for USA Today, reflects on how she experienced what she calls “a cultural paradigm shift”(line 7) first-hand. She begins by writing that for twenty years, she walked the streets of Washington D.C. virtually unnoticed by its white citizens. This all changes when Barack Obama was elected in November 2008 and his wife becomes the First Lady Of The United States. Young starts receiving regular compliments on her looks, such as “You’re so pretty. You look like Michelle Obama” (line 5). Due to a change in presidency, racial equality between the black and white races will no longer be a dream. This point is further emphasized by a study conducted in 2008, in which “51% of (non-black) participants showed an automatic preference for white people”(line 11), compared to a previous research where 80% preferred whites. Although there have been exceptions of black women ”who were embraced as beautiful” (line 14), e.g. Tyra Banks and Naomi Campbell, the average black woman was not perceived as being as attractive as a white woman. In 1954, two psychologists provided expert testimony regarding experiments, in which they presented a black doll and a white doll to black children and proceeded to asking them which doll they preferred. To Young’s surprise, almost ”half the girls thought the white doll was prettier” (line 25). She blames the results on low self-esteem and concludes...
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