Racism

On August 28, 1955, Emmet Til’s body was found lying in the river. Two local men were arrested and charged with murder. This was a significant event during the 50’s because it was very rare that a black man could press charges on a white person. Mose Wright was the uncle of Emmet Til. He said that the two men came to his door and asked if he had 2 boys from Chicago. They did this because earlier on, Emmet had walked into a store and said “bye baby” to a white woman. This was considered talking fresh. Emmet didn’t know any better because he was from up north.

His body was found maliciously beaten and it was barely recognizable. Emmet’s mother insisted on the body being shipped back up north for an open casket funeral. The picture of his casket was published in Jet Magazine. Roy Bryandt and the girl’s brother-in-law were the one’s arrested for committing this horrible crime. During the court case the blacks were forced to sit together and away from everyone else. It took the jury one hour to find these men not guilty. Martin Luther King, jr. was asked to head the boycott and Montgomery Improvement Association.

Coretta Scott King, MLK’s wife, testifies that he was weary at first of accepting this position because he wasn’t sure if he was qualified enough. He was a new minister and a young man. He finally came to the conclusion that if no one else would do it, he would accept the position. While the members of the Montgomery Improvement Association were on a bus ride, shots were fired at them. Martin Luther King, jr. and ED Nixon’s houses were both bombed. The Montgomery Improvement Association also headed the bus boycotts. James Meredith was a young black man that applied to a University in Mississippi.

Medgar Evars was the head of the Mississippi State NAACP and counseled James Meredith through this troubling time. After a long fight, the court ruled James Meredith must be accepted. (He was of course qualified. ) On September 20th, Governor Barnett personally flew up to the University of Mississippi and turned James away. On September 25th, James tried to register at the Jackson location and again, Governor Barnett was waiting and also blocked the door entrance so Meredith could not even enter. On Saturday the 29th, Ross Barnett had an engagement to attend to. He was the half time speaker at a football game.

On Sunday, September 30th, 100 US marshals were sent to help James Meredith register. President Kennedy was to make a speech in the state of Mississippi also. At 8:00 Mississippi University turned into a battlefield and no one even heard the President’s speech. The mob targeted the media but the marshals were instructed not to use guns. 35 marshals ended up being shot and 2 people were killed. James Meredith finally registered at a private office in Oxford and contested this; “I’ve been living a lonely life for a long time. ” Brown v. Board of Education ruled segregated schools were unconstitutional under the 14th amendment.

NAACP shut down schools in Alabama due to white violent resistance. Aubrey Lucy was a black female and went to a white college. Riots caused the board to suspend her temporarily. She ended up being expelled. President Eisenhower thought this of the desegregation of schools, “Too much, too fast. ” The desegregation of schools and getting whites to comply with it got so bad that in Little Rock, Arkansas national guards had to be brought in to sustain the peace. Central High School in Arkansas only admitted white students. 8 blacks went to register on the first day, accompanied by their parents.

The National Guard turned these students away as their presence would surely cause a riot. Seven of the eight black kids had made arrangements to walk to school together. Elisabeth Eckford had not heard of this arrangement. She walked alone to school and met a mob. She would not speak to the press at all. She sat down on a bench, shocked, amazed and afraid. The first peaceful sit-in occurred in Nashville, Tennessee. One day, black students entered the diner and sit at the counter where they were not allowed. They sat there and did homework, talked, and would not leave until they were served.

A recollected memory from one of the black women at the sit-in is that of a white waitress who repeatedly kept dropping dishes. She was so frightened that she just dropped one dish after another. Once black students were tired of sitting, others would come in their place. This went on for 3 weeks. 80 demonstrators were arrested and charged with unorderly protest. After this, the blacks decided to not buy from downtown. After 1 month the boycott closed a lot of stores down town. Blacks who worked down town were struck by random acts of violence. A car struck Z. Alexander Lubee’s house.

He was a man who defended the protesting students. 147 windows in the medical college across the street were shattered because it was so loud. Freedom rides were bus rides in which interracial passengers sat backwards and drove through the south. For example, the blacks would sit in the front and the whites in the back. They wanted to create a crisis so the government would react and enforce the law. The first freedom ride was on May 1st 1961. 7 whites and 6 blacks were to be the first freedom riders in Washington D. C. The night before the ride they all sat down to have dinner.

One freedom rider recalls that it was kind of like “The Last Supper. ” More and more freedom rides continued and on the first occasion, mobs firebombed the bus and blocked the exit. 12 riders were hospitalized and the bus was of course destroyed. Gov. John Patterson of AL said, “Stay home, fools! ” The FBI had information that the busses were going to be attacked but did nothing. Patterson refused to provide protection for these riders. 40 miles away from Montgomery there was no protection for these riders. MLK telephoned Kennedy to tell of the violence. Patterson then said he couldn’t guarantee the safety of MLK Jr.

George C. Wallace was the governor of Montgomery Alabama in 1963. He was strict, severe, a segregationist, and a racist. He was closely affiliated with Eugene “Bull” Connor. “Bull” Connor was a KKK member and the commissioner of public safety in Alabama at the time. Also, during this time the freedom riders were attacked on Mother’s day. People looked upon it as these students ruined mothers day and disgraced them or some nonsense like that. SNCC (Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee) and SCLC (Southern Christ Leadership Council) were two student groups that fought for civil rights.

These two organizations at one time spawned a rivalry for one another because SNCC supposedly wanted more attention. During the times of these organizations was a movement called The Albany Movement. In conjunction with the Albany Movement 500 people were jailed. Laurie Pritchett was the chief of police in Albany at that time. He made sure that the jails would not fill up from the mass arrests that were being made. He stuffed 65 people in a cell built to hold only 10. Arrested persons were also sent to jails in other towns to make sure there was enough room for all.

In July 1962, MLK Jr. as sentenced to 40 days in jail. He was however, released 3 days later. His bond was paid at Pritchett’s request. The Albany Movement continued on without MLK Jr. for the time being. MKL Jr. was depressed at the fact that Albany was still segregated. Bull Connor also tried to run for mayor in this time but lost. The SCLC organized “project c” confrontation. The headquarters would be at 16th street Baptist Church. The goal was for demonstrations to target 3 main stores down town. 21 people were arrested the first day in Birmingham. Also, during this time there were 2 mayors and 2 governments in Alabama.

One government would just not leave. This was a major cause of the unorderly conduct in Alabama. Connor remained head of police in Birmingham AL. Demonstrations continued and badly affected businesses. Courts finally ordered the demonstrations to stop. MLK Jr. along with SCLC planed the second phase of project C in room 30 at the Gaston Motel. Children led phase 2. They were kept out of school and told to go and protest/demonstrate. Connor brought in police dogs and turned fire hoses on the kids. Finally, the jails filled up and there was an agreed one-day of truce.

Friday May 10, 38 days after project C, The Birmingham agreement was made. After this, police still beat blacks and blacks in turn rioted. The March in Washington had 200,000 people show up. It went from the Washington Monument to the Lincoln Memorial. Some speakers even rewrote their speeches as not to ruin Kennedy’s proposal. MLK Jr. gave his “Let Freedom Ring” speech and was from this point on seen as the true leader of the movement. On September 15th, the 16th street Baptist Church was bombed and temporarily halted the project. 15 were injured and 4 kids were killed.

The freedom summer in Mississippi was a basic invasion. It was designed to “open up” Mississippi. People risked beatings, arrests, and their lives. William J. Simmons of the White Citizen’s Council wanted to protect the white way of life. The Citizens Council opposed integration. Ross Barnett, a racist, went so far as to foreclose mortgages and punish whites that went against him. He denied loans and passed white-only laws. Blacks outnumbered whites 4-1 in some counties. 1961 was the last of the freedom rides and the end of Freedom Summer. Medgar Evars traveled to Mississippi to help organize the boycott on Capital Street.

Hundreds were arrested for marching in the demonstration. After Kennedy’s strongest speech on civil rights in 1963, Medgar Evars was shot in the back in his own driveway after getting out of his car. The wife and kids were inside and as soon as they heard gunshots, hit the floor, as previously rehearsed. His wife came out shortly after to find her husband dead. It was concluded that a member of the White Citizen’s Council shot Medgar Evars. There were 3 men, Goodman, Chaney, and Schreoner, which drove to investigate the burning of a black Methodist Church.

At around 3 O’clock their blue Ford station wagon stopped outside Philadelphia by the sheriff, Ceasil Price. They were released at 10pm but that was the last anyone saw of them. They disappeared and Johnson issued a search and FBI involvement. Hoover of the FBI said he wouldn’t protect people and that it was a matter to be dealt with by local authorities. 6 weeks later the bodies were found and Chaney, the only black man in the group, had a fractured skull. Dave Dennis of CORE blames the people who committed this crime just as much as those in Washington for not supporting or enforcing their laws.

Everyone knew the men who committed this crime would be found not guilty because they were white. During this time 80 arrests were made and thousands of arrests were made. After this, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the 1964 Civil Rights Act. SNCC opened 41 freedom schools in Mississippi. Whites were now teaching blacks and living in black homes. Civil rights workers invaded the state. As soon as the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was signed blacks lined up to register to vote. They were told to move to the sidewalk. Less than 1% of blacks were able to register to vote.

Sheriff Jim Clark arrested Amelia Bointon, a highly respected community leader during this time. This caused 105 teachers to protest down at the courthouse (Teacher’s March). This occurred in Selma, AL. Clark was confronted in the courthouse about his brutality towards blacks. He said he didn’t know what they were talking about. The Selma to Montgomery march was a response to Jimmy Lee Jackson’s death. A state trooper shot Jimmy because he wanted to protect his mother. Marchers were beaten. One white that marched with the blacks was badly injured.

He was told there were no doctors for “people like him”. SCLC opposed the march but 600 people gathered to march anyway. The marchers crossed over the Edmund Pettus Bridge and there were state troopers waiting for them on the other side. The marchers were ordered by Wallace to stop or brutality and tear gas would be enforced. MLK Jr. asked if they could sit down and pray, which they did. He then ordered the marchers to get up and turn around to avoid the fight. SNCC called this turn around a sell-out. Stokly Carmichael of SNCC withdrew from the Selma Campaign.

We live in a world that is culturally diverse. Gender, sexuality, race, ethnicity are Just some of the diverse areas In society that are believed to be Important. In spite of these differences, we tend to centre ourselves round people who we can relate to In somewhat and those who are similar to us, If that being people who are the same status, share physical or biological traits or even have the same or similar lifestyle to us. Due to all this, it’s in our human nature to be ethnocentric towards people who re different from us.

This causes discrimination, which in time causes social inequality, something that is becoming very common in our society today. One of the noticeable areas of discrimination is race. Race refers to the biological characteristics of one; skin color, hair/ eye color, height etc. Related to race is ethnicity, which relates to the cultural factor such as nationality, ancestry, language, beliefs and culture. Both race and ethnicity can cause a big controversy all around the world, the controversy being racism.

Focusing on Australia, the nation Is known or their warm welcoming to different races and ethnicities. Many people believe that Australia being so open to different cultures etc. Is a wonderful thing they tend to miss out on the racism that occurs. As with America, Australia represents a large percentage of racism towards different races all across. For instance; Indigenous people of Australia. These people are known to be the first people on Australian land, it’s their land, so why all the hate towards them.

Many indigenous are very disadvantage as they live In poor remote areas of all parts of Australia, when they are men by “white people”, they don’t have a bad word to say, but as soon as the “white person” glances at them, racial abuse is Just heard. Indigenous sport players have encountered some on ground racism throughout matches, 1 993 saw SST Skill’s Nick Winner responds to racists taunts from the opposition crowd by lifting his shirt, pointing to his skin and saying that his proud to be black.

In another example of discrimination Is, the article Office work and crack alternative, Philippe Bourbons shows how a group of Puerco Rican Immigrants faced discrimination due to their ace, which resulted in deprivation of jobs at a range of work places and they were stereotyped as lazy and good for nothing people. Ethnicity has played a huge role in social inequality. The trust of one’s own ethnic group(ethnocentrism) allows a system in which societies rank categories of people in a hierarchy ( social stratifications) creating inequality (Furze 2012).

This all then results to all sorts of things, such as; personal insults (egg. Name calling), structural obstacles (egg. No loans). This can effect a person’s physical and mental health which could then lead to harming oneself. ND gender is not the same thing but they do have some connection between each other. Sex comes down to our biological characteristics; it’s the genitals that we are born with that distinguish from female and male. Gender on the other hand, Is our behavioral characteristics that involve feelings and attitudes (Furze 2012).

Not everyone Is the same, no matter what sex your born some people may feel different inside, this is called interest, it’s a condition where a person is born with a or male. Transgender are people who self-identity does not conform definitely to invitational notions of male or female gender. Panderer who are people are those who do not wish to be labeled as female or male in gender, as they feel that they do not fit into binary genders because they feel they are all genders.

Homosexuality is a sexual attraction to (or sexual relations with) persons of the same sex (Lower,J 2012). There are four theories of gender; Functionalism, Conflict theories, Symbolic interaction theories and the Feminist Theory. Symbolic interaction theory relates to how gender is formed with the connections and interpretations of society. It is analyses with a mirror perception and an examination of gender on a day to day level, for example men will talk over women to demonstrate a higher level of power.

Functionalism is really relating to how the society works as a whole. From where men do contributing and active work and where women commit to the expressive roles to society. In this theory theorists saw the big wage gap of inequalities as result, women would commit to families roles rather than working roles. Conflict theories a society where women are severely disadvantaged with the inequalities that have be formed u to social structure.

An example of this is a problem that has been happening for decades the wage inequalities between men and women; we see that men have been having earning more than women even if it’s the same role in a Job. Lastly, the feminist theory is the theory where women have operated a movement that aims to demonstrate the position of women in society and to highly improve their status in society. Gender inequality can and should be changed for the benefit of all. All these theories can in the end result to gender division of labor.

Matthew Miller Paper #1: Privilege, Power, and Difference* and *Crash The Movie Crashis set in Los Angeles and begins when several people are involved in a multi-car accident. From there the movie skips to the day before where we see the lives of several of the characters who were involved in the crash and the racial problems they encounter that day. The moviebegins by showing an Islamic man and his daughter going into a gun shop to by a gun. When the Islamic man speaks in a different language to his daughter the store clerk says to him “Hey Osama, plan your Jihad on your own time. An argument ensues and the daughter ends up staying in the store and buying the gun, and instead of bullets she accidentally buys blanks asammo, however the clerk does not tell her this. The movie then skips to a couple of young black men who are complaining about the service they received at a restaurant. One of them says it is because of the stereotype that blacks don’t tip very well, and thensays that he didn’t tip anything because of the poor service. As the two black men are walking down the street they come across a white politician and his wife.

When the politician’s wife sees the black men coming towards them she gets closer to her husband. One of the black men noticesthis and points it out. Shortly after they pass each other the young black men steal the white couples’ car at gunpoint. The politician’s wife is really upset about being carjacked and has all of the locks in their house changed. When the locksmith comes and she sees that he is Hipic she takes her anger out on him. The movie then shows a white LAPD officer who is trying to get medical help for his ailing father.

The officeris having problems with a black clerk who won’t give the officers father permission to see another doctor. The white officer takes his frustration out on a black couple during a traffic stop and ends up sexually assaulting the woman. Next the Persian from the beginning of the movie calls the Hipic locksmith to have him fix the lock at the shop that he owns. The Hipic locksmith tells the Persian that he changed the lock but it wouldn’t do any good because he needs to replace the door. The Persian gets mad and tells the locksmith to fix the door and the locksmith said that he doesn’t do that, he just fixes locks.

The Persian shopkeeper gets really mad about this. Shortly after this,the Persian man’s shop is robbed, and because he didn’t replace the door insurance will not cover the damage. The Persian man is extremely upset about this and blames it on the Mexican Locksmith. The white police officer has another run in with the HMO clerk. The white police officer basically tells the clerk that she only got that job because of affirmative action and that she probably beat out eightmore qualified white men for the job.

He also tells her that despite the fact that his father’s janitorial service employed only black men he was forced out of business by affirmative action laws. The movie then goes to the crash where the black lady that was assaulted earlier in the movieis trapped in her car and surrounded by gasoline. It is only a matter of time before the car will explode and the first officer on the scene is the white officer who assaulted her earlier. The black lady initially tells him to go away, but he is very nice to her and ensures her that he is only trying to save her.

He pulls her out of the car just before the car explodes. The movie then shows the Hipic locksmith getting home from work, where he is then approached by the angry Persian shopkeeper, who blames him for his store being robbed and pulls a gun on him. The Hipic locksmith’s daughter sees the gun pulled on her dad and runs in front of him just before the Persian man pulls the trigger. The shot is fired and everyone thinks the young girl has been shot, but since the Persian man’s daughter accidentally bought blanks in the beginning of themovie the young girl is fine.

The movie ends with one of the young black hijackers being shot by the partner of the racist white police officer over some confusion. The first time I saw Crash my initial response was that the movie is incredibly sad. It is upsetting that so many of the racial issues we are faced with today stem from ignorance and fear. Part of me thinks this movie goes a little overboard with the racism issues in the movie because I don’t know if it is likely that so many people’s paths would cross in such a way where so many of them have such deep rooted racism and misunderstanding.

It almost seems like the movie takes the racial stereotypes a little too far, but I think that was the point. It shows stereotyping and racism to an extreme and it makes you think that these peoples’ actions are ridiculous. I don’t think most of us are racist to the degree that is shown in the movie, but showing it to such an extreme really makes you aware of how ignorant racism is on any level. While the movie takes these examples to extremes, I do think a lot of the racial issues that occurred in the movie do happen on a regular basis, the movie just ties themtogether in the p of two hours to make a movie.

At first I thought this was a little too much, but now I get the point of it. I really think the point of this movie was to raise awareness of the problem because awareness is a major step in the right direction towards solving the problem. One thing that stuck out to me because I’ve heard a lot about it is in the beginning of the movie when the young black men are talking about the poor service they received and that it was because of the stereotype that black people don’t tip very well. I have been dating a server for a few years, and she really isn’t racist at all, but she says this is true.

She says she hates it because anytime she is serving a table of black people this stereotypegoes through her head and she hates thinking that but it’s true. I seriously doubt she is a person who would ever give them poor service because of the stereotype but I am sure that in some cases that happens. I think sometimes stereotypes are reinforced because of people’s preconceived thoughts. I am sure there are cases where a table of black people may receive poor service because the server assumes the table will tip poorly and then because the table receives poor service they probably do tip poorly, and the stereotype is reinforced.

I thought the movie Crash and the book Privilege, Power, and Differencewere similar in many ways, but also very different in some ways as well. I think both the book and the movie take racial issues to extremes. I think they both do this to raise awareness of the important issues. In the book Johnson states “People can’t help fearing the unfamiliar—including people of other races” (2006, p. 4), Johnson goes on to say this isn’t necessarily true, but I think the movie tries to highlight this aspect of the problem.

In the movie when the politician and his wife are walking down the street, the wife gets closer to her husband when the young black men approach because she is afraid of them. She is a person that has probably not dealt with very many you black men and sheprobably thinks that all young black men are criminals. In the movie she turns out to be right about these two menand is carjacked by them, but real life isn’t really that way. At some points I thought the movie kind of reinforced negative stereotypes like the young black men stealing the white couple’s car after she seemed racist for thinking they would do that.

The book talks a lot about white racism and makes it sound as if it is white privilege that is holding back black people. I think the movie does a better job of showing racism from all aspects. The movie makes it seem like all races are racist against races other than their own, while concentrating heavily on the relationship between whites and blacks. In the movie one of the young thieves says that he would never rob a black person, and goes on and on about how white people hold black people down. Another important issue that the movie brought up is affirmative action laws.

The white police officer who is dealing with the black HMO clerk brings up the issue in an argument with her. I think obviously the officer is out of line with what he says,however he brings up a pretty good point. The book goes on and on about the advantages of be “privileged”. When Johnson talks about the “privileged” he is referring to white men. Johnson says that the privileged have access to better jobs and will usually be hired instead of a black person or a woman. He is completely ignoring the affirmative action laws when he states this.

Johnson states that “watching movies and television the message came across loud and clear that white men are the most important people on the planet” (2006, p. 79). I think the idea of the white man being “ideal” can be seen in the movie. When the black couple is arguing after the woman is sexually assaulted by the white police officer , the women says to her husband, you didn’t want to do anything because you didn’t want your name to be in the paper and all of your friends to know you really are black.

I think she is implying to him that he hangs around with all white directors and acts white like them so that he will be more successful, but in the process has lost his “blackness”. Overall I thought both the book and the movie do a good job of raising awareness of the many racial issues that we are face with. They both take these racial issues to an extreme to make it clear that they do exist to a large extent. I thought the movie did a better job of giving a realistic portrayal of racism from all sides while the book seemed to be stuck on the concept of “white racism”. White racism” is certainly not a topic to be ignored and if you want to understand the racial issues we are faced with today it is not a bad place to start. However, the race issue runs much deeper than just white racism and can really be seen in cultures all around the world. I thought that Crash did a really good job of showing racism, and the negative affect it has in our society. Bibliography Haggis, Paul (2004). Crash.

Growing up as a youth being in an interracial family, I always experienced prejudice whether it was inside my home or out on the street. My father was an African-American, his family was accepting but all could see that they praised the fact that my skin was 5-6 shades lighter than that of my other cousins.

This of course caused unresolved issues, issues that couldn’t and wouldn’t be talked about among us as children, but later on became deep conversation filled with tears and understanding because we were finally able to get from under the stigma that our parents were engulfed in because their parents had subjected them to the same treatment. While on the other hand, my mother’s side of the family is Irish, German, and Indian. They despised the fact that my father was an African-American man.

I would hear my mother’s mother talk badly of my father. She even went as far as not to allow my father in her home. She was the hardest on me out of all the grand children when it came to disciplining us, because my father’s skin tone was that of a black man. They also tended to favor my mother’s eldest daughter because her father wasn’t an African-American. As a child growing up I experienced both positive and negative feedback for my skin color. But I must say that it was about 85% positive when not in the presence of my mother’s mother.

Note I don’t say grandmother because she was hardly ever a grandmother toward s me, just because my skin color was that of a black girl, while my cousins were mostly fair skinned. Colorism in the United States is a stigma that won’t get lifted because of what slavery has embedded in the minds of African-Americans. According to wikipedia. com, Colorism is defined as a “Black-on-Black racism, based on skin-tone. ” The discrimination is based on the idea that a person’s worth is directly related to the color of his or her skin, valuing lighter tones over darker tones.

It’s commonly known that Colorism plagued the Black community after slavery and through the early to mid-twentieth century. In the early 1900’s, many black organizations, including colleges, practiced the “brown paper bag test” when accepting new members. If a person’s skin was not lighter than a brown paper bag, they would be denied admittance. Though the brown paper bag test is out of date and frowned upon as a shameful moment in African-American history, the ideals behind the practice still lingers in the African-American community.

Modern-day Colorism rears its ugly head in the day to day lives of African-Americans every day. This issue has affected every hue or shade of blackness within the African-American community. In “The Color Complex” by Midge Wilson, Wilson addresses the issue by tracing the origin of Colorism, “To trace the origins of the color complex, we must return to the year 1607 when three ships sailed in Chesapeake Bay, stopping at Jamestown, Virginia, to establish the first English colony in the New World…..

It was a new land and a new era filled with possibilities. What might have been unthinkable in Europe and Africa was an everyday occurrence in the wilderness. Miscegenation, or race mixing, became widespread as Europeans, Africans, and Native Americans mixed their seed and substance to produce a kaleidoscope of skin tones and features. But these primary race groupings differed sharply in their civil liberties and political freedoms. Subtle variations in appearance took on enormous consequence in meaning, especially among Negros,” (Wilson, pg. 9).

With the emphasis of color being placed in the forefront of the black community, blacks have let this issue set the stage for ignorance for over four hundred years. The effects of these actions have trickled down into some of the most prominent black organizations that define our community and our blackness, such as the NAACP, Jack and Jill, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, and etc. It is no secret that these types of organizations were created in order to create a faux safe haven for the wealth of the light-skinned mulattos.

In the early years these organizations were called Blue Vein societies, because in order to quote “belong,” the test of how light you were was could you see your blue veins through your skin? And if they could, you were in. Works Cited “Colorism. ” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 1 Nov 2009, 22:52 UTC. 2 Nov 2009 . Wilson, Midge, Russell Kathy. The Color Complex: The Politics of Skin Color Among African Americans. New York: Harcourt Publishers, 1992.

Black Panther Ten Point Plan Response During the 1960s, the black civil rights movement was at its peak and the call for social and racial equality was spreading throughout America. To promote these ideas, different groups rose up and protested against the current white dominant order in the United States. Among these groups, the Black Panthers were founded to demand an end to “racism and social oppression in order to create a global socialist community” (Ten Point Plan). Their tactics were very controversial because of the amount of violence their members caused.

They were known for fighting and even killing police when provoked. But although their style of protest was severely looked down upon in today’s society, the principles of their cause were just. The Black Panther’s overarching goal of their community is for freedom and the power to determine the destiny of their oppressed communities. The Black Panthers were based upon ten founding goals that would pushed for more rights and freedoms of the black community. The first point was mentioned above and calls for Blacks to basically have the same rights as white people do.

After this point, they specified exactly what they wanted to change. These included full employment of their people, fairness in payment for their labor, decent housing, and an education that is not racist and tells the black history as it actually happened and not as a censored version. It also includes free and extensive health care to all, the end of police and governmental brutality, stopping the expansionism of America, fairness in justice and freedom, and finally an overarching demand of property, liberty, peace, education, and modern technology for all peoples (Ten Points Plan).

The goals were printed with captions underneath that explained where the current government has faltered and some have steps to correct the situation. The Ten Points Plan calls upon the government to provide full rights to the black population by either aiding them in their goals or backing off and giving them more freedom in their lives. The Black Panthers generally want the government take on more roles in the education and basic needs of their people.

In their Ten Points, the Black Panthers demand the government to employ or guarantee money to every person of employment, help the black people create cooperatives for living in, payment for past wrongs, and payment for completely free health care for all African Americans. In addition, general statements such as an “end to all wars of aggression” and “an end to police brutality” are included (Ten Points Plan). They don’t necessarily say how the government will get this money or be able to continue payment on the items, but rather just demanding the help.

This isn’t very conducive for government intervention or for actual results because it isn’t a realistic goal being presented. If the points included a way to get the money or labor, then the points would be more complete and taken more seriously. The reasons these goals were presented to the United States was because of the oppression the black community had been under for centuries. Specifically the points were pointed toward the end of slavery and the unfairness in treatment by government programs.

The black community was lumped into poor areas for living, creating the modern day ghettos and a place where overall racial success and equality could not be accomplished. The Black community was also seen as subservient to the white community in the pre-1960s and so the general population did not help the struggling community. To further demoralize the community, the government treated them as a lesser people and didn’t respect them, which caused tension between the groups.

The Ten Points Plan came out of a tumultuous time in America’s history where civil liberties were under investigation and the tides of change were slowly coming into the popular American culture. The goals expressed in the plan have led to positive changes for Black Americans today and the furthering of their community. Although the Panthers have not continue on, their goals of freedom for the average black American are seen in the equality of black Americans today. Works Cited “Ten Point Plan” . Acts of Inquiry. Ed. University of Washington. Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2011. 389-392. Print.

?State of Racism and Gender Discrimination What is discrimination? Discrimination is the prejudicial treatment of a different person or groups of people based on certain characteristics. In the United States there are seven protected characteristics or classes that are defined by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Age Discrimination Employment Act, and the American Disabilities Act that can not be discriminated against: race, color, religion, national origin, sex, age, and disability. This paper focuses on two of the protected classes: race and gender discrimination. What is racism?

Racism (also known as discrimination against a race or races) is a belief that all members of one racial group have superior characteristics or abilities specific to that group; it allows the ranking of races based on superiority and implies the importance of one race over the others (“Racism” 2008). Supremacy ideology is core to racism. In the 20th century, the face of racism was largely black and white; however, in recent times there have been examples of racism against Native Americans, Asian Americans, African Americans, Latin Americans, and some other immigrant groups (“Racism in the United States” 2008).

Today, racism has become multi-colored and multicultural. Racism and racial discrimination are very powerful forces which unfortunately harm the whole economy. Racism can take place in many areas such as the job market, housing market, educational system, and health care services. Even today, racial discrimination against minorities (especially African Americans) can be found in the housing market (i. e. making renting apartments, taking out mortgages, and buying houses extremely difficult or even impossible in some areas).

This is not to say, that there has not been significant attempts and progress made, in order to eliminate racial discrimination. Racial discrimination and segregation used to be legal across the southern states of the United States (“Martin Luther King and the fight against racism in the US” 2008). Many people have tried to stop racial discrimination throughout the history of the United States. One extremely influential and pivotal leader that many people are familiar with is Martin Luther King. While this paper is not a historic telling of Martin Luther King, his ideals are as influential today as they were then.

He did not want people to be judged by the color of their skin but by the capability of their character. He tried to revive the Civil Rights movement in the mid 1950s. However, he was tragically assassinated on the balcony of his hotel in Memphis, Tennessee (“Martin Luther King and the fight against racism in the US” 2008). After his passing and after many fundamental changes in the constitution, African American communities are no longer limited in their rights from society (“Martin Luther King Jr. ” 2008).

Today, the eyes of ethics and the highest laws of the land bids society to stop racial discrimination in all its forms, along with other types of discriminations defined under title VII, ADA, and ADEA. Gender or Sex Discrimination is the belief that one gender is more valuable than the other, and can also create doubts in the abilities of a certain sex and exacerbate stereotypes (“Sexism” 2008). In most countries around the world, gender discrimination is illegal in most circumstances (Manohar 2008). In the United States, Title VII protects against gender and sexual discrimination.

There are two types of gender discrimination: disparate treatment and disparate impact (“Gender or Sex Discrimination” 2008). Disparate treatment is treating people differently because of his or her sex (“Gender or Sex Discrimination” 2008). The other is disparate impact, when the company policy does not include certain individuals or does not include everyone equally (“Gender or Sex Discrimination” 2008). The fire department is a good example of disparate impact. The qualifications of the fire department are extreme (i. e. he ability to carry and lift a lot of weight), which makes it hard for women to qualify for a job as a firefighter (“Gender or Sex Discrimination” 2008). These requirements are important to becoming a fire fighter and many argue that they are more than necessary. However, this does not mean that the fire department does not want to work with women. It is just the policy to set the standards high. Another interesting example: A male employee was fired by his employer because he refused to work at night (“Small Business Encyclopedia” 2002).

This company had a policy saying that women did not have to work at night because the company was located in a high crime area. The male employees had to work the night shifts for the company, while the women employees did not. The male employee in question filed a suit under Title VII against his employer claiming sexual discrimination. The company claimed that several female employees would quit if they were forced to work at night. The company also claimed the policy was a bona fide occupational qualification (BFOQ).

This case is interesting because BFOQ can be used as a defense to allow certain discrimination. BFOQ is an exception provided by Title VII for jobs that require a specific religion, sex, national origin, or age as a reasonable necessity for normal operations of a business. Although BFOQ applies to the fire department qualifications, the courts deemed that the company who asked only its male workers to take the night-shift was could not use BFOQ as a valid defense (“Small Business Encyclopedia” 2002).

In the workplace, sexual discrimination usually involves sex becoming a factor in deciding on who gets a job, promotion, or other benefits. Many researches have shown that women are treated unfairly compared to men in hiring, promotions, and benefits (“Small Business Encyclopedia” 2002). For instance, a young man, who dropped out from high school and does not have a degree, gets a job in a high position over a young woman who has her master’s degree. While the young woman is better qualified for the position than the young man, the man gets the job.

This paradigm illustrates gender discrimination. The reverse has also held true. There have been cases where men have been discriminated against, as discussed above. There is also a particular form of sexual discrimination called sexual harassment. Sexual harassment includes inappropriate words or actions of a sexual nature to the opposite sex (“Small Business Encyclopedia” 2002). Courts expect managers to understand that sexual discrimination may exist in the workplace and companies to take proactive measures to ensure that the environment is free from sexual discrimination.

The first law of any federal importance in the United States regarding discrimination was The Civil Rights Act of 1871, also known as the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871; it was mainly established to protect Southern African Americans from the abuse being delivered to them from the Ku Klux Klan. Although the Act had been interpreted by the courts many times, it had very little effect. For one, the Act was loosely defined and provided loopholes for state officials, who did not get litigated under the statue. However, this hole was patched up in 1961, when the Supreme Court of the United States decided Monroe v.

Pape. The decision included several provisions to close the inadequacies found in the Civil Act of 1871. The Act is now one of the most powerful statues, in which the State and Federal courts may protect those whose rights are being violated. In particular, Section 1983 of the Civil Rights Act enforces the prohibition of public sector employment discrimination based on race, color, national origin, sex, and religion, but it rarely applies to the private sector. Eventually, the first Federal law to promote equal opportunity and prohibit employment discrimination in the United States was passed.

The law is called the Executive Order 8802, also known as the Fair Employment Act. It was signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1941. The law promotes and ensures that all Federal agencies and departments involved with the defense industry were administered without discrimination to race, color, or nationality on the vocational and training programs being offered to its employees and contractors. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibited racial segregation in schools, public places, and employment regardless of race, color, religion, sex, or nationality.

Originally conceived to help protect African Americans, it also explicitly included sections to protect women in the bill; as a result the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission was founded as well. At the time of its creation, this law was seen as one of the most important legislations that abolished all forms and respects of discrimination. During its time at the House Judiciary Committee, the bill was expanded and strengthened to include bans against racial discrimination in employment, segregation in all public facilities, and protection of the rights of black voters.

The bill was later passed out to the House Rules Committee, at which the committee’s chairman Howard W. Smith expressed his intention in canning the bill. But after pressures from civil rights groups and movements, Chairman Smith finally let the bill pass through and it was brought to a vote. It passed in the House on February 10, 1964 and was sent to the Senate. During the bill’s stay at the Senate, a group of southern state Senators launched a two month filibuster trying to prevent its passage through the Senate.

In compromise, a revised weaker bill than the House version was brought to the tables for Senate vote on June 10, 1964 and was passed. Originally conceived to help protect African Americans, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 also explicitly included sections to protect Women’s Rights in the bill. Added by Howard W. Smith of the House Rules Committee Chairman, it was first seen as a guise to prevent the bill from passing (since at that time it was normally conceived that some groups of men within the House and Senate would oppose Women’s Rights).

The Bill was later successfully passed and marked the first time legislation was put into effect to protect women. The Civil Rights Act was later followed by the Civil Rights Act of 1968, commonly known as the Fair Housing Act of 1968; which expanded the prohibition of discrimination to include the housing sector. It specifically prohibited discrimination on the sale, rental, and financing of housing based on race, religion, nationality and later gender, and the protection of families with children and of the handicapped.

The next important anti-discrimination law to pass was the Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978. With more than 70% of women with children in the U. S. work force, the law was setup to protect women against discrimination due to their pregnancy (or intentions of becoming pregnant). Employers with prejudices against working mothers (due to the fear of lost productivity, extra costs, expenditures and accommodations associated with pregnant women) who might have been likely to discriminate against them were deterred.

The Act also enables the distribution of a monetary pay-out as a result of discrimination against pregnant women. In 2006 alone, The U. S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission handled 4,901 claims with monetary amount awarded totaling about $10. 4 million (EEOC 2006). The Civil Rights Act was amended again for the last time in 1991, in an effort to address various limits imposed by past United States Supreme Court’s decisions on the rights of employees who had filed law suits against their employers.

It was basically setup to bring forth the emotional distress damages caused by employment discrimination while setting a limit on the amount the jury could award (“List of Anti-Discrimination Acts” 2008). Before the 1991 Act was put into effect, a plaintiff could only sue their employer for discrimination and recover lost wages or salary, lost benefits, attorney fees, court fees, other legal fees, and other costs associated with reinstatement.

To prevent from unreasonable court settlements, the punitive damages awarded was capped at $300,000 for most cases (excluding ethnic and/or racial discrimination) (“List of Anti-Discrimination Acts” 2008). The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission still handles thousands of discrimination cases every year. There is statistical evidence that suggests racial discrimination in the workplace is still commonplace. In 2000, the EEOC (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission) reported a study in North Carolina that states accusations of racial harassment on the job nearly quadrupled between 1996 and 2000.

Mindy Weinstein, attorney at the EEOC office in Charlotte, North Carolina, says, “There’s a new generation of workers today who were not raised in the civil rights movement, who may not have been aware of the laws that came about because of that time… We think it’s largely a reflection of what’s going on in society as a whole” (“Racial Discrimination” 2008). Since Barack Obama’s win the 2008 presidential election, people would like to believe that racism has seen its last day; unfortunately this is not the case.

According to the research of Brown University, during 1970 to 1994, when America liberalized their uncompetitive banking markets, it reduced the wage gap between blacks and whites. Economists call the wage difference between black workers and white workers the “racial wage gap” (most of which comes from bias). Gary Becker, a Nobel-prize winning economist, argued that prejudice of employees was economically inefficient. Brown University found that deregulation of the American banking industry increased competition and lowered interest rates on loans.

People found it easier to start their own business. They found that in an initially high degree of racial bias, the black-white wage gap declined the most. This evidence shows competition itself can not eliminate racial discrimination. Competition can only reduce the bias from employers. Changing attitudes takes a lot of time and effort; even though Obama’s election victory denotes a change in history, there is still a long way to go (“Race and Red Tape” 2008). Wage gaps can be seen in between genders as well.

Though a wage gap between white men and white women may be expected, it is surprising to see this is not the only wage gap that exits between the sexes. In other racial groups, such as African Americans, Latinos, and Asian/Pacific Islanders, men earn more money than women within their own respective race (U. S. Census Bureau 2000). According to a study, women working 41 to 44 hours per week earn 84. 6% of what men earn working similar hours; women working more than 60 hours per week earn only 78. % of what men earn working the same hours (Bureau of Labor Statistics 2002). More over, women tend to work longer before they receive promotions and get a higher pay. Most people think a higher education may increase women’s salary, but the evidence suggests otherwise. The data does not show a narrow gender gap in wages at higher levels of education. On the contrary, at the very highest levels of education, the gap is at its largest (Hilary M. Lips 2008).

Racial discrimination is an important issue in the business world and is a genuine problem that still exists—and in some cases it’s getting worse. According to a study published in 1998 by the nonprofit group Catalyst called “Women of Color in Corporate Management: A Statistical Picture,” it was shown that minority women, while now accounting for almost a quarter of all women in the workplace, occupied only 15 percent of the management positions held by women.

The study verifies that a combination of racial discrimination and the glass ceiling was a differentiating factor in those numbers (Racial Discrimination 2008). Glass ceiling is a symbolic phrase referring to an invisible cap preventing qualified women and minorities from progressing into key higher level management positions, or in some cases any management positions. These individuals describe the cap as a “glass ceiling” because they can see the opportunity that should be theirs through the glass, but due to the ceiling, they can not go any higher.

In 1995 the Federal Glass Ceiling Commission described the American labor force as being segregated by gender and race, where “white men fill most top management positions in corporations” (Glass Ceilings: The Status of Women as Officials and Managers in the Private Sector 2004). The report affirms that the percent of women officials and managers in the private sector used to be 29% in 1990 and had increased to 36. 4% in 2002. Although this is an improvement, women embody 48 percent of all employees, but only 36. 4% of them are in key power positions.

In the National Employment Summary released in 2005 by the EEOC, the average salary reported was $40,325. This report indicates that the median income of men is above average ($44,090) and the median income of women is below average ($36,417) (“National Employment Summary” 2005). The median salary for White and Asian employees was above average as well ($41,525 and $50,762 respectively); whereas Black, Hipic, and Native American employees had median salaries below the average income (“National Employment Summary” 2005).

When graphed, these findings show that White male population has an income graph that is skewed towards the right, whereas most minorities and women have a normal income distribution. The data here supports the idea that more White men are employed in higher paying jobs. The Federal Glass Ceilings Commission argues that: “The successful elimination of glass ceilings requires not just an effective enforcement strategy but the involvement of employers, employees and others in identifying and reducing ttitudinal and other forms of organizational barriers encountered by minorities and women in advancing to higher level management positions in different workplace settings. ” (Glass Ceilings: The Status of Women as Officials and Managers in the Private Sector 2004) Racism and gender discrimination hurt not only the people discriminated against, but also the economy as a whole. It prevents good, qualified individuals from progressing and attributing to the market. As a result, less qualified or poorly qualified people get placed in key positions.

This prevents business’ from reaching their potential, and thus prevents the nation from reaching its. These issues are not restricted to the United States. Racism can be found in all countries across the globe, and its effects can be devastating. Africa suffers from constant political unrest where attempts at genocide are commonplace. Will racism and gender discrimination ever come to an end? It is a difficult question to answer, especially since it is human nature to differentiate between “us” and “them” (“So stereotypes persist because we want them to” 2000).

The hope and desire for America is that the definition of “us” truly changes to encompass all Americans (“from all walks of life”). Works Cited EEOC (U. S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission). 2006. Retrieved November 29, 2008, from: http://www. eeoc. gov/index. html Feinberg, Mark PhD. “So Stereotypes Exist Because We Want Them to”. American Psychological Association Public Interest Directorate. Retrieved November 29, 2008, from: http://www. apa. org/pi/oema/racism/contents. html “Gender or Sex Discrimination”. 008. Retrieved November 29, from: http://www. discriminationattorney. com/lawyer-attorney-1287322. html “Glass Ceilings: The Status of Women as Officials and Managers in the Private Sector”. 2004. U. S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Retrieved November 29, 2008, from: http://www. eeoc. gov/stats/reports/glassceiling/index. pdf Lips, Hilary M. “The Gender Wage Gap: Debunking the Rationalizations”. Retrieved November 29, 2008, from: http://www. womensmedia. com/new/Lips-Hilary-gender-wage-gap. html “List of Anti-Discrimination Acts”. 2008. Retrieved November 29, 2008, from: http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/List_of_anti-discrimination_acts#United_States Manohar, Uttara. “Gender Discrimination at Workplace”. October 24, 2008. Retrieved November 30, 2008, from: http://www. buzzle. com/articles/gender-discrimination-at-workplace. html “Martin Luther King and the fight against racism in the US”. 2008. Retrieved November 30, 2008, from: http://www. socialistworker. co. uk/art. php? id=14531 “Martin Luther King Jr. . November 30, 2008. Retrieved November 30, 2008, from: http://www. 123HelpMe. com/view. asp? id=42718 “National Employment Summary”. 2005. Retrieved November 29, 2008, from: http://www. eeoc. gov/stats/jobpat_eeo4/2005/jobs/UnitedStatesSummary. html “Race and Red Tape”. November 13, 2008. The Economist print edition. Retrieved November 29, 2008, from: http://www. economist. com/finance/displaystory. cfm? story_id=12597512 “Racial Discrimination”. November 29, 2008. Retrieved November 29, 2008, from: http://www. nswers. com/topic/racial-discrimination “Racism”. 2008. Retrieved November 29, 2008, from: http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Racism “Racism in the United States”. 2008. Retrieved November 29, 2008, from: http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Racism_in_the_United_States “Sexism”. 2008. Retrieved November 29, 2008, from: http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Racism_in_the_United_States “Small Business Encyclopedia”. 2002. Retrieved November 29, 2008, from: http://www. answers. com/topic/gender-discrimination

Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man coveys the way African Americans behave when choosing between their natural self and what is expected of them as members of society. This conflict is a central throughout the novel. The white society desires the narrator to act in a certain way, sometimes against the wishes of the narrator’s conscience. Ellison dramatizes this struggle by various types of rhetorical devices such as repetition, parallelism and a racist setting and placing. During the beginning of the novel, the narrator is invited to participate in a Battle Royal.

The narrator is ignorant of the rules and his part of the event until the white men controlling the event blind fold the narrator and place him in a ring with several other fighters. The white spectators want entertainment at the expense of humiliating black students. The white spectators expect the narrator and the other students act in a certain way: to fight each other blindfolded. The narrator does not want to do this since he is intended to give a speech afterwards.

Later, the narrator and the other fighters are tricked into scrambling on an electrifying rug to grab fake gold coins, all to the sheer amusement of the white crowd. For their own enjoyment, the white spectators want the students to cooperate even though the students are in pain. Ellison dramatizes this situation by creating another similar event that uncannily parallels this one. Much later in the novel, the narrator joins a Communist organization called the Brotherhood blindly thinking it was a organization against racism.

After a few months, the narrator is accused by a member for desiring self-gain. At the hearing, the narrator stands in the middle of the meeting hall while all the white committee members are smiling inwardly, enjoying the mental pain and torture they are inflicting on the poor ignorant narrator. The narrator endures the pain and acts in the way that the white men want him to in both situations: the Battle Royal and the hearing. He could have left the Battle Royal or left the Brotherhood, but he does neither.

This latter episode parallels the Battle Royal; in both events, the white spectators enjoy the narrator in misery. Ellison dramatizes this struggle by using parallelism. After the battle royal, the narrator gives a speech to significant white men of the community. This speech is a version of Booker T. Washington’s Atlanta Exposition. During the speech, the narrator uses the phrase “social equality,” and this phrase startles some of the listeners. The men laugh and make the narrator correct this phrase with more acceptable words of “social responsibility. The narrator succumbs to the spectators’ demands and rephrases his words. Ellison dramatizes this certain situation by having the narrator repeat the phrase “social responsibility” several times. Even though the narrator is the person giving the speech, the audience makes him change his diction – as if they control him. The white spectators clearly expect the African American narrator to act in a certain way, as to not offend any white man. Ellison dramatizes this struggle of the narrator deciding whether or not to submit to the crowd’s wishes by the repetition of his phrases.

Ellison uses every aspect of his novel to emphasize his intentions. The novel takes place in early 20th century in a racist-filled Eastern United States. The racism is evident throughout the novel: in the south where the narrator enrolls to college or in New York City. White men and women influence the black-only college in which the narrator initially resides. Mr. Bledsoe, the president of the college is constantly controlled by white benefactors. Mr. Blesoe even mentions that “we [African Americans] must give them what they want. ” Mr.

Bledsoe is compelled to expel the narrator, even though he is innocent because of bad reputation the narrator might cause to the university. African American men are even required to sit at the rear of buses. After his expulsion, the narrator decides to take a bus to New York City. The narrator is forced to proceed to the rear of the bus to sit beside the mental veteran even though it is strictly against his wishes. The struggle in the narrator’s mind is evident, whether or not to adhere to the rules white people expect African Americans to adhere.

Ellison carefully describes the details of this racist setting and there fore enhances the struggle. Ellison uses various rhetorical devices throughout his novel. His meticulous placement of repetition, parallelism, and racial setting dramatizes the struggle of the narrator and other African Americans to choose between the dictates of their conscience and what is expected of them from white society. However, the narrator does not realize until the end when he is in a pitch black manhole that he should choose with the dictates of his conscience instead of doing what is expected by the White society.