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In the 4000 communication course throughout the year the class and I are studying methods and theories of rhetorical criticism. The best part about the assignment is any piece of media can be consider rhetorical because there is always two sides of looking and reviewing any artifact. After watching the film, Dear White People, I chose to criticize the movie and use it as my artifact for this semester project. The film directed by Justin Simien who also wrote the screenplay .The black feminist and rhetoric of social movements theories will help support my side in the paper. The movie setting is on an Ivy League college campus that is not as diverse as it once was. The president of student affairs and a popular student housing is young man by the name of Troy Fairbanks, who also is the son of the Dean Fairbanks whom is the dean of student affairs. The plot begins to change when Troy loses an election against a young prideful Sam White. The character Sam White is a strong black woman who also is the leader in her group of friends, is an activist for black power, has her own radio station on campus, and believes in change, the ex-girlfriend of …show more content…
He decides to not listen to her new reform and him and his friends rebel by throwing a party. The party has white people dressed up in black face and are imitating black people which shows the racial problems on their campus are far from being solved. The movie storyline was interesting and since it was social satire it made the plot outrageously funny, but also addressing a serious problems we have on college campus. I showed interest in the film because of the character Sam played a unique role on a majority white campus. I would consider the movie a must watch and would definite refer it to the African-American kids who seem to not fit their predominately white
The film observes and analyzes the origins and consequences of more than one-hundred years of bigotry upon the ex-slaved society in the U.S. Even though so many years have passed since the end of slavery, emancipation, reconstruction and the civil rights movement, some of the choice terms prejudiced still engraved in the U.S society. When I see such images on the movie screen, it is still hard, even f...
In May 2014, Time.com published an article that would soon become the source of no small amount of social contention (1). In the article, “Dear Privileged-at-Princeton: You. Are. Privileged. And Meritocracy Is a Myth,” author Briana Payton lashes out at classmate Tal Fortgang for an article he wrote a month prior (1). Payton, a freshman studying sociology at Princeton University and the political antithesis of Fortgang, takes issue with her classmates’ definition of the word “privilege” (1). She argues that, because Fortgang is white, society inherently affords him “privilege” (Payton 1). Payton’s main flaw is her tone — her condescending, demeaning, and arrogant rhetoric distracts from her content and diminishes her credibility. Conversely,
Although some like Conor Friedersdorf, of the Atlantic, categorized students as “intolerant bullies, (34)” meaning that the reasons for protests were not really reasons at all. Chang argues that the issues students are expressing need to be improved upon as if not, we will continue to go round and round in this vicious cycle. The addition of the apartheid in South Africa backs up Chang’s argument as there is a consensus of it being a serious issue. This explains why he included this piece of history and how it relates to college campuses. Encouraging critics to listen to students, just as Meyer did to those of color, is the only way to prevent today's youth from bring up the same issues in future years. Just as Chang predicted, the next school year brought protesters to hundreds of colleges and universities. What happened at Mizzou was just the beginning of a country wide movement for racial justice on campuses that hasn’t stopped
When it all comes down to it, one of the greatest intellectual battles U.S. history was the legendary disagreement between Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. DuBois. This intellectual debate sparked the interest of the Northerners as well as the racist whites that occupied the south. This debate was simply about how the blacks, who just gained freedom from slavery, should exist in America with the white majority. Even though Washington and DuBois stood on opposite sides of the fence they both agreed on one thing, that it was a time for a change in the treatment of African Americans. I chose his topic to write about because I strongly agree with both of the men’s ideas but there is some things about their views that I don’t agree with. Their ideas and views are the things that will be addressed in this essay.
In 1994, renowned college professor Nikki Giovanni published an awe-inspiring article. It contains guidance to black college students on how to academically apply themselves in college, and she teaches them how to deal with the ignorance of white people, from sharp tongued comebacks to gaining a professor’s respect. Along the way, the article “Campus Racism 101” states Giovanni has acquired a tenure, she has a teaching position for life, at the predominately white student body Virginia Tech (Giovanni 11). Nikki Giovanni’s “Campus Racism 101” uses logic when giving advice to black students on how to succeed in college, appeals to Giovanni’s credibility, and appeals to the emotions of racism all in order to educate how black college students need to deal with ignorance on a college campus.
Wise, T. (2012). Dear white America: Letter to a new minority. San Francisco, CA: City
Tragedy has the ability to simultaneously bring people together and push them apart. Judith Cofer, the writer of “American History,” explores the theme of tragedy when she dwells upon the day when tragedy struck the lives of many. In her essay, she remembers the day former President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1963. Numerous people in her community are devastated by JFK’s unexpected death because they can relate to the fact that he stood for equality of culture, race, and gender. However, Cofer lacks the understanding of JFK’s goal, so her mother tries to expose the truth of her identity to her. Although Cofer’s mother wants to protect her, evidence from the text proves that unraveling the truth of racial prejudice is agonizing and
Free speech. Affirmative action. Political correctness. These three things all have at least one key thing common and that one thing can be summed up as this: To you, the reader; to me, the writer; and to anyone and everyone you talk to about those three things, they will have a different meaning with a different story with a different reason for them being defined that way. The discussion cannot end simply with our own stories, but begin with those stories and transcend into something new with being exposed to different ideas and viewpoints that may or may not match our own. D’souza, Taylor, Robbins and all other authors mentioned in this piece can help everyone to grow in their personal definitions of free speech, affirmative action and political correctness.
Critical race theory (CRT) is a framework that may be useful for examining how racial climate impacts the undergraduate experiences of African-American students on college campuses (Murphy, Gaughan, Hume, & Moore, 2010). CRT draws from a broad base of literature in sociology, history, ethnic studies, women’s study, and law (Murphy, Gaughan, Hume, & Moore, 2010). CRT consists of five elements: 1) the centrality of race and racism, and their intersectionality with other forms of subordination, 2) the challenge to dominant ideology, 3) the commitment to social justice, 4) the centrality of experiential knowledge, and 5) the transdisciplinary perspective (Murphy, Gaughan, Hume, & Moore, 2010). Applying CRT to education is different than other CRT applications as it challenges traditional paradigms, methods, texts, and separate discourse of race, gender, and class by showing how social constructs intersect to impact on communities of color (Murphy, Gaughan, Hume, & Moore,
In “How to Understand Acting White” Richard Thompson Ford comes to the conclusion that desegregation is the cause of the derogatory phrase acting white. Black students are verbally attacking other black students for conforming to what they see as the expectation of white society. Another writer Alfred Lubrano touches on some of the issues in Ford’s writing in his book “How College Corrupts”. The main ideas of Lubrano’s article can be interpreted to give a new perspective to Ford’s article on “understanding the concept of acting white”. By showing a similar struggle with the loneliness of academic excellence, Lubranos article further exemplifies similar attitudes in Ford’s writing. Lubrano's article also facilitates a new layer to the concept
Throughout the article of, "On Being White," by Marilyn Frye, whiteness as a whole is explained. Frye explains that whiteness is a construct that is both social and political, created by the white supremacist society we live in. The members of this group, which is one that is created by themselves, can bend the rules of society in order to favor them, such as deciding who actually is a member of the group. Two pieces of literature that directly show an understanding of whiteness has worked throughout America's history, is Pudd'nhead Wilson, by Mark Twain, and an article on The Guardian, "Black and White Twins," by Joanna Moorhead. In this paper I will explain how both of these readings show what exactly whiteness meant throughout history in both societies, with examples from the text.
The same consistent, expressive voice introduces Ms. Angelou's effective strategy of comparison and contrast. By comparing what the black schools don't have, such as 'lawn, nor hedges, nor tennis courts, nor climbing ivy,' reveals not only a clear illustration of what luxuries the white schools in the forties had but also how unjust the system was. The adults at the graduation focus on the differences that were previously left unspoken. The black principal's voice fades as he describes "the friendship of kindly people to those less fortunate then themselves" and the white commencement speaker implies that" the white kids would have a chance to become Galileo's.... and our boys would try to be Jesse Owenes..." The author's emotions vary from the first proclamation that "I was the person of the moment" to the agonizing thoughts that it "was awful to be a Negro and have no control over my life" to the moment of epiphany: "we are on top again."
The sociological theory that would best agree with the character of Samantha White, as seen in the movie, Dear White People, is Robert Merton’s theory of social structure and anomie. Samantha White can rely on this theory to conduct her activism with the knowledge that she has a sociological basis upon which she can advocate for social change in the community. For example, she can use Merton’s theory as a foundation for understanding her role in her society. As a radio presenter, she occupies a unique position in the community to steer social change.
Spelman College, a black liberal arts college for women, has taken a stand against the patriarchy in hip-hop, starting with black rapper Nelly (Holsendolph, 2005, p. 1). Feminists within the college, upon watching the rapper’s music video, entitled “Tip Drill,” held protests against allowing him to “present his plan to promote his bone marrow education program” at the school (Holsendolph, 2005, p. 1). When Nelly decided to cancel his presentation, protesters took a major step in the fight against misogyny, which fueled the idea that with enough effort, other misogynistic rappers would realize the harm they were doing to the black female population (Holsendolph, 2005, p. 1). The college has since joined with Essence magazine to sponsor “Take Back the Music” (Holsendolph, 2005, p. 1). This initiative lasted one whole week, and focused on “the controversy over hip-hop images” (Holsendolph, 2005, p. 2). Moya Bailey, a student and leader of the Spelman movement against the controversy of rap, has stated that the battle for a more appropriate representation of black women in hip-hop was formed on a “personal” level (Holsendolph, 2005, p. 2). She has been quoted to believe, along with many other students attending Spelman, that “out of the many issues [hip-hop raises with respect to black women] is the question of
[2] My defense of postmodernism and its relevance to black folks sounded good but I worried that I lacked conviction, largely because I approach the subject cautiously and with suspicion. Disturbed not so much by the "sense" of postmodernism but by the conventional language used when it is written or talked about and by those who speak it, I find myself on the outside of the discourse looking in. As a discursive practice it is dominated primarily by the voices of white male intellectuals and/or academic elites who speak to and about one another with coded familiarity. Reading and studying their writing to understand postmodernism in its multiple manifestations, I appreciate it but feel little inclination to ally myself with the academic hierarchy and exclusivity pervasive in the movement today.