Black Consciousness has been defined as an attitude of the mind and a way of life. Therefore, the purpose of teaching Black Consciousness was to conquer feelings of black inferiority and replace it with a new solid social identity which encouraged black pride and independence from white oppression. Africans should reject the myths from which Apartheid was conceived, where blacks were depicted as inferior, savage, simple and having a primitive culture which needed to be modernized. Rather blacks should believe in their true identity of being survivors with the utmost human dignity. Black people needed to become aware of their collective power both economically and politically. People of African descent must create their own value system, where they were self-defined not defined by white superiors.
Therefore Black Consciousness’ main belief was, that racial domination had become internalized, thus causing low self-esteem, which in turn allowed room for political disunity and encouraged a dependence on white leadership. The philosophy of Black Consciousness was to break this set of attitudes and form a new belief in black self-reliance and dignity. It was only when this was achieved could black the man truly be liberated both physically and mentally. The Black Consciousness philosophy was an agenda for ideological realignment and political revitalization, which could rebuild and recondition the mind of the oppressed. This ideology brought a new sophistication and insight into the analysis of African psychology.
An important psychological shift advocated by the Black Conscious Movement was the redefinition of blackness. No longer would Africans accept the negative label of ‘non-white’, they refused to be regarded as non-persons but demanded to be called positively as black. This definition of ‘black’ was not race or class exclusive rather it sought to incorporate all people who were discriminated against and denied access to white privileges under the oppressive apartheid regime. The definition of blackness is actually somewhat complex, the path to understanding it leads to certain directions. First off, that being black was a mental attitude, not just a matter of skin pigmentation. Secondly, by merely acknowledging that one is black already sets oneself along the road of emancipation.
Another strong belief of the African Psychologists, of the was his rejection of Euro-American methods of measuring the intelligence and behavior of Black People. Psychologists believe that blacks needed to be self-reliant. They needed to do things for themselves, by themselves, instead of relying on the Euro-American or Western psychologists as the standards or absolutes.
While having a judge may seem like it is more effective, while calculating time spent on the case, money used, and the education in the field of justice that a judge has, using a trial by jury is the best way to preserve the American ideal of democracy. In the Jury system mini Q document F, Mark twin mentions that the jury system doesn’t want educated people because they would make the trial too easy for one side. Rather than insulting the jury system it seems like this is more of a good thing because it shows that the jury system doesn’t want people who know too much about the subject already and could sway the decision based solely on their bias. Another way that the system is fair is the fact that rather than having one judge decide the fate of a person, rather it is 12 other citizens that have no ties to the person. In the Jury system mini Q document B The letter states “a reasoned and professional judgment should be replaced by blanket verdicts or pretty well any twelve men and women … I had taken my leave of sense.” While this man is insulting the jury system what he says should still be looked at. The people that come together for a jury will have much less bias towards the accused person that a judge who has either seen the person before, or could just not be looking at it with multiple points of
W.E.B. DuBois attempted to tell African Americans what they should learn throughout schooling. He thought academics were of the utmost importance in order for African Americans to exist socially in society. Through academic schooling, he thought that 10 percent of the African American society would succeed and move on to become doctors, lawyers, politicians, etc.; they were called “the talented ten.” The subject material that would advance their learning would consist of the “trivium” and the “quadrivium.” The...
First, when individuals are appointed for a jury, several individuals will do anything to not be selected for the trial. For instance, my father has conveyed he was indisposed or he could not afford to miss work. Moreover, most individuals do not perceive being a juror as an honor being as a citizen, instead they see it as a burden. A substantial influence on this position is the remuneration, because individuals are missing work to serve. On average, an individual who is selected to be a juror makes about 30 to 40 dollars a day, a fraction of when he or she is working. For this
The greatest part of these studies have involved the middle-English text Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Extensive work has been done on this alliterative four-part poem written by an anonymous contemporary of Chaucer: feminists have attacked his diatribe against women at the end, or analyzed the interaction between Gawain and the women of Bercilak’s court; those of the D. W. Robertson school seek the inevitable biblical allusions and allegory concealed within the medieval text; Formalists and philologists find endless enjoyment in discovering the exact meaning of certain ambiguous and archaic words within the story. Another approach that yields interesting, if somewhat dated, results, is a Psychological or Archetypal analysis of the poem. By casting the Green Knight in the role of the Jungian Shadow, Sir Gawain’s adventure to the Green Chapel becomes a journey of self-discovery and a quest - a not entirely successful one - for personal individuation.
Morgan le Fay is the single most important character in SGGK. Even though she is an absolutely vital character, she is named exactly once. It is at the end of the poem that the Green Knight (Lord Bertilak) reveals to Sir Gawain that everything in the poem, from the main challenge to the smaller tests, was Morgan’s idea and should be credited to her ingenuity and magic (SGGK, l. 2445-2470). Part of
I believe the best place to start this essay would be with an explanation of Black Power. Black Power according to James H. Cone “is an emotionally charged term that can evoke either angry rejection or passionate acceptance.” Critics see it as blacks hating whites, while advocates see Black Power as the only viable option for black people. Advocates see Black Power meaning black people are taking a dominate role in deciding what the black-white relationship should be in American Society. Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Jr. is preaching this right now. He sees that blacks need to go back to their blackness and no longer live their lives as the white society wants them to.
The book Acquittal by Richard Gabriel states, “juries are the best judges in the system. They are not elected, they don't have the high-powered microscope of appellate review or the stern, disapproving-schoolmarm precedent looking over their shoulder, and they have no interest in the outcome of the case.” For this reason, we can come to the conclusion that the use of juries in a trial is the best for all involved in the legal system. While juries, “are the best judges in the system”, lawyers, jury consultants, and jury scientists are the reasons they are viewed this way. It is their job to make sure that not only their client, but everyone has a fair and unbiased trial.Making sure that “the best judges in the system” are fair and unbiased takes a lot of planning, research, and effort. You must research the jurors, understand how they think, what their morals are, and how they would view this case. “It is a constructed reality, cobbled together by shifting memories of witnesses, attorney arguments, legal instructions, personal experiences, and beliefs of jurors.”(Gabriel
They are the impartial third-party whose responsibility is to deliver a verdict for the accused based on the evidence presented during trial. They balance the rights of society to a great extent as members of the community are involved. This links the legal system with the community and ensures that the system is operating fairly and reflecting the standards and values of society. A trial by jury also ensures the victim’s rights to a fair trial. However, they do not balance the rights of the offender as they can be biased or not under. In the News.com.au article ‘Judge or jury? Your life depends on this decision’ (14 November 2013), Ian Lloyd, QC, revealed that “juries are swayed by many different factors.” These factors include race, ethnicity, physical appearance and religious beliefs. A recent study also found that juries are influenced by where the accused sits in the courtroom. They found that a jury is most likely to give a “guilty” verdict if the accused sits behind a glass dock (ABC News, 5 November 2014). Juries also tend to be influenced by their emotions; hence preventing them from having an objective view. According to the Sydney Morning Herald article ‘Court verdicts: More found innocent if no jury involved’ (23 November 2013), 55.4 per cent of defendants in judge-alone trials were acquitted of all charges compared with 29 per cent in jury trials between 1993 and 2011. Professor Mark Findlay from the University of Sydney said that this is because “judges were less likely to be guided by their emotions.” Juries balance the rights of victims and society to a great extent. However, they are ineffective in balancing the rights of the offender as juries can be biased which violate the offender’s rights to have a fair
Nearly all of the problems the Black Panther Party attacked are the direct descendants of the system which enslaved Blacks for hundreds of years. Although they were given freedom roughly one hundred years before the arrival of the Party, Blacks remain victims of White racism in much the same way. They are still the target of White violence, regulated to indecent housing, remain highly uneducated and hold the lowest position of the economic ladder. The continuance of these problems has had a nearly catastrophic effect on Blacks and Black families. Brown remembers that she “had heard of Black men-men who were loving fathers and caring husbands and strong protectors.. but had not known any” until she was grown (105). The problems which disproportionatly affect Blacks were combatted by the Party in ways the White system had not. The Party “organized rallies around police brutality against Blacks, made speeches and circulated leaflets about every social and political issue affecting Black and poor people, locally, nationally, and internationally, organized support among Whites, opened a free clinic, started a busing-to prisons program which provided transport and expenses to Black families” (181). The Party’s goals were to strengthen Black communities through organization and education.
Du Bois’ concept of “double consciousness,” Fanon asserts that the Black people’s psyches are deformed by Whites’ anti-Black racism. The defamation of blackness, as it is set forth in the colonial structure, constitutes a cumulative trauma that severely affects the self. It is a “projective” racial identity that ascribes all negative and inferior aspects onto the Black skin. In order to escape the zone of nonbeing, into which Black people are forced by White projections, Black people often try to escape that lot by acting White, aspiring to live up to standards that are impossible to achieve, turning the internalized self-hatred against themselves and other people of color. This alienation from self and one’s heritage needs to be reversed. The process of disalienation is long and painful; it is a constant struggle. While Fanon’s assessment of the situation in Black Skin, White Masks left entailed the hope that reconciliation and healing between Blacks and Whites was achievable, he later changed his outlook in so far that he realized that the colonizers’ psychological warfare would forever impede it, and along with it, the natives’ chance to reclaim their
We first meet her as the ugly old lady that was along side Lady Bertilak in the castle, she is covered head to toe but is described as “repulsive to see and shockingly bleared (Winny 2011: 55).” In the end we find out she is really Morgan le Fay. Though she is not mentioned very much in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, but she plays a very significant role. Morgan le Fay is really King Arthur’s half sister and sent the Green Knight, who we also find out is the same person as the Lord Bertilak, to King Arthur’s in the very beginning of the poem. She does so to test King Arthur’s knights as well as to scare Queen Guenevere to death (Winny 2011: 137). “Through the power of Morgan le Fay” she controls Lady Bertilak as well as Lord Bertilak to do the work and test King Arthur’s knight, Sir Gawain (Winny 2011: 137). The whole time Morgan le Fay had power over most of the characters. She was the one that set up the idea that Sir Gawain would have to meet the Lord Bertilak/Green Knight at his chapel and set up the agreement that Sir Gawain and Lord Bertilak/Green Knight to exchange gifts daily. Though Lady Bertilak did go about testing Sir Gawain with her own power, it was Morgan le Fay who made it happen. This whole poem would not have happened if Morgan le Fay did not set up the whole thing. Morgan le Fay had power over everyone and everything throughout the entire
Before beginning to analyze both Motown and Stax Record’s influence on black consciousness it must first be understood why black consciousness itself can be seen as a step in the right direction in the fight against black struggle. Brian Ward does a great job of capturing the true success of soul music’s influence on black consciousness. Ward says, “[Black radio’s] real strength… was its ability to dramatize and celebrate shared aspects of the black experience… to promote a revived sense of black identity, pride, solidarity and common consciousness” (Ward 449). In his book, Ward also points out that despite this successful development of black consciousness, there was limited success both economically and structurally on behalf of the black music industry. This shows that even though ther...
The core principle of history is primary factor of African-American Studies. History is the struggle and record of humans in the process of humanizing the world i.e. shaping it in their own image and interests (Karenga, 70). By studying history in African-American Studies, history is allowed to be reconstructed. Reconstruction is vital, for over time, African-American history has been misleading. Similarly, the reconstruction of African-American history demands intervention not only in the academic process to rede...
This poem describes a story told you by a passing traveler of a ruined statue of a king, Ozymandias, seemingly in a desolate desert. On the statue in is inscribed, “‘My name is Ozymandias, king of kings: look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!’/Nothing beside remain” (“Ozymandias” 10-12). Upon examination of the surrounding land, we realize that the once vast kingdom around the statue has been taken back by the desert, leaving the ironic message on the statue. This poem shows Shelley’s ideas of how all is temporary, especially mankind and our achievements. Showing romantic values, Shelley believed nature is much greater than man and no matter how big your kingdom, mather nature will always take back what was always
In the Middle Ages, the roles of women became less restricted and confined and women became more opinionated and vocal. Sir Gawain and The Green Knight presents Lady Bertilak, the wife of Sir Bertilak, as a woman who seems to possess some supernatural powers who seduces Sir Gawain, and Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Wife of Bath Prologue and Tale, present women who are determined to have power and gain sovereignty over the men in their lives. The female characters are very openly sensual and honest about their wants and desires. It is true that it is Morgan the Fay who is pulling the strings in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight; nevertheless the Gawain poet still gives her a role that empowers her. Alison in The Wife if Bath Prologue represents the voice of feminism and paves the way for a discourse in the relationships between husbands and wives and the role of the woman in society.