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As I continued to watch the film, I began to reflect on the importance of the study of race for Africana Studies. Studying race is an opportunity to explore the historical and contemporary circumstances of race relation in the world today. Having students understand the intersecting roles of race, ethnicity, gender, class, and culture. Students can have a better cultural awareness, which helps shape their experience dealing with people of a culturally different background throughout the world.
In my final analysis of “The House We Live in” I got the chance to learn about the systematic racism created by the American government. Laws and policy that limited Non-White from living the true American dream, that the founding father of this great
America have a long history of black’s relationship with their fellow white citizens, there’s two authors that dedicated their whole life, fighting for equality for blacks in America. – Audre Lorde and Brent Staples. They both devoted their professional careers outlying their opinions, on how to reduce the hatred towards blacks and other colored. From their contributions they left a huge impression on many academic studies and Americans about the lack of awareness, on race issues that are towards African-American. There’s been countless, of critical evidence that these two prolific writers will always be synonymous to writing great academic papers, after reading and learning about their life experience, from their memoirs.
Based on the title of the book alone, it is easy to say that racism is one of the many social issues this book will address. Unlike the normal racism of Caucasians versus African Americans, this book focuses on racism of the black elite versus African Americans, also known as colorism. Colorism is the discrimination against individuals with a dark skin tone, typically by others of the same racial group. Margo Jefferson says, “Negroland is my name for a small region of Negro America where residents were sheltered by a certain amount of privilege and plenty” (p. 1).
In a country full of inequities and discriminations, numerous books were written to depict our unjust societies. One of the many books is an autobiography by Richard Wright. In Black Boy, Wright shares these many life-changing experiences he faced, which include the discovery of racism at a young age, the fights he put up against discriminations and hunger, and finally his decision of moving Northward to a purported better society. Through these experiences which eventually led him to success, Wright tells his readers the cause and effect of racism, and hunger. In a way, the novel The Tortilla Curtain by T.C Boyle illustrates similar experiences. In this book, the lives of two wealthy American citizens and two illegal immigrants collided. Delaney and Kyra were whites living in a pleasurable home, with the constant worry that Mexicans would disturb their peaceful, gated community. Candido and America, on the other hand, came to America to seek job opportunities and a home but ended up camping at a canyon, struggling even for cheapest form of life. They were prevented from any kind of opportunities because they were Mexicans. The differences between the skin colors of these two couples created the hugest gap between the two races. Despite the difficulties American and Candido went through, they never reached success like Wright did. However, something which links these two illegal immigrants and this African American together is their determination to strive for food and a better future. For discouraged minorities struggling in a society plagued with racism, their will to escape poverty often becomes their only motivation to survive, but can also acts as the push they need toward success.
The United States is known as the “land of the free” attracting many immigrants to achieve the “American Dream” with the promise of equal opportunity for all. However, many groups, whose identities differed from the dominant American ideology, discovered this “American dream” to be a fantasy. In the 1960s, movements for civil rights in the United States of America included efforts to end private and public acts of racial discrimination against groups of disadvantaged people. Despite the efforts made to empower the disadvantaged groups, racialization and class differences prevailed leading to social inequality. The novel My Beloved World is an autobiography written by Sonia Sotomayor illustrating her early life, education, and career path, explaining the unresolved contradictions of American history and how they continue on in society. Prejudice against certain socioeconomic classes and races prevented equal opportunity. Sotomayor’s text explicates the racialization and class differences that many Puerto Ricans experience while pursuing a higher education, revealing the contradictions between the American promise of equal opportunity and discrimination against Puerto Ricans.
The emotional thriller, The Village, is about an isolated town that bases their lives around the 19th century, Amish country. The village has highly secured borders and outside the borders “those we don’t speak of” live and it’s an unspoken truce that the other won’t cross the borders. But the town soon turns upside down when Lucious Hunt breaches the borders to find medicine after the death of Edwards’s son. The writers and producers of this movie express symbolism of the fear of the unknown, the loss of innocence, and through the use of colors.
The aspect of African-American Studies is key to the lives of African-Americans and those involved with the welfare of the race. African-American Studies is the systematic and critical study of the multidimensional aspects of Black thought and practice in their current and historical unfolding (Karenga, 21). African-American Studies exposes students to the experiences of African-American people and others of African descent. It allows the promotion and sharing of the African-American culture. However, the concept of African-American Studies, like many other studies that focus on a specific group, gender, and/or creed, poses problems. Therefore, African-American Studies must overcome the obstacles in order to improve the state of being for African-Americans.
In 1971 on June 17, President Richard Nixon delivered a special message to the Congress on drug abuse prevention and control. During the presentation, Nixon made it clear that the United States was at war with this idea of drug abuse. What baffled Americans then, and still baffles Americans today, is that we are at war with our own nation with drugs; it is not some foreign affair like the media tends to focus on with Mexico. Nixon stated that at the time of his speech, what was implemented to control drug abuse was not working…“The problem has assumed the dimensions of a national emergency. I intend to take every step necessary to deal with this emergency, including asking the Congress for an amendment to my 1972 budget to provide an additional $155 million to carry out these steps. This will provide a total of $371 million for programs to control drug abuse in America.”(Wolleey and Peters) Since the publicizing of the term “War on Drugs” in 1971, it has been used by many political candidates in elections over the years. In the movie, it was stated, “ every war begins with propaganda …[and] the war on drugs has never been actually on drugs… [Additionally] drug laws are shaped less by scientific facts, but more by political [reasoning].” (Jarecki) The movie, The House I Live In, directly relates to certain themes and terminology that were discussed in Martin and Nakayama’s Intercultural Communication in Contexts book, that have been used in class. Through the analyzing and comparing of The House I Live In and Intercultural Communication in Contexts an individual can begin to localize the ideals behind this everlasting war on drugs; some ideals focus on terms from the text like ethnocentrism, diversity training, and culture while ...
In a world of hate, corruption, and angst, hope for achievement seems improbable. Literary works depict incredulities like slavery and discrimination from the birth of our nation, but, silver linings exist in forms of inspiring activists and confident presidents. Barack Obama addresses not only our nation, but the entire world in his famous speech ¨A More Perfect Union¨. He highlights the promise of modern democracy, while identifying underlying issues that affected his own life. Similarly, Maya Angelou reminisces about her childhood to reveal the horror of discrimination, while discerning the significance of the American Dream. Despite the contrasts in their childhoods and family settings, Obama and Angelou share similar feelings that society
The United States is a racialized society, with racism deeply embedded into its history. The most renowned display of racism in the United States is the enslavement of Africans by white people. This is one of the many instances that highlights the government’s implementation of institutional racism, which has been experienced by people of many different races. In this documentary, American citizenship, the Federal Housing Administration, and real estate appear to be the focal portrayals of institutional racism. For hundreds of years, being white was essential to gaining American citizenship. In 1922, Ozawa, a Japanese businessman attempted to gain citizenship. However, the Supreme Court denied his request, stating that he was scientifically classified as Mongolian, not white. Three months later, a South Asian man, Thind, proved to the Court that he was white because he was scientifically classified as Caucasian, and therefore
First, racism still plays a big factor in today’s society as it did fifty years ago. Some might say that everyone has equal opportunity, but some people in America will never see that blacks and whites are equal. Humans have the tendency to judge what is on the outside before seeing who the person really is. The South is the main area where the darker colors mean there is less opportunity and lighter colors mean that there’s more. In today’s society the ability to attain the American Dream is heavily influenced by race. While it is still p...
The post-civil rights era was one of optimism. For many the goals of the movement were reached with civil rights acts of the 1960’s, bringing not only greater rights to blacks, but also women. Barack Obama grew up in the midst of this transition and faced many of the same growing pains, as others of his generation. As Obama battles with his own feelings on of race and “searches for a workable meaning for his life as a black America”, the reader gains a better grasp on the demands race, class and gender place on society.
Martin Carnoy wanted to achieve one of the most difficult, emotional, and political topics in America’s history. Faded Dreams: The Politics and Economics of Race in America addresses the subject of economic inequalities among minorities. For the past century, material goods have posed as the symbol of success and worth in our nation’s society. Carnoy argues that efforts to improve technology have changed over the past century, but the social problems in our nation continue. Carnoy agrees improvements have been made in the lives of minorities in America, but they have fallen short or have been dismantled. He focuses on three reasons: “individuals responsibility,” “persuasive racism,” and “economic restructuring.”
Racial politics in America have developed around the “American Dream,” a concept which has polarized racial discussions as White versus Black, as a juxtaposition between the haves and have-nots. In “Letter to My Son,” an excerpt from Between the World and Me published in Atlantic Monthly on July 4, 2015, Black activist and educator Te-Nehisi Coates warns his son of the complexity of being Black in America, and illustrates the purposeful inaccessibility of the “Dream” to Black Americans by imparting anecdotal wisdom, summarizing historical context, and referencing current events. While Coates is addressing his son, publishing the letter to a wider audience allows others, especially White Americans, to observe an intimate conversation that many
A rare sighting of an honest portrayal of black life was originally published in 2015 by a man named Ta-Nehisi Coates. This book, Between the World and Me, is a warning to Coates’s son about the world around him and what that could mean for his future. There are examples of news reports dedicated to showing that “The Dream” does not exist the way “white America” believes it exists and analogies enhanced by detailed news reports and blunt personal experiences that both Coates’s and his son have witnessed. Coates leaves a detailed message to his readers about what it is like to be black in a country where everyone “believes themselves to be white.” He appeals to the emotions of readers with factual evidence and personal, unapologetic opinion in order to make his point clear, “white America”
The film called Home, a comical animated spin on alien attack thrillers directed by Tim Johnson tells a story about Aliens who call themselves the Boov. The Boov conquer the earth and they relocate the planets ' human population, all except for a little girl named Tip. Tip is a normal teenager with not so perfect hair, a tomboy look alike, sassy and that’s what makes her different. She isn 't just some fake or over enthusiastic girly girl that wants to find prince charming. Oh, is a loveable misfit that wants to be loved but instead is known for being extremely annoying. He lands on earth and finds himself on the run from his own people. When he inadvertently sends a message out of the planet, the Boov fear that