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Racism is not only brutal, but it could be ugly. Racism comes in different shapes and forms, yet it all targets back to the same stem. In the following, there is three different poems who have different concepts of racism, but overall mean the same. They all end up meaning racism, no matter how it is structured. Each poem shows the different forms of racism such as scars in life, child death, and change in life. Racism has the power to stick with someone, even after many days have passed by since the incident. In the first poem, which is Incident, the reader gets one of the many stages of racism. This poem is about showing how a scar can slowly fade, but it will never fully go away. “And so I smiled, but he poked out his tongue, and called …show more content…
me a “Nigger” (Cullen, pg.372). These lines from the poem help back up the claim that racism leaves scars in someone’s life. It is a scar because out of all the things this eight year old kid did while in Baltimore, that was all that he could remember. This particular word is in use to describe this kid raced in his mind from May until December. The scar of the word was so deep that everything that he did was no match for the effect that the word “nigger” had. Once something attacks you there is no way of getting rid of the scar, all someone can do is, try to move on from it. Children usually can have harsh words throw at them and will forget about it after a while, but this word was so strong it cut through childlike mind. The author used the point of view of a child to get his point across. Cullen wanted to showcase the power racism has on any age. He shows how one tiny thing can leave a lifelong scar even to eight year olds. The scar that is racism will never truly be healed. Racism has the power to have a safe place become someone’s worst nightmare. In the poem The Ballad of Birmingham, there is a great example of how a “safe place,” turned into a sudden death. The mother in the poem does not want her child to go out and march for their beliefs, instead she insists on her child to go to church where it is a sacred place. By the time the mother concluded that racism and riots for freedom were everywhere, it was too late. Those beautiful choir voices turned into specks of ashes. “For when she heard the explosion, her eyes grew wet and wild. She raced through the streets of Birmingham calling for her child” (Randall, pg. 440). The broken heart of a mother was looking for her child in the sacred place, where no harm was to come near. She was racing through the dangerous streets that she once warmed her child about, hoping that maybe the danger could shine a little light. Through all the bricks and glass that surrounded the area, all she could find was her baby’s shoe, but her baby was nowhere in sight. Racism is everywhere and there is no escaping it, not even a place where there is peace among one another. This poem shows that no matter how safe a place is, there is no escaping the dangers of racism. Racism lives among everyone, just waiting to kill another soul. In a blink of an eye someone’s life can change.
One of the many reasons that life can change for someone is because of racism. In the poem Mexicans Begin Jogging, there is a perfect example on how somebody’s life changed all because they had to run away from the danger of racism. This poem is a vivid example of how people of color always have to on the edge of their seat, waiting for next moment to run. The man from this poem was an American, but due to his physical attributions and the environment he was in, it was more than expected for him to being confused as an illegal immigrant. “And I shouted that I was American. No time for lies, he said and pressed a dollar in my palm, hurrying me” (Soto, pg. 114). This guy’s boss did not even let him explain the situation because he did not have “time for lies”. The assumption was that this man was an illegal immigration just because he was of color. In the article Race and Social Problems, there is also a deeper explanation about confusion towards people of different descent. This article talks about the frowning upon Mexican Americans. It talks about how education and social interactions are more of a challenge because of racism. This article can relate to the poem because they both address the issue about Mexican American inequality. It is very common that when a person sees a Mexican American, their instant thought is that they are not from America. The life of the man from the poem has changed because, even though he is legal, his rights are constantly being judged. The constant race against
racism. In conclusion, each one of these three poems expresses how racism in different manners. They have their own take on how racism has affected that specific poem and the aftermath towards it. In the first poem we got the sense of how racism can leave a permanent scar on your life. It is one of those things that fades away, but still has the scar there to remind you of what happened. In the second poem we got another root of racism which was a child’s death. Everyone always thinks there is a safe place to hide, but not even your own shadow is to trust. In the last poem, it showed how racism is capable to changes the life of people. The man from the poem will have to keep running from police that should not even be chasing him. Overall, these poems show that no matter what form you put it in, racism will always be dangerous and will harm you. There is different stems to racism but they all sprouted from the same root. Page Break Bibliography Cullen, Countee. "Incident." Literature: Craft & Voice. By Nicholas Delbanco and Alan Cheuse. New York: McGraw Hill, 2010. 372. Print. Ortiz, Vilma, and Edward Telles. "Racial Identity and Racial Treatment of Mexican Americans." Race and Social Problems. U.S. National Library of Medicine, 4 Apr. 2012. Web. 04 Apr. 2016. Randall, Dudley. "The Ballad of Birmingham." Literature: Craft & Voice. By Nicholas Delbanco and Alan Cheuse. Vol. 2. New York: McGraw Hill, 2010. N. pag. Print. Soto, Gary. "Mexicans Begin Jogging." Literature: Craft & Voice. By Nicholas Delbanco and Alan Cheuse. New York: McGraw Hill, 2010. 114. Print. Ten Ex-workers Filed a Civil Rights Lawsuit Thursday Morning. "McDonald's Sued over Claims of Racism." CNNMoney. Cable News Network, 23 Jan. 2015. Web. 04 Apr. 2016. .
At the end of article they describe the pain Joaquín Murieta endured for being a honest and innocent man: “His soul swelled beyond its former boundaries, and the barriers of honor, rocked into atoms by the strong passion which shook his heart like an earthquake, crumbled and fell” (1). At the current time it didn 't matter if you were honest or not with law. If you weren 't white in 1850, you were considered an outsider. Since Joaquín Murieta was Mexican, he was not persecuted because of his transgression but because he was Mexican. The writer wanted to give you an idea of what it felt to be a Mexican and the mistreatment they got from the white
Do you know how it feels to constantly be picked on for your race? Martin Espada’s free verse poem, “The Sign in My Father’s Hands,” directly portrays what it is like to be a child, more specifically a Latino child, who is forced at a young age to learn what it is like to constantly be treated unfairly and a victim of racism. Martin Espada uses his father's story and what he had to witness as a child to convey the theme of how Latinos are often victims of racism and constantly treated unfairly.
“Complexion” by Richard Rodriguez is a story I don’t feel I can connect and identify with because even though I am a Mexican American, I have never gone through his painful circumstances. This is the story of a Mexican American in United States who went through countless racism, insults, and disappointments. He encountered moments of inferiority because of his ethnic group and color skin. He was a person that not only was offended in public, but also he received criticism from his mother. There is a quote from his mother that says, “You know how important looks are in this country. With los gringos looks are all that they judge on. But you! Look at you! You’re so careless!” (Line15-19) By these words I can mention that humiliation and judgment
Immigration is a large aspect of American history. In the book Breaking Through by Francisco Jimenez, we are able to see the struggles of one Hispanic boy immigrating to the United States from Mexico. Many of the people in the community that Francisco lived in didn’t really accept Hispanic people. It was really depressing that he would make friends, go over to their house and their parents wouldn’t let him come over again, simply because he was Hispanic. In Diversity Matters the text states, “Unique stresses created by the process of immigration to another country and discrimination faced in the new country can create psychological distress for many immigrants” (Spradlin 126). During this time in America, there was still a lot of discrimination going on not only with Hispanics, but other minority races like African Americans. This really goes to show how far our country has come over the years. There is still a long way to go, but I think that if people are more educated and aware of the discrimination people face on a daily basis they will be more open-minded. The United States is becoming more open to diversity, but first we will look at the struggles of one Hispanic boy growing up here illegally in Breaking Through.
This book was published in 1981 with an immense elaboration of media hype. This is a story of a young Mexican American who felt disgusted of being pointed out as a minority and was unhappy with affirmative action programs although he had gained advantages from them. He acknowledged the gap that was created between him and his parents as the penalty immigrants ought to pay to develop and grow into American culture. And he confessed that he got bewildered to see other Hispanic teachers and students determined to preserve their ethnicity and traditions by asking for such issues to be dealt with as departments of Chicano studies and minority literature classes. A lot of critics criticized him as a defector of his heritage, but there are a few who believed him to be a sober vote in opposition to the political intemperance of the 1960s and 1970s.
In the book Always Running written by Luis J. Rodriquez, he tells of his early life as a gang member in Los Angeles and the many challenges he had to overcome being a Chicano immigrant, giving outsiders a detailed, in depth perspective of the life he lived and the battles he faced. A life that is full of racism; in society, schools, law enforcement, giving them know sense of belonging. Feeling as if Chicanos weren’t of any relevance to this world, treating them like they are less than human. From the early school days with division in the classroom, lack of education offered to them because of the communication barriers and unwillingness to fix that problem, to society where there is division among the people, neighborhoods, territory, to
Brent Staples and Richard Rodriguez’s autobiographical essays both start out with a problem, but they deal with it in different ways. Brent Staples’ “Just Walk on By” deals with the issue of racism and social judgment he faces because he is African-American, while Rodriguez’s essay “Complexion,” details the self-hatred and shame he felt in his childhood because of his skin color. Both of these essays deal with race, appearance, and self-acceptance, but the authors write about them in different ways. When looking at the similarities and differences together, the points of these essays have a much stronger message about how to deal with discrimination.
I did not know that Mexican Americans were considered to be “white” however, I am not shocked to discover they were treated as second rate citizens. Although, the essay discusses how the Mexican Americans were afraid of being reduced to the standards of an African American they in many ways were treated the very same. For example, the essay discusses segregation of White bathrooms from blacks and hispanics the racial separation seemed to surprise the essay writer were I was not even roused. I am however, taken aback by how distant Mexican Americans seem to want to be from African Americans yet even in this essay the history of black people was referenced to several
There are many different ways to express feelings towards an individual's race, culture, and ethnicity. It is one thing to talk about them, but it is another when everything spoken is nothing but positivity. In Carl Sandburg's poem “Nigger”, he portrays the positive vibes of African Americans. Looking at a title can be very deceiving until actually read. With everything written in free verse, Sandburg expresses the good qualities of individuals through different races, nationalities, and celebrates the common people in the language of the streets.
It is very likely that Louise Erdrich experienced some kind of racism or prejudice in her lifetime. Segregation laws were still in use while she was growing up in the fifties, and in the sixties, many of the same people still felt racist, with or without the laws. Boarding schools were not an exception to this fact either. School authorities probably did take advantage of the fact that boarding schools are away from home and not under the watchful eye of any parent. This poem demonstrates the truth of what it really felt and feels like to have lived through such bad treatment. It is disturbing to think that instead of just learning at school, Louise Erdrich, amongst other children, may have learned what it felt like to be hated. At such early ages, they taught these children that the way they were treated was how the world was supposed to be. It displays the painful scars embedded so deeply into a child, from a time that should have been the most nurturing part of his/her life.
The author is using personal experience to convey a problem to his or her audience. The audience of this piece is quite broad. First and foremost, Mexican-Americans just like the author. People who can relate to what the author has to say, maybe someone who has experienced something similar. The author also seems to be seeking out an audience of white Americans who find themselves unaware of the problem at our borders. The author even offers up a warning to white America when she notes, “White people traveling with brown people, however, can expect to be stopped on suspicion they work with the sanctuary movement”(125). The purpose of this writing is to pull out a problem that is hidden within or society, and let people see it for what it is and isn’t.
...ites a short 33-line poem that simply shows the barriers between races in the time period when racism was still openly practiced through segregation and discrimination. The poem captures the African American tenant’s frustrations towards the landlord as well as the racism shown by the landlord. The poem is a great illustration of the time period, and it shows how relevant discrimination was in everyday life in the nineteen-forties. It is important for the author to use the selected literary devices to help better illustrate his point. Each literary device in the poem helps exemplify the author’s intent: to increase awareness of the racism in the society in the time period.
In conclusion, racism is a big issue in the United States affecting not just only foreigners but also citizens. Leslie Marmon Silko as a mixed-ancestry-person has had to face discrimination and racism in the United States. The author feels very proud of her family because racism did not grow up in her hometown along with her. Moreover, she shows her sympathy to undocumented immigrants by pointing out the cruelty that Border Patrol offices do not just to them but also to citizens. Also, her tone is very disappointing and angry because of what is going right now with the United States and the Border Patrol making racism stronger and stronger overtime making some rights, such as freedom start to vanish all because of the same issue, which is racism.
Home is not only a place where you can stay with the people you love, but also a place that can influence your future and contribute your identity. In the novel “The Color Purple” and the poem “Mexicans Begin Jogging”, both two speakers used their real experiences to illustrate this phenomenon. Although “The Color Purple” and “Mexicans Begin Jogging” both try to change the speaker's social status and living conditions, “The Color Purple” finally did it because of the help from others, while “Mexicans Begin Jogging” implied that they would never succeed due to their family background.
Legal alien explains about Bicultural people in a disrespectful/dark type of way, like “viewed by anglos as perhaps exotic” and “viewed by mexicans as aliens” (“Legal Alien” 9-11) which emphasizes that both view Bicultural people negatively. These comparisons highlight the fact that that both cultures think differently about each other and do not agree with each others views. Immigrants is from a point of view of hispanic parents trying to raise their child as american as possible like when they “wrap their [baby] in the American flag” (Immigrants 1). This poem is geared more to the side of the American way of life, since the parents do not want their child to grow up like they did. Mexican- American culture is a big part in Pat Mora’s writing. She decides to release important issues that most people are scared to share. Her view on these cultures is what shapes her unique writing