White Supremacy is often associated with images of the Ku Klux Klan and the Civil Rights Movement (Theoharis). However, it’s a lot less confusing when you think of it as a system that engulfs the military, the judicial system, and social media (What). White Supremacy is systematically oppressing non-whites in this country under legal protection. What role does society play in White Supremacy? Legendary singer/songwriter Michael Jackson wrote a controversial song entitled “They Don’t Care About Us”, that lyrically exposes the issue of systemic White Supremacy when observed through a cultural lens. White Supremacy isn’t just random acts of prejudice, it is a system that overshadows the judicial system, social media, and the military along with other tools that can help push an agenda (What). Not every Caucasian is a White …show more content…
Supremacist. Before White Supremacy was established, people were usually referred to by their country of residence, not by the color of their skin (Smith). “In 1735, Swedish Botanist Carolus Linnaeus, in his book System of Nature, separated man... into four categories and assigned each group characteristics”(Smith). Soaw.org defines White Supremacy as “an historically based, institutionally, perpetuated system of exploitation and oppression of continents, nations, and peoples of color by white peoples and nations of the European continent, for the purpose of maintaining and defending a system of wealth, power, and privilege”. Culturally, between the years 1995 and 2012, 54.5% of all racially motivated hate crimes targeted blacks, but only 16.3% targeted whites (Brunker). The media can’t be showing White Supremacy in a positive or negative light if they disregard it. When they actually do discuss it, “for example, they will reduce racist police behavior to ‘a few bad apples’ who need to be removed, rather than seeing it exists in police departments all over the country and is basic to the society” (What). When a white supremacist by the name of Dylann Roof committed a terrorist attack on a black, historically significant church in Charleston, SC, afterward one media outlet focused on “The Daily Stormer, a White Supremacist website [that] posted a racist article regarding black on white crime” (Wines). Michael Jackson was an iconic best-selling African American artist and humanitarian. Michael got an early start in the music industry as a child in a group with his siblings, the Jackson 5. “He went on to a solo career of astonishing success, delivering No. 1 hits from the albums Off the Wall,Thriller and Bad” (Michael). Michael Jackson was also a hot topic for the tabloids, who profited off of twisting information through the mainstream media (Jude). Michael said during a speech “I broke Elvis’s records, I broke the Beatles records. The minute they became the all-time best selling albums in the history of the Guinness Book of World Records, overnight they called me a freak, they called me a homosexual, they called me a child molester, they said I tried to bleach my skin. They did everything to turn the public against me. This is all a complete conspiracy, you have to know that” (Mjsarmyoflove). One of his many hit records he wrote addressed the issue of White Supremacy, “They Don’t Care About Us”. The song “They Don’t Care About Us” is a song that addresses White Supremacy through the eyes of the Oppressed (Jude).
This song intends to bring awareness, so it hinders White Supremacy (Jude). The lyrics,“tell me what has become of my rights...your proclamation promised me free liberty...they're throwing me in a class with a bad name” relate to White Supremacy because they represent the “marginalized” group, non-whites, rebelling against the oppression of the “dominant group”, White Supremacists (They). On the contrary, the media has harshly criticised the song, labeling it anti-semitic (Jude). The media fails to acknowledge White Supremacy. White Supremacy is still an issue because according to Brunker, “hate crimes against blacks remain far more numerous than hate crimes against the far larger population of whites”. Also there are still numerous hate groups in America, including, Neo-Nazi, White Nationalist, Racist Skinhead, Neo-Confederate, and the Ku Klux Klan (Brunker). “The SPLC maintains a list of hate groups that ‘have beliefs or practices that attack or malign an entire class of people, typically for their immutable
characteristics.’” A common talking point that people with White Supremacist ideals bring out is; “what about black on black crime”. This deflects the focus away from the subject of White Supremacy. Brunker offers good information to refute this when he says, “hate crimes against blacks remain far more numerous than hate crimes against the far larger population of whites”. Between the years 1995 and 2012, 54.5% of all racially motivated hate crimes targeted blacks, but only 16.3% targeted whites (Brunker). 4.6 Directing the Investigation presents the question, “Cultural Criticism: How might issues of race, age, or power be at the root of conflicts explored in the film?”, meaning cultural criticism focuses on race, age, or power. Cultural criticism is related to White Supremacy in terms of race and power.
The article “The Coddling Of The American Mind”, written by Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt, was written about how teachers are afraid of what they are allowed to say during in class because of the emotional effect on the students. While writing the article the authors have many examples of logos, ethos, and pathos. The logos of the article appeals to logic by presenting facts and statistics. The writers provide definitions of words such as microaggression and trigger warning. While explaining the definitions they go on to give real world examples to further the understanding of the words. Also statistics of the amount of mental health issues are provided to enhance the logos. Secondly to make the article more appealing is adding an emotional
Throughout his preface of the book titled Why We Can’t Wait, which entails the unfair social conditions of faultless African Americans, Martin Luther King employs a sympathetic allegory, knowledge of the kids, and a change in tone to prevail the imposed injustice that is deeply rooted in the society—one founded on an “all men are created equal” basis—and to evoke America to take action.
The authors of “Coddling of the American Mind,” Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt, use ethos, logos, and pathos convey their negative stance regarding trigger warnings and the effect they on education. Lukianoff and Haidt’s use of rhetorical appeal throughout the article adds to the author’s credibility and the strength of the argument against increasing the use of trigger warnings in school material. The authors, Lukianoff and Haidt, rely heavily upon the use of logos, such as relations between conflicts surrounding trigger warnings and other historical conflicts impacting student ethics. Examples of the use of these logical appeals are the relation between the Columbine Massacre and the younger generations ideology. The author goes on to mention other societal turning points such
For as long as I can remember, racial injustice has been the topic of discussion amongst the American nation. A nation commercializing itself as being free and having equality for all, however, one questions how this is true when every other day on the news we hear about the injustices and discriminations of one race over another. Eula Biss published an essay called “White Debt” which unveils her thoughts on discrimination and what she believes white Americans owe, the debt they owe, to a dark past that essentially provided what is out there today. Ta-Nehisi Coates published “Between the World and Me,” offering his perspective about “the Dream” that Americans want, the fear that he faced being black growing up and that black bodies are what
It would be ignorant to say racism does not exist till today. There is almost a complete 100 year difference between the reconstruction period and the Civil Rights Movement for equal rights to the Black society. While slavery took time to vanish in the south in those hundreds of years, segregation was pushed harshly, laws we 're enacted to prevent Blacks from having certain privileges that whites had. Segregation almost seemed to kick the Blacks out of the society we live together in. The Jim Crow laws had made efficient work in separating the Blacks from the Whites in society, and it took the Civil Rights movement in 1964 to finally bring more equality to the African-American society. However, the Ku Klux Klan and still other organizations had existed and continue to exist despite efforts to bring equality. There is a strong social equality for the Black population in America today, but because of hate organizations and discrimination still existing today, black lives are being lost through murder, and even in forms of police brutality. Take for example the L.A riots in 1992 from the beating of Rodney King, or going back to 1967 the Detroit riots which tore apart these cities. Today Black Lives Matter movements exist to crush out racism in society so people no longer have to live in fear, and it is an existing movement that I think will actually fade as generations in the future work to build up society, and racism will become a thing of a past. There is however, always going to be something that causes prejudices and hate in society if not directed to one group of people. Even today if racism disappears between blacks and whites, prejudice occurs between cultural people here in America. These problems exist mainly in America, and it is socially slowing us down from advancing as a
A lack of power is the most notable characteristic of a subordinate group because it’s what separates them from the dominant group. This power held by the dominant group is the result of their history of where they reside and their effect on the world nationally and even globally. The relationship shared between white people (dominant group) and black people (subordinate group) is racism. Specifically, racism built into every level of our society and expressed in the practice of social, political, and economic
In this world today, hate is becoming increasingly more abundant, especially as it concerns race. Whether it be an unarmed black man shot by a white police officer or the use of racial slurs towards someone, it seems like racism is all around us. In the book To Kill A Mockingbird, it shows a little girl named Scout using racial slurs. Racism is so culturally accepted in the town that it’s okay to use racial slurs such as the N-Word that even Atticus, a lawyer representing a black man falsely accused of rape, uses it a couple of times. Earlier this year, the Ku Klux Klan, a group of white supremacists, held a violent rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, and proved that racism isn’t a thing of the past.
The following report gives a critical analysis of Dr. Cornel West’s book, “Race Matters.” In his book, Dr. West, a scholar, theologian, and activist, presents key issues of the day (1990s) primarily relating to race. He wrote “Race Matters” following the Los Angeles riot of 1992 after the acquittal of white police officers involved in the tragic beating of Rodney King. The book was originally published in April 1993 by New York: Vintage Books. This book is comprised of eight separate essays focusing primarily on racial issues relative to current events, the political climate, and market forces. Dr. West’s basic argument is that race matters in all aspects of American culture as well as abroad. He attempts to raise the awareness of his readers (and audiences) about the importance of race as an integral part of American society.
As many ordinary citizens did judges defined the white race in opposition to blackness or some other form of otherness. Whiteness, thus, was defined in opposition to non-whiteness an opposition that also marked a boundary between privilege and its opposite. One aspect of whiteness, according to some, is its ability to seem perspectiveless, or transparent. Whites do not see themselves as having a race, but simply, people. They do not believe that they think and reason from a white viewpoint, but from a universally valid one; “the truth” what everyone knows. By the same token many whites will strenuously deny that they have benefited from white
Since the beginning of colonization, America has been controlled by religiously and ethically diverse whites. The most profound cases of racism in the “United” States of America have been felt by Native Americans, Asians, African Americans, Mexican Americans, and Muslims. Major racially structured institutions include; slavery, settlement, Indian reservations, segregation, residential schools, and internment camps (Racism in the U.S., 1). Racism has been felt and seen by many in housing, the educational system, places of employment, and the government. Discrimination was largely criminalized in the mid 20th century, and at the same time became socially unacceptable and morally repugnant (Racism in the U.S., 1). Although racism was
White privilege is a benefit that society gives to a white person. It is embedded in and supported by institutions, where it overtly manifests and reproduces as inequality (Cox & Taua, 2016, p. 48). This translates into preferential treatment for white coloured individuals. Such injustice results in the oppression of those who are not white, leading to unequal access to education, healthcare, housing, and employment (Gorski, 2003, p. 9).
To completely understand white privilege you first need to understand what white privilege is. White privilege is defined as a set of advantages and/or immunities that white people benefit from on a daily basis beyond those common to all others. White privilege can exist without white people 's conscious knowledge of its presence and it helps to maintain the racial hierarchy in this country.(mtholyoke.edu) There are many examples of white privilege. They range from people’s thoughts to people 's court cases, to actions. Basically to sum that up you have more privileges and fewer assumptions get made because you 're white. These privileges are not a conscious bias and do not make the person a racist.
Although critical race theory was being recognized as a law movement it has spread to other disciplines. Critical race theory is define “as a paradigm used to generate insights into the contemporary racial predicament, exposing how racial stratification is more powerful or enduring than is initially apparent” (Brown, 2003, p. 294). Critical race theory explains how the United States uses race in their law and policies and rejects the belief that as long as everyone is able to get along it will automatically eliminate racism and the stratification of race (Brown, 2003). Furthermore, critical race theory talks about how power, oppression, limited accesses to resources for ethnic minorities has been camouflaged in our society by the white privilege class (Brown, 2003). Critical race theory will give a clear and broad understanding that racism is embedded in mental health care system, where it will allow social workers to better understand the misdiagnosis of ethnic
A long-standing issue in America is racism with Caucasians historically being the dominant race. Although racism is not as severe of an issue as it was in the past, even today there is still a population of people, known as White Supremacists, that believe Christian Caucasians are supreme over all other collective groups. There are many White Supremacist groups, which have nuances among them. For example, some are politically focused trying to only have certain officials elected, while others are religiously focused trying to further their religious ideals. Some are even radical as well going so far as to harass and even murder those who are not like them. One of the groups focusing specifically on religion is the Aryan Nations. Aryan Nations, a religiously driven, American white supremacist group, perverts biblical text to rationalize their beliefs for themselves and recruitment of more members. Members of the Aryan Nations believe in racism, segregation, and have acted on their beliefs.
Whiteness is a term that has been discussed throughout history and through scholarly authors. Whiteness is defined in many ways, according to Kress “pervasive non- presence, its invisibility. Whiteness seems at times to be everywhere and nowhere, even present throughout U.S history, and yest having no definable history of its own. Whiteness as a historically rooted cultural practice is then enacted on the unconscious level. Knowledge the is created from the vantage point of Whiteness thus transforms into “common sense,” while practices or behaviors that are enacted based on the unspoken norms of Whiteness become the only acceptable way of being” (Kress, 2008, pg 43). This definition for example, whiteness has become into hegemony. I define it as racial ideologies that have been established throughout history. Which has formed racial segregation between white and non-whites, and has led to discrimination and injustice. White privilege has also been a factor in whiteness; it’s the privilege that white color people get better benefits