The Role of Social Movements in Fighting Racism

1326 Words3 Pages

Some people define race as if it is something solid or concrete, but what they don’t see is that it is a “social fabrication”(Mathew Desmond, Mustafa Emibayer,2009;2). Race is based on the difference in physical appearance which is determined, for example, by the most apparent trait; skin color. Inequality emerges when people living, whether on the same sovereign terrain or across continents, are not treated with the same amount of respect and not given the chance to engage their rights in a free and fair manner. Race and inequality are often linked together because of the “issues that began in the 1800s”(NFB;Journey to Justice;2000) such as racial segregation. Over the years issues of race and inequality have decreased dramatically. How did racial inequality decrease and through what? To study this case, two theories need to be put in practice, “resource mobilisation theory and new social movement”(Tremblay;2013).

Discrimination has always been there between blacks and whites. Since the 1800s where racial issues and differences started flourishing till today, we can still find people of different colors treated unequally. “[R]acial differences are more in the mind than in the genes. Thus we conclude superiority and inferiority associated with racial differences are often socially constructed to satisfy the socio-political agenda of the dominant group”(Heewon Chang,Timothy Dodd;2001;1).
In the 50s, race had hit its peak, when black people had no freedom and there was no justice, racial segregation was the highlight of all, when black people were forced out of white schools, which made them have to open up schools that had nothing. Soon enough black schools started closing down, the Klu Klux Clan emerge...

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3. Dowd Jeff, 2011,“Declining Racial Segregation and Racial Inequality”, http://thesocietypages.org/sociologylens/2011/03/28/declining-racial-segregation-and-racial-inequality/
4. Dykstra Matt, “Anti-racism protesters clash with white pride rally in Edmonton” , Edmonton Sun, http://www.edmontonsun.com/2012/03/24/rival-groups-clash-downtown 5. Heewon Chang and Timothy Dodd, 2001, “International Perspectives on Race and Ethnicity: An Annotated Bibliography” , 2001 edition of EMME, the Electronic Magazine of Multicultural Education, http://www.edchange.org/multicultural/papers/chang_dodd.html 6. Loreto Frank, http://www.umanitoba.ca/outreach/cm/vol8/no18/justice.html 7. Tepperman Lorne, Kalyta Angela,2012; Oxford University Press
8. Tremblay, Francine;2013, Class lectures
9. UNESCO 1949 http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0012/001282/128291eo.pdf

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