Argumentative Essay On Colorism

Recently, there has been much debate over an athlete's right to stand or kneel during the national anthem. The

Colorism is defined as a practice of discrimination among African Americans against other African Americans because of their skin complexion, for instance being too light or too dark. Colorism plays a large role in the low self-esteem in the African American community, from individuals, relationships, and employment. Colorism can cause psychological effects. Children are more affected because skin biased develops at a younger age. This form of racism dates to slavery and has been passed through various elements of our culture. Since the American slavery, darker skinned African Americans have always received harsher treatment than those of lighter complexion. Differences in skin color,

The story, “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Stetson, reflects the life of many women during the difficult times they were living in. The narrator can relate to many people during the Victorian age where the woman’s role was to be a wife and a mother only. The narrator is a woman who is imaginative and is dissociated from herself and from the world.

This article focuses on the color-blind ideology that allows white people to participate in and appropriate hip-hop culture. Rodriquez notes that they do so by using the guise of inclusivity of all races to justify their participation in hip hop and to adapt characteristics of the culture without respecting Black identity. He uses his own interviews of several white audience members of hip hop concerts who identified as participants of hip hop culture. Rodriquez identifies two groups resulting from social collectivity to reinforce his argument: consciously collective white groups, who actively reinforce racial segregation and passively collective white groups, who unknowingly unite and reinforce systematic racism through their adherence to color-blind ideology. The participants of his research are part of the latter, who unconsciously reinforce systematic racism through treating cultural objects, namely aspects of hip hop culture, as shareable products and experiences. Rodriquez’s interviews demonstrate that color-blind ideology enables white people to

“You can’t delete racism. It’s like a cigarette. You can’t stop smoking if you don’t want to, and you can’t stop racism if people don’t want to. But I’ll do everything I can to help” ( Mario Balotelli)

Freedom. The importance of freedom is often forgotten as Americans live day by day taking this gift for granted. In this day and age, freedom seems as a “simple gift’ obtained by every American, but one forgets to think about those who were once unable to enjoy the freedoms one is promised daily. Back in the day, freedom seemed as nothing more than a dream to those of color. Everyday of a colored person’s life consisted of harassment and discrimination as no one cared to treat them as equals. Since many lacked care for the colored people, the colored people took it upon themselves to make a difference leading to the Civil Rights Movement. The Civil Rights Movement became a rollercoaster ride for all of the country as with every “up”, came

At the heart of whiteness studies is the invisibility of whiteness and white privilege (Ahmed, 2004). Whiteness is thought of as the hidden criterion to which every other race is measured against. Through the lens of whiteness, the “other” is seen as deviant (Ahmed, 2004). The invisibility of whiteness, however, is only from the perspective of those who are white (Matthews, 2012). To people who are not white, it is pervasive and blatant. People see whiteness because they experience its effects. A useful comparison can be drawn between the unrecognised privileges of males, and those of white people (McIntosh, 1988). It is not unusual for men to acknowledge that women are disadvantaged. With that said, McIntosh (1988) argues that white privilege is in the same manner without recognition and thus preserved. McIntosh (1988) views white privilege as an invisible collection of unearned assets that is of benefit to white people on a daily basis.

Racial inequality has plagued our society for centuries and has been described as a “black eye” on American history. It wasn’t until the passing of The Civil Rights Act of 1965 that minorities were given equal protection under the law. This was a crucial step on our society’s road to reconciling this injustice. However, the effects of past racial inequality are still visible to this day, and our society still wrestles with how to solve this issue. In 1965, President Lyndon B Johnson said: “You do not take a person who, for years, has been hobbled by chains and liberate him, bring him up to the starting line of a race and then say you are free to compete with all the others, and still just believe that you have been completely fair. This is the next and more profound stage of the battle for civil rights. We seek not just freedom but opportunity––not legal equity but human ability––not just equality as a right and a theory, but equality as a fact and as a result” (Garrison-Wade & Lewis, 2003). That same year, President Johnson signed an executive order mandating government contractors “take affirmative action” in

When writing a literary argumentative essay, I will need to choose a story and the topic from the story that I agree with and find reliable and credible sources to research and cite to support my thesis.

I can not stand having freed slaves roaming around the streets like if they’re apart of the community too. Once you become a slave you will always be a slave. I rather use black codes against the black people and try to take away some of their rights instead of trying to kill them like the KKK are. Many southern states as well as my home state South Carolina are forcing black codes to keep white supremacy in place. I remember a few weeks ago I was walking to the court to be apart the jury. As I entered the court a bailiff was forcefully removing a African American from the jury and when the black man asked why he was being removed. The bailiff yelled in his face “Black codes that’s why!” The black man then simply got up and left and he smart in doing so because if he didn’t he would have gotten either arrested or maybe even beaten.

Racism, the act of “…prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against someone of a different race…”, is a major problem today. It gives people fear, doubt, shame, and sometimes guilt. In addition, racism gives people an awful perspective of life and sometimes, if one is looking up to a racist, the racist’s point of view begins to alter the person’s judgement. Racism could also lead to great conflict arising from those who heavily despise that race and maybe even mass killings, which foreshows that racism needs to be stopped and ended completely.

When I was fourteen years old, I decided to add blonde highlights to my hair. My best friend at the time had them, and I felt like I needed them too. For a while she had tried to convince me to get them, a lot of students began to start experimenting with their hair, so I decided to give it a shot. After my highlights had grown out, I decided to dye my hair blue, in eighth grade,my parents didn 't say anything about it, and at the time I never understood what can happen to my hair from using hair dye. Once I started high school, I spent more time dying my hair. I started using colors such as blue, red, pink, and purple. I enjoyed changing my hair color often, but was always criticized by family. They had the belief, that hair dye was bad for my health, and that I was too young to be doing that to myself. They felt that me dying my hair so often, would led to burning my hair, and even having it falling out. About eight months ago I had bleached my hair again, which did not go well. I fried my hair so bad, I had to cut the bottom off. Although, that never stopped me from messing around with

Dark-skinned slaves were left to feel insecure by their skin complexation that carried on to the next generations. The market tapped into black females’ insecurities by promoting advertisement about skin bleaching creams that help to lighten darker skin tones. "This sense of being better because you are light-skinned has been ingrained from generation to generation. This does not bode well for a large sector of our population, as those who are darker begin to feel inferior. They feel that they are not worthy and that they cannot be beautiful” (“Dark side of skin lightening”, anonymous). They used these bleaching cream in hope to become more confident and develop a higher self-esteem. "I love it and wish I could swim in it. I travel to many Eastern countries and I get attention because I am now so light-skinned. I wasn 't fair and didn 't feel pretty enough. Now I feel beautiful and I know people are looking at me because I look so much whiter," said the 49-year-old woman (“Dark side of skin lightening”, anonymous).

Ever since the beginning of time and nowadays as well, appearance especially, skin color acted as a huge role in human’s everyday life.Personally I have always seen ugly since I have a really dark skin, so many people have been having thoughts that the darker the skin, the uglier they seem to be and barely fit in which lead me to lose my confidence and lowered my self -esteem. Many cultures have those views including united states, they define dark people as criminals, while in the indian society darker girls are always seen ugly and less than others, similarly to that in the middle east. There are many concepts toward skin color in almost every society there is a concept that the darker the skin the bad and dangerous they seem to be.

I am a victim to society’s false perception of beauty, and I have consumed skin-lightening products. As a former consumer of skin-lightening creams, this is my moment of truth!