Is Racism Still Relevant Today

The model I chose to apply to myself is the Hardiman White Racial Identity. The five stages of development are: 1. Naiveté or lack of social consciousness, 2. Acceptance, 3. Resistance, 4. Redefinition, and 5. Internalization. Stage one, naiveté is the stage of my childhood where I was not aware of races or any judgments based on race. I did not have any contact with African Americans until I was about 7 years old. My parents and friends did not have African American friends and no African American families lived in our neighborhood. At the age of seven, my mother enrolled me in dance classes at a local dance studio in the town we lived in. One of the students in my class was an African American boy. I did not think of him any differently than any of the other students in the dance class nor did I formulate any generalizations about race. He was considered a friend as well as a member of the dance team. I recall the picture that appeared in the dance recital program -- he was placed in the center of the group perhaps because he was the only boy in the class.

In his 1963 speech, “I Have A Dream”, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. asserts that now is the time to conquer racial inequality and it can be done neither alone nor through hate.

Racism in America has been around for centuries however it was in the 1960's that the attitudes of many Black Americans started to quickly change and they realized they wanted equality. Out of this, The Civil Rights Movement emerged which was a peaceful social movement that strove for equal human rights for black Americans. The leader of the Civil Rights Movement is no one other than Martin Luther King Jr. In his book, Why We Can't Wait, King tries to convince Black Americans to realize their reality, remember their roots and important and mainly, to seek changes to social conditions and attitudes.

The article by Dorothy Roberts focuses around how race was invented. She talks about how and why people of different cultures were treated differently. It reflected on the different laws that “assigned” people to certain races and how it was different from state to state. In the second chapter Roberts talks about how people aren’t that different from each other genetically but we still focus on that 0.1%.

The civil rights movement of 1954-1968 has made a huge impact on the history of African-American equality. All the great leaders of the movement have gone down in history for their courageous work and outstanding commitment to the civil rights movement. One of the most famous of the activists was Martin Luther King Junior (1929-1968) . King is still remembered today for his legendary speech entitled “I had a dream”. Many countries concurred with Luther King and agreed with his ideas because he made a difference for African-Americans and took a stand against racism. Yet the question today, over forty years later is: Was the African-American civil rights movement an overall success? Or is it the same now as it was back in 50’s and 60’s?

Martin Luther King Jr. was one of the most influential leaders of his time and played a crucial role in the African-American Civil Rights movement. Luther was a charismatic leader who took a firm stand against the oppressive and racist regime of the United States (US), devoting much of his life towards uniting the segregated African-American community of the US. His efforts to consolidate and harmonise the US into one country for all is reflected in many of his writings and speeches spanning his career. As a leader of his people, King took the stand to take radical measures to overcome the false promises of the sovereign government that had been addressing the issues of racial segregation through unimplemented transparent laws that did nothing to change the grim realities of the society. Hence, King’s works always had the recurring theme of the unity and strength of combined willpower. In a similar light, King addressed the speech ‘I have a dream’ to a peaceful mass gathering in Washington asking for change. The speech deemed racial segregation to be an inhumane practice that subdivides society into groups that essentially alienate them from the true sense of humanity; which is brotherhood. King argues that all people are created equal and directly challenged the outdated and abhorrent views that upheld the false flag of racial superiority among White Americans. Luther’s speech was a passionate rhetoric that preached his views about the future. Furthermore his speech did not

Martin Luther King, Jr. was one of the most important leaders of the civil rights movement. He graduated from a segregated high school at the age of fifteen and earned a bachelor degree at a segregated institution in Atlanta in 1948. King was known to be a strong civil rightist, and he was part of the committee known as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. On August 28, 1963, King presented his well-known speech, “I Have a Dream,” during The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom for Africans’ civil and economic rights. His “I Had a Dream” speech was known as the most influential speech that has tremendously impacted the United States forever by its powerful rhetorics and the emotional connection to the audience. “In expressing [his own emotions] with such powerful eloquence, in connecting strongly with the emotions of his listeners, and in convincing them to empathize with others, Dr. King demonstrated emotional intelligence decades before the concept had a name”(“Dr. Martin”). He demanded to end racism throughout the entire United States. King utilized repetition, metaphors, diction and rhetorical devices, that provokes ethos and pathos, throughout his speech in order to connect with his audience as well as to motivate them to stand up and fight for their freedom they well-deserve.

Throughout my childhood, I never recieved many direct messages regarding my racial identity. I was never truly exposed to the idea of racial identity until the age of around 11. The sheltered community I grew up in, Hinsdale, was 94% Caucasian when I was born. In turn, many of the male adults in Hinsdale were, and still are, in the center margin. This created a general silencing regarding race, teaching me that I am not supposed to discuss race, which is evidently false. Not only did the members of my distant community not directly or indirectly discuss race, but my parents never had a distinct conversation with me about it.

The “hood” is often what downtown, Elizabeth NJ is labeled as. Children like me are doubted as many people seem to believe we will just become another statistic. My background has motivated to strive for success, proving those with agnosticism wrong. Seeing bodies strung out on the corner or laying on the sidewalk is a part of my everyday life. I’m not ashamed of where I come from as it has made me who I am today. Every day I wake up with a goal set in mind to become a success but not just for myself but my community. Sure we are not the ideal neighborhood seen in movies but together we are family that can achieve greatness.

Many people come across roadblocks through their journey of life. I know I've had my fair share of them. The biggest bump in my academic life was changing it completely upside down.

Often times today, people of other racial classes and ethnic groups are experiencing oppression as a marginalized group in society today. Racial biases and culture have become an important issue in mental health due to social constructs, racial stereotypes and racial ideology. As a result, they tend to have an impact human development, racial and cultural identity. Therefore, it has become necessary for counselors to indentify and become fully aware and competent in this area due to the changes our society has undergone in multiculturalism and globalization. Due to cultural diversity, identification of minority groups has led to major breakthrough in the field of multicultural counseling/ therapy (Sue &Sue,2014).

Parents talk about having ‘‘the talk’’ with their children as they grow from childhood to adolescence. This ‘‘talk’’ is associated with teaching youth about sex or drugs; but Dana Canedy, an editor for the New York Times, had a different type of ‘‘talk’’ with her son. Her conversation was on proper conduct in the presence of the police.

Martin Luther King’s most famous speech, “I Have a Dream” was the changing point for racism in America. It managed to inspire a generation of blacks to never give up and made thousands of white Americans feel ashamed of their actions. To make the speech effective, King uses all three rhetoric concepts to make his speech stronger. Even now, his speech continues to make generations of people give up their racist beliefs and support social colorblindness. Without Dr. King, America would probably still be heavily

In my life, I have been through so much in my life, from good times, to bad times, I had to make the best out of everything. Ever since I was a child, people have been making fun of because of my skin color, and what my beliefs are. I had to deal with that all of my life. You couldn’t live in my shoes, anyone could try, but all of them would fail. In my life I had, many hardships during my childhood, as a grown man playing in the MLB, and as a Senior. But first, I am going to tell you about my childhood.

Racism is considered to be one of the most important and difficult topics to be spoken about all over the world. It has become a major problem for the nation during the years. In my essay I would like to speak about the beginning of racism, the situation nowadays, about the Civil Rights Movement and of course about a person, who had the greatest influence on the problem of racism in the history – Martin Luther King.