One of America’s many nicknames is the Melting Pot. America was given this nickname due to the variation of people it is home to. Many people who have mainly descended from African, Spanish, Irish, Middle Eastern, Swedish, and German roots live in America. Many of these races have combined; hence the term The Melting Pot. However, the people in America have never lived in true peace. Currently in America, there are white and black supremacists. They have one main thing in common; they believe their race is better than any other. Race cannot be changed or improved. However, people are still judging others for the things they cannot change. According to the Pledge of Allegiance, “With liberty and justice for all.” This means that every
Knowing the fact that Native Americans were pushed toward the Middle West and had to settle down against their wills are depressing. When the first Europeans came to this remote land and decided to make it their home, I was not sure whether they could imagine that the whole land is dominated by “invaders” called by the Native Americans, including the native Hawaii. “From a Native Daughter” by Haunani-Kay Trask showed us how these Natives’ feelings are being overlooked and silenced by white historians who do not know their language and culture. The author questioned Western historians were “looking at them with Western eyes, thinking about them within Western philosophical contexts, categorizing them by Western indices,
Racism and racial inequality was extremely prevalent in America during the 1950’s and 1960’s. James Baldwin shows how racism can poison and make a person bitter in his essay “Notes of a Native Son”. Dr. Martin Luther King’s “A Letter from Birmingham Jail” also exposes the negative effects of racism, but he also writes about how to combat racism. Both texts show that the violence and hatred caused from racism form a cycle that never ends because hatred and violence keeps being fed into it. The actions of the characters in “Notes of a Native Son” can be explain by “A Letter from Birmingham Jail”, and when the two texts are paired together the racism that is shown in James Baldwin’s essay can be solved by the plan Dr. King proposes in his
Although, the African American society isn't the best, there is still hope for us. We, as young black men have to learn to respect one another. We have to love one another. We also have to teach one another the right things in life. The things I just stated could be called , “each one teach one”. Most of our African Americans have to be involved in the “each on teach one” program. That would have a huge effect on today society.
Malcolm X and Nelson Mandela were two influential figures that have both made a cultural impact on black history. The fact that their lives run parallel further stresses the significance of racial equality. However, they each influenced the world around them with their respective ideologies and beliefs. Their opinions and experiences differed in terms of equality and character throughout their movements. Malcolm X and Nelson Mandela both tried to achieve similar goals of equality but on different paths.
Mental Health is a tough topic to talk about but for the African American Community; the concept of mental illness or overall mental health is swept up under the rug. The African American community is not informed and misunderstands mental health and illnesses, but why? In other communities of people mental health and all of its aspects are accepted but for my community of people it's something that is not openly discussed and looked down upon.
In order to achieve true freedom one must discover that you can break unjust laws through peaceful protest. In “Letter from Birmingham Jail” by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr and “The Speech at The March Washington” by Josephine Baker each article passionately argues about the disadvantages of the black community, the equality and power of education. We must learn to act with patients and not guns we must protect are self’s with a pen and paper not violence. Dr. King once4 said “Nonviolence is a powerful and just weapon. It is unique in history which cuts without wounding and ennobles the man who wields it. It is a sword that heals”.
Another issue that was mentioned in your speech was about police brutality. African Americans fear the knowledge that police brutality towards other African American victims is happening around them. Like you said, “We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality.” Police brutality has gotten milder but it 's still out there and to be honest, you would like how the world turned out. Black lives truly did get much worse. Now the inability to speak out against injustice, fearing the fact that officers could get away with anything unlike before where voices were heard and feel free to speak
A big part of our history is the challenges different races had to face when fighting for their rights. There are groups in today’s society that are still battling oppression, even though they were granted rights by our government. It seems like when one door opens, another closes right in their face. One race that had to deal with oppression, and is still dealing with it today, is African Americans. Africans Americans were brought over to the United States to be slaves for Caucasian people. All African Americans had to endure torture, losing family members, punishment, and much more. They had no freedom whatsoever and if they tried to fight for it, they were punished for it dearly. African Americans had to face so much to gain their freedom, and even when they did some people did not agree with the ruling. Even in today’s culture there are still people who see African Americans as less and judge them harshly based off of the past. It pains me to think that our society used Africans Americans for
Within the African American community there is a culture of poverty due to the oppression they receive. At times, certain African American cultures are labeled as poor troublesome by the White culture. Once African Americans are labeled, they are often controlled by society. Thus, this is the reason why certain laws restrain from supporting the poor minorities because people buy into the stereotypes that describe African Americans. At times, African American groups are often segregated from the white groups. Segregation causes them to receive the short end of the stick when they attempt to get help from the
I advocate for empowerment for the African-American community through education. While I would encourage African-Americans to act in a way that does not provoke a negative response, I would pass out pamphlets that outline their rights as American citizens, their right to record videos of their encounters with police, as well as how to utilize the legal system to their advantage in order to receive a, truly, fair trial. Furthermore, I would also encourage peaceful assembly and other avenues to commence change. In no way am I insinuating that respectability politics must be in play to alleviate this issue. However, I believe that education would enlighten communities to more insidious issues and give them the tools to work toward changing police-citizen relations as well as raise the standards of living within their own
African Americans face a struggle with racism which has been present in our country before the Civil War began in 1861. America still faces racism today however, around the 1920’s the daily life of an African American slowly began to improve. Thus, this time period was known by many, as the “Negro Fad” (O’Neill). The quality of life and freedom of African Americans that lived in the United States was constantly evolving and never completely considered ‘equal’. From being enslaved, to fighting for their freedom, African Americans were greatly changing the status quo and beginning to make their mark in the United States. They have endured severe oppression and racism for many years and suffered under Jim Crow Laws as well which were created specifically
The unjust treatment of African Americans have cause a significant amount of African American leaders to use different ways to advocate for racial equality. One very famous advocate was Martin Luther King Jr. On April 16, 1963, Dr. King had written a letter from Birmingham jail to eight clergymen towards racial equality. Martin Luther King Jr. had used this letter to convince the clergymen of the racial injustice towards African Americans. In order to persuade his audience Dr. King had used rhetorical devices to appeal to them.
“We never get rid of hate by meeting hate with hate; we get rid of an enemy, by getting rid of enmity. By its very nature hate destroys and tears down.” Dr. Martin Luther King stated that the purpose of non-violent protest was not to get revenge but to change the heart of the enemy. Over the past couple of years America has begun to acknowledge police brutality as a serious problem. While state-sanctioned violence towards individuals of varying races of color is not new, the documentation through dash-cams and civilian cellphone footage has brought the brutality to light. From Ferguson to Tulsa to Baton Rouge, there have been countless cases of police brutality towards African-American men, women, and children. Murderers never receiving their justice, given paid time off and being cleared of charges. Families living in fear, left torn apart at the hands of people who took an oath to serve and protect. We see people of all races standing together in protest of something we know to be wrong, advocating for much needed social change.
The Harlem Renaissance was a period of great cultural growth in the black community. It is accepted that it started in 1918 and lasted throughout the 1930s. Though named the ‘Harlem’ Renaissance, it was a country-wide phenomenon of pride and development among black Americans, the likes of which had never existed in such grand scale. Among the varying political actions and movements for equality, a surge of new art appeared: musical, visual, and even theatre. With said surge, many of the most well-known black authors, poets, musicians and actors rose to prevalence including Langston Hughes, Countee Cullen, Louis Armstrong, and Eulalie Spence. The development of many unique styles of such art was also started due to the Harlem Renaissance, much