'Racist Utopia': Summary
In Matt Novak’s “Oregon was Founded as a Racist Utopia”, he corrects the “textbook” knowledge so many have on racism in America. It is common to believe racial exclusion was only prevalent in the South. Novak highlights that racism widely existed in America, even in a progressive northern city like Portland, Oregon. This is startling to many who believed racism was only seen in the South but, the only abnormality of Oregon was that the state was “bold enough to write it down” in their constitution. (qtd. in Novak 1) The Klu Klux Klan, known for their terrorism of colored people in the South, “boasted membership of over 14,000 men” in Oregon with “frequent cross burnings on the hills outside Portland and around greater Oregon.” (Novak 4) Even the government was corrupt with Klu Klux Klan from the state to city governments. ‘Oregon’s founding is part of the forgotten history of racism in the American West’ (Novak 1) yet the remains of Oregon’s past still resonates with the state; today ‘thirteen percent of Americans are black, [but] just 2 percent of Oregon’s population is black.’ (Novak 2) …show more content…
There are still huge resemblances of this racism today, not only in Oregon but in the Pacific Northwest. Novak’s source Rich Benjamin points out that it “was shocking, to drive through Oregon and [still] witness so many Confederate flags, juxtaposed with the high-tech futurism.” (qtd. in Novak 6) Similar to Oregon’s supposed white utopia, today’s Pacific Northwest has a strong sense of a utopian white supremacist movement. Northwest Front’s, a group promoting white flight for a new country, draft constitution “says plainly, ‘The Northwest American Republic shall be a Homeland solely for the use and habitation of White people of all nationalities, cultures, and creeds worldwide, in order that Western civilization may be preserved…” (Berger
Summary Of Redemption By Nicholas Lemann
244 Words | 1 PagesNicholas Lemann begins his book “Redemption: The Last Battle of the Civil War” with the 1873 Colfax, Louisiana massacre where a White League militia comprised of former Confederate soldiers killed black Republican voters. The Colfax massacre was perhaps the bloodiest event of Reconstruction. Lemann views this event as a startup of what would happen later in Mississippi if Federal troops did not defend black voters. Lemann blames Ulysses S. Grant’s Secretary of War, William W. Belknap, for not stopping the White Line activity in Louisiana and Mississippi. Grant had worked hard to stop the Ku Klux Klan in the early 1870s with Congress passing legislation and Federal troops putting down Klan activity.
Rhetorical Strategies In Freakonomics
1658 Words | 7 PagesUniquely, they ask questions, and then provide strong evidence to support their opinions on the matter or the claim. The tone of this book is mainly critical, the author introduces possible arguments to answer the questions at hand, and continues by refuting them and explaining why they are incorrect. In chapter 3, “How Is the Ku Klux Klan like a Giant Group Of Real-Estate Agents?” Levitt and Dubner mainly use the rhetorical strategy, pathos, when talking about the Ku Klux Klan because what person can disagree with someone proving how terrible a multi-state terrorist organization who’s purpose was to frighten and kill black people in the United States was? The answer is simple, no one, because most people have morals and are disgusted by what the Ku Klux Klan did.
Gold Rush Racism
965 Words | 4 PagesA new era of racism in America was dawning; whites struggled to survive the competitive economic market booming in the west, as well to replace deep-rooted superiority over blacks in efforts to drive the country closer toward industrialization. In this era, formerly coined as the “nadir of American race relations,” (Logan, 1954) racism in America reached morbidly new heights in the maltreatment of non-white people, which contrasted greatly with the American ideal of inalienable freedoms. The gold rush undoubtedly pressured whites to compete with both new and old opponents, beginning with
Brief Summary Of Freedom Summer By Bruce Watson
1189 Words | 5 PagesDuring this time, lynching was a common occurrence in the south as well as threats from racist organizations such as the Klu Klux Klan that threatened anyone who entered the south to help African Americans vote. As Bruce Watson wrote: “Violence and murders including the lynching of close to five hundred Mississippi negroes was more than any other state in the country. Lynching went without punishment, murder was deemed as self-defense and many small towns had road signs that read: nigger don’t let the sun come down on you here. The whites who disapproved of these acts learned to keep their mouth sealed. Criticism of Jim Crow laws in the south became betrayal to be dealt with by making criticism so dangerous that only a crazy man would risk it (74).”
Racism In Slumdog Millionaire
739 Words | 3 PagesIn the article, “A Million Dollar Exit From the Anarchic Slum-World: Slumdog Millionaire’s Hollow Idioms of Social Justice”, Mitu Sengupta responds to how the slums and its citizens are presented in the film Slumdog Millionaire by Danny Boyle. Sengupta describes the slums as run-down and then goes on to specifically address the poverty that exists in India. When writing about the portrayal of the slums, Sengupta states, “Slumdog depicts the ‘slum’ as a feral wasteland, a place of evil and decay that is devoid of order, productivity and compassion”(599). Sengupta uses imagery to illustrate to viewers the unsanitary conditions that the people of Mumbai experience on a daily basis.
Summary: A Genealogy Of Modern Racism
703 Words | 3 PagesIn the essay, “A Genealogy of Modern Racism”, the author Dr. Cornel West discusses racism in depth, while conveying why whites feel this sense of superiority. We learn through his discussion that whites have been forced to treat black harshly due to the knowledge that was given to them about the aesthetics of beauty and civility. This knowledge that was bestowed on the whites in the modern West, taught them that they were superior to all races tat did not emulate the norms of whites. According to Dr. West the very idea that blacks were even human beings is a concept that was a “relatively new discovery of the modern West”, and that equality of beauty, culture, and intellect in blacks remains problematic and controversial in intellectual circles
The Imperial Wizard Of The Ku Klux Klan By Hiram W. Evans
266 Words | 2 PagesIn 1926 American society was changing rapidly through immigration and many races of people were bringing their cultures with them. A man named Hiram W. Evans was the imperial wizard of the Ku Klux Klan. Evans made the argument that these new immigrants were destroying the racial definition of what an American should be. He felt that true Americans were part of the Nordic race because the early pioneers fit into this category. The Klan’s point of view was that America should stay American and maintain this Nordic race of Caucasian people.
Wilmington Ten Summary And Analysis
537 Words | 3 PagesIn Chapter 1 of The Wilmington Ten, Janken wrote about how students from all-white high schools could have been dispersed into all-black high schools in Wilmington, North Carolina in order to help integrate the school system. Instead, only students from the all black high school were dispersed into two different all-white high schools because the community good was defined by what was acceptable to whites. This is relevant to the course theme of critically assessing the significance of events in North Carolina’s African American history because “white privilege” is very prominent in today’s time. For example, Americans of color are far more likely to be victims of law enforcement officers than white Americans. There has been a plethora of killings of African Americans by police
Detroit Race Riot
925 Words | 4 PagesBlack on White, and White on Black violence was a regular occurrence. Many knew that a riot was impending due to the signs that were around, especially regarding the racial tension. What could be added to the tension was the growth of the city with regard to the mix of people as mentioned earlier – ex-confederates, “backwoods preachers, Southern white evangelists, and shouters” was part of the population. This meant that Detroit became a melting pot not only for religious and racial intolerance, but also for agitators such as the Black Legion, and the Ku Klux Klan. Brown’s view gives one an overview of Detroit that was perhaps built on the wrong foundations, and which led to what it became in the twenty-first century as well – the fourth city of the United States that died because of its race intolerance.
Kenneth Clark's A Raisin In The Sun
122 Words | 1 Pages“A racist system inevitably destroys and damages human beings; it brutalizes and dehumanizes them, blacks and whites alike” (Kenneth Clark). Kenneth Clark was a very important person in helping the Brown V. Board Of Education case win. Winning that case was important because a state law came into place that said separate public schools for black and white students were unconstitutional. A Raisin in the Sun shows how Clark was right; a racist system affected the way the Youngers’ lived. The Youngers’ apartment in the Southside of Chicago: in the 1950s; significantly affected the Youngers’ lives.
The Ku Klux Klan During The Reconstruction Era
715 Words | 3 PagesFounded during the Reconstruction Era (1865-1877), The Ku Klux Klan was an extremist hate group that violently challenged social and political laws which protected certain minority groups. The Klan’s deliberate use of terror and violence reflected the passion held for a racial hierarchy, with whites at the top of the social structure. The presence of KKK was seen not only during the Reconstruction Era, but also during the post–World War I era (1920s). There are distinct similarities and differences that define the motives of the 1860s Klan and the reincarnated 1920s Klan; however, I believe these characteristics hide the true representation of the intolerance of American citizens.
A Mighty Long Way Summary
614 Words | 3 PagesThe media is illuminating racial relations in the South and they are showing how people in the North are being treated. When people in the North sees how the segregationists are treating African Americans in the South, they support the side of integration. In “A Mighty Long Way”, Carlotta said that, “Finally one of them delivered a crushing blow to the back of Wilson”s head with an heavy object believed to be a brick” (pg.85 Lanier). People are seeing how white racists are attacking African-Americans.
Prejudice And Discrimination In A Different Mirror By Ronald Takaki
1236 Words | 5 PagesAs a young country, the United States was a land of prejudice and discrimination. Wanting to grow their country, white Americans did what they had to in order to make sure that they were always on top, and that they were always the superior race. It did not matter who got hurt along the way because everything that they did was eventually justified by their thinking that all other races were inferior to them. A Different Mirror by Ronald Takaki describes the prejudice and discrimination against African Americans and Native Americans in the early history of the United States.
Compare And Contrast The Ku Klux Klan And The Anti-War Protests Of 1960s
496 Words | 2 PagesThe Ku Klux Klan first emerged in Pulaski, Tennessee following the Civil War. As we know today, the mere mention of the Klan triggers fear as the KKK is known for its various tactics of violence that came in the form if lynchings, murders, and mutilations. Following their emergence, the KKK were quickly symbolized and portrayed as the protectors of the South, following the defeat of the Southern states in the Civil War and the beginning of the period of Reconstruction by the federal government (Gurr, 1989, p. 132). During the 1920s, the KKK achieved its greatest political success and growth outside of the South. During this period, the membership of the Klan heavily expanded to the states of Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, Oklahoma, Colorado, and Oregon, to which the KKK obtained two to two and one-half million members at its apex.
Ku Klux Klan Vs Black Panther Party
2333 Words | 10 PagesThis paper will discuss the difference between the Ku Klux Klan and The Black Panther Party two extremist groups. The historical foundation of these two groups along with the comparison of their extremist activities, and the motivating factors which fueled and heighten their motivational actions. The movement of these two groups were prompted by the two different beliefs with the Ku Klux Klan motives being from racism, and the Black Panther forming for the protection of their communities from racial tension. The Ku Klux Klan was founded in Tennessee by veteran confederate soldiers lead by General Nathan Bedford in 1865 during the time of the Reconstruction Era as a result of resistance to the Republican Party’s support of the Reconstruction
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