Systemic Racism Analysis

The Autobiography of Malcolm X, written by Alex Haley, tells the story of Malcolm Little and his growth and change through life. Although the main purpose of autobiographies is to tell the story of one’s life through the individual’s own perspective, this story seems to have a greater purpose: to express the theme of the transformation and discovery of self-identity through the journey of Malcolm X’s life, as well as the influence and power of society on one’s self-identity. His character is molded and created over again by the changing influences throughout his life, often swayed by the oppression surrounding him. He learns to view the oppression and racism in his world from a different perspective as he matures in the autobiography.

In the movie Finding Forrester (2000) Jamal is faced with an identity issue. Jamal being an inner-city kid with a reputation to uphold is clearly leading a double life. His neighborhood life is one of a streetwise, trash-talking thug who doesn 't want any of his “boys” to know the real Jamal. On the other hand the true Jamal is a bright, talented and goal oriented young man that is scared to show his true identity. That is until William Forrester challenges him to write with his heart first, then rewrite with his head (Sant, 2000). In the following clip, Jamal doesn’t find the suggestion of how to write very helpful until William allows him to use his words until Jamal can find his own, http://www.movieclips.com/videos/finding-forrester-official-clip-you-the-man-now-dawg-545466947745?autoPlay=true(Movieclips.com).

In the “Letter from Birmingham Jail”, author Martin Luther King, is letting the clergymen, white moderate, ministers, police etc. to respond to all criticisms they have and to tell them why he is in Birmingham. He lets them know that they have no other choice but to employ direct action towards segregation. When it comes to the injustices that African Americans are facing not only in Birmingham but everywhere with segregation. He goes other them with the upmost intelligence and respect.

The movie Finding Forrester is an interesting tale of a friendship that is based on the two main characters Jamal and William’s love for writing and reading. In classic Hollywood style, the two meet in a scene that would make you think they're going to hate each other. However, they are attracted to each other because of their love of writing. William helps Jamal out with his writing and Jamal helps William regain the meaning of life and find what he's passionate about again. They are both helping each other reach their full potential in life.

Thesis: In “The Autobiography of Malcolm X”, Malcolm X in his telling of his life to Alex Haley uncovers the theme of positive and negative environments unearthed by the interaction of African Americans and White Americans in his life and what those kinds of environments inherently produce.

I chose to write my Response Essay on the story "Sonny's Blues" written by James Baldwin. In Sonny's Blues, the storyteller recounts the tale of his association with his sibling, Sonny. Sonny is a performer not able to get away from the ghetto. Disheartened by his sibling's suffering , the storyteller connects with him, yet discovers that Sonny's hurt powers his music. The narrator is a teacher in Harlem that has changed his life and got out of the ghetto where he grew up. He sees African American youths finding the points of confinement put on them by a supremacist society at the exact instant when they are finding their capacities. The narrator talks about his association with his more youthful sibling, Sonny. That relationship has traveled

Finding Forrester is a movie directed by Gus van Sant and produced by Sean Connery in the year 2000. The movie is about an old man who is lonely writer and a young boy (Jamal) whose main passions are writing and literature. Jamal met William Forrester and they little by little became friends. At the same time, Jamal is helping Forrester to face his internal fighting while Forrester helps Jamal to become an excellent writer. The plot develops some topics such as racism, solitude, friendship, etc. One of the biggest issues that called my attention is the presence of racism in the movie. Even though that presence did not surprise me, it was for me very obvious and very representative of the “American” society. For that reason, I am going to comment about the appearance of racism in the movie Finding Forrester.

Many things happen in every day life that people have become so accustomed to that they just assume they are “the norm.” Some of the things said are racist comments and are taken with a grain of salt, some are joked about, and some are embraced, but some are just disrespectful. The movie Crash shows a great number of daily occurrences with racism and classism in everyday life. The movie breaks down the character’s normal lives to show the audience how easily offensive people’s days can be. Whether it is making a comment to a friend or belittling someone for their job qualifications or for their background, many different types of racism happen and can originate from many different areas or personal reasons. Crash shows that racism and classism occur most often when someone is faced with a

African Americans have systematically been deprived of equal opportunities and fundamental rights in America since the establishment of slavery. Although the Civil Rights Act banned the implementation of segregation and racial inequality over 40 years ago, the overall concept of racial and cultural hierarchy still lingers at the forefront of today’s society. White America’s history of racially oppressing, isolating, and segregating African Americans have led to present-day issues surrounding the political and economic forces that intentionally limits Blacks access to and opportunity from social, economic, educational, and political advancement through the institution of structural racism.

Finding Forrester tells the story of Jamal Wallace, an African American high school student living in the Bronx and attending a low-income high school. He meets an extraordinary but extremely antisocial writer who helps him to learn life lessons. There are many cultural references in Finding Forrester, including cultural shock, cultural norms, social hierarchy, and counterculture.

There are many controversial topics that we see on a daily basis through the media. Some of the topics that we are exposed to are race, stereotypes, sexism and sex. These things seem to be a key factor in how media makes its presence felt. Whether it is through T.V. shows, how stereotypes and race are still a common trend in present day movies. I believe that stereotyping is everywhere you look movies and T.V. in particular but also music. This leads to society seeing things in a black and white form, by this I mean people see things one way and that is not how it should be seen.

It was around 7 on a hot August afternoon in 1965, in a Los Angeles south central neighborhood; when a twenty-one year old man named Marquette Frye was on his way home after a few beers to drop off his Brother. Not far from his house they were pulled over by an officer Lee Minkus who then proceeded to give Marquette Frye a field sobriety test. As Mr. Frye stumbled along the curb his brother Ronald Frye walked a few blocks over to the Frye residence and shortly returned with their mother. As the events unfolded the number of curious onlookers grew.

I think that one of the main points was that “the Age of Colorblindness”. This current time period is supposed to be post racial and the new generations much more accepting. The book proves that racism is not over, and it is just now carried out in a new way. Black men are the group that are most affected by the prison system and are more likely to be stopped by the police than any other group of

He presents his audience with the idea that when race becomes a major component in a criminal case people lose focus on the actual crime itself. Which is true, in cases such as Trayvon Martin or Michael Brown the focus stemmed around the races of the victims and the accused assailant, not who they were or whether their actions were right or wrong or right. The media coverage of the cases seemed more determined to depict the assailants as racist that majority of the coverage was spent on the race instead of the violent nature of the

Throughout Jonathan Kozol’s essay “Still Separate, Still Unequal: America’s Educational Apartheid” (347) and “Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?” (374) by Beverly Tatum, both Kozol and Tatum discuss racial issues in the educational system. Kozol and Tatum explain racial issues by presenting two different instances that racial issues have played a roles. These two instances being visiting different public schools by Kozol and noticing the cafeteria segregation by Tatum. Using their own personal experiences, their arguments essentially come to similar conclusions, so by comparing their essays, the most significant problems are brought to the table.