Kendi Patience Is A Dirty Word Summary

In contemporary society, there is no longer any official sanction of racial discrimination or prejudice. When hate-crimes occur, they areóin sharp contrast to previous erasóprosecuted to the full extent to the law. But, by far, the most compelling argument that America is on its way to realizing King's goal is the fact that there is now a large, active, visible and vibrant African-American middle classóthe

This continued nuisance is even very present and notable within our laws and law enforcement departments, an issue largely due to the “failure to address structural racism and [building] on the compromises of the 1960s civil rights pacts” (Bazian 43). Unsurprisingly, Trump was not the first president to use racist and negative rhetoric when referring to a minority; President Reagan’s attacked African American “welfare mothers.” A more liberal president, Clinton, then adopted this sentiment. These sentiments were translated into policies that affected African American, thus showing the deep presence of racism within our political and governmental structure. Overall, Professor Bazian explored the issues that rise when people (i.e. African Americans and Muslims) are seen as out of the ordinary vis-à-vis the European

Overcoming injustice and oppression is a difficult thing to do. Overcoming institutional, century’s old, outright and abject injustice and oppression is another animal all together. In a letter written from his Birmingham jail cell, Dr. King weaves philosophical ideals and scriptural/moral principles into a fabric of reason which absolutely decimates the foundations of segregation and its active or tacit supporters. While providing clear proof of his deep understanding of the issue at hand, Dr. King authors a moving yet emotionally grounded appeal to his fellow man about their sense of justice, morality, responsibility, and motive in placing one race above another.

Dr. King Jr. outlines the path from racial injustice to justice in the society by the use of nonviolent campaigns. These campaigners “dramatize the issue until it can no longer be ignored” (King) by the eyes of those with the power of

African-Americans have been subjected to racial injustices for ages due to their skin color, especially in the south. African-Americans can barely offer a home, let alone food for their families due to the obstacles whites have created. In the 1960’s Martin Luther King Jr. and others took action to stop the racial bigotry that African-Americans were undergoing this is important because Martin Luther King Jr. plays a big role in creating movements that help African-Americans and is talked about in both books. Although some blame the government for allowing the court to alter laws that oppress African-Americans, discriminatory whites are more at fault because they are the ones invoking and presenting them to the court. The nonfiction book “The

Whenever I read stories about racism that used to be even more in the past decades than today, I have always wonder how it came to an end. Who and what actions did they take to end it? This thoughts, feelings, and doubts led me to think that this article would be the best option for me to read.

Civil rights activist, Martin Luther King Jr., in his letter from Birmingham jail, recounts the inexplicable horror of racial discrimination and its depressing effects on the African-American community in the United States. King’s purpose is to convince the clergymen that there is an infinite amount of reasons to why immediate action is necessary for this civil rights movement to work and to justify his actions. He adopts a disappointed and dismal tone in order to illustrate the specific inequity and prejudice against African Americans and to emphasize a call to action to the clergymen and anyone who reads the letter. King begins his justification for his unwillingness to wait by acknowledging the extent of the problem of segregation and by

While most people like myself avoid discussing the hot topic of race, Under Our Skin: Getting Real About Race by Benjamin Watson has encouraged not only me, but it should encourage people of all races to deliberate the looming issue of race in our country without fear of saying something erroneous or offending someone who does not coincide with you. Watson’s book has given me the opportunity to march on a new route as I discuss the reality of racial conflict with my peers. Although I myself do not agree with absolutely everything that Watson stated, Watson’s experiences set forth in the book do help in elevating my level of understanding of the complicated issue of race and other diversity and inclusion issues arising under Title VII of the

This year, violence towards and by people of color has become a repeating headline, and this sensitive topic has divided many people in a time where we need unity. We must look to past civil rights activists for guidance such as Martin Luther King, Jr., Dorothy Height, and Bayard Rustin who promoted rights for African-Americans while attempting to unify a nation. Martin Luther King’s Letter from Birmingham Jail exemplifies this ideal. In paragraphs twelve to fourteen, Martin Luther King, Jr. refutes clergymen's claim of his actions towards desegregation being untimely with diction and selection of detail that illustrates the urgency and necessity of his actions on the progress of civil rights along with syntax that promotes unity.

The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness is a New York Times bestseller that expounds detailed accounts as to how mass incarceration is not simply a criminal justice issue, but a civil rights crisis. The author, Michelle Alexander argues that the New Jim Crow is the creation of a new racial caste system, with the intent to strip away the rights of Black Americans. This system, created by the defenders of the old system, uses unjust drug charges as a mechanism leading to increased incarceration rates and modern day segregation. In The New Jim Crow, Alexander addresses the way in which this modern system of industrialized racism ties back to the history of “racialized social control in the United States” (p. 16).

Even before America’s inception, colonists desired a society unlike England, one that reflected the pride of a forward-thinking, independent nation. However, while sidestepping a class society, they formed a race culture that bred white privilege and imposed brutality upon blacks. This falsehood rationalized two centuries of slavery, reinforced 100 years of segregation, and sustains our current racial conflict. This is the true reason racism continues to flourish in

Americans, whether they like it or not, share their living spaces with individuals from a multitude of different backgrounds, such as Hispanics and Latinos and African Americans and so on and so forth. This living situation, however, has been set in place since before the 1960s, when Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. wrote his letter “Letter From a Birmingham Jail.” Back in the 1960s, a large number of white people did not want to and would not live within the same community as black American citizens, and this racism towards the black population spanned further than just neighborhoods. Racism was rampant throughout the streets of America, and for the longest time, being an American meant living in a nation that was divided by color and, ultimately, status; those who were white were superior and those who were not were lower. America now, while integrated and preaching equality, still contains racism on mass levels, and to be an American now means having to face the reality that equality has still not been reached in society.

Instead, slavery and Jim Crow laws evolved into numerous “fronts” that further contribute to racial hostility. The oppression of minorities is often portrayed as less oppressive than it is by non-minorities or trivial. A solution to the lack of acknowledgment of the marginalization of minorities is engaged citizenship and maintaining a sense of personal responsibility. Individuals can accomplish this by becoming allies with pro-black social movements, like the Black Lives Matter

It is no secret that in this world, especially in the United States of America, there are some people who are more privileged than others. It is undeniable based on the very history of this nation; discrimination is interwoven into the creation and construction of America. Before the Civil War, it was considered a crime to teach one’s slaves how to read and write. Even after the Civil War, white Americans, those in the South especially, attempted to do everything in their power to keep the lifestyle standard of white Americans over any minority, especially African-Americans. From Jim Crow to Segregation to Red-Lining, the majority in the United States were able to use rules to keep the minorities oppressed because, as the United States is a democratic republic, the majority ends up making the rules.

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.