Between The World and Me
https://abcnews.go.com/US/professor-fire-posting-racist-sexist-tweets-fired-indiana/story?id=67202798
From the beginning of creating our nation, the founding forefathers established the framework for racism through slavery. Slavery helped establish segregation in the United States by enabling the mistreatment of slaves who were predominantly black. Therefore, people of color were assumed slaves and hence poor, even though a minority of free people of color existed. Looking back at the U.S’ history, people of color and white people have always been distinctly separated. In the novel, Between the World and Me, Coates helps educate readers on racism and show how racism is prevalent throughout our society.
Coates writes letters to his son about his experience growing up as a colored person in his novel Between The World and Me. Coates in reflection of racism that he faced, he wrote, “Race is the child of racism, not the father” (7). A child is the product of their parents, in this case, race is born from racism. Race is a construct of societal racism or “the child”. If society stopped discriminating based on skin color, race wouldn’t be a disadvantage to people of color. Every person, no matter what race, does not deserve to be discriminated against due to skin pigmentation. “Perhaps being named “black” was just someone’s name for being at the bottom, a human turned to object, object turned to pariah”(55). According to Merriam-Webster, pariahs are “one that is despised or rejected: outcast.” As soon as someone is labeled “black”, it leads to the loss of equality. They’re viewed as an outcast, and ostracized by society. In our society, race is used as a discriminant to deprive people a fair chance in the world. Coates continues to describe his personal experience with racism through an educational context when he says, “And what did it mean that number 2 pencils, conjugations without context, Pythagorean theorems, handshakes, and head nods were the difference between life and death, were the curtains drawing down between the world and me?” (28). People of color are constantly bombarded by the horrors of living in an underprivileged community. They are preoccupied with life and death scenarios, and education is insignificant compared to the dangers that they face. “Handshakes, and head nods” are daily interactions that convey respect, whereas math formulas and grammar rules can’t shelter them from the horrors of racism.
People of different races have often been segregated due to racial stereotypes that bigoted people believe. These people already have a prejudice against people of color due to the stigma around the stereotypes. For example, the stereotypes that Asians are more intelligent than white people exists. Asians are intelligent, but this trait does not correlate with Asian descent. Racial stereotypes can makes it difficult for people who don’t abide by the stereotypes. In Coates’ book, he wrote, “...The officer carries with him the power of the American state and the weight of an American legacy, and they necessitate that of the bodies destroyed every year, some wild and disproportionate number of them will be black” (103). Coates is referring to police brutality against people of color. The assumption about people of color, is that they are violent and have a “history” of gun violence. Acts of violence have been committed by people of color, but this has no relation with their race. This is similar to the stereotype that Asians are smart due to their race. This stereotype gives people of color a disadvantage while facing the justice system: law enforcement. Police officers assume that people of color have weapons on them, and resort to using their guns to “defend themselves.” Stereotypes like these, stack odds against racially diverse people and builds false portrayals about them. These preconceptions can hinder people from getting equal opportunities that white people get.
Recently in the news, an article about an racist Indiana University professor was written. The news source claimed that, Professor Eric Rasmusen had been using his social media to tweet about his racist, sexist, and homophobic view. He claimed women were not as intelligent as men, gay men were likely to molest students, and spoke out about the economic benefits of slavery, that people of color are less intelligent compared to white people. Several people were disturbed by his tweets, and demanded that the school fire him. However when the school officials were notified of the professor’s tweets, Indiana University refused to fire the teacher claiming his speech is protected by the 1st Amendment of the Constitution. The school released a statement claiming that the professor's views do not align with their school’s. They offered students the opportunity to drop his class and transfer to a different class. Indiana University also guaranteed that the professor would use double blind grading on assignments, so his bigotry would not affect their grades. This is one of many examples that prove racism is still in our community. Indiana University by not reprimanding this type of behavior is enabling it to occur within their school. Through Between the World and Me, I learned the severity of damage done by racist acts on people or color. This novel educated me about how acts of racism can impact people’s lives and how racism is an ongoing issue in our society. Between Coates’ novel and this news article, it shows me how much we, as a society, must strive to eliminate racism.
From the beginning of creating our nation, the founding forefathers established the framework for racism through slavery. Slavery helped establish segregation in the United States by enabling the mistreatment of slaves who were predominantly black. Therefore, people of color were assumed slaves and hence poor, even though a minority of free people of color existed. Looking back at the U.S’ history, people of color and white people have always been distinctly separated. In the novel, Between the World and Me, Coates helps educate readers on racism and show how racism is prevalent throughout our society.
Coates writes letters to his son about his experience growing up as a colored person in his novel Between The World and Me. Coates in reflection of racism that he faced, he wrote, “Race is the child of racism, not the father” (7). A child is the product of their parents, in this case, race is born from racism. Race is a construct of societal racism or “the child”. If society stopped discriminating based on skin color, race wouldn’t be a disadvantage to people of color. Every person, no matter what race, does not deserve to be discriminated against due to skin pigmentation. “Perhaps being named “black” was just someone’s name for being at the bottom, a human turned to object, object turned to pariah”(55). According to Merriam-Webster, pariahs are “one that is despised or rejected: outcast.” As soon as someone is labeled “black”, it leads to the loss of equality. They’re viewed as an outcast, and ostracized by society. In our society, race is used as a discriminant to deprive people a fair chance in the world. Coates continues to describe his personal experience with racism through an educational context when he says, “And what did it mean that number 2 pencils, conjugations without context, Pythagorean theorems, handshakes, and head nods were the difference between life and death, were the curtains drawing down between the world and me?” (28). People of color are constantly bombarded by the horrors of living in an underprivileged community. They are preoccupied with life and death scenarios, and education is insignificant compared to the dangers that they face. “Handshakes, and head nods” are daily interactions that convey respect, whereas math formulas and grammar rules can’t shelter them from the horrors of racism.
People of different races have often been segregated due to racial stereotypes that bigoted people believe. These people already have a prejudice against people of color due to the stigma around the stereotypes. For example, the stereotypes that Asians are more intelligent than white people exists. Asians are intelligent, but this trait does not correlate with Asian descent. Racial stereotypes can makes it difficult for people who don’t abide by the stereotypes. In Coates’ book, he wrote, “...The officer carries with him the power of the American state and the weight of an American legacy, and they necessitate that of the bodies destroyed every year, some wild and disproportionate number of them will be black” (103). Coates is referring to police brutality against people of color. The assumption about people of color, is that they are violent and have a “history” of gun violence. Acts of violence have been committed by people of color, but this has no relation with their race. This is similar to the stereotype that Asians are smart due to their race. This stereotype gives people of color a disadvantage while facing the justice system: law enforcement. Police officers assume that people of color have weapons on them, and resort to using their guns to “defend themselves.” Stereotypes like these, stack odds against racially diverse people and builds false portrayals about them. These preconceptions can hinder people from getting equal opportunities that white people get.
Recently in the news, an article about an racist Indiana University professor was written. The news source claimed that, Professor Eric Rasmusen had been using his social media to tweet about his racist, sexist, and homophobic view. He claimed women were not as intelligent as men, gay men were likely to molest students, and spoke out about the economic benefits of slavery, that people of color are less intelligent compared to white people. Several people were disturbed by his tweets, and demanded that the school fire him. However when the school officials were notified of the professor’s tweets, Indiana University refused to fire the teacher claiming his speech is protected by the 1st Amendment of the Constitution. The school released a statement claiming that the professor's views do not align with their school’s. They offered students the opportunity to drop his class and transfer to a different class. Indiana University also guaranteed that the professor would use double blind grading on assignments, so his bigotry would not affect their grades. This is one of many examples that prove racism is still in our community. Indiana University by not reprimanding this type of behavior is enabling it to occur within their school. Through Between the World and Me, I learned the severity of damage done by racist acts on people or color. This novel educated me about how acts of racism can impact people’s lives and how racism is an ongoing issue in our society. Between Coates’ novel and this news article, it shows me how much we, as a society, must strive to eliminate racism.
Like many aspects of racism, we often consider racial stereotyping a relic of the past. After all, the days of blackface and other racial caricatures mostly seem to be behind us, right? However, as your post and Between the World and Me indicate, racial stereotypes continue to pervade American culture and media. Besides violence and police brutality, what specific effects might result from these racial stereotypes and microaggressions? How would a society or culture go about eliminating the belief in these stereotypes?
ReplyDelete