Article assignment
004802677
3161.zipTANG 1.docx
SSCI 316
Yufeng Tang
The forgotten way African Americans Stayed Safe in a Racist America
The first concept is that the line between minority and majority lies in the access to power, resources, authority, and privilege. This implies that the minority have limited access to power and resources while the majorities have access to power and resources.
The second concept is the use of visibility as a clear marker of group membership as a minority. This is defined by an observable characteristic that qualifies an individual as a member of a minority group.
The concept of visibility is crystal clear in the Green handbook article since blacks are the minority in this case. Their minority is defined by their color skin which is an observable trait in them. The physical appearance is however not the biggest contributor, but rather a history, as mentioned in the article “Categories of race and ethnicity, exist not due to any biological aspect, but due to historical, social, economic, political processes.” The history of blacks in America places them in a separate category with whites hence the alienation leading to the minority tag. The political process played a role since there was a rule in place that supported the discrimination of blacks as explained in the article “travelers no longer ventured as much into cities and towns, and the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which outlawed discrimination in hotels, restaurants, and other public accommodations.” The law as seen was later abolished, but this did not necessarily bring an end to the discrimination (Swanson, 1960).
TANG 10.docx
SSCI 316
Yufeng Tang
Poor black children are much more likely to attend high-poverty schools than poor white children
The first concept is that there are social consequences that befall the minority group. Social consequences include what to eat, where to live, where to be employed and what type of education one will get.
This concept is clear in the article with the figures showing how black children constitute the biggest population in high-poverty-schools with a very small percentage of them attending low poverty schools. At the moment, being poor places one in a minority group and it is even worse if you are black. A combination of these two traits as seen in the article brings social consequences with poor kids ending up in high-poverty-schools. The same cannot be said about poor white kids with about 53.5% of them going to high-poverty-schools as opposed to the 81.1% of black people. This therefore paints a picture of a society with inequality in the education system with poor black children suffering the effects of this. (Garcia, 2017).
The second concept is that the experience of two people will differ greatly depending on educational attainment. The type of education individuals received will greatly set them apart regarding experience and their abilities.
The article makes this very clear as Stanford professor Martin Carnoy points out how there is poor performance in math and reading in high-poverty-schools. This is a clear indication of the concept showing how the school one attended has a bearing on the type of education one got and eventually this defines the experience of two people. The article goes on to point out how the low achievement of reading and Math is a huge disadvantage to children as their employability, and their resourcefulness is thus limited. Thus, if you place two people in a job interview with contrasting educational backgrounds, the one from the high-poverty-schools is likely to miss out. Stacking poor kids together play against them as they lack motivation.
TANG 2.docx
SSCI 316
Yufeng Tang
New Report on Lynching Reveals America’s Sinister Legacy of Racial Terrorism
The first concept is that society considers a black man as a danger and as one that can cause harm regardless of the reality. This shows the danger posed by the presence of a black man as he is seen as insecurity.
The second concept is the profiling of black people by law enforcement officers. A law enforcement officer confronted by a black person is more likely to shoot as compared to a white person whom they consider innocent.
The fist concept is evident in the second article as noted with the torturing and murdering of black men for crimes such as bumping into a white man. The whites did not want to be associated with blacks as they portrayed violence. This is the same case today as the profiling Muslims get, say in airports as people associate them with terrorism. This is how black people were viewed. The lives of blacks did not matter as they were considered as animals. This explains why there was a widespread lynching of black men at that time which went on unopposed with no one daring to lift a finger. The figure from the investigation claims there were 3959 lynching that was driven by racial discrimination (Lauren, 2015).
This is a classic case of blacks being guilty till proven guilty! We have the case of Oscar as stated: “The officer shooting him claimed Oscar was reaching for a weapon, but Oscar had no weapon.” This concept is very clear in the article as Stevenson talks of how young blacks live in fear and danger as they are constantly harassed by law enforcement officers who even go as far as threatening to kill them. There have been widespread cases of police shootings recently which has called for demonstrations. As is the case of Oscar mentioned above, the police officer claims he saw Oscar reach for his weapon and took a shot. However, after killing him, Oscar was found to have no weapon on him. This shows how law enforcement officers are more likely to kill a black person based on predetermined thoughts and lack of respect for black lives (Lauren, 2015).
tang 8.docx
SSCI 316
Yufeng Tang
When Hilario Met Sally: The Fight against Anti-Miscegenation Laws
The first concept is the marriage should be within a group which is endorsed by the dominant group. In most cases, people tend to marry their people regarding race, religion but this is not as voluntary as it seems rather an imposed rule by the majority group.
The second concept is the removal of prejudice and discrimination from the society by teaching different norms to the current generation. The same way prejudice was introduced to the society is the same way it should be done away with.
The first concept is seen in the article as the white talk of maintaining the purity of the white color. They see intermarriage as a way of tainting the white color. The idea of a black man marrying a white lady was inconceivable to them as they saw termed it despoiling of the white women. They, therefore, went ahead and imposed laws that limit marriage between different races a classic case of them as the dominant group imposing this on the blacks who are the minority. The anti-miscegenation laws were in play till 1967 when they were abolished. These laws were put in place to limit mixed marriages but as noted this law did not limit white people from exploiting black women (Alex, 1995).
The article talks of how it has taken many fights for mixed marriages to be allowed with anti-miscegenation laws being abolished. This barring of mixed marriages was supported by the law which forbids mixed marriages. It is the abolishment of the same law that has brought about the freedom and right to marry from whichever race. The problem lies in the fact that each generation is taught to hate with blacks teaching their children how they will fight the white man and the white people teaching their children that blacks are inferior to them and should thus limit their interactions. The answer, therefore, lies in changing this perception by bringing up a generation that does not identify with race (Alex, 1995).
