The article by Roxanne Gay on “the racism we all carry “was published after a leak of the transcript of the deposition of Paula Deen got in 2013. During that time several significant events happened including the Boston Marathon bombing and the rollout of the affordable care act by President Obama who was a flop at that time. The other event occurring during this period was the hearing of the case against George Zimmerman who had shot the unarmed black teenager.
The article by the American Federation of Labor on Chinese immigration was written in 1902. Several significant events happened that year include the extension of the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 by Congress to prevent the immigration Chinese laborers from the American territories to mainland USA. The other significant event the years was the withdrawal of USA troops from Cuba which allowed the first Cuban President Tomas Estrada to take power. The United States government also protested on anti-Semitism in Romania (Chan, & Olin, 1997).
The importance of both articles is that they were written at a time where racism was a topic of focus in the country. In 1902, although by that time the slave trade had officially been ended, there was a lot of racism in the country. African-Americans at the time were significantly affected by racism, and there were some cases of lynching being reported. The other major event was the extension of the Chinese exclusion act which sought to discourage Chinese immigration. The article by the American Federation of Labor shows the notions at that time on Chinese population in the country.
In the year 2013, racism had also been a topic that was fiercely discussed after the firing of Trayvon Martin; a black teenager who was shot by George Zimmerman who was a neighborhood watch volunteer. The verdict on the case was delivered in July 2013 a few weeks after Roxanne Gay had published her article. The two articles were written when racism seemed to be prevalent (Gay, 2014).
There exist similarities between the articles in that they both outline racism at different times. They are however different in that they focus on two different races. The 1092 article focuses on the Chinese immigrants while the 2013 article focuses more on African Americans. The change in both articles regarding racism is that racism against the Chinese has over the years been on the decrease while the racism against African Americans is still prevalent in the country even after all those years. The racial discrimination against one race has been on the decline while it is still prevalent for the other. The other change is that in the past, trade unions were used to spread racism while in the present the unions are actively trying to curb racism through their networks.
The two articles present diversity regarding the different target groups on racial discrimination, but they are both on racism. The other kind of diversity that the two articles present is on the issue of how racism against one group of people has decreased while racism against the other has remained widespread. Diversity outlined by both articles is that the 2013 articles seem to be in a way trying to curb racism while the 1902 article appears to spread racism.
In my opinion, I have different perspectives for each of the articles. The 2013 article by Roxanne Gay state that each person is racist with an opinion that I do not share. Racism is personal and different people have different perceptions, and there is a possibility that a good number of people do not have racial secret selves. On the 1902 article, the article talks about the spending habits of the Chinese immigrants where the articles state that their tactics seem not to benefit the economy. In my opinion, the immigrants were just good savers who knew the need of spending little and investing more on long term ideas.
In conclusion, the two articles outline how racism has evolved over the years. They give different perspectives on racism with various racial groups being the primary targets. The articles have provided good information which shows how racism against one race has declined while against the other group has been prevalent. The issue that remains to be seen is how long racism will continue being an issue in the country.
References
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Chan, S., & Olin, S. C. (1997). Major Problems in California History: Documents and Essays. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
Gay, R. (2014). Bad Feminist: Essays. New York: Harper Perennial
Merino, N. (2009). Racism. Detroit: Green Haven Press.
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