Is Racism a Permanent Feauture of Americas Society
Essay Preview: Is Racism a Permanent Feauture of Americas Society
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Growing up I would always hear my great-grandmother use the word racist. I never quite knew the meaning of the word until I was old enough to understand. Racism is the belief that a particular person race is superior or inferior to another and it is a permanent feature of American Society. Throughout my years in school we would always discuss racism in history class. As time went on I began to understand racism and the meaning. As I got older my great-grandmother would always tell me stories on what she went through growing up in the early 1900s. She would tell me how terrible the blacks was mistreated and how she was always separated from the whites. She would always say to me there was no combination of white and blacks. It was either white or blacks.
I have always thought that everyone had the same concept on racism into I read an article Derrick Bell and Dinesh DSouza published. Bell believes that racism is so imbedded in whites that it is impossible to rise above it. He also believes that few whites are able to identify blacks as a group. Bell also argues that even poor whites have supported institution such as slavery and segregation. Bell refuses to accept the claim that racism has been largely overcome in the United States. Dinesh DSouza does not agree with Bell. DSouza believe that racial discrimination is irrational motivated by bigotry. He is very supportive of the view that cultural factors contribute to social pathology. DSouza thinks that failure of blacks to observe and embrace certain cultural norms in the American society is the reason why race is not achieving more in America. He also believes that blacks that are successful exhibit cultural values that promote success. Mr. DSouza argues that blacks need to place much greater emphasis on over coming cultural barriers. When reading I learned that Derrick Bell make a more structural argument and DSouza offers a culture of poverty thesis.
While reading the article both authors had great points but I agree more with Mr. Bell. Derrick because I believe that racism still exist today and there will never be an end to it. Although racism is not as common as it was in the early 1900s there is still a lot of stereotyping going on as Bell talks about in the article. He mentions that our careers and lives are threatened because our color and I believe this is true from past experience. There was a time that I had applied to clothing store by the name of Urban Outfitters. During my application I was asked to list some celeb idols that I looked up to for fashion. I mentioned some and they were all black. They never gave me a call after I dropped off my application. As time went by I decided to give them a call. I never was asked to come out for an interview. I later received a letter in the mailed saying that I didnt fit the position. I never understood how I didnt fit the position and I was never interviewed. Based off my basic information I provided I felt as though I was stereotyped. I believe that if I would have written down some whites for fashion over blacks I would have received a call for an interview. The reason I feel this way is because there are mostly whites that work in the store over blacks. I also agree with Bell when he says that poor whites have support slavery. Based off all the research I have done over the years there was never anything mentioned about the poor whites being for the blacks. White people