Clashes of Race Essay

Abstract The purpose of this paper is to explore racism and discrimination within America. It was also a goal to show the relationships between racial clashes throughout history, and what the purpose behind the clashes was. By showing these clashes society gets a better understand of what triggers these action within society. Running Header: CLASHES OF RACE: UNDERSTANDING THE PURPOSE In the rather complex world in which society dwells on, society lacks appreciation for the simplicity of the universe. one act or idea can spawn certain events that affect the course of history. to understand history, it is essential for society to look at the causes behind the significance of an event. racial discrimination has spawned social clashes between ethnicities for generations, and it continues to do so. to understand the significance of these events, it is important to analyze the source of these racial clashes throughout history. analyzing the sources of these events provides, if any, patterns of human nature in response to mistreatment due to racial profiling. it is also essential to analyze the basic principles of discrimination within the twenty-first century and what society faces in present day. before analyzing racial discrimination in the twenty-first century, the importance of understanding the different types of racism is needed. There are two types of discrimination that society faces present day, direct discrimination and indirect discrimination. direct discrimination by definition, is when an individual or group is singled out directly by society or an individual based on there race. indirect discrimination is when an individual is singled out surreptitiously by an individual or group. this is more prevalent within present day culture, compared to direct discrimination. the reason being that racism in the twenty-first century is less acceptable among society. the result of racism is that it is less acceptable within modern day society is racism taking on a more enigmatic face. Running Header: CLASHES OF RACE: UNDERSTANDING THE PURPOSE social clashes that resulted from direct discrimination have been apart of america for decades. prime examples of direct discrimination are famously the wars and massacres enacted on early native americans. The reasons for these attacks on native americans were due to new settlers in america wanting to acquire resources from the natives themselves. the colonist’s believed that the natives way of life was inferior to their own, due to the savageness of their own human nature. This is a prime example of micro-aggression in early american culture. Such events such as the â€Å"trail of tears† and many other attacks on the native american’s way of life was justified due to the idea of manifest destiny, which is a belief that the territory was a divine gift to the american colonist. This resulted in constant conflict between american society and native americans in the twenty-first century. it is important to understand how micro-aggression works and operates in the twenty-first century. with modern society changing into a more diversified culture in the United States, it is important to understand how indirect discrimination works in modern society. Society by nature tends to group themselves within certain micro-cultures, it is important to understand this important dynamic due to its purpose within society. this dynamic by nature forces ethnicities to side with a certain set of social norms and values.(West,2004) examples of how this affects modern day society would best be described by conflict with interracial marriages and racial generalization. ethnic grouping has been apart of america since the beginning of american society. the colonist settled in america based on their religions and values, in which the colonist Running Header: CLASHES OF RACE: UNDERSTANDING THE PURPOSE had previously in britain. more modern examples of ethnic grouping would be groups, such as the black panther party, naacp are examples of more modern cases of ethnic grouping.(Jablonski,2012) the common feature of today’s society, also well known as mass media, has a huge impact on racial conflictions with the populace of today’s society. one psychological principle says that if an image or idea is shown repetitively that the image or idea will leave an imprint on the mind, later on making the mind recognize the image or ideology as† normalcy†.(Yosso,2002) the mainstream media controls the public agenda, as well as the emotions reflected within society. the mass media needs to recognize the effect in which it has on society, the purpose of the media should be to promote the truth of a matter accurately. This would help balance out racial out lashes between ethnic neighborhood, as well as riots and other ethnic protest. (Vann,2006) in recent times of society, racism in north america has went through a major transformation, especially after the post-civil rights era where the democrats believed in equality for all types of ethnicities that specifically did not get along throughout the history of racism in society(Wamsted,D,2012). This shows the progression of diversity within America. however, even with change in equality the south still shows a higher percentage of direct discrimination as well as indirect discrimination in modern day society than the north. some examples of the result of discrimination can best be depicted is social out lashes of an ethnic communities. this can be shown through protest, as well as more Running Header: CLASHES OF RACE: UNDERSTANDING THE PURPOSE serious demonstrations such as riots. the causes of these demonstrations can be a number of reasons, but one pattern that is shown throughout history is that most social out lashes resulted due to mistreatment among their race. an example of this would be the los angeles riots of 1992. The riots resulted from six officers found not guilty that were accused of beating a black male, rodney king. the riots lasted for six days, and resulted in thousands of injuries and fifty-three deaths.(Watts,2011) however, not every protest result in death and injury. through the civil rights era many protesters believed in the nonviolent approach of martin luther king jr. most protesters believed in sit-ins, boycotts, and other forms of nonviolent forms of protest. however, the effects of racism and discrimination has not stopped america from diversifying, but rather fueled individualism among minorities within america. A study shows that more minorities are striving for higher education within america. derek bok reported in 2000 in his book The Shape of the River that eighty-six percent of black students who enrolled in twenty-eight selective universities across the nation were apart of the middle-class or upper-middle class. This shows not only an increase in african american on college campus, but also the percentage of success among blacks with a stable financial backing. This trend is important to understand due to the progression of diversity within america. It is prevalent that not only income have increased among african americans, but also the number of blacks going to college compared to college statistics of the 1990s and 1980s.(Harring-Smith,2012) to understand the importance of an action, is in essence the greatest ideology or knowledge to grasp. for every action within society has an effect on history. The Running Header: CLASHES OF RACE: UNDERSTANDING THE PURPOSE importance of diversity within society continues to show progression. however, racism will always have its place within society. society has to continue to evolve as well as continue to educate the youth in society to limit the grasp that racism has on america, whether the discrimination is indirect or direct. â€Å"we’ve got to face the fact that some people say you fight fire best with fire, but we say you put fire out best with water. we say you don’t fight racism with racism. we’re gonna fight racism with solidarity.†-Fred Hampton Running Header: CLASHES OF RACE: UNDERSTANDING THE PURPOSE References: Haring-Smith, T. (2012). Broadening Our Definition of Diversity. Liberal Education, 98(2), 6. Jablonski, N. (2012). The struggle to overcome racism. New Scientist, 215(2880), 26. Vann, A. (2006, June 29). Sometimes the allegation of â€Å"reverse racism† is camouflage for maintaining the â€Å"status quo†. New York Amsterdam News. p. 13. Wamsted, D. J. (2012). Opening Doors for Diversity. Electric Perspectives, 37(3), 26. Watts. (2011). Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th Edition, 1. West, E. (2004). Expanding the Racial Frontier. Historian, 66(3), 552. doi:10.1111/j.1540-6563.2004.00088.x Yosso, T. J. (2002). Critical Race Media Literacy: Challenging Deficit Discourse about Chicanas/os. Journal Of Popular Film & Television, 30(1), 52.