Summative 1: Racial Injustice Racial injustice has been a recurring problem in the United States. Americans didn’t talk about how the blacks were being treated until Dr. Martin Luther King Jr started speaking and protesting racial injustice. In modern day America, racial injustice is still an occurring problem, mostly between blacks and the police force. African American’s have felt like the police force is out to get them, with valid reason of course. People have tried to protest, using slogans such as “Black Lives Matter,” although these protests have helped bring the light on police brutality towards African Americans, they haven’t helped find a cure for this sickness. The most notable protest in modern day America is kneeling during the National Anthem, started by former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick. I will be discussing why Kaepernick started taking a knee, how the NFL reacted to the kneeling, as well as how the world has perceived kneeling. The question has long lived, why did Colin Kaepernick begin kneeling and sitting during the national anthem. Kaepernick started kneeling to protest police brutality, “He’s out there kneeling for my son and your son and my daughter,” said Symone Sanders, former press secretary for Bernie Sanders. Colin feels like he “stood for what is right” even if that meant losing his football career. Colin’s former high school guidance counselor announced that “One day, maybe my youngest, who is in second grade, is going to
It was upon these concepts of liberty, justice for all, and equality that became the foundation of America and its government. Many citizens claim that these ideals are still believed in and upheld today, yet the black NFL football players who kneeled during the national anthem at a game believe otherwise. According to Bretherton, the black players such as Kaepernick and Reid kneeled to “raise the question of why citizens of color, despite the promise of equality, still live (and die) as lesser Americans” (Bretheron 2). The players took a knee in order to raise awareness and bring attention to the discrimination colored citizens of America are facing today, such as police brutality. Although the players kneeled to invite the people of America to enter with them in a new, deeper kind of a relationship, where all are given mutual respect, the public misunderstood this act of courage as an act of disrespect and incivility towards America. These people, including President Trump, claim that the players are “disrespecting ‘our country, our flag [and] our national anthem” (Bretherton 1). The dilemma, thus, is that our
Protesting in the National Football League has been going on, as some of the country’s most beloved and highly recognized athletes are seen disrespecting the United States of America on national TV every weekend. The players’ reason for the protesting is police brutality, you can see them kneeling, raising their fist in the air, or even sit in the locker room while the national anthem is being played. Although I do understand what they are trying to do, I believe that there definitely better ways to go about their protest. The protests started in 2016 when Colin Kaepernick, quarterback of the San Francisco 49ers, took a knee during the national anthem. When question about his actions he responded by saying, “I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of colour”(Lake). While some people sided with Kaepernick most people took offense to his decision to kneel. In him doing this it has caused a league wide outbreak in protest; as players and sometimes even whole teams take a knee or show some type of protest during our country's anthem.
America has had discrimination against minorities for a long time and it will continue to have it until people treat minorities with respect. Discrimination is when people treat minorities bad because of their skin color, ethnicity and the place they were born. For immigrants, the problems they had to arrive to America were not a good experience only by the struggle to gain acceptance among the population. Most immigrants came to the U.S. to have a better life and give education to their children. Almost all immigrants have experienced discrimination at some point in their life and even some are still experiencing it today. Most Latinos don’t have a choice but to deal with it because they know they are illegal and they can’t say anything
Some people define race as if it is something solid or concrete, but what they don’t see is that it is a “social fabrication”(Mathew Desmond, Mustafa Emibayer,2009;2). Race is based on the difference in physical appearance which is determined, for example, by the most apparent trait; skin color. Inequality emerges when people living, whether on the same sovereign terrain or across continents, are not treated with the same amount of respect and not given the chance to engage their rights in a free and fair manner. Race and inequality are often linked together because of the “issues that began in the 1800s”(NFB;Journey to Justice;2000) such as racial segregation. Over the years issues of race and inequality have
The current debate over kneeling or sitting in protest during the national anthem to protest police brutality was ignited by Kaepernick in 2016, and later adopted by many other professional football players, high school athletes, and professional athletes in other sports, all who have refused to stand for the national anthem. These protests have created disagreement and sparked a public conversation race, police brutality, the flag and if the NFL is the best forum for to protest such issue. Colin Kaepernick has since said “he’s not protesting the flag but police brutality against African Americans. www.Procon.org
A big controversial topic going around in the news over the past few weeks has been Colin Kaepernick and his stand to end the hardship for people of color and police brutality in the United States. This silent stand started early this preseason when a number of different events involving people of color and police officers around the United States not getting along. However, this has started to become more publicized as more and more people in the National Football League have been joining in with Colin Kaepernick and taking a knee or sitting during the national anthem. This stand has become way more than a simple silent stand as many people around the nation are starting to voice their opinions on this subject. Even though everyone argues their thoughts on this subject.
A present day crucible in today’s world that has been occurring more and more is kneeling to the national anthem and how people that kneel don’t like our country, are only focused on helping one group/race of people, and people are being kicked off teams because of them making protests.The Anthem protests started last year in August when Colin Kaepernick sat on the bench at an NFL game during the National Anthem. After the game reporters asked him why he sat and he said, “I am not going to stand up and show pride in a flag for a country that opposes black people and people of color” (Wyche ). Since this first incident it’s spread across all of the NFL, high school sports, NHL, women's professional soccer, and even in the MLB. This protest has even been caught in the eyes of the president and there is no sign of this protest slowing down.
Ever since September of last year, the NFL National Anthem Protest has been one of the most controversial topics across social-media, alongside with other protests against police brutality. Many have criticized for such an action for being disrespectful to the National Anthem and Flag. Those, who have supported it, claim to protest against the nationwide police brutalities against the Black people. Looking back to the history of the United States, such sports protests are not a unique incident. During 1968 Olympic game, which are hold in Mexico City, African American Athletes Tommie Smith and John Carlos raised their black-gloved fists to speak for black civil rights. Yet, back then both the U.S. government and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) did not show support for such an action, though today the IOC claimed that the black American athletes has made names for themselves for doing such protests.
“Racism is a bad thing, you find it everywhere in the schools, the clubs and also in the streets.”
Television shows such as Dateline, 60 Minutes and 20/20 have often aired segments on discrimination within the justice system through hidden cameras recording police behavior towards minorities, interviews with minorities falsely accused or mistreated, and by referring to capital punishment statistics seemingly biased especially towards blacks. The Justice Files has produced several biographies on minorities who were subjected to some atrocity by the American justice system. General interpretation of nationwide statistics seem to give the public the feeling that minorities are more likely to be incarcerated or subjected to capital punishment and more frequently experience racism by police officers, juries or
Without any doubt, issues of racial injustice is a major social problem in our society. It not only affects how people view each other, but also how people interact and cooperate with each other. A lot of people are not aware of the racial issues that are still occurring in the United States, and even worldwide. It is an immense economic and social problem that is faced in communities. There are different forms of racism that is still seen currently in the judicial system, school system, and work system.
Today, a serious problem exists all over the world. Racial oppression takes place in the poorest and the richest countries, including America. Racial oppression is characterized by the majority, or the ruling race, imposing its beliefs, values, and laws on the minority, or the ruled race. In most areas, the ruling race is upper class whites that run the “system”, and have a disproportionate amount of power. In other areas, it may not be the white race, but it is still the race that is comprised of the majority, makes the laws, or has the most money. These are the keys to domination over the weaker minorities that don’t have the power to thrive under the majority’s system according to their own cultural beliefs,
For many years now the people in power or “whites” have passed laws so that other racial groups are kept at the bottom of the social hierarchy. These racial group that are kept at the bottom become racialized and oppressed therefore they become unequal to the people that are at the top of this hierarchy. The racial groups that are kept at the bottom vary from the Native-Americans to the Mexican-Americans and obviously the African-Americans. In this essay I will be comparing how the racialization process has been similar and different between these racial groups. I will also define race and racialization. Furthermore, I will explain how class, gender, sexuality, and citizenship has impacted the racialization process within these groups.
In the United States and internationally, there is a multitude of indicators that the racial environment is changing. Environmental pollution and racism are connected in more ways than one. The world is unconsciously aware of environmental intolerances, yet continues to expose the poor and minorities to physical hazards. Furthermore, sociologist continue to study “whether racial disparities are largely a function of socioeconomic disparities or whether other factors associated with race are also related to the distribution of environmental hazards” (Mohai and Saha 2007: 345). Many of these factors include economic positions, health disparities, social and political affairs, as well as racial inequalities.
Over the years in our country’s history it has been apparent that the idea of same sex marriages is becoming much more popular, however in most states there is still one thing stopping them. That one thing stopping two people from the pursuit of happiness which they desire is a social injustice. Social injustices are situations where a person or group of people is treated unfairly due to certain factors for example discrimination, prejudice, racism, heterosexism, sexism, and so forth. In the case of same sex marriages, the factor playing a major role in this social injustice is where most people believe that opposite sexes attract, but in the case of a same sex couple wanting to be married, this brings about many topics to be discussed by