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March 10, 2019 at 1:18 pm #4767Ngoc Hung NguyenParticipant
The poem “Racism has a human heart” by John G. Nelson personifies racism as a human being that is conscious and have feelings, but this human being is full of hatred and evil. The poem really stands out to me because racism is a human construct, and it stems from human ideology. Racism has a human mind, heart, and mouth. It comes down to the people who are racist and carry unhealthy mindsets towards people of color. The imagery of a human that is savage and vile brings out the horrible and uncivilized truth of racism. Furthermore, most of the time we associate racism with white people who holds on to their racial superiority and being more “civilized,” but the poem completely turns them into those that are uncivilized savagery. The change in power dynamic undermines the commonly held idea that white people are “superior,” but now their attitude only serves to prove that they are worse than what they think.
Credit: “Racism has a human heart” by John G. Nelson – 03/04/2009
Source: https://www.poemhunter.com/poems/racism/page-1/16123669/
- This reply was modified 5 years, 2 months ago by Ngoc Hung Nguyen.
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March 3, 2019 at 2:08 pm #4580Ngoc Hung NguyenParticipant
Michael Cohen’s testimony a few days ago before Congress had shed light upon the lies and racism that came with Trump’s presidency. One particular moment in the testimony that truly stood out for me was when Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) called out Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) for asking a black woman, who works for the Trump Organization, to be present in the chamber to prove that President Trump is not a racist. I think that Rep. Tlaib’s quote truly encompasses what I would want to say, “The fact that someone would use a prop, a black woman, in this chamber, in this committee is alone racist in itself.” In this case, one of the interpretations that I have gotten from Rep. Tlaib’s call out is that using a black person to prove that you are not racist is obnoxious and ridiculous. Just because one hides their racism (by hiring black people) does not mean they are not racist. Furthermore, Rep. Meadows act of asking Lynne Patton to be “a prop” could be interpreted as justifying or masking white space in America. Bringing in people of color does not remove the idea of white space that has been there in the first place. Moreover, black people working there could simply serve to “diversify” on the surface, so that the white people in control would not face criticism and scrutiny. This method is highly effective to deter people from looking deeper into racial problems within a space/company/organization while allowing the people in control to further their agendas.
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February 24, 2019 at 4:21 pm #4374Ngoc Hung NguyenParticipant
The idea of national parks as a mean to preserve the nature and heritage of Native Americans has been a hypocritical idea of the US. “America’s best idea” is rather the commercialization and monetization of Native American’s land and heritage. As seen in the poster below, indigenous culture has been used to advertise for national parks, which is depicted more like a “theme park.” The natives of the land pushed out instead of being the people to preserve the land themselves. Preservation and pleasure at national parks are conflicting ideas, where the government push out the natives and claim these lands as if they know better how to handle the sacred lands. Obviously, preservation is nothing more than a pretext for the monetization of sacred lands and removal of indigenous culture and heritage. Even the fact that there is an entry fee for visiting national park rather than being free and fully funded by the government speaks volume on the obscured intentions of national parks.
Source: https://www.collectorsweekly.com/articles/erasing-native-americans-from-national-parks/
Credit: Map of Yosemite Valley – Jo Mora, circa 1940s
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February 17, 2019 at 2:47 pm #4126Ngoc Hung NguyenParticipant
The cartoon portrayal that I chose criticized and showed the irony and racism against black people. The fact that black people are in jail for a very small amount of drugs, while white people are in jail only when the amount is, in this case, “100 times” more. The image of the judge saying some people are “more equal” than others further reinforce the idea of segregation, racism, and the problem of mass incarceration on the governmental level. After slavery was abolished, there was the new policy of inmate rental, an evolved form of slavery as most inmates were black people. We see the same pattern here where black people are incarcerated and disenfranchised, essentially eliminating them from the system and put them into limbo. I find it abhorrent and unfathomable that a country actively tries to put away its citizens instead of being generous and rehabilitate for people to go back to society. Once you have committed a crime and been arrested, your life is basically over as it would be almost impossible to assimilate back to society. In the end, it comes down to race and the desire for racial purity that drives even the top level of the government on their decisions to mass incarcerate.
Source: “Reducing racial disparities in drug sentencing: an analysis of the fair sentencing act, 2015” http://blackwallstreetbooks.squarespace.com/ceo-blog/drugsentencingracialdisparaties
Year: 2015
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February 10, 2019 at 2:16 pm #3896Ngoc Hung NguyenParticipant
During the 20th century, the US was still plagued by segregation and discrimination against blacks and people of color. The fact that innocent children were and still are born with social disadvantages is heart-breaking. As seen in the photo below, it shows black students being escorted through the front door of Central High School in Little Rock by armed soldiers. The fact that the military’s presence at a school speaks volumes of the outrageousness and insanity of white people’s discrimination. A school is where talents and knowledge are fostered and allowed to grow, not a place to belittle and degrade individuals. Students carry books and pencils to school, not weapons, so why are soldiers necessary? It is a political message as well as a mean to strike fear into the black population. The military’s presence is a way to say “know your place” in society. In the present day, such things are outrageous, but school segregation still has a silent presence in society. We engage in ignorance and avoidance to speak about the fact that desegregation laws have done virtually nothing to prevent racial segregation in schools. Furthermore, based on anecdotes from my peers, schools that predominantly black usually have lower infrastructure and funding compared to predominantly white schools. There is still much injustice against people of color, but we live in ignorance and sweep the problems under the rug instead of trying to solve them.
Source: https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2018/03/school-segregation-is-not-a-myth/555614/
Credit: AP Photo File
Taken at Little Rock
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February 3, 2019 at 1:17 pm #3682Ngoc Hung NguyenParticipant
Politics and racism have intertwined since the beginning, and in the image below, it reinforces the same idea of leveraging political power and “righteousness” to maintain the status quo of racial segregation. The image shows a protest against race mixing in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1959. They want to maintain the separation between white and colored people to sustain racial purity. Their argument for this is that mixing race is a sign of Communism, an ideology that has no relevance to the abolishment of segregation in society. This is also due to the fact that the Red Scare and McCarthyism was popular during the 1950s, which gave precedence to such claims as seen here. The Civil Rights Movement lead by MLK was also labelled as a Communist group as a mean for the government to suppress the group. Communism was frequently used as a scapegoat for white people’s racism, and it showed the manipulative and willing to do anything to be in a position of power.
Source: https://theconversation.com/uncovering-the-roots-of-racist-ideas-in-america-71467
Credit: Wikimedia/John T. Bledsoe
Photo taken at Little Rock, Arkansas in 1959
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January 27, 2019 at 11:08 am #3436Ngoc Hung NguyenParticipant
For black people, travelling around the country could be a dangerous thing even though it is meant to be a vacation, to put aside their problems and enjoy the relaxing time. Before the Civil Rights Act, there was still segregation of white and colored people. As seen in the picture below, taken at a day hotel, the water fountain has been separated between white and colored people. Also, the quality of the drinking fountain is evidently better for white people. This shows the condescending attitude towards colored people, who were seen as inferior compared to white people. Even though the space serves the same purpose, it was separated to show the hostility and disdain of white people towards colored people. When black people are not served at hotels, they have to drive longer distances and risking being stranded, out of fuel, and without shelter. The irony is that hotels are supposed to provide a form of shelter to those who seek a break from their daily lives, but for colored people, they were the same problems that they face every day.
Source: https://www.vox.com/identities/2015/11/29/9813966/green-book-segregation-history
Credit: Mondadori Archive via Getty
- This reply was modified 5 years, 3 months ago by Ngoc Hung Nguyen.
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