Abstract Although slavery ended, the problems in institutionalracism have not stopped specifically in law enforcement. More black men face the death penalty than whites. More blacks are arrested every day. This certainly points toward racism in the law enforcement. Often minority police officers believe that many from their race are being treated unfairly and most policemen are white.
Abstract This paper discusses the dynamics of systemic or institutionalracism that maintain white privilege. The paper presents a critical view of US/UK bedrock of theory, when discussing Canadian phenomenon. The paper presents fieldwork which reveals that most homeless persons in a Toronto facility were 'white' and when speaking with a white mentally ill vagrant man, it was realized that his 'privilege' did not mean any institution was responsible for him.
From the Paper "'Whiteness', Institutional Racism, and 'White Privilege'. Course materials indicating institutional racism pertain most often to British or American examples, and employing a jargon of 'privilege' that is interesting to examine in relation to contemporary Canada. One is to assume that the situations of these quite strongly racist societies are pertinent to Canada, in which racism certainly exists, but in a condition not to be compared with what is encountered in the others. Should we be examining institutional racism and white privilege in Australia, for instance, or other communal distinctions in India, or in Israel? An interesting approach is taken in John Hartigan's discussion of the American case, in reference to 'rednecks', 'hillbillies' and 'white trash', as marked racial subjects. (2003: 95-111) "
Abstract This paper explores the issue known as institutionalracism and, specifically, whether or not racism exists within the police force in the U.S. The writer also looks at specific cases of racism within police units in England and elsewhere as a comparison. The paper includes suggestions and ways to decrease the occurrence of institutionalracism, such as by ensuring minorities are present in significant numbers and educating and monitoring everyone involved.
From the Paper "Milwaukee Police Chief Arthur Jones recently filed what is believed to be the first-ever racial discrimination complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) by a sitting police chief (Staff writers, 2002). His complaint centers around his belief, backed up by other Black officials in the city, that he is being held "to a higher standard than his predecessors" (Staff writers, 2002). A Black alderman in the city, Willie Hines, says that Jones has been subjected to the scrutiny because he challenged the way the city hired new policemen."
Abstract This dissertation examines the literary and sociological, (and to an extent political) connections between the slave narrative and contemporary blackprison literature. The writer shows a connection primarily between the style and content of slave narratives and prison literature. This includes an investigation into how blacks have created their own literary hero, (stories that are also popular with white children) through the Bre?r rabbit or trickster negro stories. It also shows the adoption of Christianity by slaves both as a religion and reaction to living in the New World, as well as the customising of Christianity. Using the prison literature, the later chapters regard the ratios of black and white prisoners and the connection between race and length of sentence. And an underlying theme both the slave narratives and the prison literature is the problem of education provided by the State for
black children.
Introduction
I. Bearing Witness
II. Numbers and Deuteronomy
III. So This is Prison IV. Educating Dem Niggaz
V. Looking to Allah
VI. Plantation to Penitentiary
Conclusion
Notes
Bibliography
From the Paper "Oral histories were and still are the traditional format of story telling in Africa. The slave narrative genre began in the early nineteenth Century to be used as propaganda by abolitionists, (a small number of texts were written before this date, but they tended to argue in favour of slavery.) The education of blacks was extremely limited in antebellum America and to a lesser extent, leaves a lot to desire even today. Before the early Twentieth Century it was very difficult to study the institution of slavery from a black perspective. A lot of the knowledge we have about slavery had come from the testimony of others, white abolitionists, travellers and planters. To write a narrative or autobiography takes a certain dedication; if a person has been denied literacy and education to a basic standard it makes the task even more difficult. Black writers struggled and we now have a number of slave narratives, mostly due to over two thousand interviews conducted between 1936 and 1938 by the Federal Writers Project. The abundance of literature written by whites about slavery, gives us a clear idea of whites various feelings about slaves. But Kenneth M. Stampp notes in The Daily Life of a Southern Slave, that not only did slaves write less, but they seemed determined that no white man should ever know his thoughts.2 This is reiterated by John W. Blassingame in his article, Using the Testimonies of Ex-Slaves Approaches and Problems, when he writes, "Many of the secular songs are lullabies or hunting songs; the white-hating trickster slave Jack almost never appears in the tales. The blacks were carefully editing what they told whites." "
Abstract This paper provides a discussion of language and how it is used to oppress minorities, based on a reading of the first five chapters of W.E.B. Du Bois', "The Souls of Black Folk". It argues language is not only used by whites to oppress but often causes conflict and paradox among African Americans.
From the Paper "In "The Souls of Black Folk", W E B Du Bois targets two audiences. One is the white audience among whose members the author wishes to illustrate the humanity worth and dignity of African Americans. The other is the African ..."
Tags:racism, prejudice, blacks, social institutions, Freedmen?s Bureau, slavery, bigotry
Abstract This paper covers the issues of covert and overt racism, in particular with African- American vs. Caucasian studies in the United States. Several real life examples are offered and analyzed in terms of the advantages and disadvantages each side faces in normal society. Institutionalracism is also discussed in relation to class and social status.
Abstract This paper begins with a critique on American society offered by W.E.B. DuBois in his 1903 work "The Souls of Black Folks". It reviews some of the different strategies that have been used in the United States since the end of the Civil War to bring Americans of different races together The author examines the reasons why those efforts have overall been so unsuccessful.
From the Paper "Race is one of the most bedeviling of social characteristics. The concept with the barest tips of its roots in biological and the rest of the plant firmly grafted to cultural and sociological ideals has been debated over and again with little if ..."
Tags: W.E.B. Du Bois, racism, Booker T. Washington
Abstract In this article, the writer discusses that the scholar Bell Hooks' 'Killing Rage: Ending Racism' begins with the shocking defense of a severely psychologically disturbed black man who unleashed a killing spree on the New York subway. The writer notes that while by no means defending murder, Hooks engages in a kind of tacit endorsement of the man's motivation, or his sophisticated understanding that both blacks and whites can perpetuate institutionalized racism, by supporting institutions that foster racist attitudes. The writer points out that America is a nation founded upon a racial divide between blacks and whites, founded upon the economic, political, and social legacy of slavery. The writer discusses that the notion of institutionalized, rather than personalized racism demarcated by Hooks stresses that although the effects of institutionalized racism may disproportionately affect blacks, both black and white 'bodies' can and do enforce the prejudices and stereotypes.
From the Paper " Hooks' criticism seems apt in the sense that 'whiteness' as a construct, much like 'heterosexuality' and 'maleness' has only recently been problematized within contemporary academic discourse. But Hooks' use of the term as the opposite of blackness, in reference to individuals is itself problematic. What about racial categories of white people who only 'recently' became white, such as people of Irish, Italian, or Mediterranean extraction? Or Jewish people and members of other minorities that have not been able, historically, to fully participate in American culture because they are not seen as 'white.' Do they all see blackness in the same fashion because they are locked in the same ideological system, or do they exist within their own subculture as well as participate in the dominant discourse of black/white racialization?"
Abstract This paper examines the correctional institution recruiting-grounds of both the Aryan Nations and the Black Guerrilla Family. It looks at how the Black Guerrilla Family is typically found in adult prisons, but has also been reported as active by local law enforcement in adult jails and in juvenile correctional institutions. It also examines the BGF's enemy, the Aryan Brotherhood, first formed in the early 1960s in San Quentin, which is composed predominately of outlaw bikers and the ranks of the American Nazi Party and other groups.
From the Paper "The potential danger posed to society by many of the extremist and terrorist groups and organizations that exist today can be directly assessed from their links to convicted criminals, and their associations with organized crime. There are two principle associations between domestic terrorist groups and the criminal subculture within the United States; the first and most obvious being the use of crimes such as robbery, theft and drug trafficking as a means to accumulate funding to achieve their higher goals, and secondly as a population and environment from which to recruit willing and able members."
Abstract This paper examines how the Rockefeller Drug Laws issue different punishments for usage of crack and cocaine, with the former more prevalent in communities of color and carrying a greater sentence. White women charged with drug use are viewed to have a problem that can be cured via therapy, whereas women of color are incarcerated for similar offenses. Drug-abusing pregnant mothers are discussed, as well as the differences between the private and public forms of justice that lead to racial inequality in the judicial system. Different court cases are integrated into the argument as means of proof. Behind bars, the gendered differences between male and female prison systems is discussed, as well as the constant abuse and sexual degradation experienced by female prisoners at the hands of male guards. The prison industrial complex is also compared to a modern institution of slavery.
From the Paper "The American legal system often targets women of color through unjust law enforcement and the prison system perpetuates systems of inequality found among non-prisoners. Women are mainly incarcerated for non-violent offenses and the circumstances in which their behavior is deemed "criminal" are influenced by racialized stereotypes and the manner in which gender roles are defined and distributed by our society. A majority of feminists have typically failed to address that violence against women by the state/and or military is a tangible enough dilemma and instead focus on domestic violence or violence initiated in the public sphere. Drug laws, in particular, target young and older women of color and their racially specific enforcement in the 'free world' manifests into the ultimate form of domination behind bars, a control that even transcends the color line."
Tags: discrimination, gender, justice, poverty, racism, sexism, slavery, system, women
Abstract This paper explains that racism played a pivotal role in the Pacific and Asian theaters of World War II: The Nazi regime wanted to eliminate "inferior races" in Europe, mainly the Jews and Americans learned to hate the Japanese even more than the Germans. The author points out that institutionalracism in the U.S. kept black and Indian military personnel restricted to lower-ranking, menial positions; however, in some cases, they were permitted to fight in WWII along with white soldiers although most frequently they were in separate units. The paper relates that, in the Russo-German War, not only Hitler was playing out the Aryan "master race" strategy to conquer the vast Soviet empire, but also he wanted to seize the Soviet's enormous resources especially the Oral Mountain region.
Table of Contents
Introduction
Main Body of the Paper
Racism in America during WWII
Racism Vis-a-Vis WWII
The Rape of Nanking
The Russo-German War
From the Paper "While the Japanese slaughter of upwards of 300,000 Chinese in Nanking, China, in 1937 was as atrocious, savage and bloody as practically any event leading up to and during WWII, according to author Iris Chang, racism did not necessarily play a major role.
The real reason for the Japanese occupation of China, and slaughter of so many hundreds of thousands of Chinese, can be at least partially explained by the years of hate propaganda taught to Japanese children leading up to 1937. In the early 1930s, Chang explains on page 30, "...Teachers instilled in boys hatred and contempt for the Chinese people, preparing them psychologically for a future invasion of the Chinese mainland.""
Abstract It is the classic example of what came first, the chicken or the egg? Did racism promote slavery, or did slavery promote racism? This paper discusses how it can be seen that, prior to slavery, racist notions of Africans did not exist in the same context as they did after slavery. Europeans actually admired and revered Africans, seeing them as pious and royal. When slavery took form, slave owners needed to "declare war" on their ?enemies,? thus creating racist conceptions of all Africans for their own security. It explains that theorists tried to explain these circumstances through biological classifications and observed behavior; all these "theories" tended to be racist excuses. Jointly, institutional slavery and the following thought processes of Europeans contributed to the making and meaning of the ?black race? in the United States.
From the Paper T"he making and meaning of the "African race" in the United States originated in the seventeenth century when the British Empire began importing slaves to its American and Caribbean island colonies. As the cash crop enterprises in these colonies expanded in the colonies, the demand for laborers also increased. Plantation owners justified the utilization of Africans as slaves to fulfill that labor demand; racism then took advantage of the uneven social structures, free "whites" and enslaved ?blacks,? and thrived. Paralleling these historical events were the rise of pseudoscientific theories that developed primitive and uncorroborated hypotheses about race classification."
Abstract Prison is an institution that society creates to confine people convicted of breaking the law. It is designed to be an institution that deters people from committing crimes, punishes and rehabilitates criminals, and protects the public by keeping dangerous offenders off the streets. It is important to study this social organization to gauge whether the manner in which society deals with criminality via prison is effective. In light of the evidence, it appears that the objectives of imprisonment do not match their desired effects. Prison has an economic basis and punishes crimes that are often committed by the poor. In many respects, the real criminality is committed by society, which criminalizes the poor by not allowing them the opportunity toward self-empowerment. Moreover, prison subtly supports established institutions, because by focusing on individual wrongs, it takes away attention from the inequity in social institutions.
Abstract This paper explains that racism can exist and foster an environment and an attitude that sanction an institution like slavery. However, slavery itself can and has brought out the worst in people, including undiscovered feelings of supremacy over another race. It discusses how slavery has engrained in people's minds the thought that since such a practice is allowable and even easy to maintain, it must be right. The paper concludes that this concept may imply a new idea that slavery encourages racism, in as much as racism establishes slavery.
From the Paper "In investigating this concept, we turn towards the past United States enslavement of black people. This particular institution of slavery seems to be aligned perfectly with and idea of dual causality. Its establishment was based in economic possibilities, and was fostered by a division among races. The first element mentioned finds its roots in the Renaissance and Commercial Revolution of Europe. With the rise of towns, the increased centrality of interests in commercial activities, the focus on capital strength, and the fall of feudalism, Europe reinvented its societies to become much more competitive, and focus its attention on individual's prosperity. From England specifically, came the already established aristocrats who ventured to the open land of America to expand their wealth. To do so required a cultivation of the land. Agriculture was the main venue towards wealth, however the already wealthy were not going to perform their own labor. As such, people of lower social statuses searching for greater prosperity, who ventured to the open America, found an opportunity to prosper, by becoming an indentured servant to the wealthy landowner. These servants, who were primarily young white men, would work for a sustained period and at the end of their required servitude, they would be granted land of their own."
Abstract A critical analysis of the assertion that; "Racism does not exist in Canada and that as I am not racist nor have experienced racism, it is not something I should be concerned with" would reveal this assertion to be fundamentally erroneous on a number of levels. This essay argues that racism is far more complex and subtle in its operations than this assertion suggests and that it is pervasive in Canadian institutions and societies.
