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Kobe Cummings

Mrs. Martin

Critical Discourse

December 1, 2017

Racism
My driving question was how can we as a community accept different races and

ethnicities. In my study I have found that there are many different ways that race is affected but

the three main focuses I studied were through age, gender, and race. Im not focusing on only

african americans, I am focusing on all ethnicities that have any type of hate towards them for

something they can not control and something they are suppose to be able to speak freely

about without feeling judged in a hurtful way.

The reason I focused on age first is because I believe that a person isnt born racist, you

may be born into a racist family but that does not make you automatically racist. Family beliefs

play a huge role in the process of a child developing mentally and physically. When youre too

young to realize what the real world offers youre going to follow your parents beliefs and

values.

I looked at a different view through gender, males and females have very different

minds. The frontal lobe which is part of the front of your brain does not develop fully until youre

twenty five, and in most cases develops faster in the female brains.

The last view I wanted to look at through racism was the different ethnicities (race),

There are so many different kind of ethnicities in the world that scientist have not been able to

put an exact number on it. Since there are so many I had to narrow it down to three main

ethnicities in the United States and that make up most of the United States. White americans

who make up the racial majority, African Americans who make up the largest racial minority,
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amounting to 13.3% of the population and Hispanic and Latino Americans who amount to 17.8%

of the total United States population, making up the largest ethnic minority.

Through my research I have learned that there is no such thing as being born a racist,

your family values and beliefs play the biggest role in your development of the outlook you have

of the world. In an article that was posted by The Washington Post a woman by the name of

Mary Mclaurine talks about her life as a child. She was raised in a white family that was not

racist but did have an African American maid by the name of Mary. This is what she states in

the text, and there was Mary. She came twice a week to clean our home and I loved her. Back

then, maids were African American, always and without exception. I would talk her ear off while

she would iron and make beds, follow her up and down the steps when she did the laundry and

I never knew her life was different than ours. Children like me only knew the limits of our world

by how far our pedaling would take us. We were not aware of anything going on in the great big

world outside of our own. All I knew was that she was kind to me and never lost her temper or

shushed me. In this memory that Mary spoke of she states that Children like me only knew the

limits of our world by how far pedaling would take us. We were not aware of anything going on

in the great big world outside of our own. All I knew was that she was kind to me and never lost

her temper or shushed me. This line of hers stuck out to me because it shows the imagination

and love that kids have, Children like me only knew the limits of our world by how far pedaling

would take us. Children live in their own world, they know nothing more then what is happening

at the present time. As a young kid my best friend was white, and going on thirteen years now

we have never turned our backs on one another or been treated worse by one another because

of the color of our skin. My best friend Matt Blaha has been the best friendship I have ever had

and the longest, he knows everything about me and I know everything about him.

This left me with the question, what age do kids start making their own beliefs and

values? In a PDF file that I scrolled across in my research a woman by the name of Jacquelynn

S. Eccles, a Ph. D Professor of psychology, education, and womens studies at the University of
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Michigan, states, The years between 6 and 14middle childhood and early adolescence

are a time of important developmental advances that establish childrens sense of identity.

During these years, children make strides toward adulthood by becoming competent,

independent, self-aware, and involved in the world beyond their families. Biological and

cognitive changes transform childrens bodies and minds. Social relationships and roles change

dramatically as children enter school, join programs, and become involved with peers and adults

outside their families. From the time they are old enough to start elementary school and starting

to go into middle school, is the time frame that a majority of the kids start developing their own

beliefs and their own values, through school they start realizing things that are happening in the

world that when they were younger wouldnt have crossed their minds. They almost become

apart of a whole new world to them.

The most important thing to take note is when and how to have the racial talk with your

child. A website called Psychology Today has an article called Race in America: Tips on Talking

With Children About Racism. This article was written by an African American man by the name

of Earlanger A turner, he states, As noted earlier, there are numerous reasons to have the race

talk. According to the American Psychological Association, when having the race talk, Children

are more respectful of other racial and ethnic groups, Children have a better understanding and

appreciation for their own racial group, Children can recognize and respond more appropriately

to racism and discrimination. It is very important to have a talk like this with kids even at a

young age to help them gain an understanding of what is happening in the real world and help

them adapt from their imaginary world where everyone is equal to the real world where people

are not treated equal and are not looked at equally, and hopefully helps them make their own

beliefs and own values.

What does gender have to do with racism? I found myself asking this question over and

over, females and males basically have the same mindset right? Only thing different is there

physical side right? Wrong, in a study that I found surveying African American men and women
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it states, Black men were most often diagnosed as having affective (nonpsychotic) disorders,

with anxiety disorders the second most frequent diagnosis. The reverse was true for women.

Black men had aggression/passivity as the most frequent unconscious conflict and high/low

self-esteem as the second. Again, the order of frequency was reversed for women. For both the

men and the women, the psychiatrists felt racism was an important issue to consider in the

treatment process and found that rage was related to racism. This study is showing that the

rage that African American men and women have are mostly related to racism, but men are the

aggressors whereas the African American women will just lower her self esteem of herself more

likely. Personally I have seen this and lived this, As an African American I am very sensitive to

racism remarks, some people joke around about it like my friends but I know they are not racist

so it doesn't bother me as much, but if a stranger says racist remarks to me or someone I am

not friends with it is like a different person comes out of me. I instantly feel an aggression that

rages me and all I want to do in some cases is punch that person in the face. Me playing sports

has allowed me take aggression out in a different way rather than getting in fights which is the

way I cope with it. My sister being an African American female always battled with self

confidence, when she was younger she always wanted to have straight hair like the white girls

she was around, but her hair was so curly it couldnt straighten therefore lowering her self

confidence because she couldn't be like the other girls. She started suffering from depression

and anxiety and found herself lost, feeling like their was no one to talk to and no way to get

away from the pain, so she attempted to commit suicide but didnt follow through with it.

After scrolling across this study I wanted to find out what the suicide rate was for women

and men that had dealt with racism. I found a website containing information of this, the article

was written by J Black Psychol, he states, African American adolescents and young adults

have the highest number and the highest rate of suicide of any age group of African Americans.

Suicide was the third-leading cause of death among African American people aged 15 to 19

years, fourth among those aged 20 to 29 years, and eighth among those aged 30 to 39. Among
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African American adolescents and young adults, it is particularly the males that have the highest

rates. During the early 1990s, the suicide rates among African American males aged 15 to 24

years were rising. The rates peaked in 1993 at 20.2, then began a steady decline to 11.6

(42.6% decrease) in 2002. This fact was surprising but at the same time not surprising, during

the 1990s racism was still very much a part of society, The suicide rates among African

American males aged 15 to 24 years were rising. The rates peaked in 1993 at 20.2,. This

statistic stuck out to me because these are the years where you experience high school and

college, during high school these can either be the best four years of your life or someone can

make them the worst, worst enough that you would rather take your life away then face what's

coming next from them. I believe that many of these suicides had to do with race and the person

felt trapped and felt like if they couldn't fit in with the crowd due to their color and that they felt

they were never going to be accepted they mine as well just end the pain now and not have to

suffer the rest of their lives. Going back to the last article that I talked about the study states,

rage was related to racism, These African Americans felt like they could talk to no one about it

because it wouldnt be solved, it was a white mans world still and they were just living by the

rules. They had so much rage built up in them that they didnt know any way of releasing the

pain so instead they would end themselves to feel no pain at all.

There are many types of ethnicities out there, what you hear about most in the United

States is of course the typical white american being racist towards an African American, but

dont get it twisted, there are multiple ethnicities that are racist towards other ethnicities. I found

an article about Hispanics being stereotyped, in the article it states, Hispanics have been

portrayed by the media as lazy, unintelligent, greasy, criminal, and alien. Their contributions

culturally, economically, and historically have never been properly documented or appreciated.

Instead, Hispanics in general, and American Hispanics in particular, have been the victims of

racist stereotyping in an unbroken string of images and portrayals that began with the battle

over Mexican land in the Southwest as America expanded during the frontier era. This is
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portrayed as your typical hispanic person, Hispanics have been portrayed by the media as

lazy, unintelligent, greasy, criminal, and alien. If you have ever watched family guy there is a

maid that is depicted of being stupid, slow and lazy. She gets made fun of alot of the time in the

show and this is just one example of a popular tv show discriminating against hispanics and

lowering them compared to a white american and an african american.

The most recent type of racism would be african americans towards white americans,

are african americans being racist towards white americans are white americans being racist

again towards african americans or are both ethnicities just scared of being forgotten and

shadowed over the other. In an article from The Washington Post two authors by the names of

Samuel Sommers and Michael Norton wrote an article headlined as White people think racism

is getting worse. Against white people. In this article it states, Whites now think bias against

white people is more of a problem than bias against black people. We asked 417 black and

white respondents to assess how big a problem anti-black bias was in America in each decade

from the 1950s to the present. We then asked them the same questions about anti-white bias

the extent to which they felt that racism against whites has changed since the 1950s. Black and

white Americans both thought anti-black bias had decreased over the decades. Whites saw that

decline as steeper and more dramatic than blacks did, but the general impressions of the trend

were similar for both races. When asked about anti-white bias, though, black and white

respondents differed significantly in their views. Black respondents identified virtually no anti-

white bias in any decade. White respondents agreed that anti-white bias was not a problem in

the 1950s, but reported that bias against whites started climbing in the 1960s and 1970s before

rising sharply in the past 30 years. When asked about the present-day United States, a striking

difference emerged. Our average white respondent believed that at the time of our survey in

2011, anti-white bias was an even bigger problem than anti-black bias. The rise of Black Lives

Matter (BLM) has caused an uproar in the United States and a tension between white

americans and african americans, the problem with our society is everyone wants to assume
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and point the finger at the other person, no one ever looks at the other point of view of the

person they are at war with If people were taught at a young age to look at multiple

perspectives of a person's or ethnicities views we could all work together to find a solution to

this ongoing problem. This article from newsweek states, The Harvard-Harris survey, released

Monday, found only 43 percent of voters have a positive view of BLM, while more than half of

voterssome 57 percenthave an unfavorable view of the organization. Not all that

surprisingly, a majority of those who are opposed to the group are white. Only 35 percent of

whites feel favorable toward BLM, compared to 65 percent who have a negative view of the

group. As for black voters, 83 percent feel positively toward BLM, while only 17 percent dont.

This paragraph proves the point of people not viewing others perspectives, we should be

working towards a common goal to make everyone equal in any way we can no matter if youre

white american, african american, hispanic or any ethnicity, the United States is suppose to be

the The land of the free but with all these problems is anybody really free or are we all just

living in a fantasy and some of us are imagining things are improving when they aren't and

some of us are believing that the United States is turning into a shit show when its really not all

that bad?

I have read through many articles, asked many questions and tried to think of many

solutions, In my conclusion I believe the best place to start for us to become a united nation is to

drill it in our brain at a young age, that it is okay to be different then someone else, it is okay to

have different opinions about things, but there is no need for a war or for you to not like that

person anymore, I have so many different opinions than my peers but I dont disown them or

discriminate against them. People need to learn how to agree to disagree and carry on with life

because when you look on the inside everyones the same, we all have hearts, we all have

blood in us, we all have muscles, we all have DNA, but what makes us more unique than

anything is the fact that we have so many different colors and ethnicities of people. Its time that

we embrace that uniqueness of every single one of us cause in the end we're all humans that
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cant control the uncontrollable and we all have feelings, whether its hate, fear, happiness or

confusion. I hope that one day we will all be able to look at different perspectives of different

people and be able to grasp an understanding of their beliefs and values with no judgement at

all.

Works Cited

Brownface! - The History of Racist Latino/Hispanic Stereotypes. Brownface! - The History of

Racist Latino/Hispanic Stereotypes, brown-face.com/.

Crosby, Alex, and Sherry Davis Molock. Suicidal Behaviors in the African American

Community. The Journal of Black Psychology, U.S. National Library of Medicine, Aug.

2006, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1615885/.

Jones, Billy E., and Beverly A. Gray. Similarities and Differences in Black Men and Women in

Psychotherapy. Journal of the National Medical Association, U.S. National Library of

Medicine, Jan. 1984, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2561594/.

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Mclaurine, Mary. When Does Racism Begin? The Washington Post, WP Company, 10 Apr.

2015, www.washingtonpost.com/news/parenting/wp/2015/04/10/when-does-racism-

begin/?utm_term=.70c0fee34976.

Race and Ethnicity in the United States. Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 26 Nov. 2017,

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race_and_ethnicity_in_the_United_States.

Sommers, Samuel, and Michael Norton. White People Think Racism Is Getting Worse. Against

White People. The Washington Post, WP Company, 21 July 2016,

www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2016/07/21/white-people-think-racism-is-

getting-worse-against-white-people/?utm_term=.fd2027ff4f57.

Turner, Erlanger. Race in America: Tips on Talking With Children About Racism. Psychology

Today, Sussex Publishers, 13 Aug. 2017, www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-race-good-

health/201708/race-in-america-tips-talking-children-about-racism.

Williams, Janice. Majority of Americans, Particularly White People, Don't Support Black Lives

Matter. Newsweek, 4 Aug. 2017, www.newsweek.com/black-lives-matter-protests-police-

646050.