Cultural Appropriation: “It’s Just………”

Culture is defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary as the “customary beliefs, social forms, and material traits of a racial, religious, or social group.” Culture does not belong to just one person, it belongs to a group of people. I guess because culture is shared there is some confusion as to who gets to do what. There is a very thin line between cultural appropriation and cultural appreciation which creates a lot of issues. I once watched a video on …

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Healthcare and the COVID-19 Pandemic

The rates at which minorities are being affected by the COVID-19 pandemic are disproportional to those of white people. Healthcare has always been an area in which black families have been systemically neglected with the proper resources to remain healthy: a right that should be given to everyone. Even though it might feel a little distant to those who aren’t directly affected by the virus individually or by the poor health of a relative or a close friend; we …

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White Kids: Let’s be Antiracist

White parents, you all really need to step up… If we want to better our society in opposition to issues of racial injustice and inequality, we must begin at a young age. As White parents, you must really talk to your children before these ingrained, societal beliefs corrupt their brains in believing they have privilege due to the color of their skin. White children need to speak out, become educated, and appreciative of other races, EARLY! In Noel King’s …

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Stop Normalizing Black-Crime Association

Something that has especially stuck out to me over the past few weeks has been the ideas presented in an article we read by Jennifer L. Eberhardt on ?Enduring Racial Associations African Americans, Crime, and Animal Imagery?. Within this article, she discusses the stereotypes associated with Black people in relation to crime. She also discusses how there are many factors that influence this, such as the stereotype of blacks as being hostile, dangerous, or criminals, which according to her, …

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Stop pretending we’re all the same

Watching a roleplay with my classmates, I couldn’t help but notice my peers’ difficulty in describing the interaction occurring on screen. The roleplay was a business scene, wherein an employee and HR representative were discussing the employee’s career advancement opportunities. We were given a very brief introduction to the scenario, and nobody seemed sure what was happening in the beginning, so when we were asked for analysis of the interaction students struggled to identify who was saying what, in …

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Why is it all black and white?

Have you ever heard the sayings “black as night”, “pitch black”, “black out”, “black magic”, etc..? What do these all have in common? At first glance you can see that they all have the word black in them. However, if you look at the phrase as a whole, it is clear the word Black is used to depict darkness, whether that be literally or figuratively. Dark is the opposite of light, usually representing good. Let that sink in for …

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The White Savior Complex

The White Savior Complex is something that has been around for decades, and although the intent might seem pure, it is actually much more sinister than it appears. Seen in the real-world and portrayed in movies, I’ve seen this topic being discussed more since the Black Lives Matter movement where people are starting to critically analyze society. So what is The White Savior Complex and why is it harmful? Well, it is a white person’s desire to help a …

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