In a nation where the air we breathe is polluted with the ideologies of Whiteness, People of Color are faced with two options: choke on the smog or put on a mask. While it would be ideal for one not to choke on smog, there’s two reasons why a POC wouldn’t wear it. One would be that no matter how hard they try, they just cannot find a mask that’s capable of blocking out this …
If someone were to describe you, what are the first things they would say? How would someone describe me: a white, blonde, young woman. See, that wasn’t too hard to describe myself with the acknowledgement of my race. Now if I can use race to describe myself, then why is it so hard to acknowledge another person’s race when describing them? I ask this question with the knowledge that for most of my life, race …
I was born in a land littered with Confederate flags. Each flag you drive past holds generations worth of harmful stereotypes about Black Americans. Even if you aren’t from South Carolina, like me, stereotypes are constantly around us. They are found through our thoughts, conversations with others, information from the media, etc. Once we understand that a stereotype exists, what do we do with them? Do we let them control our thoughts and interactions? And …
In society today some people are beginning to make change. They are becoming less prejudiced, and using fewer stereotypes. The question is whether this is due to internal, or external motivations. Meaning are people being less racist because in their heart they know it is wrong? Or, are they being less racist because they are scared of the societal consequences and being known as a racist and getting canceled by society, or maybe because of …
Throughout United States history people are continuing to believe things that are not true. Not only are they not true, but they are disgusting and horrible. People who believe in stereotypes which are attitudes and beliefs, usually they are prejudiced which are ill feelings towards people. Which is also related to discrimination which is behaviors against people. These stereotypes are not true, they are racist. In the readings we learned that people who joke about …
As a Black African American in today’s society, the police are my worst nightmare, and I know I speak for many other African-American young adults out there. The actions of individual officers in cases like George Floyd and Breonna Taylor are completely unjustified. Holding a knee on someone’s neck for seven minutes is far from justifiable. Officers shooting through a door when no one answers, hitting Breonna Taylor, is also far from justifiable. The police …
White people are a boiled potato of culture – which is wild when considering the amount they’ve worked throughout history to spice themselves up (literally lol). By this, I mean that white people get to be nothing. They’ve convinced us they are not a race or an ethnicity in the same way other races are. They’ve othered themselves so much that they’ve convinced us white isn’t a color. If they were a number they’d be …
My first American history lesson started with the Crash Course series on YouTube in the summer of 2017, about two months before I came to the States. My “teacher” was a white woman from Texas whose name I failed to remember, who seemed nice and honestly was the spitting image of white Americans in media products I had consumed. She taught me everything from “checks and balances,” “electoral college,” and the Constitution to using “bathroom” …
Imagine this: you are a college student in a creative writing class. Your (White) professor has asked everyone in the class to write a short story about what family means to them and how their family has impacted their worldview. After the professor asks your class if anyone would like to share their story aloud, a Black student states that they would like to share their story about how their father made them into the …
In a world where fairy tales often depict the quintessential love story, women of color find themselves facing unique challenges in the realm of dating and relationships. The Disney fairytale, with its conventional representations of love and romance, seldom mirrors the complex realities experienced by women of color. Narratives of these women navigating a dating landscape that is often subtly biased and sometimes overtly discriminatory. Disney princesses have long epitomized the romantic ideal – delicate, …
Being a person of color in American society is no small task, especially in white America. Oftentimes many white individuals will see a person of color automatically assuming the worst about that individual. This reason is because of the unjust prejudice white Americans have grown to learn at a young age; that they now take with them into their adult lives. One of our class readings notes: “Despite social norms and legal sanctions against racial …
After the disruption of labor brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic and the economic crisis that we are currently experiencing, Americans are, possibly, finally realizing the intense negative effects that harsh American capitalist business practices have on them. Many Americans are opting to work from home instead of working in the office from 9-5 because they feel that they can excel in their work and have a better overall well-being from the comfort of their …