Hopkins 1

Racism in the 21st Century

By Ajoni Hopkins

Hopkins 2 Racism is defined as a belief that inherent differences among human races determine cultural or individual achievement with the idea that ones own race is superior and has the right to rule others. Racism has played a recognizable part in Americas development demonstrated most notably with the treatment of African Americans during slavery, the application of Jim Crow laws, and the resulting Civil Rights movement. Although racism has been historically blatant, it has now been transformed into something more covert and unclear to Americans. Racism in the 21st century can be subtle and is something that I have faced on a daily basis since I have attended 6th grade. Racism has changed from the obvious disenfranchisement and verbal insults of African Americans to insidious remarks and behaviors that are deeply rooted in our nations history and culture. Racism has affected Blacks in this country since the time my ancestors first stepped foot upon American soil. Slavery in America began in 1619, when 20 captive Africans arrived in Jamestown; African slaves in the 1600s made up only a small fraction of the primarily White workforce (Nardo). The small number of Africans, surrounded by their fellow workers, White indentured servants, assimilated into the culture easily, copying the mannerisms and beliefs of their owners and their environment (Nardo). However, by the mid 1700s, slavery had changed into a massive commercial enterprise, with more than 60% of the 650,000 Africans that were eventually shipped into this country, arriving between 1720-1775 (Nardo). White indentured servants no longer provided the bulk of the workforce, and without their White counterparts to work alongside them, assimilating proved harder for African slaves (Nardo). The differences between the two cultures of the African slaves and White Americans, grew because of the lack of slave interaction with White indentured servants. These differences allowed Whites to justify

Hopkins 3 punishing slaves harshly and without reason, which then made slaves grow even more distant from their cruel owners, inciting hatred among those enslaved towards their owners. As the population of Black slaves in America increased and White indentured servants became more of a rarity, White Americans became frightened of the African slaves that were finding identity and culture within their own growing communities; Whites were concerned with the threat of rebellions that these slave communities could have and did ensue. Laws were enacted to control the Black slave communities, reducing slaves to the equivalent of mere cattle (Nardo). For example, In Maryland, by law, Black slaves were forced to serve under an owner for life; in Virginia, any White who married a Black would be banished from the state; in South Carolina, the Act for the Better Ordering and Governing of Negroes and Slaves was passed, which were strict inhumane laws that kept slaves oppressed (Nardo). Laws like these dictated and encouraged the manner in which slave owners treated their slaves, primarily with deadly threats and force (Nardo). Slaves were lashed and beaten regularly, as punishment for what the owners saw as laziness on the plantation or simply to set an example for other slaves (Nardo). Whites justified this treatment with their belief that all slaves were simply property, not people, and therefore inferior to Whites(book). Racism in America was included in the owner to chattel relationship that had been present between Whites and Blacks for two centuries during the times of slavery, and these beliefs have been perpetuated into the 21st century (Nardo). Racism, throughout the 19th and 20th century, was very obvious, despite the fact that slavery had been abolished. Throughout the 19th century, White Americans superior feelings towards Blacks are especially apparent through their depictions of African Americans as simple-minded, ape-like creatures in newspapers and posters (Pilgrim). The battles over segregation and the rise of the KKK clearly shows the superior beliefs that Whites held during the 20th century. However,

Hopkins 4 racism in the 21st century has been more insidious than it has been in the past. No longer are Black men and women being hung from trees, given grossly unfair wages, or unlawfully separated from the rest of society because of their skin color. Blacks are now the recipients of stereotypes that paint them as illiterate, unruly people who are mostly violent criminals. These stereotypes are passed to the American people through the medias depiction of Blacks and then from parents to their children, who grew up in a time where racism was more overt and accepted. These stereotypes are not outright acknowledged by most Americans, and experts say racism has evolved to the point that people may not even recognize it in themselves. (CNN). This form of racism is something that I experience every day in school and have tried to explain to others. Im not the only one that experiences this either; Donald Glover, a 28 year old comedian, actor, musician, and writer who stars on the show Community, sang about racism in his song Hold You Down in his album entitled Camp.

Subtle racism

It's hard to pin it cause you'd only understand If you were me for just a minute

This theme of subtle racism was prevalent throughout the album, which sold over 50,000 copies in its first week of sales, and many of Glovers fans related to the message that he delivered. Glovers music shows that racism is alive in America, contrary to popular belief, and that it affects a lot of people in America even in the 21st century. Racism in todays time is subtle and not as overt as it was just two to three decades ago.

Hopkins 5 Racism has impacted my day to day life since sixth grade and has persisted no matter how much I have tried to educate or ignore my peers. Every day, Ive received comments from my friends based on my race that have degraded and hurt me, which they just perceive as simple jokes. The thing is, I believe that these comments are jokes and were not meant to cause any harm, but I also believe that these effortless, unconscious insults towards African Americans show how racism is embedded into Americas psyche and culture. For example, my friends tell me Youre so Black! whenever I yell out loud stupid things or jokingly act threatening to them. It amuses them when I act ignorant or childish and it amuses me as well, which is why I act that way, but they mistake the childish acts as a characteristic that belongs to all Blacks. To them, because Chris Tucker from Friday is loud and obnoxiously funny and sometimes Im loud and obnoxiously funny, then it must be because of the color of our skin. My friends know White people dont act that way, because my friends are white and are surrounded by other Whites and most dont act that way. However, they only know Black people from the medias depictions and the limited number of Blacks they interact with, so their views of African Americans is restricted because of their lack of exposure. My friends accept stereotypes because of their lack of exposure to other kinds of people, or better stated, theyre ignorance. They have not interacted with enough Blacks to know how outlandish the stereotypes they joke about are and how it affects me to be labeled with that stereotype daily. As an example, this is a conversation a few of my friends had just the other day.

Bart: Aye n***@, gimme some of them gummy worms. Nico: I aint givin you s**t n***@. Bart: Aye! You owe me n***@!

Hopkins 6 Bentley: Stop trying to act Black!

During this conversation my friends and I were outside with Bart and Nico yelling and pushing at each other for gummy worms. They did not give a thought of how disruptive they were being to others, they were focused on what they themselves wanted. They acted selfishly and immature and Bentley recognized this as being Black. To Bently, having darker color skin means that you yell obscene words and horse around whenever you want to. However, my friend wasnt trying to offend African Americans, he wasnt literally saying that all Black people act abrasive and idiotic, but he insinuated it, not considering the negative image he had just displayed on Blacks. Usually, if my friends say something obviously racist they at least express some guilt over what they said, but my friend in this conversation did not apologize, he just went on with things like he didnt say something that was disrespectful to millions of people. He didnt recognize the racist comment that he had said because the image of an unintelligent African American was accepted in his mind. To that friend and the majority of my other peers, being Black is synonymous with being stupid or ghetto, because of their limited interactions with African Americans (Colour Me) . This is not any isolated event, I hear about ten of these comments every day. Sometimes they joke around about the color of my skin Aj! I cant see you anymore, they turned the lights off! even though my complexion is nowhere near that dark, sometimes they say Youre so Black! when I do something childish or ignorant, and one of my friends thinks its hilarious to call me a knuckle-dragger a n****r or a coon. These comments and names make me furious, sad, and frustrated. Mad at how ignorant people can be, sad that they and or other people believe in the words that my friends say, and frustrated because they never stop and its so hard to tell them how offensive it is to me while trying to keep their friendship.

Hopkins 7 Sometimes it happens so frequently that I just want to stop in the middle of class and yell at people for how insensitive theyre being. This insensitivity is caused by ignorance; my friends dont know a lot of Black people, which is obvious because we go to a school which has a population of around 100 African American students in a school of 2,500 kids, accounting for less than 1% of the student body. The zip code that my school and most of my friends reside in has a population of around 1,000 African Americans while the total population of the neighborhood sits just over 25,000 (City-Data.com). Even in all of Phoenix, African Americans account for only 5.3% of the total population of 1.6 million people (City-Data.com). The residents of Phoenix dont have interactions with a large number of Blacks. This inexperience of communication with African Americans causes people to believe the information from the media which primarily paint Blacks in a negative light. The unfavorable identity given to African Americans by the media is what most Americans use to base their opinions upon Blacks. The media should accept responsibility for its negative depictions of African Americans on the news, television shows, and in music. In April 2011, a study was done by Mintel, a market research company, that interviewed 1000 Blacks above the age of 18 on their feelings on the medias portrayal of Blacks. In this study, nearly 80% of the participants wanted to see more Black models or actors on television (Mintel). Only 19% of the participants felt that Black culture was being reflected accurately, and only 15% of the participants felt that Black men were portrayed positively on television (Mintel). These numbers, which might seem startling to some, are a certain indication that African Americans dont agree with their portrayal on television. I agree with these statistics, in my experience, if a Black person is on television its either because they are getting arrested ,whether its on a reality show like Cops, a drama such as CSI: New York or acting obnoxious like Mr Brown on Meet the

Hopkins 8 Browns. Not many shows on television display the educated Black Man or Woman on their positive, exciting journeys through life, or a healthy middle-class Black family without a ridiculous character involved. Too many shows on television depict the ghetto as the only area Blacks inhabit, or are constantly giving Blacks loud and ignorant personalities to play, contributing a large part to this social problem. Music videos that show threatening looking African Americans while the song spouts lines about violence and drug dealing helps many people believe that this is how all Blacks live. The medias depiction of Blacks is for some White Americans and the larger part of the worlds population, their only interaction with Blacks, creating and breeding stereotypes about Blacks in America. However, the media isnt the only thing that perpetuates these racist stereotypes, its the fact that some people do fit the stereotype, and its obvious enough that people dont seem to acknowledge the number of Black people that dont act the typical, ghetto way when making stereotypical comments. This problem is also at the fault of Blacks who do act that way, and continue to act in ignorant ways, setting bad examples for the next generation. We must, as a race, show our distaste for the way were depicted and treated, just like we done throughout our history on this continent. Weve had rebellions, petitions, and marches just to be closer to the dream of equality, but were not there yet. The negative identity that is given to Blacks through the media must be destroyed and replaced with a valid, brighter image, but to do that Blacks must work for that change. Ive spent four and a half years of my life surrounded by people of other races, being bombarded with stereotypes on a daily basis, and being told what I am by others. Ive lived submersed in this world of subtle racism and have come to understand it through my experiences. Racism is caused by ignorance and the only way to combat ignorance is knowledge. So through this paper, I hope to show to the recipients and dealers of racism how they are a fault,

Hopkins 9 what they can do to help change this problem, and simply to show others how I feel. I hope Ive achieved that.

Hopkins 10 Works Cited

Colour Me. Dir. Sherien Barsoum. Perf. Anthony Mclean. Taza Media, 2011. Film.

Glover, Donald. "Hold You Down." Camp. Childish Gambino. Glassnote Records, 2011. CD. Mintel Group. "Portrayal of Blacks in the Media." Reaching Black Consumers.com. Cabletelevision Advertising Bureau. Web. 13 Mar. 2012.
Nardo, Don. Braving the New World, 1619-1784: from the Arrival of the Enslaved Africans to the End of the American Revolution. New York: Chelsea House, 1995. Print.

"Phoenix, Arizona." City-Data.com. Onboard Informatics, 20 Feb. 2012. Web. 13 Mar. 2012. Pilgrim, David. "New Racist Forms: Jim Crow in the 21st Century." Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia. Ferris State University, Jan. 2001. Web. 26 Dec. 2011. "Poll: Most Americans See Lingering Racism -- in Others." CNN.com. Cable News Network, 12 Dec. 2006. Web. 26 Dec. 2011.