Claire Real World Connection Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/03/24/in-brazil-racism-can-wear_n_6926164.html Summary (brief) of Current Article on Racism:
This article talks over the current racism allegations in the country of Brazil. First, the article discusses three examples of racism in the Brazilian general public, that deal with celebrities or well-known faces. The article concludes each example with thought provoking questions about if the race of the person in question was changed, or comments about the European beauty standards admired and even celebrated in Brazilian society. The article draws itself to a close with its final paragraphs discussing discrimination and in some cases violence against blacks in Brazil today. Story elements that relate to the book—Similarities AND Differences
One of the similarities between the book, Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, and the article is that both include themes of discrimination against blacks in society. For example, in the article, the author discusses violence against blacks in Brazil saying, "One of the consequences of this discrimination, according to IPEA, is violence: more black people are murdered, actually 2.4 times more, than white people in Brazil." This is similar to the article in the sense that in both blacks are prejudiced against in violent ways, the book being lynchings and burnings. One of the differences, however, is the article discusses more subtle racism, with people using social media to make comments rather than saying them to someone face to face. Since the book takes place in the 1930s, it was not possible for racism or discrimination against blacks over social media. How has racism changed since the 1930’s?
Racism now has become more subtle and less violent since racism in the 1930s. Granted, there are still violent groups against African-Americans today, they are not as prominent in society. Now, there is no segregation between blacks and whites in public areas, and most people do not believe in the idea of "White Power". Racism has also become more centered around social media, with people making jokes or comments on websites that could keep them anonymous. Most of the time, the social media website is used to hide behind, since most people could not make those comments in public without being labeled directly as a racist.
Notes: Jim Crow Laws
1877 to mid-1960s
represented the legitimization of anti-black racism
statutes enacted by Southern states and municipalities that legalized segregation between blacks and whites
African American men were largely barred from voting
legislation known as Jim Crow laws separated people of color from whites in schools, housing, jobs, hospitals, public transport, and public gathering places
African Americans were provided with facilities and objects of lesser quality than those of white Americans
courts challenged earlier civil rights legislation and handed down a series of decisions that permitted states to segregate people
Plessy v. Ferguson in 1896, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that racially separate facilities, if equal, did not violate the Constitution. Segregation, the Court said, was not discrimination
encouraged the passage of discriminatory laws that wiped out the gains made by blacks during Reconstruction
the Jim Crow system was undergirded by the following beliefs or rationalizations:
whites were superior to blacks in all important ways, including but not limited to intelligence, morality, and civilized behavior
sexual relations between blacks and whites would produce a mongrel race which would destroy America
treating blacks as equals would encourage interracial sexual unions
any activity which suggested social equality encouraged interracial sexual relations
if necessary, violence must be used to keep blacks at the bottom of the racial hierarchy
Basic Rules:
never assert or even intimate that a white person is lying
never impute dishonorable intentions to a white person.
never suggest that a white person is from an inferior class.
never lay claim to, or overly demonstrate, superior knowledge or intelligence.
never curse a white person.
never laugh derisively at a white person.
never comment upon the appearance of a white female.
Real World Connection
Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/03/24/in-brazil-racism-can-wear_n_6926164.html
Summary (brief) of Current Article on Racism:
This article talks over the current racism allegations in the country of Brazil. First, the article discusses three examples of racism in the Brazilian general public, that deal with celebrities or well-known faces. The article concludes each example with thought provoking questions about if the race of the person in question was changed, or comments about the European beauty standards admired and even celebrated in Brazilian society. The article draws itself to a close with its final paragraphs discussing discrimination and in some cases violence against blacks in Brazil today.
Story elements that relate to the book—Similarities AND Differences
One of the similarities between the book, Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, and the article is that both include themes of discrimination against blacks in society. For example, in the article, the author discusses violence against blacks in Brazil saying, "One of the consequences of this discrimination, according to IPEA, is violence: more black people are murdered, actually 2.4 times more, than white people in Brazil." This is similar to the article in the sense that in both blacks are prejudiced against in violent ways, the book being lynchings and burnings. One of the differences, however, is the article discusses more subtle racism, with people using social media to make comments rather than saying them to someone face to face. Since the book takes place in the 1930s, it was not possible for racism or discrimination against blacks over social media.
How has racism changed since the 1930’s?
Racism now has become more subtle and less violent since racism in the 1930s. Granted, there are still violent groups against African-Americans today, they are not as prominent in society. Now, there is no segregation between blacks and whites in public areas, and most people do not believe in the idea of "White Power". Racism has also become more centered around social media, with people making jokes or comments on websites that could keep them anonymous. Most of the time, the social media website is used to hide behind, since most people could not make those comments in public without being labeled directly as a racist.
Notes: Jim Crow Laws