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Discrimination is a common phenomenon among the black and the white Americans in which the whites form the superior race and
Discrimination is a common phenomenon among the black and the white Americans in which the whites form the superior race and the blacks the inferior one. The white’s culture dominates the African-American culture and forces blacks to adopt a black masculinity in which the blacks are viewed as ignorant, angry, arrogant, and morally loose. The dominant culture has major stereotypes against the blacks as depicted by the experiences that Inversion went through especially after his arrest. There is cultural discrimination against the black community in various ways such as legal matters, sports, and leadership posts.
From the reading, it is evident that young people of African-American origin live a life of struggle due to the racial discrimination. The treatment of Inversion and his uncle after being accused of breaking into Iverson Cousin’s house in 2002 and threatening the occupants is a clear indication of the struggles they go through. The intensity in which the media covered the incidents and the reaction of the police was too harsh for a crime that did not result in any harm at all. The dominant culture has stereotypical perceptions of the blacks. The media portrayed the black men as angry, aggressive, violent, and sexually aggressive. White people are considered as brilliant, superior, and clean while blacks are associated with inferiority, death, danger, and dirtiness. Culture has a big role in the way the perceptions are disseminated in the newspapers, films, TVs, and radios depicting the whites as the superior while the blacks are inferior. The film, The Birth of a Nation that gave the blacks roles that are considered inferior such as in the kitchen and as criminals in the screen is an indication of the cultural challenges the blacks go through.
Black masculinity denotes a cultural struggle of the blacks to fit in the white-dominated culture as they have nothing to say concerning the way they are treated by the whites. Adapting to cultural diversities is, therefore, a long process as there are a number of factors influencing it. There is white supremacy over the blacks as the latter struggle for cultural identity as in the Iverson case as he tries to identify with the hip-hop masculinity. Black men do not possess power and status and mostly use their bodies to attain power and respect by stylizing their bodies as a self-identification and resistance to the dominance culture.
Adapting to power depends on the individualistic characteristics of the person. Black men prefer individuality when performing their duties rather than following a given procedure as the dominant culture dictates. “Tell me what to do but not how to do it” Iverson has ascended from poverty to a higher status class but still does not want to identify with the white culture. Black masculinity is a cultural struggle as depicted by the media concentration of Iverson’s historical stereotypes instead of the charitable work he does for the people. Iverson and his colleagues chose to retain their low-class status although their financial status has pushed them to the elite class.
The other factor making the adaptation to the cultural divert is uncertainty especially whether they will find acceptance in the dominant culture. Iverson has risen to the high-class but retains his low class as the dominant culture dictates that Black Americans are under the command of the whites at the work-place. The stereotypes against the blacks do not acknowledge that they are still human beings with feelings, emotions, and thoughts. The dominant culture portrays them as uncivilized, untamed, and unthinking. Fitting in the dominant culture will involve a lot of struggle for the Black Americans due to the historical stereotypes.
Culture’s Effect on ValuesPriorities
Culture’s Effect on Values/Priorities
I believe that individuals begin to learn culture, or more specifically the ways of a society, from the minute they are born. Generally speaking, this is referred to as socializing, and it encompasses much more than just going to school. People’s views about work and leisure are shaped by their cultural origins, which in turn influence how they see themselves and others. It has an impact on their values—on what they consider to be good and bad in their worldview. This is an example of how a person’s choices are influenced by the society in which he or she is raised and educated. Steven Lim’s experiment on how Asian parents react to a show of emotion and love is a perfect example of how culture defines personal expression (Lim). My culture is quite similar to this, in that personal expression of emotions is rare, yet present through other means that are more actions than words.
My culture has shaped my personal values and priorities in a number of ways. First, my culture is very social and looks primarily for societal gain more than the individual. As a result, I find myself being a better team player as opposed to going for personal glory. My culture prioritizes family happiness over individual family members’ position. For example, if a family member has a function, my culture requires that every family member attends and contributes to the overall collaborative effort of the family as opposed to passive participation evident in other cultures. I am needed to actively seek ways to make the family better even where it means sacrificing personal goals.
The values and priorities of my own culture have positively contributed to my own level of happiness. For example, the focus on family and society allows me to enjoy life more easily. I am less materialistic as defined by Amy Joy and I can honestly find happiness in factors such as togetherness, unity, collaboration, family, society, and being a member of a team (Joy). Here, my cultural characteristics have shaped my own values to create a level of happiness based on what is considered important at the basic level.
Evaluation of the Sample Essay Trickle down Enlightenment
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Evaluation of the Sample Essay Trickle down Enlightenment
The article was an argumentative essay relating to the importance of the French Revolution in France and the Haitian Revolution in Haiti. For an argumentative essay to be said it is well written, it has to have “ clear, concise, well-defined thesis” (Purdue 1). In the essay, the student did well by giving a brief general description of the two revolutions. The author gives the situations that led to both countries to start a revolution in a short paragraph. The brief statement presents the reader with an understanding of the contents of the write up concisely. Hence, in this front the paper was well written. Despite the good work above, the author did not give the description of the importance of the title. This statement is important since it makes the readers understand the importance of reading the article.
On the other hand, the piece does not indicate the sections required in the paper; that is the introduction, the body and a conclusion. Despite the fact that the paper is free flowing, the absence of these three components makes the readership, and hence the comprehension of the paper very hard. In addition, the paper does not provide precise differing points of view as required in an argumentative essay. The student did not discuss these differing points with insight, but rather dealt with the relationship between the two revolutions. Although this may be another line of view, it does not give out the elements needed in an argumentative piece of writing (Purdue 1).
The writer uses evidence from a number of sources. These sources include “Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen” and the documentaries “The French Revolution,” and “Egalite for All: Toussaint Louverture and the Haitian Revolution.” These sources, whether they are documentaries or books, provide some evidence, although they are not statistical, factual, anecdotal, or logical (Purdue 3). The writer did fairly well although factual and statistical evidence was not properly used. The student did not use multiple resources in the study, including those ideas that are not directly related to the topic. Instead, the use of the sources that were directly related to the study was noticed, therefore, giving the piece a narrow spectrum to base a student’s argument (Slave Rebellion 3).
The writer did not use each paragraph to discuss every idea (Purdue 2). One idea has been spread through more than one paragraph. This distorts the information in the argument. However, the general transition from the introduction to the conclusion was done smoothly. The author provided the reader with an easy way of understanding the article by writing the essay systematically to its conclusion. Further, the author gave a complete argument and the conclusion, although it was brief, restated the thesis, and addressed it in line with the evidence presented.
The inclusion of the novel “The Kingdom of this World” by Alejo Carpentier in the essay would have helped the writer to argue the issue faultlessly. The author of this novel, who hails from Cuba, chose the Haitian Revolution as his base of study. He suggests that the Haiti Revolution was an important aspect of the ending of colonization and slavery in the Americas and beyond. Carpentier used factual evidence in his novel. He used historical research, basing the argument on an actual slave. This makes this novel very suitable for an argumentative essay due to its factual evidence in the form of historical research. The novel also has a sequential pattern, which helps the reader to carry on the reading in a smooth manner. The book has two sides to it: the literature and history, which gives the readers a broader scope of the two revolutions (Carpentier 47).
The general view is that the article was fairly written. The thesis statement would get seven out of ten because it tried to explain the rest of the paper in brevity. The flow ideas in the paper were smooth from one paragraph to the next, although the author did not clearly indicate the introduction, the body, and a conclusion. The writer would get five out of ten in this part of the article. The lack of factual evidence in the body in the argumentative essay lets down the writer, and this is the reason he/she would get two out of ten. This piece of writing completed its mission fairly well, that is the case by giving a convincing summary, although the whole argument was not thoroughly completed. The conclusion would get a six out of ten. The written piece would score an average score of twenty-out-of forty points. It is then concluded that the essay was averagely argumentative (Haitian Revolution 4).
The author would have gotten a good score with proper formatting of the paper with an introduction, and a body that is evidenced statistically or factually. Lastly, the flow of the paper should have been smoother with related issues following each other while the different ideas should have been introduced in new paragraphs. A summary of all the arguments should then be given in the conclusion along with the restatement of the thesis. The summary should state clearly the side that the student is supporting (Purdue 4). Works cited
Carpentier, Alejo. The Kingdom of This World. 1948. New York, NY: Farrar, 2006: 30-98: Print.
“Haitian Revolution (1791-1804). The Black Past: Remembered and Reclaimed.” n.d. Web. 23 Feb. 2014.
Purdue, “Argumentative essays”: Essay writing. (2014):1-4.Web June 17, 2014. <https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/>
“The Slave Rebellion of 1791. n.d. Web. 23 Feb. 2014. <http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/haiti/slave-rebellion.htm>