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Racism as displayed in King and Noah’s texts
Racism as displayed in King and Noah’s texts
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Racism as displayed in kings and Noah’s texts
Race is one of the most sensitive issues and discussions in the United States. This is because the population is majorly made of almost all types of people from blacks, Asians, and whites. Therefore when it comes to race and skin color, most of these conversations get awkward and tricky to talk about. This is the same concept discussed by the people who advanced human rights and racial equality like martin Luther king junior when he says that racial injustice has to be treated with urgency because the waiting has been too long. He also dismisses the constructions of some of his fellow ministers who claim that it is easy to wait since Christianity has waited for so long for it to receive or for it to become what it is. Almost a similar situation is registered in Trevor Noah’s the world does not love you as he explains his misery living two lives where he does not know where to belong as he is half black and half white. Therefore these two texts tell us of the issues the people of color go through, and through them, we can see the world with different eyes. Eyes that can understand and eyes can empathize with the people who keep suffering due to their skin color. Therefore this paper discusses the above concept with a close dichotomy of the two texts mentioned.
The discussion about culture in King’s text and the discussion about race and having no place to fall under Trevor’s text can be said to be similar and at the same time intriguing even to think of. It is commonly known how race has been a divisive force in the united states; however, in the south African apartheid leadership system, how the people dealt with these two issues was never the same. Even though people like Nelson Mandela and King can have been peaceful individuals who enhanced the lives and desires of the people of their countries to live a good peaceful life, it is still a problem of how these two suffered when they were fighting for the common good. In King’s letter, he writes when he is in a prison cell, which tells us of how hostile the environment was. In Trevor Noah’s text, we see an embodiment and a result of what nelson Mandela was fighting for; the freedom of the black people. We see how Trevor explains that different people are viewed differently and how this is a very important aspect of how everyone is treated and what it also means to the general population.
Therefore these two texts are related basically because they fight and address basic human rights towards the questions of race and skin color. However, they address them from different perspectives. We can see he wrote his letter in a prison cell whereby he was detained for leading the non-violent protests against the discrimination and lack of mercy and humanity regarding the black population of the united states. The text of Trevor Noah is a reflection of what happened before and how it affected him and his understanding of how race plays a big role in the societal understanding of different concepts and the societal belief system that a certain person should behave in a certain way. For example, when he was taken to a prison cell, he already knew how other people would think of him. he already knew that the whites were most of the time seen as hardened criminals who were ready to do a lot of bad stuff. However, on the other hand, this is not what he had done, and therefore this tells us of the misconceptions and the stereotypes formed in eh minds of the people about what it means to be black and what it means to be white.
The two texts are different in that they are written in different contexts and times. They are also written with different emphasis and directed to different audiences. Even though they are different in this manner, we can see that they talk of basic things and issues of concern, especially to people of color and everyone, since their basic subject is similar. It is that of justice despite a person’s skin color. Martin Luther king junior writes with a lot of emotions and a lot of emphasis on the course which he has been pursuing so long and which meant so much to him. he writes hoping and willing to do anything to see racial justice done. He also appeals to the church members to help him in this since he acknowledges that he cannot do it alone and that he is just a leader and now the whole movement of change. He also scorns those church members who did not help him and urges them to get in and try to bring racial justice to the forefront and make sure that it happens. King was very much determined to make sure that what he believed in came to happen. This is the same reason for his country’s love that he never advocated for violent means of addressing the issue but always advocated for peaceful methods and negotiation. However, this never seemed to work, and this was especially towards the south of America. This was where the disease of racial injustice has always been happening, from the time of the civil war, which led to the Ku Klux Klan’s formation, which has impacted making sure that social justice is never obtained for blacks in America. The group encompasses the white supremacists who still believe blacks and people of color should not be considered in any important discussions about the nation.
The context of Trevor Noahs ‘the world doesn’t love you can be said to be a reflective tone. This is essential to communicate to the world about the apartheid and racial discrimination in southern Africa and about communicating about the experiences and deep feelings he has about his being unable to belong to a certain group. It draws partly to his teenage years and how they were like. It communicates his thoughts and beliefs about a just society, and through it, we see how society teaches children to be who they become later in life. This is the same thing communicated by the King when he says that it will be very sad and torturing to tell a kid that she cannot go to the park, which has just been advertised since she is black. This alone begins to tear apart the mind and the heart of the child in terms of how they view the other race and the people of the other color. The central message perhaps is how the people of mixed color like he cannot find their rightful place to belong, and that can be said as to why he named this text as the world doesn’t love you.
The issue of justice as brought out by the King is never accomplished, and black people are always denied the right to have justice in American society. This is done through the different ways the people are always told to wait a little longer since it is not the right time to do some things. King demonstrates this when he talks of how his friend, who is white and who does not feel protests are the right thing to do, tells him. He explains how this fellow thinks that martin Luther king junior should leave this issue and make sure that he leaves it to the hands of god to re-arrange it and fix it as he has fixed Christianity after two thousand years. Other white friends who think he is very much into this state that he should wait a little longer because what he needs for the blacks will be obtained, but it won’t be obtained if he is this fast. He compares and contrasts this by stating how he and his group have been so patient, and they even never carried out the protests due to the election. One of the reasons for this patient was the knowledge and conviction that peaceful negotiations were possible for him, which could be done. However, this trust was broken, and the black people being subject of broken promises, he states that they had to go for protests to create such drama that this issue could no longer be ignored.
In conclusion, therefore, we can say that the letter of martin Luther king junior communicates so much to the people of America and the white supremacists about the danger they bring to society and how their will to make the status quo remain. It is a powerful letter written with a lot of emotions and all these directed towards racism and how this can end. This is the same concept communicated in the text by Trevor Noah, and even though this is outside America, it shows how racism in the other places of the world is not so different from that of the American people.
References
Noah, T (2019). The world doesn’t love you, The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc.
Ali-Dinar, A. B. (2018). Letter from a Birmingham Jail [King, Jr.]. Upenn.edu. https://www.africa.upenn.edu/Articles_Gen/Letter_Birmingham.html
Considering Culture in Intelligence Testing
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Considering Culture in Intelligence Testing
The intelligence of people can be affected by numerous factors. It is these factors, that must be considered when determining or testing the intelligence of an individual. This paper will consider a number of elements that can be used to determine the intelligence of a particular group of cultural population known as the Zubus. The Zubus have a specific defect in their brains that affects their capacity of speech. As a result, these individuals are not able to formulate or understand any kind of speech. Because of their limitation, many individuals consider them not intelligent enough or normal.
To test the intelligence of the individuals from this culture, I would use five elements in the test. One of them would be their memory capacity, the other element would be their analytical reasoning capacity, and another would be their emotional intelligence capacity. The other two elements would include their capacity to be attentive and their speed capacity. The ability of an individual to retain and remember something is what is referred to as memory retention and it is an essential indicator of intelligence. If the individuals from this culture showed lower levels of memory retention than one could conclude that their intelligence is low, however, if their memory retention was average or normal, then their intelligence can be said to be normal.
The analytical reasoning test is another test that can show how intelligent an individual is. One can ask the Zubus to solve some puzzle and if they show normal analytical skills then one can conclude that they have normal intelligence like other individuals. Emotional intelligence is one of the most important indicators of human intelligence. In the test, one could observe the relations these individuals have with their children, spouses, parents and each other to observe whether they are viable in an average society or not. If the individuals show normal intelligence in this element, then it can be concluded that they are intelligent.
The other two elements speed and flexibility of thoughts can also be essential indicators of one’s intelligent development. One can engage the Zubus in challenges that require speed of thought to see how well they have developed in the area. If their speed is average then it can be said that they have fully developed intellectually. Flexibility of thought can also be gauged to see how flexible the people are to other ideas and theories. This can show matured and developed intelligence.
There are several reasons why I think that these elements are the best ways to measure the intelligence of these individuals. One of the main reasons as to why I picked them is because they are the most common indicators of the intelligence of an individual. If someone, from any cultural or ethnical background, fails the intelligence test based on these elements then it is clear that they have not well developed intellectually. These elements are common among all cultures and, therefore, they were thought to be important test elements that can appropriately indicate the development of an individual.
To convince these individuals to take part in the intelligence test would be difficult. However, since they live in fear and embarrassment that other people see them as less developed in the area of intelligence, I would convince them that, if they undertook the test it would be one way for them to refute and proof wrong the thoughts of other societies about their intelligence.
Racism and research Case of Tuskegee
Racism and research: Case of Tuskegee
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Racism and Research: The Case of the Tuskegee Syphilis Study.
Racism and Research was a study conducted by Allan M. Brandt on occurrence of racism when it comes to scientific research using the case of Tuskegee Syphilis as his case study. The Tuskegee Syphilis Study was a study conducted on African-American men to observe the natural occurrence of syphilis on them. The study was carried out by researchers who took 600 black men, 399 with syphilis 201 without and conducted the study without their knowledge. The researchers told the men that their blood was being taken to test for bad blood hence the participants were unaware of what was being really done. The researchers made sure that the 399 men with syphilis remained unaware of possible penicillin treatment so as to continue with their study. The study was conducted for up to 40 years when an Associated Press story exposed what had been going on. Allan M. Brandt is medicine historian and Professor of the History of Science at Harvard University. Allan M. Brandt wrote an article by the name Racism and Research: The Case of the Tuskegee Syphilis Study, to show the racial background behind the Tuskegee Syphilis study (Brandt, 2012).
Tuskegee research raised a lot of question whether it was valid or not. Brandt in his research wanted to find out if racism played a role in certain scientific research. The research questions involved in this study included
Did the participants have enough knowledge on the research that was conducted on them?
Was the Public Health Service and Tuskegee Institute justified to conduct the research?
Did racism play a par in these scientific research?
In order to conduct the research, Allan Brandt came up with hypotheses that would have helped him arrive to his findings
H0 The Tuskegee research was justified and ethical and had no impact on African Americans.
H1 The Tuskegee research conducted on young African American men was racist, had an impact on trust between African – Americans and health care providers
In testing the hypothesis, Allan used qualitative research method to gather his data which involved extensive document analysis. This data selection method involved getting all material on the Tuskegee research and compiling them. He also used material from other authors who had weighed in on the matter determining how ethical or unethical the research was. In selecting the participants of the Tuskegee study, Dr. Raymond Vonderlehr assembled men who would be sampled and stated that they were being tested for bad blood a term that was used to describe cases such as syphilis and anemia. They went through thorough examination including x-rays and spinal tab in order to know their incidence of neuro-syphilis. The research had been conducted in good faith as United States Public Health Service had promised the Macon County that they would treat the people who had been infected. Allan also got hold of conversation between Clark and Dr. Vonderlehr that helped out in his research.
The research by Allan Brandt had the following findings; the Tuskegee syphilis study showed that major ethical issues in the medical research field needed to be looked into to avoid the repeat of such a study. One of the key issues of the Tuskegee study was lack of informed consent. The 600 participants of the case had been misled to take part in the research by being lied to that the research was about testing for bad blood but in the real sense it was to check the nature of syphilis among black men. The researchers were supposed to let all their subjects know about all the aspects of the research but since they knew it would greatly affect their willingness to participate, they didn’t inform them.
Another major ethical issue was brought about by the withholding of any form of treatment that could be offered to the 399 black men with syphilis, for the purpose of their research. The 399 syphilis suffering patients were not given welfare consideration since they were not informed of the penicillin treatment. Researchers who took part in the Tuskegee study tried to justify themselves that penicillin was not yet proven to be the best option for curing syphilis since it had negative effects on patients. A group of physicians believed that it was better to deal with the minimal damages of penicillin while another felt the drug would lead to much harm. The claims of the penicillin effect on patients did not justify that subjects should have been given a choice about continuing in the study once penicillin was available.
According to Allan M. Brandt research article, the Tuskegee Syphilis Study occurred at a time when Darwinism gave a new angle for American racism. Some people believed that primitive peoples, could not reach the level of white civilization. Scientists claimed that the African Americans were doomed in the struggle for survival. Cultural diversity is the existent of many ethnic or cultural groups in society. There existed a cultural diversity among the white and African American that led to racism since the white thought of themselves as superiors. The Tuskegee syphilis study was meant to evaluate the natural progression of syphilis in black men because white men believed their syphilis cases were different from those of black men. White Americans thought there were health disparities hence their syphilis would not be the same as that of the African Americans (Tuskegee syphilis experiment).
White Americans had based their superiority from Darwinism which claimed that man evolved from monkeys. Whites thought that the black man was closer to the monkeys in the evolution chain and they were highest. Many scientists then went on to say that African Americans were not likely to survive as time goes by due to evolution. The claims made by the white scientists were wrong for the African American only has more melanin compared to them hence his darkness. Due to the superiority belief that the whites had, they went on to try and enslave the blacks as well as oppress them for they believed they were powerful and more superior to the other race hence the lying in the Tuskegee report to the African Americans and the use of knowledge to their advantage.
Empathy was not shown in the olden days since White Americans saw themselves being more superior. The whites thought that all other races were primitive and did not have a chance in survival. The lack of empathy for other races led to them mistreating them and seeing them as animals rather than humans hence slavery occurred. The Tuskegee study confirms that the researchers who were whites, lacked empathy for the blacks for they conducted the study without their consent and did so for 40 years. Even when a treatment was available, though it had side effects, they did not care to inform their subjects but went on to take blood in the name of bad blood finding. It is due to the notion that the white men created that they are more superior that causes them to have empathy towards other cultures and races.
An African-American patient’s attitude towards a medical research was measured. African American’s mistrust doctors, scientists, and the government due to unethical conduct of previous cases. African Americans are treated poorly than the White Americans hence they have a negative attitude towards researches done by the medical body. In the Tuskegee study, the African Americans could have been pressured to agree to the study or might have not understood what they were getting themselves into. As a result of an attitude towards authoritative figures such as nurses and doctors, they were forced to sign the contracts for agreement.
Future directions that were proposed for the research were recommendations to be put in place on how research could be conducted. Although research may be conducted on a man to save his life or that of others, then participants need to be on the know of what research is being conducted on them and the future implications that the research may have. Racism needs to be dealt with as at times subjects of African Americans get experiments done on them without full knowledge and tend to be treated differently than the white participants, In the case of the Tuskegee Study, it revealed more about the case of racism as compared to a study on syphilis. The study also had an impact on why most African Americans are still wary of health care providers.
The Tuskegee syphilis report has over the years led to a global self-awareness of the public health. The Tuskegee study has led to ethical standards being given much importance such that everyone is given the right to make formal decisions that could change their dignity, justice to be offered to all hence no segregation of a certain group, and also the health of an individual to be given priority. (The Tuskegee Syphilis Study and Its Implications for the 21st Century, 2015) Tuskegee serves as a very good example of unethical practice all over the world for it portrays racism, lack of empathy and a bad attitude towards others.
Reference
Brandt, Allan M. (2012). "Racism and research: The case of the Tuskegee Syphilis study." The Hastings Center Report 8(6): 21-29.