A Short Story Of Erol Color : A Change Of Heart

The fact that prejudice prevents us from seeing the good that lies beyond a person’s appearance, religion or race is represented to a great extent in The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak. The novel is set in 1930s Germany during the times of rising anti-Semitism when Adolf Hitler, the leader of the ruling Nazi Party put his discriminatory ideologies into practice and began persecuting people of the Jewish race. This persecution is known as the Holocaust in which 17 million Jews were killed by the Nazi Party who described them as a shame upon Germany even though over 100,000 Jews fought for the country in WW1. The Book Thief is riddled with examples of racial prejudice whether it’s when a Jewish shopkeeper is beaten in the name of German patriotism or when the character of

The diversity between Americans has always been evident, and not just by the skin tone or religion, but also by their backgrounds, as well as how their lives are like today. Especially in African Americans and those who wanted to change the ways of religion, and the prejudice against them continues to stick, even today.

In the article “Quandaries of Representation,” which was written by Mona El- Gehobashy. She talks about “the ways in which racial rhetoric, informed by prior English understandings of sub- Saharan Africa, disrupts the narrative. Not the least of which is how and where American indigenous groups fit into a larger world order” (Smith). Mona also talks about what she had to grow up with, while trying to get a job in America and being a Muslim. There was also a much deeper fact to her essay, and that was discrimination towards people that might not look, act, or believe the same way as you. Discrimination has always been around, but it seems like it has become more relevant today then what it was in the past.

People of color have been persecuted in this country since it was “discovered” by Christopher Columbus. Starting with the genocide of the Native Americans, the slavery of African Americans, continuing into the institutionalized racism that exists to this day. “For generations, people have used their mixed-race backgrounds to gain advantages in society. Many of those who were half black, for instance, “passed” for white to avoid discrimination” (Hu, 2012). While race is clearly not the definition of one’s character, many people, even members of the same minority group often look at only negative stereotypes when meeting a person. In my personal experience, I have been told by people of multiple races that I could pass for

The intended audience for this article is people of Caucasian descent. “Yes, we all have unconscious biases, but white people 's biases support a racist system”(Blake, 4). In America, the Civil Rights movement was about freedom of people of color from white supremacy. While people of color are able to enjoy freedoms that they were not able to enjoy in previous centuries, there are still remnants of racial prejudices that exist. The author argues that while everyone stereotypes, racism continues to persist because of the stereotypes of prominent white persons.

From the segregation and discrimination of African American’s to threats towards Muslims. Sadly discrimination in the United States is still happening today. These people that are affected are not equal to the other people who aren’t getting discriminated against. Studies show that it racism and discrimination is a big problem and it’s getting worse. “In a new nationwide poll conducted by CNN and the Kaiser Family Foundation, roughly half of Americans -- 49% -- say racism is "a big problem" in society today” (Shoichet, CNN). Discrimination is a big problem and it’s only getting worse. Racial tensions are on the rise. The Muslim community has been repeatedly harassed and attacked because of their religion. “They have been harassed, fired from jobs, denied access to public places, and otherwise discriminated against because they wear hijab” (ACLU). Society sees them as future terrorist because terrorist in the Middle East claim to be Muslim. Society plays a big role in discrimination. “Racism is inevitable in any society” (Shoichet, CNN). There is always going to be racism is society. It’s going to happen to different people. That doesn’t mean that it should be brushed over or ignored. Society can manipulate other people into thinking that what they say is correct. “They perpetuate certain ways of seeing the world and peoples within that world” (Jiwani, Racism and the media). Society can change the way some people

Since the beginning of time, people have been disrespected due to their race and color. For example, there is a great deal of racism going on now for the reasons that the person is either a different

Our obsession with judging our fellow man rather than trying to understand him as well as our penchant for creating smokescreens to cover the real issues are ripping out our hearts and trampling our souls. We live in an enlightened time, but yet we stand guard at the gates of yesterday protecting a past that has little to offer but distrust, anger, hurt, and alienation from our fellow man. We live in a society of non-discriminatory intolerance. We live in a society often unwilling to acknowledge the truth behind its sins or that it has sinned. As a people, we are quick to denunciate but slow to act and take responsibility. Regardless of the color of our skin, we have embraced intolerance to the point that it has become our norm, and it is that intolerance that now lays siege to all that we love and care for as a nation.

A white guy is driving and gets pulled over by a cop. The cop tells the man he has a tail light out and he lets him continue with his drive. Later, a black guy is driving and he got pulled over. The cop then checked his car, made the black guy open his trunk to look through it, the cop also brisked the black man and he was then arrested for no reason but the cop pulled the white man over because a tail light out can mean your in a gang. This is an imaginary story, but this happens way more often than citizens think. Therefore, discrimination still occurs, black people are treated poorly based on their color, gender, and actions, even though people don’t realize it.

When hearing the words, “African Americans,” “Hispanics,”or “Caucasians,” the majority of people in America will generally categorize the traits of these nationalities based upon their roles displayed in the media, books, movies, or first-hand experience. The actions being made by their associations is stereotyping; defined in the Merriam-Webster dictionary as, “[believing] unfairly that all people or things with a particular characteristic are the same,” revealing that even unknowingly, people are allowing nationalities to fall under a list of behavioral, cultural, and moral traits.

Discrimination is alive and well in America. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines discrimination as “the practice of unfairly treating a person or group of people differently from other people or groups of people”. The article “FOBs vs. Twinkies” written by Grace Hsiang discusses intraracial discrimination amongst Asian Americans. It describes the divide between the Asian Americans called “FOBs” (fresh off the boat) that cling to their ethnic heritage, and those called “twinkies” that reject Asian culture and try to be seen as American. The article “Black Men in Public Spaces” by Brent Staples describes discrimination by giving a personal account of walking through public spaces at night and innocently scaring a woman. She silently stereotyped that he was a mugger, murderer, or rapist because he was black. This experience stayed with the author for his entire life. These two

Prejudice and discrimination have created huge problems in history and still impact societies today. These horrible problems stem from the things that children are taught, or introduced by parents, educators, and the society in which they live. As James Baldwin discusses in his speech, “A Talk to Teachers,” the beliefs are shown in how whites and blacks are taught to see one another, how they have different ways of living, and are thought of in a variety of different ways. These things are issues that we still face today. Since the beginning, whites have believed they are the more entitled race and that it gives them the right to treat blacks like “animals.”

Others may not be as blatant. We can correlate this situation to a situation where the minority, that included a young black man, was speaking out against injustice against people of color. Martin Luther King Jr., on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial said, “I hope that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.” This small portion of his “I Have a Dream” speech symbolizes the entire goal of the civil rights movement. Mr. King hoped that his children would be judged by their character and their soul, not by unchangeable factors like skin color, or in this case gender. I have a mother, a grandmother, aunts, a girlfriend, and future daughters who will live on this earth and in this country. This issue is important to me because I don’t want my family and future family to be treated unfairly because of their gender, but treated according to their heart. Cheryl Hughes, a black divorced mother, became an engineer. Throughout her career she lost over 1 million dollars compared the large male majority that she worked with, because she was an African American women.Link Compared to a dollar paid to a man, white women make 79 cents, while hispanic and black women make 55 cents on the dollar. Link This simple fact underscores the bias against women and even more so, against women of color. It is important to know this because we cannot fix the problem completely until we collect every detail and facet of it. Finally, this connects with Dr. King’s quote because we have come a long way in the journey to live in a world where we are judged by our mind and morals. There are many more obstacles regarding women that we must overcome. But with Dr. King’s vision and Jim Hightower’s advice to try and try again we will get to equality for all genders and

Muslims should not be judged by their race, or what their past race members have done. Also, many other people are persecuted because of their race. Such as Indigenous people who are being stripped of their rights to live on the reservations that their ancestors fought for. Indigenous peoples face many challenges and their human rights are frequently violated: they are denied control over their own development based on their own values, needs and priorities (Combating). Your race should not determine the benefits, burdens, or responsibilities that you the people bear in our society.

If you are different than the majority of the people around you, you will be judged. This holds true if you are someone who belongs to a minority group whether if you are of Latin, Black descent, or are underprivileged. There is a huge inequality that minority groups face today. Two short stories and an article that help put into perspective the inequality that minority have to face are “The Lesson” by Toni Cade Bambara, “The Myth of the Latin Woman” and “Donald Trump Calls for Barring Muslims from the U.S” for the New York Times By Patrick Healy and Michael Barbaro. These stories speak of the social and economic unfairness minorities have to go through.