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Axworthy Lecture Cornel West Thesis

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In the Axworthy Lecture, Cornel West discusses what it means to be human and have traits such as integrity, honesty, decency, and virtue, despite your humanity being rendered invisible. In America, the word justice has been altered to benefit the oppressor, rather than the oppressed. Incidentally, West states that in order to resolve justice, love needs to be implemented, publically, privately and tenderly within the system. Historically, American societies have imposed a form of “death” upon minorities, comprising of categories that include social, civic and spiritual assassination. Furthermore, West suggests that the identity of the oppressed is not defined by their features, but by the scars they have inherited. Terms such as “moral constipation”
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The major thesis in this book, are broken down into two components. The first is how we define racism, and the impact that definition has on how we see and understand racism. Dr. Beverly Tatum chooses to use the definition given by “David Wellman that defines racism as a system of advantages based on race” (1470). This definition of racism helps to establish Dr. Tatum’s theories of racial injustice and the advantages either willingly or unwillingly that white privilege plays in our society today. The second major thesis in this book is the significant role that a racial identity has in our society.

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We Americans share the burden of a past checkered by a vicious, poisonous, racial prejudice that promoted slavery over a hundred years ago, yet still hinders the progress of our society. This obstacle, however, is nothing new, as evidenced by Jacqueline Jones Royster in Southern Horrors and Other Writings: The Anti-Lynching Campaign of Ida B.

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In the essay, “A Genealogy of Modern Racism”, the author Dr. Cornel West discusses racism in depth, while conveying why whites feel this sense of superiority. We learn through his discussion that whites have been forced to treat black harshly due to the knowledge that was given to them about the aesthetics of beauty and civility. This knowledge that was bestowed on the whites in the modern West, taught them that they were superior to all races tat did not emulate the norms of whites. According to Dr. West the very idea that blacks were even human beings is a concept that was a “relatively new discovery of the modern West”, and that equality of beauty, culture, and intellect in blacks remains problematic and controversial in intellectual circles

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A person’s identity is what defines them, it is their history and personality, it is what makes them the person they are, and yet sometimes it is sacrificed in order to attain something more. The giving up of a person’s race, when it is possible, is one of the clearest examples of this idea. When a certain race is oppressed, many would be willing to sacrifice their identity with the hopes of living free of oppression. The idea of sacrificing race and identity for a benefit is demonstrated in Charles Johnson’s novel Oxherding Tale and Nella Larsen’s novel Passing. In Oxherding Tale, the protagonist, Andrew, is born a black slave, but is half white and has a light skin tone.

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Almost every demographic, minority, religious group have had their independence oppressed. African Americans, one the most notoriously persecuted people, used poems and stories in order to tell the plights of their anguish, and the struggle to maintain inner strength to persevere. “The caged bird sings, with a fearful trill, of things unknown, but longed for still, and his tune is heard, on the distant hill, for the caged bird, sings of freedom.” (Angelou, Caged Bird). The battle and struggle to combat oppression whether it is slavery, or genocide reverberates in the pages they have been documented on.

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Everyone 's identity and culture does have an effect on who they are because of the clothes they wear, their personality, and where they come from. The short stories "Totem," by Thomas King, and "Identities," by W.D. Valgardson, both explore how people are judged and treated differently because of their identity, color of their skin, and culture background.  This paper will discuss the ways in which the authors engage with the themes of judgement and discrimination.    In the short story, "Totem" shows how racism causes people to treat culture and identity differently. Totem took place in the Southwest Alberta Gallery and Prairie Museum.

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Oppression is a factor that those under it wish to eliminate as oppression destroys all types of happiness and satisfaction in an oppressed persons life. Works by numerous authors going as far back as Patrick Henry and as present as Langston Hughes demonstrate the oppressed as constantly battling their oppressors. These writers allow the audience see the mistreatment men, women, and children have gone through, which ultimately exposes the harsh realities of the lives ' of the oppressed. The injustice society has caused on many has brought upon destruction and disintegration not only to the families of the oppressed, but also to others living in fear of what could happen. This injustice is wide ranging, anywhere from the British tyranny on American

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