Not only does this episode bring attention to many influential African Americans, it provides a lens for a younger audience to see and understand the racism in the past. Using Martin Luther King Jr’s actual words was very
I learned that Mexican-Americans were discriminated against more than I was aware of during this time in our history. An example from the video showed a sign outside of a restaurant that said “We serve whites only – No Spanish or Mexicans.” I also learned that the Hernandez v. Texas was the first Mexican-American civil rights case involving Mexican-American lawyers to reach the U.S Supreme Court. (PBS) o What does the video tell you about civil rights in America – for example, 1) how have our views of civil rights changed?
The movie Crash has many different forms of racism and classism from just talking with friends to making an assumption of someone based on looks or appearance, and also using power and authority for protection or personal gain. But, Crash reminds people that it is ultimately how individuals react when put in these situations that will affect the outcome of the life they
The Claudette Colvin and Rosa Parks video set in 1955 displays racism and segregation. The intended audience for this video is basically everyone. The president of the NAACP suggested that Claudette Colvin should be the face of the anti-segregation movement but because she was just a 15 year old girl, Rosa Parks was suggested. Rosa Parks had to sit in the bus to get evidence that black people were being sent to jail for sitting in the white people section. They all believed that the world will listen to someone older.
With social classes removed the resources would be more equally divided, thus eliminated the competition among social groups. The documentary stated that in order to reduce hate crimes related to racism, society must admit that there is a problem, in order to fix the problem. To often it seems that no one wants to speak of the racist acts occurring in America, so they continue to occur. If the issue is addressed, then it will allow others to recognize it and begin to solve the problem. Racism wont be solved over night it’s a social problem that will continue to take time to fix, we just have to be consistent with addressing the problem, only then will it allow victims of racism to heal.
The video encourages viewers to get rid of their racist tendencies and to view everyone as an equal individual regardless of race or culture. In Linda Martn Alcoff's "The Persistent Power of Cultural Racism," she discusses the enduring influence of cultural racism in the United States. Alcoff argues that despite progress in some areas, cultural racism continues to shape societal attitudes and behaviors. One key point she makes is that cultural racism is deeply embedded in American society, affecting how individuals perceive themselves and others. In order to overcome this, both authors suggest that society needs to be promoting diversity and inclusion, challenging and addressing biases and stereotypes, and having more education and awareness about the importance of inclusivity.
Jane Elliot was a third grade teacher that tried an experiment with her class to educate her students on the effects of discrimination. Elliot separated her class based on their eye color in order to explain how people are treated differently in the world. She tried to find a way to explain racism in the world in a way that third graders would understand. I was actually surprised when I heard there had been an altercation on the playground the day of the experiment. A blue eyed student teased a brown eyed student which resulted in the brown eyed student engaging in a physical altercation with the blue eyed student.
In the PBS documentary A Class Divided third grade teacher Jane Elliot tried an experiment to let a class of her third graders experience discrimination. For Jane Elliot’s third grade class in a small town in Iowa discrimination was unheard of because there was only white Christians living in the town. She separated her class based on eye color, so one day she made the kids with blue eyes be superior and the kids with brown eyes be inferior. She did multiple test to see if the way they were treated changed the way they learned. The next day she switched it, so the kids with blue eyes were now inferior and the kids with brown eyes were superior.
Issues such as racism and xenophobia consistently surface and there is a mutual distrust and resentment of other races amongst the pupils. This results in the teachers struggling to do their jobs in a tense environment and having to tackle complex issues such as discrimination. They are forced to attempt to unite students of differing ethnicities who are completely unaccustomed to co-existing with each
Ultimately, ethnic studies promote American ideals, create identity, and only create contempt when being constrained from these courses. Ethnic studies should be implemented in schools, because they promote American ideals of diversity, inclusion, and freedom. In a place like America, where diversity is supposed to be the building block of our nation, one would think that different ethnic groups would have the right to study their own identity. Students question this in the film and make claims such as, “Education is so against me that they don’t want me.” Evidently, with the threat of abolishing ethnic studies courses, students feel a lack of inclusion, which defies American values.
The documentary titled, “ A Class Divided” introduces us to the experiment made in an elementary school in Iowa by the schoolteacher named Jane Elliot. The documentary begins with Mrs. Elliot reuniting with the students who she did this experiment with the first time. The students are much older now, and they willingly want to watch the experiment that they were part of when they were elementary kids. The experiment was done days after the death of Martin Luther King Jr. Mrs. Elliot has always thought about doing the eye color experiment, but she was never sure of when to do it. She asked her third grade student if it would be interesting to see what would happen if they were judged by their eye color.
This was an interesting documentary on racism. Unfortunately it is still an ongoing problem in today’s society. I was not a big fan of this documentary. I believe it relied a lot on showing gruesome images, using the same ones repeatedly, which I believed to be unnecessary as the message was clear in the first place. Beginning with the British settlers in Tasmania, the documentary showed that racial superiority was used for gain (The settlers took the land as if nobody had already lived there and the Indigenous people just a problem they needed to rid).
I know just from being from a certain race people believe that sometimes that defines us as a whole. There is always a race being discriminated, oppressed and even treated unequally. I clearly understood that taking this course opened me up to the different events. It is really difficult to see that we live in this environment even though many whose
Many students reacted in anger and disappointment because they didn’t feel like it was fair to be judged on the color of their eyes. This experiment illustrates discrimination perfectly. It put the students into an African Americans shoes and made the students realize how hard it is to live life when always being discriminated on the way that you look. This experiment was very successful and continues to be used today to illustrate discrimination, and its effects on the ones doing or being
Erin places a line of red tape along the center of the classroom floor, asking students to step on the line if the question asks applies to them. Initially the questions are lighthearted, questions on music and film, the questions develop into more serious question about correctional facilities, drugs, gang violence and death. Cognate and sociocultural learning theories argue ‘that people construct new knowledge and understandings based on what they already know and believe’ (National Research Council, 2000, p.10). The students in this film are reinforcing racial stereotypes about each other that they believe to be true. In order to change these beliefs ‘preconceptions must be addressed’ (National Research Council, 2000, p.10 - 11).
