From Identification to Rage

2020 ◽  
pp. 140-165
Author(s):  
Richard Lischer
Keyword(s):  
Black Americans ◽  
Best Interests ◽  
White Americans ◽  
True Nature ◽  
Rhetorical Strategy ◽  
Complex Element ◽  
The World ◽  
Dark Color ◽  
Racially Mixed ◽  
Martin Luther King

This chapter considers the most complex element in Martin Luther King, Jr.’s strategy of style: identification. For the first decade of his career, King worked incessantly to align the aims of the Movement with the values of moderate-to-liberal white America. His goal was the merger of black aspirations into the American dream. To do this he had to convince black Americans that his methods represented their best interests, and he had to convince white Americans that his vision was consistent with their heritage and in their best interests as well. King carried out his mission of identification before a vast racially mixed audience. He campaigned for identification as a man of dark color in one of the most color-obsessed nations in the world. For all its unconscious cunning, King’s strategy of identification led ineluctably to the language of confrontation and to the evenatual abandonment of rhetorical strategy. With the nation’s involvement in Vietnam, he burned his bridges to his liberal supporters and refused to mask the true nature of the conflict.

scholarly journals HEGEMONIC DISCRIMINATION AS SEEN IN ERNEST J. GAINES’ A LESSON BEFORE DYING

2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 12
Author(s):  
Achmad Naufal Irsyadi ◽  
Itsna Syahadatud Dinurriyah
Keyword(s):  
Civil Rights ◽  
Theoretical Foundation ◽  
Black Americans ◽  
White Americans ◽  
Antonio Gramsci ◽  
Black Africans ◽  
The World ◽  
History Of

<p class="Abstrak">The progress history of Black Africans in America remains a slice of the history of minority struggle in the world of inferiority. Racism becomes a brand topic in every sector of Blacks live in America. War and act of reformation as ways against racism are almost routinely done by Black Americans to reach their civil rights as Americans. Although the war against racism has ended, but racism atmosphere can still be felt, and it seems to have been felt by Ernest J. Gaines in his novel entitled <em>A Lesson Before Dying. </em>Therefore, this writing would like to analyze and describe hegemonic discrimination by White Americans. Hegemonic discrimination is a new phenomenon for Black Americans in the Southern. This theoretical foundation refers to the theory of Hegemony by Antonio Gramsci that is applied to see how discriminative hegemony is implemented smoothly and comfortably.</p>

scholarly journals Understanding Ta-Nehisi Coates’ Rejection of Hope

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. 22-30
Author(s):  
Maanvi Dhillon
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
American Dream ◽  
Black Americans ◽  
Literary Analysis ◽  
Black American ◽  
White Americans ◽  
Personal Experiences ◽  
The World ◽  
History Of ◽  
Work First

Ta-Nehisi Coates’ book Between the World and Me is written as a letter to his son, but serves many roles: a collection of personal experiences as an African American man, a history of black people’s exploitation and oppression in America, and advice for navigating the country and its historical, systematic, expansive and deeply embeddedd racism. Readers and critics have noted the pessimism of the work, as Coates writes pragmatically and coldly with no optimism about the potential to end the racist oppression of black Americans. This essay analyzes Coates’ rejection of hope by parsing through the audiences he addresses and the respective messages underlying his work. First, the essay considers how Coates urges readers to think critically about the hopeful narrative of the American Dream and see how it obscures the racism underlying and determining both white Americans’ economic, political and social successes, as well as the struggles and cyclic obstacles afflicting black American communities. Using literary analysis, the essay argues that Coates’ rebuke of the American dream is meant to be addressed towards white Americans, as they are more susceptible to accepting its tempting and convenient narrative. Coates provides his son and the black American community with a different critique of hope; he shows the futility of maintaining optimism about the achievement of racial equality when that outcome depends on their nation and white peers who demonstrate no interest in ending the racist structures and systems that privilege them. Coates’ argument is clarified in the essay by framing it as a form of literary theorist Lauren Berlant’s conception of cruel optimism. Ultimately, by exploring the nuance in Coates’ pessimistic work, the essay reveals how Coates’ rejection of hope is both an effective message in addressing his various audiences and a justified sentiment, particularly given the high cost of holding on to hope for black Americans.

Conclusion

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip J. Ivanhoe
Keyword(s):  
Traditional View ◽  
True Nature ◽  
The World

The primary claim of this study is that when we come to understand the true nature of what we are as individuals and as a species, we cannot fail to acknowledge our connections and interdependencies with the rest of the world, and this can, does, and should incline us toward greater care for other people, creatures, and things. The conclusion warns us about some potentially bad forms of oneness and recalls earlier arguments showing how such mistaken conceptions violate established imperatives to present metaphysically, psychologically, and socially plausible views that can serve as the basis for integrated, sustainable, and happy lives in community with others. The new conceptions of oneness this study recommends differ from traditional view in being open-ended ideals; we can find support for such ideals in the world, but we can and must continue to build and innovate upon them.

Defending the Difference

2017 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Natural Sciences ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
True Nature ◽  
Natural Entities ◽  
The Social ◽  
The World ◽  
Methodological Difference ◽  
The Difference ◽  
The One

Dreyfus argues that there is a basic methodological difference between the natural sciences and the social sciences, a difference that derives from the different goals and practices of each. He goes on to argue that being a realist about natural entities is compatible with pluralism or, as he calls it, “plural realism.” If intelligibility is always grounded in our practices, Dreyfus points out, then there is no point of view from which one can ask about or provide an answer to the one true nature of ultimate reality. But that is consistent with believing that the natural sciences can still reveal the way the world is independent of our theories and practices.

Crispus Attucks Meets Jim Crow

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mitch Kachun
Keyword(s):  
Popular Culture ◽  
African Americans ◽  
American Revolution ◽  
Jim Crow ◽  
Black Americans ◽  
Community Organizations ◽  
White Americans ◽  
High Regard ◽  
American Memory ◽  
History Books

As Jim Crow segregation came to define black Americans’ place in the nation by the end of the nineteenth century, American memory also became largely segregated. African Americans continued to hold Attucks in high regard, but his name was invoked far less frequently in mainstream popular culture and historical scholarship. As white America all but abandoned its concern for the basic welfare and rights of black citizens, a black hero like Crispus Attucks had little chance to enter the heroic pantheon of the nation. School textbooks, mainstream popular culture, and white Americans in general virtually erased Attucks from the story of the American Revolution. African Americans kept his memory alive in history books, public commemorations, and memorial acts like the naming of children and community organizations.

Toward Jerusalem: A journey of the eternal now (A Sermon)

2021 ◽  
Vol 118 (1) ◽  
pp. 102-107
Author(s):  
Richard Francis Wilson
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
Martin Luther ◽  
The United States ◽  
Paul Tillich ◽  
Dietrich Bonhoeffer ◽  
As I Lay Dying ◽  
The World ◽  
The Face ◽  
Martin Luther King

This article is a theological-ethical Lenten sermon that attempts to discern the transcendent themes in the narrative of Luke 9-19 with an especial focus upon “setting the face toward Jerusalem” and the subsequent weeping over Jerusalem. The sermon moves from a passage from William Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying through a series of hermeneutical turns that rely upon insights from Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Martin Luther King, Jr., Will Campbell, Augustine, and Paul Tillich with the hope of illuminating what setting of the face on Jerusalem might mean. Tillich’s “eternal now” theme elaborates Augustine’s insight that memory and time reduce the present as, to paraphrase the Saint, that all we have is a present: a present remembered, a present experienced, and a present anticipated. The Gospel is a timeless message applicable to every moment in time and history. The sermon seeks to connect with recent events in the United States and the world that focus upon challenges to the ideals of social justice and political tyranny.

scholarly journals Best interests: The ‘best’ way for courts to decide if young children should act as bone marrow donors?

2017 ◽  
Vol 17 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 3-42 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shih-Ning Then
Keyword(s):  
Bone Marrow ◽  
Young Children ◽  
Medical Practice ◽  
Best Interests ◽  
Potential Donor ◽  
Unique Position ◽  
Potential Child ◽  
The World ◽  
Psychological Harm ◽  
Continued Use

Young children who are called upon to donate regenerative tissue – most commonly bone marrow – to save the life of a sick relative are in a unique position. The harvest of tissue from them is non-therapeutic and carries the risk of physical and psychological harm. However, paediatric donation is relatively common medical practice around the world. Where some doubt exists over the legality of allowing a child to donate, courts can be asked to authorize the procedure and in doing so will apply the ‘best interests’ test in making their decision. How are a young child’s rights recognized in such a situation? This article considers whether the best interests test is the ‘best’ test to be applied by courts when cases of potential child donors come before it. The approach of courts in three jurisdictions is analysed, and problems in the application of the test in this context are discussed. While the continued use of the test by courts is supported, the way the test has been used by courts is critiqued and recommendations made to better respect the rights of the potential donor child.

scholarly journals Whites for racial justice: How contact with Black Americans predicts support for collective action among White Americans

2017 ◽  
Vol 21 (6) ◽  
pp. 893-912 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hema Preya Selvanathan ◽  
Pirathat Techakesari ◽  
Linda R. Tropp ◽  
Fiona Kate Barlow
Keyword(s):  
Social Change ◽  
Collective Action ◽  
Intergroup Contact ◽  
Black Americans ◽  
White Americans ◽  
Racial Justice ◽  
Group Efficacy ◽  
Total N ◽  
Group Members ◽  
White Guilt

Advantaged group members have an important role to play in creating social change, and intergroup contact has tremendous implications in shaping intergroup relations. However, little research has examined how intergroup contact predicts advantaged group members’ inclinations toward collective action to support the interests of disadvantaged groups. The present research investigates how contact with Black Americans shapes White Americans’ willingness to engage in collective action for racial justice and support for the Black Lives Matter movement. Three studies of White Americans (total N = 821) consistently reveal that positive contact with Black Americans predicts greater support for collective action through a sequential process of fostering greater feelings of empathy for Black Americans and anger over injustice. These findings hold even when taking into account other relevant psychological factors (i.e., White guilt and identification, negative contact, group efficacy, and moral convictions). The present research contributes to our understanding of how advantaged group members come to engage in social change efforts.

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