Misconceptions Of African American Life Essays -

Misconceptions Of African American Life When you control a man's thinking you do not have to worry about his actions. You do not have to tell him not to stand here or go yonder. He will find his proper place and will stay in it. You do not need to send him to the back door. He will go without being told. In fact, if there is no back door, he will cut one for his special benefit. His education makes it necessary. This quote, spoken true by a prominent African American scholar of the 20th century, Carson Woodson, is aimed at shedding light on the inherent miseducation of African Americans. His beliefs that controlling ones thinking with such a powerful grasp that allows little or no movement will lead to that individual behaving as he is expected is a very justifiable point. If time and time again, one is told to do certain things or believe certain things as right, then with constant repetition and enforcement, widespread belief and acceptance of this idea or practice will become the norm. A people that is consistently taught or treated a certain way may at some point begin to accept it right. However, in many cases what may be deemed right by some is not necessarily the right thing to do. This theory can not be any more prominent than in the case of African Americans, who have long endured hundreds of years of discriminatory practices based solely upon their race and origins. Dating back to the days of slavery, these are a people that out of prejudice, out of expectations, out of fear, have often come to view the white mans way as the right way either by choice or by having no other choice. In the process, however, their very own culture, beauty, beliefs, traditions, etc., often get trampled upon or even forgotten as they either struggle to keep up or struggle to stay up. More then not, though, this brainwashing of sorts results in a miseducation of the African-American people that often leads to widespread misunderstandings about them. These misunderstandings can then lead to various forms of stereotypes aimed against African-Americans by whites or other non African Americans picked up along the way due to incomplete knowledge about their history which inherently also hurt those making these false assumptions. Times are changing, however, and with these evolutionary years comes a greater sense of struggle to understand. This struggle comes both from within the African -American community to find out more about themselves sans Caucasian undertones, and also from groups such as whites to attempt to designate stereotypes from truths. The vast majority of aids in this process, however, come from African American scholars, writers, poets, film-makers, etc., who have set out to expose the miseducation of the Negro into believing and acting upon forced actions or opinions and to learn the truths behind their actual heritage. Four works that susinctly bring the miseducation about African American history into the spotlight of the national public are Claude McKays The Lynching, Harriet Jacobs Incidents in the Life of A Slavegirl, Gordon Parks Washington D.C. Charwoman, and Spike Lees School Daze. All four works illustrate a common thread of the misconception of African-American life by blacks themselves, as well as Caucasians around them, that has been carried intact through many a generations in the history of the United States. The earliest example that I would like to call attention to is Claude McKays poem entitled The Lynching. In my opinion, this poem addresses the commonly held misconceptions of both blacks and whites against African Americans during the period of slavery in the U.S. In terms of the miseducation of African Americans, the author uses the line of The awful sin remained still unforgiven to insinuate that being born black was considered by him and other African Americans at that time to be a sin or something to be ashamed of. He blames this African American mans death on Fates wild whim and never once blames the racist white males who most likely lynched him for no good reason, nor does he seem to express anger towards them. This poem shows the miseducation of the Negro in that

Sexual Harrassment essays

Sexual Harrassment essays It is important to discuss sexual harassment in the workplace because it has many social, financial, and psychological consequences if not properly dealt with (Gerdes 33). Over the last 20 years, the Supreme Court has handled hundreds of cases dealing with the issue. It has modified and amended the laws concerning the act in order to form a less hostile workplace (Springer). It is hard to calculate just how much sexual harassment is taking place in the workplace because so many employees are unaware of the rules, but also because many are just too embarrassed to come forward. The most accurate and recent study was taken in 1987 and found that as many as 44% of women and 19% of men have experienced some sort of unwanted sexual advancements in public agencies alone. The number of incidents occurring in private business is unknown (Lindenberg 2). It is expected that as more women assume supervisory positions in the work place that the numbers will increase (Larsen). In order to discuss the topic of sexual harassment in the work place, one must have a clear definition of what actually constitutes sexual harassment. Surprisingly, however, there is no one single definition for this act. Each agency is responsible for implementing its own rules and regulations for the subject. Fortunately, though, most definitions can be interpreted nearly the same. The United States Department of Defense has a good and thorough definition that reads: Sexual Harassment may constitute one or several of the following: Æ’Ã ¦ Submission to such conduct is made either explicitly or implicitly a term or condition of a person ¡s job, pay, or career or, Æ’Ã ¦ Submission to, or rejection of, such conduct by a person is used as a basis for career or employment decisions affecting that person, or Æ’Ã ¦ Such conduct has the purpose or effect of unreasonably interfering with an individual ¡s work performance or creates an intimidating, hostile or offensi...

Human Trafficking Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words - 2

Human Trafficking - Research Paper Example ally includes sexual exploitation such as prostitution, slavery, forced labour, removal of body organs, forced services, servitude or acts similar or imitating slavery. This is the fundamental definition of human trafficking according to the United Nations Trafficking protocol.1 It is the universally agreed definition of human trafficking. However, in simple terms, human trafficking can be defined as the illegal act of buying and subsequently selling of people or individuals for the main purpose of forced labour, prostitution and other acts of exploitation. The human trafficker often operate by making false promises, restricting family and friends contact, limiting one’s freedom of movement, denial of basic necessities like food, taking one’s identification documents, stopping an individual from attending religious services and even threatening deportation to the victim. Over the last two decades, trafficking in human beings, often called ‘contemporary form of slavery’, has become a major international concern. It is an issue that has raised intense political discussions together with ambiguous legal regulations on national, regional and international levels. International organisations, government and civil societies have increasingly focused on trafficking, measures to prevent it, protect trafficked people, prosecute perpetrators and strengthen cross border cooperation against human trafficking. It is the most grave violation of human rights and considered the second most profitable transnational crime after drug trafficking.2 According to statistics by the Homeland Security Department, human trafficking generates about $32 billion per year, with millions of people being trafficked every year in the world. Women, men and children are trafficked for the purposes of sexual exploitation, forced labour, commercial marriage market, the sel ling of organs and for adoption. Western Europe is a region of destination for victims of human trafficking from mainly