How Does Racism Affect Society

Sterling K. Brown once said, “It's the people who don't recognize the racism within themselves that can be the most damaging because they don't see it”. Racism can be seen as a disease because people are not aware of the trap they are falling into. The depressing fact of racism shuts down and tears people apart. Society as a whole needs to realize that the things people say or do should not effect the way someone feels. The disheartening effects of Maya’s family getting judged for their ethnicity highlights how racism causes others to feel like they are absent from society. At Maya’s eighth grade graduation, a white speaker said that blacks are only good at sports demonstrating that racism occurs everywhere, even in school events. Mr. Edward …show more content…
This proves the fact that blacks are treated differently from white people because of their skin color. Mrs. Cullinan shows a major extent of racism when she says “I’d call her Mary if I was you” proving the fact that just because she is a rich white woman, her name is more valuable than Maya’s and any other African American(Angelou 164). She feels more superior over Maya because she replaces her name which separates them apart from society. Maya is treated like her name has no importance which shows that she is a strong woman not letting anyone take her name away. Maya’s employer has no respect for her because maya said “That horrible woman would never have the chance to call me Mary because if I was starving I'd never work for her” which symbolizes the abuse African Americans took during this time of age(Angelou 164). The amount of hate Maya had to take symbolizes the strength she had in showing that she is of much importance as white people. Many times others would give up and let people treat them poorly but Maya never stepped down to racism. She showed no weakness when Mrs. Cullinan called her by another name, instead she showed how strong everyone should be when they are in that