Critical Race and Conflict Theory Critical race theory focuses on the fact that racism is a normal part of American society rather than an anomaly (Marx, 2008). It is something so entrenched in society and the institutions that uphold it, that it seems normal to people in the American culture (Harrell & Pezeshkian, 2008). This can be seen in the use of microaggressions. Microaggerssions are brief everyday nonverbal and verbal slights sent to people of color unconsciously by white people, who do not understand the message they are communicating (Harrell & Pezeshkian, 2008).…
Throughout the course so far, I have been able to gain a greater understanding of the First Nations peoples culture. As the course progresses it is noticed that as we keep going further into the past of the First nation's people, it keeps building on itself, due to the fact that there has been so much history covered up. Through the pieces of the literature studied in class, such as the novel Indian Horse by Richard Wagamese and the poem seven matches by Gord Downie and Jeff Lemire, I have been able to determine how the four major themes within the course, identity, sovereignty, relationships, and challenges are a part of the First Nations culture's past. The First Nations people are struggling with these themes, but are in a pace now where they are working to fix their broken past.…
Santos F. Ramos’s article Building a Culture of Solidarity: Racial Discourse, Black Lives Matter, and Indigenous Social Justice speaks to the movements in today’s culture known as BlackLivesMatter and all those around the same principles of injustice in today’s society. The movements primary goals are to blantely and bluntly call out oppression in America as presented in the multiple killings of Black minorities in America as well as overall minority persecution of minorities compared to their white counterparts. Ramos leads the article with a personal experience before breaking down the death and respects accommodated due to deaths presented in social media through over use of police brutality. It’s through this that Ramos further idealizes…
688). But as stated, Pompey too has given himself to the white hegemony and plans to forsake his community for personal gains. Pompey thus actually teaches Lila Mae that “she hated her place in their world, where she fell in their order of things, and blamed Pompey” (Whitehead 239). To push technological progress forward, Lila Mae accepts the inability she shared with Pompey and, like Fulton, decides to not fight directly against white hegemony. She lets them think what they want to think while she works on the perfect elevator.…
The exclusion of Indigenous people from the nations constitution took place in the early nineteenth century. Henry Parkes the premier of the colony of New South Wales called for all six Australian colonies to unite and create a great national government for ALL of Australia. Parkes initiated a constitution based on common racial and British custom on which this nation was supposedly founded. Throughout her speech “Indigenous Exceptionalism and the Constitutional ‘Race Power’ Marcia Langton argues that any idea of race and the ability of the parliament to use race in law making should be removed from the Australian constitution. The detailed history of legislation applied to Indigenous peoples demonstrates this is many ways; Indigenous people…
Nevertheless, not all scientists were objective in their statements and paid their attention to biological facts. Joseph Arthur de Gobineau (186-82) is a founder of Critical race theory was recognized as a father of modern racism because of his prejudices about status of person according to his race. He argued the humans should be divided into three distinctive groups: White (Caucasian), Black (Negroid) and Yellow (Mongolian). The sociologist was sure that human races are not equal and have different physical, psychological, mental and other capacities. According to his theory races could be divided into higher and lover races.…
Intro The emergence of indigenous courts captures the general public’s attention. Not only deploying innovative practices of justice, it acknowledges the devastating and enduring effects that indigenous people suffer since the period of colonization. Indigenous people continue to be disproportionately disadvantaged in the society. Since the early 90s, nations such as Australia and Canada begin to be more aware of the difficulties that indigenous people have confronted such as the effects of colonization, racism and overrepresentation in the Criminal Justice System.…
Thomas King's The Inconvenient Indian provides a harrowing and sarcastic but ultimately very real, look at the history of Indigenous peoples in North America from the time of first contact to the present. King details the relationship between non-Indigenous peoples and Indigneous peoples, establishing a subversion of history in which this relationship has continuously exploited and dominated over Indigneous people. At times a deeply personal account on his own conflicted activism, and at other times a revised edition of truths that show the identity of Indigenous peoples and how these identities have been affected by popular culture. In fact herein lies King's main theme of The Inconvenient Indian, how the stories and narratives by which legal…
The ethical issues of racism are centered around the questions we mentioned in our presentation. Is it necessary to resolve racism, Is being racist morally forbidden, Is being racist advantageous. To explain the significance of each question I’ll start by examining the first question. The point to asking if it was necessary to resolve racism was to provoke discussion on whether or not racism is tolerable in society and if not why. This question could lead to confront possible steps in resolving racism and really just get people to talk about the subject instead of shrugging it off.…
A “State of Crisis” was found and it concluded that conflict exists between the CJS and traditional Aboriginal approaches (Griffiths, 2011). The plight of Aboriginal women being discriminated against is rising as the numbers of missing and murdered Aboriginal women drastically increases. According to Human Rights Watch (2011), “the failure of law enforcement authorities to deal effectively with the problem of missing and murdered indigenous women and girls in Canada is just one element of the dysfunctional relationship between the Canadian police and Indigenous people” (p.140). The amount of discredited women in the files of the RCMP displays their absence in the cases of the missing Aboriginal women and girls. “The Native Women’s Association of Canada estimates that there were 582 cases of missing and murdered Aboriginal Women and girls – while RCMP places the number at less than 100” (Griffiths, 2011).…
The overrepresentation of indigenous people is a substantial issue in our country that requires attention in order to maintain a positive relationship with the Aboriginals and remove any negative stigmatization against the indigenous culture (Welsh & Ogloff, 2008, pp. 492-494). This remains an issue in our society because there are increasing numbers of indigenous people in prison throughout the provinces due to systemic racism within the legal system, crimes committed due to socioeconomic challenges and cultural or language barriers (Fitzgerald & Carrington, 2008, pp. 524-525). Moreover, alternative courses of action should be addressed in order to decrease the overrepresentation of indigenous people in the criminal justice system.…
Aboriginal women are victimized by violence far more than their non aboriginal counter parts due to various factors which steam from the systemic, intersectional oppression of social construct in Canadian society. Society views these women as if they are not apart of society; they are otherized and thus, treated as such which leads to violence, abuse and the dismissal of harming issues regarding Aboriginal women. “In far too many instances,extreme racialized violence against Aboriginal women leads to their disappearances and even murder”- (Harper,A. (2009) The abuse inflected on these women such as violence, even murder have high record rates in Canada; efforts to expose and inform the public (Canadian Society ) such as the ‘Red Dress’ Organization are implemented, exemplifying and help the understanding of the public of how these Aboriginal Women are being citizens by violence and how great the numbers are. The Red Dress organization/ movement in Canada is a showcase of red dresses hanging, each dresses repressing another ‘sister’- Aboriginal women, lost and taken victim of the violence affecting indigenous women in Canada.…
Immigration policies are comprised of the acts and regulations that affect which foreigners may enter the country and ultimately, be granted citizenship. Historically, Canadian immigration policies have favoured white immigrants. This preference is explicitly demonstrated through the classification of immigrants as ‘desirable’ and ‘undesirable’. Canadian immigration policies have been a major factor in shaping the development of the country, with policies being designed to fit the country’s economic needs of the time. Referencing the timeline of Ismaili’s four phases of immigration, this essay will support the critiques which state that Canada’s immigration policies, both past and present, have been discriminatory and racist in practice.…
In the article “Why Multiculturalism Can’t End Racism” (Word and World, pp.112-116) Marlene Nourbese Philip discusses multiculturalism in Canada and how in her opinion multicultural policies in Canada may promote discrimination rather than end it. Philip discusses the inequality with-in Canada between different cultures and races; one of the main points being that the Canadian government only recognizes English and French in the constitution while omitting Native culture. Philips believes that the Canadian ideology puts importance of white European cultures and values over any other race including but not limited to: Native and African. Examples used to disclose the inequality amongst cultures and preference toward white supremacy are Canada’s…
In Shauna Singh Baldwin’s short story titled Montreal 1962, the stigma that surrounds turbans and religious dress as a whole, implies that multiculturalism allows for people of different ethnicities and race to live in Canada, but those who do immigrate to Canada must abide by the set social normalities and conduct themselves in a way that is considered “western”. This is a problematic and oppressive mindset to have. This mindset has prevented many opportunities for immigrated Canadians. If an immigrated Canadian does not abide by the culturally set practices in western society, then one will be oppressed and be forced to miss out on opportunities that others would have.…