Scope: Many people are mistaken in thinking that racism in America is a thing of the past, when in reality it is still prevalent in society today. Although African-Americans have achieved “equality” through amendments of the Constitution and Supreme Court rulings, by no means have they received true equality. There is still a prejudice held by police officers against black people as shown with the amount of police brutality cases. Even textbooks have recently been discovered as incorrectly demonstrating the plight of an entire race by saying claiming that Africans came to America as “Workers”. Racism in America has been around for centuries, it will not just go away in a single moment. That is why I would like to go in depth on the educational and treatment from law officials that black citizens receive. There is a reason the majority of citizens in jail or in poverty are African Americans and it is absolutely not because they are less capable than their white counter-part. I will reference speeches and books of civil rights activists such as Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr., W.E.B. DuBois, and Cornel West. I intend to connect their writings to problems that are still circulating around America today.
Value: I will go beyond assessing racism in the educational and judiciary system and research attempted solutions to these problems. I will look into these solutions to see if: 1. If they were attempted 2. If they were attempted did they succeed or fail and 3. If they failed what is another way to solve the problem of racism. From this analysis I believe I will see what changes we need to make as a society, and how to do so in order for them to work. After all, what better way to create change than to learn from the mistakes of our past? I also want to identify where these prejudices originate from and why they are still around today. From the combined understanding of where racism roots from and the best way to put an end to it I hope to find possible solution to a social crime that should never have been committed.
Originality: Many people have written about racism but unfortunately the majority of these authors have been African-American. They do a great job connecting to their black audience but it mostly stops there. It does not break through to white America as prominently as it should. This could be due to a number of reasons, but what I think is the main cause is it is not relatable. I want to show how racism does not only affect Black America, but White America too. By suppressing a large portion of America educationally we as a country are not reaching our potential. By reforming the education and law systems we will have more kids in better schools. This is the key to change as DuBois stressed so often. In conclusion, by address these issues from a different perspective I hope I can reach out to the rest of America by not just addressing the problem but by finding the root and illuminating it from the source.
Practicality: There is more than enough evidence of racism and prejudices toward minorities in America. The recent awareness of police brutality shows how even our law enforcers often act in a racist manner. There are plenty of resources I can reference as I mentioned earlier. One that will be particularly useful will be W.E.B. DuBois because he wrote about how education is the solution to ending racism and rising from poverty. I agreed with his thoughts and was astonished to see how over one hundred years later black education is still far inferior to the education a white student would receive. There are also a number of civil rights advocates today such as Cornel West and Shaun King who bring attention to the prejudices of America today as shown in police brutality. The library has a number of writings of Malcolm X that I will reference in assessing the problem and potential solution. I believe Malcolm was a big contributor to achieving Civil Rights but Martin Luther King Jr. often overshadows his ideas. So I hope to bring to surface his ideas to give a different perspective on the issues at hand and see if they would work in a less radical fashion.
Great topic Pat. I think that your plan of attack is good and I like that specifically laid out what you are looking for in the value paragraph. However, I would encourage you to come up with more questions because it will not only make the reader think about the importance of your paper, but also help you focus your ideas even more. I also like your plan to use the work of authors from the past and relate them to today because it will emphasize your point that racism is not dead.
Pat,
I think that your topic is completely relevant to todays society. It is great that youll be able to use WEB as a resource after already having the foundation from reading and discussing some of his work in class. I think that your idea could be a bit more defined and concise.
Pat great topic and outline of the scope of your research. I also noticed how you brought in both blacks and whites into the discussion. Instead of simply talking about how the struggles and problems of Black America, you also mention how segregation also negatively affects White America. This is a new twist to a common research topic. In general, good job and keep on the same track of unique observations about both sides of the veil. One thing to watch out for though is the overwhelming amount of information regarding racism in the United States. Make sure to stay on topic and not let the scope of such a large topic get the best of you.
Pat, you definitely selected a relevant topic. Overall you are off to a great start. While reading your scope it took me a while to actually understand what you were going to be writing about. Maybe move start of your proposal with this sentence, “That is why I would like to go in depth on the educational and treatment from law officials that black citizens receive”. I feel like you touched on it briefly, but remember to answer the “so what” question. Answer WHY do we care if people are racist or in poverty. I think your originality section is insightful, good job!
Pat, I love the topic because it is so easily seen today. This topic really combines and connects many issues blacks have to deal with in today’s societies. Even though this topic is huge, you do a nice job of starting broad and getting narrower in your scope focusing on specific writers and backing it up with evidence. There will be many primary sources available to you like the ones you pointed out, which will enhance your paper as well. It is building on what previous papers have written on this subject and you are making it your own. Love the idea of affecting not just black, but also white america. Great topic and great start. I am interested in reading the final product as I think it would be a very strong paper.