RACISM

WHAT IS RACISM?WHAT IS RACISM?

Racism involves the belief in racial differences, which acts as a justification for non-equal treatment (which some regard as "discrimination") of members of that race.

WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT RACISM?

Racism is a product of capitalism. It grew out of early capitalism’s use of slaves for the plantations of the New World, it was consolidated in order to justify western and white domination of the rest of the world and it flourishes today as a means of dividing the working class between white and Muslim or black, and native and immigrants or asylum seekers.

The first clear evidence of racism occurred at

the end of the 16th16th century with the start of the slave trade from Africa to Britain and to America.

capitalism = economic system - private ownership of the means of production, -creation of goods or services for profit or income, -accumulation of capital, -competitive markets, -voluntary exchange

DO YOU KNOW SOME EXAMPLES OF DO YOU KNOW SOME EXAMPLES OF RACISM?RACISM?

School Finance:    Millions of African American and Latino young people in the United States don’t get an education equal to that of most whites, partly because the urban schools they go to don’t have as much money as the schools in the white suburbs.  This is because the country has decided that much of the money for schools should come from local property taxes. So in communities where the houses and businesses are less expensive, the schools don’t get enough money to provide a high quality education.  This is unfair.  This is institutional racism.  If we financed schools differently every student, regardless of his or her "race", could go to a high quality school that was the equal of the schools other students attend.

Wealth Created During Slavery:    From the 1600’s to 1863 slave labor by African Americans created a tremendous amount of wealth in the United States.  This wealth was all taken by white people.  When slavery was ended, the wealth that the former slaves had created was not shared with them.  The effects of this continue today because whites have been able to pass wealth down from generation to generation through inheritance. In addition, discrimination in jobs has continued to limit access to wealth for many people of color. So white people as a whole are still wealthier today than people of color because of the wealth whites took from the labor of slaves. 

MICHAEL JACKSON MICHAEL JACKSON "They Don't Care About Us""They Don't Care About Us"

MICHAEL JACKSON MICHAEL JACKSON "They Don't Care About Us""They Don't Care About Us"

Skin head, dead headEverybody gone badSituation, aggravationEverybody allegation

In the suite, on the newsEverybody dog food

Bang bang, shot deadEverybody's gone mad

All I wanna say is thatThey don't really care about us

All I wanna say is thatThey don't really care about us

Beat me, hate meYou can never break me

Will me, thrill meYou can never kill me

Jew me, sue meEverybody do meKick me, kike me

Don't you black or white me

All I wanna say is thatThey don't really care about us

All I wanna say is thatThey don't really care about us

Tell me what has become of my lifeI have a wife and two children who love me

I am the victim of police brutality, nowI'm tired of bein' the victim of hate

You're rapin' me off my prideOh, for God's sake

I look to heaven to fulfill its prophecy...Set me free

Skin head, dead headEverybody gone bad

Trepidation, speculationEverybody allegation

In the suite, on the newsEverybody dog food

Black male, black mailThrow your brother in jail

All I wanna say is thatThey don't really care about us

All I wanna say is thatThey don't really care about us

Tell me what has become of my rightsAm I invisible because you ignore me?

Your proclamation promised me free liberty, nowI'm tired of bein' the victim of shame

They're throwing me in a class with a bad nameI can't believe this is the land from which I came

You know I really do hate to say itThe government don't wanna see

But if Roosevelt was livin'He wouldn't let this be, no, no

MICHAEL JACKSON MICHAEL JACKSON "They Don't Care About Us""They Don't Care About Us"

MICHAEL JACKSON MICHAEL JACKSON "They Don't Care About Us""They Don't Care About Us"

Skin head, dead headEverybody gone badSituation, speculationEverybody litigationBeat me, bash me

You can never trash meHit me, kick me

You can never get me

All I wanna say is thatThey don't really care about us

All I wanna say is thatThey don't really care about us

Some things in life they just don't wanna seeBut if Martin Luther was livin'He wouldn't let this be, no, no

MICHAEL JACKSON MICHAEL JACKSON "They Don't Care About Us""They Don't Care About Us"Skin head, dead head

Everybody gone badSituation, segregationEverybody allegation

In the suite, on the newsEverybody dog foodKick me, strike me

Don't you wrong or right me

All I wanna say is thatThey don't really care about us

All I wanna say is thatThey don't really care about us

All I wanna say is thatThey don't really care about us

All I wanna say is thatThey don't really care about

All I wanna say is thatthey don't really care about

All I wanna say is thatThey don't really care about us

VOCABULARY

sue sue

TO SUE

TO FULFILL

SPECULATION

ALLEGATION

PROCLAMATION

SEGREGATION

- institute legal proceedings against; file a suit against

- a formal accusation against somebody (often in a court of law)

- To bring to an end; complete

- a formal public statement

- Reasoning based on inconclusive evidence; conjecture or supposition.

-The policy or practice of separating people of different races, classes, or ethnic groups, as in schools, housing, especially as a form of discrimination.

HOMEWORK

• Find conclusive information about FRANKLIN ROOSEVELT and

MARTIN LUTHER KING JR.

Write an argumentative essay starting from the following quote:

“Racism is man's gravest threat to man - the maximum of hatred for a minimum of reason.” Abraham J. Heschel