Social Justice is always around us, it sometimes happens without us even noticing. Along with social justice, another topic that doesn’t fall too far from the topic would be racism. Racism is the hate of another race. It can be something that is learned as a kid or just your own beliefs on a certain race. Racism is still a problem that we should discuss because sometimes people do it without noticing. An example of this would be clutching your purse when an African American enters an elevator with you or when a person goes to the doctor’s and doesn’t want a certain race treating them. We see racism happening in the news as well like when an officer shoots a black individual. All these examples could be considered racism. President Barack Obama argues in (Racism against Young Black Men Needs to Be Addressed) that racism towards African American men needs to be addressed. As well as author Melanye price arguing in (Racism is everybody’s problem) that racism is a worldwide problem, that it shouldn’t be brushed off and how political voices can have a positive or negative affect. Hate crimes happen every day, some going by unaddressed.
President Obama wrote a viewpoint essay that explains how racism can’t keep going unaddressed. Obama argues that this is something that happens every day and will continue to happen unless something changes. He states “….there’s a lot of pain around what happened here, I think it’s important to recognize that the African American community is looking at this issue through a set of experiences and a history that doesn’t go away.” (1). This statement just simply explains how its a lot of pain that comes from this and that history keeps repeating itself. He also stated “And the fact that a lot of African American boys are painted with a broad brush…” (2). this statement explains how a lot of African Americans are labeled without even knowing it at a very young age. Obama also stated in his article “So folks understand the challenges that exist for African American boys. But they get frustrated, I think, if they feel that there’s no context for it and that context is being denied. And that all contributes I think to a sense that if a white male teen was involved in the same kind of scenario, that, from top to bottom, both the outcome and the aftermath might have been different.” (10) He stated this to explain that we as people clearly see the problem and it bothers us as a whole because the issue is being stated on a daily to daily basis but it is being ignored… that the outcomes of certain things would be different if it wasn’t all about race. Everything he stated related to the certain topic because it explained the overall pain and stuffing people of color go through from police brutality to just being judged for no reason. Overall Obama was using his voice to discuss and pinpoint the issues.
Author Melanye Price wrote an article called “Racism is everyone’s problem”. In her article she explained how white privilege and racism can affect the world, along with how hate crimes and even how political issues have a voice they should use. She stated “….As an African-American woman raised in the urban South, I am happy they’re willing to acknowledge these issues. But all candidates should start to speak to white people about race and the ways that policies they take for granted are directly implicated in creating these social problems.” (6) She stated this to explain how policies are acknowledging the problems like school segregation and even health care disparities but how it needs to become more of a topic in speeches. Price writes “The number of hate crimes and membership in hate groups are both increasing. The president has chosen to use issues like immigration, crime and the census to foment racial fears among whites.” (9) She states this to go deeper into the understanding of how policies can have an impact on the culture, how this can have an effect on hate crimes since a voice like the president is speaking about it. Price also writes “Democrats have made impressive steps by openly acknowledging that both individual and systemic racism continue to infect our lives…There’s no need to explain to people of color the ways that racism shapes their lives. Instead, real remedies require a frank discussion with people who perpetrate racism and who benefit from racist policies.” (10) She states this to explain how once again policies can have a major effect on the country, along with how the real fix to this would be more discussions on the topic with people who don’t see the issues. Overall, Melanye Price used her voice to explain how world leaders have a lot of say and should use their voices to discuss the bigger picture that we as a country face as a whole.
In conclusion both Barack Obama and Melanye Price gave very detailed viewpoints on the use of the topic. I agree with Obama because African American men go through more hurt and pain when then anybody in this country gets racial profiled on a daily basis since they were young. I also agree with Price because people like the president and justice leaders have an effect on the country. Overall, racism is a topic that causes a lot of tension between races all over the world.
Work cited
Obama, Barack. “Racism Against Young African American Men Needs to Be Addressed.” Racial Profiling, edited by Noël Merino, Greenhaven Press, 2015. Current Controversies. Gale In Context: Opposing Viewpoints, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/EJ3010929222/OVIC?u=ggcl&sid=OVIC&xid=c2ae77b5. Accessed 3 Feb. 2020. Originally published as “Remarks by the President on Trayvon Martin,” 2013d
Price, Melanye. “Racism Is Everyone’s Problem.” New York Times, 5 Aug. 2019, p. A19(L). Gale In Context: Global Issues, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A595509074/GIC?u=ggcl&sid=GIC&xid=962fbbe2. Accessed 4 Feb. 2020.
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