Author: Marlayna Harris

The UDC or The United Daughters of the Confederation played a large role in the attempt to preserve southern culture. To preserve this culture they were involved in the reshaping of children’s views of the civil war and the production of Confederate soldier monuments. The UDC put up these monuments in order to make sure that after their loss their history and culture does not disappear. The southerners who supported the Confederacy wanted their interpretation of the civil war to be taught throughout history, this interpretation was known as the Lost Cause. One way they attempted to instill these beliefs into society, besides putting up monuments, was to modify school textbooks. The members of the UDC knew that the children were their future and that if they got them learn about the Lost Cause then they will pass on their beliefs to future generations to come. Mildred Lewis Rutherford, a renowned figure of the UDC, wrote and censored textbooks to legitimize the efforts of the Confederacy. From this The Children of the Confederacy was born. This organization consisted of children under the age 18 who are descendants of honorable Confederate soldiers. These and other children who learn from these textbooks and women have grown up to think just as the UDC wants them to and some become lawyers, lawmakers, police officers, teachers, etc., who end up contributing to institutionalized racism which still continues to affect us today.

https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/history-archaeology/united-daughters-confederacy

 

On April 12th in a Philadelphia Starbucks two black men, Donte Robinson and Rashon Nelson, were arrested under the suspicion of trespassing. The men were waiting on a friend to show up and while they were waiting they asked to use the restroom but because they didn’t buy anything the employee refused. They did not leave and eventually the employee called the police. A video of the arrest was posted onto twitter and in that video you can see both men being handcuffed by police and escorted out of the Starbucks. The man Robinson and Nelson were meeting to discuss real estate, Andrew Yaffe, confronted the police saying, “This is ridiculous. What did they get called for? Because they’re two black guys sitting there meeting me?”. Yaffe wasn’t the only customer bothered by what was taking place. Another customer says, “They didn’t do anything, I saw the entire thing.”. This specific store in Philadelphia has a rule stating that customers must buy something in order to use the bathroom but Matthew Kreitzer, a Virginia based attorney, states that such policies are useless unless they are consistently enforced. Some people believe that the cops had the right to arrest them and have argued that none of this has to do with their race. These people have expressed their opinions in a longer video which will be attached below.

Nonetheless such occurrences are not rare for black people. Even if this had nothing to do with the color of their skin being racially profiled is something that many people of color have experienced throughout their life. Since this incident Starbucks has apologized and on April 15th they announced the closing of 8,000 stores in the United States for anti-bias training which will take place on May 29th.

You can find the video here:

http://time.com/5241671/starbucks-philadelphia-bathroom-rights/

https://slate.com/technology/2018/04/does-implicit-bias-training-work-starbucks-racial-bias-plan-will-probably-fail.html

 

Colorism, according to Oxford Dictionaries, is prejudice or discrimination against individuals with a dark skin tone, typically among people of the same ethnic or racial group. Colorism has influenced what we as a society consider to be beautiful. It has forced many of us to put one another into boxes and has caused us to have preconceived ideas of each other based on the color of our skin. A good example of colorism present in the media is the casting call used to find girls to be in the 2015 film, Straight Outta Compton.

In this casting call they list four different groups, from A girls to D girls. It begins with describing the guidelines you must meet to be considered an A girl. A girls, according to the casting call, “are the hottest of the hottest. Models. MUST have real hair – no extensions, very classy looking, great bodies. You can be black, white, asian, hispanic, mid eastern, or mixed race too. “. That doesn’t sound too bad, right? Well as the you continue further down the list the casting call begins to associate attractiveness and beauty to lighter skin tone. For example B girls are “fine girls, long natural hair, really nice bodies. Small waists, nice hips. You should be light-skinned.”and continues to C girls who are “African American girls. Medium to light skinned with a weave”and D girls are “African American girls. Poor, not in good shape. Medium to dark skin tone”. This is just one example of colorism in the media. If you go on twitter, for example, you will quickly find plenty of posts about light skins and dark skins and debates on which skin tone is better. Colorism has divided communities for decades and has always had a deep influence on society.

http://gawker.com/straight-outta-compton-casting-call-is-racist-as-hell-1606524197