Author: Matt Kim

“we have not ended racial caste in America; we have merely redesigned it.” This statement made by Alexander introduces the specifics as to how the criminal justice system is flawed, and that racism still continues to exist and in a variety of ways. He depicts how the system has changed and that instead of the blatant racism that existed, it has changed into forms of employment and just moving about themselves in society. He later explains how the criminal justice system is flawed and that it unfairly eliminates the possibility that the African American man can be not guilty. This depiction has been made that it is a flaw in the criminal justice system, rather than the racial caste system that it is actually a part of. He also states that the mass incarceration that African American people face is not due to the lack of unemployment or moving up in society, but rather due to the law that prevents African American people from ever escaping this loop hole. Throughout society, they are just denied, through law, to obtain housing and other public benefits, which makes it nearly impossible to become a higher social class than what they originally were. Racism still exists in our society today, and Alexander just explains the variety of ways that they are just unable to escape this hole, due to laws and regulations that are set in place. These laws and regulations are just unfair towards the African Americans as it creates a racial hierarchy and allows for racial injustice in different forms.

I chose an article from Vox on the film Get out because it pointed out many key points that were highlighted throughout the film. It elaborates on the white supremacy tied in with African American resistance. The article further explains that the violence displayed was necessary to prove the point of white power of other colored races, and in this case African Americans. Later on throughout the article, it goes on to point out how the white female is typically decided as an innocent person, and thus they are overlooked as clueless people who are disregarded. However, the article goes on to point out how the film portrayed Rose as just a white female who disregarded social standings and only believed in what she wanted as an individual. This greatly advocated for ideas that white supremacy and racism still existed to this day. Control over one’s mind was also a big factor of this film, as Rose’s parents were hypnotists and attempted to take over Chris’s mind as they did with the other slaves in their home. This was greatly emphasized as it depicts how African Americans had very little control over their own lives. Chris also noticed this throughout the film as he picked up on the African American’s behavior, as it was very odd and unlikely. The article went very in depth into, “code switching,” which would be the brainwashing and abducting of the African Americans. Chris noticed this with the odd behaviors at the party and of the slaves as they would not behave like regular humans, but like robots that did whatever they were told to do. This point was thoroughly keyed in on as it depicts how white people controlled every aspect of the African American that they would encounter. The article ends off by stating how minority groups are stuck within the system of racial standings and are unable to,” get out.”

Claire Kim’s article thoroughly explained in depth the description of race and how it came to be and is spoken about today. She goes on to write about the white privileges which are one of the main causes of this depiction and the racial inequality that other races have faced. It was a very in depth article that dove into the intricacies of racial depiction and how it became what it is today and the variety of elements that we use to associate with race nowadays. “Since the norms of colorblindness have expurgated overtly racial claims from the “public transcript” during the post-civil rights era, talk about a groups’s culture often serves to disguise what are fundamentally racial claims.” After this statement, she goes on to explain how racial superiority has created this facade that other groups of people are more doomed to fail and others are already granted the path to success before they are even born. Due to the cultural backgrounds of these peoples, they are are at a disadvantage and along with this comes the racial inequality that these cultural groups now faced due to being one of this culture. I think that this quote is significant due to the fact that she goes to to elaborate on this key point on how there are many different forms of nonracial language, and that culture has become one of the many nonracial languages. I also believe that these statements hold true to this day as I have experienced this in my own life as an Asian-American living in a predominately Caucasian town. As many other races were not present within my school at the time when I was young, I can recall in middle school that I would often be called out to do math problems because I was supposed to be good at them by the white people that were in my class. I didn’t pay much attention to it back then as I was didn’t understand what it really meant but when I found out, I made sure that no one would make that kind of association with me again, as math is actually one of my poorer subjects.

Throughout the article on police shootings, there is a clear distinction between the grammar described by the LAPD, compared to the actual events that occurred. The article briefly describes a certain scenario’s in which the police is sought out to become the victim, instead of the person at fault. Instead, the Los Angeles Police Department released their statement regarding the matter, whilst directing the blame towards no particular person, when the police officer was clearly at fault. The author goes on to state how grammar has allowed for the police to direct the responsibility of these issues. The language not used in these issues significantly impacts the way society interprets the issue as they will believe that this is just another incident that occurred with the police, meanwhile the police are the sole reason to blame in this situation. Throughout the article, the LAPD continues to justify the actions of the police officer stating that the gun was pointed at a dog, but it was not clear if it was fired off by the deputy accidentally. Thus, eluding to this type of conclusion is unreasonable as a gun does not have the ability to jump into the police officer’s hand and fire off a gunshot on its own.

I believe that throughout the article, the quote by Long Soldier that, “everything is in the language we use,”would be interpreted in a very different way. Long Soldier would have encouraged the audience to share all of the truth, instead of allowing holes and gaps to appear due to something as simple as grammar. The misinformation due to the grammar of the sentence, would not have occurred with Long Soldier as she would have pushed for all the information to be shared so that it can be interpreted correctly and by everyone. The words and explanations used creates misunderstandings, but would not have occurred if the situation was explained clearly, without leaving any information out.