Britany Morocho                                                                                                                

Ms. Skelly 

English 101 

September 24, 2019 

Source Based Essay Source Based Essay 

Racism has been present throughout societies as a form of exclusion of certain groups of people who are not viewed up to the standards as those excluding them. Racism has been present in the United States as early as people began considering themselves superior/different. Within the US there are still aspects of racism spread out throughout all the country after it was thought to be resolved. 

In the book, The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, by Roger Wilkins, the author talks about initiation of racism and perspectives on certain people although believed that racism doesn’t exist. Additionally, in the reading Wilkins expands more on the view of racism by people in the past to present time. The rhetorical situation appears to the reader when it makes people question that racism has been way longer than one thinks. Racism evolved through time rather than perish.  

The excerpt is not only directed to an audience of people living within the boundaries of the US but including those who are viewed differently. The tone of the excerpt is critical and pragmatic. The author carefully analyses the start of racism in the country by stating, “even before the first blacks were imported. . .the habit of racial hatred, in the form of the hatred of Indians, had already become established” (Wilkins, 159). Furthermore, being logical the author demonstrates that racism has been in the US even before people knew what it meant. Throughout the text the author had a purpose of communicating to the reader the aspect that racism had an initiation all the way back to the Native Americans. The colonist viewed them as the misfits when themselves were the ones who were arriving in a land did not belong to them. The genre used is non-fiction due to the events explained that had happened in the past with the beginning of the country to involving politics from present time. This is explained in the text when it says, “But our inability to see other human beings fully and richly, and our need in our politics to divide people, makes human rights. . .far more difficult than Social Security ever was” (Wilkins, 160). As the reader can see, these issues are happening within the country and can be fully stabilized. The medium used to convey the author’s thinking is a journal. Moreover, the stance used in the text by the author is more of an informative stance as he tries to get people to acknowledge how humans tend to keep on repeating certain patterns (in this case racism). Lastly the language used by the author is formal as he is trying to get people to realize that it would be much easier to work together than against one another, “can’t we all get along” (Wilkins, 160). 

In another source, a magazine named, The Progressive published an article called, A syllabus on race by Kate Clinton talks about racism in multiple real-life situations such as the election of Barack Obama, Michael Jackson’s race and Sonia Sotomayor in the Associate Justice of the Supreme Court. Each of these situations lead to the rhetorical situation of racism. From the election of Barack Obama many believed that racism was resolved from a certain view of point when it wasn’t. The topic of Michael Jackson and his transition from race to race, made many question the way race was to be explained. Lastly with Sotomayor, racism reappear once again when people thought that women couldn’t have the position that she had gain in the Supreme Court.  

The audience directed for this source are manly African American male and females and additionally part of its Latin people living within the United States. The author says, “With an African American President, that whole ” race thing” was done. . . The final civics lesson before the fall term involved one of the oldest racist tropes: questioning a black man’s citizenship.” This shows that the author put more emphasis on allowing African Americans to be the main audience. Likewise, women were also a part of the audience with the topic of Sonia Sotomayor. In the text it says, “fulminations barely dealt with the fact that this nation was founded on affirmative action. For white men“, women tried to change this perspective, but it was difficult when they needed the help of their society. The tone displayed through the text is serious and formal. The purpose of the written text was to inform people of the outgoing events of racism displayed within the united states. The author for examples uses, Michael Jackson as an example, “”Billie Jean,” everyone struggled to parse the meaning of Michael–black/white, man/woman, son/father, success/tragedy”. With this it showed the commodity that Michael Jackson felt within his community. He didn’t know how or what to identify himself as it wouldn’t have been acceptable by society. The genre is a nonfiction article in which the author uses events that have occurred to become credible. the medium used is a magazine to be able to not only let few people know about this but others further the countries boundaries who might buy this magazine. The author has a in the neutral stance within the belief of racism.  

A third source called, “WHEN TALKING ABOUT RACE AND RACISM, DON’TWAIT TO FEEL COMFORTABLE” published by a medium of newspaper talks about the experience of Derek Feeley as he brings upon the topic of racism among a group health care leaders. The audience in text is everyone that in a way feels uncomfortable with the topic of race or maybe not specially just them but people who want to understand why people feel such a way. Feeley says, “Using words like “racism” tends to get people’s attention.” As said previously people tend to feel uncomfortable in situations in which they can’t handle or even side to one side without being judge. The tone of the source is serious, and the purpose of the source is to inform people about equity that might or might not be within their society. Additionally, people without healthcare should be prioritized even if they’re not residents of the United States. ‘Understand that health care cannot address equity on its own Partner with the organizations in your community who share an interest in equity and social justice.” Those people are also humans and even if they’re not from the same race they should begiven equal care rights. The genre of this source is as well non-fiction as it talks about a real-life event that has happened and continues to happen day by day. The medium used to present this text to the audience is a newspaper. The author’s stance toward his argument that equity is not within every single person is strong. He understands that people have a human condition of fear but that shouldn’t keep them from acknowledging the needs of others. The language used by the author is direct to the point showing the difference among health care within the American society.  

The last source for the topic of racism is, The Impact of Structural Racism in Employment and Wages on Minority Women’s Health by Ruqaiijah Yearby. In this source Yearby talks about how women are pushed aside from receiving the same benefits than men receive. The rhetorical situation can not only be present within defining race but within women against men. Racism may be “resolved” in certain situations but with the view of women as inferior to men it remains present.  

The audience of this source are women who find themselves in the situation of struggling for employment and the wages they earn. It states in the text, “In fact, women have higher poverty rates than men”, this shows that a women’s wage isn’t enough to allow women to support themselves but much rather make them look for multiple jobs to work at the same time. The tone of the source is audacities as the source doesn’t holdback anything back and says what’s wrong on how women are treated. There’s racism within this because both women and men are not displayed equally in society’s eyes. The purpose of this source is to open people’s eyes and showed them that racism doesn’t only show itself within the topic of African Americans or immigrants, but within women of their own land. “The dominant group uses structural racism not only to obtain resources, such as employment and wages, but also to limit the nondominant group’s access to these resources”. The purpose is shown in this excerpt from the text as it states how racism is displayed and that people should immediately notice it without doubting. The genre of this last source is also non-fiction as racism towards women can be seen in a real-life situation. The medium used to show this is an article written through a website. 

In conclusion, all the sources above show how racism has been and still is present within the American Society. The journal and newspaper source talk about racism within race and how it was meant to be solved but hasn’t. Meanwhile the article had the topic of racism within the issue of women. This article showed that ‘racism’ is available to be categorized in any situation where there was inequality between multiple groups. The magazine, however, contained both, the idea of racism on race and women. Within these sources, the rhetorical situation in which racism is thought to no longer be a problem when it still is, enables the reader to draw his/her own conclusions on the topic.  

Citations: 

1.Clinton, Kate. “A syllabus on race.”  The Progressive , Oct. 2009, p. 41.  Gale Academic Onefile, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A208682846/AONE?u=cuny_ccny&sid=AONE&xid=f24ad913. Accessed 15 Sept. 2019. 

2.Feeley, Derek. “WHEN TALKING ABOUT RACE AND RACISM, DON’T WAIT TO FEELCOMFORTABLE.”  States News Service, 28 Aug. 2019.  Gale Academic Onefile ,https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A597688662/AONEu=cuny_ccny&sid=AONE&xid=90e5fd3c. Accessed 15 Sept. 2019. 

3. “The Impact of Structural Racism in Employment and Wages on MinorityWomen’s Health.”  American Bar Association, https://www.americanbar.org/groups/crsj/publications/human_rights_magazine_home/the-state-of-healthcare-in-the-united-states/minority-womens-health/. 

4.Wilkins, Roger. “The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science; Racism.” Https://Www-Jstor-Org.ccny-proxy1.Libr.ccny.cuny.edu/Stable/1048906?Seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents , Sage Publications, Inc., American Academy of Political 

and Social Science, https://www-jstor-org.ccny-proxy1.libr.ccny.cuny.edu/stable/1048906?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents.