Racial Stereotyping

Words: 1884
Pages: 8

Peaceful Methods Against Racial Stereotyping Racial stereotyping has been a prevalent theme in the course readings. But after reading “The Myth of the Latin Women: I Just Met a Girl Named Maria” by Judith Ortiz Cofer, Just Walk On By: Black Men and Public Spaces” by Brent Staples and “Learning to Read and Write” by Frederick Douglass, I have noticed each author had a deeper theme. In each essay the author is placed in a racial stereotypical situation and in order to solve their problem they found a peaceful solution. The authors feel immense emotions such as rage or in Douglass’s case agony, but they each learn to move on from it. Even though some of the authors may also stereotype others they do not cause any conflict from it. Each author …show more content…
They achieved this by using peaceful methods such as parades, marches, speeches, strikes and protest. “Thus, blacks and their supporters were compelled to fight the evils of segregation with nonviolence as well as with force. In contrast, the leaders of the Civil Rights Movement chose the tactic of nonviolence as a tool to dismantle institutionalized racial segregation, discrimination, and inequality. Indeed, they followed Martin Luther King Jr.'s guiding principles of nonviolence and passive resistance” (Austin). This quote help explains why the choice of peaceful protest was picked instead of violent ones. Using peaceful methods was a tactic they called it. They realized that though nonviolence their message would be taken more seriously and looked at less negativity. Violence would put them in a negatively light while peaceful would put them in a positive light. Martin Luther King Jr. was one of the biggest advocates for the Civil Rights Movement and his most used methods was marches and speeches. We all know King for his speech I have a Dream. This speech is an example of a peaceful method to fight racial stereotyping that proved to be very successful. It brought attention to the movement and it helped people realize how it important it was to have fair equality for all races. It also attracted white people instead of just black people, this propelled the movement even faster. Having thousands of people black and white march together in Washington D.C showed the impact of the movement. That these marches and speeches helped spread the message of the Civil Rights movement. Through peaceful protests, it can be used to fight against racism, just like how the authors did