Bi-racial to tri-racial system
The United States bi-racial system, developed in the seventeenth century throughout until the middle of the twentieth century. It was established because of the large black population and historical reasons mainly slavery that formed two major racial systems of the whites and the non-white population. The non-whites include the African Americans, the Latin Americans, Asian Americas, and the Native American that experienced similar predicaments of racism, oppression, discrimination, colonisation where most of their rights were restricted as compared to the whites who considered themselves superior. Over the years this system especially after the establishment of the civil rights, has been changing with new racial stratification and shifting towards anti-racial system that is more like the Latin American racial system. The change has been because of various factors. One reason for the emergence of a tri-racial system is the enlargement of the minorities in terms of the race. It has even been projected that they will be a majority in numbers years to come. Another reason is that, for the non-white group some races such as the Asians and the Latinos have advanced as far as socio-economic factors are concerned leaving the other groups and forming a new stratum. In addition, reduction in racial segregation that even facilitated increased intermarriages also facilitated a change in the racial system. These factors have led to the formation of a buffer stratum in between the bi-racial systems to form a tri-racial system.
Black-Korean tension
In the black against the Korean antagonism in America, that was a racial conflict, which was fuelled by a Korean merchant who shot and killed a black man, but was granted a very easy sentence of community service and a small fine. This situation was then described as racial clash between the blacks and Koreans. The media’s explanation and portrayal show that it is because of racism whereby the Korean community looks down upon the black community but for the Koreans and blacks the root-cause was cultural differences mainly involving merchants and the customers. For example, a Korean staff member of the human relations department said that Korean merchants especially women do not know how to be polite and hence appear rude and arrogant. They may have had good intentions, but customers got the wrong idea. It is, therefore, clear that the blacks and Korean antagonism was because of racial differences as well as cultural misunderstandings.
Black- Jewish racial identification
Black, Jewish and Interracial is about personal identity mainly focusing on the Jewish and black community. It is based on the author: Katya Gibel Azoulay’s personal experience of a Jewish and Jamaican background. She argues that racial differences should not be based upon skin colour but rather be based upon a person’s kin. This is in high contrast from the traditional U.S system that was mainly bi-racial with the main divisions being the whites and non-whites. It was, therefore, hard to personally; racially identify black people who had Jewish origins.
Hip-hop culture
The culture and music of hip-hop came to be during the 1970s in New York City. It came through at a time when technology and production equipment were cheap enough and available to the general consumers which were not the case previously, as they could only be afforded by large studios. It was during this time when block parties were becoming popular with Dj’s played songs of different genres, which were popular at the time. During this time, the young black and Latino youths were very economically disadvantaged with no jobs and poor education. Hip-hop music was, therefore, a form of outlet that tried to reflect how they were affected politically, economically, and socially. It became a way to express themselves during the integrationist time of post-civil rights where they tried to depict and criticise the U.S discrimination against people of other colours other than the whites and the poor and how the black communities end up indulging in drugs, violence, sex, and money.
Misogyny and hip hop culture
Misogyny, which refers to the victimization and exploitation of women, has been greatly contributed by the hip-hop culture through music lyrics, videos that tend to make it normal, support and justify misogyny. There have been various explanations as to why hip-hop contributes to this. According to Anita Simmons in “Black Women, Misogyny, and Hip Hop Culture,” money is what causes this social problem. Other explanations include a way to show masculinity by the men in the hip-hop culture, others explain that misogyny is because of the hip-hop environment that reflects the bad attitudes towards women. Another stronger explanation is the use of misogyny for mainstream success whereby artists gain commercial success since it is an influential way to sell records.
White artist’s participation in hip-hop
Hip-hop culture was established with disregard to racial differences despite the social, economic, and political problems that surrounded the communities at that time. White participation in the hip-hop culture is a form of cultural progress, which aims to move towards a more colour-blind community. This has not been taken easily by some with people considering it as theft of culture as well as mocking. It has led to tensions surrounding identification of white artists in the hip-hop culture with some being referred to as “wiggers”, a common name for white rappers.
