Sociological Meanings of Basic Concepts

Two replies or critical comments to other students' postings. These replies should have a minimum of 150 words each. Read each student posting and provide a critical comment for each one.

Student 1

The NAACP was an organization that was started to give everyone from all races equal rights. It was started to end lynching of African Americans. The NAACP’s main focus is to bring a balance opportunity in political, educational, social, and economic equality. The NAACP is attempting to remove race prejudice and wants to remove all obstacles that discriminate against minority groups in the United States. This institute became successful and soon African Americans were recognized and the Harlem renaissance came along and people of color were able to show their talents and brilliance. Today the NAACP gives people the chance to address important topics regarding many human needs from health to justice needs and more. They also give the option for individuals to become members, to donate to the website and to contact staff members.

From the movie "The struggle for racial equality," I learned that the 20th century has been the most prosperous century in offering equal opportunities to all racial groups. The ability to choose your own way of life is a sign of racial equality and no discrimination against any group. The best part of the movie to me was when it said, that with communication between different racial groups it can trigger neutral understanding. I a agree because from interacting with other people you can see that no matter the the differences between humans, we can still manage to find connections and if not we can learn to accept and respect each other's differences.

From the movie “The Sikhs in the United States,” I have learned that this religion has been discriminated against in India. Many Sikhs have come here for better opportunities to practice their religion and to have a better life. The cab driver was attacked by a drunk man and he was called a terrorist. The 21 year old man was racially profiling the cab driver and he was showing hate towards him for no reason. I learned that people are quick to assume things and to label other people to make themselves feel higher in status. In this case the cab driver showed an act of kindness in return for the act of discrimination he got from the young man.

Student 2

NAACP

       What is the NAACP and why was it founded? According to the NAACP website, it was founded on February 12, 1909 ( which recently made 18 years since it was founded). It is known to be the oldest and largest organization, based on civil rights. The NAACP was organized, because of the cruel treatment, better known as discrimination that was acted against African Americans, that of course turned into hate crimes. Discrimination is the denial of opportunities and equal rights to individuals and groups because of prejudice or other arbitrary reasons, (Schaefer, Pg 59). The main reason the NAACP formed, was because people, especially African Americans was fed up with the lynchings that occurred during the 19th century. The NAACP included many people, but the main activists included W.E.B Du Bois. In which made sense, because the NAACP followed behind his movement in 1905, which the objective was to give all people the rights of the 13th. 14th and 15th Amendments. Therefore, the NAACP's main focus was to ensure political, social, educational and economic equality in the US for citizens and get rid of the discrimination/prejudice. The history timeline between the years of 1910 and 1920 includes the following. In 1910, the NAACP established a national office, which they made Du Bois the director of publications and research. Also, an journal of the NAACP, called " The Crisis" was made. How was "The Crisis" beneficial to the citizens? It was the voice of the Harlem Renaissance era. Also, it is still used today to discuss the struggle African-Americans rights. By the year 1913, the NAACP expanded their organization and formed branch offices in cities like Boston, Maryland, Missouri. In 1915, the NAACP bottled with power against D.W Griffith's " Birth of a Nation" in which glorified the KKK. I believe, since the NAACP organization grew to 9,000 people in 1917, then 90,000 in 1919. The last great impact between 1910 and 1920, was that James Johnson became the first black secretary of the organization. The NAACP organization made a great impact on the world.

Thoughts on Movies 

     After viewing both movies, I've learned that discrimination, prejudice people, and hate crimes did and still do unfortunately exist. I've always had the interpretation that people are still indeed discriminated based on their race, because of events that occurred in the world and my personal experiences. The statement that stood out to me in the video "Struggle of Racial Equality", was " The struggle fo racial and ethnic groups haven't met its goals", which means the power of people coming together as one still isn't 100 percent and most likely never will. In the other video "Sikhs in the US", it proves another reason that discrimination still exists, and it still leads to hate crimes. According to the textbook, a hate crime is when offenders are motivated to choose a victim because of some characteristics( Schafer, PG 61).  The hate crime that occurred in the video, is the cab driver was beaten by passenger n a druken rage. But some people, like the victim, have pure hearts, unlike those who are prejudice, act upon discrimination and act hate crimes. So the victim asks for leniency for the suspect, leading the suspect's sentence went from 2 years to 9 months , all because the victim forgave him.