Hines Ward Experiences with Racism - 1589 Words

65% of NFL players are African American. Hines Ward is also included in the percentage, but he is a special one as an African American but also as a Korean African football player. When most people think of Hines Ward, they think of an Asian-African American football superstar. Despite Ward’s success in football career must be emphasized, it’s not the outcome they should most respect, but the process and how he became a star. Racism in America still exists in everyday life. Even among black people, racism does exist. Hines Ward was a victim of racism in all white, Asian and black communities. While a few prejudices still stands against black people already, Ward had to endure the difference of his genetic mixture from his fellow African American friends. However what is more important than being bashed on for life about color is the fact that he overcame and became a symbolic and representative person for others who have impediments in life due to racial difference. The re’s an old saying â€Å"Dont judge a man until youve walked in his boots,† and Hines Ward reveals the truth in this saying through his experiences in life as a lonely Asian, African American. His generosity with donations and endeavors to reach out for kids who are in similar situation as he used to be should also be emphasized throughout this paper. Hines Ward Jr. was born March 8, 1976, in South Korea. His dad, Hines Sr. was a G.I. in South Korea and his mother Kim Young He was a 25-year-old cashier. HisShow MoreRelatedLiterary Analysis : Strange Fruit1725 Words   |  7 Pages1992, 266), which discouraged black womens public disclosure of their sexuality, and the culture of dissemblance (Hine 1995, 380), which created the illusion of sexual openness while in actuality it shielded the truth of [black womens] inner lives and selves from their oppressors (Hine 1995, 380). The purpose of the song is a cry for action. Although Holiday didn’t experience seeing the lynching she was able to grasp the concept of the song. Holiday says, When [Allen] showed me that poem, IRead MoreBibliographic Essay on African American History6221 Words   |  25 Pagessuch a responsibility less daunting than ever. Invaluable references, including Darlene Clark Hine, ed. Black Women in America: An Historical Encyclopedia 2nd ed. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2004); Evelyn Brooks Higgingbotham, ed., Harvard Guide to African American History (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2001); Arvarh E. Strickland and Robert E. Weems, Jr., eds., The African American Experience: An Historiographical and Bibliographical Guide (Westport: Greenwood Press, 2001); and RandallRead MoreThe Stereotypical Black Woman Essay1985 Words   |  8 Pagestended to be closer to the White standard of beauty. She functioned primarily in the role of a seductive, hypersexual, exploiter of men’s weaknesses ( Jewell, 1993). Historically this image has been the most protested an d challenged by Black women ( Hines, 1989), however, it persists and continues to be a frequent representation, for example, in pornography ( Cowan Campbell, 1994; Wyatt, 1982).†(West) Today this stereotype can be seen all throughout media, such as in hip hop or rap music videos commonly

Jamaica Kincaid Free Essays

And Then It All Died In Jamaica Kincaid’s short story, â€Å"On Seeing England for the First Time,† reality and idea are distinguished. More often than not, the idea of something is and it’s reality are not compatible, and we see this kind of discovery most often when growing up, and when comparing my idea of adulthood with the reality, I feel the same kind of resentment Kincaid has towards England. Jamaica Kincaid does an excellent job building up her expectations of England and then showing the disappointment she feels when she finally gets there. We will write a custom essay sample on Jamaica Kincaid or any similar topic only for you Order Now I think the way she introduces the topic of England is excellent because she is able to give background into her thinking and thus make the experience a little more real. By shining a little light into her childhood impressions of England she is able to accurately convey what she is expects England to be like. The glowing descriptions of England that she is given by her grammar school teacher, her recollection of how everything on the island she was raised on was named after something English, and her youthful consumption of nothing but English goods all paint a picture portraying England as the land of milk and honey. She is able to build England up to be this heaven-like place. At the same time she uses excellent imagery and descriptive storytelling to convey her disappointment in England when she gets there. Kincaid says that, â€Å"the space between the idea of something and it’s reality is always wide and deep and dark† (370). This is a hard truth that everyone learns at some point. All of her life, Kincaid has been forced to live life the â€Å"English way†, and for a part of her childhood she didn’t even question it, it just was, until she felt suffocated by it. Much like adulthood, everyone expects certain ideals from you once you reach a certain age. You grow up thinking that you have to graduate, and then go to college, then get a job and enter the real world. This was the system we are greeted with as soon as we can comprehend it. Much like how Kincaid was introduced to this idea of living the English way. Everything was dictated by this mentality that the English ruled, and it was better for her anyway. Kincaid had said, â€Å"If now as I speak of all this I give the impression of someone on the outside looking in, nose pressed up against a glass window all right, but there was an iron vise at the back of my neck forcing my head to stay in place† (369). She never had a choice in how she lived her life, she was being held to this lifestyle with no choice. As teenagers we get our first dose of expectations and we accept it. Why is it in America it’s not acceptable to take a year off? Why do we have this mentality that there is an order to do things, and why is this order filled with milestones that are so specific? We are raised to think things, without being explained to about it, and without having control. The truth of the matter is once we hit the age of eighteen, most of us don’t know what we want to do with our hair in the morning, let alone our future. When looking at the order of how things should go, and comparing it to the reality of your own timeline, you end up feeling disappointed in yourself. You also doubt yourself. You hear about something all your life and when you come face to face to it, the feeling is not what it should be. When Kincaid visits England, physically, she has already built a hatred for it. All the power it possessed within her life, and how it inadvertently controlled her, made her bias. She visits and learns that England is just as bleak as she thought it would be. â€Å"In me, the space between the idea of it and its reality had become filled with hatred,† Kincaid had written (371). Visiting had only bridged her ideal with her reality. Her resentment only built from there. Just as how when reaching adulthood, I realized that reality is a lot more complicated and uglier. This idea of growing up was supposed to be far more glamorous, like how it was advertised throughout my childhood, but reality is always crueler. While there were some other themes in this piece, the one I connected with most was the gap between idea and reality. As we grow up we learn so much about how life should be, and when we get there, it never ends up as we thought it would. It’s a harsh lesson to learn, but it’s one we all go through. How to cite Jamaica Kincaid, Papers

World Burns Outside... free essay sample

Hurricane Irene has reached Virginia and it rains outside. I think that when it rains its God crying. He cries for the lost lives, the lost souls in the world, he cries for the innocents, the cruelty and the mishaps in the world. I watched a documentary on Demi Moors trip to Nepal, where she visits a non-profit organization called Maiti Nepal in order to educate herself on human trafficking. I cried out for the innocent girls in the documentary, the lost children and the lost souls. I cry for the pain and the abuse, the wretched and the misunderstood, and for those who are forever silenced or have given up hope. My heart feels like it weighs a million pounds because it holds the world with every beat. What can I do, where do I turn when with every beat my heart takes I cry for the humanity. The planet is so dark and cruel that I find myself asking God why. We will write a custom essay sample on World Burns Outside or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Why must people suffer, why do things happen to good people, why is the world burning and there seems to be nothing we can do about it. I could cry a river full and my questions would not be answered. Yet I search for them with every move I make and every breath I take. Africa is going into famine, America is flooding, Asia is crumbling and Europe is burning and Antarctic is melting. Wars are being fought that never end, women, men, children are being trafficked, basic human rights forgotten. Yet we sit and watch the world turn. I scream to the heavens and ask why God has forgotten us, why has his precious creation fallen from grace? Why must the innocent suffer and why he let it happen. Then I realize that he cries too, he cries and his tears flood our streets. The lord is my savior and I shall not want, he leads me in the way of the righteous for his name sake. The lord is my savior, Lord hear my cry, a cry from the inside. I cry to you , oh heavenly Father to make my life worth something more then dust. My hands shall reach millions, my voice shall greet the masses, my feet shall walk the journey and my lips shall say the words of us to generations next. Inside of me a fire burns, lit by the people of the world. I will not sit and see the women abused and children mistreated. I will not stand for the disrespect of mothers and I will not tolerate the ignorance of man. Every life on earth has a purpose, we are all put on this earth for a reason. We must find our voices and speak. Speak for justice and tolerance, speak for righteousness. Speak for the little girl in the street, looking for a family to call her own, for the little boy looking for a father to teach him how to be a man and for the mother to cradle him in her arms. The Lord is my savior, my Sheppard and my redeemer ,so I cry along with him as the rain pours, for I see his creation burning and his souls stolen. I wonder if the sun will ever shine again, for I believe that God almighty has a plan. In the end I hope he uses my life as a gateway for others. I want my hands to reach the world, my voice to be heard by billions and my footsteps to count the miles in love.