The Color Purple Discrimination Essay

In The Colour Purple, Walker cleverly uses the teachings of Christianity, a respected topic in American society, as the rose tinted lens to encase the key themes of racism and sexism throughout the novel. Furthermore, by doing so, she demonstrates the complexity of oppression at the time and provides insight into the stifling impact of traditional Christian teachings and the role this played on slowing the pace of meaningful reform. Through the common voice of Christianity, Walker portrays how black women can be both enslaved to, and liberated from, race and sex discrimination in American

“Racism is a bad thing, you find it everywhere in the schools, the clubs and also in the streets.”

Issue Presented: How can the societal issues of racial disparity be addressed on the state and local levels?

As I waited in line at a grocery store I noticed that the wait was unbearably long. It’s the first of the month a man snickered to me, confused I asked him what do you mean? He replied with people receive their welfare checks today, I know you are not one of them. I told him you never know what someone is going through or what their financial situation is so you can’t pass judgement. After I said that he told me to look around and see what type of people I see. I continued to look when I notice a large amount of Hispanics in line, even though that’s what I saw I told the man I see people waiting in line. He continued to tell me how illegal aliens are ruining our economy, taking our jobs, and taking advantage of our

While the ACA has been successful in reducing the rate of uninsured, it has failed in a number of other areas. Data organized by age reveals significant problems when it comes to groups who are uninsured, we can see a stark contrast between age groups. Among the 15.7% of Americans that are uninsured, approximately 55.2% of those are comprised of Americans aged 19 to 34 years of age. This is relatively unsurprising as young people have always been less likely to purchase health insurance as the result of what many have described as some sort of invincibility complex. The data on uninsured Americans becomes truly interesting when analyzing the data as it relates to race and ethnicity. Whites compromise 64.3%

It has been noted that there are tremendous racial disparities in all phases of America’s criminal justice system. Kutateladze and Andiloro (2014) state that African American only make up 13 percent of the United States population, yet they are composite 28 percent of the people arrested and 38 percent of the total prison population. Various empirical research has focused on the racial discrimination that exist in police officer’s discretion to arrest a person, differences in pretrial detention based on race, disparities in the decision to prosecute, and discrimination during sentencing also has been discovered. According to Zatz (1987), plenty of early researchers believed that there was a large amount if minorities in prison because they are more involved in

Celie is mostly uneducated until her sister helps her learn how to read and write so she can write her letters when she is absent as she suspects she will need to send her away from Albert. This displays Celie’s will to improve herself even through the harsh times she goes through and is able to keep her composure. Celie protects her sister Nettie from the fate she had and allows for Nettie to have a better life compared to hers. Celie in the novel evolves into a character that is strong, caring, and the ability to

Experiencing racial disparities can permit an increasing level of stress over the years, yet buffering mechanisms can be used to decrease the impact of adverse experiences. Based on Brody et al. (2006) study, results indicated that race-related stress from allostatic load was not significant for youth with high emotional support. Accessing emotional supportive networks of family and peers can help readjust behavior and counterbalance cognitive trajectories that reduce anxiety and stress.

Today, a serious problem exists all over the world. Racial oppression takes place in the poorest and the richest countries, including America. Racial oppression is characterized by the majority, or the ruling race, imposing its beliefs, values, and laws on the minority, or the ruled race. In most areas, the ruling race is upper class whites that run the “system”, and have a disproportionate amount of power. In other areas, it may not be the white race, but it is still the race that is comprised of the majority, makes the laws, or has the most money. These are the keys to domination over the weaker minorities that don’t have the power to thrive under the majority’s system according to their own cultural beliefs,

As Nettie receives opportunities Celie could never fathom, their relationship comes to a halt. Celie stops receiving letters from her sister and is left to take care of her husband’s obnoxious children from a previous marriage, and is verbally/physically abused on a daily basis by both her husband and his children. Celie’s husband has a torrent affair with Shug Avery, a blues singer with a practical mentality who does not endure any mistreatment from anyone, regardless of their gender. When Shug Avery falls into Celie’s care, Shug Avery teaches Celie a thing or two about self-confidence and the strength she must find within herself to stand up to her husband. Towards the end of the novel, Shug Avery encourages Celie to leave her husband and move with her to Memphis, where she can escape the pain of her past and for once in her life be happy.

Celie is able to accept her past and establish a clear vision of herself and fulfillment through the acts of love. She meets other women who tell her that she should stand up for herself and fight, but Celie feels that it’s better to survive than to fight and risk not surviving. However, there are certain triggers that lead Celie to stand up. Like a true fighter, Celie proves herself to be willing to stand up for the people she loves. Even as a downtrodden victim of her Pa, Celie sacrifices herself and offers herself to her father so that he keeps his hands off of Nettie. As mentioned in this quote, where Pa is sexually abiding Celie, “First he put his thing up gainst my hip and sort of wiggle it around. Then he grab hold my titties. Then he push his thing inside my pussy. When that hurt, I cry. He start to choke me, saying You better shut up and git used to it. ” (Walker, 4). Celie has the potential by putting her efforts into other people, but not realizing she is able to stand up for herself the same ways he does for Nettie. Relating it back to the novel, “Beloved”, Sethe does the same representation when she is trying to save Beloved even though the idea is bizarre of her killing her own child, but she only does it so that she would not have to suffer the way Sethe did. Celie is introduced with Shug Avery a blues singer, who she was first found “rude”, but as the story moves along, Shug Avery becomes the reason Celie learns to love herself. Because Celie is finally opening herself up by loving someone, Celie becomes more lovable. Through Shug’s love, Celie begins to realize her own self-worth, from the minute when Shug Avery wrote a song for Celie, as said in this quote: “This song I'm bout to sing us call Miss. Celie's song.”(Walker, 73).By the end of the novel, Celie loves more

Throughout these past generations, women were the victims of sexism, aggravated assault and verbal and domestic abuse by men and male partners in their lives. In today’s society women still continue to face these unfortunate complications. The novel “The Color Purple” by Alice Walker, focuses on the point of view of the African American women who face these problems. The African American women are symbolized as victims of sexism, domestic and verbal abuse as they learn to overcome the submissive behavior and gain their independence and equality.

            As Celie writes to God for guidance and strength asking that she may carry on, her letters subtly shift to be intended for her intensely loved sister, Nettie, whom separated from Celie at an early age. Celie becomes a victim of brutal violence as she refuses to fight back to the injustices that black

Prejudice is the negative attitude based on false generalizations about members of different racial and ethnic groups. From prejudice, discrimination is born. We all are guilty of discriminating other people, but one can only speculate the factors that bring about this hatred towards one another. Although a single cause cannot account for the presence of racism, factors such as socialization, self-justification, and competition are a few human attributes that lead to acts of racial discrimination.

Since the end of the segregation with the Civil Rights Movement, many believed that racism in the United States had come to an end. However, there are still many instances where racial inequality still occurs, and this is especially prevalent in the workplace. Although this sort of discrimination is illegal, individuals cannot always be prosecuted for this crime because it often happens in subtle manners that are not easy to prove. Regardless, every person, no matter the color of their skin, has the inherent right to be treated with fairness and equality, especially when dealing with matters in the corporate world.