The Man and Legend
Can we really achieve equality? I do believe it is possible but it is obvious that there is no single answer to such a question. Everyone has their own opinion in regards to this question, however those opinions are useless unless they are actually carried out. According to W.E.B. DuBois racial equality can be achieved through the "talented tenth," an African American elite that would be leaders and role models for the rest of the black community. In The Future of the Race, Henry Louis Gates, Jr., and Cornel West address the topic of Dubois' 1903 essay "The Talented Tenth." When it comes to achieving equality among all races I don't particularly agree with DuBois' idea of a "Talented Tenth." I believe that equality must be attained through a group effort and every individual should make decisions and choices on their own. Often this is hard because people often have the same beliefs that their parents have. And much too often these beliefs go against what is required for this nation to achieve equality. Furthermore, in order to achieve equality I believe that a greater effort must be given by those in the majority, since the majority has control over many more things than minorities.
West agrees when he states that every major institution in American society-churches, universities, courts, academies of science, governments, economies, newspapers, magazines, television, film, and others-attempted to exclude black people from the human family in the name of white supramissit ideology," say West. This being the case I can understand why we have trouble moving forward towards equality. Above all, I believe that violent measures only cause separation and should never happen in an effort for equality. Racism has been fought for hundreds of years in this country and we have obviously made great progressions through civil rights movements but I do not believe that it can be fully eliminated by any means.(pg. 80) I believe that there is one main problem that hinders the idea of having a group effort to achieve equality. That is that our minds seem to support and defend our own reasoning and actions, whether they are right or wrong. We have to learn how to admit being wrong. I simply can't believe that people find racism as a way of life. However, it all comes down to what you learn when you're a child. Generations of the future must be taught how to accept people for what they are and not what they look like. Some people have the preconceived idea that everyone is out to get them. In the Autobiography of Butch Jones, Jones states: These kinds of statements only reinforce and idea of inequality. Instead of looking at the world as white and black there must be a way to merge all people into one category. Cornel West's take on this matter is that "the sheer absurdity of being a black human being whose black body is viewed as an abomination, whose black thoughts and ideas are perceived as debased, and whose black pain and grief are rendered invisible on the human and moral scale is the New World context in which bl
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Approximate Word count = 1248
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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