Human Rights Essay: Systematic Racism
In Canada, the government set out to destroy Aboriginal culture. In Stephan Harper’s apology to the First Nations, he says their policy was to “Kill the Indian in the child.” This policy was an example of systematic racism. In the text April Raintree by Beatrice Monsinier and the films Where the Spirit Lives and For Angela suggest that systematic racism is the reason why Aboriginal people struggle to be proud of who they are. Systematic racism is the value system that is embedded in a society that supports and allows discrimination. April Raintree is a story of two Métis sisters growing up in Manitoba. For Angela is a story about a woman who is compelled to change attitudes and shatter stereotypes. Where the Spirit Lives is about Aboriginal children in Canada being taken away from their tribes to attend residential schools. April from the text April Raintree, Angela from the film For Angela, and Astikomi from the film Where the Spirit Lives struggle to be proud of who they are due to systematic racism.
April struggles to be proud of whom she is, a Métis person, because society portrays Aboriginal people to be overall not as great as white people, in the book, April Raintree. In the park where April and Cheryl used to play, brown-skinned children were depicted as “dirty looking” while white-skinned children were depicted as “clean and fresh.” The white children also seem to be considerably rich compared to those with dark skin. Mrs. DeRosier and Maggie are an example of this racism since they talk down to April and expect her to follow whatever they “order” her to do. They also call April a “half-breed” which is an insulting word to describe a Métis person. Thus, April does not feel proud of her identity as a Métis girl, and envies the white people. April marries a rich man named Bob Radcliffe. When April moves to his house in Toronto from Winnipeg, Cheryl visits the house. Tension between April and Cheryl develop as April joins the rich family, and therefore, the white society. Cheryl criticizes April for pretending to be white and neglecting her real identity. Cheryl feels insulted when her sister looks down on the people who have the same skin colour as her.
The Essay on Racism White People
Racism is a very big issue. I think most people say things without realising they are being racist. This doesn t excuse their behaviour but most people don t think before they say things. One line in Oodgeroo s poems says Black tribe, yellow tribe, red, white or brown this means that there are so many races in Australia and people are going to keep on being racist because there are always going to ...
In the film, Where the Spirit Lives, Astikomi is proud to be Aboriginal and her friends from the residential school call her a “Crazy bush-Indian.” However she struggles to be proud of herself after months of teaching her that her ways are devil worship and stupid and the physical abuse she faces in the residential school. Often under brutal treatment, Astikomi is forced to learn English and the “White ways.” Because of systematic racism, residential schools were formed. It impacted many children, such as Astikomi, and parents, such as Astikomi’s parents in devastating ways. For example, the part in Where the Spirit Lives when the principal of the school did not want Astikomi to return home, in fear of Astikomi retuning to her old ways, so he said “Your parents are dead,” which was a lie, to make her stay, and told her parents “She’s not here,” when Astikomi’s parents try to find her.
In the film, For Angela, Angela struggles to be proud of being Aboriginal after the racist harassment Angela and her mother experiences on the bus from some white children. Because systematic racism made it okay to discriminate during Confederation, people today think it’s funny to be racist, jokingly. An event in the film that shows us that Angela is struggling to be who she is, is when Angela plans to colour a picture of people and asks her mom, Rhonda, “Which colour [holding a brown and a light beige]?” Rhonda points to light beige coloured crayon and says “That one.” Angela says no and takes the light beige crayon and says “This one is nicer.” Another event when we see Angela struggle to be proud of who she is when Angela cut off her braids, which to her mother, represents being Aboriginal. When Rhonda and Angela track down the boy, they confront him and he learns that discrimination hurts everyone and everyone is equal. Angela learns that she should not be ashamed of who she is because everyone is equal.
The Essay on Australian Aboriginal Issues Native Title
From the years between World War II and the 1970 s there was increasing activism from Aboriginal Australians to improve their standards of life that was denied to them by white Australians before. Since the referendum of 1967 for the equal rights of Aborigines, Indigenous and white Australians alike became aware of the inequalities for human rights of Aborigines that existed and took the necessary ...
In conclusion, systematic racism is the reason why April, Ashtikomi, and Angela struggle to be proud of who they are, which is Aboriginal. In April Raintree by Beatrice Monsinier, April struggles to be proud of who she is because Aboriginal people are portrayed as not as great as white people, due to systematic racism. In Where the Spirit Lives, Astikomi struggles to be proud of who she is because she’s in a residential school, which is a form of systematic racism, and is taught that her ways were bad. In For Angela, Angela struggles to be proud of whom she is because of the discriminative and racist remarks she faces on the bus. Systematic racism makes it hard to hear the pain of Aboriginal people and it impacts individuals and families.
