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Esmeralda de Santos

Lizbett Tinoco

English PO 50

18 July 2017

Social media affecting Race Discrimination

Racial discrimination has been one of the biggest problems in our society. Judging an

individual through social media, face-to-face, or even using a different content of judging

someone simply because of their skin color is something so ugly to see. Throughout the past few

years social media has helped expose a lot of the racism that still exists in the United States. A

lot of people go through racial discrimination situations and it is something people should not

live with, any life matters in the United States. No one should be discriminated because of the

color of their skin whether it's on social media or not.

Racial discrimination throughout social media can affect anyone in such a negative way.

People can not just post something and not expect someone to get hurt. According to Kwame

Anthony, Appiah article, Do I Report a Teachers Racist Facebook Post? New York Times, I

dont believe that kids should be exposed to racist stereotyping, and I no longer trust this

ex-friends judgment on what constitutes racism (1). Everyone should have the right to post

whatever they want on their social media, but you have to think of what you are going to post

because consequences can come with it. Social media takes such a big part in this because the

person that posted this post may never say anything racist face-to-face to people, but he may hide

behind the screen and spill out all the racism he has by using his post to make people feel bad.
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Social media and School is not a good mix especially if racism is involved in this

situation and how it can affect the school environment. In Evie Blads article, "More Black

Students Expelled over Social-Media Use in Ala," she writes, Twelve of them were black,

drawing concerns that the program unfairly targeted African-American students (4). To think

that the majority of the students were black is very interesting. They targeted the minority and it

seems very racist. They should have proof and what really happened and if these twelve

African-Americans were really the cause of this social media issue. You cannot just blame an

individual(s) simply because of their race. If your profile or any social media is private no one

should have to go through it regarding what you post and do not post. On the other hand, if you

make an account talking about your school and someone finds out they have the authority to look

through. People should be aware of their actions and what they are getting themselves into

because consequences can be very harsh.

It is important to know that every life matters and it does not depend on your color

because we are all the same at the end of the day. Prudence Cumberbatch and Nicole

Trujillo-Pagns article, "Hashtag Activism and Why #Blacklivesmatter in (And To) the

Classroom." Radical Teacher. A critical part of this discursive struggle involves social media,

which creates a virtual space to challenge, reframe, and reinscribe representations of who is

victimized (79). Social media does take a big part in this because the people who judge end up

picking on a certain race and blame them for something and end up discriminating them. Every

life should matter no matter what race you are because we are all the same and color should not

define who we are as a person.


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Some teachers have a hard time discussing racial discrimination whether it happens

through social media or face-to-face, but give good advice on how to face this problem .

According to Education Digest, "Great Teachers Are Experts at Difficult Conversations."

Teachers tend to give the best advice regarding to this topic. As Americans struggle to talk

about racism, who better to ask for advice than teachers? (39) If you have a hard time

discussing this issue with family members because you may not want to talk about it because,

you find it embarrassing or just feel weak, there is no one better than your teacher. Teachers tend

to know how to face these problems because they may have been surrounded by this type of

negativity for years and know how to give advice concerning this. Regarding whether the

discrimination is through social media or in person, these teachers may know how to take care of

it. Racial discrimination should be talked about in school at all times. A lot of students go

through racial discrimination through social media and the school and teachers do not find out.

There might be someone in a class who needs help because they may have a hard time discussing

their situation. That is where the teachers come in and discuss about race discrimination and their

advice to help their students with the problem. This is a very important topic everyone should

talk about in their lives because expressing on what you feel about discrimination may change

the way people think about racism.


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You should be able to feel safe in your community or the neighborhood you live in

because no one should feel unsafe in the type of environment one lives in. Claimed by David

Treadwells article, Racial Tension Haunts a 'Nice Neighborhood', New York Times Staff

Writer, "The violence to which blacks have been subjected in New York City surpasses the

violence of the Southern cities of my youth (1). This incident has affected everyone in the

neighborhood in which it happened. You can not just kill someone simply because of their skin

color. No one should ever have to go through some type of danger this young man went through.

It would be very uncomfortable living in a neighborhood where you can not even trust your

neighbors because they do not like the color of your skin. Who would want to go through that?

Putting this type of negativity in your community or neighborhood may cause some of the youth

to realize it is okay to do those kind do bad things. People from your own neighborhood may

bring you down through social media and not say a word to you face-to-face. They may seem

like calling people names and killing someone because of their skin color is accepted. People in

this community should really help the racism going around and present kids from adapting to this

negativity.

Racism should be stopped and in order for that to happen people need to stop being

racist and that is going to be something we all have to work on. If racism does not stop we can

end up splitting the races apart and create division and not unity. People should post whatever
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they want on social media and not get discriminated. Social media is such a powerful trait that

makes racism so big and ugly because everyone bashes on people through it. People should take

inconsideration that racism is always going to be around even though it should be stopped not

matter how they are being racist, you just have to know how to embrace it. Be opened up about

things that happen to you or others regarding this issue. Advice and help is out there just go look

for it in order to solve this issue.


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Work Cited

Appiah, Kwame Anthony, Do I Report a Teachers Racist Facebook Post? New York
Times
June 28th, 2017: 1. THE ETHICIST

BLAD, EVIE. "More Black Students Expelled over Social-Media Use in Ala." Education

Week, vol. 34, no. 12, 12 Nov. 2014, p. 4. EBSCOhost.

Cumberbatch, Prudence and Nicole Trujillo-Pagn. "Hashtag Activism and Why

#Blacklivesmatter in (And To) the Classroom." Radical Teacher, no. 106, Fall2016, pp. 78-86.

EBSCOhost.

"Great Teachers Are Experts at Difficult Conversations." Education Digest, vol. 82, no.

2, Oct. 2016, pp. 39-42. EBSCOhost.

Treadwell, David Racial Tension Haunts a 'Nice Neighborhood', New York Times Staff Writer

September 02, 1989

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