I am doing a paper on racism, can you help me?

Question

I have tons of information about the KKK, Skinheads, IKA, and other groups. I also plan on putting stories in there about Emmett Till and James Byrd Jr. and other things like that. My problem is, what direction do I take with the paper? What am I ttrying to prove with this paper? Please any ideas would be appreciated. i am not asking for you to do my homework, I am just blank on ideas.

Answer 1

I'm very interested in your subject and hope you'll send me a copy when you're done writing.
If you chose the topic then you must have some questions/doubts/prejudices of your own that you would like to explore. If it was given to you then ask yourself these questions:
1. Have you or someone you cared about ever experienced racism?
2. What was the action that was perceived as racism?
3. Could it have been perceived as anything else? Tired, angry, bored?
4. Have you ever done anything that could be (mis)construed as racist?
5. Does racism still exist and is it an important social issue?
6. Is it better if we/everyone discusses racism openly or is it better if we ignore it and hope it goes away?
7. Are there any benefits to racism? Did any good ever come from it?

I think if you ask yourself a few probing questions and then take a stand or address a particular issue (or 2) , it will help you to focus your research and writing

say : 1. Definition of racism
2. Classic examples of racism: Till, Holocaust (not only Jews were victims!)
3. Issue 1
4. Issue 2
5. Analysis & Conclusion

Hope that helps

Answer 2

You should be able to feel inside you what you want to prove. For sure you don't want to put yourself in a frustrated angry victim dress, shouting the world is wrong. You want to dig inside the roots of the racial hate. Who did it start? When? Why? Where in the world first? Let's start from the slavery era, colonizers, who were they? What was their aim? Conquer and control, but more importantly get profit, a massive profit from the work of simple poor uneducated populations, treated worse than beasts, not worth to gain human respect. That's where it comes from. Do you know when slavery laws were banned in some of the southern United States of America? No more than 20-30 years ago. Start from there. USA, the most powerful country in the world, but still in need of radical development, cultural, social, human development. Do you know how many black people coming from Africa and Indies were killed during slavery? Nobody knows, nobody bothers about that, it was the biggest massive holocaust that the world ever saw. Compare it with the Jews holocaust, it's commemorated and paid respect every moment, and that's how should always be, for any oppressed population, transmitting the memory, not to forget. Why is someone asking you a paper on racism? Start asking yourself this question. For a new academic well written essay to show the world we care about it? Maybe yes, maybe not. Maybe it's for a serious good reason. To make you think, to make you go back in time, and understand why. You know what you want to prove with what you'll write. You know it inside yourself.
Read "Ain't I A Woman" from Bell Hooks, and see the movie "Mississippi Burning" if you haven't already.
All the best and good luck.
Luc

Answer 3

With all of those hate groups listed, you sound like you are proving that racism exists, but I am sure you want a better angle. Ideas: The Civil Rights Movement -Then & What It means now, Anti-Semitism & Its Implications in the Middle East & US today, Religious Persecution since the Puritans and the Conservative Movement pushing politics today, Nazi Germany - Is Something like that possible in the world again? Have Hate Groups grown or lessened in numbers over time? What are the current Hate crimes compared to hate crimes of the 20th century? Gay bashing- the new discrimination. The topic is loaded with possibilities. Every possible group has been discriminated against - Native Americans - how they are now using casino revenue - Irish Americans, Italians, Mormons, etc., etc. Good luck.

Answer 4

I agree with the sentiment other have--your topic is too broad. You may want to try using a brainstorming technique that will help you take a very broad topic and narrow it down into something more managable. Also, you have to ask yourself, what are you trying to do with your paper?

* Prove a position?
* Educate your reader on these groups?
* Discuss the history of racism?

See what I mean? You need to define your focus. Here are a few link on the Web that can help you narrow and define your topic:

http://www.unc.edu/depts/wcweb/handouts/brainstorming.html
http://web.uvic.ca/wguide/Pages/EssayNarrowTopics.html
http://www.lib.duke.edu/libguide/refining.htm

All the best & good luck!
Sarah Reed
UMUC Writing Advisor

Answer 5

how about u mention racism is still around today vividly but in different ways like racism when it comes to religion like islam, racism against arabs, things like that, how hostory repeats itself but in different ways through different people who dont learn from the past, the ones that were once opressed are now the opressors.. u get the idea

Answer 6

What about doing a paper on how all (most) the non-whites dont like whites =) (secretively or openly) and why.

I think the black racism thing is overdone.

Answer 7

I dont think you're being specific enough. Racism is a huge topic, you'll have to narrow it down. What about racism are you trying to write about?

Answer 8

how about
racism is still a problem today, but we have made progress and its a problem we can fix