Section III
Text B: "Boxed In" Black
Part 1 Power of Words
Core Words
① allude [ə'l(j)uːd] vi. (alluded/alluded/alluding)
to make indirect reference
hint; insinuate
announce; elucidate
allusive; allusion
allude to somebody/something
Example 1 As alluded to previously, the entire universe may actually exist in a higher-dimensional space.
Example 2 With friends, she sometimes alluded to a feeling that she herself was to blame for her son's predicament.
② ascribe [ə'skraɪb] vt. (ascribed/ascribed/ascribing)
to refer to a supposed cause, source, or author
attribute
ascribable
ascribe something to somebody/something
Example 1 This effort to ascribe blame makes no sense.
Example 2 We do not ascribe a superior wisdom to government or the State.
③ commensurate [kə'menʃ(ə)rət] adj.
equal in measure or extent; corresponding in size, extent, amount, or degree
proportionate
incommensurate; disproportionate
commensurately; commensuration
commensurate with
Example 1 Employees are paid salaries commensurate with those of teachers.
Example 2 Salary will be commensurate with age and experience.
④ concurrent [kən'kʌr(ə)nt] adj.
happening at the same time
coetaneous; coinciding
asynchronous
concurrently; concurrence
concurrent with
Example 1 The exhibition reflected concurrent developments abroad.
Example 2 My opinions are concurrent with yours.
⑤ counteract [kaʊntər'ækt] vt. (counteracted/counteracted/counteracting)
to make ineffective or restrain or neutralize the usually ill effects of by means of an opposite force, action, or influence
neutralize; offset
catch; embrace
counteraction; counteractive
Example 1 They gave him drugs to counteract his withdrawal symptoms.
Example 2 Taking vitamins can counteract some bad eating habits.
⑥ denote [dɪ'nəʊt] vt. (denoted/denoted/denoting)
If one thing denotes another, it is a sign or indication of it; what a symbol denotes is what it represents.
betoken; indicate
denotative; denotation
Example 1 Crosses on the map denote villages.
Example 2 Her death denoted the end of an era.
⑦ disparity [dɪ'spærɪtɪ] n. (pl. disparities)
containing or made up of fundamentally different and often incongruous elements; markedly distinct in quality or character
difference; inequality
sameness; equality
disparate
disparity in/between
Example 1 There is a disparity between the rates of pay for men and women.
Example 2 The economic disparity between the area's black and white citizens is a serious problem.
⑧ disseminate [dɪ'semɪneɪt] vt./vi. (disseminated/disseminated/disseminating)
to spread abroad as though sowing seed; to disperse throughout
circulate; propagate
dissemination; disseminator; disseminative
disseminate ideas
Example 1 At this level of production, the program is useful only to its creator and cannot be disseminated further.
Example 2 What he describes as mild criticism was a serious libel and it was widely disseminated.
⑨ exhaustive [ɪg'zɔːstɪv] adj.
including all possibilities
complete; thorough
incomplete
exhaust; exhaustively; exhaustible; exhaustion
Example 1 The list shown here is by no means exhaustive.
Example 2 As a result of exhaustive inquiries the police are at last able to issue a description of the murderer.
⑩ infatuation [ɪnˌfætʃʊ'eɪʃən] n.
unreasonably strong feelings of love that you only have for a short time, especially for someone that you do not known very well
obsession
infatuate
Example 1 John has strong infatuation with the French teacher.
Example 2 Teenagers have their own infatuations.
⑪ precarious [prɪ'keərɪəs] adj.
A precarious situation or state is one which may very easily or quickly become worse.
perilous; parlous
safe; secure
precarious situation
Example 1 The release of the individual from accountability lays a precarious basis for a new democratic political culture.
Example 2 The typical peasant farmer has a precarious existence, at the mercy of flood, disease and famine.
Words for Self-study
Please find and memorize the meanings and usages of the following words with the help of dictionaries, online resources and other references.
anthropology binary brevity discourse engender
heckle ingrain inhabitant covert pervert
predominate preside propagate quarantine renounce
scourge stifle tangible temporal thug volatile
Part 2 Text
"Boxed In" Black
Although separated by more than a century, W. E. B. Du Bois1 and Mos Def2 's words succinctly capture the historical and contemporary realities which have encapsulated people of African forebear residing in this country. For Du Bois, the historical characterization, explicit and tacit, of African Americans as an inconvenience, a nuisance, a scourge to be quarantined constituted a conscienceless and inhumane project resulting in the disparity of African American consciousness. For African Americans, the question "… how does it feel to be a problem…" is inundated with philosophical and temporal tensions and contradictions born of the volatile and involuntary nature through which their entry into this country was orchestrated. Unlike voluntary immigration, where the impetus could be fleeing from reprimand or the pursuit of greater opportunity, enslaved Africans arrived as property, as slaves, disallowed from receiving the rights and privileges bestowed unto Whites through birth. From this historical reality, then, the predominance of Black life articulated by Mos Def is a logical consequence.
It seems the aforementioned sentiments are also appropriate for many current day adolescent and young adult African American males, especially those young men residing in secluded and financially constrained urban enclaves, and attending schools where zero-tolerance policies are commonplace. Not surprisingly, then, is the fact that the national discourse about African American males and these institutional and systemic variables is practically inescapable. Whether within academia or popular culture, to see African American males described utilizing deficit-oriented terms or concepts as "precarious" or teetering on the verge of extension is an all too common phenomenon. Given this proliferation of literature on African American males that overwhelmingly operates from a deficit-orientation, one must seriously consider the following question: What manner of impact do these constructions and representations of African American males and Black masculinity have in general, and on the imaginations of Whites, especially those who have little to no contact with Black males?
During the second-degree murder trial of George Zimmerman3, despite explicit instruction by the presiding judge, we were privy to how the Black male image is construed within the imagination of Whites, particularly those lawyers who assumed responsibility for defending Zimmerman. On repeated occasions, Trayvon Martin4's character was heckled and denounced during court proceedings and within the court of public opinion. Even though Trayvon Martin aspired for a future in science and had an academic profile that was well above average, he was consistently portrayed as a menacing and gang-affiliated thug. These stereotypes, it seemed, proved detrimental to Martin during his calamitous encounter with George Zimmerman and the subsequent criminal trial that was convened to determine whether his murder was justified.
In this manuscript the authors attempt to answer the "call", which is, in part, the mobilizing of "… scholars of color and others who share commitments to equity, social justice, and human liberation" that seeks to renounce our patriarchal tendencies and sympathetic leanings to move toward an empathic, ethical, and moral scholarship that propels us to a place where we are prepared to forcefully and courageously answer "the call". So, rather than evade the discourse on how Martin and other African American males are portrayed as menacing and threatening in a way that limits opportunity, this manuscript will engage this discourse directly by seeking to accomplish four objectives.
The authors first explore Iris Young's concept of cultural imperialism5 (2004) and how this pertains to the creation of the cultural "Other". Through "Othering", Young suggests, the existence and cultural activities of non-dominant groups (e.g., styles of communication, familial structure, beliefs, values, etc.) are framed or "boxed in" by a narrative of deficiency and abnormality. Next, the authors will submit that cultural imperialism can serve as a useful heuristic lens for understanding the historical nature of "Othering" in relation to African Americans, and how it is inescapably connected to the "Othering" of African American males including Trayvon Martin. Given the ingrained presuppositions of Black pathology embodied by the "Othered" Trayvon Martin, the authors insist Zimmerman's reaction to Young, Trayvon exemplifies a reinforcing of the "boxed in" cultural "Other" and White racial border enforcement—the toughness of physical and symbolic lines of distinction between "civil" White society and "unruly" Black interlopers—that seeks to relegate Black male bodies to subordinate status in various aspects of social life (e.g., educationally, occupationally, etc.), figuratively and literally. Finally, borrowing from resistance theory, the authors discuss tangible strategies on how Black males themselves, and important educational adults with whom they interact (e.g., professional school counselors), can contest "boxed in" and racial border construction and enforcement to counteract their negative implications.
By proposing the existence of a/the cultural "Other" the authors assert, as have others, the creation of the cultural "Other" is as a matter of historical fact derived from an oppressor/oppressed dialectic. Practically speaking, the typical characteristics of this oppressor/oppressed dialectic were initiated and accelerated "… in sixteenth-century England and emerge from the age of exploration, the rise of capitalism, and the rise of science" (Baker, 1998, p.11). With respect to the role of science in this process, Denzin and Lincoln (2005) clarify the purpose for the accumulation and dissemination of data on non-European indigenous peoples and the role this data played during colonial times:
"The agenda was clear-cut: The observer went to a foreign setting to study the culture, customs, and habits of another human group. Often this was a group that stood in the way of white settlers. Ethnographic reports of these groups where (sic) incorporated into colonizing strategies, ways of controlling the foreign, aberrational, or troublesome Other."
Fanon (1963) elaborated further on the oppressor/oppressed dynamic as part of the process of(de)colonization and how race operated to legitimate the dominant position of the oppressor and the predominated position of the oppressed cultural "Other" when he stated "The governing race is first and foremost those who come from elsewhere, those who are unlike the original inhabitants, 'the others'. This difference or disparity seemed to have been purposely infused with certain connotations that created a racial binary therein Black skin was perceived as filthy and therefore inferior and White skin symbolized the exact opposite" (Jordan, 1974). Thus, it is important to understand the role that essentialized notions of race played in the creation of the cultural "Other".
The significance of race in the "Othering" process
"… and I will say in addition to this, that there is a physical difference between the white and black races which I believe will forever forbid the two races living together on terms of social and political equality…"
—Abraham Lincoln6 (1858)
"It will be seen that when we classify mankind by color the only one of the primary races, given by this classification, which has not made a creative contribution to any one of our twenty-one civilizations is the Black race."
—Arnold Toynbee7 (1934)
Although offered years before subscribing to the notion of Negro vote, Lincoln's quote provides insight and a walkway into the conversation about the widely-held conviction about the existence of tangible and meaningful distinctions between the races. According to Omi and Winant's (1993)exhaustive text, race was historically conceptualized as a scientific truth; a permanent and staunch "natural phenomenon" used to differentiate groups of people. The concept of race was considered an unchangeable, theoretically grounded and scientifically derived system of categorization accepted by numerous renowned scientists (Baker, 1998; Guthrie, 2004). As racial categories and the attendant assumptions they communicated became more ingrained, measures were taken to ensure they became unquestionable (Guthrie, 2004). Here one can see how Young's concept of cultural imperialism is interlinked to the creation of the African as the exemplification of cultural "Other". In addition to distinctive skin complexion, as Young's concept assumes, the nature and cultural activities of non-dominant groups (e.g., styles of communication, familial structure, beliefs, values, etc.) are also framed or "boxed in" by a narrative of deficiency and abnormality. To reiterate, because the cultural imperialism involves the juxtaposition of the "Other" against the nature and cultural activities of the dominant group, the cultural "Other" is, inevitably, seen as deficient and abnormal.
Many academic disciplines, including psychology and anthropology, were used strategically and deliberately to disseminate disparaging images of indigenous and non-White populations and simultaneously reinforce the notion of an innate superiority of White people. Popular conceptions of race and racial categories became more prevalent, and as a consequence, beliefs about an individual's character and abilities became imprinted on and transmitted through skin color and complexion, hair texture and other facial features (Cornell & Hartman, 2007; Guthrie, 2004). This has been instrumental in the propagation of images of African American and other non-White groups as barbaric, intellectually inferior, and culturally deprived (Pierre, Mahalik, & Woodland, 2001; Richardson, Bethea, Hayling, & Williamson-Taylor, 2010; Sleeter & Grant, 2007). Jordan(1974) expressed it (sic): They (Englishmen) knew perfectly well that Negroes were men, they frequently described Africans as "brutish" or "bestial" or "beastly". They supposed hideous tortures, cannibalism, greedy warfare, revolting diet (and so forth page after page) seemed somehow to place the Negro among the beasts.
Concurrently, one cannot underestimate the extent to which the ubiquity of social and news media, and the infatuation with reality television engendered through popular culture serve to reinforce the Black male as criminal prototype (The Opportunity Agenda, 2011; Welch, 2007). Representations of Trayvon Martin and other adolescent African American males like him, for that matter, do not deviate greatly from historical representations of Black masculinity from years ago. Indeed, any serious critical heckle of the circumstances which led to Trayvon Martin's murder must be firmly rooted in a historical analysis of how the image of African American males became so greatly slanted towards perversion and pathology (Hooks, 2004). More than simply learning how common-sense notions about African American males came to be, the critical interrogation alluded to here also entails an awareness of what slanted representations of "Blackness" and Black masculinity facilitate an existence where "… African Americans almost never are permitted to break out of the prism (and prison) of race that has been imposed by a racially coded and constrained society" (Ladson-Billings & Donnor, 2005, p. 279). In relation to Black males, Blackness is brevity; consequently by virtue of their racial designation as Black, Black males' disparity, bizarreness, and threatening nature are seen as biological and downright fact, so much so that being "… stopped in the streets for being in the 'wrong' (i.e., White) neighborhoods…" (Chasin, 2004, p. 204) becomes a frequent occurrence.
African American males as the cultural "Other"
Cultural imperialism can serve as a useful heuristic lens for understanding the historical nature of "Othering" in relation to Blacks (Hooks, 2004) that augments the "Othering" of Black males (Brown & Donnor, 2011; Jenkins, 2006) including Trayvon Martin. In other words, the authors will contend it is essential to understand how cultural imperialism operates in relation to deeply entrenched notions of Black pathology; notions that are indiscriminately ascribed to the adolescent Black male body.
Young (2004) contends there are five "faces" or types of oppression. They are violence, exploitation, marginalization, powerlessness, and cultural imperialism. For Young, exploitation includes the routine abusive utilization of an individual or groups' labor without the provision of commensurate compensation. Young characterized marginalization as the deliberate and persistent act of subjugating or silencing the concerns of a group such that these concerns and those articulating them become practically excluded from consideration. Powerlessness, as the term implies, involves practices that persistently stifle a group's ability to act in a self-deterministic and autonomous manner. Violence, particularly brute force, is often the most abominable form of oppression, which usually makes it the easiest to detect. Finally, cultural imperialism consists of elevating the culture of the ruling class and instituting it as the norm within the population against which all others are measured and evaluated.
In all of the aforementioned "faces of oppression", the ruling class is the group that has power and influence to control how members of the society function and communicate to one another. As a result, the beliefs of the society become a reflection of the ruling class in respect to values, goals, and expectations. Since its inception, the ruling class in America has been comprised of White males who subscribe to a Judeo-Christian belief system influenced by Anglo culture infused with British traditions. Black males, like many other minorities, are forced to consciously and unconsciously negate their individual cultural characteristics to adhere to those of the ruling class. Individuals oppressed by cultural imperialism are both crippled by stereotypes and forced into a marginalized state of existence. These stereotypes reconstruct the identity of these people, including Black males, into a mass of Others that lack separate identities. White males can have a distinct identity and be an individual because they hold the most power while other groups are just "groups" of Others.
Black males are culturally and psychologically damaged resulting from a long history of cultural "Othering" which include American's chattel slavery8, reconstruction, and Jim Crow segregation (Brown & Donnor, 2011). The process of "Othering" not only results in a culture that does not love Black males, but it leads to self-hate among the population (Hooks, 2004). Self-hate is powerful and operates much like a disease. In this context, self-loathing is a disease that has been introduced to the psyche of oppressed Black males, by the ruling class in an effort to consume them from within resulting in a lack of self-worth and heightened hatred for themselves and those like them. Cornel West (2001) asserts that this lack of self-worth is a major problem that should be attacked. He states that this "angst resembles a kind of collective clinical depression". West refers to it as "Nihilism in Black America" and denotes that this "angst" comes from "lived experience of ontological wounds and emotional scars inflicted by White supremacist belief and images infiltrating U.S. society and culture". Hooks (2004) states, "Black males in the culture of imperialist white-supremacist capitalist patriarchy are feared but they are not loved". This constant fear gives birth to hatred, which leads to covert and overt forms of racism employed by both the oppressor and the oppressed.
(Adapted from (Re)Teaching Trayvon: Education for Racial Justice and Human Freedom, edited by Venus E. Evans-Winters & Magaela C. Bethune)
Notes
① W. E. B. Du Bois
W. E. B. Du Bois (1868–1963) is an American sociologist, historian, civil rights activist, Pan-Africanist, writer and editor. Born in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, Du Bois grew up in a relatively tolerant and integrated community. After completing graduate work at the University of Berlin and Harvard, where he was the first African American to earn a doctorate, he became a professor of history, sociology and economics at Atlanta University. Du Bois was one of the co-founders of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in 1909.
② Mos Def
Yasiin Bey (1973– ) is best known by his stage name Mos Def. He is an American hiphop recording artist, actor and activist from Brooklyn, New York City.
③ George Zimmerman
George Michael Zimmerman (1983– ) is an American known for the fatal shooting of Trayvon Martin on February 26, 2012, in Sanford, Florida. On July 13, 2013, he was acquittedof second-degree murder in Florida v. George Zimmerman. As of 2015, he remained the subject of media interest due to ongoing controversy over the Trayvon Martin case. In addition, he has been involved in other violent incidents, with allegations of violence made against him since he was acquitted of murder.
④ Trayvon Martin
Trayvon Martin (1995–2012) is a 17-year-old African American from Miami Gardens, Florida, who was fatally shot in Sanford, Florida by George Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch volunteer.
⑤ cultural imperialism
Cultural imperialism comprises the cultural aspects of imperialism. Imperialism here refers to the creation and maintenance of unequal relationships between civilizations, favoring the more powerful civilization. Thus, cultural imperialism is the practice of promoting and imposing a culture, usually that of a politically powerful nation, over a less powerful society; in other words, the cultural hegemony of industrialized or economically influential countries which determine general cultural values and standardize civilizations throughout the world.
⑥ Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865) is an American politician and lawyer who served as the 16th President of the United States from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. Lincoln led the United States through its Civil War—its bloodiest war and perhaps its greatest moral, constitutional, and political crisis. In doing so, he preserved the Union, paved the way to the abolition of slavery, strengthened the federal government, and modernized the economy.
⑦ Arnold Toynbee
Arnold Toynbee (1852–1883) is a British economic historian and is also noted for his social commitment and desire to improve the living conditions of the working classes.
⑧ chattel slavery
Chattel slavery, also called traditional slavery, is so named because people are treated as the chattel (personal property) of the owner and are bought and sold as commodities. Although it dominated many societies in the past, this form of slavery has been formally abolished and is very rare today. Even when it can be said to survive, it is not upheld by the legal system of any internationally recognized government.
Part 3 Exercises
I. Read aloud and listen to the audio of the text for full understanding.
II. Practice subvocal reading at fast speed (250 words per minute), and then try to suppress subvocal to achieve much faster reading speed.
III. Think and respond critically.
1. What are general representations of African American males and Black masculinity according to the passage?
2. What do the oppressor and the oppressed refer to in the passage? What's oppressor/oppressed dynamic?
3. What is the significance of race in the "Othering" process according to the passage?
4. What are the five types of oppression? Which one do you think is more important?
5. What does "boxed in" mean according to the passage? What's the meaning of the title "'Boxed In' Black"?
IV. Decide whether the following pairs of words are synonyms, antonyms or neither. Use a dictionary for help if necessary.
1. scalpel, bayonet ____________
2. vehement, ferocious ____________
3. solitude, wasteland ____________
4. vanilla, basil ____________
5. workmanship, horticulture ____________
6. feat, cartel ____________
7. tubing, waterworks ____________
8. lanky, cumbersome ____________
9. acetate, sulphate ____________
10. menopause, adolescence ____________
11. tatter, splinter ____________
12. ingenious, inventive ____________
13. relentless, staunch ____________
14. flagrant, brazen ____________
15. revulsion, partiality ____________
16. shabby, tatty ____________
17. propagate, reissue ____________
18. idealistic, pragmatic ____________
19. whittle, upsurge ____________
20. renege, rosette ____________
V. Choose the word that best agrees with each group.
aftershave angina crescendo mettle mite
muffin quiche rivalry seafront sledgehammer
1. locust, caterpillar ____________
2. antagonist, knockout ____________
3. coasted, coastline ____________
4. meringue, gingerbread ____________
5. crumpet, wholemeal ____________
6. zap, willpower ____________
7. migraine, twinge ____________
8. scythe, sickle ____________
9. lotion, cleanser ____________
10. accordion, cello ____________
VI. Fill in the gap with the word that best completes the sentence. Change the form where necessary.
rabble propriety rationale recapture zest
wrack topple tertiary stash reprieve
soluble skid reconvene velocity whim
turnout sediment quadruple surrogate relic
1. The bus _______________ off the road and into a ditch.
2. The film really _______________ the atmosphere of those days.
3. A stack of plates swayed, and began to ________________ over.
4. A ________________ of angry citizens stormed the embassy.
5. William was acting as a ________________ father for his brother's son.
6. Shoppers will get a temporary _______________ from the new sales tax.
7. The book was written with _______________, and if possible, it should be read that way.
8. They are high in fiber, half of which is cholesterol-lowering _______________ fiber.
9. Everything in the house seemed old and untouched, like _______________ of an ancient time.
10. Periodic crises _______________ the capitalist system, and they grow in size and duration.
11. The press is overstepping in every direction the obvious bounds of _______________ and of decency.
12. Ocean plants buried in _______________ can help reveal Earth's temperature thousands of years ago.
13. Is the inevitable levering of asset structures to double or _______________ returns relative to risk-free assets?
14. The _______________ for using this teaching method is to encourage student confidence.
15. Power and performance also depend on the weight and shape of the bullet and its ________________.
16. To slow the spoiling process, we need to ________________ them in the refrigerator immediately.
17. By the late industrialization, rapid development of ________________ industry absorbed more of the labor force.
18. The government wants to ensure high ________________, but it might be difficult as there is certain apathy among the voters.
19. Though they did not reach a consensus on all the details the group will _______________ in January to hammer out further specifications and potentially get the interest of NASA.
20. Websites at first seemed to be a ________________, but soon businesses realized how effective the Internet could be as a way to interact with customers, business partners, and internal users.
VII. Label each of the following statements F for fact, O for opinion, or B for a blend of both.
1. Whether within academia or popular culture, to see African American males described utilizing deficit-oriented terms or concepts as "at-risk" or teetering on the verge of extension is an all too common phenomenon.
2. By proposing the existence of a/the cultural "Other" the authors assert, as have others, the creation of the cultural "Other" is as a matter of historical fact derived from an oppressor/oppressed dialectic.
3. They supposed hideous tortures, cannibalism, rapacious warfare, revolting diet seemed somehow to place the Negro among the beasts.
4. Contemporarily, one cannot underestimate the extent to which the ubiquity of social and news media, and the infatuation with reality television engendered through popular culture serve to reinforce the Black male as criminal archetype.
5. White males can have a distinct identity and be an individual because they hold the most power while other groups are just "groups" of Others.
6. Black males are culturally and psychologically damaged resulting from a long history of cultural "Othering" which include American's chattel slavery, reconstruction, and Jim Crow segregation.
7. For Du Bois, the historical characterization, explicit and tacit, of African Americans as an inconvenience, a nuisance, a scourge to be quarantined constituted an unconscionable and inhumane project resulting in the bifurcation of African American consciousness.
8. Many academic disciplines, including psychology and anthropology, were used strategically and deliberately to disseminate disparaging images of indigenous and non-White populations and simultaneously reinforce the notion of an innate superiority of White people.
9. Cultural imperialism can serve as a useful heuristic lens for understanding the historical nature of "Othering" in relation to Blacks that undergirds the "Othering" of Black males including Trayvon Martin.
10. This constant fear gives birth to hatred, which leads to covert and overt forms of racism employed by both the oppressor and the oppressed.
VIII. Translate the following sentences into Chinese.
1. This difference or unlikeness seemed to have been purposely imbued with certain connotations that created a racial binary wherein Black skin was perceived as filthy and therefore inferior and White skin symbolized the exact opposite.
2. To reiterate, because the cultural imperialism involves the juxtaposition of the "Other" against the nature and cultural activities of the dominant group, the cultural "Other" is, inevitably, seen as deficient and abnormal.
3. It will be seen that when we classify mankind by color the only one of the primary races, given by this classification, which has not made a creative contribution to any one of our twenty-one civilizations is the Black race.
4. In this context, self-loathing is a disease that has been introduced to the psyche of oppressed, Black males, by the ruling class in an effort to consume them from within resulting in a lack of self-worth and heightened hatred for themselves and those like them.
5. Individuals oppressed by cultural imperialism are both crippled by stereotypes and forced into a marginalized state of existence. These stereotypes reconstruct the identity of these people, including Black males, into a mass of Others that lack separate identities.
IX. The passage illustrates part of the history of the Black in America. Write an essay to express your attitude towards race problem.