Racism in the United States of America

Multi-Genre Project
-Newspaper Article
-Poem
-Police Report
-Chart
-Research Paper

Sebastien Dormoy
CPCC Spring 2016
April 26, 2016

Dear Reader,
First and foremost, thank you for reading this Multi-Genre Project. For this project, I have
been studying racism in America for the past three months. Racism is a very broad topic, and tons
of articles talk about this controversial issue. As a result, in this Multi-Genre Project, I was interested in several questions such as how racism came to America, why racism is still persisting in
the U.S.A, what is the origin of racism , and how can racism could decrease over the years? I
selected this topic and those questions because racism is something that I wanted to know more
about. In fact, as an international from the French Caribbean, I have seen a lot of prejudices
whether in my island or in America. Knowing the origin of racism, why it is still here, and how to
get rid of it seems to be very fascinating in order to understand our society, and to move forward.
For this project, I work on five genres which are, a research paper, a graph, a newspaper article,
and a poem.
Racism is a very big issue in America. From the medias, the newspapers, or the people
who suffer from this abomination, racism is everywhere. Over the past century, the African-American have been discriminated because of their skin color. In fact, from the slavery period when
they were treated like animals, and even after the Civil Right Act signed, racism was still here. For
instances, Black and Whites individuals could not be mixed in the bus (Blacks in the back, Whites
in the front). Even in todays society, African-Americans are still discriminated. In fact, from the
police abuse, to massive shooting in Charleston against the Black communities, racism is real. On
the other hand, although this topic is still relevant, some improvements have been done. The creation of organizations, laws and the recognition of equality for everyone has been crucial for the
minorities.
By working on this Multi-Genres Project, I first learn more about racism in America, so I
understand the situations and the conditions of people who are touched by this problem. As you
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read my work, you will learn more about this topic, and you will understand why it is still persisting. As you are reading it, consider to be in the situation of these people who are suffering from
racism, and the consequences they are enduring.
Thank you,
Sbastien Dormoy

Rationale on Genre One: Newspaper Article

I used a newspaper article because this is where we see all the major events and news that
happens locally or internationally. As a result, in some articles, the readers can get plenty of information about dierent topics. For that matter, we see more and more articles about racial discrimination,
so having this genre in my project sounded like a good idea to be credible. The purpose of this newspaper that I have written from real facts is to show my audience how big racism, prejudice, and discrimination is in America. In this respect, I decided to include some interesting facts, statistics, and
the case of someone who got killed by the police whereas he was unarmed. The main topic of this article is the dramatic number of African American killed by police although they were unarmed. I also
included a chart to compare the rates of unarmed people killed in the U.S by race (Hispanic, White,
Black). Then, I included a powerful picture of the Black Lives Matters movement. This was a manifestation for the shooting of Walter Scott in Charleston, South Carolina where a police ocer shot
him in the back several times.
The choice of this genre was very interesting because this newspaper article could be real due to the
fact that everything is true. The purpose of this genre is also to show the impact of racism, and discrimination in our society. I really enjoyed making this article because it shows the reality of the nation.

April 19, 2016

TODAYS NEWS
Racism | Police shooting | Black Lives Matter

Facts and Statistics

A Guardian Study has demonstrated that Black Americans
were nine times more likely to
be killed by the police than
any other Americans.

Prison Statistics in
2010
According to Prison Policy,
there is as many Black and
White people in prison. To be
more precise, thirty-nine
percent of White men, and
forty percent of Black individuals were incarcerated in
2010. The choking fact is that
there are more White people
(sixty-three percent) than
African American (only thirteen percent) in the United
States of America.

People participate in a rally to protest the death of

Walter Scott, who was killed. Picture by Presstv.

100 Unarmed Black Individuals were killed by the

Police in 2015

Ways people were

killed by police in
2015

According to the Mapping Police Violence and Alternet,

Black people have the highest rate of death by U.S police ocers. As a matter of fact, 1134 African Americans were killed
in the year of 2015, 100 of them were unarmed which represents one in eleven. Furthermore, Black people make up thirteen percent of the population, twenty-five of them were
killed by the police whereas seventeen percent of White
people had the same case. Since sixty-three percent of the
population is White, the contrast is big.

The Guardian has shown that

1,010 out of 1134 people were
killed by gunshot which represents nearly eighty-nine
percent of deaths. On the
other hand, and four percent
were killed with a taser.

April 19, 2016

Miguel Espinal Shooting

Miguel Espinal, thirty-six years
old, had been killed in the Bronx
on December 8th, 2015 by the
NYPD after being pulled over at a
traffic light.
CBS2 reported that Espinal ran
from his car after the crash occurred, and then the Police shot
and killed him whereas he was
unarmed. His brother stated
Whether he ran from the cops or
not, it doesnt justify that he got
shot. It doesnt justify that, Justin
Juble.

According to his family, Miguel

Espinal ran because he did not
have any license.
After this dramatic event, no officers have been charged with a
crime for killing Miguel as reported by the Mapping Police Violence.

Rationale on Genre Two: Poem

For the second genres, I decided to write a poem. More precisely, I wrote an acrostic poem.
By definition, an acrostic poem is simply a poem which the first letter of each line spells out a
word, or a sentence when reading vertically. I decided also to include several kind of rhymes to
accentuate the dynamic of my poem. As a result, I used perfect, assonance, and alliteration
rhymes. In addition, I decided to write this poem because this is a good way to denunciate a social
issue like racism with a lot of emotions. For instance, I wanted to tell in this poem the prejudices
that face any African American individual in the past (even today in some cases). Consequently,
the first five lines, where it is written Black vertically talks about a young Black individual rejected by other White people because of his/her dark skin. Thus, the character recalls how long it
will take before she/he will be socially accepted. Then, the next five lines where it is written
Lives vertically, tells how unfair is it to judge people by the skin. Finally, the last six lines are
about the emotion of the character, and that she/he believes that everything will slowly disappear
with time. I really enjoyed writing this poem because, with a simple text, we can deliver a very
powerful and emotional message.

Black Lives Matter

Because my skin is different,

Lead you acting as an ignorant,
After multiple centuries, years, and days,
Currently trying to give you praise,
Knowing it will take a lot of times.

Love must be blind,

It should not be like todays humankind,
Various of judgments happen in front of my eyes,
Even if we are all the same,
Some people think I am lame,

Makes me feel what a world,

As an African American, and human being,
Telling me I am different considering of my dark skin,
Too many prejudices are hurled,
Either way, I believe in our next chapter,
Remembering that Black Lives Matter.

Rationale on Genre Three: Police Report

For the third genres, I chose a police report. For that matter, I made up a story that could
happen in the real life. In fact, I was inspired by the event that happened in Charleston, South Carolina when a police officer shot an unarmed African American in the back whereas the officer
was not in danger as he claimed. Also, as you are reading this multi-genre project, you have probably noticed that I am taking the same example as the first genre I wrote which is the newspaper
article. I did this to show the same situation, but with a different view to help the readers to fully
understand the position of each people involved, and how the media or any other people interpret
the story.

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Police report
Case no: 765
Name/Race of the Aggressor/Victim: Melvin Mills,
African American
Name/Race of the Police Officer: John Clark, White

Nature of the Incident: Robbery/shooting

Date/Hour: July 27th, 2002, 12:30 pm

Incident:

Melvin Mills did a robbery on July 27th at 12:30 pm in a little grocery store called Food
shop. During the shoplifting, a witness called the police department in order to stop the robber. A
few moment later, the police came to arrest M. Mills. After being caught, Melvin Mills escaped
from the police officer, and the police officer shot him in the back.

Detail of Event:

According to the cashier and the witness who called the police, the robber came around twelve
thirty in the afternoon. The cashier thought it was just a typical customer, but he did see that he had a
strange behavior. A few moment later, when M. Mills was alone in the shop, he faced the cashier, and he
asked him for cash. According to the cashier, he did not show any weapon. Owing to his aggressive behavior, the cashier was forced to give him what he wanted. Witnessed the scene, a pedestrian who was passing
by called immediately the police. A few minutes later, the police officer John Clark came and pulled out his
gun to persuade him to stay calm, and recalled him his rights. When he was about to be handcuffed, Melvin
Mills escaped from the cop suddenly. Instantly, the police officer pulled out his gun, and shot him three
times in the back. The victim passed away immediately.

Actions Taken:
-The robber forced the cashier to get cash,
-A witness called the police,
-The police came in the minutes that followed,
-The police officer asked him to come over,

-The robber came over,

-The police pulled out his handcuff,
-The robber escaped from him,
-The police officer shot him three times in the back
whereas he was not in danger, and the robber was
unarmed, witness said.

-The robber disagreed,

-The police officer pulled out his gun,

Final Decision:
The police officer Mr. John Clark will be prosecuted for homicide against Mr. Melvin
Mills.

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Rationale on Genre Four: Chart

For the fourth genre, I chose to do a chart, but this time, I will not talking about the Black
ethnic. However, I will talk about the discrimination of the Hispanic community in the workplace.
For this chart, I made the graph by my own, nevertheless, I took some real facts from the Pew
Hispanic Center which is a research center about the issues in America. As a matter of fact, I chose
my topic of this genre to talk about the Hispanic people in America because they represent seventeen percent of the U.S which is surprisingly bigger than the Black community. I thought it would
be interesting to talk about this ethnic, so this is the first reason why I chose this chart. On the other hand, discrimination in the workplace is very big especially for the Latinos people, as shown
below. As we can notice, although the White and Black people make up seventy-six percents of
the U.S population, the Native Born, and Hispanic people have almost the same rates of discrimination, as reported below. The question asked for the survey was During the last five years, do
you, a member of your family, or a close friend experienced discrimination because of your racial
or ethical background, or not? We can notice that the discrimination for the Hispanics increased
from thirty-one percent to forty-one percent in five years. This chart is another proof that racism is
increasing over the years in America.

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Chart about Racial Discrimination in the Workplace

Question: During the last five years, do you, a member of your family, or a
close friend experienced discrimination because of your racial or ethical
tbackground, or not?
(% responding yes)

Hispanics Reporting Personal Experiences with Discriminations

46

45
41
38

37

35

42

40

32

31
27
23

12

2002
All Hispanics

2006
Native Born

2007
Foreign Born

Source: Pew Hispanic Center 2002, 2006 and

2007 National Surveys of Latinos.

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Rationale on Genre Five: Research Paper

For the last genre, I chose to write a research paper. Writing a research sounded very interesting to me, in order to understand and learn the origin of racism. For this paper, I decided to talk
about the origin of racism against African American and Hispanic people. In fact, these communities have the highest rates of discrimination in the U.S . As a result, knowing where these discriminations come from will help the readers to understand this big issue in todays society. Thus, as
you read this research you will notice that racism comes from the slavery for the Black people,
and from the illegal immigration for the Hispanics. The purpose of this paper is to show my audience how racism has evolved until today. From the ameliorations to some problems that still occur today, this research will explain everything about the origin, and the evolution of racial discrimination in the United States of America. I really liked writing this because I have learnt tons of
information about this issue, and now I understand the situation of the people who are the victim
of racism. As you read this, consider the context, and the period to understand the situation.

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Sbastien Dormoy
Professor Douglas
English 112
26 April 2016
The Origin and Evolution of Racism in America

Racism is still with us. But it is up to us to prepare our children for what they have to
meet, and, hopefully, we shall overcome, said Rosa Parks. Racism is a very big controversial topic in the United States of America. Prejudice or discrimination are both form of racism, and it happens everyday, plus it touches many different ethnics. In the U.S, sixty-three percent of the population is White, seventeen is Hispanic, and thirteen is Black (Huffington Post). In spite of those
statistics, racism over African American and Latinos are much bigger than over White American.
As a result, it is interesting to look closely at the origin of racism in America against the Black and
Hispanic community, and then the evolution of this state mind over the time.
In the first place, when the European settlers came to America in the seventeenth century,
they captured Black people from Africa in order to bring them here. This was the beginning of the
slavery period in the United States of America. During this period, African American were treated
like animals, persecuted, and they were considered as an inferior minority. They used to work on
the plantations to grow tobacco or cotton. On December 1865, the President Abraham Lincoln
abolished the slavery in the U.S after the Civil War. Ever since, Black individuals were more
free than before. During this year, the creation of the Ku Klux Klan had as a goal to terrorize
the Black community. Racism against African American had begun because of racist movement
like that. Even though the slavery was abolished in 1865, the mentalities of White people did not
change overnight. In fact, although the laws prohibited any form of slavery, the White individuals
still treated them like they were nothing. They had a very low salary, they had different bathrooms,
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and they used to be separated in the bus. As a result, the quiet evolution of the White mentalities
was another reason of racism in America.
On the other hand, although racism against African American is a big topic in the U.S, discrimination over Hispanic people is also controversial. Firstly, people from Latin America were
looking for the American Dream to get some opportunities to work, and escape poverty. Furthermore, Hispanics immigration started after the war between Mexico and America in 1846. In
1960, the Hispanics people were considered as an ethnic group in the United States, and they represented almost seven percent of the population according to Pew Research Center. Racism over
this minority began with discriminations, in the first place. As said previously, Latinos came in
America to escape poverty, so they were originally poor once they immigrated. Discrimination
occurred in the residential system. In fact, because they were poor the owner would assume that
he/she would not be able to pay the rent on time. As a result, it became a generalization, and a
stereotype that Hispanic people were poor. Consequently, racism expanded because of income issues from these people, and their Hispanic sounding name. Secondly, racism occurred in the education system and in the workplace. Unlike Native Born American, the Latinos did not speak English. As a result, when it came to study in middle school, or any education environment, they
would struggle in class, so they would earn bad grades at the beginning. As a consequence, the
teachers would assume that they do not study, and they would be considered as bad students. The
result of this situation is that it became again a stereotype that Latinos are not good in class. In
brief, racism over Hispanic individuals started because of income issues, and the language barrier.
Racism against African American has evolved over the time. As a matter of fact, during the
twentieth century, civil movements exploded. Consequently, the Civil Rights Act has been signed
by the President Johnson in 1964. Since this act, Black people were officially free and had equal
rights. As a result, they earned the same minimum wage as any other White individuals, and men18

talities had improved drastically. Furthermore, Black people are more and more accepted socially
and even politically. For instance, Barack Obama is the first African American president in 2008
until today. It shows that racism is slowly decreasing, and that the situation is better that before.
Nevertheless, tragic events like the shooting in a Black Church located in Charleston, South Carolina shows that racism is still there. In brief, a high school dropout student killed nine Black people for no reason. This kind of event raised the questions of race relation in America. A Yale University has demonstrated that some people think that African American are poor, criminal, or
even drug abuse. Although racism has dramatically decreased over the twenty-one century, this
state of mind is still present at some points against this minority.
Hispanics people made up seventeen percent of the total U.S population, so it makes them
the fastest growing minority with fifty-five million people in 2014 (Pew Research Center). Although mentalities have changed, discrimination in the workplace is still a big issue. For example,
as showed in the fourth genre, and according to the Pew Hispanic Center, forty-one percent answered yes in 2007 when they were asked the question During the last five years, do you, a
member of your family, or a close friend experienced discrimination because of your racial or ethical background, or not? It increases by ten percent in five years from 2002 to 2007. This statistics shows that racial discrimination is still a problem in the workplace for Latinos. It could be
explained by the fact that the Hispanics immigration is a recent movement in the U.S history. Even
though racism is decreasing slowly in general, it is still persisting.
To put in a nutshell, racism in America against African American comes from the slavery
period, but after several acts and the evolution of the mentalities, it is gradually falling off over the
time. On the other hand, racism over Hispanic people comes from the language barrier, and income issues which create stereotypes and discrimination. Even if it still persisting, it is not as big
as it used to be, back in a day. As a final thought, in general racism over these minorities has dra19

matically decreased over the past two decades. Equal rights for all, recognition of citizenship and
job opportunities are examples of amelioration. However, this state of mind will continue to persist because of the media, social environment, and stereotypes against these ethnics.

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Work Cited
Renee Stepler and Anna Brown, Statistical Portrait of Hispanics in the United States. April 19,
2016.
Pew Hispanic Center 2002, 2006 and 2007 National Surveys of Latinos.
Hctor L. Torres, Anita OConor, Claudia Meja, Yvette Camacho, Alyse Long, The American
Dream: Racism towards Latino/as in the U.S. and the experience of trauma symptoms.R.
Interam. Psicol. 2011.
Andre Damon, "The social roots of racism in America. 23 June 2015.

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Sbastien Dormoy
Professor Douglas
English 112
26 April 2016

Dear Reader,
As you come to the end of my project, I hope you have learnt more about racism in America through my poem, chart, police report, newspaper article, and my research paper. Having to
write the same topic in different points of view was very interesting to fully understand this controversial issue. In fact, I have learn that racism is very complicated to get rid of it because it takes
a lot of times to change the mentalities. Furthermore, racism against African American and Hispanics comes from discriminations and stereotypes. Although this state of mind is still a big problem, racism has dramatically decreased for the past two decades. As a matter of fact, Black people
came from the slavery, and now the President of the United States of America is an African American. The most successful genre I have written is the research paper and the poem. The research
paper because learning the origin of racism is important in order to understand our society. Then,
the poem because it is the best form to express our emotions and denunciate at the same time. The
most problematic was the police report because I had to make up a credible story, but it was still
interesting to do. I don't think I would do anything if I had more time because we had plenty of
time to do it. Thus, I dont know what I could do more. I hope you enjoy, and learn something as
much as I did throughout this Multi-Genre Project.
Sincerely,
Sebastien Dormoy

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