What is racism?

This question has been raised since millenniums before the civil rights

movement. Does that mean that racism was alive throughout history? Did racism completely end

in the Civil right? Or is racism still alive and prevalent in todays modern society? All these

questions arise in the lives of average Americans, either in personal experiences or in stories or

books about race. To answer these questions, there is two different types of Genres that can be

used to define if racism is still alive in todays modern 21st century society. These genres are a

typography from a reliable source and Iconography video of a social experiment. The typography

is an article published by the Huffington Post written by Eric J. Cooper titled as Is Racism Still

Alive In America? Thats Affirmative. The iconography on the other hand, is a modern video

on Youtube of a social media experiment labeled as THE RACISM EXPERIMENT!! YOU

WON'T BELIEVE WHAT HAPPENED!!! By the uploader prettyboyfredo. Both of these types

of genres share the same idea that racism is still alive in today's society. In the article about

whether racism was still alive in America or not, the author starts off by reciting the Supreme

Courts decision on Affirmative Action admissions policy at the University of Texas, due to a

white woman being denied admission to the University when her lesser Black and Hispanic

students were admitted. On the other hand, the author continues to unravel the harsh reality of

the statistics of how African Americans Struggle in America compared to Whites in similar

situations to this one. For this reason, the National Urban Alliance for Effective Education

(NUA), has worked to change beliefs and essentially stereotypes. In the genres iconography, the

video streamer Prettyboyfredo, sets up a social experiment to prove if racism is still alive today

in society. To do so, the Youtuber recruits to young boys, one Black and the other Hispanic, and

has them hold a sign and act as if they were homeless. The sign says Please help hungry :( and

this causes many people to come to their attention when seeing the young boys appear homeless
and hungry. Weird enough, the Hispanic boy happens to get more donations and attention than

the African American boy, but the Youtuber himself ends up inferring a theory that maybe it's

not due to racism but it is dependant on the person. Furthermore he makes his point, but it is

apparent that there was a clear difference between the amount of donations and attention that the

Hispanic received over the African American.

Both genres were both used to prove the point that racism was still alive, but both were

structured very differently. In the Huffington Post Article, the author starts by giving a situation

from the other side of the spectrum, in this case a white woman complaining that it is unfair that

her lesser black and Hispanic friends were admitted to a University that she was not admitted

to.This statement itself is prejudice, but the author wants to specify how many things are very

unjust for racial minorities, just as they seem unjust for this white woman to not be admitted to

the University like the other groups were. This is an instance of prejudice, if the case was that the

white woman was revoked admission to the university based on her race , but this is not the case

, on the other hand the author Eric describes a few statistics in which it proves that people of

color and other minorities are discriminated. In the Social Media experiment, the streamer by the

name of Fredo, has two boys of similar age one black and the other Hispanic, pose as homeless

to see which one collects the most donations and attention. The video is structured as a side by

side comparison, in which the African American boy starts the experiment first and secondly the

Hispanic boy. The point of the video and the way it is structured, is designed to make the African

American boy seem like he is completely ignored , while on the other hand the Hispanic receives

many donations and attention, several times even offered food. The video contains broad

messages spread out throughout the length of the video of how it is obvious that the African

American boy faces the most hardships. In both Genres, even though they are structured
differently, it is safe to infer that racism is still alive today. The differences is how the author

compares all minorities to a white woman, compared to the African American child in the video

being compared to a Hispanic one.

The Audience of both genres is obviously intended for people that want to prove or

disprove this same idea that Racism is still alive today. Both genres mostly lean towards the

side of the argument that racism is still alive today and can be seen in everyday life. The purpose

of both Genres is to both inform and persuade people of the facts and harsh reality of racism

being alive and prevalent today. The audience ties in with the purpose that racism still exists in

different ways. In the Article the audience is the teachers and students who will do the educating

and will be educated on changing the students predisposed beliefs or stereotypes on many

different things. In the video, the audience ties in a more direct standpoint, due to the fact that the

video is a social experiment that will judge the results based on the reactions of random everyday

people and their response to seeing a homeless child, one Black the other Hispanic. Both genres

are trying to convince a discourse community as well as the general public that, racism is still

alive today. The similarities in both genres are that they are both trying to prove a similar point,

and they both offer explanations, real life examples, and statistics through an experiment or in

writing.

Finally both genres are rich in Rhetorical characteristics. In Ethos, the article comes from

a reliable source , such as the Huffington Post. The author of this article Eric J. Cooper is the

founder and president of the National Urban Alliance for Effective Education, a nonprofit

professional development organization that provides student-focused professional development,

advocacy and organizational guidance to accelerate student achievement. On the social

experiment on Youtube, the streamer PrettyBoyFredo has 4 million subscribers, and plenty of
experience with social experiments, as well as hosting the event with everyday people and not

actors, adding to the credibility. Pathos in both Genres is to aspire compassion and empathy for

the victims suffering from racism. In the article, the author starts off by comparing how the white

student was upset of not being admitted to the University of Texas while her other lesser

friends were then shifting the perspective to statistics on how the African American population

is incarcerated in large percentages as well as how the drug war affects them personally. In the

social experiment video, the streamer uses the emotional appeal of two homeless kids to spark

compassion for them, and observe which one gets more attention and empathy. The logos part of

both Genres are specific statistics and facts as well as conclusions that can be drawn from

viewing experiences. In the article, the author gives statistics on how race can define things like

crime rates, stereotypes, and even education. In the video, the viewers must draw conclusions

judging by the number of people that stopped to help the homeless kids based on their race.

The genres lack certain rhetoric appeals but for the most part happen to include most of them. In

the article a bit more of emotional appeal would help the reader be more open to the statistics and

information given there. On the video, more credibility from part of the video streamer would

help make the experiment more believable. The significant similarities between both Genres is

that they both try to prove the point that Racism is still alive in todays society, the differences

are how the author attempts to raise this point.

Each Genre successfully achieved its purpose of making the point and helping readers

draw the conclusion that racism is still alive. The article managed to convey the message with

more credibility and more statistics to successfully convey the message in its entirety. It is

important to educate people to see that racism in the form of stereotypes and prejudice is still

very much alive, and did not die in its entirety during the civil rights...
 References

Typography : Is Racism Still Alive In America? Thats Affirmative- Huffington post. By Eric

Cooper

Iconography: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6JFv3R_vOo

THE RACISM EXPERIMENT!! YOU WONT BELIEVE WHAT HAPPENED!!!-

prettyboyfredo