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As mentioned in this database, racism was a large portion of our country's history and continues to affect not only America, but other parts of the world too. Events similar to the Holocaust and the 1950's and 1960's where segregation between blacks and white are considered racist movements. Many people today deny the fact that racism is still present in today's modern society yet there are people making racial remarks and performing racist acts. I feel as though that if it were not for our global history, people in today's society would not feel the need to make these comments towards people. If people had not gotten the idea to do it in the first place, they wouldn't feel that way.

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This piece by Toni Morrison really made me think about the interpretation of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and how it can be easy to miss some of the big picture ideas that Mark Twain is trying to portray, but after rereading it it can be easier to pick up on them.  Morrison discusses how Huck is often fighting the morals of society versus his own morals and how they conflict when it comes to how Jim should be treated. I believe that Huck had a choice on how he should treat Jim, and he decided to treat him as equal. This relates to today because people have the option of treating African Americans as equals, but their personal morals tell them otherwise. They call them names and make comments aimed at discriminating their skin and heritage which shows that the people of today's modern era have really taken a step sideways on racial matters.

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Washington Post: The N-Word - Lanita and Patricia on the word's power  

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Washington Post: The N-Word - Lanita and Patricia on the word's power  

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This source really expresses from first-hand experiences on how the use of the n-word negatively impacts African Americans today. It really shows how there is still racism present in today's society. People are still referring to blacks as "n******"  and the effect that it has is terrible. Patricia Wilson and Lanita Jacob use the word "dehumanizing" when expressing how they felt about being call the n-word. I have realized that it is difficult, being a white person, to understand what it is really like to face such discrimination.  In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the dirogatory word is used all the time and it is mind blowing to think that there are still people using that word in today's world.

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Explore perspectives.
Select three to see a custom video.

Start your own conversation

Add a question or use one of the submitted questions to start a conversation with your social network. (Note: The n-word has not been filtered from submissions.)

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n-word; donte stallworth; neal brennan; dave chappelle show; nfl; national football leagues bans nword; nfl bans the nword; nigger; nigga; nigger vs nigga; kkk; ku klux klan; jay z; oprah;

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The n-word: An interactive project exploring a singular word

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After the National Football League made the controversial decision to ban the n-word on the field this year, a team of Washington Post journalists explored the history of the word, its evolution and its place in American vernacular today.

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Bryan Stevenson, the man who gave the TED talk discussing the different injustices that Americans quite often face. He brought up some very good points that appear to agree with. Stevenson made a point about how in Germany they do not have the death penalty due to their reputation with killing people (World War IIcxxzcvvx and the Holocaust). This really made me think about how in the 1880's people, especially African Americans were killed left and right because of the color of their skin. He mentions how a third of America's  black male population has been imprisoned at some point in their life. One last point that Stevenson made that stuck with me is that America's history is rarely talked about and how things like innovation, technology, entertainment can be viewed as things to distract people from what is really going on the world. It shrouds people from dark things in the world like terrorism and racism.

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Teachers often use TED Talks in the classroom to introduce a lesson topic or to frame a student discussion. Below are 10 TED Talks about race in America - curated by TED-Ed upon educator request - that teachers may find useful in the classroom:
Featured image: Angélica Dass/Humanæ
For more education resources from TED, sign up for the weekly TED-Ed newsletter here >>

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10 TED classroom resources about race in America

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Teachers often use TED Talks in the classroom to introduce a lesson topic or to frame a student discussion.

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Would This Famous MLB Player Face Worse Racism Today?

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Would This Famous MLB Player Face Worse Racism Today?

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A man named Hank Aaron, also known as "The Hammer" set an Major League Baseball record with 755 home runs in his career, which broke Babe Ruth's record of 714 home runs in 1974. In this article by Jon Friedman on Time.com, he wrote about how Aron faced discrimination for the color of his skin. His life was made miserable due to the racism directed towards him while he should have been basking in his achievements. I feel the same way as the writer because with today's technology and constant use of social media, I feel as though he would have faced worse racism today as opposed to his generation. With all of the things that are going on today with people rallying and posting racist remarks, Hank Aaron would have faced worse racism today.

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A white-nationalist rally at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Virginia leaves three people dead and thirty-three injured. A white-nationalist plowed his vehicle into a group of people counter-protesting the  rally. It was later discovered that the driver's Facebook page featured numerous posts referencing Nazism, white supremacy, and a picture of him with holding a symbol for Vanguard America (white supremacy group). This just shows that racism is still a pressing issue of today. People at the rally were chanting various things like "White lives matter" and "Jews will not replace us!", the question I am asking is why can't we all matter? Another thing that I find interesting is that people go around saying that there is no racism in America and everyone loves everyone, yet there are people rallying that whites are the supreme race. This is proof that racism is present today.

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Three people are dead and at least 33 injured after a series of violent clashes erupted at a white-nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, on Saturday. In the most extreme incident, 20-year-old white nationalist James Alex Fields plowed his car into a group of counterprotestors, killing one person, 32-year-old Heather Heyer, and injuring 19. Fields has been charged with second-degree murder, and the Department of Justice announced a civil rights investigation into the incident.

Two state troopers were also killed when their helicopter, which had been assisting with the police response to the rally, crashed outside the city later in the day.

The violent clashes in Charlottesville injured at least another 14 people beyond the car attack, and led Virginia governor Terry McAuliffe to declare a state of emergency late Saturday morning. President Trump also spoke out against the violence, though not the rally, in a tweet and in an afternoon statement to reporters.

Below is an overview of what we know - and don't know - as of Sunday morning.

The Hit-and-Run Attack on Protestors
Graphic videos and images of the horrific car attack and its aftermath were posted on social media. They show a grey Dodge Challenger accelerating into a crowd of protestors near Water and Fourth Streets in Charlottesville, crashing into both people and rear-ending another car, then reversing into more people:

Video of driving through crowd of protesters in #Charlottesville

pic.twitter.com/dckPhX3fxf
- Severin Jahn (@severin_jahn) August 12, 2017

Video of car hitting anti-racist protestors. Let there be no confusion: this was deliberate terrorism. My prayers with victims. Stay home. pic.twitter.com/MUOZs71Pf4
- Brennan Gilmore (@brennanmgilmore) August 12, 2017

Insane photos from a @DailyProgress staffer, who was there right as a car struck dozens of protesters: https://t.co/jMGuXcPyVA pic.twitter.com/n1Hg95v9wM
- Jake Jarvis (@NewsroomJake) August 12, 2017

A 32-year-old woman was killed in the collision and another 19 people were injured - including five critically. Many are already calling the incident an act of domestic terrorism, but it was not originally known if the driver acted out of panic or malice. His motive is still not confirmed, but he has been charged with second-degree murder, among other crimes related to the incident.

The Driver
Authorities say they have arrested a 20-year-old Ohio man James Alex Fields Jr. and charged him with second-degree murder, three counts of malicious wounding, and failing to stop at the scene of a crash that resulted in a death. He was arrested after fleeing the scene of the collision with protestors. Authorities have not identified him as the driver of the car used in the attack, but that car was registered to a man of the same name and age. Fields is being held without bail and will be arraigned on Monday.

It is not yet confirmed why Fields crashed into the protestors, but more details emerged about him over the weekend. He apparently lives in Maumee, Ohio, near Toledo, and the Toledo Blade reports that, according to his mother, he was in Charlottesville to attend the white-nationalist rally, though she said she didn't know much about it. She said that she tried to "stay out of his political views," but that he had dropped off his cat so he could go to an alt-right rally in Virginia. "I thought it had something to do with Trump," she told the Blade. They had moved to Ohio from Kentucky last year, and James had moved out of her apartment five-to-six months ago.

Buzzfeed News additionally reports that a Facebook page that appeared to belong to Fields featured posts showing alt-right memes, making references to Nazism and white supremacy, and indicating support for President Trump. Fields was also photographed holding symbols of the Vanguard America white supremacist group on Saturday, but the group denies they had any ties to him.

James Alex Fields was w/ the Vanguard America folks in #Charlottesville. Learn more about the group > https://t.co/HNloF8Btnf @ADL_National pic.twitter.com/TmJLi0kfZo
- Oren Segal (@orensegal) August 13, 2017

Fields's former high school history teacher told the Cincinnati Enquirer that Fields was "very bright" but also misguided and disillusioned. According to the teacher, Derek Weimer, Fields took a special interest in Nazi history and ideals:

A lot of boys get interested in the Germans and Nazis because they're interested in World War II. But James took it to another level. He researched everything and had an intellectual argument for all his points, which is something you just don't see that often.

There are definitely students with these kinds of thoughts and feelings ... but normally if you present them with an intellectual argument, they can see both sides. But James was definitely different.

Weimar also lamented, with regards to what happened Saturday, that "I feel like I failed and that we all failed."

Fields registered as a Republican last year and voted in both Ohio's primary and last year's presidential election. It also appears that Fields served in the U.S. Army for about four months in 2015, but left for reasons that are not yet clear.

The FBI announced on Saturday night that they were opening a federal civil-rights investigation into the hit-and-run.

The Victims of the Car Attack and Clashes
A 32-year-old Virginia woman, Heather Heyer, was killed in the hit-and-run. She was struck while crossing the street. She worked as a paralegal in Charlottesville, where she also lived. She came to the rally as a counterprotester on Saturday.

Friends have set up an online fundraiser at GoFundMe for her family. On that page, a statement from Heyer's mother reads, "She died doing what was right. My heart is broken, but I am forever proud of her."

Heyer's mother also gave a heart-wrenching interview to HuffPost about her daughter's activism and charity, and expressed her sorrow over whatever led her daughter's alleged murderer to do what he did.

Her last public post on Facebook, published a few weeks after last year's presidential election, was the quote, "If you're not outraged, you're not paying attention."

For more about Heyer and how her friends and family are remembering her, head here.

The University of Virginia Medical Center reports that another 19 people were injured when the car plowed into the crowd, including five people who were admitted to the hospital in critical condition. It is not clear if they were all counterprotestors or not, but it seems likely that most of them were. None of those victims, or any of the other injured, have been officially identified.

Fourteen more people were injured in clashes throughout the day, but little is yet known about them except that none experienced life-threatening injuries.

Two state police officers were also killed in a helicopter crash on Saturday afternoon.

The Helicopter Crash
The violent clashes and car-ramming attack were not the only tragedies to strike Charlottesville on Saturday. Late in the afternoon, after the unrest had been quelled, two state troopers were killed when their helicopter crashed near a golf course about seven miles southwest of the city. The helicopter had been conducting surveillance on clashes in Charlottesville. Authorities are still investigating the cause of the crash, but the men killed in the crash have been identified as 48-year-old H. Jay Cullen and the pilot, Berke M.M. Bates, who was one day shy of his 41st birthday.

The "Unite the Right" White-Nationalist Rally and Subsequent Violence
A major white-nationalist rally had been planned for Saturday in Charlottesville. Organizers hoped to mount the largest white-nationalist rally in decades, and was focused on the idea that the assembled would "take America back" and protest the upcoming removal of a statue of Confederate icon Robert E. Lee from Charlottesville's Emancipation Park (which was formerly known as Lee Park). Hundreds of white nationalists, including neo-Nazis, members of the Ku Klux Klan, and other white-supremacist groups, descended on the city on Friday and Saturday, many carrying flags with swastikas and other racist logos and chanting Nazi slogans like "Blood and soil!" Rally attendees, carrying torches, also marched across the mostly empty campus of the University of Virginia in Charlottesville on Friday night.

The white-nationalist rally also attracted counterprotestors, and when rally attendees attempted to march in Charlottesville on Saturday morning, they were met by those protestors, leading to violent clashes.

As Charlottesville's The Daily Progress reports in detail, some people on both sides of the conflict came ready to fight, armed with weapons and wearing defensive gear. They hurled rocks and other projectiles at each other, swung clublike weapons, and reportedly released pepper spray and other substances into the air as cops initially stood back.

ProPublica notes that the white supremacists who arrived on Saturday "had spent months openly planning for war":

The Daily Stormer, a popular neo-Nazi website, encouraged rally attendees to bring shields, pepper spray, and fascist flags and flagpoles. A prominent racist podcast told its listeners to come carrying guns. "Bring whatever you need, that you feel you need for your self defense. Do what you need to do for security of your own person," said Mike "Enoch" Peinovich on The Right Stuff podcast.

And the white supremacists who showed up in Charlottesville did indeed come prepared for violence. Many wore helmets and carried clubs, medieval-looking round wooden shields, and rectangular plexiglass shields, similar to those used by riot police.

The resulting violence was well-documented on social media:

Chris Cantwell, one of the fiery speakers is down, is pepper sprayed and screaming as the Traditonalist Workers are backed into a corner. pic.twitter.com/JO7qz8Zp1c
- Jack Smith IV (@JackSmithIV) August 12, 2017

Earlier in a parking garage in #Charlottesville - white supremacists beat this black kid w/poles. [Photo for by @zdroberts @NationofChange] pic.twitter.com/LLPBPjb8si
- Zach D Roberts (@zdroberts) August 12, 2017

The State of Emergency and (Late) Police Intervention
Because of the escalating violence, Virginia governor Terry McAuliffe declared a state of emergency at about 11 a.m., and police ordered the rally attendees and counterprotestors to disperse or face arrest. They were able to evacuate Emancipation Park, but clashes continued throughout the city during the dispersal.

"It is now clear that public safety cannot be safeguarded without additional powers, and that the mostly out-of-state protesters have come to Virginia to endanger our citizens and property," Governor McAuliffe explained. The governor, whose order activated the Virginia National Guard, also said that he was "disgusted by the hatred, bigotry and violence these protesters have brought to our state over the past 24 hours."

In all, it appears that at least 14 people were admitted to University of Virginia Medical Center for injuries sustained in the street clashes, in addition to the 19 people who were injured and one person who was killed when a car rammed into counterprotestors, which occurred after the rally was mostly broken up by police.

Charlottesville authorities are already being criticized for their delayed and inadequate response to the rally, their restraint after things starting going haywire, and their general inability to prevent the ensuing violence. ProPublica reports that despite weeks of detailed planning by officials on how to handle the event, "[I]t appears that the strategy was to avoid direct confrontations with the protesters," and that didn't work at all.

The Washington Post talked to a former police chief who was puzzled by how police responded to the rally:

"The whole point is to have overwhelming force so that people don't get the idea they can do these kinds of things and get away with it," said Charles H. Ramsey, who headed both the District and Philadelphia police departments. Demonstrators and counterdemonstrators "need to be in sight and sound of each other, but somebody has to be in between," he said. "That's usually the police."

Complicating the dynamics was the fact that several dozen groups of armed militias - men in full camouflage toting assault-style weapons - were in the middle of the crowds. Some claimed that they were there to keep the peace, although none appeared to try to stop the skirmishes.

Other reports indicate some of the militia-types did more than the police to break up fights, at least in the beginning.

On Saturday night, the Charlottesville City Council issued an emergency ordinance allowing authorities to institute a curfew in an effort to prevent further violence. There were also other arrests made on Saturday in addition to the hit-and-run driver Fields:

The Response From Trump and the White House
As news of the clashes spread, U.S. lawmakers from both sides of the aisle quickly condemned the violence, most notable among them President Trump, who initially responded on Twitter:

We ALL must be united & condemn all that hate stands for. There is no place for this kind of violence in America. Lets come together as one!
- Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 12, 2017

The Department of Homeland Security, as well as White House Homeland Security advisor Tom Bossert, then offered their assistance to McAuliffe and local authorities.

Am in Bedminster for meetings & press conference on V.A. & all that we have done, and are doing, to make it better-but Charlottesville sad!
- Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 12, 2017

On Saturday afternoon, before a scheduled event related to veterans' health care, President Trump first gave a statement to his press pool about the violence in Charlottesville. In those remarks, he condemned "this egregious display of hatred, bigotry, and violence" on "many sides," and seemed to try to distance Saturday's events from his presidency.

Trump's oddly worded tweets and statement, which conspicuously didn't mention white nationalism or neo-Nazis, was not surprising given his long history of hesitating to speak out against white-on-minority violence, despite his willingness to condemn a lot of other things. Such an omission also aligned with his administration's apparent priorities: In June, the Trump administration dropped DHS funding for a group dedicated to de-radicalizing white-nationalist extremists.

President Trump also offered his condolences, via Twitter on Saturday night, to the families of the woman who was killed in the car incident, as well as the two state troopers who died in the helicopter crash.

The Response From Other Republicans
Republican leaders quickly spoke out, but did so much like Trump: issuing anodyne (and in Mitch McConnell's case, confusing) statements that failed to address why the rally in Charlottesville was taking place, and which seemed to take a "both sides" approach to the violent rioting.

The hate and bigotry witnessed in #Charlottesville does not reflect American values. I wholeheartedly oppose their actions.
- Leader McConnell (@SenateMajLdr) August 12, 2017

I stand with @POTUS against hate & violence. U.S is greatest when we join together & oppose those seeking to divide us. #Charlottesville https://t.co/p76Y9xQCPL
- Vice President Pence (@VP) August 12, 2017

House Speaker Paul Ryan went a little farther:

The views fueling the spectacle in Charlottesville are repugnant. Let it only serve to unite Americans against this kind of vile bigotry.
- Paul Ryan (@SpeakerRyan) August 12, 2017

But later, after President Trump failed to condemn white nationalism in his afternoon remarks, GOP lawmakers were bolder in their denunciations:

Mr. President - we must call evil by its name. These were white supremacists and this was domestic terrorism. https://t.co/PaPNiPPAoW
- Cory Gardner (@SenCoryGardner) August 12, 2017

Very important for the nation to hear @potus describe events in #Charlottesville for what they are, a terror attack by #whitesupremacists
- Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) August 12, 2017

What " WhiteNatjonalist" are doing in Charlottesville is homegrown terrorism that can't be tolerated anymore that what Any extremist does
- ChuckGrassley (@ChuckGrassley) August 12, 2017

We should call evil by its name. My brother didn't give his life fighting Hitler for Nazi ideas to go unchallenged here at home. -OGH
- Senator Hatch Office (@senorrinhatch) August 12, 2017
This post has been updated throughout to reflect new details about Saturday's events.

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3 Dead and Dozens Injured After Violent White-Nationalist Rally in Virginia

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Three people are dead and at least 33 injured after a series of violent clashes erupted at a white-nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, on Saturday. In the most extreme incident, 20-year-old white nationalist James Alex Fields plowed his car into a group of counterprotestors, killing one person, 32-year-old Heather Heyer, and injuring 19.

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Poll: Most Americans Think Their Own Group Faces Discrimination by NPR

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Poll: Most Americans Think Their Own Group Faces Discrimination by NPR

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This article from the National Public Radio (NPR) describes how most people in America believe that their own ethnic group faces discrimination according to a poll NPR created. The groups that were polled were whites, blacks, Latinos, Asian-Americans, Native Americans, and adults of LGBTQ. 55% of white Americans feel as though that they are discriminated against in the U.S. today. 32% of the African Americans polled said that they have encountered racial discrimination when going to the doctors while the other 22% do no even go to the doctors because they fear of being a victim of hate. Robert Blendon, the poll's director and also a professor at Harvard Chan School, said, "Most African-Americans believe that discrimination is due to the attitudes of individuals that they interact with, a smaller share believes it's actually government or institutional policies.". This parallels with what Saul Williams wrote in his slam poem Coded Language. This article proves that racism is not just here in America against blacks, it is against all types of groups. Usually when people think of the word racism, they think of whites discriminating blacks, but that is not always the case. The statistics are proof that America hasten a step sideways over the course of our countries history. Racism is still a really big problem in America affects people all over the country.

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Majorities in many ethnic, identity and racial groups in America believe that discrimination exists against their own group, across many areas of people's daily lives, according to a poll from NPR, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

The poll asked a wide range of questions about where Americans experience discrimination - from the workplace to the doctor's office - and people's perception of it. The groups polled include whites, blacks, Latinos, Asian-Americans, Native Americans and LGBTQ adults.

White Americans are among those who feel their group is discriminated against, with 55 percent saying discrimination exists against whites in the U.S. today.

These results are part of a large national statistically representative survey of 3,453 adults from Jan. 26 to Apr. 9.

We will be releasing the full results of the poll over the next several weeks, starting Tuesday with results from the survey of African-Americans. We will highlight and analyze the particular acts of discrimination that each group experiences.

The African-American results, in 802 adults, provide insight into the historically high levels of discrimination blacks have faced since arriving in America. These experiences happen across a broad range of situations: interacting with police; applying for jobs or seeking promotions; trying to rent an apartment or buy a home; or going to a doctor or health clinic.

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The findings on African-Americans have a margin of error of plus or minus 4.1 percentage points at the 95 percent confidence level.

The perceptions of discrimination are not primarily based in actions by institutions, as some might expect. "Most African-Americans believe that discrimination is due to the attitudes of individuals that they interact with," says Robert Blendon, the poll's director and professor of policy and political analysis at the Harvard Chan School. "A smaller share believes it's actually government or institutional policies."

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Fear of discrimination, possibly triggered by past encounters, plays out in different ways. We found that this fear significantly influences people's decisions whether to seek medical care, to call the police when in need, and even whether to drive or attend social events. Nearly one-third (32 percent) of African-Americans polled said they have personally experienced racial discrimination when going to the doctor or a health clinic, with 22 percent avoiding care out of fear of discrimination.

"If someone is avoiding seeking medical care out of fear of discrimination, they're at risk of going undiagnosed for serious conditions," says Dr. Richard Besser, president and CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. "We know that repeated stress from discrimination and racism can actually make some of those conditions more likely in the first place and shorten lives."

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And repeated stress comes from many kinds of discrimination and the fear it engenders. Numerous studies have shown that African-Americans are more likely to be stopped by police compared with other racial groups. In the poll, 60 percent of people told us that they or a family member have been unfairly stopped or mistreated by police because they are black.

That has consequences for them personally and across society - 31 percent of poll respondents say fear of discrimination has led them to avoid calling the police when in need. And 61 percent say police are more likely to use force on a person who is African-American than on a white person in the same situation.

Where people live can make a big difference, too. Our survey found that 64 percent of blacks live in non-majority-black areas. For these people, perceptions of local discrimination, opportunity, police and government and community environment were generally better when compared with majority-black areas, sometimes by wide margins.

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Our poll found substantial numbers of African-Americans who say they have been slurred or have been the target of insensitive or offensive comments or negative assumptions. A story later in our series will explore the split by income and gender in the chart below.

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Persistently higher premature death rates in blacks compared with whites was one of the issues that inspired this poll and series. The most recent statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that gap at 16 percent, even though it has narrowed since 1999, when death rates for blacks from all causes were 33 percent higher than whites.

Many factors play into the gap, including a considerable drop in crime rates involving African-Americans over that period and improved access to medical care for many people. What we're trying to explore with our "You, Me and Them" series and poll is how the stress-inducing experiences of discrimination in everyday life affect health.

"Over 200 black people die prematurely every single day in America, in part because of racism in society," says David Williams, a professor of public health at the Harvard Chan School who has pioneered work in the field of racial disparities in health care. "This poll helps us see where we need to take action to address the problem."

The poll was conducted in the first quarter of 2017. A final report discussing major highlights from the series will be released in December.

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Poll: Most Americans Think Their Own Group Faces Discrimination

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Majorities in many ethnic, identity and racial groups in America believe that discrimination exists against their own group, across many areas of people's daily lives, according to a poll from NPR, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

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America Has a Big Race Problem as written by U.S. News

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America Has a Big Race Problem as written by U.S. News

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Jeff Nesbit, contributor to U.S. News, wrote an article in 2016 telling about how America has a big issue with race. He writes about how blacks are often killed as a result of police brutality or racist attacks caused by citizens. He also writes about how America as a whole has made progress since the time of the Jim Crow Laws, but that is about the most progress we have made. This I agree with. There are people in the South who show off the Confederate flag from the Civil War, which ended more than 150 years ago, with pride and as a symbol of heritage. A large majority of African Americans see the flag as a symbol of hatred towards blacks. It is not only the Southern states that show the Confederate flag out in the public, often when I am driving, I see the flag waving off of the back of someones truck. If I was an African American seeing this I would feel so scared and violated. It is not okay for African Americans to have to feel this way just going out in public. As mentioned in the title of the article, America does have a big problem regarding race and as we can see, the problem is not getting any better.

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Coded Language, a slam poem created by Saul Williams, discusses how the writer feels about how people are capable of having their own original thoughts and feelings about issues in our culture, but the media and TV are providing information to people. This leads to people not having the ability to have their own original thoughts and opinions about things. Coded Language relates to racism because today with all of the social media in today's culture, people are unable to discover their own feelings and thoughts on issues of today such as racism. Social media, music, and people play a big role on the influence of people. There are countless numbers of songs that mention racist phrases and words, particularly hip-hop and rap songs like what Saul Williams mentioned. From personal experience with people, I have found that some people use the n-word when they listen to rap music, which can be severely offensive to many people and that person can be presumed as racist. Things that are around us a lot have a large amount of influence on us and will impact the things that we say, believe, and do.

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Saul Williams (Ft. DJ Krust) - Coded Language

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Whereas, breakbeats have been the missing link connecting the diasporic community to its drum woven past / Whereas the quantised drum has allowed the whirling mathematicians to

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The article shown below informs us that about 1,200 people gathered in Portland, Maine for a rally against racism. This occurred after the Charlottesville Attack. This is another piece of evidence that proves that racism and discrimination are here in today's society. My thought is that if there was not discrimination evident among people in America, then why are there people rallying about who's lives matter more? People would not rally against these kinds of issues if it was not a problem in the first place. Our world has merely taken a step sideways in the sense that America and other still have racial standpoints.

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Paula Harvard of Woolwich stood out among a sea of demonstrators who showed up Sunday at Payson Park in Portland to protest racism and white supremacy.

Harvard sported a floral hat with a dozen tiny signs with peaceful sentiments pinned to it, rather than one of the poster-sized signs and banners many in the crowd carried.

Harvard said she had held a sign at the Women's March in Augusta shortly after President Trump's inauguration in January and thought she could do better than that this time.

"I can say a lot more with the hat than a single sign," Harvard said.

Harvard was one of about 1,200 people who attended the Maine People's Alliance event to protest the violent white nationalist rally that left one dead and more than a dozen injured Aug. 12 in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Sunday's rally was one of several protests across the nation during the weekend. On Saturday, tens of thousands of people, including dozens from Maine, were in Boston to protest racism and white nationalism, and several hundred others attended a rally in Kittery of the southern Maine chapter of Showing Up for Racial Justice.

With the Back Cove as a backdrop, speakers from minority organizations across Maine were greeted with enthusiasm at the Payson Park rally.

"We are here to stand against racism, white supremacy and hate, but more importantly, we are here today to stand for a different vision of America," said Rabbi Erica Asch of Temple Beth El in Augusta.

Deqa Dhalac, a Somali immigrant and South Portland resident, spoke about standing up to racism in America.

"I am a Muslim, black immigrant woman and I am not going anywhere," Dhalac said.

The crowd gave Dhalac a standing ovation.

People at the rally said they felt compelled to show up.

Danielle Bailey of Bath said she thinks a public protest is an effective way to send a message.

"I couldn't get to Boston, but let me participate when I can," she said.

Her friend Lindsay Kay of Portland said she had to come after a devastating week that included President Trump's controversial remarks about the Charlottesville rally.

"I can't allow this to happen. I need to push back. You have to make yourself visible," Kay said.

Thul Leng, who immigrated to Portland from Cambodia as a child, said he attended the rally to support those fighting against hatred, racism and inequality.

"We have come a long way. We have all these rights. I thought we had overcome all that. I don't want to see it all fall apart. I wish people would come together," Leng said.
Beth Quimby can be contacted at 791-6363 or at:

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About 1,200 people rally in Portland against racism

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Paula Harvard of Woolwich stood out among a sea of demonstrators who showed up Sunday at Payson Park in Portland to protest racism and white supremacy. Harvard sported a floral hat with a dozen tiny signs with peaceful sentiments pinned to it, rather than one of the poster-sized signs and banners many in the crowd carried.