Causes and Effects of Hate Crimes Essay -- Hate Crime Criminal Prejudi

Blacks were introduced to the North America during the 17th and 18th centuries through the triangular trade route, and were welcomed by chains, ropes, and all the horrors of slavery. Slavery was legalized by the US government and continued for a few hundred years, taking a civil war and sixteen presidents before it was forbidden. Even today, there is still much hatred between blacks and whites despite desegregation and integration; some would argue that the condition of African Americans in the United States is still one of a subservient nature. Federal law defines a hate crime as whenever a victim is attacked on the basis of his or her race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, or gender; hate offenses are made against members of a particular group simply because of their membership in that group (Levin 4). In 1998 an African-American was brutally murdered in Texas. There are over a hundred homicides committed every year, but the manner in which this life was taken and the appar ent motive of his executers leaves no doubt that this crime was filled with hate. In this brutal murder, the motivation is obvious and clear, the explanation is so simple that it virtually hits you in the face. James Byrd Jr.'s death is America's shame: another man tortured for no reason- other than the color of his skin. I will use the Byrd murder to explore the cause and effects of hate crimes, and attempt to draw meaning from it so that a tragedy like this will not happen again. In the early morning of June 7, 1998, a black man was walking by a road in Jasper, Texas. James Byrd Jr. had just left a niece's bridal shower at his parents' house, and was trying to hitch a ride home. A car drove by and the owner of the vehicle, Shawn Berry, offered Byrd a lift in the back of the pickup. Byrd, jumped in one leg, didn't hesitate to accept the actually kind sign; little did he suspect his fate that was to follow. Angered, one of the passengers by the name of John King grabbed the wheel and drove to a dark deserted road outside of town. What happened thereafter certainly has to be one of the most nasty and horrifying crimes this country has seen since the day's slavery was legal. King and the final member of the trio, Lawrence Brewer, got out of the truck and began beating and kicking Byrd until he was almost unconscious. Afterward, they chained him by his ankles to the back of ... ... laws to address the serious threat of hate crime. For educators, it means developing ways to open channels of cultural understanding among children. For neighborhoods, it means strengthening the bonds of community to embrace diversity and reject acts of racism (Levin viii). Society as a whole must accept the fact that we are all a part of the problem, if we are not a part of the solution. Works Cited Bragg, Richard."For Jasper, Just What It Didn't Want." New York Times 27 June 1998: A8. Bragg, Richard."In Wake of Texas Killing, Black Militants and Klan Trade Words." New York Times 28 June 1998: A17. Cropper, Carol Marie."Black Man Fatally Dragged In a Possible Racial Killing." New York Times 10 June 1998: A16. Levin, Jack, and Jack McDevitt. Hate Crimes: The Rising Tide of Bigotry and Bloodshed. New York: Plenum, 1993. Novick, Michael. White Lies, White Power: The Fight Against White Supremacy and Reactionary Violence. Maine: Common Courage Press, 1995. Pressley, Sue Anne. "Down a Dark Road to Murder." Washington Post 12 June 1998: A1. "Racist Murder Leads Texas Town to Probe Its Prejudices." Wall Street Journal 1 October 1998: A8.

Harvard Concept (Fisher and Urgy)

â€Å"Getting to Yes† (also called the Harvard concept) describes a method called principled negotiation to reach an agreement whose success is judged by three criteria: 1. It should produce a wise agreement if agreement is possible. 2. It should be efficient. 3. It should improve or at least not damage the relationship between the parties. The authors argue that their method can be used in virtually any negotiation. Issues are decided upon by their merits and the goal is a win-win situation for both sides. Below is a summary of some of the key concepts from the book. The four steps of a principled negotiation are: 1. Separate the people from the problem 2. Focus on interests, not positions 3. Invent options for mutual gain 4. Insist on using objective criteria In principled negotiations, negotiators are encouraged to take the view that all the participants are problem solvers rather than adversaries. The authors recommend that the goal should be to reach an outcome â€Å"efficiently and amicably. † The steps can be described in more detail as follows. Step 1: Separate the people from the problem All negotiations involve people and people are not perfect. We have emotions, our own interests and goals and we tend to see the world from our point of view. We also are not always the best communicators; many of us are not good listeners. Getting to YES outlines a number of tools for dealing with the problems of perception, emotion and communication. However, the authors stress that separating people from problems is the best option. The keys to prevention are: â€Å"building a working relationship† and â€Å"facing the problem, not the people. † Think of the people you negotiate with on a regular basis. Generally, the better we know someone, the easier it is to face a negotiation together. We tend to view people we don't know with more suspicion: just what is â€Å"Bob† up to? Take time to get to know the other party before the negotiation begins. Think of the negotiation as a means to solving a problem and the people on the other side as partners helping to find a solution. Ideally both parties will come out of a negotiation feeling they have a fair agreement from which both sides can benefit. If the negotiation feels like a situation of â€Å"you versus them†, the authors suggest a couple of options: 1. Raise the issue with [the other side] explicitly†¦'Let's look together at the problem of how to satisfy our collective interests'. 2. Sit on the same side of the table†¦. Try to structure the negotiation as a side-by-side activity in which the two of you – with your different interests and perceptions, and your emotional involvement – jointly face a common task. Step 2: Focus on Interests, Not Positions The authors use a simple example to explain the difference between interests and positions: â€Å"Two men [are] quarrelling in a library. One wants the window open and the other wants it closed. †¦. Enter the librarian. She asks one why he wants the window open: ‘To get some fresh air [his interest]'. She asks the other why he wants it closed: ‘To avoid a draft' [his interest]. After thinking a moment, she opens wide a window in the next room, bringing in fresh air without a draft. † The interests of the two men are the desire for fresh air and the desire to avoid a draft. The men's positions are to have the window opened or closed. The authors say we need to focus, not on whether the window in their room is opened or closed, but on how we can meet both the need for fresh air and the need to avoid a draft. More often than not, by focusing on interests, a creative solution can be found. In this little example, each man has one interest but in most negotiations, each party will have many interests and these interests will likely be different than yours. It's important to communicate your interests to the other party. Don't assume they have the same interests as you or that they know what your interests are. Don't assume you know what interests the other party has. Discussion to identify and understand all the interests is a critical step in the process. Step 3: Invent Options for Mutual Gain The authors feel that a common problem with many negotiations is there are too few options to choose from. Little or no time is spent creating options. This, they feel, is a mistake. There are four steps to generating options: 1. Separate inventing from deciding. Like in any brainstorming session, don't judge the ideas people bring forward, just get them on the board. 2. Broaden the options on the table rather than look for a single answer. Remember the men at the library? The only option they saw was opening or closing the window in the room they were both sitting in. In fact, there are many options: borrow a sweater, open a window in another room, move to a different spot, etc. 3. Search for mutual gain. In a negotiation, both sides can be worse off and both sides can gain. Principled negotiations are not about â€Å"I win† and â€Å"you lose†. 4. Invent ways of making the other party's decisions easy. Since a successful negotiation requires both parties to agree, make it easy for the other side to choose. This is where putting yourself in the other person's shoes can be very valuable. What might prevent â€Å"Bob† from agreeing? Can you do anything to change those things? Step 4: Insist on Using Objective Criteria Principled negotiations are not battles of will. There is no winner and you don't need to push your position until the other backs down. The goal is to â€Å"produce wise agreements amicably and efficiently†. Use of objective criteria helps remove the emotion from the discussion and allows both parties to use reason and logic. You may have to develop objective criteria and there are a number of ways that can be done, from â€Å"traditional practices†, to â€Å"market value† to â€Å"what a court would decide†. Objective criteria â€Å"need to be independent of each side's will. † Once objective criteria have been developed, they need to be discussed with the other side. The authors provide some guidelines: 1. Frame each issue as a joint search for objective criteria. 2. â€Å"[Use] reason and be open to reason† as to which standards are most appropriate and how they should be applied. 3. â€Å"Never yield to pressure†, only to principle. Common Challenges Following these steps should lead you to a successful outcome, but it isn't always that easy. The authors then go on to address three types of common challenges negotiators face. Sometimes the other party is more powerful than you: â€Å"The most any method of negotiation can do is to meet two objectives: first, to protect you against making an agreement you should reject and second, to help you make the most of the assets you do have so that any agreement you reach will satisfy your interests as well as possible. † To protect yourself, develop and know your BATNA: Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement. The reason you negotiate is to produce something better than the results you can obtain without negotiating. † The result you can obtain without negotiating is your BATNA. â€Å"The better your BATNA, the greater your power† so it's essential to know your BATNA and take time to make sure it's as strong as it could be. The same will hold true for the other party. There are three steps to developing your BATNA: 1. Invent a list of actions you might take if no agreement is reached† 2. Improve some of the more promising ideas and convert them into practical alternatives. 3. Select, tentatively, the one alternative that seems best Sometimes the other party just won't play: In a principled negotiation, you don't want to play games with the other party and you don't want them playing games with you. The authors advocate three approaches to getting things back on track in this situation: 1. Concentrate on the merits: talk about interests, options and criteria 2. Focus on what the other party may do: try and identify the other party's interests and the principles underlying their position. 3. Focus on what a third party can do: bring in a third party to assist if steps 1 and 2 aren't successful Sometimes the other party uses dirty tricks: You may encounter a party who won't shy away from using dirty tricks. The process for dealing with this type of tactic is to follow the process for principled negotiations: 1. Separate the people from the problem 2. Focus on interests not positions 3. Invent options for mutual gain 4. Insist on using objective criteria 5. If all else fails, â€Å"turn to your BATNA and walk out† The authors close with three points: 1. â€Å"You knew it all the time. † Much of what goes into a principled negotiation is common sense. The authors have developed an understandable framework to share the approach with others. 2. â€Å"Learn from doing. † You won't become a better negotiator unless you get out there and practice. 3. Winning: â€Å"The first thing you are trying to win is a better way to negotiate – a way that avoids your having to choose between the satisfactions of getting what you deserve and of being decent. You can have both. â€Å"

Essay on Ambiguous Women The Power of the Female Narrative

Ambiguous Women: The Power of the Female Narrative I do not wonder that men have always felt threatened by strong women. Male insecurity is manifest in the patriarchal infrastructure of society and its enforcement of gender roles that require female submission to the male model. In her book, Writing a Womans Life, Caroline Heilbrun quotes Deborah Camerons sardonic statement, men can be men only if women are unambiguously women (16). Heilbrun considers the ambiguous women, those who challenge convention. Ive developed a deep appreciation for these ambiguous women, for the power of their narratives. In Black Ice, the autobiography of a black woman recruited into a previously all male elite New England prep school, Carey†¦show more content†¦Then I recognized that while this notion might be obvious to me in 2003, I had to consider an era when society taught women different values. Why were women so complacent? According to Mills 1869 work, The Subjection of Women, [Men] have†¦ put everything in practice to enslave [womens] minds†¦The masters of women wanted more than simple obedience, and they turned the whole force of education to effect their purpose. All women are brought up from their ideal of character is the very opposite to that of men; not self-will, and government by self-control, but submission, and yielding to the control of other. All moralities tell them that it is the duty of women. . . to live for others; to make complete abnegation of themselves, and to have no life but in their affections. . .--those to the men with whom they are connected or the children who constitute an additional and indefeasible tie between them and a man (232). Women wanted to please men (or at least play the ascribed role) because they were taught that it was only through men and the home that they could achieve success and social acceptance. It is difficult for me to conceive of a time when society dissuaded women from educational pursuits, and patriarchy so grossly dictated female existence, yet less than a century ago, this social climate was Virginia Woolfs reality. Mill notes that, an increasing number of [women] have recorded protests against their present socialShow MoreRelatedEssay On Social Morality In Macbeth938 Words   |  4 Pagesfunctions. The machinations at work driving the play’s narrative forward are parallel to the guises both the witches as well as Lady Macbeth undertake in order to achieve their ends. Upending against the narrative was the perceived notion that reigned within the time of Shakespeare through which public norms had enabled an extensive division between the genders took root as the social norms of the age. Through his utilization of powerful, dominant female characters, Shakespeare writes Macbeth against theRead MoreE.l. 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