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Mark Lima
Professor Anya H. Connelly
English 001
21 November 2016
Research Proposal
Discussion Topic: Racism in the U.S.
I would like to research racism in the United States because I feel that there are many
ways that this contributes to the hate people get while in America today. I know from
experience that California has some racism however it is not as prominent here as it is
in other parts of the country. The south for example still have white only restaurants
and will use their right, to refuse service to anyone, against anyone who is African
American. I do believe that this is wrong and honestly is something that we
Californians dont get because it is just not present here. There may be one or two
businesses that refuse service to African Americans, however they are not well known
and probably wouldn't get very much service seeing how there is a relatively large
population number for minorities. Without these people to bring in money, they
would quickly move into debt. And probably go bankrupt. Not saying that white only
is ok in either of these places, I am just saying that it is more likely to happen in the
southeast and mid-south, rather than in the northwest and northeast part of the
country.
Specific Focus: Racism between two parts of the country.
Scientists have different thoughts on racism, ...the natural sciences recognize the
existence of physical differences between groups, the concept of race is rarely used

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to describe this differentiation... (Williams 551). Unfortunately, most people do not
see race in the way that science does. Things taught in school will have an adverse
effect on what people think. These natural sciences include what history classes and
biology classes we have in middle school and high school. Even with the same
things taught in these classrooms, racism can still be there. There are many reasons
why there is a difference between racism in the south and racism in the north,
however it all boils down to who you talk to. Some will say it is because that the
south is more racist because that's where it all started, the south is more racist because
the people are taught to have that mindset, others will say because of the racist groups
who live there. From my experiences, I believe that it is a combination of all of these
things. However, racism may be prominent in the south, there is still racism in the
north and in the places it is at, it can get worse that in the south. The south has more
racism all around while in the north, there are small pockets of extreme hatred. I was
born, raised and taught that all humans are equal no matter who they are or what they
look like. I have followed that concept my entire life and I try not to judge people
before I actually get to know them. When I went to Louisiana with my sister and a
group of friends, we experienced racism like I had never seen in California. There
were white only restaurants and stores, parks and even parts of towns. Some people
there were very polite to use while others really hated that we had two African
Americans in our group. Even they were surprised because they were born and raised
in California. They had never seen this hatred before. The differences between the
two parts of the country are clear and terrible.
Interest & Tentative Thesis:

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As racially diverse our country is, I believe that there will always be racism because
of how we view not only other people, but how we view ourselves. Some people
dont even know what racism means! Racism is the belief that all members of each
race possess characteristics or abilities specific to that race, especially so as to
distinguish it as inferior or superior to another race or races and could also be known
and being prejudice and discrimination (Ernest 59). Being a Californian, I can tell you
from experience that I had no idea about what racism was until the 6th grade. This is
where I say another student yell a racial slur at an African American. Me, not
knowing what the word meant however knowing it was bad went home and asked my
parents what it meant. My parents were very distraught when they heard me ask about
this and told what it was, a racial slur, and then told me never to say it again. Through
the rest of my middle school life, I always watched what I said because I didn't want
to say anything to offend someone. In my mid High School years I bumped into a
group of old friends who a few happened to be African American and they called me
this racial slur, as a greeting. This made me wonder why they could use it as a
greeting, but when a person of the white complexion said it, it was being racist?
However it is entirely who you talk to, what answer you will get. Someone from the
southern states will take it a lot more offensively than someone in the northern states.
However because of the white using it to discriminate the African Americans in the
past it has been known to be racist when a Caucasian says it.
Research Plan: Reading more Articles/ Survey people
To finish this I am going to look through as many articles as I can. I will hopefully get
ten articles written in the southern part of the United States, then get ten articles
written in the northern part of the United States. This way I can compare them to each

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other. I am also going to conduct a survey, this will cost money, however it is going to
be on this topic. Going from different parts of the United States asking people what
they think about racism. Going from the south to the north, asking questions like
what is your opinion on racism? and in your opinion, is racism a problem in
America? This well help me to personally see the difference between racism in these
different parts of the country. With all of this data gathered, I will be proceed to
analyze the data and then format it into a table making it easier to read for me and
anyone else who is viewing it. After all of it is in a data I will add it into my research
paper, then talking about how all of the data came to be. Talking about the articles
will help tremendously in making sure that my research paper is credible. According
to the article Race, Ethnicity and the Quality of Life in America, 1972-2008,
minorities are more likely to not trust other groups of people because of how their
families were treated (Coverdill 789). This hate just gets passed down throughout the
generations. This makes me more interested to see if the research is up to date.

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Works Cited
Ernest, Raiklin. "The Colours and Dresses of Racism in America." International Journal of
Social Economics. 17.7 (1990). Print.
Williams, Johnny. "They Say It's in the Genes: Decoding Racial Ideology in Genomics." Journal
of Contemporary Ethnography. 40.5 (2011): 550-581. Print.
Coverdill, James E, Carlos A. Lopez, and Michelle A. Petrie. "Race, Ethnicity and the Quality of
Life in America, 1972-2008." Social Forces. 89.3 (2011): 783-805. Print.
"Population Estimates, July 1, 2015, (V2015)." California QuickFacts from the US Census
Bureau. US Federal Government, 1 July 2015. Web. 14 Nov. 2016.