This simple nine word quotation from Matshona Dhliwayo summarizes much of what Jane Elliot has spent her entire career trying to get people to understand. Watching the film, The Essential Blue Eyed, gave me an entirely new perspective on racism and in truth, showed how ignorant I had been. Jane Elliot is able to give study participants and viewers a completely new perspective on the social construction of race. According to the University of Minnesota, race refers to a category of people that share physical characteristics such as facial features and skin color (UMN 1). When discussing race, we must discuss racism which, as viewed by Revise Sociology, is “discriminatory treatment and inequitable opportunities, based on race” (RS 1). In order to fully understand what that last sentence means, we have to understand what discrimination is. Discrimination is the denial of rights, opportunities and privileges to members of certain racial and ethnic groups (UMN 2). The final two terms we need to understand before evaluating the film The Essential Blue Eyed, is prejudice and stereotyping. Prejudice is the set of negative attitudes, and beliefs towards certain categories of people or certain individuals within certain categories. Stereotyping is the mistaken …show more content…
Instead of using prejudice or stereotypes, where negative thoughts and attitudes are created and shared, she extends it to the level of discrimination and racism. Although instead of calling it racism, she uses “eyeism”, as she is discriminating on the basis of eye color rather than skin color. She calls all white men “boy”, she interrupts them when they are talking and she talks to them like she is superior. She uses the racism, prejudice, stereotypes and discrimination black individuals have experienced for hundreds of years and turns it around on the white
1. How did she divide her class for the project? Why? Mrs. Elliot divided her class by eye color in order to teach her students that it was wrong to judge and mistreat people because of their physical features.
She evokes the negativity and gives a critical point of view on how the Americans view African Americans. She gives us her reason on why we should believe what she believes or the way she
The major thesis in this book, are broken down into two components. The first is how we define racism, and the impact that definition has on how we see and understand racism. Dr. Beverly Tatum chooses to use the definition given by “David Wellman that defines racism as a system of advantages based on race” (1470). This definition of racism helps to establish Dr. Tatum’s theories of racial injustice and the advantages either willingly or unwillingly that white privilege plays in our society today. The second major thesis in this book is the significant role that a racial identity has in our society.
The beginning of the book highlights the importance of race. Race was invented and assigned to individuals solely on their outward appearance. Most Americans unconsciously accept race as a product of Mother Nature. In reality, it has nothing to do with your genetics.
Segregation, separation and discrimination are three different words that share one definition. The documentary Brown eyes-Blue eyes allows its viewers to see segregation, separation and discrimination. Although many have seen segregation displayed in older people, the prominent fact was viewers see kids discriminating one another because he/she has blue eyes or brown eyes. Jane Elliot a third grade teacher created the blue eye brown eye experiment, in hope of creating a perspective for children to view people for what lies on the inside not the pigment of their skin. The experiment cultivated many children, as shown in the film the kids actually took something away from the experience.
According to the film race is a biological "myth" and as outdated as belief that the sun revolved around the earth. Race is a concept that was invented to categorize the perceived biological, social, and cultural differences between human groups. Based on modern genetic science that can decode the genetic puzzle of DNA there is no significant genetic or biological differences between the races. Race is an artificial construct imposed by the ruling classes to justify first slavery and then segregation. One of the main findings concerning the genetic make-up of the students in the course was that skin color really is only skin deep.
In conclusion, the way that experts see race and how it had affected and change over the years has demonstrated that there is no empirical definition of race. There is no biological construct of race that has ever stood the test of time or science. Yet the concept is so imbued with social meaning that it remains, despite the lack of scientific evidence regarding this issue. Moreover, the social, cultural and political divisions that have arisen around the idea of race have also created more differences between social groups. Today, race is defined primarily as a matter of perception – how one perceives one self, and how one is perceived by others.
Race is the social construct of social identities. We distinguish the uniqueness of individuals in such ways that our genotype and phenotype are closely associated to classifying these individuals into a particular race. Our culture, physical characteristics, and ethnicity separates us into five different categories of race: Black/African American, Yellow/Asian (including Pacific Islanders), Red/Native Americans, Brown/Hispanic/Latino, and White/Caucasian. Throughout history, darker complexions were often looked down upon. White skin becomes more favorable and are seen to be more superior than the other colors, creating this ideology that justifies inequality.
The Blind Side is explored and defined through several different messages. Views on race are examined and thoroughly described through the sociological concepts; Minority group, racial minority group, prejudice, stereotypes and differential in power. Throughout the entire movie an example that was presented in a sociological perspective is minority group; Experiences systematic advantages and has visible identifying trait. The group is self- conscious, and membership is usually determined at birth (Healey, Pg.9).
I choose to analysis the ethical approach of “Zora Neal Hurston’s “How it Feels to be Colored Me.” I think the author used a very unique to say how she feel about herself. I can relate to the author, when she speaks of her town, and how she didn’t realize her skin until she left her. Growing up I really didn’t know how different my skin was, until I found myself in predominate white church. For a while, people treated me differently, until they realized I was human with a great heart and attitude.
Misconceptions are typically formed from stereotypes, however, they
This concept is so important because the whole point of this experiment was to teach this third grade class that the race of an individual does not determine who they are or how they should be treated. For instance, by splitting her third grade classroom into two different groups based on eye color, Elliot was essentially creating two different races. What she was teaching is that while differences do exist between people, these differences do not define who these people are. Students learned that their eye color does not matter. A person is still a person, blue-eyed or brown-eyed, and should be treated equally.
Moreover, demonstrate consequences are taken to oppress racial and ethnic minorities to keep them in a subservient position. Overall, this film has provided me with a visual depiction of how stereotypes are a mental tool that enforces racial segregation and self-hate. The label of “White” became a necessity for Sarah Jane to achieve in society. To attain it she needed to move to a new city, change her name and deny her mother.
Race is a concept of grouping people with similar physical characteristics. Such a concept is commonly used to categorize people, but the identity of a person is defined by inner feelings rather than physical features. However, finding individual identity can be troubling at times because of the societal pressure on the concept of race. Irene Redfield, a character in Nella Larsen’s Passing, faces racial change as her friend, Clare Kendry, undergoes passing. Through this new change, Irene is able to gain a new perspective and a better understanding of the world.
Reflection Précis 1, Race and Ethnicity Part I: During the last lecture sessions, Dr. Jendian talked about appreciating diversity, race, ethnicity, and racism. In his lecture, we learned that many people believe that race is something biological. However, the true reality is that race is a social construct and not a biological one. For example, in the documentary Race: The Power of An Illusion, we were able to understand that there are more variations among people in the same “race” than with people from another “race.” However, physical differences, for example, the most obvious skin color, has created prejudices against minority groups.