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Article Summary: The Origin Story Of Racism By Dorothy Roberts

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The article by Dorothy Roberts focuses around how race was invented. She talks about how and why people of different cultures were treated differently. It reflected on the different laws that “assigned” people to certain races and how it was different from state to state. In the second chapter Roberts talks about how people aren’t that different from each other genetically but we still focus on that 0.1%. This article revealed many new facts and ideas to think about. Before this article I had not really heard an origin story of racism other than slavery. This was very interesting to me because I had never really thought of how laws created racism. In school we were al taught about African Americans and how poorly they were treated, but really …show more content…

I came from a very small rural school in Iowa. We had one boy with darker skin in our class. Whenever we had discussions about slavery, discrimination, or African Americans, no one wanted to talk. We didn’t want to upset him, act like we were better than him, or feel sorry for him. We really had no clue what to do. If teachers taught about how almost every race was discriminated against and how everyone with fair skin wasn’t always considered white, I feel like we could have had better conversations because everyone could see both sides. Additionally, teaching how the judicial system and government decided who was considered white would also benefit kids. If they knew this, they could realize that whites as a group did not cause slavery. Yes, people who continue to discriminate others do cause a negative affect on others, but the idea of people having worth based on their heritage has been a big part of American government from day one. With working towards a social studies endorsement, I want to teach my future classes about all the kinds of racism that happened. Not just focus on people of African decent. I want them to achieve a well rounded education and for them to know enough to make their own decisions. Instead of lecturing them about how people who were considered colored felt, have real discussions and allow them to talk about their

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