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White privilege and racism
White privilege and racism
White privilege and racism
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Everyday the future in America looks brighter for the issues dealing with race and identity. Brave souls are not letting racism, class discrimination, or sexism hold them back anymore. Furthermore, the fight for a balanced society that pushes for equality is on the horizon. As we close on an era, based on purely the skin of the person, we need to analyze the impacts of the Ethnicity paradigm and Class paradigm on politics of the 20th century. Race and Ethnicity are used interchangeable in everyday conversation, however; they are not the same.
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.
Living in a diverse neighborhood contributed to a diverse population in the high school he attended, he recalls having many interesting diverse interactions, however, he did not reflect on them until he attended college. It was in college he became aware of the deep rooted social identities assigned. He notes, experiencing culture shock at Chino State University, similar to Cal Poly, a predominantly white student population. Though he, himself, a person of color was socialized with the assumption that black college students were disorderly and destructive, yet he experience the opposite, where white students were disorderly and destructive. Something the author, Tatum from “Can We Talk?” would define as, individuals categorizing ethnic groups on negative assumptions, including internalizing prejudice within one's ethnic groups and secondhand distorted information, noting, racism begins early and usually from historical information about “others” and stereotypical social identities.
His studies reveal how color-blind ideology is used by white people to justify their ability to steal characteristics from other cultures, rather than promote the inclusivity that color-blind ideology seems to imply. This justification also allows them to treat cultural objects as objective items that can be taken by anyone, rather than acknowledging the racial background that cultural objects may come from. Furthermore, it reveals the obliviousness of white people who participate in hip hop culture to wider social issues, as they choose to ignore their own involvement in reinforcing systematic racism. As a result of this ignorance, white people become involved in cultural theft without conscious
Ask yourself: would we be having such a heated discussion if this baby were blond?” (129 Ng).Dr. Wong emphasizes the colorblindness of the Shaker Heights society reflected through the McCulloughs in the sense that they only see her as a regular baby rather than a Chinese baby. Racial colorblindness may seem like a good thing as being unbiased, although this disregards the systemic racism and discrimination many face. Additionally, it also erases people’s identities and experiences.
Have you ever been affected by race in your life? Prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against someone of a different race based on the belief that one's own race is superior is an outcome of racism. Racism is a big conflict in today’s society and effect many lives. In the two stories “Champion of the Word” by Maya Angelou and “Black Men and Public Space” by Brent Staples , race was the big social view being discussed. Racist ideology can become manifest in many aspects of social life.
The author uses dichotomous thinking to classify white people as being the dominant party as they enjoy what she terms as "white privilege". She explains the privilege by noting that she was not forced to expose her children to the existence of racism and her certainty that the person-in-charge is often white “I did not have to educate our children to be aware of systemic racism for their own daily physical protection” and, “I can be reasonably sure that if I ask to talk to ‘the person in charge,’ I will be facing a person of my race” (McIntosh 89). Our ability to realize the privileges that we get to enjoy allows us to notice the people who do not get to enjoy such privileges. Learning about privilege becomes vital as it allows human beings to be more considerate of individuals who do not get the same privilege. White privilege, as a form of privilege, often goes unnoticed.
This relates to systemic racism because of the social status and racial myths since white people had unacceptable thoughts about black people. In other words, there is the idea that the United States is like a house that needs extensive inspection and repair emphasizes that Americans should work together to maintain their civilization. If society aspires to eliminate caste, it must engage in an in-depth existential questioning. Wilkerson contends that caste
First, Gravlee explains the cultural perception of race in the United States and how
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).
Race has always been a problem in America and other countries. But developments such as Critical Race Theory (CRT) has helped challenge race and racial power and its representation in American society. Articles such as Critical Race Theory: An Introduction by Richard Delgado and Jean Stefancic; White Privilege, Color, and Crime: A Personal Account by Peggy McIntosh have helped CRT develop further. Along with the documentary White Like Me by filmmaker Tim Wise. These articles and film explore the race and racism in the United States, along with critical race theory.
Race is one the most sensitive and controversial topics of our time. As kids, we were taught that racism has gotten better as times has passed. However, the author, Michelle Alexander, of The New Jim Crow proposes the argument that racism has not gotten better, but the form of racism that we known in textbooks is not the racism we experience today. Michelle Alexander has countless amounts of plausible arguments, but she has failed to be a credible author, since she doesn’t give enough citations or evidence for her argument to convince people who may not have prior agreement with her agreement.. Alexander’s biggest mistake when it came to being a credible author was starting off the book with a countless number of claims without any evidence in her Introduction.
At the heart of whiteness studies is the invisibility of whiteness and white privilege (Ahmed, 2004). Whiteness is thought of as the hidden criterion to which every other race is measured against. Through the lens of whiteness, the “other” is seen as deviant (Ahmed, 2004). The invisibility of whiteness, however, is only from the perspective of those who are white (Matthews, 2012). To people who are not white, it is pervasive and blatant.
Even though the group of minorities seem to be increasing, “such as Asian Americans, Hispanics, Native Americans, and African Americans, whiteness still conveys an ideology of privilege and power,” (Blank,
Constructionist theory is one of the adequate psychological theories that account for text comprehension utilized to describe processes involved for generation of inferences when readers construct a situation model of what text is about. Since situation model is a mental representation of people, setting, actions, and events that are mentioned in a explicit clauses or that are filled in inferentially by world knowledge. Constructionist theory makes decisive predictions about the classes of inferences that are constructed –online during the comprehension passage. McKoon and Ratcliff (1992) have concluded that constructionist theories assume that a complete, lifelike cognitive representation is constructed and that virtually all classes of inferences