Racism 101
based on “Racism and White Privilege
Curriculum Design” by Lee Anne Bell,
Barbara J. Love, Rosemarie A. Roberts in
Teaching for Diversity and Social Justice,
edited by Maurianne Adams, Lee Anne Bell,
and Pat Griffin
Race ?
Race is a fiction that’s real.
Race is a social construction rather than a biological fact.
Physical anthropology research shows there is just as much diversity
within ‘racial groups’ as there is between ‘racial groups’
But racial difference continues to play a huge role in social life -- in who
has power (or access to resources)
Racial categories have been created by white Europeans and North
Americans and used to justify colonialism, slavery, genocide, murder,
and theft of cultures.
Racial categories artificially emphasize relatively small eternal physical
differences among people and open up space for the creation of false
notions of mental, emotional, and intellectual differences as well.
Race & Ethnicity
Race : A social construct that artificially divides people based on
characteristics such as physical appearance (especially skin
color), ancestral heritage, cultural affiliation and history, and the
social/economic/political needs of the society doing the defining
of race at any given time.
Ethnicity: A subset of Racial categories. A social construct that
divides people into even smaller groups based on
characteristics such as shared sense of group membership,
behavioral patterns, language, political and economic intrests,
and ancestral geographic base.
Ex. Cape Verdean, Haitian, African American (Black)
Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese (Asian)
French, Polish, Irish (White)
How would you define
“racism”?
Racism 101
• Power = access to resources and
participation in society
• Prejudice = beliefs, attitudes, and actions
based on stereotypes
Racism = Prejudice + Power
or
Racism = racial prejudice plus institutional and
systemic power to dominate, exclude,
discriminate against or abuse targeted groups
of people based on race.
Oppression
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While anyone can hold racial prejudice and any racial prejudice can
result in mistreatment, racism results in a special type of mistreatment:
oppression.
Oppression results when
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(1) racism is a part of the dominant culture's national consciousness;
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(2) it is reinforced through its social institutions; and
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(3) there is an imbalance of social and economic power in society.
Web of Racism
Labor
Market
Education
Unequal
opportunities
and outcomes
Media
Housing
Criminal Justice
Who benefits from racism?
Who suffers because of it?
• Agent / dominant group
(in U.S. and Europe, as well as other places like sites of colonization)
people of European descent
• Target / oppressed group
people of color = non-white people
Latino, Asian, Black, Middle Eastern,
and Indigenous people
Active vs. Passive Racism
• Active Racism: -openly and explicitly state desire to maintain
system of racism
-advocate continued subjugation of targeted racial groups, and
maintenance of ‘rights’ of members of the agent group
-belief in inferiority of targeted racial group, superiority of agent
group
• Passive racism: beliefs, attitudes, and actions which contribute
to the maintenance of a system of racism, without openly
advocating violence or oppression
-conscious or unconscious
-ex. laughing at racist jokes, remaining silent when one sees racist
actions
History of Words used for
African-Americans
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N-word
colored
Negro
Black
African-American (or other hyphenated
identities, Carribean-American, etc.)
Finding respectful language
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People of color (not “colored people”) = all non-white people, belonging
targeted or oppressed groups
White people/ people of European descent
Black/African-American; Asian-American; Latino (or Hispanic)
Or other words used by those groups and peoples themselves to define
their identity
“Chicano is an identity that comes out of our people's political and
militant actions that were born in the 1960's. We referred to ourselves
as Chicano as a form of defiance, as a way of rejecting MexicanAmerican, as a way of embracing our core Nican Tlaca (Indigenous)
identity.”
Mixed race, biracial, multi-racial individuals or persons
Cycle of Socialization
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When were you first aware of yourself as a member of a particular
racial group?
When were you first aware of people from other races? Which races?
When did you first witness or experience someone being treated
differently because of his/her racial group?
When was a time that you were proud of your racial identity?
When was a time you realized that you would be treated differently
because of your race?
When have you had friends from different racial groups?
Any other significant event in your life related to racism?
Individual vs. Institutional
Racism
• Institutional/Structural/Systemic racism is that
which, covertly or overtly, resides in the
policies, procedures, operations and culture
of public or private institutions - reinforcing
individual prejudices and being reinforced by
them in turn.
• Whereas individual racism is the expression
of personal prejudice, institutional racism is
the expression of a whole organisation's
racist practice and culture.
• Ethnocentrism : the belief that one’s own racial or
ethnic group’s beliefs, values, and practices are
the standard by which all things are measured or
valued
• Institutions often reflect the cultural assumptions of
the dominant group, so that the practices of that
group are seen as the norm to which other cultural
practices should conform (Anderson and Taylor,
2006).
Examples of Institutional
Racism in U.S. History
Wage Gape in U.S. Society:
Median annual earnings of non-male or nonwhite people as a percentage of the median
annual earnings of white men in 2006
White men = 100%
White women = 73.5%
Black men = 72.1%
Black women = 63.6%
Latino men = 57.5%
Latino women = 51.7%
Source: U.S. Current Population Survey and the National Committee on Pay Equity.
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In 1935, the U.S. Congress passed the Social Security Act, guaranteeing an income for
millions of workers after their retirements, however, the Act specifically excluded domestic
and agricultural workers — many of whom were Mexican-American, African-American, and
Asian-American. These workers, therefore, were not guaranteed an income after retirement,
thus had less opportunity to save, accumulate, and pass wealth to their future generations.
•
Because schools are funded mostly with the property taxes of the surrounding areas, a
school in a poor black community cannot buy nice computers, textbooks, and other
resources.
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Exclusion from unions, social organizations, and clubs based on race.
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Less access to loans, mortgages, credit, and government benefits, leading to less possibility
to start one’s own business, own one’s own home, send one’s children to college.
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1 in 3 black men in America will spend some time in prison in his lifetime.
Mandatory sentence for possessing 5 grams of grack = 5 years in prison. For possessing
500 grams of powder cocaine = 5 years in prison.
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In each of these situations, people of color experience disadvantatages that flow from
one generation to another in reference to income and wealth, decision making, health
status, knowledge and skill development, quality of life, and sense of entitlement to
resources like higher education, decent work, etc.
Web of Racism
• Think up as many institutions as there
are for members of the class, such as
the Media, Financial institutions, etc…
Designing a non-racist
Institution
• What is the underlying philosophy of this
institution towards race?
• How does this institution acknowledge race, if
it does at all?
• What racial groups are represented in this
institution, and what roles do they fill?
• What are some of the norms and values of
this institution?
Whiteness
History of Whiteness
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Nothing points out the constructedness of race better than seeing how
racial classifications have shifted through history.
According to Howard Zinn, this was done in whatever way best served
the dominant powers, mainly white Anglo-Saxon Protestants (WASPs)
which often used race to put wedges between groups, especially of
lower classes, who might otherwise join together in fighting for better
living conditions.
European immigrants to the U.S. were not always seen as ‘white,’
In fact, before the 20th century, they were mostly seen along national
lines (as Swedes, Germans, etc.) and also class and religious lines
(Italians and Irish were poor and Catholic and hence were at the bottom
of the social hierarchy)
How the Irish became White
• Irish immigrants poured into America in the late 1800’s due to the
potato famine in Ireland.
• Poor Irish and blacks in the North lived in close contact, in the same
class competing for the same jobs. The Irish were often referred to as
"Negroes turned inside out and Negroes as smoked Irish."
• Back in Ireland, the Irish suffered great oppression and abuse under the
English Penal Laws.
• Despite their revolutionary roots as an oppressed group fighting for
freedom and rights, Irish Catholics came to this country as an
oppressed race yet quickly learned that to succeed they had to in turn
oppress their closest social class competitors, free Northern blacks.
• Some Irish-Americans also supported slavery. Some still in Ireland
protested, such as great Catholic emancipator Daniel O'Connell :
"Over the broad Atlantic I pour forth my voice, saying, come out of
such a land, you Irishmen; or, if you remain, and dare countenance the
system of slavery that is supported there, we will recognize you as
Irishmen no longer."
• A Catholic priest in Philadelphia said to the Irish people in that city,
'You are all poor, and chiefly laborers, the blacks are poor laborers;
many of the native whites are laborers; now, if you wish to succeed,
you must do everything that they do, no matter how degrading, and do
it for less than they can afford to do it for.'
• Thus, the Irish came to dominate menial jobs and kept blacks out of
their unions.
• Becoming white meant losing their ‘greenness,’ i.e., their Irish cultural
heritage and the legacy of oppression and resistance back home
• Imagine if the Irish had remained green after their arrival and formed
an alliance with their fellow oppressed co-workers, the free blacks of
the North.
• Imagine if they had chosen to include their black brothers and sisters in
the union movement to wage a class battle against the dominant white
culture which ruthlessly pitted them against one another.”
-from sermon by Art McDonald, based on book “How the Irish Became White”
• “If there were no black people here in this country, it would have
been Balkanized. The immigrants would have torn each other's
throats out, as they have done everywhere else. But in
becoming an American, from Europe, what one has in common
with that other immigrant is contempt for me -- it's nothing else
but color. Wherever they were from, they would stand together.
They could all say, ''I am not that.'' So in that sense, becoming
an American is based on an attitude: an exclusion of me.
• It wasn't negative to them -- it was unifying. When they got off
the boat, the second word they learned was ''nigger.'' Ask them - I grew up with them. I remember in the fifth grade a smart little
boy who had just arrived and didn't speak any English. He sat
next to me. I read well, and I taught him to read just by doing it. I
remember the moment he found out that I was black -- a nigger.
It took him six months; he was told. And that's the moment when
he belonged, that was his entrance. Every immigrant knew he
would not come as the very bottom. He had to come above at
least one group -- and that was us.”
• -Interview with Nobel Prize winning author, Toni Morrison
Dealing with Whiteness
• White privilege: the concrete benefits of access to
resources and social rewards and the power to shape
the norms and values of a society which whites
receive, unconsciously or consciously, by virtue of
their skin color in a racist society. Ex.s include : the
ability to be unaware of race, the ability to have a job
hire or promotion attributed to their skills and not
affirmative action
• Collusion: thinking and acting in ways that support
the system of racism, ex. telling racist jokes,
remaining silent when observing a racist incident or
remark.
“Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack”
- Peggy McIntosh
• McIntosh makes a comparison in the opening paragraphs
between sexism and race, and notices a similarity in the
attitudes of men and white people.
• What are they (here, men and white people) willing to admit or
accept, but what is harder for them to admit/accept?
• Do you agree?
• What does McIntosh say in the first page about meritocracy and
the value of individualism?
• What is her critique of this idea?
• How does McIntosh define “privilege”?
• Are privileges “bad”?
• How can white privileges be used to break down racism?
Cost/Benefit
• How do white people benefit from
racism?
• What is the cost of racism for white
people?
Internalized Racism
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Horizontal racism: the result of people of targeted racial groups
believing, acting on, or enforcing the dominant (white) system of racial
discrimination and oppression. Horizontal racism can occur between
members of the same racial group.
Ex. An Asian person telling another Asian wearing a Sari to “dress
American”; a Latino telling another Latino person to stop speaking
Spanish
Internalized racism: the result of people of targeted racial groups
believing, acting on, or enforcing the dominant system of beliefs about
themselves and members of their own racial group.
Ex. Blacks using creams to lighten their skin, Asians believing that
racism is the result of People of Color not being able to raise
themselves up by their “own bootstraps”, Native Americans feeling that
they are not as intelligent as whites.
Questions for People of Color
Caucus
• What thoughts do I have about meeting in
caucus groups?
• How have I been affected by internalized
racism and horizontal racism? How do I
collude with the system of racism?
• How can I empower myself and others to deal
with racism in our lives, and to take action to
end racism?
• What are the costs and benefits of actively
confronting facism, and doing anti-racism
work?
Questions for White Caucus
Group:
• What thoughts or feelings do I have about
meeting in caucus groups?
• How have I benefited from white privilege?
• How can I move from feelings of guilt and
shame about racism to taking responsibility
for my role as an agent of racism?
• What are the costs and benefits of becoming
an ally to people of color, and doing antiracist work?
What next?
Actively Participating
-> Denying/Ignoring
-----> Recognizing, No action
--------> Recognizing, action
-----------> Educating Self
---------------> Educating Others
--------------------> Supporting/Encouraging
------------------------->Initiating/Preventing
• Ally : a white person who actively works to eliminate racism,
motivated by self-interest in ending racism, a sense of moral
obligation, and a commitment to foster social justice, rather than
a patronizing desire to “help those poor people of color.” A white
ally might engage in anti-racism work with other whites or
people of color.
• When was a time that someone was a good ally to you? What
made him/her a good ally?
• Empowered Person of Color : an empowered person of color
has an understanding of racism and its impact on one’s life
without responding to events and circumstances as a victim.
Rather, being empowered means having the capacity to engage
individuals and institutions with the expectation of being treated
well.
• When was a time you felt empowered?
What are the costs and
benefits of interrupting
racism?
Spheres of Influence
• Self, Friends, Work, School,
Organizations, Religious group,
Roommates/Housemates
• Action Plan
Race is a fiction that’s real.
• If we go too far in emphasizing race as
fiction, we may become ‘color-blind’.
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“Colorblind” can be good: for example, when judging the merits of a novel
written by a Japanese author, not writing “As beautiful as a Zen garden” or some
other cliché, not referring to the author as a “Japanese author” and then
referring o white authors as simply “an author”
“Colorblind” can also be dangerous: If you are the mayor and you are trying to
give a speech in response to a case of police brutality by a white policeman
against a black teenager. It might be dangerous to overlook the racial dynamics,
since police brutality and racial profiling have a long and painful history in black
and people of color communities.
Race is a fiction that’s real.
• But if you go too far into emphasizing
the “real” side of race, you could find
yourself essentializing racial differences
as if they were eternal, natural, or
inherent.
• essentialist vs. non-essentialist