RACE & ETHNICITY
Contemporary Social Issues
Rachael Gorski
2016
INTRODUCTION ACTIVITY
■ What races are there in the United States?
■ Make a list!
■ When done, write your list on the board
US Census Over Time
■ Census has accounted for race since its
inception in 1790
■ Categories of race (and other markers) reflect
social conceptions of the time
■ 1790 Options:
– Free white males
– Free white females
– All other free persons
– Slaves
■ 2010 Options:
– White
– Black, African American, or Negro
– American Indian or Alaska Native
– Chinese
– Japanese
– Filipino
– Korean
– Asian Indian
– Vietnamese
– Other Asian
– Native Hawaiian
– Samoan
– Guamanian or Chamorro
– Other Pacific Islander
– Mexican, Mexican American, Chicano
– Puerto Rican
– Cuban
– Another Hispanic, Latino, Spanish Origin
– *Hispanic is not a race, but is an ethnicity
in a separate question
– Some other Race
1790-1810 Census
■ Free White Males
■ Free White Females
■ All Other Free Persons
1850
Census
■ White
■ Slaves
■ Black
■ Mulatto
1820-1840 Census
■ Free White Males
■ Free White Females
■ Free Colored Males
■ Free Colored Females
■ Slaves
■ Black Slaves
■ Mulatto Slaves
1860 Census
■ White
■ Black
■ Mulatto
■ Black Slaves
■ Slaves accounted for on “Non-Population
Schedules” that also recorded acreage, bushels
■ Mulatto Slaves
of wheat & applies, # cows and swine, etc.
■ Indian
1870 Census
■ COLOR
■ Mulatto
■ White
■ Chinese
■ Black
■ Indian
1880 Census
■ Same 5 racial categories, but changed position to the FIRST indicator
1900 Census
■ Color or Race: White, Black (Negro or Negro Descent), Indian, Chinese, Japanese
■ Also asks how many children you had & how many alive + your place of birth & parents’
places of birth
1910 Census
■ Color or Race: White, Black, Mulatto, Indian, Chinese, Japanese, Other
■ Sex moves to first indicator; race to second
■ Now asks for native language in addition to places of birth
1920 Census
■ Color or Race: White, Black, Mulatto, Other, Indian, Chinese,
Japanese
■ NEW – Filipino, Korean, Hindu
1930 Census
■ Color or Race: White, Negro, Other, Indian, Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, Korean,
Hindu
■ NEW: Mexican
■ Deleted: Mulatto
1940 Census
■ COLOR OR RACE:
– White
– Negro
– Indian
– Chinese
– Filipino
– Hindu
– Korean
– Other, spell out in full
■ Also requests place of birth & parents’ places of
birth
Sorting People Activity
■ Need 2 brave volunteers
■ http://www.pbs.org/race/002_SortingPeople/002_01-sort.htm
RACE V. ETHNICITY
DEFINING RACE
■ Socially-constructed categories of people, usually
based on color or physical features
– Vary depending on time & place
■ Merriam-Webster Dictionary
– A breeding stock of animals
– A family, tribe, people, or nation belonging to the
same stock
– A category of humankind that shares certain
distinctive physical traits
U.S. RACES – 2010 CENSUS
■ White
■ Guamanian or Chamorro
■ Black, African American, or
Negro
■ Other Pacific Islander
■ American Indian or Alaska
Native
■ Chinese
■ Japanese
■ Filipino
■ Korean
■ Mexican, Mexican American,
Chicano
■ Puerto Rican
■ Cuban
■ Another Hispanic, Latino,
Spanish Origin
■ Asian Indian
■ *Hispanic is not a race, but is
an ethnicity in a separate
question
■ Vietnamese
■ Some other Race
■ Other Asian
■ Two or More Races
■ Native Hawaiian
■ Samoan
PAST CLASSIFICATIONS
■ Caucasoid
■ Mongoloid
■ Negroid
■ Believed there were different types of
humans
■ Terms are outdated & offensive today
WHY DO WE HAVE RACE?
■ Some believe it’s based in biology
– Helps organize & classify different people
– Justifies differential treatment, racism, & discrimination
– Results in differential intelligence, sexual behavior, birth rates, infant care, ethics,
lifespan, law-abidingness, aggression, family cohesion, brain size….
– EMBEDDED IN OUR CULTURE
■ It’s NOT based in biology
– 1950 – UNESCO reported all humans belong to the same species & race is not a
biological reality, but a myth!
– NO inherent relationship between “race” and intelligence, economic practices, lawabidingness
– Also NO relationship between “race” and nose size, height, blood group, skin color,
etc.!
– Not genetically identified – “races” inbreeding for hundreds of thousands of years
■ Socialized to believe in race
– Impacts where you live, go to school, profession, who you interact with, your
treatment, healthcare, justice system ….
– Policies keep leaders & followers in control (Examples: Spanish Inquisition,
Holocaust, Segregation)
RACE IS AN ILLUSION…
■ Modern Idea – ancients did not divide people according to physical differences, but according to
religion, class, or language
■ No genetic basis – no one trait or gene distinguishes all members of one ‘race’ from another
■ Slavery predates race – enslaved people not because of physical characteristic, but conquest of war
■ “Race” helped justify slavery & social inequalities – explained why some people could be denied
rights & freedoms
■ Human “sub-species” don’t exist – unlike in animals
■ Skin color is only skin deep – traits inherited independently from one another; genes for skin color
are unrelated to hair texture, eye shape, blood type, athletic ability…
■ Most genetic variation is within, not between “races” – 85% of genetic variation exists within local
population; two random Koreans are as genetically different as a Korean and an Italian
■ RACISM IS REAL – different races have different opportunities and resources; there ARE advantages
to being white
■ Colorblindness will NOT end racism – pretending race doesn’t exist is NOT the same as creating
equality
– Race is more than stereotypes & individual prejudice
– Need to identify & remedy social policies that give advantages to some groups over others
…BUT IT DOES HAVE MAJOR EFFECTS
■ **We’ll go into more detail with these ideas
later in the unit**
–
students
Quality of schools by neighborhood
■ Different jobs available
■ Institutional Racism
– “Black-sounding” name on resume makes
– Racial profiling
a difference
– Higher incarceration rates
■ Poverty Rate
– Lower quality of health services
– American Indian 27%; Black 26%;
■ Increased Adolescent Risk Behaviors
Hispanic 23%; white 11%
– Blacks more likely to have sex
■ Earning Potential: Median Income
– Black & Hispanic more likely to engage in
– Asian $68,636
violence
– White $57,009
– But, whites more likely to smoke & drink
– ALL %51,017
■ White privilege
– Hispanic $39,005
– Unintentional “perks” for white people
– Black $33,321
– Range from “nude” color clothing
■ Educational Attainment
matching skin tone to not being harassed
by store security officers
– SAT questions benefit affluent (white)
ETHNICITY
■ Group of people with common culture or heritage
■ Based on
– National origin
– Religion
– Language
– Customs
– Values
■ Self-identified
– Are you an American or are you Polish?
– Are you Hispanic or are you Mexican?
– Are you Israeli or are you Jewish?
■ Can be same ethnicity, but different race
REMEMBER:
Ethnicity is associated with
culture, whereas race is
associated with, but not proven
by, biology.
DISCUSSION
■How does race impact your life?
■What race and ethnicity do you identify as?
■How does ethnicity impact your life?
EVOLUTION OF RACE
In the United States
Before 1787
■ 1300 – Origin of the word slave
■ 1680 – “White” appears in colonial laws
■ 1705 – Virginia slave codes passed
■ 1765 – Slaves lobby for freedom in American
Revolution
■ 1776 – Birth of “Caucasian”
■ 1781 – Jefferson suggests black inferiority
1790-1854
■ 1790 – Racial categories appear on first US Census
■ 1790 – Naturalization reserved for whites
■ 1825 – “Blood Degree” measures who is Indian
■ 1833 – Abolition strengthens idea of race
■ 1839 – Skulls measured to prove racial hierarchy
■ 1854 – Nonwhites barred from testifying at trials
■ 1854 – Frederick Douglass challenges race scientists
1857-1904
■ 1857 – African Americans denied citizenship in Plessy v. Ferguson
■ 1859 – Evolution shapes race debate
■ 1868 – 14th Amendment guarantees equal rights (by race)
■ 1883 – Birth of eugenics
■ 1887 – Jim Crow segregation begins
■ 1898 – Birthright citizenship begins
■ 1899 – “The White Man’s Burden” published
■ 1899 – Europeans ‘note quite white’ (southern & eastern Europeans
discriminated against in employment)
■ 1904 – Race on parade – displays at fair in St. Louis
1905-1935
■ 1905 – African Americans demand equal rights (WEB Du Bois
Niagara Movement)
■ 1911 – Universal Race Congress held at U. London (WEB Du
Bois & Franz Boas attend)
■ 1913 – Land laws discriminate against Asians
■ 1922 – Courts decide who is white for naturalization purposes
■ 1924 – Changing definitions of who is black (“One Drop” Rule)
■ 1924 – Immigration quotas favor ‘Nordics’
■ 1930 – Mexican added to Census categories
■ 1934 – Indians base membership on blood degree
■ 1935 – Minorities denied Social Security & excluded from
unions
1950 - 2000
■ 1950 – UNESCO statement denies biological concept of race
■ 1954 – Legal segregation ends with Brown vs. Board
■ 1967 – Laws against interracial marriage invalidated (antimiscegenation laws) in Loving vs. Virginia
■ 1977 – Government defines race/ethnic categories, meaning to aid
agencies, but are arbitrary, inconsistent, & based on assumptions
■ 1985 – Minorities lead nationwide union campaign
■ 1994 – Black-white wealth gap studied
■ 2000 – Census allows for more than one race
MAJORITY-MINORITY RELATIONS
MINORITY GROUP
■ People singled out for unequal treatment
■ Regard themselves as objects of collective discrimination
■ Often numerically a minority
– US Examples from 2010 Census & 2014 Estimates:
– Hispanic or Latino 17.4%
– African Americans 13.2%
– Asian Americans 5.4%
– Native Americans 1.2%
– Muslims (in America)
■ Sometimes NOT statistically a minority, but lack political resources for
power
– US Example: women
– Historical Example: blacks in South Africa during apartheid
CHARACTERISTICS OF MINORITY GROUPS
■ Physically or culturally
distinct from dominant group
■ Victims of unequal treatment
■ Share strong bond / loyalty
to group
■ Tend to marry within the
group
DOMINANT GROUP
■ People who have power over the minority
group
– Economic Power
– Political Power
– Social Power
– US Example: 77% population White
■ Not always a numerical majority
– Example: white British in colonial
India
– Example: whites in apartheid South
Africa
NEGATIVE RELATIONS
■ Subjugation – maintain control over a group through force
– Spanish conquistadors in the New World
– Saddam Hussein’s oppression of Kurds through
violence & intimidation
■ Ethnic Cleansing – forced removal and/or slaughter of a
minority group
– Trail of Tears of the Cherokee Nation, 1838-1839
– Armenian “Genocide” – Ottoman Empire, 1915-1923
– Srebrenica, 1995
– *Videos at end of class
■ Genocide – systematic extermination of a minority group
with intent of destroying the entire population
– The Holocaust, 1936-1945
– Rwanda Genocide, 1994
SEGREGATION
■ Separation of minority and majority groups
■ De Jure Segregation – based on or caused
by laws
– “Separate but equal” facilities in the
United States
– Apartheid
■ De Facto Segregation – separation results
from informal norms
– Mostly black neighborhoods / mostly
white neighborhoods
– Lunch tables
– Dating
LEGAL PROTECTIONS FOR MINORITIES
■ Basic function of government is to protect minority rights
when dominant groups attempt to infringe upon them
■ US Examples:
– Brown vs. Board ruling, 1954
– Civil Rights Act, 1964
– Voting Rights Act, 1965
– Affirmative Action policies
– Obergefell vs. Hodges ruling, 2015
WHEN GROUPS MEET
■ Assimilation – blending of culturally distinct groups into a
single group with common culture & identity
– “Melting Pot”
– Can be voluntary
■
Choosing to ‘Americanize” your name; learn English
– Can be forced
■
■
Required to learn language for citizenship
1910-1970 Australia removed aboriginal children
from their homes & had them raised by whites
■ Multiculturalism – encouragement of ethnic variation or
diversity by the dominant group
– “Salad Bowl”
– “Pluralism”
– Respect each group
AN AMERICAN DILEMMA
■ 1944 – Sociologist Gunnar Myrdal commissioned to
study race relations
■ Concluded there is a gap between what people believe
and how they behave >> “an American dilemma”
■ Believe – freedom, equality, inalienable rights, dignity …
■ Behavior– segregation of blacks, Native Americans,
Japanese internment camps …
■ Discuss – do you think this dilemma still exists today?
What values do people claim to believe in? Does their
behavior contradict their beliefs?
ETHNIC CLEANSING VIDEOS
■ Ethnic Cleansing in Bosnia [7 min]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VbNocQORWQ8
■ Ethnic Cleansing in the Central African Republic
[3:25 min]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sG8Fsu9e8oI
■ Iraq: Ethnic Cleansing [3:22 min]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3nTz1Bc6X0
PREJUDICE &
DISCRIMINATION
Different branches of the same hate tree
INTRODUCTION ACTIVITY
■ List stereotypes of the
minority group your row is
assigned
■ List ways in which the group
has been treated differently
(past or present)
■ African Americans
■ Hispanics
■ Asian Americans
■ Native Americans
■ Women
■ Disabled
■ LGBT
RACISM
■ Belief one’s own race or ethnic
group is superior to other
races
■ Can be subtle
■ Can be direct
■ Doesn’t have to be overt
discrimination
■ Manifests in two forms:
prejudice & discrimination
PREJUDICE
■ Attitudes towards members of a group
■ Judgment applied to whole group based on
single perception/stereotype
STEREOTYPES
■ Oversimplified, exaggerated, or unfavorable
generalizations about groups of people
■ Often had some truthful origin
– Example “stupid Poles” arose because Polish immigrants were
uneducated
■ Can lead to self-fulfilling prophecy – prediction that results in behavior
that makes the behavior come true
– Example: if group is seen as lazy, they will not get hired for high-end
work. Because they did not earn high-end work, they will end up in
lower end jobs & often find themselves on the streets in between
jobs
DISCRIMINATION
■ Unfair treatment directed against someone
■ Based on:
– Height
– Weight
– Age
– Income
– Race
– Ethnicity
– Marital status
– Sexual orientation
– Religion
– Disability
– Politics
■ You CAN discriminate without being prejudiced & be prejudiced WITHOUT discriminating!
TYPES OF DISCRIMINATION
■ Individual Discrimination – by individuals or small groups against
individuals or small groups
– Burning a cross
– Not renting apartment to minority
– Spray-painting swastikas
■ Institutional Discrimination – woven into fabric of society or
organizations
– Policies designed to the advantage of dominant group
– Plessy v. Ferguson >> separate but equal
– Virginia Military Institute didn’t admit women until 1996
– Rodney King beaten by police in 1992 >> all white jury acquitted
the police
MERTON’S TYPOLOGY OF PREJUDICE & DISCRIMINATION
■ It is possible to discriminate without being prejudiced and vice versa!
Prejudiced? Yes
Prejudiced? No
Discrimination?
Yes
Active Bigot
[KKK]
Discrimination?
No
Timid Bigot
don’t want to look bad with
discriminatory behavior
[Shop owner who doesn’t
discriminate because it would
hurt business]
Fair-Weather Liberal
Discriminates based on
convenience
[Shop owner doesn’t hire blacks
to help business interests]
All-Weather Liberal
Sees all groups as equals in
theory & practice
Very educated, non-traditional,
open-minded individuals
PREJUDICE & DISCRIMINATION ACTIVITY
■ Write a short story displaying each of the 4 typologies theorized by Merton:
– Active Bigot
– Fair-Weather Liberal
– Timid Bigot
– All-Weather Liberal
■ Activity #2 – What Would You Do? Videos & Discussion
– Latino Hate Crime [8 min]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ru1F29vuVKI
– Racial Profiling in Store [9 min]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpUAlmW72QM
– Bashed for Adopting Black Children [11 min]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J47tcBcU3Rs
RACE RELATIONS IN U.S.
Black – White Differences of Opinion
RACE RELATIONS IN USA – DECLINING?
■ Only 34% of Americans said race relations are ‘fairly good’
or ‘very good’ – a 20 year low
■ 2 Black Billionaires – Oprah & Michael Jordan
– ~500 white billionaires
■ 9.8% over-25 have a degree
– 14.4% whites have bachelor’s degree
■ 75% white Americans have only white friends
– 65% of black Americans have only black friends
■ 10.9% black unemployment rate
– 4.8% white Americans; overall average 5.8%
■ 37% male prison inmates are black
– Only 13% of population >> inmates are
disproportionately black
– 32% white
– 22% Hispanic
■ 65% African Americans
think “Black Lives
Matter” focuses on
racial discrimination
– 25% of whites
■ 59% of whites think it
distracts from real
issues
– 26% African
Americans
Video Clip
■ CNN: Race Relations in the United States [8 min]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BOlc7r_3ao
BLACK LIVES MATTER
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
■
Black Lives Matter = national organization working for the validity of Black life
– Rebuild the Black liberation movement
– Broadening the conversation around state violence
– Also affirms lives of Black queer & trans folks, undocumented folks, folks with police records,
women, etc.
– Goes beyond extrajudicial killing of black people:
■
■
■
■
2.8M black people imprisoned = state violence
Assault on black women and families
Black LGBT individuals bear a “unique burden” from a hetero-patriarchal society
500,000 are undocumented immigrants
■
Began in 2012 with murder of Trayvon Martin
– George Zimmerman was acquitted of the murder of 17-year-old Trayvon, an unarmed black
teenager, in Florida
■
Impetus seen more after Ferguson, MO in August 2014
– Protests after police killed Michael Brown
■
Builds momentum with each instance of police brutality and deaths of black people in custody
– Protests & Rallies
– Social Media Campaigns
INTRO VIDEO CLIP
■ Bill O’Reilly Takes on Two Black Lives Matter Activists [10 min]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5HsBVmGKB8
TWO VIEWS
■ Bringing attention & empowerment to the Black community, and for all people
– Saying “All Lives Matter” loses effect; no longer focused on the programs of
repression against Blacks
– African Americans DO suffer from police brutality
– They ARE disproportionately incarcerated for crimes that whites usually do not
see jail time for
– African Americans, especially single mothers, ARE more likely to be in poverty
– These social inequalities & systemic racism SHOULD be addressed
■ “All Lives Matter”
– Feel that the movement asserts Black superiority & preference over lives of
whites and other minorities
– Some protestors are radical – “What do we want? Dead Cops!”
– Also criticize Black Lives Matter for lack of consistent, clear, cohesive goals &
organization
ARTICLES & DISCUSSION
■ Read the articles:
– TIME Person of the Year Runner Up
– The Myth of Black Lives Matter
– All Lives Matter Is and Always Was Racist
– “Using White Privilege for Positive Change”
■ Discuss them with your peers