EQ: What are the different types of racism?
Bell Ringer: Write your own definition of racism. Does racism exist today? Give an example.
Racism
1. A belief or doctrine that inherent differences among the various human races determine cultural
or individual achievement, usually involving the idea that one's own race is superior and has the
right to rule others.
2. Hatred or intolerance of another race or other races.
Subtle Racism
Likely the form of discrimination that people of color most often experience. Victims of subtle, or
covert, racism may find themselves snubbed by wait staff in restaurants or salespeople in stores
who believe that people of color aren’t likely to be good tippers or able to afford anything
expensive. Targets of subtle racism may find that supervisors, landlords, etc., apply different rules
to them than they do to others. An employer might run a thorough background check on an
applicant of color, while accepting a job applicant from a prospective white employee with no
additional documentation. Racial prejudice is the driving force behind subtle racism and is why
levels of poverty, education and success still vary widely across races.
Videos: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yAkDHuimJRc
Evidence: I heard, saw, etc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGVywZ8MuWI
Analysis: I think this means
Examine the map on the back. Write 3 observations and 1 inference you can make about the map.
Is this map an example of racism? Why or why not?
Institutional (or systemic) racism
Occurs when institutions such as governments, legal, medical and educational systems and
businesses discriminate against certain groups of people based on race, color, ethnicity or national
origin. Often unintentional, such racism occurs when the apparently non-discriminatory actions of
the dominant culture have the effect of excluding or marginalizing minority cultures.
How is the map above an example of institutional racism? What other examples of Institutional
racism can you identify?
EQ: What are the effects of Racism?
BR: Read and annotate up to the video (talk to the text)
Social scientists believe children begin to acquire prejudices and stereotypes as toddlers. Many studies have
shown that as early as age 3, children pick up terms of racial prejudice without really understanding their
significance. Soon, they begin to form attachments to their own group and develop negative attitudes about
other racial or ethnic groups, or the "out-group". Early in life, most children acquire a full set of biases that can
be observed in verbal slurs, ethnic jokes and acts of discrimination. Once learned, stereotypes and prejudices
resist change, even when evidence fails to support them or points to the contrary.
Bias is perpetuated by conformity with in-group attitudes and socialization by the culture at large. The fact that
white culture is dominant in America may explain why people of color often do not show a strong bias favoring
their own ethnic group. Mass media routinely take advantage of stereotypes as shorthand to paint a mood,
scene or character. Stereotypes can also be conveyed by omission in popular culture, as when TV shows present
an all-white world. Psychologists theorize bias conveyed by the media helps to explain why children can adopt
hidden prejudices even when their family environments explicitly oppose them.
Effects of racism
Internalized Racism
In this form of racism, people of color internalize the negative messages spread about minorities and come to
loathe themselves for being “different.” They may hate their skin color, their hair texture and other physical
features or intentionally marry interracially so their children won’t have the same ethnic traits that they do. They
may simply suffer from low self-esteem because of their race—performing poorly in school or in the workplace
because they believe that their racial background makes them inferior.
Video: On the back: Write your thoughts and opinions of this video. Connect the video to the reading.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkpUyB2xgTM
Colorism
Colorism is often viewed as a problem that’s unique to communities of color. It occurs when minorities
discriminate against those with darker skin than they have. For years in the black community, lighter skin was
viewed as superior to darker skin. Anyone with skin color that was lighter than a brown paper lunch bag was
welcomed into elite organizations in the black community, while darker skinned blacks were excluded. But
colorism doesn’t exist in a vacuum. It’s a direct offshoot of a white supremacist ideology that values whites
over people of color and equips Caucasians with what’s known as white skin privilege. Colorism also exists
outside of the African-American community. In Asia, sales of skin whitening products remain sky high and
women get surgery to make their eyes look more round.
Answer on the back: How do the pictures below relate to internalized racism and colorism? Give other
examples of internalized racism and/or colorism that you have witnessed or experienced.