Race & Ethnicity
Intercultural Literature
C. Valverde
Racism: Introduction
Castaneda & Zuniga

Race as a socio-political construct

History of Racism: A Brief Snapshot


Racial Identities, Racial Hierarchies, and White
Supremacy
Contemporary and Intersecting Manifestations of
Racism and White Supremacy
Racial Identities, Racial Hierarchies,
and White Supremacy





Historically, White supremacy has divided
racialized groups into artificial hierarchies.
Social diversity is defined in binaries which
rationalizes inequality: racism.
Examples: the one drop rule, Jim Crow laws,
“blood quantum” rule.
Result: preserved slavery, maintained
segregation, decreased claims on land and
property, perpetuated “a system of advantages
benefiting white wealth and ownership.”
Obama: despite being of mixed background, he
is considered mainly Black and White. The
invisibility of his mixed background illustrates
society's social construction of race as a binary.
Contemporary and Intersecting
Manifestations of Racism and White
Supremacy



Despite the many efforts of the US to eliminate racial
structures that promote racial hierarchies, racial
practices continue today.
Legacies of racism can still be seen today through
continuing economic, political, and social disparities
(i.e., wealth and income gap, employment disparities,
achievement gap, restrictive voting practices, access
to healthcare, criminal justice system, etc.)
Some intersecting identities produce unique
oppressive social locations (i.e., racism, sexism, and
classism create huge health disparities for women and
their children; racism combined with religious
oppression suppress cultural expressions of
indigenous groups' religious beliefs and practices,
etc.)




Racism and nativism continues the criminalization of
immigrants.
Use of incarceration: border communities with
immigrants; Arab Americans following 9-11 attacks;
immigrant raids in rural and urban centers; racial and
religious profiling of African, Asian, Latin American,
and Middle Eastern people; etc.
Racism can be encountered simultaneously in
multiple ways by belonging to multiple social
identities: gender, class, national origin, religion, etc.,
affecting different people in different ways.
* Social location is not just identifying with social
categories, but understanding how these categories
contain unique forms of oppression.
Defining Racism: “Can
We Talk?”
Beverly Daniel Tatum

Racism: A System of Advantage Based
on Race

Racism: For Whites Only?

Cost of Racism
Tatum cont.




Many communities throughout the US continue to
be segregated. Most information learned about
people of diverse backgrounds is learned as
second-hand information; not through direct
contact.
The secondhand information we receive about
“others” is often distorted, shaped by cultural
stereotypes, and left incomplete.
We make assumptions of people that may go
unchallenged for a long time...
Omitted information about people (i.e., Black
authors) can lead to unwarranted conclusions
(i.e., “Blacks don't write books.”).
Tatum cont.




Prejudice is produced through misinformation about
others.
Cultural Racism: the cultural images and messages
that affirm the assumed superiority of Whites and the
assumed inferiority of people of color.
The bombardment of stereotypical images in the
media, jokes, and the lack of knowledge of the
accomplishments of oppressed groups leads to
negative categorizations: prejudice.
People of color as well as Whites develop these
categorizations: oppression.
Tatum cont.

We must all take responsibility. We must change our
behavior.

Am I perpetuating and reinforcing the
negative messages so pervasive in our
culture, or am I seeking to challenge them?

If I have not been exposed to positive
images of marginalized groups, am I
seeking them out, expanding my knowledge
base for myself and my children?

Am I acknowledging and examining my own
prejudices, my own rigid categorizations of
others, thereby minimizing the adverse
impact they might have on my interactions
with those I have categorized?
Tatum cont.
Racism: A System of Advantage Based on Race




Racism and prejudice are not interchangeable
Racism is a system of advantage based on race;
prejudicial thinking does not have to be present for
this system to occur.
White privilege: major and minor advantages of
Whites (i.e., employment opportunities, access to
housing, racial profiling, criminal justice, etc.).
Racism is antithetical to traditional notions of an
American meritocracy.
Tatum cont.
Racism: For Whites Only?






Not all Whites benefit from racism.
The intersection of other factors (i.e., socio-economic
status, gender, age, religious affiliation, sexuality, ,
mental and physical ability, etc.) also interfere with
access to social influence and power.
A White woman on welfare is not privileged to the
same extent as a wealthy White heterosexual man.
Not all people of color are equally targeted by racism.
One can be systematically disadvantaged by
belonging to one category and systematically
advantaged by belonging to another.
Our lives can be affected by multiple -isms
Tatum cont.
Cost of Racism


The American economy is hindered by institutional
racism.
Examples: Productivity lowered by racial tensions at
the workplace, real estate equity lost through housing
discrimination, tax revenue lost in underemployed
communities of color, high cost of incarceration, loss
of talent in under-performing racially segregated
schools, etc.
A Different Mirror



Ronald Takaki
The social construction of
“Americanness” is defined as “white”
How should we be defined?
Takaki cont.
African Americans – the central minority throughout
American history;


Endured the transformation of Africans into slaves;
system of black labor was instituted; the
consequences of such a system continue today.
Flip: Cutting edge of the civil rights movement; their
struggle is a constant reminder of America's moral
vision and commitment to liberty; America's destiny.
Takaki cont.
Asian Americans


In the US for over 150 years but stereotyped as
the perpetual foreigner; “strangers,” exotic; CEA
1882 led to future restrictions against Italians,
Russians, Poles, and Greeks; Japanese
Internment.
Flip: fastest growing ethnic group today;
immigrant group with the highest educational
achievement
Takaki cont.
Chicanos (Mexican Americans)


Largest sub group within Latinos; Chicanos
ancestry is rooted in the southwest US; the US
is their native land; found themselves as
foreigners after the war against Mexico; most
have immigrant roots from Mexico; many share
the trek to “el norte;” proximity has reinforced
their language, identity, and culture; LA has
more Mexicans than any other city in the world,
except Mexico City; mestizo people of Indian,
African, and Spanish ancestries.
Flip: their presence has visibly transformed
culture and American society; projected to
outnumber African Americans.
Takaki cont.
Irish


The second largest immigrant wave in US
history; tied to America's past since the
beginning; Irish fled English persecution, seen
as “savages;” the US represented a safe haven;
benefited from the Naturalization Law of 1790
(Whites only); pioneers of the American ghetto;
assimilated easier into American society (White
privilege??); promoted Irish solidarity to gain
political power.
Flip: dominated the skilled blue-collar
occupations; represent the labor force that
initially built America's first metropolitan centers.
Takai cont.
Jews


Fled religious persecution from Russia (early
1900's); America represented the “promised
land;” adopted the African American agenda for
civil rights and liberty; 2/3 of white volunteers at
1964 Freedom Summer were Jewish; victims of
continued prejudice; most immigrant Jews arrived
as literate and skilled (initial advantage).
Flip: Jews are considered a highly successful
ethnic group; huge socio-economic strides in the
US; quickly lifted themselves from poverty into
mainstream society.
Takaki cont.



Native Americans (Indians)
Do not share the immigrant experience; removed from
their native land; killed; their perspective is “how the
West was lost;” given “reservations” as treaties for lost
land; most go through assimilation and acculturation.
Flip: most native languages are extinct or
disappearing; only 10 individuals still speak Karok
language of California; 50-85 % of Native Americans
are unemployed; lowest life expectancy compared
with other ethnic groups in US; highest rates of
diabetes, TBC and alcoholism, connected to cirrhosis,
deadly accidents, suicide and crime.
Takaki cont.
Connectedness




Through a multicultural lens, we can
comparatively analyze their experiences in order
to develop an understanding of their differences
and similarities.
Many shared contexts in American history: labor
revolts, political movements, shared labor market;
farm workers; etc.
We share a common past; we are a society
“unique” in the world because “the world is here” a place “where the cultures of the world
crisscross.”
We must always be dedicated at affirming the
struggle for equality.