RACISM IN 2015
BY VICTORIA SCHOFIELD
SOCIOLOGY 2630
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. What is racism?........................................................3
• Stereotypes…………………………………………….. 4
• Stereotypes continued………………………………..5
2. Effects on Americans…………………………………6
• Today in media………………………………………....7
• Examples in the media……………………………..…8
3. Racial Profiling………………………………………….9
• Racism in the workplace………………………….....10
4. White privilege and denial……………………….…11
5.“The new threat: ‘Racism without racists”………...12
WHAT IS RACISM?
• Racism is something that goes back in
American history, and still today,
remains alive.
• Racism is defined as a belief that
one’s own ethnic group is superior to
others.
• “Racism is power based, and flows
from power to lack of power.”(Diversityinc.com)
STEREOTYPES
• Stereotypes allow people to categorize new things
into spaces that are comfortable for them within
their own experiences.
• Walter Lippmann, came up with the term
stereotyping in 1922, saying: “The attempt to see all
things freshly and in detail, rather than as types and
generalities, is exhausting, and … practically out of
the question.”
• Stereotyping in our society was sorted out by
different races and genetic traits (hair color, facial
features etc.)
STEREOTYPES CONTINUED..
• We as a society are conditioned to believe that
people are defined only by their race.
• This causes negative stereotyping, where one group
of people from a certain race and group would
think they are more of a dominant group over
everyone else.
• Negative stereotyping still affects people of
different races and ethnicities today, people
prejudge and assign negative qualities to that
specific group, without even knowing much about
them.
EFFECTS ON AMERICANS
• Racial stereotyping resulted in hatred being spread all
over America. Some negative effects it has on people
are harm, health problems and poor performance in
various activities.
• It causes hate crimes and violence to take place when
people of our society don’t release these negative racial
stereotypes.
• Michael Inzlcht, led a research study that shows the
effects of racial stereotyping saying; “People are more
likely to be aggressive after they’ve faced prejudice in a
given situation. They are more likely to exhibit a lack of
self-control. They have trouble making good, rational
decisions. And they are more likely to over-indulge on
unhealthy foods.”
TODAY IN MEDIA
• The main culprit of the use of stereotypes is the
media, this was the case in American history and in
todays society.
• The media uses stereotypes as a “shorthand
method of defining characters in ways that are
easy for people to identity and categorize.”
• Mass media is a public way for people to gain
knowledge and information in our world today.
• The media portrays racial bias and is selective on
reporting issues and distort the things we view, for
various political emetics and reasons.
EXAMPLES IN THE MEDIA
• The media portrays young African-American males as
gangsters, drug dealers, lazy and/or have a high sex
drive.
• In games we play such as “Resident Evil,” the video
game trailer depicts racist images of Blacks in Africa,
with White gunman.
Not only are there hateful images and misinterpret ideas
of African Americans in the media, like movies, shows and
games. But we also see racism in News. The news only
reports certain news about African Americans, and a
majority of the news is about white people. The news picks
and chooses what it wants its viewers (America) to see. Its
far from the truth.
RACIAL PROFILING
• Racial profiling is when law enforcement officials target
individuals for suspicion of crime based on the individuals
race, ethnicity or religion.
• Law enforcement may see someone as “guilty” in their
own eyes, and act accordingly,
For example: using someone's race to determine which
driver to stop for small minor traffic violations.
• In America, a great example of racial profiling has been
ongoing since the attack of 9-11. Arabs, Muslims, and
South Asians are being profiled as being in some type of
connection with the attack.
• Since then, there have been numerous cases of racial
profiling all over the U.S. It affects our society as a whole
today, this is connected to our country and racism.
RACISM IN THE WORKPLACE
• “Employers’ Replies to Racial Names” is an article that
studies that effects of racism in the workplace. ”Job
applicants with white names needed to send about 10
resumes to get one callback; those with AfricanAmerican names needed to send around 15 resumes to
get one callback. “ The jobless rate for blacks has
doubled that of whites for decades now. According to
the article 50 percent more job applications have to be
sent out with “black-sounding names,” vs. those with
“white-sounding” names, just to get a call back.
• Every $10,000 increase in pay, “blacks’ percentages of
holding that job falls by 7 percent compared to whites.”
• However, because racial discrimination in work can be
and take place virtually undetected, it makes “whites”
believe that this type of racism doesn't’t exist.
WHITE PRIVILEGE AND DENIAL
• White privilege is defined as: societal privileges that benefit white people
• White privilege is very important to understand because most “white”
people do not, they are in denial that it exists, “white privilege is
leveraged against ignorant white people to do the bidding of more
powerful white people who have an economic agenda.”
(diversityin.com)
• White privilege in America is a core limiting factor in potential success for
our society.
• Denial:
• A majority of whites believe that blacks earn as much money as whites,
however according to Janelle Bouie, “the median income among black
Americans is roughly half that of white Americans.”
• They also believe that “40 percent of violent crimes are committed by
blacks,” when in actuality its only around 20 percent.
• The denials and white privilege has caused Americans to not see that
Americas' employment system isn't treating black Americans fairly.
• White privilege is something that needs to be taught and understood by
Americans in order to erase this face of racism.
THE NEW THREAT: ‘RACISM WITHOUT
RACISTS’
• Last November, John Black reported on racism in America. His article
explores this experiment done with two photographs, one of two white
men fighting, one unarmed and another holding a knife. Then they
showed another photograph of a white man with a knife fighting an
unarmed african-american man. The study resulted in a majority of
people, both white and black, identified the black man in one of the
photos as having the knife, which was incorrect. This study was to show
that there is a language gap, and how some white people confine
racism to “intentional displays of racial hostility.” Sociologist at Duke
University call this “racism without racists,” a new way of maintaining
white domination in places.
• Bonilla-silva, an author, states “the main problem nowadays is not the
folks with the hoods, but the folks dressed in suits.” This article is about
Americans updating their “language” on racism and focus in on what
racism is today and not what it used to be. The article gives three phrases
to use when talking about race, ‘I don’t see color, ”But I have black
friends,” and “who you calling a racist?.” This will reduce the level of
guilt, yet increase the responsibility we take when discussing race. A
great quote from this article that, for me, is a great way to view racism in
today’s society is; “colorblind racism in the new racial music to most
people dance to.”
• http://www.cnn.com/2014/11/26/us/ferguson-racism-or-racial-bias/
REFLECTION 1
What I know about Racism in today’s society is that although
we, as Americans like to think that the idea of racism is long gone, it
is prevalent throughout the Country. In some places and situations
racism isn’t as known from the outside perspective. However it still is
everywhere we go. Race seems to be something that we as
Americans cant get over or leave alone. It will always be affecting
the Country in some way. Racism is something that has cumulated
in history and still effects people and is used among various people.
Over history and in today’s day and age, people of color are
routinely and systematically treated differently than white people.
I know that since history, America has put stereotypes of all
different races. Especially people of color, they have stereotypes
based on their race and people still act the way the stereotypes
portray them, today. Racism is in the news and media; it especially
affected the justice system today. Police and cops are looked at
portraying racism towards people of color. This is shown in the news,
TV and all over the web.