Part One
1)
What does Richard Dyer mean when he says that
“racial imagery is central to the organization of the modern world”? Do you
agree or disagree? Argue for your answer by providing lots of specific examples
to support your position.
He means that the racial hierarchy and the stereotypes that
come with it influences the power relations and dynamics of government
structures. These elements emerge in legislation such as separate but equal,
Japanese internment, the Holocaust, civil war, and international slavery and
justify such imperialistic ventures as manifest destiny. Those whom are
responsible for this racial oppression justify their actions based on racial
propaganda, blacks are lazy, Asians work hard, Latinos are criminals, and so forth
and so on. Take a look at the immigration question in Arizona allowing police
to stop and frisk someone who doesn’t “look” like a citizen. Where did our
basic rights go? How can people be profiled for being a certain ethnicity? All
of these questions are justified by those in power because they base many of
their decisions on the racial imagery and propaganda that govern our global
society.
2)
Harlon Dalton suggests that most white people
tend not to think of themselves in racial terms. What does he mean when he says
this? Do you agree with him?
Dalton is trying to say that most white people do not
recognize their privilege or the benefits that come along with being white.
Instead of dealing with this reality they become disillusioned by the notion
that every man was created equal. They fail to recognize historical oppression
against those whom were not white and do not reconcile how this oppression
effects modern society. I agree that many white people do not venture into the
realities of being white in a multicultural society.
3)
bell hooks writes: “In a white supremacist
society, white people can ‘safely’ imagine that they are invisible to black
people since the power they have historically asserted, and even now
collectively assert over black people, accorded them the right to control the
black gaze.” What does it mean to have the right to control the black gaze? How
does she elaborate on her claim?
Bell hooks means that white people can pull the curtain over
black peoples eyes and conduct their business in privacy anytime they want.
They control when and where black people can see white people. Some of these
exclusive spheres include fraternities and sororities, country clubs, political
organizations, and legacies of universities. Prestigious enclaves of higher
learning is not transparent and only visible to those few black people that
actually get into college. And even though affirmative action is designed to
close this gap, white efforts to keep these clubs exclusive pose a greater
threat. Unfortunately this gaze is a one way street, as black people are
unprotected against the white gaze that seeks to exploit and commodify without
discretion or care, i.e. Flavor of Love, Amos and Andy, and minstrel shows more
generally.
4)
All three writers in this section are concerned
with what they call “the invisibility of whiteness.” How can something be
invisible if it’s everywhere?
Again, whiteness is a mental construction, rather than a
physical feature like skin color. And the notion of ethnicity of whiteness is
far reaching (everywhere: Ireland, Scotland, England, Europe more generally),
however it is never put into question, thus making it invisible. Laws have not
been written only for white people because there is a unspoken understanding
that only white people are human beings. The constitution did not grant white
men explicitly with the power to vote and make laws, however everyone knew that
slaves were 3/5 of a person. And in case
you were not in touch with society at the time, you could find this reality in
cold black and white in the actual constitution. Any effort to bring up
whiteness or even more remotely positioned, white supremacy, is to call into
question the status quo. For most white people everything is fine and dandy,
that means for most people in general (blacks, latinos, and Asians) everything
is fine and dandy, but that isn’t reality. Until you get people who represent
these racial groups who tell the entire truth of what it means to be people of
color you will nullify the actual makeup of the world, and its numerous
inhabitants of color, and continue to live in the illusion that all men are
created equal. And until you put
whiteness into question it will remain invisible.
5)
Why do the authors in this section believe it is
important to study whiteness?
They believe it is important because it is an area that has
been neglected in the academic lexicon. Ideas and notions of whiteness have had
their share of limelight in such ideologies of eugenics, but these authors
believe that the study of whiteness can shed light on to the interracial
exchanges of our present day. And thus preparing the road toward a more
egalitarian society.
Part Two
1)
According to Wander, Martin, and Nakayama, what
role did science play in helping to justify conquest and slavery during the
colonial period? Do you think a case can be made, for the claim that science
continues to play such a role today? If so, how; if not, why not?
“Anthropologists and Egyptologists found evidence of
cultural, social, technological, and spiritual inferiority of nonwhite races
throughout human history. These conclusions were corroborated by colonial
officials and newspaper reports that described the inferiority of nonwhites in
colonies and potential colonies throughout the world.” (34) Currently the issue of Ebola has hit America.
It has been an issue in Africa for a long time, accounting for thousands of
deaths over several years. Now that Americans have contracted the disease and
have come back to the states, our nation is making a big deal. Part of the
solution, many believe, is to close the border and stop flights from Africa
coming here to the states. What is not being talked about are the ideas about
the health care system in Africa. Many believe, because of the lack of
education, Africans are not clean and therefore catch these diseases. What is
not mentioned is the amount of money that goes into the healthcare systems of
these countries. Many would like to believe that these Africans are inferior
when the reality is that they are not reaping the same benefits that we are
from 21st Century medicine. Many of their practices are outdated and
because of the neglect that African nations get, their facilities are
underperforming. Science I believe is playing a big part in the disparity of
health care among African nations and the western world.
2)
The third selection in Part Two is titled “How
White People Became White.” At least on first reading, this title appears
puzzling. Explain the title.
This selection talks about European immigrants and their
ascent to first class citizenship. As time went on many of these groups found
jobs, secured an education, and mobilized political power. They were also told
that their success had nothing to do with being an immigrant but had to do with
being white. They were compared by the white upper class, to people of color,
and told that these ethnic people were inferior. In time these European
immigrant groups believed this propaganda and thought of themselves as white
people in America, and therefore bought into the entitlements of being a white
person in American. Their class, which at many times mirrored the class of
black people, was overlooked, and they were told that if they worked hard they
could have a piece of the American dream. Efforts to recognize class
consciousness were dismantled by the elusive appeal of American capitalism, and
soon Greeks, Italians, and Irish folk became white Americans. This was also
predicated on the teaching and glamorization of European history and the
priority to learn about Greek and Roman civilizations.
3)
How does Karen Brodkin support her claim that
educational and occupational GI benefits provided after World War II really
constituted an affirmative action program for white males? Would George
Lipsitz, whose article also appears in Part Two, agree or disagree with this
claim? How about you? Do you agree or disagree—and why?
“The GI Bill of Rights, as the 1944 Serviceman’s
Readjustment Act was known, was arguably the most massive affirmative action
program in U.S. history. It was created to develop needed labor-force skills,
and to provide those who had them with a life-style that reflected their value
to the economy. The GI benefits ultimately extended to sixteen million GIs
(veterans of the Korean War as well) included priority in jobs—that is,
preferential hiring, but no one objected to it then—financial support during
the job search; small loans for starting up businesses; and, most important,
low interest home loans and educational benefits, which included tuition and living
expenses. This legislation was rightly regarded as one of the most
revolutionary postwar programs. I call it affirmative action because it was
aimed at and disproportionately helped male, Euro-origin GIs.” George Lipsitz
would agree and so would I. I believe this to be true because during WWII
African American soldiers were still treated unfairly and during this time
segregation was still in effect.
4)
Drawing on the essays by Brodkin and Lipsitz,
construct the most powerful argument you can in support of the claim that white
privilege has been institutionalized and protected by the U.S. government
policy over the years; then go on to agree or disagree with the argument you
made.
·
Immigration laws from China (1882), India
(1917), Japan (1924), Phillipines (1934)
·
Wagner Act and Social Security Act excluded farm
workers and domestics from coverage
·
Federal Housing Administration denied loans to
minorities
·
Urban Renewal destroyed housing projects for
many poor folks
·
Department of Housing and Urban Development
red-lined inner cities, making them ineligible for future loans, a decision
that destroyed the value of inner-city housing for generations to come.
·
Lead poisoning in the late 80s and toxic
colonialism
·
War on Drugs
·
Deindustrialization, unemployment, and lack of
intergenerational transfer of wealth
·
Tax reforms under Reagan
·
Income disparities
·
“A National Opinion Research Report in 1990
disclosed that more than 50 percent of U.S. whites viewed blacks as innately
lazy and less intelligent and less patriotic than whites.”
·
Jim Crow
·
Rodney King
·
Bakke Case concerning affirmative action
5)
Does Neil Foley equate becoming Hispanic with
becoming white? According to his essay, are all Mexican Americans currently
considered white in the United States? Compare and contrast Foley’s account of
how some Mexican Americans came to be categorized as white with the accounts of
how members of other ethnic groups (for example, Greeks and Poles) came to be
included in this category.
Yes he is equating the two: “The history of Mexican
Americans in the Southwest is thus more than the history of their “becoming”
Mexican American or Hispanic; for many, especially those of the middle class,
it is also the history of their becoming White.” (59) The Texas Court of Civil
Appeals agreed with the plaintiffs and ruled that “school authorities have no
power to arbitrarily segregate Mexican children, assign them to separate
schools, and exclude them from schools maintained for children of other white
races” (65) Not all Mexican Americans are considered to be white but many are
based on skin color, education, political standing, and economic groupings.
Like Greeks and Poles Mexicans defined themselves by how different they were
from being black and by distancing themselves they proclaimed allegiance to
being white and the belief system that came with it. They were complicit with
discrimination so long as it wasn’t against themselves. Unlike Greeks and Poles
Mexican Americans had to battle a history of being the “other” stemming from
the Mexican American War. They also had to deal with all the stereotypes and
propaganda that came in conjunction with that time period. Skin color was also
something that had to explain that Greeks and Poles were simply not concerned
with.
6)
How are Asian Americans viewed in the United
States? How is their relationship to whiteness similar to or different from the
situation of Mexican Americans as described in the Foley article?
Asian Americans are viewed as the model minority and the
example of how to succeed if you are a person of color in American. Duck, roll,
know your role, and keep quiet unless spoken to. These are some of the unspoken
rules of what it means to be Asian in America. Their relationship to whiteness
is similar to that of Mexican Americans in that there are efforts to distance
themselves from black people unless it can be a beneficial co-opt of the
culture, language, and economic class. Otherwise they want nothing to do with
blackness and buy into the racial hierarchy authored by white supremacy.
7)
Charles W. Mills makes a strong case for his
view that white supremacy has been the unacknowledged operating political
system in the world throughout recorded time. Evaluate this claim and indicate
what you believe to be the strongest arguments in its favor.
Mills not only mentions parts of our global world that have
been stricken by white imperialism and colonization but also gets into the
legal documents that made white domination possible. They include the Treaty of
Tordesillas (1494) which divided the planet between Spain and Portugal, the
Valladolid Spain Conference (1550-51) to decide whether Native Americans were
really human, the later debates over African slavery and abolitionism, the
Berlin Conference (1884-85) to partition Africa, the various intra-European
pacts, treaties, and informal arrangements on policing their colonies, the 1919
post-World War I Versailles Conference in which the Japanese delegation’s
proposal to include “the equality of races” in the League of Nations Covenant
of Nation’s Covenant was formally defeated. He mentions Garvey, Malcolm X,
Frantz Fanon, as well as Robert Knox, Pearl Buck, and Emilio Aguinaldo
showcasing arguments on different sides of the global white supremacy paradigm.
All in all there was a great amount of facts that substantiate his claim.
8)
What does it mean to claim whiteness has been
socially constructed?
Whiteness is real and has been developed over time as an
identity and a skin color. This identity has political, social, and economic
features all of which are the envy of European immigrant groups and various
racial ethnic groups. Whiteness may be transcending its image where we may
recognize a person as being white even though they are clearly (visually) of
color. As whiteness becomes a moniker of economic success certain notions of
America such as multiculturalism underscores the importance to further
investigate what it means to be American. Does it mean to be rich? Does it mean
to love democracy and spread it to people who live under political oppression?
Does it mean to be a citizen and make contributions to your country via taxes
or military participation? What does an American look like? Are they white or
of color? Can we deconstruct whiteness? Most importantly can we reach racial
harmony in the presence of whiteness? What measures would make that possible?
Affirmative action? Reparations?
Part Three
1)
According to the essay by Stephanie Wildman and
Adrienne Davis, what is a privilege? What forms or systems of privilege operate
in U.S. society and how do they relate to each other?
Privilege is systemic. Privilege is invisible only until
looked for, but silence in the face of privilege sustains its invisibility.
Privilege is societal norms. Privilege is power. Race, gender, class, and
sexual orientation are all interrelated and create a white, male, rich, and
straight power structure that the marginalized have to contend with.
2)
The Wildman/Davis essay reports on an incident
that occurred in a college class taught by a professor named Marge Shultz. Why
did Professor Shultz call Mr. Rodriguez “Mr. Martinez”? Why is it important to
know that earlier in the day another professor had called him “Mr. Hernandez”?
Is it a big deal?
The main idea is that all latinos are the same, which does
not take into account their familial history and national allegiance. Many
Americans fail to know that South America is made up of many different
countries and that not all latinos are Mexican. This is a very big deal because
it fails to recognize the history of distinct and different South American
nations. Is l
3)
Select several sites or institutions in which
you participate and analyze how privilege operates within each of them. For
example, you might choose to examine several different classroom situations in
which you have found yourself both in college and in earlier grades; you might
look at privilege within your family and the families of friends or relatives;
you might examine how privilege operates within a religious community to which
you belong, etc.
In college there were few classes that dealt with ethnic
studies and those classes that were offered were taught by professors whom
where tackling many different fronts (advising, research, writing, and
diversity development). Much of the responsibility for “ethnic programming” or
in other words events for people of color, were on the students themselves, and
many of us were overwhelmed by this responsibility in addition to maintaining
decent grades (B average) in our
classes.
4)
What does Allan G. Johnson mean when he refers
to the “paradox of privilege”? How does this paradox help explain why it is
possible to be privileged without feeling privileged?
What Johnson means is that those whom are privileged do not
even recognize it, and when it is brought up there is an abundance of ignorance
that follows, which leads to misunderstanding and frustration. The onus of
identifying this privilege then becomes the responsibility of the oppressed and
their mission and aim is to prove and convince those whom are privileged are in
fact actually privileged. It is a daunting up hill battle with little benefits
and light at the end of the title. It is like asking a blind person to see you.
5)
Peggy McIntosh wrote her classic essay on white
privilege in 1988. In it she provides a listing of some of the privilege she
“enjoys” as a white woman. Have things changed since she wrote her essays? How
would you modify her list if you were making up a list of privileges—versions
that factor in class privilege and gender privilege. How about a listing of
privileges people enjoy by virtue of their sexual orientation, their age, or
their physical condition? After having made up these lists, go back and discuss
your answer to question 1 above.
One thing that can go on her list is the availability of
having people who know how to style your hair in the same vicinity as your
university. The same goes for churches.
For people of different sexual orientation maybe venues where they can display
public acts of affection (kissing and holding hands).
6)
In his essay, Tim Wise uses the pronouns “we”
and “our” frequently. Analyze his use of these words and the implications of
defining “we” in the way he does.
We sometimes can be exclusive and inclusive and distinction
can be very subtle. It is almost like identifying the invisible racial white
elephant in the room in the presence of people of color, so that there is a
notion of double talk and altering functions. It is important at the outset to
define who “we” are and from there talking about the issues that concern “us”.
7)
Peggy McIntosh, Robert Jensen, and Tim Wise all discuss the
privileges they enjoy as white people in contemporary U.S. society. How do you
feel about each of these selections? Did you find any one of them more or less
persuasive than the others? Why?
I believe the Peggy McIntosh piece to be the most persuasive
because it goes into specifics that allows readers to make personal and thus
stronger connections.
8)
Language makes people see and not see how
privilege operates. Evaluate how successful you think Podur is in making the
reader question the effectiveness of using the phrase “people of color.” What
do you think is the value of using or not using this phrase?
I believe the value in using this term is to recognize the
likeness that different ethnicities other than white people have and the
dynamic that comes from sharing a common enemy and oppressor. It ramifies the
notion of a global white supremacy and a “people of color” who seek liberation
from the confining racial epithets and slurs that mask a truly vibrant and
powerful historical culture. The story of not only the plight but the endeavors
of freedom in spite of this plight is what I believe the term people of color
to mean.
9)
How much money would you require, if you are
white, to give up your white skin forever and live out your life as a Black
person? Why?
149 million dollars, a million a year since the emancipation
proclamation.
Part Four
1)
What kinds of reasons do the people quoted in
Beverly Tatum’s article give for being afraid to talk about race? Do you think
these fears are broadly held in contemporary U.S. society?
There is a fear of being isolated by other white people, or
the fear of saying the wrong thing in mixed company. Look at the ex Clippers coach Sterling, he
said the wrong thing at the wrong time and when he was given the opportunity to
explain himself he dug a deeper whole in the ground. His ideas about race where
taken for granted and because he had never had an honest open discussion with
people who know better he said some racially disturbing things. Was he afraid of saying the wrong thing, I
believe so, was it justified, well he was fired wasn’t he? Political
correctness is very important in this day in age however sometimes it comes at
the expense of silence, which as we have already discussed, helps fuel white
privilege. The object then is to have open and honest dialogue and at the same
time being responsible for our actions after those
discussions have taken place.
2)
What do Feagin and Vera mean when they assert
that “racist views are a ‘normal’ part of being a white American”? Do you agree
or disagree?
They mean that in white circles it is perfectly normal to
talk about black people pejoratively because they know better and are simply
“joking”. I disagree and believe that some people do not know better because
their actions have never ended with consequences, and therefore go unchecked,
unmonitored, and thus allowed in the public discourse.
3)
In their selection, Feagin and Vera report on
interviews with some white people who are working to overcome their racism.
Select the example you find most interesting or most disturbing and talk about
why.
One of the examples that I found interesting was the white
male educator who found it extremely difficult to understand black rage. He
stated that it took a lot of self criticism, effort, and time to reach an understanding
and what immediately came to my mind was how much time, energy, and effort it
takes to form a positive conscious image of black beauty. I mean the image of
blackness is constantly in struggle with popular and sometimes negative
stereotypes and misnomers that it is hard to navigate what is good and what is
bad. And so one can only imagine how hard it must be to be a person of color
with the responsibility of not only forming a healthy personal identity but
also help white people learn about their whiteness and how they negotiate years
of racial bigotry with a changing multicultural society.
4)
Using as a model the scene between the student
and teacher described in “What Does an Ally Do?” describe a racial incident in
which you or a friend were involved, or which happened on your campus, or which
you explore what it would mean for a white person to serve as an ally to the
person or people of color who were discriminated against.
A white person who is an ally always has an open ear and
sees things subjectively and objectively.
5)
In “I Would Be a Perfect Ally If…” Paul Kivel
examines some of the excuses white people use to avoid taking responsibility
for dealing with racism in U.S. society. React to these excuses. Can you think
of additional excuses that white people use? Do you think any of these excuses
are legitimate? Why? Why not?
These excuses are just what they are, ways to avoid the
issue. So long as people continue to do this they should not expect things to
be rosey posey. The only way to deal with racism is to address it head first.
That way we are always embarking on racial harmony rather than putting off a
developing catastrophe.
6)
What do you think race relations will be like in
the United States ten years from now?
I think we will have similar issues but in different forms
and the visibility of nonwhite success will be more prevalent and more
accessible.
7)
Identify five ways in which white people on your
campus could challenge or undermine the ways white privilege operates there. Do
the same with respect to the community in which you live and/or the workplace
in which you work.
·
People can have more open and honest discussions
on race
·
Teach about ethnic histories
·
Hire people of color
·
Diversity training
·
Fair and equitable wages
8)
What do you think are the most compelling
interests that people of color and white people share? Can they serve as the
basis for people coming together across race difference and privilege to work
for a common good?
Sports, everyone loves sports, and so long as we do, so long
will there be some common ground. J
