Who are the Underprivileged in America?

In a discussion about white privilege and the importance of education and its influence on closing the achievement and economic gap between races, I believe it integral to define who are the underprivileged in America. A further clarification, I believe, will better illustrate the problem of race in this country and give voice to those who, because of a lack of education, will be disenfranchised for the rest of their lives. Fortunately, Michelle Alexander has done a great deal of work in her book The New Jim Crow in illustrating the issues that face people of color in the current moment. It is from this book and from her theories that I argue that the underprivileged Americans are people of color, and that these people urgently need laws and policies to undermine the racist elements that keep them disenfranchised. Some of these policies may include affirmative action but at the very least must provide a clarification and better perspective on the illusion of reverse discrimination.  “One recent study indicates that the elimination of race-based admissions policies would lead to a 63 percent decline in black matriculants at all law schools and a 90 percent decline at elite law schools. Sociologist Stephen Steinberg describes the black reality this way: “Insofar as this black middle class is an artifact of affirmative action policy, it cannot be said to be the result of autonomous workings of market forces. In other words, the black middle class does not reflect a lowering of racist barriers in occupations so much as the opposite: racism is so entrenched that without government intervention there would be little ‘progress’ to boast about (246). Affirmative action would, without a question, expand and increase the black middle class, however there are other issues that inhibit economic progress in the black community and they include: the war on drugs, the black working class, institutional racism, Jim Crow policies, the expansion of prisons rather than colleges for young people of color, racial profiling, and the prison industrial complex. So without further ado, lets get it in.   

War on Drugs

The stereotypical representation of the typical drug dealer is the black male thug. This thug totes a glock, sells weed on the nearest street corner, and could care less about an education. He can also be found in such household video games as Grand Theft Auto. His success however does not come from a lack of policing “between 1980 and 1984, FBI antidrug funding increased from $8 million to $95 million. Department of Defense antidrug allocations increased from $33 million in 1981 to $1,026 million, and FBI antidrug allocations grew from $38 to $181 million.” But may come from a lack of options “funding for agencies responsible for drug treatment, prevention, and education was dramatically reduced. The budget of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, for example, was reduced from $274 million to $57 million from 1981-1984, and antidrug funds allocated to the Department of Education were cut from $14 million to $3 million. (50) So it would seem that policies surrounding the war on drugs gave little options for black male youth outside of selling drugs, and even this option could easily buy them a ticket straight to prison. It would seem like their backs were to the wall, and in this condition no one can be certain what they outcome may be.

Another misperception is that black people consume drugs at a rate much larger then whites however “One study published in 2000 by the National Institute on Drug Abuse reported that white students use cocaine at seven times at the rate of black students, use crack cocaine at eight times the rate of black students, and use heroin at seven times the rate of black students.” And at the height of President Reagan’s War on Drugs “the House passed legislation that allocated $2 billion to the antidrug crusade, required the participation of the military in narcotics control efforts, allowed the death penalty for some drug related crimes, and authorized the admission of some illegally obtained evidence in drug trials.” (53) Instead of building schools and building an infrastructure that promotes learning and education the federal government saw the War on Drugs as an opportunity to imprison young black males and shut the door to their future.

It would be a matter of time before the prisons were filled with pseudo black  criminals guilty for simply selling, consuming, and possessing drugs. “Drug offenses alone account for two thirds of the rise in the federal inmate population and more than half of the rise in state prisoners between 1985 and 2000. Approximately a half million people are in prison or jail for a drug offense today, compared to an estimated 41,100 in 1980—an increase of 1,100 percent. Drug arrests have tripled since 1980. As a result more than 31 million people have been arrested for drug offenses since the drug war began. (60) It is not like these criminals were committing violent crimes it just seemed like it could be a better way to control them through the penal system rather than opening their minds in a classroom and teaching them about the multitude of economic options that come with a formal education. The War on Drugs seemed to be a policy for “What they hell are we going to do with this ‘angry’ black mass?” And instead of looking towards education as being the key to personal salvation and community development it would become a tool only the privilege had access to.   

In addition to this racial disparity between those whom were educated and those whom were not, drug laws were also slanted to particularly criminalize people of color. “Under the new law, it takes 28 grams of crack cocaine to net a five-year mandatory minimum sentence, while it still takes selling 500 grams of cocaine to net the same sentence. (139)” Although crack cocaine had not yet hit the streets when the War on Drugs was declared in 1982, its appearance a few years later created the perfect opportunity for the Reagan administration to build support for its new war. (105) The War On Drugs is the vehicle through which extraordinary numbers of black men are forced into the cage. (185) Never allowed to fully come out.

   

Black Working Class

Unlike the black middle class the black working class, despite all their efforts, could not seem to crack the glass ceiling above those whom are born too poor to avoid criminal activity. Their economic class tied into their lack of proper education yielded an unfortunate circumstance for illegal activity. “Two thirds of people detained in jails report annual incomes under $12,000 prior to arrest. (155)

People of color, because of the history of racial subjugation and exclusion, often experience success and failure vicariously through the few who achieve positions of power, fame, and fortune. (251) So that the clear examples of black economic and political progress in figures such as Barak Obama, Thurgoood Marshall, and Condeleeza Rice overshadow the many poor and disenfranchised voices that will never bust their economic bubble.  This group makes up what Alexander calls the “underclass” (a group so estranged from mainstream society that it is no longer in reach of the mythical ladder of opportunity. (12)

It seems like this underclass cannot get away from an inevitable(?) future of imprisonment. “Fully 70 percent between the ages of eighteen and forty-five in the impoverished and overwhelmingly black North Lawndale neighborhood on Chicago’s West Side are ex-offenders, saddles for life with a criminal record. (196)

In New York City, one study found that 70 percent of the city’s poor black and Latino residents live in high-poverty neighborhoods, whereas 70 percent of the city’s poor whites live in non-poverty neighborhoods—communities that have significant resources, including jobs, schools, banks, and grocery stores. (196)

And even those members of the black working class who seem to want to do the right thing have to meet insurmountable obstacles that white people simply do not have to deal with. Some offenders, like Ora Lee Hurley, find themselves trapped by fees and fines in prison. Hurley was a prisoner held at the Gateway Diversion Center in Atlanta in 2006. She was imprisoned because she owed a $705 fine. As part of the diversion program, Hurley was permitted to work during the day and return to the center at night. “Five days a week she worked fulltime at a restaurant earning $6.50 an hour, and after taxes, net about $700 a month. Room and board at the diversion center was $600, and her monthly transportation cost $52. Miscellaneous other expenses, including clothes, shoes, and personal items such as toothpaste, quickly exhausted what was left. Hurley’s attorney decried the trap she was in: “This is a situation where if this woman was able to write a check for the amount of the fine, she would be out of there. And because she can’t, she’s still in custody. The harsh reality harks back to the days after the civil war (like sharecropping). (156)

   
Institutional Racism

 

What makes this problem so hard to describe and dismantle is that it is entrenched in the political system that governs this country. Certain laws and political leaders have such racist leanings that discrimination becomes commonplace. “During Clinton’s tenure, Washington slashed funding for public housing by $17 billion (a reduction of 61 percent) and boosted corrections by $19 billion (an increase of 171 percent), effectively making the construction of prisons the nation’s main housing program for the urban poor. (57)” Now the question becomes how did this get slashed? Who voted on this budget cut? What congressional committees oversaw the line item vetoes? The problem because so complex that the lay civil activist has a hard time finding the source and when found has the wherewithal to make a change.  This makes the problem institutional or inherent of our political democratic(?) system.

Jim Crow

So are these policies like the “War on Drugs” by Ronald Reagan an echo of Jim Crow laws following the Civil War? In major cities wracked by drug war, as many as 80 percent of young African American men now have criminal records and are thus subject to legalized discrimination for the rest of their lives. (7) Is this reminiscent of the poll taxes and ridiculous civil exams given to those down south who simply wanted to vote. Or is it just a coincidence that the majority of people in prison are also those of people of color?

65 million people have criminal records, including tens of millions of Americans who have been arrested but never convicted of any offense, or convicted only of minor misdemeanors, and they too are routinely excluded from public housing. (147) So you are busted for smoking a joint after a concert, does that mean that you should not be able to get housing for the rest of your life? This seems ridiculous.

Reliable estimates of the number of innocent people currently in prison tend to range from 2 percent to 5 percent. While those numbers may sound small (and probably are underestimates), they translate into thousands of innocent people who are locked up, some of whom will die in prison. (89)

And to top it off, it seems that there is a disparity between those who get put to death and those whom are able to keep their lives. In “Georgia prosecutors seemed largely to blame for the disparity; they sought the death penalty in 70 percent of cases involving black defendants and white victims, but only 19 percent of cases involving white defendants and black victims. (110)”

It is worthy of note, however, that the exclusion of black voters from polling booths is not the only way in which black political power has been suppressed. Another dimension of disenfranchisement echoes not so much Jim Crow as slavery. Under the usual-residence rule, the Census Bureau counts imprisoned individuals as residents of the jurisdiction in which they are incarcerated. Because most new prison construction occurs in predominately white, rural areas, white communities benefit from inflated population totals at the expense of the urban, overwhelmingly minority communities from which the prisoners come. This has enormous consequences for the redistricting process. White rural communities that house prisons wind up with more people in state legislatures representing them, while poor communities of color lose representatives because it appears their population has declined. This policy is disturbingly reminiscent of the three-fifths clause in the original constitution, which enhanced the political clout of slaveholding states by including 60 percent of slaves in the population base for calculating Congressional seats and electoral votes, even though they could not vote.” (193)

Prisons v. College

One major topic that is talked about again and again is the disparity between the construction of prisons rather than the establishment of universities. As of June 2001, there were nearly 20,000 more black men in the Illinois state prison system than enrolled in the state’s public universities.  (190) African American youth account for 16 percent of all youth, 28 percent of all juvenile arrests, 35 percent of the youth waived to adult criminal court, and 58 percent of youth admitted to state adult prison. (118) Another alarming statistic is the relationship to those whom are imprisoned and the amount of education they received. About 70 percent of offenders and ex-offenders are high school dropouts, and according to at least one study, about half are functionally illiterate. (150) And finally the harsh reality that white youth are more involved in the drug game than their black counterparts.

The National Household Survey on Drug Abuse reported in 2000 that white youth aged 12-17 are more than a third more likely to have sold illegal drugs than African American youth. (99)

Racial Profiling

Because of the disproportionate representation of people of color in prison vs. their percentage of the total population in society law enforcement tends to be quicker in their assessment of black civilian as criminal than a black civilian as Rhodes Scholar. In studies from Maryland African Americans comprised only 17 percent of drivers along a stretch of I-95 outside of Baltimore, yet they were 70 percent of those who were stopped and searched. Only 21 percent of all drivers along the stretch of highway were racial minorities (Latinos, Asians, and African Americans), yet those groups comprised nearly 80 percent of those pulled over and searched. (133)

In New Jersey, the data showed that only 15 percent of all drivers on the New Jersey Turnpike were racial minorities, yet 42 percent of all stops and 73 percent of all arrests were of black motorists—despite the fact that blacks and whites violated traffic laws at almost exactly the same rate. By 2008, the NYPD was stopping 545,000 in a single year, and 80 percent of the people stopped were African Americans and Latinos. Whites comprised a mere 8 percent of people frisked by the NYPD, while African Americans accounted for 85 percent of all frisks. (135)

Prison Industrial Complex

Lastly is the prison industrial complex which basically states that our treatment of people of color, or minorities, is far worse than the rest of the world. The impact of the drug war has been astounding. In less than thirty years, the U.S. penal population exploded from around 300,000 to more than 2 million, with drug convictions accounting for the majority of the increase. The United States now has the highest rate of incarceration in the world, dwarfing the rates of nearly every developed country, even surpassing those in highly repressive regimes like Russia, China, and Iran. (6)

The rate of increase of the prison population is reaching all time highs and we as a country must ask ourselves what are the root causes. Between 1980 and 2000, the number of people incarcerated in our nation’s prisons and jails soared from roughly 300,000 to more than 2 million. By the end of 2007, more than 7 million Americans—or one in every 31 adults were behind bars, on probation, or on parole. (60) As of 2008, there were approximately 2.3 million people in prisons and jails, and a staggering 5.1 million people under “community correctional supervision”—i.e., on probation or parole.

Conclusion

People of color are without a doubt the underprivileged in America and the numbers of those in prison along with those whom are racially profiled by far outnumber those whom are white. The perception of people of color is also warped. People in society still believe in dangerous stereotypes which create a volatile society. One study suggests that the standard crime news “script” is so prevalent and so thoroughly racialized that viewers imagine a black perpetrator even when none exists. In that study, 60 percent of viewers who saw a story with no image falsely recalled seeing one, and 70 percent of those viewers believed the perpetrator to be African American. (106) In terms of affirmative action and education, it seems like a no brainer that even day in 2015, unfortunately, we still need race based admission policies to ameliorate the years of racial discrimination and the rectify the current attitude in society with regards to race. We are not even close to a race-neutral society and are creating more harm by believing that color blindness exists. It is time to face reality head on and put all arms on deck for its rectification.  

Equitable Behaviors for White People, from Francis E. Kendall

Behavior 1: "Talk Straight," tell the truth, maintain humility, and don't withhold information so that what you're saying will sound prettier.

Behavior 2: "Demonstrate Respect" while being caring and concerned about the person with whom you are talking. Humility is necessary here as well. Remember that you are no better a person than the one to whom you are speaking, regardless of your position or the unearned privileges you hold based on your identities.

Behavior 3: "Create Transparency" by telling the truth in a way that people are able to verify and by speaking openly.

Behavior 4: "Right Wrongs" by making mistakes whole and doing what you can to correct them and going farther. It's based on the principles of humility, integrity, and restitution. In order to to act in this way, one has to let go of ego and respond to people in ways that signal to them that they are being treated respectfully and taken seriously.

Behavior 5: "Show Loyalty" had two elements. First, give credit to others for things they have done rather than taking all the credit yourself. Second, be consistent in what you say about others. Little breaks trust more quickly than saying one thing in public and another in private, such as acting respectfully to a woman in front of her and then telling sexist jokes in the locker room. It would take a long time to repair that betrayal.

Behavior 6: "Deliver Results", by doing what you say you are going to do when you say you will do it. Period. That, of course, means that you don't promise what you can deliver.

Behavior 7: "Get Better" by continuing to learn, working toward understanding white supremacy and your part in it. Lifelong work on ally behaviors is essential, particularly across lines of privilege. If you make a mistake, acknowledge it and keep learning. Covey suggests developing feedback systems and taking action on any feedback you get.

Behavior 8: "Confront Reality"-- the good, the bad, and the ugly; especially the bad and the ugly." When white people say there is no racism, that we are in a "post-racial" society, that our goal is to be "color-blind", that other people might be racist but "I don't have a racist bone in my body" and on and on, people of color know that this white person is either lying (consciously or unconsciously) or living on another planet. If you don't know how to talk about racism, go to Chapter 9 "Talking About Whiteness and Being White." There are suggestions for how to begin.

Behavior 9: "Clarify Expectations" before you begin conversations across differences. You can't assume you're saying that same things about expectations even if you're using the same words, so ask clarifying questions. Often what you say is not what I hear and so on. Because we have such different realities, due to the privileges we have or don't have, it's very important to listen, remembering how much we have to learn. See Chapter 8, "Talking about Race: What If They Call Me a Racist?" for specific suggestions about engaging in conversations across differences and difficult issues.

Behavior 10: "Practice Accountability" by, most importantly, doing what you said you would do in the ways you said you value. If you said you would get everyone's input for the report  you're writing, get it and put it in.

Behavior 11: "Listen First" before expecting to be listened to. Listen in a way that communicates your integrity and humility.

Behavior 12: "Keep Commitments"-- that is the most important thing to do to build trust, and breaking them is the quickest way to wipe out any trust that has been built. Don't promise something of yourself that you don't expect to or can't do or be. Keep a firm view reality as you make a commitment, particularly in relationship building.

Behavior 13: "Extend Trust" initially to all of the people with whom you work, not just to friends or those who are like you. The hope is that others will take your cue and behave respectfully and generously as well.


from Understanding White Privilege by Frances E. Kendall, published by Routledge, New York and London, 2013

Discussion Questions on White Privilege

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 21^st 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

These questions came from White Privilege by Paula S. Rothenberg published by Worth Publishers 2012 New York, NY 

Letter to Dr. Baldwin (deceased author) about Present Day Higher Education

Dear Mr. James Baldwin

The belief that racism no longer exists is arbitrary. Most Americans would believe that complete integration has taken place or that racism has completely perished. I believe times have gotten better, but only in certain areas. Blacks are fighting and hating each other due to the subjection exhibited in mainstream media. They’re being taught to hate their intrinsic hair texture, skin color, and that all blacks are doltish, fatuous, frivolous, mischievous, unscrupulous, and much more, keeping the disparity between races immense. This is one of the many bewildering ways that whites control blacks. Many people believe that because we have a black president, or that much more black people are going to college that we’re making social progress. But the incarceration rates are skyrocketing and a lot of black people that go to college don’t graduate leaving them years in debt because of student loans. I believe the relationship between races have only worsened.

Sincerely,

Tequan Mason