Recently in Racial Category

Here's the link to the article and blog from CNN: http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2010/04/28/dems-call-for-overturn-of-arizonas-immigration-law/

Since we mentioned this in class, I thought I should post an update about it. I saw other people have posted about it, but this article is talking about the federal government's response to the law.

Also, check out some of the comments posted on CNN's blog about it. Some of them are pretty unbelievable, but I guess that depends on what party ideology you identify with.
http://blogs.citypages.com/blotter/2010/04/umd_facebook_ra.php

This is an article about a recent incident at the University of Minnesota-Duluth that involves blatantly racist comments posted on a wall-to-wall conversation on Facebook. The comments were between two white girls discussing the presence of a black girl in the room they were in. Before I go on, here are some of the horrible comments they were making:

"ewww a obabacare is in the room, i feel dirty, and unsafe. keep a eye on all of your valuables and dont make direct eye contact.... i just threw up in my mouth right now....,"

"were two white girls.. she already has her 'nigga' instinct to kill us and use us to her pleasure..."


I'm sure I don't have to tell you that these comments are pretty messed up. The girls claim that they were just joking around, but I don't know what kind of person actually thinks this is funny. And what the f***, why were they publicly posting a conversation like this on Facebook?! Do people not understand that ANYONE can go on Facebook and see what you say to other people? Also, if they were in the same room, why were they using Facebook to talk to each other?!.....I hate technology....

Anyway, what kind of punishment do you think they deserve? Is it even possible to punish somebody for something like this? What leads a person to believe it is okay to 1) make these comments in the first place, 2) post this comments on their PUBLIC Facebook page, and 3) think that there is nothing wrong with making comments like this open to all eyes?


"A few people are completely and utterly blind to race: children with a rare genetic disorder known as Williams syndrome, according to findings published in the journal Current Biology."




     While the link above does not really provide much information about the actual disorder itself, it is DEFINITELY thought provoking.  A naturally occurring confound for a phenomenon that has received as much attention from psychologists as just about any other human characteristic.  "Um....Mother Nature?  Um, yeah hi, this is Jerry calling, are you, are you playing games with me and my "psychologizing" homies or what?"

     According to the description found in the article, those diagnosed with Williams Syndrome have little or no detectable social fear, and do not exhibit ANY racial stereotypes.  

NOW I'm going to get FREAKY on you:

     Fast forward 200 years in the future.  Work on the human genome has isolated the specific genetic traits for this "race neutral" perspective, and has successfully grafted it into otherwise fully functioning healthy human beings.  These are the next generation members of the "Equality Force", the latest incarnation of an international Supreme Court (keep in mind, the world is now run by one unified government)
     The Equality Force decides rules with perfect objectivity, swayed by neither race or ethnicity.  There's just one problem, one fatal flaw in this utopian judiciary bliss.....

Nurture Sucka!

Seriously though, what do findings regarding the Williams Syndrome suggest about stereotypes in the rest of us?


http://www.hulu.com/watch/141560/saturday-night-live-ruff-rugger-and-roker


This is a clip from Saturday Night Live this past weekend that I think is a funny example of a stereotype consistent vs inconsistent Al Roker. I realize this clip is meant to be funny, but I think it raises a few interesting questions as well: How would a stereotype consistent African American news reporter (doesn't necessarily have to be Al Roker or a weatherman) be received by viewers? Or even just a news reporter that speaks in a way consistent with their ethnicity? I've always noticed with African American news reporters that they tend to display themselves as stereotype inconsistent, but what if they didn't? How would people react? You could even say the same thing about Barack Obama or other highly regarded social figures. How much of a role do you think stereotype inconsistency plays into the acceptance of some minority figures by the white community?

This is a clip from Saturday Night Live this past weekend that I think is a funny example of a stereotype consistent vs inconsistent Al Roker. I realize this clip is meant to be funny, but I think it raises a few interesting questions as well: How would a stereotype consistent African American news reporter (doesn't necessarily have to be Al Roker or a weatherman) be received by viewers? Or even just a news reporter that speaks in a way consistent with their ethnicity? I've always noticed with African American news reporters that they tend to display themselves as stereotype inconsistent, but what if they didn't? How would people react? You could even say the same thing about Barack Obama or other highly regarded social figures. How much of a role do you think stereotype inconsistency plays into the acceptance of some minority figures by the white community?
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51g6dsllfGL.jpg

Author Tim Wise does an excellent job describing the state of racism in America (both before the age of Obama and during his 2008 presidential campaign). Wise's book is broken down into two main parts, or essays as he describes it. The first is an overview of racism and discrimination in America, citing both explicit and subtle forms of racism within the realms of employment and income, housing, education, criminal justice and law, health care, and even going into great detail of the inequality demonstrated during hurricane Katrina in 2006 and the 2008 presidential campaign. This portion of the book was mainly aimed at getting across the point that racism in America is still going strong, despite the fact that statistics show that most white Americans believe Obama's election as our president signals the end of racism in our country. Wise argues that although the election of a black man to our highest ranking position is a big step in the right direction, it does not mean that white people view black people on the same level they may see the president (he uses the analogy of Bill Cosby and the Cosby Show in terms of how white people view him differently because he does not fit the stereotype-consistent role of the "black man in America". Wise also spends a good portion of this part of the book criticizing Obama for his failure to address racism in a more direct fashion, stating that Obama has often side-stepped the issue of race in America and what needs to be done to promote more equality within the realms I mentioned above. My question regarding the first part of the book is: Is it really Obama's task to focus more of this effort on racism in America because he is our first black president? Because of the fact that he is our first black president, does it just come with the territory, whereas presidents before him were not "expected" to tackle this issue because they were old white men?

The second essay of the book focuses on what needs to be done to help alleviate modern racism (or racism 2.0, as Wise refers to it). In particular, Wise focuses on what white America needs to do in order to help promote equality in our country. He mentions five main goals for white America: 1) Take personal responsibility addressing racism and white privilege. 2) Listen to black people regarding racism. 3) Stop the denial of our disturbing history dealing with race. 4) Connect with anti-racist white culture to help promote understanding. 5) Speak up! - When you see racism, no matter how subtle, take action and make a difference.

Overall, I thought this book was a well organized argument for how racism is still a very big issue in our country and it can be seen where ever we go. Wise definitely did an excellent job getting the point across about how Obama's election to president does not mean racism is ending, it is simply not what it used to be....racism has evolved. Wise point out several instances of racism and discrimination in the book that relate to many concepts we have discussed in class, including stereotype threat, ingroup/outgroup biases, situational factors that bring out hidden prejudices, and institutional and modern racism. I would recommend this book to anyone who is looking for a good overview of where America stands in our battle against racism and discrimination.

Everyone should check out this website and the accompanying video! This has changed my entire view on the history of the United States in terms of racial relations between white people and black people. Is it possible that we have all been brainwashed through years of exposure to the superiority-inferiority of the two races? Would this explain why so many people still hold strong prejudices and/or are outright bigots?

http://www.stopthebrainwash.com/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIBQPORReWY&feature=player_embedded

I think that we, as a society, need to take a long look in the mirror and figure out where we have been in order to decide what we really are today. This does not only include the white race, but the black race as well. The perpetuating harm that is being done today through the media has ties to early advertising of slaves, mockery of black people, and early silent films. However, we do not even realize this because of how long this propoganda has been around. I don't know about you, but I totally buy into what Tom Burrell is getting at through this website. Check out Kim's post on Burrell's NPR interview if you want to hear more from him.

 

http://www.jweekly.com/article/full/57389/bias-incidents-at-u.c.-campuses-raising-alarm-of-bigotry/

I thought this was a fitting article after reading Billig. Do you think the incidents on some of California's campuses could be attributed to pockets of hate or something else (the article mentions media attention and adolescence as a couple)?
This is an article from NBC Sports about comments Torii Hunter made:

http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2010/03/torii-hunter-black-dominican-players-are-imposters.html.php

Here's one of the main quotes that Torii Hunter said from the article:

"People see dark faces out there, and the perception is that they're African American," Los Angeles Angels center fielder Torii Hunter says. "They're not us. They're impostors.

The racial categorization going on here is pretty clear, especially from the "us" comment. But to call these players "imposters??" Hunter is getting some bad press from these comments, as well. Some of the other comments he made in this article are pretty outrageous too. What are everyone's thoughts on this?
Here's a link to the article: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35677130/ns/us_news-race_and_ethnicity/

I thought I'd post this update since we have been talking about this in class. I think the administration's response to these incidents have been good, but I think they need to do more. If you get a chance, read the Chancellor's statement (I think it is in another blog post). She uses a lot of "we" language. It is creating a common group identity as UC San Diego students.

What else should be done to address these problems? What statements would you issue to the public about these events?

Aversive Racism in America

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This is an investigative report from 20/20 from 2 about 2 years ago. You'll have to check out the 2 videos (they are each about 6-7 min. long), but I thought this was an excellent example of how race and crime are associated in many people's mind. I thought the results of this report were pretty amazing. What would you do in this situation? Do you think you would react as most people did in this video, or would your behavior be different because of what we know about racism? Would the results of this "study" be different depending on the environment?


Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNu-WZdHzaA&NR=1

Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HIVgMvuCM_k&feature=related
Over the weekend I was in Minneapolis when I noticed a brand new Bentley sitting in the parking lot.  Honestly my first thought was that this car probably belongs to a big, black, professional athlete or rapper.  Much to my surprise, a dressed down mixed-race woman and her daughter got in the car.  After this, I got to wondering why I would associate a $100K car with a black man.  So I did a little looking into it and found this video, it is literally just a voice recording with a picture slide show but it is a very unique look at, perhaps, why I jumped to this conclusion.  The video says that rich white men have been creating negative stereotypes for black people so that they can have more power.  Listening to this video got me very puzzled.  Perhaps I've been lied to all my life, but I just can't see what this video is trying to say.  What are your thoughts?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36vgBn6CAyU
Here's a link to a Newsweek article: http://www.newsweek.com/id/233843

It's talking about how many minority students are getting into colleges, but they are not graduating. I thought this article was especially relevant since it directly mentions UNI:

"At less-selective state schools, the numbers get worse. During the same time frame (2007), the University of Northern Iowa graduated 67 percent of its white students, but only 39 percent of its blacks."

What do these numbers say about our university? Many schools seem to be trying to blame the students, but what is really going on here? How do we as a nation try to address this issue?

http://www.kwwl.com/global/video/flash/popupplayer.asp?ClipID1=4563799&h1=You%27ve%20Got%20Class%3ARacism%20and%20Bullying&vt1=v&at1=Station 9&d1=156067&LaunchPageAdTag=Search Results&activePane=info&rnd=30868717

I saw this segment this past week on the KWWL News.  I thought it was inspirng to see these children who want to make a difference in the Waterloo school district.  They did a survey of middle schools in the area, to talk about if they see racism and bullying in their schools, the numbers were shocking.  A lot of  children who took the survey, also said that they wanted to learn more about racism, so they are teaming up with the Human Rights Council to implement programs in area schools, they found out that talking about these issues, need to happen in early middle school rather than highschool. 

I read an article that talked about the implicit attitudes that happen from children who are 6, 10, and adults.  This test showed that children as young as six have negative attitudes towards other races.  They might not know why they have these attitudes, but the fact that this starts as early as the age of six seems disheartening.  I think that interventions need happen  earlier than middle school. If certain children are being discriminated against this early than dealing with it when it already is happening won't help those children.  There needs to be more preventative measures when dealing with racism and bullying in schools.

  In a study done by Major and O'Brien, 2005, about the social psychology of stigma, shows the effects that being stigmatized against can have on someone.  The article says that stigma has been linked to poor mental health, physical illness, academic underachievement, infant mortality, low social status, poverty, and reduced access to housing, education, and jobs (Allison 1998, Braddock and McPartland 1987, Clark et. al 1999, Yinger 1994).  Some of these ideas don't affect the children right now, it can in their future.  I think it's a good thing that these children are trying to do something now and with other children who are their age, but instead of dealing with a problem that is currently happening to children at that age, I think that doing more on the prevention side of things would be beneficial in the long run when dealing with racism and bullying in schools.

 

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2010/02/ucsd-leaders-legislators-condemn-student-party-mocking-black-history-month.html
&
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2010/02/uc-san-diego-officials-meet-with-students-angered-by-offcampus-compton-cookout-.html

"UC San Diego administrators met Friday with more than 100 students who gathered to protest a Feb. 15 ghetto-themed "Compton Cookout" and to ask for improved conditions for black students on the campus.

Tensions have escalated since a Facebook invitation filled with racial stereotypes advertised the gathering last weekend. The invitation included references to "dat Purple Drank," an apparent mix of "sugar, water, and the color purple, chicken, coolade, and of course Watermelon."



Can you imagine if something like this occurred here at UNI? What would your reaction to your peers be? What factors do you think are at play in this community that would allow something like this to take place?

Why We Laugh: Black Comedians

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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/marcia-g-yerman/why-we-laugh-black-comedi_b_469815.html

"In 1987, Robert Townsend wrote, directed, produced, and starred in Hollywood Shuffle - a comedy that took a look at how African-Americans were stereotyped and marginalized in film and television. In the new documentary, Why We Laugh: Black Comedians on Black Comedy, director Townsend comments on the genesis of Hollywood Shuffle saying, "It was born out of a lot of pain.""

Henry Lewis Gates is a professor at Harvard university. He was coming home from a flight and he couldn't get in his door. A White woman called the police said that someone was breaking into his house. After the situation, Henry was later arrested when he asked for the officers badge number. After watching this clip do you believe his arrest was racist? Also what measure could the cop have taken to be more reasonable or understandable?

Atlanta's "yellow" train line

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Here's a link to an article on MSNBC:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35357949/ns/us_news/

Here's a small news story about a train line that went to an Asian neighborhood, and it was the yellow line. Members of the Asian community have been complaining since November, and now, it is going to be called the gold line. What do people think about this? Was the decision to name this line yellow racially insensitive? In this particular case, change did happen when people spoke out about it. Has anyone else heard of stories similar to this?

Ignorant Americans

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I randomly found this video from a show in Australia interviewing Americans before the last presidential election. They found a wonderful sample to represent us. There is a lot of anti-Middle East sentiment and general prejudice involved. How do you think other countries perceive us from videos like this and more generally? Are you surprised by any of the comments in the video? How well do you think this sample represented the general American public?