Recently in Race Category

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/36714961#36739929

This is an interview that was done with Latino Civil Rights leader Janet Murguia regarding the recent immigration bill that was passed in Arizona. She talks about some of the negative consequences of this bill on the Latino population of Arizona. She argues that the passing of this bill will essentially legalize racial profiling in that if anyone is at all suspected of being in the country illegally, authorities will have the right to search their homes and/or personal possessions. It sounds that if one is of Latino decent, that is all the proof authorities need to, basically, remove your constitutional rights. I'm not all that familiar with this story, but it definitely sounds unconstitutional to me.

What do you guys think? Does it seem to you that racial profiling is inevitable through the passing of this bill? Does the bill need to be changed to better protect the rights of the Latino population in Arizona? If you have not already heard about the passing of this bill, I would imagine that it will be hard to avoid as it snowballs in the uproar it is causing.


Here are a couple more news clips regarding some of the details of this bill - They make it sound that people can be identified as "possible illegals" based on appearance only, including the type of SHOES a person wears.....Are you kidding me?! Is our country going backwards away from civil rights legislation? What the hell....

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/36714961#36735699

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/36714961#36726296

Something tells me this bill will not be around for too long....

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?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18034102/ns/us_news-life/

 

This is the first time in the Georgia's high school history that they will be haivng a non-segregated prom.  Both the white and black students in the school have had unofficial separated proms.  The four senior students that were in office (two white and two black), discussed this idea with the principal at the begininning of the year to change  this schools legacy.  The theme for this years prom was "breakaway."

"Everybody says that's just how it's always been. It's just the way of this very small town," said James Hall, a 17-year-old black student who is the senior class president.

"But it's time for a change."

This is showing to be more difficult than what the students have planned.  There has been talk around the school that some white students are still going to throw a competing prom.  This is still a big year for the school, this was the first year that their homecoming court wasn't segregated, and they all voted for one, mixed-race, homecoming queen.  The principle has been showing a lot of support for the students in hope that on April 1st, for the first non-segregated prom, will be a success. 

I had just wrote another blog about the resegregation in schools, so I thought this was a good change and puts a positive spin on what some students are doing to integrate the school.  This was sort of their own impact project on their town in hopes to bring everybody together instead of looking at their differences.  If it doesn't work, that might be worse for the students who were trying hard to bring the class together.  This might create more of an in-group/out-group effect between the students.  Some of the students might be labeled more on the base of what "side" they are really on within the school.  But if this works, that would be a great step for the students and the town.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/36660242/ns/us_news-washington_post//

 

This article discusses the semi-recent resegregation in two Mississippi schools.  In Tylertown Mississippi, a predominately black town, there has been a majority of white students throughout the years moving to the Salem school district,  a predominately white town.  Where Tylertown is looked at as the "black school" and Salem the "white school."  That idea really hit home here in teh Cedar Valley, where in waterloo, East and West are split into the "white" and "black" schools, with the intention that the "white" school is better than the other. 

In the article, they discuss that there has been some recent legal actions taking place.  They are investigating into the "segregation" for reasons based on race.  They are also looking into whether minority students are being treated differently than the white students in the schools.  They go on discussing how resegregation has been a recurrent trend since the 1980's. 

In this school district, they ahve had separate homecoming courts based on race and proms have been been separated based on race in the past as well. 

After reading the article I couldn't believe that this is still going on.  I have heard of having the better schools and that being based on race, which is still shocking to me, but the idea of having separate homecoming courts and proms within a school surprised me, even though it is in the south. This article both stigmatizes the black people in that town and the white people.  In recent news, the white people in these towns have been labeled the "hillbillies of Mississippi."  There has been a lot of negative press towards the white people in this town and they have all been greatly stigmatized. 

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/18/opinion/18rich.htm

This op-ed in the NY Times could not be a better summation of the recent Confederate History Month controversy. Admittedly, I do skim the news for this kind of op-ed piece that argues in favor of acknowledging that slavery did happen and that it was a fundamental reason for the civil war. Call me biased if you must. It is a guilty pleasure to read things with which I agree.

There are many opportunities in this article to ask the question 'why?'. These are questions I have been asking myself for quite some time, and luckily I have chosen the right field of study to get such questions at least partially answered.

• Why are some so adamant about denying that slavery had a big role in the Civil War and the makeup of the Confederacy?
• Was the confederacy good for anyone besides the wealthy plantation owners?
• If John Lewis doesn't have evidence that someone called him an N-word, does that mean there's no longer racism in this country?
• If it was only spittle rather than a full spit that was aimed at Emmanuel Cleaver, does that mean that there's no longer racism in this country?
• Is racism over in this country because we're fine with homophobic slurs against white, not black congressmen?
  
• If this Tea Party movement is not against the rights and liberties of minority groups, shouldn't there be more minority groups represented in the Tea Party?
• What is with the gun fixation?
• If a mob of African Americans were carrying side arms would people be ok with that?
  
• What is with the militia fixation?
• If African Americans were forming a militia would people be ok with that?
  
• What is with the Sarah Palin fixation?
• What is with the Glenn Beck fixation?
  
• Was Michael Steele not fired because he was black?
• Was Michael Steele hired because he was black?
• Does having a party that has 0 African American Congressman and 0 African American Governors think that race is not an issue because it has Michael Steele as the RNC chair, only appointed after Obama's campaign? 
  
• Has too much been made about the issues of African Americans like 52% of the Tea Party protesters feel?
• Can one man be a socialist, a communist, a fascist, and a Nazi all at the same time?
• Do people know what it means to be a socialist, a communist, a fascist, and a Nazi?
  
• If the American flag acts as a prime for conservatism, is someone who is wearing a shirt with an American flag pattern really that conservative or is it just the salience talking?
• Could the American flag also act as a prime for racial bias?
  
• Is it wrong to be prejudiced against other people who might be prejudiced?
• Can one be prejudiced against an entire news network? cough cough Fox News cough
  

Ok, my inquisitiveness and deep seated biases are out in the ether. I beg the indulgence of the public for the automaticity of my cognitive mechanisms, they are after all hard-wired and it would be futile to attempt to alter what God hath bestowed.

If someone has some answers, I would very much appreciate it. 

 

Here's a link to a video about the U.S. Census: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/36101466#36101466

The problem is people are having difficulty filling out the form when they have to choose a "box" or group to identify with. One of the newscasters shares his family's stories. Also, the statistics about Hispanics are interesting too.

What should be done about this issue? How should we address it?

"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."

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?

This is a short article about the tea party movement that's been happening that found some surprising (or maybe not) findings about people in support of the movement. The study found that people who think the government has done too much to support blacks are also more likely to support the tea party.

Black Like Me by John Howard Griffin is written using the journal entries kept by John Griffin (a white, middle class American from Texas) as he underwent treatment to temporarily become a black man.  Griffin, as a black man, traversed the streets of New Orleans, Birmingham, Montgomery, Atlanta, and various other cities in the Deep South.  Griffin provides a unique, up-close look into the prejudiced and racist south in 1959.  He is able to write from the mind of a white man but behind the eyes and experiences of a black man.

This book was a written hit to the funny-bone; it was some what painful to read but also uniquely enjoyable.  Growing up in the public school system, I learned with some regularity about the tragedies of the south up until the Civil Rights Movement.  If your average high school history text book and Black Like Me were sand paper, the text book would be a quick glance over with a table sander on low and Black Like Me would be an hour long elbow-greasing with a piece of thick grained sand paper.  Where the text book provides a technical, factual covering of the facts of pre-Civil Rights south, Griffin's book is one man's well written accounts of a black man's every day experiences. 

Some of the people he met and the things he saw made me wince with pitty, and I frequently found myself feeling shameful for the things my race has done.  I couldn't help but feel partially responsible for the horrendous treatment of my fellow man.  On the other hand, it was a real page turner.  Griffin is an easy to read author who is clearly well educated and opinionated but does a wonderful job at making this book a conduit by which to tell his experiences and not a platform to display his opinions and vocabulary.  I would recommend this book to any one wanting anything from an eye opening read, to a medium length page turner.

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.

The Pulitzer Prize winner To Kill a Mockingbird is a timeless classic written by Harper Lee. The story takes place in the small southern town of Maycomb County, Alabama in the midst of The Great Depression. The narrator of this riveting story is a young girl named Jean Louise Finch, or Scout. Scout is not the typical delicate, shy, and ladylike child that society expects her to be. She is an outspoken, rambunctious and free spirited tomboy who wears overalls, plays in the outdoors alongside her older brother Jem, and is far more intelligent than most in her age group. She and her brother Jem are the children of Maycomb County defense lawyer Atticus Finch. Atticus can be considered an untraditional man in several respects. For starters he is a single father raising two children. He also encourages and stresses the importance of an education and egalitarian beliefs to Scout and Jem during a time when it was very unpopular to do so.

Throughout the text, Scout walks us through her childhood adventures in this conservative southern Alabama town alongside Jem and occasionally their best friend Dill. At first life seems simple. But when their father Atticus takes on the case of his life, they all begin to realize the severity of racial turmoil that defined American society during this time period.

  In the story, Atticus takes on the case of a Negro man named Tom Robinson. Tom is a young family man whose only crime is that he is African American. He stands accused of raping the eldest daughter of Mr. Ewells, an impoverished social misfit in Maycomb County. The Ewells are an unpopular family who live on the outskirts of Maycomb in the midst of the town's dump. They are known by everyone in the county for being aggressive, dishonest, uncivilized, unclean, and uneducated. Despite these facts they hold a great advantage over the most civilized and honest African Americans: they are white.

 Scout and Jem encounter dirty stares and insults by many of their fellow townsfolk because their father is defending a Negro. Through example however, Atticus teaches his children that the color of your skin does not define what kind of person you are. Everyone should be treated with kindness and respect. Scout and Jem manage to hold their heads high and support their father's cause. Despite the best efforts of Atticus however, Tom is convicted of raping Mr. Ewells' daughter and is sentenced to death. Scout and Jem learn the grim reality that justice for all does not exist in the ignorant and racist American culture.

To Kill a Mockingbird is a wonderful text to read when learning about stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination. Readers can get examples of all three of these elements throughout the entire story not just in the context of black versus white, but also society versus women, and poor whites versus everyone else. Some of the social psychological underpinnings of this novel deal with constructs such as categorization, Social Identity Theory, depersonalization and dehumanization, out-group homogeneity, social motives such as self-enhancement and control, and the list goes on.

Harper Lee's novel To Kill a Mockingbird is a wonderful representation of the struggles experienced by generations of minorities as well as females throughout American history. From a social scientific standpoint, the novel gives social psychological novices a well rounded summary of stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination along with solutions to such issues.

For my book report I read Michael Eric Dyson's Come Hell or High Water: Hurricane Katrina and the Color of Disaster, an analysis of the events leading up to and the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. This book offers insight into how Hurricane Katrina affected the city of New Orleans, and why it was that race and social status mattered in the way the country responded to Katrina.

Dyson reviews some of the social injustices which have plagued African Americans in New Orleans for decades as well as the inherent disadvantages that left African Americans stranded in the path of the storm. Many parties, including the media, FEMA, and former president George W. Bush, are called out for their mismanagement of relief efforts and coverage of Katrina. From the effects of the media coverage on public opinion of those left in the storm's wake, to the social structure that originally allowed such economic disparity in New Orleans, the events surrounding one of the worst natural disasters in recent U.S. history carry with it connections to various psychological theories of prejudice and stereotyping. Looking at this book in terms of the content learned in SPD can allow for the interpretation of the mishaps that occurred throughout the duration of Katrina, at a psychological level. We can also better understand the impact a natural disaster like Hurricane Katrina has on perceptions of victims, especially when the victims are mostly poor African Americans.  

If you are interested in learning more about this particular book or other books by Michael Eric Dyson please follow the link below.
http://www.michaelericdyson.com/comehell/
 

Last night Dr. Cornel West spoke at GBPAC ( http://www.uni.edu/cme/events/spring2010/032510_cwest.htm ) I made a special point to see it because of his special ability as an orator and his unmatched intellectual and philosophical prowess. I would suggest a visit to his website or a search on Youtube for some of West's presentations and publications. In my opinion, we spend way too much time hearing from pundits and politicians, acquiring information that is cut and packaged into bite sized pieces that are easily digestible into our comfortable worldviews. We do not spend enough time looking for those individuals that are intellectually stirring and provocative. West is a living example of one of those public intellectuals. His philosophy is a testament to the idea that the path to social justice is a multi-faceted and inter-disciplinary objective, grounded in the intellectuals of history and in the complex dynamic of contemporary society.       

 http://www.cornelwest.com/     

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.

 

Paul Mooney is one of the Kings of comedy. He has written stand up comedy for Richard Pryor, Redd Foxx, Saturday night live and many other venues. He is mainly known for his active stance in confronting racism in America through Stand up Comedy and going on different talk shows to address these issues faced by society today. Paul has a strait forward or blunt approach he takes which makes most White people uncomfortable and upset. There are a lot of good youtube videos that go into greater detail with his views. Do you think by him being direct about these issues help or harm the message he is trying to portray?

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=124828546

"Ad man Tom Burrell calls out negative images of African Americans in the media for perpetuating the myth of black inferiority."

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?

Uh Oh. Watch the racists freak out. What's it like when the majority becomes the numerical minority?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/10/more-minority-babies-will_n_492742.html

"Minorities make up nearly half the children born in the U.S., part of a historic trend in which minorities are expected to become the U.S. majority over the next 40 years."

 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/03/AR2010030303895_pf.html

 

Recently, a sorority of white girls won the national step dancing championship. This is significant because this is a type of dance that is primarily dominated by African American culture, so the upset win did just that....upset people. There is some controversy of the white girls impedeing on black culture. The judges actually awarded the 2nd place team the same amount of money as the winning team because of the number of complaints about the results of the competition. What do you think about this? If anyone is eligible to compete in the competition, why is there such an outrage over white women winning it? Do you agree with the actions that have taken place following this, or do you think this could have been handled differently?

Menthol cigarettes have been heavily marketed to African Americans. And menthol cigarettes may be more addicted and more deadly than regular cigarettes.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=122868470

"Nicotine is definitely addictive, but scientists have been debating for several decades the effect of menthol in hooking people on tobacco. Some researchers suspect that menthol allows smokers to take deeper drags or puffs on cigarettes, drawing in greater amounts of nicotine and its byproducts."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/daniel-cubias/why-latinos-are-so-pessim_b_427635.html

"A recent Pew Research Center poll found that "one year after the election of President Barack Obama, black optimism about America has surged, while Hispanics have become more skeptical about race relations."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bob-cesca/the-tea-party-is-all-abou_b_484229.html

"The tea party is almost entirely about race, and there's no comparative group on the left that's similarly motivated by bigotry, ignorance and racial hatred."

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/rusty-weiss/2010/02/01/rush-racism-media-stunned-black-woman-could-win-over-limbaugh

Rush Limbaugh surprised the media in voting for a Black women at the Miss America Pageant in which she actually won. He has been labeled as a racist by many sources and people. Rush has a conservative talk show where he expresses his opinion about various issues going on in America and the world. The other judges were Vivica A. Fox and Shawn Johnson. Do you think Rush's vote was sincere or do you think he was singled out by the other judges? Another questioned to keep in mind is if he picked her to convince people that he wasn't a racist.