Tatum Chapter 10:
i feel as thought i have overcome the fears that tatum talks about regarding the negative sanctions about the engaging in the dialogue, and do not really remember a time that i had such fears... i always was confident in knowing that i am right in what i feel about the issues of racism in our country, but the difficult task of making the dialogue Meaningful remains. most of the experiences i have with such discussions are among friends and in classes, but most of the ones at school or home are often displaced by the people i am trying to educate. i am fine with being marked as 'deviant' by others in my opinions regarding the topic because i know that they still see the issues through an "us-them" scope. it is breaking this framework that proves to be something that i have yet to acquire...
"unchallenged personal, cultural, and institutional racism results in the loss of human potential, lowered productivity, and a rising tide of fear and violence in out society" 200
making this statement understandable and relatabel for whites that have no introduction or possibilities for diversity in their lives do not posess the potential to relate... so how do i make someone relate?
Tatum refers to something said by Miller in response to a discussion group that talked about race having "felt the energy and the desire" resulting from the issue. this energy is a good thing that needs to be brought out more for people earlier in life so that by the time they begin to develop their own identities, the energy derived from the problematic racism can be channelled by both whites and minorities into a productive, positive form.
she says that it is 'courage' through education that needs to support the transformation, but i do not think courage is necessarily the right word. i think it should be more of a sense of morality after the education that should support the change like knowing what is wrong with the current situation and then taking an active approach to the change. and i strongly agree that the issue is indeed applicable to all disciplines, which is why it needs to be integrated into people's education well before the completion of high school. as tatum says, "we must begin to speak, knowing that words alone are insufficient" 206 Thus, the words must come well before a person gains more potential and influence as an agent acting for correcting a MAJOR problem with our society.
E&F Chapter 10:
in such a multicultural society, the fear of the unknown intertwined with a lack of understanding or knowledge about other races or cultures and fear of being interpreted as being racist or having prejudices after breaking the line of silence is the source of these constricted relationships. most white americans feel positive about integration, but still the underlying assumptions remain in the subconscious and in order avoid the discomfort that may arise from an attempt to be enlightened, whites are afraid to speak and still have an outsiders view of race. the challenge that minorities have is the second guessing that arises when situations of discrimination occur, analysing the treatment with an uncertainty of the motive behind the treatment.
thus, both sides have vast uncertainties. social interaction between people of different groups is Always filled with uncertainties of how to act, what to say, what role is the other person expecting me to play, what role do You expect them to fit, etc. and this occurs in Any interaction across groups, not just those regarding different races and cultures.
limitations of past research: looking at the interaction and not its individual subjects, seeing the problem resting in the majority group's attitudes, rather than the attitudes that Each participant has.... i mean, they are being social here, they are playing off of each other, each person is the link to the next sentance, thus the attitudes of both groups must be addressed. people are reactionary to their surroundings, interpreting and then producing.... this happens on both sides.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Monday, March 30, 2009
Whoa. reaction to the very recent discourse on race... we have such a long way to go!
ok, i know i've said this before but i just do Not want to try to rationalize or understand whY n How a person could have gone through a class such as race and ethnic relations and come out still a racist ready to argue the 'facts'... like, i get that friend A wants to have a critical eye to some of the aspects of theories behind racim in a sociological theology, because of how repetitive and limited its scope was within the course (based on personal experience), but why in conversation does he so convincingly take the position of a 'naturalist' when in reality, i got Really excited when he mentioned that he had taken that class because I thought for a brief moment I was going to get to talk about race outside of our classroom without being disappointed :-(
then again, the other bird in the convo, that chirped his two cents in here and there, is like seriously the most close-minded student at iwu. that may be a Biased opinion since i think he just has irreversable personality flaws to put it nicely. but really, his position on blacks, affirmative action, concept of racism, black culture, Even Freakin Rap music are just one ignorant racist-filled slur of 'opinion' after another. didnt the KKK start in Indiana? maybe thats where it comes from...... lol jk. nvm. but maybe the friend that i respect was just sorta 'acting in-group' or maybe he just couldnt ever get out of the framework of knowledge/thought that blacks and whites are two completely different and the only Logical way for blacks to rise up from their oppressed state is to indeed "act white". he actually stated this term too, knowingly so, which i found interesting because he seemed to have an economically orientated theory on that and we talked about for a while...
[read if you want some sorta-juicy venting, otherwise omit]
and then dumbass Indy was like "well, i don't think its 'acting white', thats not right, they just need to "ARTICULATE' themselves, act properly for a business world, and not be racist against us white people. thats not acting white, thats just how a person should BE." my inner monologue: "omg dude, its like talking to a wall. "all that psychology and sociology stuff" that you ConstantlY tell ME you can just "absolutely cant stand, would never want to take a class in, and do not see any point in that crap" is BEYOND YOU AND YOUR WORLD. how can you not see that?? youve never even taken a sociology class. why does everything that comes out of your mouth have to be dripping with such negativity and narcissism..... how can you sit there and go through that routine... that habitual routine that IS your personality... especially when ur opinion is so obviously unappreciated and often times disregarded by even ur friends... dude. wake up. evolve a little." [obvious seemingly unwarrented anger and resentment does not lie in the fact that his is an obvious 'white John' from last weeks film but somewhere else. and totally is warrented. but only one more month man :-) and then adiós blanco, asno de cierra-tiene inconveniente en.] k i feel better.
ok, back to more rational recollection of my recent inter-group discussion on race. i eventually found myself asking the questions that i knew the friend-that-i-have-respect-for would have to agree on, like proportions, unequal education opportunity, institutionalized racism, etc. its like i was fitting the discussion to his beliefs in order to find the places where we agree only because everything that i said in response to his opposition to accept and embrace other cultures was simply disputed with... well, key terms: violence, gangs, drugs, "responsibility of a community", "responsibility of an entire Race to help each other and bring themselves up"... i know these are like 'classic' claims, but its just so hard to converse about race when both people think they are right but cannot agree on one fundamental idea: White culture has the Responsibility to help those that we oppress. and i mean, its not like european domination from colonialism is way in the past... whites clearly have the upper-hand and run this country and this world.
oye... wheres the luv, man. open ur eyes and look around. doesnt Something seem wrong??? No? It doesn't? Oh yeah, thats right, I forgot... your world doesn't include blacks. maybe a minority here and there, but your world has a true absence of color and thats how you like it. thats why when you open your eyes and see the segregated schools and communities, the economically disadvantaged 'sustaining the cycle', and not a single black person confidently expressing their black culture... things... dont look wrong. or out of place. the order is just perfect; white on top. thats the spirit. It has been since the enlightenment...
I wish I could see the day that the paradigm shifts. I wish i was immersed in a white culture of people that had a lot less whiteness.... which is pretty damn hard to find round iwu. maybe im just lookin in the wrong places but maybe its somethin else...
then again, the other bird in the convo, that chirped his two cents in here and there, is like seriously the most close-minded student at iwu. that may be a Biased opinion since i think he just has irreversable personality flaws to put it nicely. but really, his position on blacks, affirmative action, concept of racism, black culture, Even Freakin Rap music are just one ignorant racist-filled slur of 'opinion' after another. didnt the KKK start in Indiana? maybe thats where it comes from...... lol jk. nvm. but maybe the friend that i respect was just sorta 'acting in-group' or maybe he just couldnt ever get out of the framework of knowledge/thought that blacks and whites are two completely different and the only Logical way for blacks to rise up from their oppressed state is to indeed "act white". he actually stated this term too, knowingly so, which i found interesting because he seemed to have an economically orientated theory on that and we talked about for a while...
[read if you want some sorta-juicy venting, otherwise omit]
and then dumbass Indy was like "well, i don't think its 'acting white', thats not right, they just need to "ARTICULATE' themselves, act properly for a business world, and not be racist against us white people. thats not acting white, thats just how a person should BE." my inner monologue: "omg dude, its like talking to a wall. "all that psychology and sociology stuff" that you ConstantlY tell ME you can just "absolutely cant stand, would never want to take a class in, and do not see any point in that crap" is BEYOND YOU AND YOUR WORLD. how can you not see that?? youve never even taken a sociology class. why does everything that comes out of your mouth have to be dripping with such negativity and narcissism..... how can you sit there and go through that routine... that habitual routine that IS your personality... especially when ur opinion is so obviously unappreciated and often times disregarded by even ur friends... dude. wake up. evolve a little." [obvious seemingly unwarrented anger and resentment does not lie in the fact that his is an obvious 'white John' from last weeks film but somewhere else. and totally is warrented. but only one more month man :-) and then adiós blanco, asno de cierra-tiene inconveniente en.] k i feel better.
ok, back to more rational recollection of my recent inter-group discussion on race. i eventually found myself asking the questions that i knew the friend-that-i-have-respect-for would have to agree on, like proportions, unequal education opportunity, institutionalized racism, etc. its like i was fitting the discussion to his beliefs in order to find the places where we agree only because everything that i said in response to his opposition to accept and embrace other cultures was simply disputed with... well, key terms: violence, gangs, drugs, "responsibility of a community", "responsibility of an entire Race to help each other and bring themselves up"... i know these are like 'classic' claims, but its just so hard to converse about race when both people think they are right but cannot agree on one fundamental idea: White culture has the Responsibility to help those that we oppress. and i mean, its not like european domination from colonialism is way in the past... whites clearly have the upper-hand and run this country and this world.
oye... wheres the luv, man. open ur eyes and look around. doesnt Something seem wrong??? No? It doesn't? Oh yeah, thats right, I forgot... your world doesn't include blacks. maybe a minority here and there, but your world has a true absence of color and thats how you like it. thats why when you open your eyes and see the segregated schools and communities, the economically disadvantaged 'sustaining the cycle', and not a single black person confidently expressing their black culture... things... dont look wrong. or out of place. the order is just perfect; white on top. thats the spirit. It has been since the enlightenment...
I wish I could see the day that the paradigm shifts. I wish i was immersed in a white culture of people that had a lot less whiteness.... which is pretty damn hard to find round iwu. maybe im just lookin in the wrong places but maybe its somethin else...
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
spring break... worked 62 hours in a week! what a break!
so, im from a small town and i also work in a small town. im a CNA (nurses assistant) and whenever a black person is sent by an agency to come work at our facility, the word spreads like wildfire. who they are, if they've ever been here before, what they have done wrong in the past, and Especially what they have done that makes he or she "exceptional" to their small town, all white farming community's expectations. No matter what, the person's description is always prefaced with their race if they are anything but white; for some reason, this really makes a difference in how the person is anticipated to perform. so i was curious if there were any experiences to back this general theory up, and tried to pry into the reasonings that people had for the ways they described any fellow employees that were not white. now, i did this discretely as possible in order to avoid stepping on any toes too hard just because I have to work with these people every break and summer, and for the most part responses were just as racist as their original descriptions; "you know how Those people usually are" "them kind", small-town responses like that. so then i started wondering, how is everyone going to get exposure to multicultural america and gain an understanding of how and why to be supportive of diversity if they do not even have the opportunity to? do these types of people even matter? i'd like to think so...
but maybe the change needs to start with people in higher education... people that can actually make a change in the institutionalized racism... people that can become leaders for others... so is it a waste of time and breath to try to convince people to change their views when they simply do not have the education or experience to support any sort of connection in order to disconnect their naturalized and integrated racism?
but maybe the change needs to start with people in higher education... people that can actually make a change in the institutionalized racism... people that can become leaders for others... so is it a waste of time and breath to try to convince people to change their views when they simply do not have the education or experience to support any sort of connection in order to disconnect their naturalized and integrated racism?
Thursday, March 12, 2009
oh, back to what i said that the beginning of the last post... people dont understand what its like to truly have nothing. even i dont, and ive seen what its like to have nothing. i dont really have much more to elaborate on that except that if anyone wants to argue that they know the struggles of being financially unbenefitted or not being able to go out with friends because they have no money, that aint havin nuthin.
so i was thinking about just one brief comment that Esther made to... i forget who, but thats besides the point. TBA was commenting on how difficult life was when you had nothing... Esther thought to herself "you dont know what its like to have nothing until you literally have nothing." ive been having more and more flashbacks to my time in new york this past summer. i was visiting a friend around the 4th of july who was there on an internship and ended up experiencing things that were beyond my imagination. my friends roommate, whom was randomly assigned in an apartment complex literally three buildings down from the empire state building and across the street from macey's (they had it rough, lemme tell u), was actually doing an intership for RBI, a youth summer baseball/summer school program for kids from the age of 9 to 14. this program was located in the heart of spanish harlem, the baseball field she worked at only blocks from the Washington housing projects and the metropolis hospital in the area. it was surreal. me, being me, wanting to kick it with emily the entire time, as opposed to walking around the fashion district and eating sushi with my friend that i was visiting.... at the heart of the spanish harlem, every body that had a chance to look at me without me wearin my sunglasses to hide my blue eyes, since in the summer my skin turns quite brown, made me feel like i had that "dubois-ian" veil that W.E.B. Du Bois spoke about in his writings before the turn of the 20th century. its wierd to be looked at as an outsider and to have that unspoken, psychological establisment that i am not part of this community and sure as hell aint welcomed.
in NY i briefly tipped my toes in the bronx... the reason for which i was kicken it in in the bronx shall be unmentioned, but the fact of the matter is the community level, the brother and sisterhood, is extreme. yet it is divided by districts and and city blocks. there are SO many people that live in a single city block, without going there, you cannot even imagine. so the problem lies, then, with the abstraction of how to unite so many individual groups, communities, familes, and lives that are solely interdependentent on each other and maybe have run dry of any heart or passion to work towards a better good because they are struggling for the survival of their children, brothers, sisters, parents, and anyone else that is in their immediate community.
there are so many people in this world. why doesnt anyone help their brothers and sisters, their fellow people, fellow human beings... last i checked, it was proven that melanin does not mean racial inferiority. apparantly that useful bit of information hasnt gone mainstream.
in NY i briefly tipped my toes in the bronx... the reason for which i was kicken it in in the bronx shall be unmentioned, but the fact of the matter is the community level, the brother and sisterhood, is extreme. yet it is divided by districts and and city blocks. there are SO many people that live in a single city block, without going there, you cannot even imagine. so the problem lies, then, with the abstraction of how to unite so many individual groups, communities, familes, and lives that are solely interdependentent on each other and maybe have run dry of any heart or passion to work towards a better good because they are struggling for the survival of their children, brothers, sisters, parents, and anyone else that is in their immediate community.
there are so many people in this world. why doesnt anyone help their brothers and sisters, their fellow people, fellow human beings... last i checked, it was proven that melanin does not mean racial inferiority. apparantly that useful bit of information hasnt gone mainstream.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
readings for 3/10
Kivel, 22-247
multiculturalism in America is neither democratic nor anti-racist... quite the opposite. still. nobody is striving for a (i know these politically have negative connotations) socialist/humanist ideal where you reach out to your neighbor rather than say its their problem and their fault. common solutions is a theme, but competition and individuality and this sense that "everyone has the same opportunity, you just have to work hard" is so thoroughly imprinted in our society's blueprint that is passed on generation after generation, along with numerous other prescribed/ascribed statuses and roles, that the framework has to be rebuilt with some MAJOR renovations. and these renovations are not to be purely bureaucratic, because our democracy is clearly devoid of color (white), but something that is based on multicultural inclusion.
in order for this to happen though, each subculture must have a competent voice that is at an equal level as all the others; white superiority starts superficially but is integrated in education, family structure, health opportunities, well-being, etc etc. it is instituted throughout the nation and lack of knowledge is what continues to keep oppressed races in standing. tolerance should be the theme of a nation that has such a successful reputation for the opposite and the deculturalization of entire peoples.
as long as the dominant white race remains in its dormant, naive state where integration has occurred, racism died after the civil rights movement, and those of us white people fail to spread the wealth found in understanding and compassion, inequalities shall reign free and strong.
racism without racists- chapter 3
because the normative climate of racism has changed post-Civil Rights/Jim Crow, so have the linguistic manners/rhetorical strategies when talking about race
whites' avoidance of direct racial language to express their racial views (like the old guy at the restaurant saying "Homeboy" rather than the N word), using projection as a rhetorical tool to defend any accusations someone might have about you, like saying that they segregate themselves... "why are all the black kids sitting together in the cafeteria, eh??"
in many of the responses to questions about race, the rhetoric is so round about, its hard to even understand what they are trying to say! incoherence is just another indication that if they cannot talk about race, they do not know about race, and are inevitably socialized in a racist society.
multiculturalism in America is neither democratic nor anti-racist... quite the opposite. still. nobody is striving for a (i know these politically have negative connotations) socialist/humanist ideal where you reach out to your neighbor rather than say its their problem and their fault. common solutions is a theme, but competition and individuality and this sense that "everyone has the same opportunity, you just have to work hard" is so thoroughly imprinted in our society's blueprint that is passed on generation after generation, along with numerous other prescribed/ascribed statuses and roles, that the framework has to be rebuilt with some MAJOR renovations. and these renovations are not to be purely bureaucratic, because our democracy is clearly devoid of color (white), but something that is based on multicultural inclusion.
in order for this to happen though, each subculture must have a competent voice that is at an equal level as all the others; white superiority starts superficially but is integrated in education, family structure, health opportunities, well-being, etc etc. it is instituted throughout the nation and lack of knowledge is what continues to keep oppressed races in standing. tolerance should be the theme of a nation that has such a successful reputation for the opposite and the deculturalization of entire peoples.
as long as the dominant white race remains in its dormant, naive state where integration has occurred, racism died after the civil rights movement, and those of us white people fail to spread the wealth found in understanding and compassion, inequalities shall reign free and strong.
racism without racists- chapter 3
because the normative climate of racism has changed post-Civil Rights/Jim Crow, so have the linguistic manners/rhetorical strategies when talking about race
whites' avoidance of direct racial language to express their racial views (like the old guy at the restaurant saying "Homeboy" rather than the N word), using projection as a rhetorical tool to defend any accusations someone might have about you, like saying that they segregate themselves... "why are all the black kids sitting together in the cafeteria, eh??"
in many of the responses to questions about race, the rhetoric is so round about, its hard to even understand what they are trying to say! incoherence is just another indication that if they cannot talk about race, they do not know about race, and are inevitably socialized in a racist society.
i really really really want to watch this documentary in full again. it was released in 1992, but its timeless. and i doubt there have been any considerably drastic changes over the past decade and a half.
"A year in the life of two seventh graders reveals the stark contrast in resources and opportunities offered by each of their schools. While the schools are located in the same Bronx school district only a few miles apart, they represent two distinct neighborhoods that are socially and economically worlds apart. Unequal Education bears witness to the colossal failure of the local school system – a tragedy of national proportion. This acclaimed documentary premiered nationally on the PBS series, Listening to America with Bill Moyers."
Unequal Education: Failing Our Children
"A year in the life of two seventh graders reveals the stark contrast in resources and opportunities offered by each of their schools. While the schools are located in the same Bronx school district only a few miles apart, they represent two distinct neighborhoods that are socially and economically worlds apart. Unequal Education bears witness to the colossal failure of the local school system – a tragedy of national proportion. This acclaimed documentary premiered nationally on the PBS series, Listening to America with Bill Moyers."
at the library
one things for sure, black men are not bound by any racial boundaries. whenever im at the public library, literally every time, a black guy comes up to me, whoos me by tellin me how foxy i am and how it would be just the greatest thing if he could take me out on just one date. bf gets in the way of that, but damn am i impressed with the fact that a person could be so confident, so self-assured, so not afraid of rejection or failure. And since when is hollarin back at guys that are chillin in their house, just callin out just because, an "invitation"? i was walking to the bistro last weekend to see a friend of a friend perform in a Drag King show and some black guys started talkin to my two friends and i from a second story window... we weren't running so we weren't moving too quickly, and it was just awkward when my friends were too SomEtHinG to say anything back. so i started just talkin sh*t, told em we were goin to the gay bar and to join, knowing that nothing was going to come of it... but apparently my friends were not so sure because they freaked out and started power-walking like it was life or death. so annoying. and i cant do anything about it.
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