The book, Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? addresses the topics of racial identity, racism, and the phenomenon of self-segregation. This book is written by Beverly Daniel Tatum, a psychologist who has given presentations on “Talking to Children about Race”, “Interrupting the Cycle of Oppression”, and “Understanding Racial Identity Development”. Tatum wrote this book in hope that with the right education and willingness to understand that soon our world could change. Tantum defines racism as “a system of advantage based on race” (Tatum, 1997,pg. 22), after defining racism Tantum discusses how racism by her definition only applies to Whites. She states this because Whites are the majority; therefore they have the …show more content…
83). Tantum explains that White people are “the norm” in American society. She states that Whites should embrace their Whiteness however when Whites begin to develop a self-identity they need to make sure that they don’t end up with a superiority complex. She explains that most Whites will tend not to change racism because of the fact that racism doesn’t directly affect them. Instead racism gives them privileges; but Tantum does state that with White allies there is a hope for a future without racism. However, since Whites are the majority without allies from those who are in power things will never …show more content…
Understanding your personal biases and cultural values is the first area. Such as growing up I always had a deep fear of African Americans. This was because I had a subconscious bias against them because my father had always told me that African American’s would hurt me because I was a European American female. Also culturally, European Americans tend to express opinions that African Americans are criminals, lazy, and beneath European Americans. One way that I will work to increase my cultural competence in this area is when I am placed in an uncomfortable situation, such as a discussion about racism, I will try and appreciate the difference between others and myself. Instead of trying to avoid the situation, deny that racism doesn’t still exist, being defensive of the topic, or devaluing the need to discuss racism
After reading the book “Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria” written by Beverly Daniel Tatum, I was left wanting more information on process-oriented and goal-oriented equality programs. Tatum quickly visits these two points in roughly two paragraphs, so I sought out other outside resources to better understand the two terms and how they interact with affirmative action. First, affirmative action is described as "any measure, beyond simple termination of a discriminatory practice, adopted to correct or compensate for past or present discrimination or to prevent discrimination from recurring in the future." (U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, Statement on Affirmative Action, October 1977). In other words, a program
Both sources agree that in fact, race takes a toll on how it specifically effects the children. In Tatum’s article she highlights a part of when adolescence start to “sit together in the cafeteria” (375), it is when they get offended due to the color of their skin. She had addressed the definition of what being “black” really is and how that shouldn’t effect growing up in a very diverse school. Inevitably, it does. In Chapman and Mullis’s article they express the coping styles of adolescence, which one mechanism they are drawn to is close friends.
In Andrea Smith’s article “Heteropatriarchy and the Three Pillars of White Supremacy”, Smith argues from three different perspectives on how different people are oppressed and are victimized together. She presents three scenarios involving people of color and how they can modernize to become unified. The three pillars she uses to try to understand white supremacy describe the logic behind: slavery and how it deals with capitalism, genocide in the United States colonialism, and orientalism during wartime. In the first pillar presented, slavery is used to understand white supremacy by saying black people are innately thought of as property, which serves as the anchor for capitalism.
In Savage Inequalities: Children in America’s Schools, Jonathan Kozol exploits extreme inequalities between the schools in East St. Louis and Morris High in Rye, New York in the 1990s. The living conditions in East St. Louis were deplorable. There was no trash collection service, the sewage system was dysfunctional, and crime, illness, poverty, and pollution ran rampant. The schools in East St. Louis had a predominately black student population, and the buildings were extremely obsolete, with lab equipment that was outdated by thirty to fifty years, a football field without goalposts, sports uniforms held together by patches, and a plumbing system that repeatedly spewed sewage. In addition, there was a substantial lack of funds that prevented
To begin, when Cora is examining the white exhibits, she thinks about how false they are and how they hide the truth: "The whites came to this land for a fresh start and to escape the tyranny of their masters, just as the freeman had fled theirs. But the ideals they held up for themselves, they denied others" (Whitehead 119). Cora describes how the white men wanted to conquer this land to achieve their own freedom and live by their ideals, which are only upheld for them and do not apply to black people. The white people did not believe that they needed to treat black people equally as them, rather, they were just objects that they could use for their own benefit. Furthermore, while Lander speaks about common delusions, he brings up America: "'And America, too, is a delusion, the grandest one of all.
A Letter to the Editor Based on Response to Cedric Jennings' Education Journey The Pulitzer-winning story of Ron Suskind about Cedric Jennings, a son of the drug dealer and the Agriculture Department worker, has been a source of inspiration for many students who struggle to change their lives by getting prestigious education. Cedric has lived in Southeast Washington, and the school he has attended (Ballou High School) consists mostly of black teens connected with gangs and drugs: the circumstances are not friendly for an aspiring learner. Cedric Jennings has made his educational and career path successful due to the social capital he has received in his family; structural and expressive racism have influenced his character and led him to his
For instance, McIntosh is sure that she can easily take a job anywhere without being racially profiled, move anywhere with the expectation that people of her own races will live in the surroundings and even find bandages that are “flesh” toned that actually match her own skin color. Each of her points proves the reality of white privilege. McIntosh puts forth the idea that there are unearned privileges and recourses and they are meant to be unseen. She states that white privilege are not equally shared with other races, and how every white person acquires these privileges without even realizing it. Even though we choose to ignore racism, the author is aware of its existence.
White Privilege: Essay 1 White privilege is a systemic issue that has roots in our history as far back as the creators of our country. Searching back, we see our norms and values created into habits that have been woven into how we view and act around specific groups such as African Americans. This essay is going to explain how the average Caucasian individual experiences white privilege on a day to day basis and the solutions to insure that white privilege will stop and true equality can be handed out. This paper views the latter issues through symbolic interactionism, with supporting sub theories such as; labeling theory, looking glass self, and selective perception.
Critical Whiteness Studies responds to the invisible and normative nature of whiteness in predominantly white societies, criticizing racial and ethnic attribution of non-white subjects who have to grapple with their deviation from the set norm, and opening the discussion on white privilege that results from being the unmarked norm (Kerner: 278). As Conway and Steyn elaborate, Critical Whiteness Studies aims to “redirect[...] the scholarly gaze from the margins to the centre” (283) and, more specifically, to interrogat[e][...] the centre of power and privilege from which racialization emanates but which operates more or less invisibly as it constructs itself as both the norm and ideal of what it means to be human. (ibid.) Thus, Critical Whiteness
Amendment XIII: Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subjects to their jurisdiction. Is racism taught through the government and other higher powers, or is it taught through individual experiences and decision making. I believe racism is created through your own individual experiences and your home life, rather than the government and other higher powers. “Racism is any attitude, action, or institutional structure which subordinates a person or group because of skin color.” -U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, 1970.
What does it mean to be black? This a question that many black children seem to ask themselves as they are growing up. There is a popularization of black culture in America. From the music that people listen to, to television shows, movies, dances and various other things, the black culture is entertaining for all. African American children who grow up in a predominantly suburban area with many different races are always searching for their racial identity.
(Page 1785) Also, Harris does not believe that the white privilege will be ever removed because there is no historical or actual context where the whites will be ever exploited as the Blacks ever were (page 1785). Critical Analysis: I believe that Harris’s essay could be perceived through three aspects, which are (a) the historical context of the issue of racial classification and property, (b) The consequences of whiteness as property throughout the American history, and (c) the current situation of whiteness as property. In terms of the historical context of the racial classification and property, the US witnessed a White dominance in territory, economy, politics and property privileges.
Martha Peraza SOC 3340 Inequality in Education California State University, Bakersfield Abstract In the United States, there exists a gap in equality for different demographics of students. The factors contributing to educational disadvantages include socioeconomic struggles, gender of students, language or culture, and particularly for the scope of this paper, race.
This essay seeks to examine modern day manifestations of both racism and classism within a school setting. As investigation has shown, racial, ethnic, cultural, and socioeconomic discrimination may lead to negative mental health effects. This is alarming as such discrimination continues to linger among school systems ranging from elementary aged students all the way to college aged students. This essay also evaluates several methods of diminishing racial injustices outlined by various authors. It is in the hands of our current school administrators, teachers, and lastly students, to enact real change in hopes of achieving true racial equality.
My biases were formed through several factors, particularly through family members and media. The views my family had were projected onto me and the media reinforced my biases. Since I only knew one side of my bias’s story, I only ever looked for, or saw, that one side. One of my biases formed due to the area in which I lived as a child. I lived in a small, suburban yet rural town, along a major highway.