EXTRA CREDIT OPPORTUNITY

As you may have seen on flyers posted around campus, there is going to be a screening of a documentary called, "The Black List," which chronicles the lives of a number of prominent African Americans. The documentary filmmakers will also be on hand to discuss their film and respond to questions. This all takes place on Monday, Nov. 3rd at 7PM in the Hub-Bub Showroom (149 S. Daniel Morgan Ave. about a block west from city hall, perhaps a mile from the Wofford campus). You may earn 5 extra credit points by attending and posting a two or three paragraph reaction to what you saw as a comment on this blog post.

New Family Activity

In the context of the very last section of Dr. Tatum's book, "Continuing the Conversation" (pp. 207-219), where she brings her analysis to bear most directly on the college community, I want each family to review several issues of "Teaching Tolerance" (a publication of the Southern Poverty Law Center) and select ONE article from them that your family believes best exemplifies Dr. Tatum's approach to dealing with racial diversity and which you could argue might even work on this campus. At the conclusion of our treatment of Dr. Tatum's book (which I anticipate will be by TUESDAY, NOV. 11TH), each family will present in class a one-page defense of the article you selected. By some means (perhaps secret ballot), we will select a winner, and that family will earn 2 bonus points for this exercise.

This activity counts 8 points.

I will hand out 4 issues of "Teaching Tolerance" to each family tomorrow (Thurs. 10/23). THESE ARE MY PERSONAL COPIES, AND I WOULD APPRECIATE IT IF YOU HANDLE THEM WITH CARE AND RETURN THEM AT THE CONCLUSION OF THIS EXERCISE IN GOOD SHAPE.

See you tomorrow....

Midterm Exam Questions (revised)

Sorry for the mix-up yesterday. I should have noticed the comments on Quoted Passages & Reminders, but in the future please go back to the original blog post describing whatever exercise I give you. So, below are the questions from the families that will be on the midterm exam, including the Red Family's questions which I posted yesterday. Notice that I did make a few changes in the questions and answers submitted.

BLACK FAMILY: (earns 3 points)

1. Dr. Bonilla-Silva wrote a book entitled Racism Without Racists in which he identified what kind of racism? (1pt)

ANSWER: colorblind racism (or you could give the definition -- a form of racism NOT based in inherent biological inferiority but based on or explained by nonracial factors such economics or cultural factors.)


YELLOW FAMILY: (earns 3 points)

1. Briefly explain the seemingly paradoxical assertion that opens Part 3 of the video series: "Race is an illusion and yet profoundly real." (2pts)

ANSWER: It is illusory as a biological (or scientific) distinction, yet profoundly real socially because we have chosen to associate physical differences such as skin color with assumptions about values, behavior, historical meanings.


RED FAMILY: (earns 3 points + 1 bonus point)

1. Why does Dr. Tatum say white and black parents are reluctant to talk to their children about racism? (2pts)

ANSWER: They are afraid that they will create problems where perhaps none exist and make "colorblind" children unnecessarily color conscious.

2. What analogy does Dr. Tatum use to explain the pervasiveness of prejudice in our society? (1pt)

ANSWER: It's like the SMOG, and insofar as we breathe the air we are also smog breathers, even though we would not describe ourselves as smog breathers.


Remember, these questions will appear on the exam. See you next Tuesday.

Family Midterm Exam Questions

It is roughly noon on Thursday 10/16, almost 24 hours after the deadline and only one family has submitted their questions. I am not considering other submissions at this point, and so the other two families will not earn the 3 points for this activity and will not get a chance to make up part of the test. Below are the two questions I accepted from the RED FAMILY, so they will earn 3 points, plus a bonus point.

Red Family Midterm Questions and Answers:

1. Why does Dr. Tatum say white and black parents are reluctant to talk to their children about racism? (2pts)

ANSWER: They are afraid to create problems where perhaps none exist, and make "colorblind" children unnecessarily color conscious.

2. What analogy does Dr. Tatum use to explain the pervasiveness of prejudice in our society?

ANSWER: It's like SMOG, and insofar as we breathe the air we are also SMOG BREATHERS, even though we would not describe ourselves as smog breathers.


So, those are the two family questions you will see on the midterm next Tuesday, 10/21.

Midterm Outline & Reminder

Below is a brief outline of the topics we've covered in class since the beginning of the term. This may help you give some order to your notes and prepare for the midterm exam next Tuesday, 10/21.

I. Comments on the relevance of this course, especially for members of the "dominant white majority"

A. Dr. Bonilla-Silva passage on the blog

II. "Race: the power of an illusion" (3 parts)

A. Family main points on each part.
B. What I highlighted in class following each part.

III. Basic Definitions

A. Culture
1. Metaphors for America: melting pot (problems with that) & newer metaphors which reflect a more pluralistic attitude: salad bowl, stew, stir fry.

B. Race
1. Emphasized message of video series
2. Talked about Blumenbach and his race hierarchy; where the term "Caucasian" came from. Posted some of this on the blog.
3. AAA Draft Statement on Race (handout)

C. Racism
1. Noted most people would say they are not racist according to that definition, but that does not mean racism is dead.
2. Different forms: cultural racism (Frederickson), color-blind racism (Bonilla-Silva), institutional racism.

D. Ethnic Group
1. How distinguished from race.

E. Ethnocentrism
1. Ethnocentrism is to ethnic group what racism is to race.
2. Stressed that a society or individual can be ethnocentric but not necessarily racist.

F. Prejudice
1. Noted connection to "stereotype". Prejudice often based on limited knowledge of other people. Can be positive, but mostly negative.
2. Sources from which prejudice is learned: a. authority figures, b. media images, c. negative experiences, d. discrimination.
3. Often grows out of situation of groups competing for scarce resources. (eg. Indians)
4. Ways to overcome it: a. contact, b. cooperative action, c. empathy, d. law (indirect)-- posted quote from Dr. King in this context.

G. Discrimination
1. Can be various levels: individual, group, institutional, which is the most significant.
2. Challenged notion of "reverse discrimination"

IV. Dr. Tatum's book (however far we get by Thursday, 10/16).


List of handouts:

1. Obama's speech on race (do not need to study)
2. Basic Definitions
3. AAA Draft Statement on Race
4. "All Brains Are the SAme Color" (generally)
5. "Racism Without Racists" (do not need to study; come back to later)

Of course, do not forget the blog material.


REMINDER: Look forward to receiving all your suggestions for midterm exam questions by roughly 1PM this afternoon (Wed.) See you tomorrow.

Quoted Passage & Reminders

In connection with my observations about the indirect role that law can play in overcoming prejudice, I quoted the following passage from Martin Luther King, Jr., which appears in his first book, Stride Toward Freedom:

"Government action is not the whole answer to the present crisis, but it is an important partial answer. Morals cannot be legislated, but behavior can be regulated. The law cannot make an employer love me, but it can keep him from refusing to hire me because of the color of my skin. We must depend on religion and education to alter the errors of the heart and mind; but meanwhile it is an immoral act to compel a man to accept injustice until another man's heart is set straight. As the experience of several northern states has shown, antidiscrimination laws can provide powerful sanctions against this kind of immorality."
"Moreover, the law itself is a form of education."

REMINDERS: First, continue reading in Dr. Tatum's book. Again, I hope to be able to get as far as the end of Part II (p. 90) by next Thursday. Second, the families got a start on making up midterm exam questions. The questions are to be short-answer, and in that context let me rule out either True-False or Multiple Choice questions. I will NOT accept either T-F or multiple-choice questions. We will try to wrap up that exercise next Tuesday and the questions should be submitted by next Wednesday.

Families' Main Points From the Video Series

I've looked over your revised main points from the three parts of the video series we saw and distilled them down to the following list. In a couple cases I spliced together two different points and I also made some minor changes in the revised points submitted. If I ask any questions on the midterm about this exercise, they will be based on this list. Of course, you are welcome to make up some questions as well based on this.

"Race: the power of an illusion"

Part 1: the difference between us

1. Even though we have determined that race is empty of any biological meaning, we must still acknowledge its significance as a social and historical concept that has real effects on people's lives, greatly contributing to determining where someone will live, what socio-economic class they will belong to, the quality of their education, etc..

2. Race is not based on biological differences. Just as the saying goes, "beauty is only skin deep," well, so is race.

3. There are no genetic markers that "define race." Instead, there are more differences within a so-called race than between them. Noah, a white male, found that he had many genetic similarities with individuals from Iceland, the Balkans, and Africa.


Part 2: the story we tell

1. Initially, Indians were thought to be able to assimilate, while blacks were not, based on the notion that culture and not race separated the Indians from whites.

2. Thomas Jefferson called upon science to prove the inherent inferiority of slaves so he could use the phrase "all men are created equal" in the Declaration of Independence without having to include slaves. The American race scientists' notion of race superiority turned out to be more a product of cultural bias than of fact.

3. The idea of race emerged as a justification for slavery and for dispossessing Native Americans of their land.


Part 3: the house we live in

1. Race is a social construction, as demonstrated by the fact that different states had different criteria to determine who was black. In Florida, for example, one had to be one-eighth African to be considered black, whereas in Virginia it was one-sixteenth and in Alabama it was ny African ancestry.

_______________________

Midterm Exam Date Change & Family Activity: Making Up Exam Questions

MIDTERM EXAM DATE CHANGE: After some further thought, I have decided to change the date of the midterm exam to TUESDAY, OCT. 21ST. Although this is after the mid-semester grading period and it will not be considered in the midterm grades, this will give us plenty of breathing space and a chance to get a bit farther into our first book, Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?. Also, it will give us more chance for review and avoid the Homecoming Hoopla. So again, instead of Oct. 14th, the midterm exam will be given on TUESDAY, OCT. 21ST.

FAMILY ACTIVITY: MAKING UP EXAM QUESTIONS: I will give the families some time in class next week (probably beginning on Thursday) to brainstorm some midterm exam questions. More specifically, I want each family to come up with THREE SHORT-ANSWER questions (and answers) based on anything we've covered in class since the beginning of the term. This would include: lecture notes including my comments on the video series, any handouts, however far we get in our book, and family points about the video series. You will need to come to some consensus on your three best questions. I will accept at least ONE question from each family. However, for each additional question I accept, that family will receive a bonus point. So, it is possible to earn 2 bonus points for this exercise and there will be the added advantage of knowing more of the questions on the test. I will give the families roughly 20 minutes on Thurs. 10/9 to confer and some time the following Tues. 10/14. ALL QUESTIONS MUST BE SUBMITTED AS A COMMENT ON THIS BLOG POST BY 1PM WEDNESDAY 10/15 --
NO EXCEPTIONS. I want to be able to look over your questions and make my selections by Thursday 10/16 when we will set aside some time for review. This activity is worth 3 points.

________________________

I will have your essays back on Tuesday, and please start bringing Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? to class next week.

Quote from "The Geometer of Race" on Race Theorist Johann Friedrich Blumenbach

As I noted yesterday, Blumenbach was the one responsible for using the term "Caucasian" to refer to Whites based on his belief that human origins can be traced to the Caucasus Mountain region of Georgia (southern Russia). Gould wrote:

"Blumenbach chose physical beauty as his guide to ranking. He simply affirmed that Europeans were the most beautiful, with Caucasians as the most comely of all. This explains why Blumenbach viewed all subsequent variation as departures from the originally created ideal -- therefore, the most beautiful people must live closest to our primal home."
"Blumenbach's descriptions are pervaded by his subjective sense of relative beauty, presented as though he were discussing an objective and quantifiable property, not subject to doubt or disagreement. He describes a Georgian female skull (Found close to Mount Caucasus) as 'really the most beautiful form of skull which...always of itself attracts every eye, however little observant.' He then defends his European standard on aesthetic grounds: 'In the first place, that stock displays...the most beautiful form of skull, from which, as from a mean and primeval type, the others diverge by most easy gradations...Besides, it is white in color, which we may fairly assume to have been the primitive color of mankind, since...it is very easy for that to degenerate into brown, but very much more difficult for dark to become white.'"

That is not all of what I quoted, but it makes the essential point which I am not sure I emphasized enough in class yesterday: that Blumenbach's supposed scientific judgment was not based on objective fact but subjective aesthetic opinion. As the video program also brought out, later American race scientists were also guilty of placing cultural biases above real science.

We'll get back to our Basic Definitions tomorrow.