Lecture Notes on the "Better Model of Institutional Racism" & Reminders

We left off yesterday (12/1) talking about the Better Model of Institutional Racism (p. 25), so let me pick up with that and also incorporate some comments about Douglas Blackmon's book, "Slavery By Another Name," featured in that video segment from Bill Moyers' Journal.

C. Dr. Better's "Better Model of Institutional Racism" involves three key components: (1) Economic Privilege, (2) Social Privilege, (3) Psychic Rewards.

(1) Economic Privilege -- there is no better example of how institutional racism confers benefits on the dominant group than the enslavement of Africans in America.

a. In this context, she makes an important historical argument that it was not ideas of racial inferiority of Africans that led to the slave trade, but rather that the establishment of the slave trade that led to the view of enslaved Africans as being inferior (which is similar to my earlier point about discrimination contributing to prejudice or reinforcing it). And as we've noted before, race theories emerged in the 19th century to justify this institution; that is, racism came after slavery.

b. Dr. Better contends that Jim Crow laws were just a continuation of the slave system without slave owners. (Which brings up the relevance of Douglas Blackmon's book, "Slavery By Another Name." Recall that Blackmon noted how after the Civil War and especially after Reconstruction, the South which, as he put it, was "addicted to slave-forced labor" found a way to re-institute forced labor via the criminal justice system. "Black codes" (similar to previous slave codes) were passed which essentially criminalized black life. For example, laws against vagrancy were easily applied to blacks, and over several decades (up to World War II) thousands were caught up in this and were placed in forced labor camps in which their labor was exploited and they were treated with brutality, not all that different from slavery. He noted how blacks worked in a brick factory outside of Atlanta which provided many of the bricks which literally built the city; also they worked in awful conditions in the coal mines outside of Birmingham, AL.. This placed thousands of blacks at a tremendous disadvantage in terms of being able to accumulate wealth and access to education. And this took place not 150 years ago or more, but barely 70 years ago.)

c. Dr. Better also points out how a "two-tier labor system" is also a reflection of this institutionalized racism where minorities are largely relegated to the lower-tier jobs and are often used to keep wages low (Latinos today).

(2) Social Privilege - she identifies a social ideology which has favored whites. Whiteness associated with goodness, virtue; and even poor whites buy into this because it gives them some advantage over poor black folks.

(3) Psychic Rewards - similar to Social Privilege. Internal satisfaction whites, especially poor, working-class whites, derive from being white.

D. She provides a diagram of the Better Model (p. 30) emphasizing the particular significance of economic privilege (over social & psychic) in the persistence of racism, and of course, the importance of institutional over individual racism. (But let me interject a critical comment about her diagram: it is incomplete, there are no arrows or any other suggestion of exactly how Economic Privilege (and the two other components) relate to the rest of the diagram.)

1. In discussing individual racism, she also stresses that to be racist one must ACT out your negative feelings toward another group. BIGOTRY is the state of mind. Need to distinguish negative feelings or thoughts from actions, especially institutional actions which are much more consequential.

E. Finally, she justifies this whole discussion of racism by noting the importance of having a clear definition -- that "too many disparate feelings and actions are being labeled "racist" in our society."

1. She concludes by cautioning people of color against "playing the victim" -- acquiescing to one's oppression and whites' feelings of guilt -- need to confront this history of oppression honestly.
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That's all for lecture notes, which brings us up to Chapter 3 (p. 37)

REMINDERS: INTERVIEW PAPER/PRESENTATIONS DUE TOMORROW, 12/3. Remember, I expect everyone to be ready to give your brief presentation on your interview whether you are ready to turn in the paper or not.

ESSAY III (DESCRIBED ON NOV. 20TH BLOG POST) IS DUE NEXT TUESDAY, 12/8.