Results of First Family Exercise

Below are the results of our first family exercise. Both families did a good job on this and each of you will earn 6 activity points for this exercise. Please note that I did edit your submissions a bit, and in some cases added a few remarks of my own in parentheses. Also, remember that I may use some of these points to make up exam questions for the midterm exam which is still several weeks off.

"RACE: THE POWER OF AN ILLUSION"
Episode I: "the difference between us"

GREEN FAMILY: (1) The whole eugenics idea (and movement) of racial purification was the perfect excuse for the social injustices of the time (early 20th century); it served as a rationale for keeping the "races" segregated. (Not to mention being picked up by Nazi race scientists.)
(2) Jesse Owens, the champion track star, was a definite standout point. Because he was so superior to the competition, people thought he must have some inherent physical advantage. Scientists studied his body extensively but found no difference between him and non-black athletes. His coach explained his superior athletic abilities as being due to the fact that blacks were closer to the primitive.(Clearly a racist explanation.) Even today, blacks are stereotyped to be the best in sports because they are black, rather than recognizing them for other abilities.

RED FAMILY: (1)Race is a social construct which focuses on superficial physical differences such as skin color, and it is used to justify different treatment particularly of black and white people.
(2) Scientific research on genetic differences has shown that human beings are much more similar genetically than penguins which look very similar, yet most people continue to believe that there is substantial genetic differnce between different races. (To which I would add the finding of Dr. Lewintin, that there is more genetic variablity between any two people of a particular race than there is between two people of different races.)
(The above points are fine, although I was looking for something more historical.)


Episode 2: "the story we tell"

RED FAMILY: (1) Thomas Jefferson who said he had "a suspicion only" that blacks were inferior in body and mind called upon science to show this. And indeed scientists did "prove" this in a widely read book published in the middle of the 19th century called "Types of Mankind," and this served as a rationale for enslaving blacks.
(2) The idea that race has been used to achieve political and economic goals, such as in the case of the Cherokees. Despite the Cherokees best efforts to prove they were capable of being civilized on the white man's terms, they were forcibly removed from their homeland and relegated to an inferior racial status.

GREEN FAMILY: (1) (This first one is similar to #1 of the Red Family but much more detailed.) While Jefferson wrote that "all men are created equal," he also wrote in "Notes on the State of Virginia" that African Americans were inferior mentally and physically to people of other races. He left it to science to prove or disprove his theory. In the subsequent century, scientists, biased by their own racial prejudices, used pseudo-scientific methods (measuring skull size, etc.) to "prove" the inferiority of nonwhites. They spread this idea of deep racial differences, even the idea that races are different species, through popular magazines and newspapers which had a wide readership. In this way, Americans were taught that whites were inherently superior to non-whites, and that this was scientific fact and not opinion. They used this to justify slavery, the taking of Native American lands, and other injustices done to non-whites in the 19th century.
(2) Rudyard Kipling's poem, "The White Man's Burden," encouraged the idea that it was the duty of white people to conquer and "civilize" non-white peoples, such as those in the Philippines. The 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis featured a human exhibit in which white Americans were invited to observe people of different cultures and races in their "natural habitat." These people were displayed as curiosities to be pitied by the "civilized" whites, and were ranked in a hierarchy -- some classified as "barbarians," others as "savages," etc. This further encouraged the idea that different cultural groups had inherent, deep racial differences that made them either superior or inferior, and also encouraged American imperialism.


Episode III: "the house we live in"

GREEN FAMILY: (1) The FHA program was created in the 1930s and after WWII it provided loans to average Americans to purchase homes with the easiest credit terms in history. This allowed returning GIs to purchase homes for their families, however, blacks were not allowed to buy homes in the growing suburbs. And the FHA also restricted loans in predominantly black areas which were judged to be unstable areas. So, blacks were largely locked out of the suburban housing boom and were not able to build wealth the way whites were.
(2) In the section, "White by Law," they discussed what classified you as white or black. Different states had different formulas for who was considered black. In Virginia, if you had 1/16th black blood you were considered black, Florida, 1/8th, and Alabama, one drop. So by simply crossing a state line you could go from being black to white and vice versa (which underscores the notion that race is a social construction).

RED FAMILY: (1) Past discrimination in housing is reflected in continuing residential segregation and wealth disparity between blacks and whites. When Negroes moved into white neighborhoods, property values went down (largely due to whites leaving) and that is still the case in many areas in America today, surprisingly. In addition, Negroes were largely locked out of the suburban housing market and were forced into public housing (the projects) in cities. As a result several generations of blacks have grown up in these poor, often crime-ridden areas and they have not been able to build wealth through home ownership that whites were able to.
(2) (Your submitted statement was pretty vague, so I am going to re-word it to reflect what I think you had in mind.) "Whiteness" was identified by the privileged group of Americans as what they considered white. Such reasoning was used by the Supreme Court to deny Ozawa and Thind's efforts to be declared "white" and therefore be eligible to become naturalized citizens.
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That's it. Please incorporate the above points in your notes, along with my commentary which I will continue with next week.

Follow-up Quote & First Family Exercise

Before I get into an insightful quote which supports my comments in class today, let me remind you to scroll down to the previous blog post for a description of the "Get Your Feet Wet Exercise," which I'd like you to comment on by next Friday (9/17).

FOLLOW-UP QUOTE: Sociologist, Dr. Eduardo Bonilla-Silva, in his book, "Racism Without Racists," articulates well the point I was belaboring in class this morning that Whites in particular often do not think about race and ethnic relations as significant. He says,

"Nowadays, except for members of white supremacist organizations, few whites in the United States claim to be "racist." Most whites assert that they 'don't see color, just people;' that although the ugly face of discrimination is still with us, it is no longer the central factor determining minorities' life chances; and, finally, that like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., they aspire to live in a society where 'people are judged by the content of their character and not the color of their skin.' More poignantly, most whites insist that minorities (especially blacks) are the ones responsible for whatever "race problem" we have in this country. They publicly denounce blacks for "playing the race card," for demanding the maintenance of unnecessary and divisive race-based programs, such as affirmative action, and for crying "racism" whenever they are criticized by whites. Most whites believe that if blacks and other minorities would just stop thinking about the past, work hard, and complain less (particularly about racial discrimination), then Americans of all hues could 'all get along.'" (p.1)

And he went on to say: "But regardless of whites' "sincere fictions," racial considerations shade almost everything in America." (p.1) He then goes on to list the many socio-economic variables on which blacks lag far behind whites.

Finally, as we'll see in a few weeks, Dr. Beverly Tatum emphasizes how white teachers especially need to be aware of the prejudice and stereotypes minority students have to deal with.

PLEASE INCORPORATE THE ABOVE QUOTES IN YOUR NOTES ON THE RELEVANCE OF A COURSE IN RACE AND ETHNIC RELATIONS, WHICH I SPOKE ABOUT TODAY.


FIRST FAMILY EXERCISE:
Over the next two weeks, beginning next Tuesday (9/14), we are going to be seeing a three-part video series entitled, "Race: the power of an illusion." It challenges the whole notion of race and gives an overview of the pernicious effects of race theory and racism in America from our earliest days as a nation. Following the viewing of each part, I want each of the families to discuss what you saw and identify what you believe were the TWO most important historical facts or points and their significance for understanding race relations in our society today. Once you determine those two points, a designated family member should then EMAIL your comments to me and I will then edit them and eventually post them on this blog. Please be fairly succinct in stating these points -- no more than one paragraph each. At the conclusion of the series we'll review these points in class and I will add my own analysis of some of the key points in this video series. I may use some of the points you come up with as a basis for some questions on the midterm exam. This exercise is worth 6 activity points, and you have to be present and participating in order to earn those points.

Hope to see everyone next Tuesday.