FAMILY QUESTIONS FOR THE FINAL EXAM

Below are the family questions (and answers) that will be on the final exam. You'll note that I also did some editing. Remember that our exam is scheduled for Thursday, 12/15 from 9-12, and you may drop in to ask questions on Wednesday, 12/14 from 12-2. I will be in our classroom (Main 122) or in my office (Main 121) during that time.


ORANGE FAMILY (Emily, Shelby, T.J., Brianna, Ethan) earn 6 activity points.

1. Michelle Alexander uses the term "RACIAL CASTE" to describe the group of people being affected by mass incarceration. What does this mean? (1)

ANSWER: A racial caste is a stigmatized racial group locked into an inferior position by law and custom.

2. In Chapter 3 of Dr. Tatum's book, she quotes David Mura who describes interracial friendships that lack genuine authenticity. What point does Mura make? (1)

ANSWER: These are friendships where a person of color has to present a version of himself or herself that he or she thinks will please his or her white friends.

3. Identify THREE of the seven parallels between mass incarceration and Jim Crow which Michelle Alexander discusses in Chapter 5. (3)

ANSWER: Any three of the following: (1) historical parallels, (2) legalized discrimination, (3) political disenfranchisement, (4) exclusion from juries, (5) closing the courthouse doors, (6) racial segregation, (7) symbolic production of race.


BLUE FAMILY (Mimi, Mary Katherine, Krystal, Jarell, Julisa) earn 6 activity points, plus 1 bonus point.

1. (fill-in-the-blank) "The stigma of race was once the shame of the slave, then (in the context of Jim Crow) it was the shame of the second-class citizen; today the stigma of race is the shame of the _______________________." (1)

ANSWER: criminal

2. (fill-in-the-blank) Michelle Alexander explains that if 100% of the individuals charged with drug crimes were African American, then the veil of ______________________ would be lost. (1)

ANSWER: colorblindness

3. How is it that Asian Americans occupy a space between black and white? (2)

ANSWER: Because they are regarded as neither "American" (associated with white, nor "minority" (associated with black), hence they are "gray."

4. Basically, what did the New Jersey study of racial profiling find, as Michelle Alexander notes in Chapter 3 of "The New Jim Crow?" (1)

ANSWER: Whites were actually MORE LIKELY than people of color to be carrying illegal drugs or contraband in their vehicles.


GREEN FAMILY (Jared, Jessi, Nygia, Lucy) earn 6 activity points.
(Note: None of your questions were very good, but I was able to salvage a couple of them.)

1. Chapter 3 of "Yellow," The Perpetual Foreigner: Yellow Peril in the Pacific Century, opens with Frank Wu talking about a "pet peeve" of his (and many Asian Americans). What is this pet peeve, and how does it illustrate the title of this chapter? (2)

ANSWER: the pet peeve of being asked where he is REALLY from (or the observation that he speaks such good English, even though he was born here), the assumption being that no matter how long Asian Americans have been in America they are seen as "perpetual foreigners."

2. Basically, how does Frank Wu view the rise of interracial marriages and the mixed race movement? (2)

ANSWER: "...they are certainly positive, but no panacea."
_________________________________

That's all folks. See you Thursday.