Race, Reading, and Perspective

1. Race, Reading, and Perspective Race in the US

2. Sources • James A. Banks, UW Professor of Multicultural Education • George Lipsitz, The Possessive Investment in Whiteness, Professor of Black Studies UCSB • Danielle Allen, Talking to Strangers, Professor of Classics at Cambridge, Professor of Political Science at Harvard

3. My Story • Semi-poverty in LA • Private schools • College admittance • Buying a house • Despite my hard work, it wasn’t all me • I have benefitted from my whiteness in countless ways

4. Perspective is Important • Our experiences are real, valid • Others’ experiences are real, valid and different • Until we see and feel the world from opposite perspectives, we fail to see reality • Toni Morrison demands that we see the world from the perspective of her characters • Her characters experience our world from a perspective of color

5. Dominance and Acquiescence

6. Racism as We Know It (referential)

7. Definitions • Racism • A system of power and oppression based on differences of race • A structure that values whiteness over otherness • Acted upon personal hatred of someone of another race • The myth of “reverse-racism”

8. Two kinds of racism • Referential racism • That on the KKK, self-described white supremacists, burning crosses, etc. • Inferential racism • A system of structured inequality that shares blame but attributes causes to none

9. Modern Racism (inferential) OJ Simpson mugshot OJ Simpson mugshot (Time)

10. Modern Racism (inferential)

11. Modern Racism (inferential)

12. Discrimination • Actions by individuals manifesting racial biases • Any person, regardless of race, can discriminate against another based on personal biases

13. Prejudice • Natural and human biases we have to keep us from perceived dangers • Biases could be based on height, age, race, gender, etc. • Prejudices could be both good and bad impulses • We can unlearn unfounded prejudice

14. Stereotype • Creates a framework by which to judge another • When continued generationally, becomes the starting point for truth • Becomes what we see, not what actually is • Becomes our reality, allows us to continue to dominate groups justified with “evidence” through public policy • Creates cultural self-fulfilling prophecies

15. Laws of Equity/Equality Undermined • Two examples of laws meant to quell racism: • Federal Housing Act of 1934 • Brown vs. Board of Education decision of 1954

16. Federal Housing Act of 1934 • Result of New Deal legislation to expand home ownership • Meant to provide housing opportunities for millions of Americans who couldn’t afford to buy a house • Home ownership = personal wealth, generational advantage due to wealth

17. FHA Undermined • 1950s FHA funds funneled to suburban communities • 1939 FHA appraisers refused loans to Boyle Heights (LA) because neighborhood was diverse • Between 1934-1962, $120 billion worth of new housing loans…less than 2% went to non-white families • Between 1960-1977, 4 million whites moved out of inner city, during same time 22 million living in suburbs • During same time inner-city blacks grew by 6 million • By 1993, 86% of suburban whites lived in places with black population less than 1%

18. Why important? • Inner city areas have increase of… • Toxic waste dumps • Toxic environments • 71% blacks, 50% Latinos live in neighborhoods with highest air pollution • 60% blacks, Latinos live in communities with uncontrolled toxic waste sites

19. Why Important? • “The appreciated value of owner-occupied homes constitutes the single greatest source of wealth for white Americans. It is the factor most responsible for the disparity between blacks and whites in respect to wealth—a disparity between the two groups much greater than their differences in income” (Lipsitz 33). • Median prices of new homes rose by 230% between 1970-1988.

20. Brown vs. Board of Education • Decision stopped “separate but equal” myth of segregated schools • Forced integration of publicly funded schools—Central High School, Little Rock • Clark “doll” experiment • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybDa0gSuAcg&feature=related

21. Schools and Money • Most schools are funded through property taxes • Property taxes are assessed through the value of your home • Suburbs, where housing values have gone up by 230%, generate more revenue for schools • Suburb schools, overwhelmingly white, have more money for better facilities, better teachers, better everything.

22. Schools, Taxes, Neighborhoods • When neighborhoods are segregated • Schools are segregated • When schools are segregated • Students in highly diverse schools get less • Which means they inevitably have far feweropportunities for… • College, academic scholarships, upward mobility, etc, etc. • Creates a need for policies like Affirmative Action

23. Busing as the Solution • Busing keeps schools diverse • Discourages “white flight” • Forced busing (real integration) started in 1970s • Whites turn to the courts to stop busing, courts repeatedly acquiesced (‘68, ‘71, ‘74, ’77) • 2007 Seattle School District vs. Seattle Parents • Banned busing based on racial demographics

24. Integration in Bellevue • Following stats furnished by BSD: • 2003-2009 white population at Odle MS decreased from 57%-37% (379-250) • 2003-2009 Asian 26%-41%, Black 4% steady, Hispanic 6%-9%, Multi-ethnic 46%-69% • During same period Chinook MS, BHS, NHS all increased enrollment, esp. Chinook (600-900) • Most west of I-405 schools now closed to students NOT living in attendance area

25. The White Problem with Racism • Largely invisible privileges • Breeds narrow, referential definition/idea of racism • Breeds “color-blindness” myth as effort to show anti-racist attitudes • Leads to meritocratic notions of success between races yet true within • Inferential racism has become unconscious social norm

26. Examples • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2yaSuhmLk40&feature=related • 1947 film titled “How to be popular.”

27. Examples

28. Examples Barbie dolls Abercrombie & Fitch ad

29. Social Learning and Norms • What images of beauty, of normal are we sold? • How does it affect children, teen-agers, adults? • How are we taught and reinforced racial norms on a daily basis? • How are we taught to value whiteness?

30. Meritocracy? • List all the black non-athlete billionaires you know • List all the black US Senators you know • Raise your hand if your parents went to four-year college • Keep your hands raised if those schools have “legacy” admission policies • Count how many Hispanic/African American students are in your core classes • Count how many in your AP classes

31. Consider the implications • Are poor people really just lazy? • Are racial and ethnic minorities really “not as smart”? • Are blacks really more susceptible to committing crimes? • The answers to these questions deem our racial norms fantasy at best, destructive at worst.

32. Implications • Race is a social construct invented to dominate groups • The racialization of society is real (schooling, housing, media, racial norms, etc.) • The consequences of racial norms are real (A Girl Like Me, Barbie, Disney, prison sentences, etc) • Opportunity un-equal for non-whites • American meritocracy unfair standard, assumes same starting point

33. Implications for reading Morrison • Read generously, don’t deny experience • Listen to the story of each character to emphasize with perspective • Intentions are subjective • Motivations are complex • Tragedy is the struggle to choose when one has no real choices

34. Homework • Identify and analyze a racial norm promoted in mass media, or in the community, or in the mall. • Discuss how that norm affects/has affected your behavior and your notions of “normal” • Due Monday. • 1.5 pages long.