what is racism

SevenOneEighty wrote: Not sure what started all of this ...

daver wrote: Mods, is this the sort of "hate speech" that you are going to let stand on these boards?

queencallipygos wrote: daver, I think complaints to the mods may be more effectively done through private messages...if they don't know to look in a particular place, they wouldn't be seeing your complaint either, if you think about it.

I mean, they're working hard, but they're not quite omnipresent yet.

apollonia666 wrote: Sorry this is all taking so long, daver. The mods and admins have been discussing what the fairest way of dealing with this whole mess can be, and getting consensus among this many people takes some time. We are working on it, I promise.

queencallipygos wrote: [quote=daver]Discussion could certainly be productive. What has been going on here is NOT discussion, it is spewing of ugly racist ideas and thoughts.

daver wrote: [quote=queencallipygos][quote=daver]Discussion could certainly be productive. What has been going on here is NOT discussion, it is spewing of ugly racist ideas and thoughts.

daver wrote: I think that any argument steeped in "400 years of repression" is bound to fail. I can certainly understand the points of institutional racism and that sort, but at some point, all people must accept responsibility for their own destinies and move forward.

Subject: Re: what is racism

annoyed wrote: DEFINING RACISM

The following definitions, provided by educator Louise
Derman-Sparks, may be helpful in gaining a better
understanding of why prejudice and racism are not
synonymous:

PREJUDICE: belief in stereotypes
BIGOTRY: belief in White supremacy
RACISM: attitude, action, or way of life whose outcome
oppresses people of color and benefits White people,
regardless of stated intent.
WHITE PRIVILEGE: the consequences of historical
institutionalized racism; the benefits that Whites
receive (economic, social, cultural, political).
(Source: Derman-Sparks, Louise, and Carol Brunson
Phillips. Teaching/Learning Anti-Racism: A
Developmental Approach. New York: Teachers College,
Columbia University, 1997, page 74.)


THE MYTH OF REVERSE RACISM

REVERSE RACISM?
"Why is it so difficult for many white folks to
understand that racism is oppressive not because white
folks have prejudicial feelings about blacks, but
because it is a system that promotes domination and
subjugation? The prejudicial feelings some blacks may
express about whites are in no way linked to a system
of domination the affords us any power to coercively
control the lives and well-being of white folks. That
needs to be understood" (bell hooks 1995: 154).

SEPARATISM?
"Concurrently, all social manifestations of black
separatism are often seen by whites as a sign of
anti-white racism, when they usually represent an
attempt by black people to construct places of
political sanctuary where we can escape, if only for a
time, white domination" (bell hooks 1995: p155).

BLAMING THE VICTIM
“People who have not thought about or refuse to
acknowledge this imbalance of power/privilege often
want to talk about the racism of people of color. But
then, that is one of the ways racism is able to
continue to function. You look for someone to blame
and you blame the victim, who will nine times out of
ten accept the blame out of habit” (Gloria Yamato
2001: p93).


References:
hooks, bell. Killing Rage: Ending Racism. New York:
Henry Holt and Company, 1995.

Yamoto, Gloria. "Something About the Subject Makes it
Hard to Name" in in Race, Class, and Gender: An
Anthology, 4th Edition. by Margaret L. Andersen, and
Patricia Hill Collins, eds. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth,
2001.
Brought to you by Claremont SCRAP – Students
Challenging Racism and (White) Privilege.
www.canopyweb.com/racism
THE MYTH OF REVERSE RACISM…AT POMONA?

White Pomona Students Give Examples of “Racism” at
Pomona College:*
“I feel like I am left to associate with most by my
race because others are more exclusive.”
“Organizations (such as AAMP) that discuss racial
issues, but serve to promote uni-racial mingling,
don't really help.”
“I have experienced a kind of reverse racism because I
am white. It was a surprise that I wasn't racist, that
I had dated people of other races, and thought it was
ok.”
“The only incidents I have been privy to are from some
members of Asian organizations not wanting to interact
with outsiders from their class.”
“Lunchroom: entirely white except for one table with
only Black kids and scattered Asians in small groups.”
“In my hall, the one Black kid tends to chill with
only the other darker-skinned girl.”
“Why do the Black students get together? Why are
Asians so annoying in groups?”
Are these students really describing racism….or the
effects of it?
*Source of Quotes: Pomona College Students’ Opinions
on Race and Racism, 2002.




The Perils of Colorblindness


1. “When whites claim to not notice others’ race, as
in ‘I didn’t even notice she was Black,’ there is an
implicit ideology of white as the norm” (O’Brien 46).

2. “With [colorblindness], we are told that all people
are the same under the skin and that we all have the
same equal chances of making it. Therefore, the
'logic' continues, if a minority person fails to
achieve, then the blame lies solely with the
individual” (Rodriguez 8).

3. “The rhetoric of colorblindness enables Whites to
erase from consciousness not only the history of
racism and how that history plays itself out
economically, politically, socially, and culturally in
the present; such an insidious discourse also
dissuades both the individual and institutions from
engaging in antiracist strategies for dismantling
white privilege and for reworking the terrain of
whiteness” (Rodriguez 8).

4. “Colorblindness justifies withdrawal from social
action by assuming that racism will cease to exist
when people stop noticing racial and cultural
differences” (Dernman-Sparks and Phillips 52).

5. “Colorblindness obscures the reality of
institutional racism by attributing the source of the
problem to seeing differences rather than to a system
that denies certain racial groups equitable economic
and political gain” (Dernman-Sparks and Phillips 52).

References:
Derman-Sparks, Louise, and Carol Brunson Phillips.
Teaching/Learning
Anti-Racism: A Developmental Approach. New York:
Teachers College, Columbia University, 1997.
O'Brien, Eileen. Whites Confront Racism: Antiracists
and Their Paths to Action. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman &
Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2001.
Rodriguez, Nelson M. "Projects of Whiteness in a
Critical Pedagogy." in Dismantling White Privilege:
Pedagogy, Politics, and Whiteness, by Nelson M.
Rodriguez and Leila E. Villaverde, eds., New York:
Peter Lang, 2000.


Understanding is Empowering


Talking about racism is often scary, and many people
want to avoid such discussions at all costs. However,
as some students have discovered, talking about race
and racism can be empowering. Gaining the right
language and analytical tools for understanding racism
is the starting point for honestly confronting and
challenging it.

1. “My classes gave me a much fuller and more nuanced
view of racism and how it can function within
society.”
2. “Uncovered to me the idea of White privilege as the
driving force behind racism, not personal prejudice.”
3. “These classes have helped me better understand
what difficulties others face and how I may have
unconsciously benefited from and contributed to the
problem.”
4. “Made me realize maybe "colorblindness" isn't the
answer.”
5 “I have learned a lot about my own assumptions and
interactions with people of other races. I've also
learned about my advantages as a "white" person as
well as my disadvantages.”
6 “It really made me reconsider how I viewed racism
and helped me see it was something that directly
affected me instead of some distant evil.”
7. “I have become much more aware of specific social
institutions and history that inhibit minorities and
of what can be done to change them.”
*Source of Quotes and Data: Pomona College Students’
Opinions on Race and Racism, 2002. [A total of 257
Pomona College students responded to this survey.]




WHAT IS WHITENESS?


“White in America has always signified who is entitled
to privilege. In this sense, the phrase ‘white
privilege’ is a redundancy [since] Whiteness has
always signified worthiness, inclusion and acceptance”
(John A. Powell, quoted in Roediger.)

"The white privilege of universalizing its
characteristics as the 'proper ways to be' has
continuously undermined the efforts of non-Whites in a
variety of spheres. At times such universal norms have
produced self-loathing among individual members of
minority groups, as they internalize the shibboleths
of the white traditions - 'I wish my eyes were blue
and my hair were blond and silky'" (Kincheloe and
Steinberg 179).

"Whiteness has historically been appropriated in
unmarked ways by strategically maintaining as
colorless its color (and hence its values, belief
systems, privileges, histories, experiences, and modes
of operation) behind its constant constructions of
otherness" (Rodriguez 1).

“It must be remembered that the white group of
laborers, while they received a low wage, were
compensated in part by a sort of public and
psychological wage. They were given public deference
and titles of courtesy because they were white”
(W.E.B. Du Bois, quoted in Roediger).

“Whiteness, as a set of normative cultural practices,
is visible most clearly to those it definitively
excludes and those whom it does violence. Those who
are securely housed within its borders usually do not
examine it” (Frankenberg 228-229).


WHY SHOULD WE TALK ABOUT WHITENESS?

“Whiteness refers to a set of locations that are
historically, socially, politically, and culturally
produced and, moreover, are intrinsically linked to
unfolding relations of domination. Naming ‘whiteness’
displaces it from the unmarked, unnamed status that is
itself an effect of dominance….To look at the social
construction of whiteness, then, is to look head-on at
a site of dominance. (And it may be more difficult for
white people to say ‘Whiteness has nothing to do with
me – I’m not white’ than to say ‘Race has nothing to
do with me – I’m not racist.’) To speak of whiteness
is, I think, to assign everyone a place in the
relations of racism. It is to emphasize that dealing
with racism is not merely an option for white people –
that, rather, racism shapes white people’s lives and
identities in a way that is inseperable from other
facets of daily life” (Frankenberg 6).

References:
Frankenberg, Ruth. White Women, Race Matters: The
Social Construction of Whiteness. Minneapolis:
University of Minnesota Press, 1993.

Kincheloe, Joe L. and Shirley R. Steinberg.
"Constructing a Pedagogy of Whiteness for Angry White
Students." in Dismantling White Privilege: Pedagogy,
Politics, and Whiteness, by Nelson M. Rodriguez and
Leila E. Villaverde, eds., New York: Peter Lang, 2000.

Rodriguez, Nelson M. and Leila E. Villaverde, eds.
Dismantling White Privilege: Pedagogy, Politics, and
Whiteness. New York: Peter Lang, 2000.

Roediger, David R., ed. Black on White: Black Writers
on What it Means to Be White. New York: Schocken
Books, 1998.





TALKING ABOUT RACE:

Pomona College Students Say:
“The discussions of racism and the power structure
that maintains it shouldn't be one day or one event,
and can't really be addressed by taking one class that
looks at these issues. It should be a daily, ongoing
discussion inherent to our classes and our social
lives.”

“Pomona College needs to have professors included in
the dialogue to educate people on [race and racism]
issues. And people of color should not have to
shoulder the burden to teach the White people.”

“I feel that White (racially privileged) individuals,
myself included, should step up and organize events
addressing race issues.”

“I think Pomona should continue race dialogue, but
give positive suggestions for things that can be done.
Nothing is accomplished when White people just feel
guilty. Guilt paralyzes, it doesn't produce action.”

“Many students, especially White ones, don't want to
talk about race. If we can't deal with it in the
classroom, how can we face it in the ‘Real World’?”

“Day of Dialogue is good in its intention but doesn't
usually accomplish anything because people of both
sides are too afraid of offending each other.”




Anti-Racism Checklist
Are you ready to start actively challenging racism?
Have you already started? Here’s a checklist to keep
you on the right track. Check all that apply.*



I have aggressively sought out more information in an
effort to enhance my own awareness and understanding
of racism (talking with others, reading, listening).


I have spent time recently in looking at my own
attitudes and behavior as they contribute to or combat
racism around me.


I have reevaluated my use of terms or phrases that may
be perceived as degrading or hurtful to others.


I have openly disagreed with a racist comment, joke,
or action by someone around me.


I have made a personal contract with myself to take a
positive stand, even at some possible risk, when the
chance occurs.


I have become aware of racist TV programs,
advertising, and news broadcasts, and I have
complained to those responsible.


I have taken steps to implement discussions with
friends, colleagues, social clubs, or church groups,
aimed at understanding racism.


I have been investigating political candidates at all
levels in terms of their stance and activity against
racist government practices.


I have investigated local school curricula in terms of
their treatment of the issue of racism (also
textbooks, assemblies, faculty, staff,
administration).


I have contributed time and/or money to an agency,
fund, or program that actively confronts the problems
of racism.
My school or other place of employment is a target for
my educational efforts in responding to racism.


I have become seriously dissatisfied with my own level
of activity in combating racism.


Additional ideas from Claremont SCRAP:
I have kept a close eye on assumptions I make about
other students based on their skin color.


I have asked my professors to address the topics of
racism and Whiteness in my classes.


I have made it a point to notice inequalities in
society and critically question their origins and
underlying causes.


I am cultivating my ability to feel empathy for all
people. Racism makes me mad!


I don’t assume that all students at the Claremont
Colleges are all middle to upper class, or that they
have had all the same opportunities I had growing up.


I have gone to events, lectures, or workshops that
address racism.


I read all of SCRAP’s table tents and have visited
their website.


I challenge White students to rethink their
assumptions when they say things like: “It’s reverse
racism when all the students of color hang out
together. Why do they have those separatist cultural
organizations? There should be a Caucasian American
Mentor Program!”


I challenge students who think that the problem of
racism will just “go away” if we could all just become
“colorblind.”


I have realized that it is not the job of people of
color to educate the world about racism.



* Source of checklist:

National Education Association. Education and Racism:
An Action Manual.


http://canopyweb.com/racism/