Color-Blind RacismAfter Obama made it into office, the country entered a "post racism" mentality, where white people believe that race is not relevant in society anymore because there was a Black President. This is color-blind racism. Under this assumption, people started saying things like, "I'm not a racist, I have Black friends" and more. What is color blind racism according to Eduardo Bonilla-Silva?He believes that white people have created an explanation and justification of racial inequality that exculpates them from any responsibility for the status of BIPOC. Furthermore, white people rationalize minorities' contemporary status as the product of market dynamics, naturally occurring phenomena, and Black people's cultural limitations. Bonilla states that most whites would not identify themselves as racist, and instead claim that race is something irrelevant to today's society. We see it often, "I don't see color, I just see people". He further goes on to explain that while BIPOC will describe racism as a systemic or institutional problem, White people will instead say it is an effect of prejudice that happens to people here and there. Bonilla believes that "racism is a structure that is intertwined with a network of social, economic, and political entities with an overarching ideology that impacts the lives of all members of society, especially people of color" (Cutler 2015). This, however, paints racism as something that is hidden and behind the scenes. This in turn fails to recognize institutional discrimination and practices that have affected the participation and representation of BIPOC in the political realm. What are the 4 central frames of color-blind racism?Abstract Liberalism has the same goals as political and economic liberalism, which wish to deconstruct race. White people who view racism through this frame support things such as "equal opportunity" and believe that each person has a say in what choice to pick. They fail to recognize the discrimination that has left BIPOC without representation in society and in work organizations. Because of this, even if BIPOC have a choice, they have very limited choices. Naturalization is where white people believe racism is a natural phenomena. With this frame of thinking, whites view segregation as "just the way it is". Their reasoning boils down to "dogs and cats don't mix". Cultural Racism attributes racism to negative stereotypes of BIPOC cultures. This framework blames the victim, and believes that racial inequalities are due to the lack of effort from BIPOC. This framework also reinforces the "pull yourself up by the boot straps" which is a myth. The reality is, you cannot do this in a capitalist society where 1% hoards the wealth. Lastly, we have Minimization of Racism where people believe that racism and discrimination isn't actually a problem. This discredits BIPOC experiences around the entire country. It is used to ignore the reality of race in the USA. People with this view think race is a "thing of the past" and that people should get over it. They often claim that BIPOC are "playing the race card". As you can see, color-blind racism is something we deal with every day in our society. What rhetorical strategies do white people use to distance themselves from structural racism? - Paula Alejandra Norato Bonilla-Silva, E. (2017). Racism without racists: Color-blind racism and the persistence of racial inequality in America. Rowman & Littlefield. Kelly J. Cutler (2015) A Review of Racism Without Racists: Color-Blind Racism and the Persistence of Racial Inequality in America (4th ed.), Multicultural Perspectives, 17:4, 235-237, DOI: 10.1080/15210960.2015.1088310
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White fragility, and white privilegeThis week we take a look at white fragility and white privilege. White people in North America, especially in the United States live in an environment that protects them from race-based stress. It creates comfort for them and simultaneously lowers their ability to deal with race-based stress, which leads to what Robin DiAngelo describes as White Fragility. "White Fragility is a state in which even a minimum amount of racial stress becomes intolerable, triggering a range of defensive moves. These moves include the outward display of emotions such as anger, fear, and guilt, and behaviors such as argumentation, silence, and leaving the stress-inducing situation. These behaviors, in turn, function to reinstate white racial equilibrium" - Robin DiAngelo DiAngelo describes that white people living in these types of societies only deal with multicultural education because it is required by a job, or by a higher education institution. Often these courses use coded language that don't even address racism, changing "white", "over advantaged" and "privileged" to "urban", "inner city" and "disadvantaged". This type of "education" only works to reproduce conformable illusions that race and its problems are a "they/them" game, and not something white people have to deal with. What's worse, upon taking these courses many, (this goes to say, not all), white people stop interacting with discussion that address racism because they "already had a class on this" or "already know this". "Whiteness is a location of structural advantage, of race privilege. Second, it is a ‘standpoint,’ a place from which White people look at ourselves, at others, and at society. Third, ‘Whiteness’ refers to a set of cultural practices that are usually unmarked and unnamed." -Frankenberg (1993) White Fragility is a state in which even a minimum amount of racial stress becomes intolerable, triggering a range of defensive moves. Triggers to this state include:
In this state, white people are at a loss for how to respond in constructive ways, and therefore respond defensively. A Few Factors That Instill White Fragility Segregation
DiAngelo discusses more factors in her article White Fragility, linked below for your consumption. White RageCarol Anderson wrote for The Washington Post that what we saw during the Ferguson Missouri protests of 2014 was not and outbreak of Black rage, but instead that of white rage. Protests and looting are sure to capture the attention of news outlets nationwide, but the attention is not being directed at the real rage creating the problems: white rage. This happens in meetings when officials slash government payrolls, make it harder for BIPOC to vote, and more. This white rage is not on nationwide news because white rage "doesn't have to take to the streets and face rubber bullets to be heard". White rage has access to the police, the courts, legislatures, governors, and people of power that move for them. White rage is not new to the United States. It was present during the Civil War, and again during Brown v. Board of Education, most recently we saw it during Obamas election into the white house, and after the protests this summer for Breonna Taylor and George Floyd. "For every action of African American advancement, there's a reaction, a backlash" - Carol Anderson Many people (yes, white people), seem to think that progress brings peace and a perfect world with rainbows and everyone holding hands (ew, in the middle of a pandemic?). Well newsflash people, progress has always been faced with white rage. When slavery was made illegal, the South worked to reinscribe white supremacy and restore the hierarchy, with much resentment hanging in the air.
When Brown v. Board of Education happened, Black students trying to go to school were literally faced with bricks, signs, white people screaming and spitting at them, grabbing them and blocking their entry into schools. This country needs a retelling of their history in order to understand why the protests and the looting happening today are how progress has been made historically. I would like to end today's blog post by saying that I as a white Latina woman am glad that I have been in an environment where I am aware of racial tensions and the reality of people not only in this country, where things certainly seem to be horrible, but in the world. I appreciate those taking the time to read and learn with me, as we educate ourselves to create progress. This brings us to the end of this weeks CRT lesson. Please let us know below or on Instagram what you thought about week 5! DiAngelo, R. (2011). White fragility. The International Journal of Critical Pedagogy, 3(3). http://libjournal.uncg.edu/ijcp/article/download/249/116 Anderson, C. (August 29, 2014)“Ferguson isn’t about black rage against cops. It’s white rage against progress.” Washington Post: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/ferguson-wasnt-black-rage-against-copsit-was-white-rage-against-progress/2014/08/29/3055e3f4-2d75-11e4-bb9b-997ae96fad33_story.html?utm_term=.b8ce65b3ef53 - Paula Alejandra Norato This week we start to engage ideas around settler colonialism, and the ways the racialization of Indigenous peoples and enslaved Africans emerged with and through the process of colonization in (what is now known as) the United States. Often conversations about race and racism ignore indigenous peoples, or fail to address the role of ongoing settler colonialism in creating racial stratification. The readings offer theoretical foundations into understanding just what settler colonialism is (and what it shares and how it differs from other forms of colonialism), as well as two Indigenous scholars approaches to CRT and indigeneity. Native identity is both racialized and also political/legal (Native peoples in the US are considered a racial group as well as citizens of sovereign nations), which we will work to unpack and put in conversations about racial formations and the tenets of CRT. Questions to ask yourself this week: Whose land are you on? Which tribal nation(s) specifically? How are the Native people in your community represented (or not)? For non-Native people: in what ways have you benefitted and continue to benefit from settler colonialism? What is Settler Colonialism?It is a form of colonialism that seeks to replace the original population of the colonized territory with a new society of settlers. As with all forms of colonialism, it is based on exogenous domination, typically organized or supported by an imperial authority. This is something that we see frequently throughout history, especially when looking at European colonizers and their "founding" of the United States. But unfortunately, it is not something we are ever taught in history classes while learning about these eras. "Settler Colonialism is inherently eliminatory but not invariably genocidal" - Patrick Wolfe Wolfe believes that settler colonialism is not the same as genocide, even though they are often used as synonyms. They do however go hand in hand, as Wolfe believes settler colonialism is an indicator of genocide. It happens over an extended period of time, sometimes decades. Wolfe points out that while it is unfortunate that often settler colonialism is allowed to happen for such long periods of time, they are also a perfect time to prevent the aftermath, genocide. Wolfe gives Israel's dependence on Palestinian labor and congruent denial of their rights as an example of settler colonialism. While Israel depends on the manual labor from Palestinians, they deny their human rights by removing them from their own homes, displacing populations, firing upon unarmed Palestinians, and attacking hospitals with tear gas and firearms in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic. What is Decolonialism?"First and foremost, decolonization must occur in our own minds" -Waziyatawin and Michael Yellow Bird In Decolonization: Indigeneity, education & society by Tuck and Yang, we learn that decolonialism is not a metaphor, and is instead a practice. This practice in turn must foster critical thinking of oppression. It must encourage the rejection of colonial ways, which often were introduced after forcibly removing previous existing ways. The practice must embrace the Indigenous ways, according to Tuck and Yang. There are 5 conditions that have framed the struggle for decolonization.
-Tuck and Yang HomeworkNow that we have learned this, we have some homework for you. Start decolonization in yourself. How can you do this?
Find out whose land you are on. Which tribal nations specifically have claim to the land you now live on? You can find out by texting your town and state, "town, state" to 9073125085. After this, take time to research the tribal nations that the land pertains to. Were these things something you had ever heard of before? Why do you think it is not taught, even though it's part of the history of this country? For non-Native people specifically: in what ways have you benefitted and continue to benefit from settler colonialism? Thank you for taking the time to learn with us. Below are links to the sources we used. Let us know in the comments what you learn from your homework! Patrick Wolfe (2006) Settler colonialism and the elimination of the native, Journal of Genocide Research, 8:4, 387-409, DOI: 10.1080/14623520601056240 Tuck, E., & Yang, K. W. (2012). Decolonization is not a metaphor. Decolonization: Indigeneity, education & society, 1(1). http://decolonization.org/index.php/des/article/download/18630/15554 - Paula Alejandra Norato What is your prior experience with CRT? What experiences in your life have shaped your relationships to the course topic? How do your various identities intersect and inform your relationship to CRT? Comment your thoughts below this blog to start a discussion! Let's get into week 3 of going through Professor Keene's Introduction to Critical Race Theory. You had a bit of homework at the end of the last post, did you take the implicit bias tests? Take two Harvard Implicit Assumption Tests (IAT): https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/takeatest.html (“Race IAT” and “Native IAT”) Keene directs people to take these tests and then to read an article (link to article here) thereafter, which points out that while these tests blew up and seemed to be very revealing of society, they were actually rushed to be put out and are not representative of our implicit biases at all. The environment in which test takers are put in is not as controlled as it should be, and there are many more questions that should be asked to really gauge what the implicit biases a person holds are. Therefore, researchers deemed these tests to be ineffective. Why are they still up, you might ask? That is a question only Harvard can answer. Intersectionality, violence against women Women of minorities who end up seeking help in shelters often face more than one subordination, and often domestic abuse leads to them fleeing. But on top of this, they are burdened with poverty, unemployment, underemployment, child care responsibilities and lack of skills for job requirements. These women also face racial discrimination in housing and other aspects of their lives. The Immigration and Nationality Act put in place in 1990 stated that women immigrating to the states had to be "properly married" for two years before they could apply to become a citizen, and that once applying they needed application documents from both the spouse and the husband. This put many women in a difficult spot, as they had to choose between protection against their abusive husbands, or protection against deportation. Many chose to stay in the US. To escape abusive relationships at the time, women had to have evidence to support their claims from sources such as doctors notes, police reports, social service agencies and more. But these resources were not always available for all of these women. There is also the fact that culturally, admitting and reporting that a woman is in a battered situation is shunned. Unfortunately, we still see these stigmas in the Latinx community today. The politicization of Domestic Violence Researchers working on representing the true impact of domestic violence on communities in Los Angeles tried gaining access to statistics and reports on domestic violence in Black and Brown communities from the LAPD, but were told they could not gain access to these statistics for the following reasons:
Brief History of CRT It originated in the mid-1970's when Lawyers, activists and legal scholars across the country saw the civil rights era was stalling and was being rolled back. They needed new theories and strategies to approach racism, and so Critical Race Theory was born. It did not come out of the blue, and built on two already prominent movements, Critical Legal Studies and Radical Feminism. Critical Legal Studies contained the idea of legal indeterminacy, the idea that not every legal case has one correct outcome. You can decide most cases either way by emphasizing one side over the other. CRT founders also liked how CLS criticized history, and decided to carry that on within their own movement. Radical Feminism on the other hand provided CRT founders with insights into the relationship between power and the construction of social roles and the invisible collection of patterns and habits that make up the patriarchy. Critical Race Theory Beliefs
Why does it seem like there is a lack in understanding minority experiences from white populations? Critical race lawyers believe it is from lack of personal experience, and also a general lack of empathy. Because of this, CRT leaders believe there is power in storytelling. If compelling and engaging, it allows viewers to enter and experience a world that they would otherwise not be exposed to. Storytelling can also serve as support for people who are suffering in silence. Knowing that other people are going through similar struggles is empowering, and takes away the shame and isolation one feels when struggling in silence. But story telling can also be used in a negative way, like how stories told by society about Black and Brown communities being violent and criminals affects the opinions of a jury or judge before a case can even be made for clients. The rest of Critical Race Theory: An introduction by Delgado and Stefanic cover topics such as intersectionality, anti-essentialism, cultural nationalism, "critical white studies", CRT criticism, and more. You can find the book for free at the link at the end of the blog, but in the meantime, think of some answers to the following questions posed by Professor Keene and post them in our comments. Thank you for taking the time to learn with us, and we will see you again! Written By: Paula Norato Discussion Questions
Book: Delgado, R., & Stefancic, J. (2017). Critical race theory: An introduction. NYU Press. (available online through Brown) Full text PDF: https://uniteyouthdublin.files.wordpress.com/2015/01/richard_delgado_jean_stefancic_critical_race_thbookfi-org-1.pdf Welcome back to our weekly posts on Critical Race Theory! For the second week, professor Keene recommended 5 different articles to read through and learn about the definitions of race. As always, this is all information taken from Keene's website, and paraphrased from academic resources that she provides. If you would like to learn more, please visit her official class page HERE. What even is race? Week 2 takes a look at race as a social construct, and how it exists in our everyday lives. The first article recommended by Keene, "Racial Formation in the United States'' by Michael Omi and Howard Winant addresses the origins and development of the race definition. The article starts by recounting a trial led by Susie Guillory Phipps who unsuccessfully sued the Louisiana Bureau of Vital Records to change her racial classification from Black to White. Phipps claimed that the 1/32 amount of Black in her blood should not immediately make her all Black. A retired professor brought in to support her case stated that every White person has 1/20 African descent in them, so to claim themselves as White when they had more of a reason to be Black than Phipps was wrong. The case, of course, was denied. Omi and Winant state that race is a modern phenomenon, which all started when religion got involved. Europeans started conquering new worlds, and discovering that there was more diversity in the human race than they initially thought. They began to ask if God had created more than one species of a man. Were the natives redeemable souls? The church and society conveniently labeled themselves as "children of God", making everyone not European "other". This made it much easier to deny them rights, take their lands, and enslave them. Scientists have tried to rank the "variations" of humankind, as race was originally thought of as a biological concept. But as we know today, race defies biological definition, it is a social concept (Omi & Winant, 2004). Biological explanations were then thrown out the window by the social sciences, looking for a social concept instead. Scientists like Franz Boas did not see the connection between race and culture, and rejected the idea of higher and lower cultural groups. "…race is indeed a pre-eminently socio-historical concept" (Omi & Winant, 2004). Race in the US is seen clear as day, with a rigid line drawn by society and those in power. The Black and White line has existed for centuries, and any racial mixture in an individual makes them "nonwhite". This reinforces the idea that being White is being "pure", which then reinforces the "one drop" rule, where one drop of another race, other than white, makes you other. When you compare this to race in Latin America, you see a contrast in approach. There is an absence of sharply defined racial groupings, where we see countries like Brazil have intermediate racial categories. This means while parents can be of one race, their own children could be of a different one (mixed is a different race). "Our compass for navigating race relations depends on preconceived notions of what each specific racial group looks like" - Omi & Winant, 2004 Let's look at how race exists in the US "Race may be America's single most confounding problem, but the confounding problem of race is that few people seem to know what race is" - Ian F. Haney López In "The Social Construction of Race," López defines race as "…neither an essence nor an illusion, but rather an ongoing, contradictory, self-reinforcing, plastic process subject to the macro forces of social and political struggles of the micro effects of daily decisions." López analyzes the case of Ozawa v. United States, where Japan born Takao Ozawa applied for naturalization in 1922. He made the case that he should be a citizen, which at this time also meant one had to be White, because he was white in color, in fact whiter than a Caucasian man. Ozawa also stated that race shouldn't matter when it comes to citizenship, and what should matter is belief. Someone who will work hard and wants to contribute should be allowed to be American. The supreme court, surprise, did not approve his case. They claimed he was not Caucasian, so he was not White, and could therefore not be a citizen. Ozawa, they claimed, was scientifically Mongolian. Shortly after, an Indian immigrant and Navy veteran tried applying to citizenship, stating that science said he was Caucasian. The court got around this by saying that being White is not about science, but about what the "common man" would agree upon, which is subjective. The Supreme court went against their previous statement that race was based on science. Racial Formation "race must be viewed as a social construction… human interaction rather than natural differentiation must be seen as the source and continued basis for racial categorization" - Ian F. Haney López What does the above mean? That racial formations stand on their own as a part of societal forces. López states that there are four important facets of racial formation.
Written By: Paula Norato If you want to learn more about the resources we have used for this blog, please check the links below. Follow along as we study Critical Race Theory with Professor Keene from Brown University! Introduction to Critical Race Theory, 2017, Brown University Adrienne Keene, Assistant Professor of American Studies and Ethnic Studies at Brown University An Introduction to Critical Race Theory MURAL's Tu Lucha Es Mi Lucha, Your Fight Is My Fight is a campaign geared towards standing in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement. For the next following weeks, we will be following along to the syllabus provided by Adrienne Keene, Assistant Professor of American Studies and Ethnic Studies at Brown University. She has made her class on Critical Race Theory free and accessible for everyone. Her site includes PowerPoints, academic readings, and more, and is linked both above and at the end of this blog. Please keep in mind that this blog series will be pulling information from both Keene's PowerPoints and the sources she provides, and there is no contribution on our part to adding into the resources. All credits go to Professor Keene. With that being said, let's jump right in. What is Critical Race Theory? It recognizes that racism is endemic to American life, meaning it is original and belonging to the American life. CRT expresses skepticism towards dominant legal claims of legality, neutrality, colorblindness and meritocracy. What does that even mean? It means the system is not neutral, and it is not color blind; it puts Black people at a disadvantage. CRT challenges a lack of concern for history, tradition, and historical development. Instead, CRT insists on contextual analysis of history; you need the whole story to know the truth. This theory states that racism has contributed to all contemporary manifestations of group advantage and disadvantage, and it insists on recognition of experiential learning of Black people and our communities of origin in analyzing law and society. It is interdisciplinary, and works to eliminate racial oppression as part of a broader goal of eliminating all oppression (Matsuda 1933). Why is CRT important, and why is it useful? CRT gives us a lens from which to understand policy, media, politics, interactions, and more. It acts as a toolkit to use when navigating institutions, and creates space to normalize racism and talk about lived realities. It is both important and useful because it provides an academic framework for talking about racism. In the first introduction week, Professor Keene recommends people read Derrick Bell's, "Who's Afraid of Critical Race Theory", provided in a link below. We took a look at an interview of Bell led by host David R. Jones, President and CEO of the Community Service Society of New York, where they discuss racism in 1922. Derrick Bell was one of the founder of CRT, and had been dismissed from teaching at Harvard after protesting their lack of diversity and their purposeful ignorance on racism at their institution. Bell starts off by talking about how there are repeating fluctuations of periods of times where the activism and protests that fight oppression and racism rise, and then fall again. "The Constitution technically gives Black people rights" but now that they legally exist, the rest is up to them. So we are led to consider, who is going to enforce the laws? And if those who enforce the law are oppressors themselves, then who is going to hold them accountable? Bell picks apart a common racist argument that stands against affirmative action, where those that defend it fall back on false science. They claim that some races are placed as "smarter, higher IQ, stronger, healthier, etc." and others are placed below them. Bell argues that you could essentially switch their argument around; instead of saying Black people have lower IQ's, you could say they have higher IQ's and therefore do not need help from affirmative action. This in itself proves their "science" wrong, and shows the intentions behind it, which is anti-Black. On a similar note, Chinese Exclusion used to be backed by science, by professors from our very own Yale University in Connecticut. They claimed that bumps on the heads of Chinese immigrants proved they were more violent and more likely to engage in sexual assault. Derrick Bell on "Making a Change" "In any catastrophe, there is opportunity" - Bell Bell states that to make a change, you have to start at the individual level. He explains that when someone stands up to racism and oppression, in spite of everyone else's silence, they will be met with retaliation and negative effects from people in power who oppose them. Regardless, it is still very important to stand up as an individual. Bell states, "you cannot wait for other leaders to step up and lead the way", you have to take action in whatever way you can.
Keep in mind that this interview happened in 1992. Jones and Bell lead the discussion to that of the future, where it is predicted that the minority will overcome the majority, (then it was projected to happen around 2020, it is now projected to happen around 2050 according to PEW). But Bell states that this will not matter if we have other minority communities arriving and living in the States, thinking that they are above Black people. This is why solidarity is important. Bell ends the interview by pondering what the big hurdles will be, and states that getting White communities to face the problems that their predecessors have refused to acknowledge will be one of the biggest. Written By: Paula Norato If you want to learn more about the resources we have used for this blog, please check the links below. Follow along as we study Critical Race Theory with Professor Keene from Brown University! Introduction to Critical Race Theory, 2017, Brown University Adrienne Keene, Assistant Professor of American Studies and Ethnic Studies at Brown University "On Racism" Host, David R. Jones, President and CEO of the Community Service Society of New York with Derrick Bell, a founder of Critical Race Theory PEW Research Center, "A Milestone En Route to a Majority Minority Nation" |
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