Teaching Sociology: The Illusion of Race & The Reality of Racism

In my Introduction to Sociology courses, I dedicate three weeks to theoretical and practical examinations of race and racism.  This section tends to be the most difficult for students because it brings to the surface all sorts of suppressed and contradictory thoughts and emotions on the topics of race and related issues.

To start, we define the meaning of terms we commonly (mis)use for the benefit of a historically accurate conversation.  We have come to a consensus that getting a dirty look is not racism, while being followed in store and label suspicious could very well be indicative of racism.  We have also drawm a very important distinction between personal racism and institutional racism.

We watch the PBS documentary "Race: The Power of an Illusion" and discuss the false believe that groups of people are vastly different on a biological level.  From here we transition to racism as a social reality in our society and how that is directly related to the creation of race as biology.  My greatest teaching aid continues to be the society in which we live.  Black and Latino working class people continue to bear the brunt of violence, whether it be poverty related or institutional.  Every day we see the social realities of homelessness, mass incarceration, drug use, gun violence, police abuses, gender-based violence, etc. and pick apart how all these sociological issues are related.

We also look at how lies about race and racism are spread through the stories taught in our American national tradition.  We explore how all of us have internalized the image of what criminals, terrorists, angels, and our God(s) look like, and talk about the racialized history of these images.  The goal is to get to the root of where these perceptions, believed to be "fact," emerged and who benefits from their perpetuation.  This brings to light that we are all affected by race and racism because it is a part of our lives, our early teachers, and our ongoing ignorance of some very important realities.  Toward this goal, I assign students an excerpt of a book by Eduardo Bonilla-Silva titled Racism With Racists: Color-Blind Racism and the Persistence of Racial Inequality in the United States.

Lastly, we talk about the difference between passively not being racist and being an active anti-racist.  For me, the difference is the call to action that anti-racism implies.  It includes first thinking about these issues that we see in the news and on the internet, talking about them in our social circles, building coalitions with others either in the classroom or out to communicate our anti-racist allegiance, and finally, finding an active outlet to to use our collective voices and hands to change the present reality.   For this, we look at historical and present day examples of multiracial, inter-generational, international anti-racist fight back.  From the brave young people who participated in the Freedom Rides (Eyes On The Prize, PBS documentary) to the international support of community members in Ferguson, MO, we discuss how change is made everyday by first small then coordinated larger actions.

I wanted to share my take on how to tackle these very serious issues in a short amount of time with other educators of all levels and people just interested in how to start these conversations.  I hope I have provided a basis from which to start.  Below is a partial list of films and shorter video clips that I suggest for friends, community action groups, organizations, etc. to watch that will also be beneficial.  I believe and teach that one cannot separate the experiences of race, gender, and social class, so many of these videos that I use to highlight issues of race and racism will overlap with other social conditions.

- Section hour long clips of Eyes on the Prize (see above)
- Section clips of People Like Us (Tammy's Story and Update on Tammy's Story)
- Unnatural Causes...is inequality making us sick?
- The Line Documentary
- Race: The Power of An Illusion, Vols. 1-3 (follow the sequence from this link)
- How Do You Identify Racism? The Angry Eye with Jane Elliot
- The Event: How Racist Are You with Jane Elliot
- The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975
- Michelle Alexander, author of "The New Jim Crow" - 2013 George F. Kent Lecture
- Tim Wise: Pathology of White Privilege (various clips found though following links)

**feel free to check my course YouTube page, subscribe, and share with others.


 

Not Your Parents' Racism: Neo-Racism and the Generation Gap

 I am increasingly and humorously aware of the widening generation gap between myself and the students in my sociology classes.  Seemingly small differences in pop cultural references can make the meaning a clever example on my part irrelevant, or result in a total breakdown in communication due to my lack of knowledge about youth culture jargon.  

More substantial are the different perceptions of racism held by my students.  Younger people have more of a shared culture now than in previous years.  Styles of dress, music, slang terminology, and access to technology are more likely to be similar than different for this demographic of students living in a close geographic area.  Because of these similar lifestyles, some perceive that racism, and discrimination in general, no longer exit.  Additionally, due to the utter lack of historical knowledge taught in schools or in the home, younger people are barely aware of the present societal and institutional affects of legalized racism in the U.S. 


Recently, while talking about overt vs. covert racism, a student asked about the significance of a noose because he, and many in the class, had never heard of lynching.  A separate class of 27 students did not know the definition of abolitionism.  More students in yet another class had never heard of the massacres that took place at the Pine Ridge Reservation and were surprised to learn of the economic, psychological, and social peril that native people are still subjected to.  This lack of a reference for racism, institutional racism specifically, is the most dangerous threat to anti-racism.  Not knowing or being able to recognize racism in all its forms and vehemently denying its affect on relationship-building among people is the victory of all proponents of modern racism.

We know that legalized racism no longer exists.  Racism in its most familiar forms, slavery, Jim Crow segregation, vocal objections to the presence of racial minorities in public spaces, etc. are less and less present in our lives.  However, neo-racism, racism disguised as everyday practices that go unacknowledged by the majority, is what plagues society currently.  A broader vision of racism as a practice that overwhelmingly (as opposed to only) negatively affects people identified as a particular racial group must be employed in order see the effects that this powerful ideology has on our lives.  Seeing the after effects of Hurricane Sandy in New York, the lack of response from otherwise vocal members of the predominately white faction of the mainstream feminist movement when a 9 year old Black girl was called a cunt in a public forum, and the continued apathy of all members of society at the increasing murder rate of Black youth versus the rare occurrence of mass shootings in predominately White communities requires that we look more critically at these events and identify the systemic problems in each.  Another aspect of neo-racism is that the proponents could very well be racial minorities.  This fact can prevent an accurate analysis of racism from being made.  A person who does make that analysis can be accused of being racist themselves or of playing the race card, an accusation that serves to delegitimize that presence and effect of racism.

The knowledge and accurate analysis of history is imperative to understanding racism.  Without this understanding how can we recognize it in all of its changing and evolving forms?  This is especially necessary for those not old enough to remember the extent of physical segregation and its contribution to racist ideologies.  Often for people, young people especially, if they cannot see something it does not exist.    For others who are not as young, our memories tend to be short and yesterday’s news is soon forgotten. Racism is very much still here, but its form has changed. The purpose of recognizing and bringing attention to racism, racist practices, and racist ideologies is to combat and defeat it.  Without awareness and a correct analysis, this feat is nearly impossible.

Data Analysis & Quantitative Sociology: Daily Mail - The Racist Map of America, Tweets analyzed for offensive keywords reveal the most bigoted parts of the US and which people are the most hated

This is a great example of the use of data analysis tools and quantitative sociology!

Referred to as a 'hate map' on social media sites, what can you deduce from this map?  Do concentrations of hate words in a certain region automatically equal higher levels of racism in those areas? What is unique about these areas that would make people more likely to use hate language in their social media, specifically Twitter, interactions?  Does this make you think about how you express yourselves via social media or in person?

Full article: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2322892/The-racist-map-America-Tweets-analyzed-offensive-keywords-reveal-hateful-parts-US-people-hated.html
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The racist map of America: Tweets analyzed for offensive keywords reveal the most bigoted parts of the US and which people are the most hated

• The project Geography of Hate was created by cartography students at Humboldt State University
• Students analyzed 150,000 tweets containing hate words sent between June 2012-April 2013
• Researchers looked at usage of 10 slurs in three categories: racist, homophobic and disability
• Use of offensive term n***** was not concentration in any single region, but had pockets of concentration in Iowa and Indiana
  
  

The Un-Whitening of Terrorism in the U.S. - Depictions of the Tsarnaev Brothers

from Gawker http://gawker.com/the-week-magically-turns-white-bombers-brown-for-its-la-487386826

Ethnic identification has been heavily used in stories about the bombings at the Boston Marathon.  From the earliest accounts of the suspects as "dark-skinned" by CNN's John King (http://colorlines.com/archives/2013/04/cnns_chris_king_explains_his_dark_skinned_comment_on_twitter_and_gets_schooled.html) to all other news reports trying desperately to make synonymous the Tsarnaev Bros.with Chechnya.  Every word and ethnic designation that applies has been used...except for the term "White."  The Gawker pointed out that The Week coverage and illustration of the Tsarnaev Brothers distanced the suspected bombers even further from being white by the "browing" of their depictions, with emphasis on their noses, lips, & eyebrows.  All features that are tied to racial designation in the U.S. http://gawker.com/the-week-magically-turns-white-bombers-brown-for-its-la-487386826

I asked my students the seemingly simple but amazingly complex question of why.  Sociologically answers can range from the resistance of the power majority to identify itself with terrorism to anti-internationalist/anti-immigrant sentiments used to marginalize them and the immigration issue even more.  However, for me, the conversation can be even deeper.

Most recently, the family of Tamerlan Tsarnaev were turned away from several places when seeking to bury their son.  If Timothy McVeigh's (one of the terrorists, to whom that term was never applied, behind the Oklahoma City bombing) body weren't cremated, I wonder if his family would have faced the same obstacles trying to bury him?  More grounded in reality, Adam Lanza's body was claimed by his father and the burial arrangements were kept secret.  How is that possible when the denial of burial services are headline news for the family of Tamerlan Tsarnaev?

One answer is white privilege. Actually, that's a pretty big answer.  Another answer is, again, anti-immigrant sentiment which has been largely opportunistic as well.

I'd enjoy hearing other thoughts on the issue as well.  As always, feel free to comment, share, follow, and like what you've read.  As long as we keep the conversation for the pursuit of answers flowing.