Post on 17-Jun-2015
Framing Conversations about Race and Racial
Equityjohn a. powell
Director, Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and EthnicityWilliams Chair in Civil Rights & Civil Liberties, Moritz College of
Law
YWCA Leadership Forum on Equity & Inclusion
September 21, 2009Cleveland, OH
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Today’s Conversation
Thinking, Talking, and Acting on Race Transformatively
Framing
Implicit bias
Colorblindness / Color-Consciousness
Effective messaging
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Key Takeaways
The question is not should we talk about race; the question is how to talk about race constructively.
Conversations about race and diversity must be honed to insure that messages are effective.
Themes such as linked fate can help people understand that institutional arrangements affect all people.
Our values and structures impact each other. It’s not enough to have the right values. We need the right structures.
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Race in the Media
‘You lie’ a Sign of
Bigger Race Issue,
Ga. Congressmen
Say
Carter’s
Racism Charge Sparks War of Words
Scenes from Post-Racial America: The Outburst Edition
Stop Hating
On Black
Female
Athletes
Race Issue Lingers Over Health Care Debate, With Possible Political Consequences
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Race in the U.S.The United States continues to be strongly
divided by race.Nationally, the black unemployment rate
tends to be about twice as high as the white rate.
A black male born in 2001 has a 32% chance of spending time in prison at some point in his life, a Hispanic male has a 17%
chance, and a white male has a 6% chance.
http://www.sentencingproject.org/doc/publications/rd_reducingracialdisparity.pdf
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Framing Matters
Both these perspectives are true – how we frame issues of race matters.
Consider the false dichotomies we often use when we think and talk about race. These binaries are actually frames.
▪ Black / White
▪ Post-racialism / Civil Rights
▪ Race is not important / Race matters
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Framing
How messages are framed
affects how they
are perceived.
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False Dichotomies and Framing
From which top hat will the magician pull a bunny?
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False Dichotomies and Framing
Neither one. When a question is framed as a dichotomy, it is difficult to think outside of the “either – or”
mindset.
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Framing: “Reverse Racism” / “Affirmative Action”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3ZL3O2NNus
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Affirmative Action – “Preference” vs. “Assistance”
http://www.publicagenda.org/red-flags/affirmative-action-preferences-special-efforts
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Affirmative Action – “Preference” vs. “Assistance”
http://www.publicagenda.org/red-flags/affirmative-action-preferences-special-efforts
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Implicit Bias
People have multiple networks that may be activated without our awareness.
Depending on the situation, one network becomes dominant over the others
Even though we may fight them, implicit biases reside within us…
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Our Unconscious Networks What colors are the following lines of text?
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Our Unconscious Networks What colors are the following lines of text?
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Our Unconscious Networks What colors are the following lines of text?
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Our Unconscious Networks What colors are the following lines of text?
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Implicit Bias – Unconscious Modeling
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Awareness Test
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrqrkihlw-s
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How to Debias – Consider the Opposite
Repeatedly exposing people to admired African Americans can may help counteract pro-white / anti-black IAT results…
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How to Debias – Negative Examples
BUT, a more productive strategy is to show both admired African Americans and infamous whites.
Joy-Gaba, J . A., & Nosek, B. A. (in press). The Surprisingly Limited Malleability of Implicit Racial Evaluations. Social Psychology.
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Debiasing – “All God’s Children”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cH1S9DgLXQU&feature=channel_page
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Transformative Discourse
Effective Messaging
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Race Neutrality?
The question is not if we should talk about race, but how we should talk about race.
Race-neutral tactics may appear to have appeal, but in reality, we’re not seeking race-neutrality – we’re seeking racial fairness.
Are we colorblind or color-conscious?
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Colorblindness v. Color-Consciousness
Colorblindness
The logic: Since we know race is socially constructed, we should eliminate racial categories
This perspective assumes “that the major race problem in our society is race itself, rather than racism.”
Attempting to ignore race is not the same as creating equality
john a. powell. “The Colorblind Multiracial Dilemma: Racial Categories Reconsidered.” (1997)
Is colorblindness an appropriate shift in how we perceive race?
NO. Colorblindness will not end racism.
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Colorblind video
Click here to connect to video on colorblindness from RaceWire / ARC
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8Fo9Cl4vX0
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Colorblindness v. Color-Consciousness
Color-Consciousness
Policies and interventions need to address race; otherwise they will only provide partial solutions to problems that are grounded in race
Acknowledging race through a multicultural frame can reduce prejudice
Color-consciousness fosters an appreciation of each group’s contributions to society
Philip Mazzocco. “The Dangers of Not Speaking About Race.” 2006
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Dissecting the Discourse
Who’s the hero?
Who’s the goat?
Understand the structure of the story
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Emphasize Connectedness
Senator Barack Obama’s speech on race in Philadelphia on March 18, 2008
‘My Brother’s Keeper’
Click on maroon square to play the video clip.
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Framing Conversations
Unity: Focus on terms that bring people together rather than those that are divisive
“Us/them” mindset a “we” perspective
“We, the people…” recognizes “All the people”
Linked fate: The fates of all people are linked
We need to understand the effect that institutional arrangements have on all individuals.
Annie E. Casey “Race Matters” Toolkit – How to Talk About Race. http://www.aecf.org/upload/publicationfiles/howtotalkaboutrace.pdf
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Create Empathetic Space Build connections through personal narratives
“I am the son of a black man from Kenya and a white woman from Kansas. I was raised with the help of a white grandfather who survived a Depression to serve in Patton's Army during World War II and a white grandmother who worked on a bomber assembly line at Fort Leavenworth while he was overseas… I am married to a black American who carries within her the blood of slaves and slaveowners - an inheritance we pass on to our two precious daughters. I have brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews, uncles and cousins, of every race and every hue, scattered across three continents, and for as long as I live, I will never forget that in no other country on Earth is my story even possible.”
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Underscore shared, deep values
Unity Security Opportunity
Community
Mobility Redemption
Fairness Liberty
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Framing Our Values
Structures
Values
Our values and structures impact each other.
It’s not enough to have the right values. We need the right structures.
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Cleveland
Cleveland has moved from being highly fragmented to adopting a more regional approach.
Formed the Cuyahoga County nonprofit land bank
Opened a regional public STEM high school - “MC2 STEM”
Created a position of Chief of Regional Development for the City of Cleveland
Resource sharing, such as police
Aligning our values with our structures
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Achieving Transformative Change Transformative change in the racial paradigm in the
U.S. requires substantive efforts in three areas:
Talking: Understanding how language and messages shape reality and the perception of reality.
Thinking: Understanding how framing and priming impact information processing in both the explicit and the implicit mind.
Acting: Linking these understandings to the way that we act on race and how we arrange our institutions and policies.
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Appendix
More on Talking About Race
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Talking About Race - Don’t Present disparities only
Frame action as ‘robbing Peter to pay Paul’
Separate out people in need from “everybody else”
Glide over real fears, shared suffering, or the fact that people are often internally divided
Dismiss the importance of individual efforts
Photo source: Lester, Julius. Let’s Talk About Race
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Talking About Race - Do
Anchor the discussion to narratives that resonate with your audience
Make sure everyone can see themselves in the story
It’s about “us,” not just “those people”
Acknowledge that individualism is important – but that the healthiest individual is nurtured by a community invested in everyone’s success
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Effective Messaging Everyone needs help now and then; we all want to do
better We share deep values, concerns, and hopes
Addressing the problems that have a racial footprint has implications and benefits for all members of society, not just marginalized groups
Linked fate – everyone benefitshttp://www.equaljusticesociety.org/2008/12/talking-about-race-in-the-obama-era/
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Additional Suggestions
Provide potential solutions: articulate what we support - not just what we oppose.
▪ Martin Luther King, Jr. did not give a speech about “I have a complaint…”
Acknowledge racial progress
Recognize our racial history and connect it to our future
Explain how past injustices still matter today
http://www.equaljusticesociety.org/2008/12/talking-about-race-in-the-obama-era/
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4 Frames Commonly Used When Discussing Race
1) Minimize the existence of disparities
“The racial ‘playing field’ is level.”
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2) Blame culture for racial inequality rather than societal structures or white privilege
“They are lazy and lack motivation. They just need to work harder.”
Source: Bonilla-Silva (2003) Racism Without Racists & Mazzocco (May 2006) “The Dangers of Not Talking About Race.”
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4 Frames Commonly Used When Discussing Race
3) Racial phenomena is “natural”
“They’d rather be with their ‘own kind’ anyway.”
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4) Focusing on individuals and their traits, assuming that we all start from the same “position” in society
“We should all be judged as individuals based on our personal merits. No one should receive special privileges. It’s not fair.”
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Transformative Framing of Race
Don’t frame issues around “what’s fair”
Reinforce the belief of opportunity for all
Assert that system flaws hurt everyone
Don’t focus on who or what is responsible for present inequities
Steer the conversation toward the results being sought (i.e., a quality education for everyone)
Don’t focus on exceptional individuals
Talk about where systems we all rely upon break down and how we can fix those systems
Not constructive Constructive
Frameworks Institute Message Brief: Framing Race