RACE & ETHNICITY

BELL WORK – RACE & ETHNICITY 4/30What is Race?

Is race a real thing?

What is the purpose of race?

When did you first encounter race?

PLATO’S CAVE

“RACE” IS A SOCIAL CONSTRUCTIONRace- a category of people who share observable traits whom OTHERS see as a distinct group

Ethnicity – refers to a set of cultural characteristics that distinguishes one group from another, it is generally based on, national origin, religion, language customs and values

THE SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION OF “RACE”In 1790, the 1st U.S. census used the following classifications: Free White Males, Free White Females, All other Free Persons, and SlavesIn 1870 there were 5 races; White, Colored (Black), Mulatto (people with some black blood), Chinese & IndianIn 1890, 8 races were listed: White, Colored (black), Mulatto(3/8th to 5/8th black blood), Quadroon (1/4th black blood), Octoroon (1/8th black blood), Chinese, Japanese and IndianIn 1900, Mulatto, Quadroon, and Octoroon were dropped so that any amount of black inheritance mean a person had to be classified as “Black”Between 1930 and 2000 some racial classifications (Hindu, Eskimo, Hawaiian, and Mexican) appeared and disappeared. Others (Filipino, Korean, Hawaiian, Mexican) made an appearance and have stayed ever since Currently on the census form there are a wide variety of racial categories to choose from: White, Black, American Indian or Alaska Native, Asian Indian, Chinese, Filipino, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, Native Hawaiian, Guamanian and Samoan

HOW THE IRISH BECAME WHITE

"my master was a great tyrant, he treats me badly, as if I were a common Irishman,“Daniel O'Connell – Irish Revolutionary – Asked Irish-Americans to support the repel of slaveryMinstrel Shows – Black face

• Identification of a common ‘enemy’

WHAT WAS HAPPENING WHEN THE IRISH BECAME ‘WHITE’?

Assimilation- the blending of minority groups into dominant society• Specifically – Anglo-Conformity

Melting Pot or Tossed Salad?• Everyone’s Irish on St. Patties Day• China Town & Little Italy

Accommodation- minority learns to deal with majority when necessary but keeps its language and culture

• Amish People Cubans in Miami Asians in California

BELL WORK 5/2Some words you’ll need to remember for today

InternalizationRole Taking Theory & the Looking Glass SelfLabeling TheoryManifest and Latent Function

MINSTREL SHOWSThe minstrel show, or minstrelsy, was an American entertainment performed by white people in blackface or, especially after the Civil War, black people in blackface.

Now if I was President ob dese United States,I'd drink mint julep, an swing upon de gates…

So I wheel about, &c….I'm for a union gal, an dis is a stubborn fact,Butt if I marry an don't like it, I'll nullify the act

HTTPS://WWW.YOUTUBE.COM/WATCH?V=UFINT6AKG0SHow do the artists mannerisms change throughout their skit?

COMMON MINSTREL CHARACTERSThese four stock characters were among several that reappeared in minstrel shows throughout the nineteenth century.

"Jim Crow" was the stereotypical carefree slave,

"Mr. Tambo" a joyous musician,

"Zip Coon" a free black attempting to "put on airs" or rise above his station.

“Circassian Beauty” – usually a seductive female slave of mixed decent

LUPE FIASCO “BITCH BAD”

TRINIDAD JAMES ALL GOLD EVERYTHING

DEF POETRY – JULIAN CURRY

PREJUDICE AND DISCRIMINATION

PREJUDICE INVOLVES ATTITUDES, WHILE DISCRIMINATION IS ABOUT BEHAVIOR.

PREJUDICE USUALLY LEADS TO DISCRIMINATION. CONVERSELY IN SOME INSTANCES,

DISCRIMINATION CREATES PREJUDICE.

HOW DOES THIS HAPPEN?

PREJUDICE, RACISM AND DISCRIMINATIONPrejudice- widely held negative attitudes toward a group and its individual members

• Are most people prejudiced? Or are most people free from prejudice?

Racism- an extreme form of prejudice that assumes superiority of one group over others

Discrimination- treating people differently based on race, ethnicity, or culture

DISCRIMINATION 2 TYPESLegal discrimination

Examples?Apartheid in South Africa, Jim Crow Laws

Institutionalized DiscriminationOver time, unequal access to resources pushes

minority groups into less powerful places in society

PREJUDICENegative prejudice is based on stereotypes

a stereotype is an oversimplified, exaggerated or unfavorable generalization about a group of people

STEREOTYPES• Think of the following while you

stereotype this person• What do they do for fun?• Where are they from?• What type of life do they lead?

STEREOTYPES

• What do they do for fun?• Where are they from?• What type of life do they lead?

STEREOTYPES • What do they do for fun?• Where are they from?• What type of life do they

lead?

STEREOTYPES• What do they do for

fun?• Where are they from?• What type of life do

they lead?

STEREOTYPES

• What do they do for fun?• Where are they from?• What type of life do they

lead?

STEREOTYPES• What do they do for fun?• Where are they from?• What type of life do they lead?

STEREOTYPESWhat do they do for fun?

Where are they from?What type of life do they

lead?

STEREOTYPES• What do they do for fun?• Where are they from?• What type of life do they lead?

STEREOTYPES• What do they do for fun?• Where are they from?• What type of life do they lead?

STEREOTYPES• What do they do for

fun?• Where are they

from?• What type of life do

they lead?

STEREOTYPES• What do they do for fun?• Where are they from?• What type of life do they lead?

ISLAM1. Islam is one of three traditional branches of Abraham. The other two are Judaism and Christianity. People who practice Islam are called Muslims.2. Muslims believe in all prophets that Jews and Christians believe in, including Jesus. BUT, they believe that there was an additional prophet named Mohammad.3. Islam is based on the Koran – a holy book that is very similar to the Bible.4. There are many groups of Muslims – the branch that are terrorists do not represent Muslims as a whole.

THE 5 PILLARS1. There is only one God. He is Allah. Mohammad was his prophet.2. Give to the poor3. Live a life of prayer. (Many Muslims pray 5 times a day.)4. Strengthen your prayer life by observing Ramadan5. If you can afford it, make a pilgrimage to Mecca.

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN WE STEREOTYPE PEOPLE?If people are told often or long enough that they or others are socially mentally or physically inferior they may come to believe it

American Sociologist W. I Thomas“If people define situations as real, they are real in

their consequences”Robert K Merton & Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

a prediction that results in behavior that makes the prediction come true

TODAYIdentify the characteristics that define the term ‘minority’

Take a look at different patterns of minority group treatment

Your Bell Work•List the adjectives that describe you, try to come up with as many as possible, shoot for at least 5

MINORITIES ARE…Defined by distinctive physical or cultural characteristics that can be used to separate them from the majorityDominated by the majorityPossess traits that are perceived to be inferior when compared to the majorityHave a common sense of identity with strong group loyaltyDetermined by who makes up the majority

MERTON’S PATTERNS OF PREJUDICE

All Weather Liberal

Fair-Weather Liberal

Timid Bigot

Active Bigot

Prejudiced

Non-Prejudiced

Does Not Discriminate Discriminates

PATTERNS OF MINORITY GROUP TREATMENTCultural Pluralism – allows groups to keep their unique identity

Assimilation – blending of groups into one distinct group

Legal Protection

Segregation- minority groups are forbidden to live and work in the same areas as the dominant group

Population Transfer

Genocide- destruction in whole or in part of a national, racial, ethnic or religious group

NATIVE AMERICANS1/4th live below poverty lineFewer graduate from high school than any other minorityLowest annual income ($21,619)Only 1 in 5 hold professional, managerial or administrative positions1 in 3 hold blue collar positions Lack of much political power½ of those living in reservations are below the poverty line9.3% not on reservations go to college, opposed to 5% of those on reservationsAlcoholism is also incredibly rampant

AFRICAN AMERICANS13% of the population in the United StatesWhy have they remained America's most dominant minority?

• Appearance• Institutional Discrimination – segregation & Jim Crow• Only 40 years of constitutional equality• For every $100 a white person makes African Americans

make $62• Twice as likely to have low level service jobs

• implications?• Unemployment for African Americans is twice that of Whites

• Does not include hidden unemployment – discouraged workers/part-time workers who would rather be full time meaning 1 in four are ACTUALLY unemployed

LATINOS Fastest growing minority in the United States

• ¼ Americans in 2050Mostly Mexicans but many are from other regionsOnly 50% complete high school opposed to 84% of non-LatinosAverage income for Latinos ($26,628) is higher than African Americans but still much lower than whites ($40,577)Most work in low-skill, low paying jobsCubans are the only sub-group that are similar in employment, education and housing similar to whites

• Why?Politics – 13 Mexicans, 3 Cubans and 1 Puerto Rican in congress, also going to be huge in the future

ASIAN AMERICANS4% of the total populationChina Towns started because of competition for jobs with other immigrants in the late 1800sChinese Exclusion Act of 1882 – ends Chinese immigration for a centuryCalifornia Alien Land Bill 1913 – only allowed Japanese to lease, not own, farmland 1924 Immigration Bill completely bars Japanese immigrationPearl Harbor – Executive Order 9066, 111,000 Japanese are put in internment camps

Commonly seen as the “model minority”

INSTITUTIONALIZED DISCRIMINATION

Examples?Do you agree or disagree with Affirmative Action?

TRUE OR FALSE

Most hate crimes are extremely brutal and involve violence done to a person

• TrueThe frequency of hate crimes in the U.S. has finally begun to decrease

• False, they are still on the riseMost school related hate crimes are committed by students who belong to organized hate groups

• False, most occur with one or two friendsSome kinds of hatred toward certain groups of people are instinctive and biologically based

• False, race is a social construction, and racism is learned

HATE CRIMES• White supremacist’s shooting spree in Illinois and Indiana that

left a black man and a Korean college student dead and nine others injured

• The Asian American man in Cali. Who was stabbed to death while rollerblading. Two young men were arrested with Nazi paraphernalia

• The destruction of mosques and the verbal harassment of, physical assault, and even the murder of ‘Arab-looking’ people in the days and weeks following Sept. 11

• James Byrd, who was dragged behind a car driven by two white men until his body was torn apart in Texas

• The killing of Matthew Sheppard in Laramie Wyoming• In 2009, the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Hate Crimes

Prevention Act expanded the 1969 U.S Federal Hate-Crime Law to include crimes motivated by a victim's actual or perceived race, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability

HAVE AFRICAN AMERICANS MADE ADVANCES?

Yes, but…• 84% of whites finish high school compared to 76% of AA• 25% of whites finish college compared to 15% of AA• White high school graduates tend to make as much as AA with a

college degreeHowever since 1960

• Professional and technical jobs for AA has increased 128%• Those with manager/official jobs is twice as high

Since 1970 political power has also increased• 4,800 in city councils opposed to 715• 8,000 elected officials opposed to 1,600