Majority Minority Relations Exam 2

Indian Boarding Schools’ primary objective

Full immersion in European culture, forced assimilation into Anglo-American society/culture

Eurocentric Curriculum

consider the stories and experiences of Americans of European descent to be central to U.S. history while marginalizing stories of non-Europeans

Ignore how nonwhite groups contributed to U.S. development

Depict U.S. as a white nation and dull the sharp edge of past injustices

Whiteness informs anthropology

exoticization of marginalized populations

white cultures are considered uninteresting and normal

Research documents that students of color are more likely to experience

harassment, isolation, and feelings of being unwelcome on campus and in dorms 

Based on a recent FBI report, around 50% of colleges and universities

documented on-campus hate crimes during the previous year

Social Capital

sum of all resources one accrues by virtue of being connected to a network of people

having more of the “right” kind of social capital can result in educational success, while you can be held back by more of the “wrong” kind of social capital

Oppositional Culture

collection of linguistic, behavioral, aesthetic, and spiritual attitudes and practices formed in direct opposition of mainstream white culture

“selling out”

“acting white” — LatinX students more likely to make fun of people trying to do well in school

Asians and whites are disproportionately assigned to

higher tracks often meaning more access to the most intellectually stimulating classes

Affirmative Action does not give preference to 

“unqualified” minority students, resulting in the denial of qualified students. Colleges and Universities select female or applicants of color from a pool of equally qualified applicants whose application is slightly weaker than the rest of the pool

Due to “legacy admissions”…

around 15% of freshman enrolled in the U.S.’s top universities are white students who failed to satisfy their university’s minimum requirements

Art was associated with

the white, education, leisure class

most art museums were closed on Sundays and required high entrance fees

Minstrelsy

white control over the representation of blackness and nonwhiteness

continued after minstrel shows died out

Blues and jazz

blues evolved from spirituals in response to the racial domination of African Americans by whites

White aesthetic

art reflect racial domination (normalize whiteness)

presents itself as unraced representation of social world, default, “the universal”

Racist aesthetic 

support racial domination (POC depicted in negative ways) 

rely on stereotypes

Anti-racist Aesthetic

challenge racial domination, break down stereotypes

Hip Hop

most outspokenly defiant and powerful voice for racial justice emanating from the aesthetic field

Artists of color have to rely mostly on

white sponsors, which can lead to loss of control over the representation of racism and POC in their art

Trojan-horsing

some TV creators use tactic to make program palatable to network executives while allowing opportunities to address complex stories involving characters of color 

TV programming and narrowcasting

designed to target specific racial or ethnic groups

Binary coding system separates ___ and ____as a mechanism of

highbrow (white) and lowbrow (non-white / popular culture) culture as a mechanism of inclusion and exclusion

Highbrow culture

audience conduct that is considered “orderly, regulated, learned, prosperous, and civilized”

Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA)

began as segregated organization

1920 black women pushed for integration

Push to dedicate to fighting racism, transformed into antiracist, fully integrated organization with “racial justice at the center of its mission” 

YWCA Slogan

Eliminating Racism: Empowering Women

Malcolm X urged

blacks to cleanse themselves of thoughts of inferiority and helped to bring about the resurgence of black nationalism in the 1960s

Racial integration became

widely desired goal, majority of blacks supported racial integration

whites participate in civil society at higher rates than POC because

POC have low rates of social trust and are disillusioned with civil society

Economic inequality limits participation

Homophily

associating with people you perceive to be like you

matter of pulling in friends and social contacts

Boundary Work

multiple ways in which people create, uphold, and transverse social boundaries that separate “us” from “them”

collection of practices by which people maintain or challenge racial relations of exclusivity or inclusivity

Identity Politics

political action intended to address unique interests and hardships of historically oppressed groups

Hate groups’ websites attempts to attract

young women and men. Some hate groups attempt to recruit young people by including games and music that appeal to children and teens on these websites 

Gulf between predominantly white and Asian “__” and largely African American and LatinX “__”

technical class and digital underclass

Dr. King remarked that church services on Sunday mornings remain, as it did fifty years ago, 

one of the society’s most racially segregated hours

Fatherhood under slavery was

denied in a way that almost completely eliminated the role of husband and father for most enslaved black men

Are biracial children confused and troubled?

assumes it is more natural to belong to only one racial or ethnic group

Immigrants experience high levels of divorce because

immigration process is destabilizing — constant change and adjustment

families bend to U.S. law and custom

85% of youth separated from one or both parents during immigration process

spousal ties fray

African American marriages 2x likely to end in divorce as Mexican Americans or whites because

disproportionately incarcerated 

disproportionately impoverished

small size of marriage pool, potential mate pool is limited and thus incompatibility exhibited

psychological strain of racism

what explains high rates of single black motherhood

high rates of imprisonment and poverty

1/3 black fathers have children with 2+ women 

special value placed on motherhood in black community

children symbolic of womanhood 

poor women refuse to marry unless certain will last 

Whites and POC may occupy same geographic space, but not same

interactional space because of “interaction troubles”

Racial authenticity

including or excluding certain behaviors from the repertoire that constitutes a group’s aesthetic identity

struggle over who is permitted membership in a group

Acceptable for POC to demand racial power but not acceptable for whites because

unlike whites, POC respond to structural power

Color-blind thinking

is central to much of American racial discourse today

“Color-blind racism” happens when

whites use the language and rhetoric of color-blindness to discriminate against blacks and other POC

Colorblindness and multiculturalism both fail to appreciate

the crucial aspect of the democratic ideal, avoid difficult discussion related to institutional racism and structural inequalities 

Racial Democracy

must take into account the realities of racial privilege, beginning with people’s actual experiences, where racial injustices are a reality

Two potential means of change at individual level

1. Indirect individual change, people can change the social settings they inhabit with deliberate aim of putting themselves in contexts that are more conducive to growth and enriched experience

2. engage in deliberate reflection and “critical moments” of perplexity, which can lead to (self)-critical thought

when someone chooses to look toward uncomfortable racial situations and encounters with openness and self-reflection, they’re receptive to

racial healing

Antidiscrimination laws like the Fair Housing Act 

legislation that prohibits discrimination by housing lenders and landlords (institutional change) 

Collective Action

brings about (most consequentially) bold and broad reform and major transformative social change like public protest

When the membership of a racial justice movement is itself multiracial

the goals of the movement are reflected in its composition