I have to say I rather enjoyed this part of the class the most. I like the reading other people’s opinions on discrimination and racism and how they affect individuals as well as all of society. I learned so much and saw these topics through many different points of view. I learned about individual and organizational discrimination and can clearly relate them to me, in my life. I see discrimination to be more like viewing and experiencing the prejudice views and actions of people and societal groups and organizations. Today, my relationship with someone of a different race is looked down upon by many individuals and also in my job I work with mostly males and experience that organizational discrimination first hand. I never thought about or even noticed the organizational discrimination until this article. I think I block out the fact that many companies and businesses could actually contain this sort of prejudice, which is terrible, but at the same time probably what a majority of society does.
I also always knew that racism was a big deal and obviously different than discrimination, but the thing I didn’t know is how many definitions of racism were actually out there. We looked at several authors and their perspectives on the word racism and how it affects individuals and society. I wouldn’t say that I agreed with all of the different definitions, because some of them were hard to accept as true. However I understood for the most part, where each one was coming from. For one example, Beverly Daniel Tatum defines racism as a system of advantages based on race. This definition tends to lead me to think that the racist person is always white. I mean, based on the definition I have to say that this is most likely true in society, whites do have more advantages than other races. However, I did tend to put up a defense reading the article, always thinking that racism’s definition can’t only apply to one race, the white race, that doesn’t really make sense.
Another definition of racism is called color-blind racism. This type is a matter of group power. It is about the whites, being the dominant racial group striving to maintain its advantages and minorities fighting to change the racial status quo. This was thought about and created systematically. It even has four central frames, which lay out the different aspects of color-blind racism. These four are Abstract Liberalism, Naturalization, Biologization of Culture, and Minimization of Racism. All of these were a little difficult to understand, but were very accurate and well researched. The examples given are what really helped me to understand how naive I can really be, when it comes to these actions and responses.
I think that internalized racism made the most sense to me. It appealed to my sensitive side, looking deep into how people react to all of the social realities and prejudices. I sympathize more with the individuals who have to deal with these prejudices on a daily basis and even have to grow up with them. Facing these everyday can be tiring and hard to deal with growing up, especially when our children are trying to develop into confident adults. It’s hard to deal with growing up and figuring out who you are in this world as it is, but to add dealing with society wanting to change you or put you into a cultural stereotype is just unimaginable. I’m sure this hits harder with some people over others, but it does affect everyone in one way or another. Will this cycle or abuse ever end?
In the end, I do believe there is white privilege, racism, prejudice, and discrimination out there in our society and admitting this has to be the first step to change. But, I believe it will take centuries to finally be fixed or maybe it will never change. Our society will have to alter completely and be open to change and stop being so naïve to all of this. I think the fact that these ethnic studies education courses are being taken advantage of is great. The youth who has learned all of this information and is finally beginning to become adults where they can actually make a difference. We see this change today. Obama being elected to president, what a great accomplishment. Hopefully this is just the beginning to a lot of changes in the right direction to creating a fair and just society that we all want to live in.

Blog #4

In this blog, I will be discussing the different tactics that African Americans came up with and used during the civil rights movement. Most people would say that they were not only fighting for their civil rights, but human rights as well. They were treated with such cruelty and brutality it was practically inhumane. The pictures, postcards, videos, and stories that we’ve heard and seen have been sickening that one person could have so much hatred for the other, just because of skin color. The abuse that women went through, sexual and otherwise is horrifying beyond measures. Not only that but the fact that this not only happened, but that no whites ever had to pay for their actions is terrifying. To have to experience rape is one thing I could never even imagine, but to know that your rapist or the killer of someone in your family is in authority running around and you could see him at any time is heart wrenching. No wonder the blacks came up with ways to protect themselves and the ones they loved. There was nothing else they could do, nothing else to turn to or that’s what so many thought.
This is the reason for Malcolm X’s speeches and his way of thinking. He was a Black Nationalist who gave very influential speeches to thousands of people. He spoke of Black Liberation. He wanted freedom for his people now, not later. Him along with many others were sick of waiting for the whites to come around and give them what they have been asking for, their civil rights. Malcolm X spoke of either the ballot or the bullet. The ballot stood for freedom and all of their human rights. The bullet on the other hand stood for action. They wanted one or the other. Malcolm believed that it was time for blacks to defend themselves against all of these horrific acts and I think I would agree. Many of these black men had wives and children they needed to protect while all of society was against them. It was not as if they would take the rifles and go out and look for whites to hunt down and kill. I’m sure this did happen in some cases, but that was not the point that Malcolm was trying to make.
Stokely Carmichael on the other hand was kind of stuck in the middle of both the violent and non-violent sides. At first he went along with many others such as Martin Luther King Jr. and was even recognized for the number of times in which he was arrested for participating in non-violent demonstrations. However the frustration of changes not being made and having to take beating after beating could get to anyone. Stokely strongly believed in Black Power and sought out not only to promote black human rights and integration, but even further than that. He realized that the problem came from something even deeper. Stokely realized that black poverty and lack of education fed into the problem of the blacks inability to rise up and take control. He proposed that the blacks should go as far as forming their own independent party so that they can become strong vote together and finally get some black people into powerful positions. In those positions the blacks can begin to make the changes needed for the entire society to fix these deep problems. Stokley also believed that this was a black only problem and while its great that they have some white support, they did not want it or need it. They needed blacks to make the change and not whites for them. Stokely did influence such things, such as the Black Panther Party, that was a Black Militant organization created by Huey Newton and Bobby Seale.
On the complete other side of the civil rights movement, were those that promoted nonviolence. This is something I believe is completely noble, however I don’t know if I would have the strength that those people did, not to fight back after all of the tragedy they have faced. This movement was led by none other than Martin Luther King Jr. He even had a set plan for every time they wanted to face society’s unfairness and cruelty. They took three necessary steps, which included, collecting facts to determine if there was injustice, try to negotiate, and then self purification, which consisted of workshops designed to teach people how not to fight back when faced with violence. All of these steps were taken before they ever began a public nonviolent demonstration that they knew would cause an uproar. Doctor King was very open to the support of everyone and even welcomed the whites to come fight for their cause. This is probably one of the most noble and courageous things I have ever heard of, not many people would choose to walk into policemen holding bats or any other cruelty with no way to defend themselves. Do you really think you could be strong enough to do this yourself? Which side would you have taken, violent or non-violent?

Blog #3

First I would like to say that this topic was very interesting to me. I have never had the information of so many different ethnicities presented to me in this way. It was so much easier to compare and contrast the different groups of people. I chose for this blog to discuss the differences and similarities among the Chinese and Japanese people. From past teachings these people were just grouped together and I assumed that there wasn’t much difference in how they have been treated and assimilated, but I was completely wrong.
Both the Chinese and the Japanese came to the United States for different reasons. The Chinese were looking for a sanctuary away from the British Opium Wars and a safe place to flee to in time of turmoil and violent rebellions. Also, the harsh economic conditions had many Chinese people looking to the “Gold Mountains” of America for a chance at money or wealth. On the other hand the Japanese were only looking for a way to earn money for their starving families. The harsh burdens of taxes that the Japanese government was placing on farmers forced them to leave Japan and come to the United States. Lastly, another big difference is that the Japanese had a large portion of them that traveled to Hawaii, while the majority of the Chinese traveled to the mainland.
Another difference between the two ethnic groups was how they were treated when they first arrived to the United States. The Chinese who came to America were only planning on staying temporarily. This was made well known, because most Chinese men left their wives at home, promising their return with money for their family. For this reason, the Americans welcomed the Chinese people at first. Although the Japanese also said that they only wanted to stay temporarily, the whites were more easily threatened by them. This may have been due to the fact that the Japanese brought over their wives or married picture brides from Japan, which made it easier to settle down in America permanently.
Similarly, in the end, a good portion of both the Chinese and the Japanese decided to stay in the United States because of the higher wages and greater job opportunities. Also, both of them faced racial discrimination from the whites. However, the Chinese were discriminated against much differently than the Japanese were. The Chinese besides being called the new yellow Calibans, they also faced the enforcement of new Laws. One was the Chinese Exclusion Act, which kept anymore Chinese people from coming into America. Another was the Naturalization Law, which made it very clear that Chinese people could not become citizens, because they were not white. On the other side, the Japanese, who were mostly field hands in Hawaii, were discriminated by the whites in a different manner. The white land owners learned to keep many different ethnic groups on their farms, to be better able to control them and keep them from striking and gaining any sort of power. Also, it was made very clear that the Japanese were not allowed to have skilled jobs, because they were not citizens. Lastly, the Japanese were hit with the Alien Land Law, which took away any land that they had gained and tried to farm for themselves. In the end, both groups had to deal with a lot of discrimination, but never gave up and in the end found their own ways to assimilate into this American society.
The Chinese and Japanese dealt with the discriminations in different ways as well. The Chinese’s luck changed with one major event, known as the San Francisco earthquake, which made way for women and Chinese American families to begin. It became obvious in the next generation of Chinese Americans that they were beginning to assimilate already. The girls were even going as far as wanting an education, which is not a Chinese tradition. But, while assimilating to the American society, many Chinese kept their traditions in places such as china town. The Japanese assimilated in different ways, not only did they start the Hawaii Laborer’s Association and multi ethnic communities, but they also went out of their way to educate their children hoping to give them better job opportunities. Like the Chinese the Japanese wanted to embrace American society while keeping ties to their homeland and create a dual identity. From all of this one can realize that the Chinese and Japanese went through completely different experiences and by no way are the same people.

Blog #2

First of all, I do want to say that this is probably the most interesting stuff to learn about. I know that most people learned about slavery and all of this in just about every history class, but it never ceases to amaze me how many different sides and perspectives there are to this topic.
As most of us thought we knew blacks were looked upon to be different from everyone, because of their skin color. But, from what we have read already it was interesting to realize that it was the culture that most people looked at and judged instead of their skin color. Connecting negative and devilish images with dark skin was something that had to be socially embedded into the whites. For whatever reason, it came to be that the whites looked at themselves as pure and innocent, while seeing the blacks as beastly cannibals that lived without a God or structural society. One of the reasons that the British turned to these thoughts were because of fear of the unknown. They had never met people that were so open about their sexuality before and they were afraid that the blacks would change them and their God good ways (Takaki p.50). So, in the beginning the British treated these blacks just like any other captive they had and made them indentured servants along with others, such as the Irish. They were bound by contract to serve their British masters in order to repay them for the expensive passage. Not only were the first blacks not slaves when they first arrived, but they also used to socialize with the other white indentured servants, knowing that they were feeling the same fear and hostility (Takaki p.53). However there came a time, when the British decided to differentiate the whites from the blacks. After Bacon’s rebellion there were no more white indentured servants, Africans began serving for life and became a form a property to be bought and sold (Takaki p. 56). In order to make this differentiation between the whites and the blacks’ permanent, the government of many states began enforcing laws to make sure that the blacks new they’re place in society. Some examples of these laws include blacks in South Carolina needing a ticket in order to leave the plantation, having their belongings searched for stolen properties, or even not allowing large numbers of them to meet for fear of rebellion. Also, in the state of North Carolina laws were made that forbade the teaching of slaves to read or write (Cooper & McCord 2, 4). While the whites were using these laws to establish their authority and weave slavery through all of society, many of whites were not completely to blame.
One could say that many of the whites had formally been brain washed into agreeing with slavery to the point where speaking out against it would be a crime even if they knew it was wrong. Pem Davidson Buck explains this by exclaiming that “given the tendency of slaves, servants, and landless free Europeans and Africans to cooperate in rebellion, the elite had to teach Whites the value of whiteness in order to divide and rule their labor force” (31). In order to do this in the beginning, they created rules and laws against interracial marriage and even friendship. Not only did this happen but also something known as white privilege was created. For the most part, this allowed more pain with harsher treatments for blacks than on whites. Some examples include, whites having the right to self defense and own live stock, while blacks couldn’t. Blacks were even denied the right to family. Not only did the elites define whites due to privilege, but they also made sure to get into the heads of the whites. They made it known psychologically that whites were and always will be the superior race and by doing this they were able to exclude blacks from certain skilled jobs. This made it possible for the whites to define blacks, by not only race, but by class as well (Rothenberg 33-35). So, who is really responsible for slavery, who exactly were these elites that brought about the psychological and physical warfare?
There are many thoughts as to what actually brought about the end to slavery. Some say that is was the American Revolution involving the invention of the cotton gin by Eli Whitney. This made it easier to produce more cotton without all of the slave hands. Others say that the Market revolution was responsible, finding a great way to try and integrate the blacks back into the American society. However, I believe that the true end came when the whites finally realized that they could not deny the blacks there humanity any longer. If blacks were true barbarians or beasts then they would not need all of these laws in order to keep them in place and under control, which in the end couldn’t even keep them from taking what was rightfully theirs (Takaki 66,75,78). Frederick Douglas had this completely right when he said that slavery was not divine, and that it was hypocrisy of America’s constitution and everything they stand for (444). Lastly, I am absolutely positive that everyone can find examples of this very social control in their own lives. I myself am still undergoing this very same racial criticism and control today. Being a person involved in an interracial relationship is hard today for both parties. For this still is not looked upon as the social norm and in many cases is seen as different or weird. Today, although I’m not being beaten like the blacks, one is judged daily for decisions like these, being controlled by the norm.

Blog #1

The British’s base of this racialization actually came from their homeland and the experiences with the Irish there. They ultimately projected their familiar experience with the Irish onto the unfamiliar Indians. The Indians and Irish were very similar in many ways. The way they dress, the houses they built and how they engaged in war was seen as the same. This is how the Indians also became known as savages like the Irish. Their racialization was also shown in the Shakespearean play The Tempest, where at first the savage character was an Irish, but then transformed physically into an Indian (Takaki p.31). The dark skin tone, long dark dirty hair, and other physical characteristics were used to portray the Indian. Other than the fact that the Indians looked different than the British, they were still seen as human beings. The major difference that the British focused on was the cultural differences. They lacked everything that the British identified as civilized. Some examples include Christianity, cities, letters, clothing, and their depictions of sexuality (Takaki p.33). All of these qualities and thought processes are what lead to the British grouping and racializing the Indians as they did.
The fact that the Indians were depicted as savages effected the way they were treated in the future. For example, because the Indians and Irish were compared to one another and one can assume that this lead to the Indians being treated with extreme cruelty just as the Irish. For example, the British even took the heads of the slain Irish as trophies (Takaki p.29). The Indians, like the Irish were brutally killed and seen as devil worshipers. At first, they tried to get along and even convert the Indian children to Christianity and teach them to speak English. However, the Indians knew that their land was coveted and did not trust the strangers, knowing that their true intention was to invade and possess Indian land even if this meant destroying them (Takaki p.35). The British wanted and needed more and more land in order to farm and export the tobacco crop as well as make room for all of the new immigrants (Takaki p.36). This lead to the English’s extreme violence and battles with the Indians. Also, the Indians were racialized as devil worshipers that needed to be cleared and killed off of the face of God’s earth (Takaki p.42). One may see the racialization as an excuse to differentiate and remove them from America in order to further the British’s goals in the economic world.
The racialization that the Indians have gone through is much of what any race goes through in today’s society. Our media or popular culture has formed different racial groupings and enforces them and their ideas in society and every child’s mind from the time one is born. For example, our movies today depict black people as always being in the lower class of society and being involved in gangs. Physically black people are racialized as well, known for their large butts and big lips. Now, this is not the only group that is picked out in today’s media. Asians are always seen as being smart students, with slanted eyes and yellow skin. Even whites from the country, are depicted as hicks with no intelligence. Yes, we hope that one day none of this will matter, but realistically this is a large goal that starts with education and openness to the differences from everywhere and in order to change one must first learn about how all of this racialization came to be.