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.