Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
Nailah French
UWRT 1104
9 November 2017
Not to be Racist
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are
endowed by their Creator with unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and
Independence
America: the land of the free and the home of the brave. Where, as stated in the
Declaration of Independence, all men are created equal. A brotherhood; where everyone
is entitled to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Yet, historically speaking, America
has never upheld these truths as self-evident. Although the foundation of America
consists of the notion of the American dream, along with freedom and unalienable rights,
the reality is quite different. How could we expect otherwise when declarations of
freedom were drafted whilst slavery existed? The road to true equality, in America, has
been lengthy and tumultuous. Many Americans believe true equality was executed during
the civil rights movement. Nevertheless, is this an actuality? There is the common belief
that racism is an issue of Americas past. Whether it was proven by Civil Rights or
supported by the election of President Barack Obama, many Americans believe that the
truths, proposed by Thomas Jefferson, are a reality. This idea is most supported by white
Americans.
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shown a video exploring the prevalence of racial bias (Jane). The video displayed two
young men who were similar in dress, appearance, grooming and speech. They both just
moved to town. Nevertheless, John was white and Glen was black. Video cameras
recorded major discrepancies in their treatment as they conducted the same tasks. When
searching for housing, Glen was told there were no vacancies. Yet, John was given a key
and invited to explore an apartment. At a car dealership, Glen was quoted a higher price
and less favorable financing than John. After the video was watched, the students
discussed their reactions. The African American and Latino students were not surprised
by what they were shown. Asian American students agreed but were less vocal.
acknowledged the discrepancies between the treatment of John and Glen, they still
believed racism was an issue of the past. They simplified the issue to not visiting enough
agencies. They also blamed the region. Although this issue may occur in America, they
debates such as Black Lives Matter, taking a knee, and police brutality floods the news as
various racial groups. Most noticeably, white Americans and minority groups have
privilege that they possess solely by being white. Additionally, white Americans may be
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unaware that their truths are not identical to those around them. White Americans; your
My Reality
Despite being self-aware at a young age, I never came face to face with racism. I
was aware that prejudice existed. I was aware that there were people in the world who
disliked me, solely because of the color of my skin. Nevertheless, racism remained a
concept. I was aware, but I was not around it. Racism also had an imaginary face. It was
hateful. It had an expression of disgust, anger, and fear. It was a theory, until it was a
He called my name, loudly, drunkenly. I stopped. What are you doing tonight?
Come to this party with me! I was a little anxious. Although we were friends, I didnt
know his friends and he was already drunk at 9 pm. Where? He named a fraternity.
One I never heard of. But wait. I have to text them and make sure its okay to bring a
black girl. I felt my stance stiffen. My gaze deepened, then softened. Why would you
invite me somewhere without being sure that I was welcome? Why would you go
somewhere that black people may not be welcomed? I yelled at him. I felt sad.
phone lit up. A text, from him. They said it was cool! You should come! The words
sprawled across my screen. I stared. The question would not have been proposed if I were
white. The need for this confirmation would not have existed if I were white. But I am
not. People are unconcerned with my discomfort. He was ignorant to how this situation
made me feel. His priority was to make sure that those in the fraternity were not
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these were the comments said directly to me, what was discussed in my absence?
This would not have occurred if I were white. Or frankly, it would have affected
me differently. Yet, it showed me that the main people who do not see the prevalence of
racism are the ones unaffected by it. The people who claim not to see color are the very
ones asking their friends if they can bring a black woman to their party; the irony.
Racial biases begin with information as trivial as ones name. This bias is
apparent for people of all ages. According to The Huffington Post, students with black-
job applicants with such names are less likely than white-sounding counterparts for
identical resumes. Residents with black-sounding names are also less likely to
libraries.
to be physically large. They were also assumed to be dangerous and violent. This
was not the assumption of those with white-sounding names. This phenomenon is
not exclusive to black people. Those with names that indicate Latin descent also had
violent attributions. These expectations mirror the societal fear of black and Latino
men. Nevertheless, this irrationality often tends to cause black and Latino men to be
victims
of
violence.
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status. The larger in size a black character was imagined to be, the lower his
financial success and social status were assumed. These characters were also
violent, it did not affect their imagined prestige. Ultimately, there are numerous
ways that racial bias can affect expectations, even when only given minimal
information.
shows children various situational images and asks them a series of questions.
These images depict situations between two races. One image is a white teenager
checking her pockets. Behind her, a black teenager is picking money off of the
ground. The interviewer asks the participant a teenage white female-`` to describe
the scenario. The participant states that the girl picking up the money is stealing it.
When asked if the two girls could possibly be friends, the participant responds no.
Not if her parents know about the situation of her stealing the money. They may be
concerned that Erica (the black teenager in the image) is a thief. Another image is
shown. This time, the scenario is depicted in reverse. The white teenager is picking
up the money and the black teenager is checking her pockets. When the interviewer
asks the participant to describe the scenario, the participant responds, I think she is
going
to
return
the
money.
She
looks
like
a
sweet
girl.
When
asked
if
the
participant
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believed that the two teens in the image would be friends, she stated that they
would be.
previous image. Nevertheless, the only difference between the images was the role
of the teens. One image, the black teen was picking up the money. The other image,
the white teen was picking up the money. Researchers believe that this
demonstrated unconscious racial bias in children. This trend was true for 24% of
children in this study, despite their race. They tended to see their own race in a
more positive way than the other. This occurred across all ages, all school types,
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Works Cited
Baker, Katherine, et al. Racial Bias in Neural Empathic Responses to Pain. Plos One.
http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0084
001&type=printable
Connor, Jane. Studying Racial Bias: Too Hot to Handle? National Center for Case
http://sciencecases.lib.buffalo.edu/cs/files/racial_bias.pdf
Howard, Jacqueline. New Study Confirms Depressing Truth About Names And
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/black-sounding-names-
study_us_561697a5e4b0dbb8000d687f
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFbvBJULVnc