Being Smart, Black, Young And American

Alice McIntyre talks about how whites view racism in many different examples and stories of white talk. McIntyre defines white talk throughout the reading, “Talk that serves to insulate white people from examining their/our individual and collective roles in the perpetuation of racism. It is a result of whites talking uncritically with/to other whites all the while, resisting critique and massaging each other’s racist attitude, beliefs, and actions” (McIntyre, 45-46). McIntyre talks about the themes that were discussions of white talk: “(1) How the participants constructed differences from “the Other,” (2) how they reconstructed myths about white and people of color, and (3) how they privileged their own feelings and affect over the lived

People are consistently changing the way that they look, act, and even some of their beliefs just to fit in with society. There’s an invariably never-ending desire to want to feel accepted by others. Social pressure is what drives humans to do things that they know are wrong, but yet, they continue to do so. “The Rules about the Rules,” Stephen Carter describes a person of integrity would know right from wrong and would do right at all personally cost. Amy Tan Mother Tongue, was often embarrassed by the broken English her family spoke. She would conceal her accent whenever she could to avoid the embarrassment. Culture and gender play an immense role when it comes to trying to fit in. In America, you have to fit in as an American while keeping the roots of your

People of color have been persecuted in this country since it was “discovered” by Christopher Columbus. Starting with the genocide of the Native Americans, the slavery of African Americans, continuing into the institutionalized racism that exists to this day. “For generations, people have used their mixed-race backgrounds to gain advantages in society. Many of those who were half black, for instance, “passed” for white to avoid discrimination” (Hu, 2012). While race is clearly not the definition of one’s character, many people, even members of the same minority group often look at only negative stereotypes when meeting a person. In my personal experience, I have been told by people of multiple races that I could pass for

First off, confronting someone on prejudice statements can help them realize what they have said. Prejudice is not always intentional, and some people may say things that are unintentionally offensive. They would never know that what they said was wrong unless somebody confronted them about it. Cole says that, "he may not have realized that the comment was offensive"(Cole 312). What the author is saying here is that people can be spoken to respectfully, and that they can be confronted in a way that allows that to realize and correct the problem. There are always going to be people who speak without thinking first, and as a result they will say something that they do not

Wise’s examination of the inconspicuous character of racism 2.0 dovetails fittingly with our course’s recurring theme of institutionalized racism. In class lectures we have defined institutionalized racism as the discriminatory practices that have become regularized and routinized by state agencies, organizations, industries, or anywhere else in society. Although such practices might not be intentionally racist, they end up being racist nevertheless as consequence of the systematized and unspoken biases that have become increasingly convoluted and entrenched within society over time. It also doesn’t help white people to recognize these discriminatory practices considering they have been unconsciously tailored to be consistent with white perspective and mentality. In her article, White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack, Peggy McIntosh examines not only how white folks often consider themselves to be a normative figure within society, but also how they are carefully taught not to recognize the advantages they gain from the disadvantages that impair people of color. In the article, McIntosh acknowledges the reality of her own white privilege and expresses, “In my class and place, I did not see myself as a racist because I was taught to recognize racism only in individual acts of meanness by members of my group, never in invisible systems conferring unsought racial dominance on my group from birth” (McIntosh 4). In fact, even if white folks do not believe themselves to

Difficulty with speaking up with racism- in an interview Rankine states difficulty with speaking on racism arrives “Because making other people uncomfortable is thought worse than racism. It has taken me a while to train myself to speak

One fundamental feature of this discourse it that it has become extremely bureaucratized. As if by some unspoken law, there is a feeling that any discussion on race relations is scripted, and that you can expect the conversation to go one way (Foster 660). With many of the interviewees, the conversation followed a path of acknowledging a problem, then saying things need to get better, and then diminishing the true impact of oppression in America. One prominent sociologist, George Ritzer, has called this phenomena 'McDonaldization ' (Foster 668). He equates many young white peoples speech pattern with the predictable nature of a trip to McDonalds. As with a McDonald order, White Race Discourse appears to have been streamlined for efficiency and to please the audience. While McDonalds does this by immediately asking for your order,

“Because post-civil rights norms disallow the open expression of direct racial views and positions, whites have developed a concealed way of voicing them.” (Bonilla-Silva) Two common verbal strategies used are, “I am not prejudiced, but…” and “Some of my best friends are…” My mother is African-American, from my

So as a writer there is a sense of excitement, thinking “This is something I could possibly change. I tell stories. I could make a change.” Unfortunately, this is where the question comes into play that I have yet to find an answer for, how does a white girl from America tell the unrepresented stories of a multitude of other people while the world tells me that because I am privileged to be born white that I cannot write the stories of another race without being racist or racially appropriating or racially insensitive. So, while this woman is talking about how by learning all the stories of a person can help circumvent the dangers of the single story, I, as a white woman, am told that to relate to people outside of my ethnic group is politically incorrect. For someone who just wants to do good with their writing and tell stories that will mean something to people it is easy to see why things continue to be whitewashed; because it is just so damn scary to try for something good and be told that it makes you a bad person

I was in a predicament, and I had to decide immediately. Because of my lack of auditioning experience, I wanted to respect their choice, but my morals held me back from stereotyping Asian-Americans. This was the first time I was dealing with this type of blatant racism in the theatre industry, and I knew I had to make a decision in a matter of seconds. With much hesitation, I politely asked to not do a Vietnamese accent and proceeded to perform my monologue in my natural dialect. My rejection to this note perhaps hindered my audition, but I wanted to correctly portray Asian-Americans through the media, even if this was a small role. As much as I wanted to be this character, my morals made me think twice about misrepresenting

I had a discussion with a friend during this past summer, and it made me aware of an interesting concept in my own life that I had not realized until that point. I had had an experience at work in which a co-worker of mine said something about my being black. Living in my predominantly white, Wisconsin city, this young individual had not been exposed to a lot of diversity in his life and made a generalization that did not fit me by any means. I told my friend about this incident, nonchalantly pointing out that it was inappropriate at the time, but I really couldn’t expect much out of someone that was both ignorant and naive. My friend then mentioned something to him in passing, and later told me that in her conversation with him she told him, "Kathryn doesn’t know she’s black, so don’t tell her."

Americans have always struggled with expressing appropriate reactions when they feel uncomfortable or out of control of a situation. Smith expresses this idea in the interview titled “Lousy Language” beginning with the speaker, Robert Sherman, explaining in a very politically correct manner that “the Crown Heights conflict had been brewing on and off for twenty years” (73). He went on to provide statistics and define the concepts of racism, prejudice, and discrimination. He concluded with the statement “I think we [Americans] have sort of a lousy language on the subject and

One would think in the decades since that people would start to understand others but the case is that we are still stereotypical and never bothered to get in touch with other cultures. Even outside the Whites and Blacks, Latinos and Asians are just as guilty for this confusion that exists among between different cultures. If White people even bothered to learn that Blacks are very direct and assertive when talking to others, or if Black people know that White people feel threatened if you don’t use basic conversation courtesy this country would be a lot farther along than we are. When reading this book I never thought that any of the information was false or biased in a way. The book did offer both sides and their opinions, although it was dominantly a book about the way Black people need assertive training I did not detect bias. I trust that Dr. Cheek is feeding me the correct information, I trust him as an educator so it gives me every reason to trust him as an author. In class everything that Dr. Cheek has stated has been correct because of the data he is able to collect and his expertise in recognizing residue from past events. On page 54 and 55 it has a chart that lists what Black people discuss with other Black people and what they talk about with White people. Also it lists in the style they talk and why they converse in the first place. Black people are very comfortable with other

In the article, “Perfect Voice” Carl Elliot said, “the voice is a good place to start thinking about identity, because many of us don’t even think about our voices until we are made self-conscious about them” (2). Cultural accent or native tongue connects a person to their cultural identity. The slightest reduction by learning to alter it, breaks that connection, connecting him/her to the accent they now have. He further noted that, “If you pretend long enough, you may become what you are pretending to be (4). Accent identifies who you are, it makes you unique and different. Learning the American standardized way of speaking, as Steinbeck mentioned in his book, Travels with Charley: In Search of America, is like speech becoming one speech.

I’m flabbergasted that someone would ask a potential employee “Why do all the Black kids sit at the same table at school?” and to follow that up with, “Why is it no longer okay to say n****r?” you have to be kidding me? Makinde has a lot more self-control than I would have in that situation. I would have told the guy off and walked out. I believe Makinde proposal for how to push through the awkwardness of these sensitive conversations is wonderful. However, I think it would only be successful if people are willing to have this conversation not just with other races but with others of their own race, then I have hope that we can move forward and eventually overcome the issues to create a more consistent understanding of race.