Why Are All The Black Kids Sitting Together? Essay

I learned some important things from this course that I will allow to stick with me no matter my profession. Diversity is something I will always have to deal with regardless if it is race, gender, or gender orientation. Importantly this course has allowed me to grow as an individual and has shown me that it is okay to learn about other races and their background. Not only has it allowed me to be acceptable of everyone in fact, it has allowed me to be less judgmental amongst others.

The peer reviewed article “Ethnic and Racial Identity During Adolescence into Young Adulthood: An Integrated Conceptualization” is a well written article on the struggle that people of color face when coming face to face with their identity in social situations. Umana-Taylor, Quintana, Lee, Cross, Rivas-Drake, Schwartz and Seaton (2014) analyzed ethnic and racial identity or ERI and how it relates to important developments and issues from early childhood well on into young adulthood. They worked to find the most important milestones during the development or ERI as well (Umana-Taylor et. al 2014). This paper will consist of the information given from the article and how I’ve dealt with my own ERI.

First and foremost, I'm deeply disturbed by what transpired at the National Policy Institute conference over the weekend. It's rather apropos that we are covering the topic of race at this moment. I'm furious but inspired (now, more than ever) to continue on this journey of justice studies as part of my personal commitment to be an ally for minorities. I wish that every person had the privilege of taking this class, the knowledge we're gaining is one of the most powerful tools we can use to combat the ignorance of white nationalism.

The second stage of Black racial identity development refers to the encounter stage. This depicts the juncture in life when a black American experiences a traumatic event/circumstance that causes him/her to reconsider their overall beliefs on racism. Dr. Cross asserts that this event/circumstance usually heightens an individual’s racial awareness and additionally, triggers major conflicts with their earlier viewpoints under the pre-encounter context. This causes one to reassess his/her own identity and develop an awareness of the Black experience.

The fourth chapter of "Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?”is about the identity development in adolescence. It is said that when black children are growing up, they engage in many of the white culture’s beliefs and values as it is all around them. It is not until a little later where they begin to recognize the impact of racism. This can happen around the early stages of adulthood. It might even happen around the junior high age. Gender also comes into play around this time as well. A black girl wouldn't be acknowledged for her beauty in a white setting as she is not in the society's standard for beautiful. Since the black girls aren’t considered beautiful, they begin to feel devalued. The black youth are beginning

Personally, I believe education is the key to combating racism. We must education our peers on our cultures. We must explain that “colorblindness” in society is not what’s best. Only by embracing and recognizing each other differences we will be able to break the social bubbles we live in. I’ve gained a stronger sense of racial awareness through this course. I have the ability to challenge and change other people’s ideologies and understand my own. I know because of my social position have scholarships, financial aide and the values of hard work and education instilled in me by my parents and grandparents. I’m also aware that many people are not able to gain that same access. Because of my racial awareness there is so much more I want to find out about the contributing factors that led to my family’s social position in New Orleans. It is through my racial awareness I plan to beat the system.

The Helms White Racial Identity Development Model identifies six racial identity statuses (Sue & Sue, 2016). These statuses include contact, disintegration, reintegration, pseudo-independence, immersion/emersion, and autonomy. Each of these statuses identifies characteristics that individuals in these statuses have. I traveled through theses statuses and believe I am currently in the immersion/emersion status. During different points in the model, I learned about race and myself that allowed me to move through each status, and currently working towards entering autonomy.

One of Beverly Tatum's major topics of discussion is racial identity. Racial identity is the meaning each of us has constructed or is constructing about what it means to be a white person or a person of color in a race-conscious society. (Tatum, pp Xvii) She talks about how many parents

Even though I believe to have a strong cultural diverse upbringing that differs from many of the lifestyles of my white friend, I never experienced any self-depreciation and oppression regarding my culture. I do believe I have undergone cultural development in terms of acculturation, but considering I have never experienced the need to abandon my cultural values, I feel it is appropriate to refer to the white racial identity development model rather than the racial/cultural identity developmental model. As a white female, I have certainly benefitted from white privilege, and it is my responsibility to acknowledge that aspect of my racial identity.

I believe Tatum answers the question “Why are all the Black kids sitting together in the cafeteria?” not only through her description of William Cross’s Black racial identity model, but through James Marcia’s four identity statuses and Rosabeth Moss Kanter’s A Tale of O. Tatum follows up the question through Marcia’s four stages that an individual undergoes to discover their identity: diffuse, foreclosed, moratorium, and achieved (Tatum 53). Marcia’s identity statuses can be seen in more detail through Cross’s Model. Cross’s Model begins with a person developing self-awareness of the world’s perception about themselves. Consequently, the individual comes in contact with the preencounter stage. Hence, their instinct is to assimilate by rejecting who they are and accepting what the majority sees as acceptable. At least one event may cause the person to enter the encounter stage, in which they become aware of racism and how it impacts their life.

Racism has been around in many countries for many years and is still found to this present day. Every person has their story to tell and for each distinct story one has faced discrimination and is the victim if not the creator. As a future teacher one must realize and notice these occurrences. After watching the film Crash by Paul Haggis I could relate my education course background to the film by approaching racism, socioeconomic status, and gender roles. Each individual topic has an affect towards individual people and their families then later counters a domino like effect like in the movie.

The growth of identity is a practice molded by a person’s family history, environmental experiences, and societal attachments. Identity endures ordeals to make the person secure and attentive so that it’s easier for the person to know what to expect out of their life. Although changes in our surroundings can be accepted, adjustments to one’s identity can often be challenging. Particularly in African American identity, there is difficulty in accepting who one is and knowing one’s place in society. There is an even greater difficulty if one is a biracial African American.

For myself, I think I identify the best with the White identity (Helms). I selected this model because I personally believe that it reflects my identity the best, and I do not see myself, even possibly, identifying with any other models. This model includes two phases, the abandonment of an individual’s racist ideas, and then defining a non-racist identity. There are also six stages that an individual will go through within this identity.

I started off this semester with high expectations for all my classes. As I am wrapping up my college career, left in my list of classes to take are mostly core classes related to my major. This class is my last and final pre-requisite requirement, and I must say it turned out to be a very interesting course. I really didn’t know what to expect, the title was self-explanatory, but it was equivocal. By the second week of class I assumed that this was going to be an exceptionally difficult class based on the syllabus. And of course, I was wrong. Instead I would say it was an exceptionally informative, intellectual, thought-provoking and exciting class. The fundamental learning objectives of this class overs topics that we as students and as humans can relate to in the real world. Especially topics like slavery, assimilation, discrimination, intersectionality and identity are really bursting with valuable information that requires heavy unpacking.

This course is interesting thus far. I enjoyed my first assignment about Color Consciousness, the video put things in perspective for me on how words can affect someone. I am slowly finding more information on Pacific islanders for my course assignment, very interesting to say the least. I'm also learning that racism is not just between two ethnicity's it can be within the same group of people. Although some may say they have no discrimination towards someone that appears different from themselves what they don't realize is that people say prejudice things without knowing what theyv've said is taken in a different way from someone else. There will always be discrimination and prejudice, found in the world I think that this class alone, could