Prevention (Rudkin Chapter 9) Response

I found that reading over the chapter on Prevention was particularly helpful. As we search for solutions to our Research-Action Topics, I think that drawing on prevention measures is a good start. While many of us are dealing with issues that are already a problem, like racism, I feel that it is never too late for prevention. Prevention may not be helpful in stopping racism from occurring at all, but it certainly can assist in decreasing the spread of it.

I think one of the biggest barriers that my group and I face as people ready to end racism is that not all people are. On page 260 there is a chart for Community Readiness: Stages and Strategies. In the case of racism, this is important to understand when addressing what solutions should be applied to which communities. It is difficult to gather a nation wide effort to ending racism if there are many parts of the country that ignore or are just ignorant that it really does still exist. Rudkin identified 9 Stages and I feel that most of the communities in the country only reached Stage 5 of preparation or Stage 6 of initiation, if even that. When dealing with the communities at Stage 1 that either tolerate or are not knowledgeable of racism or Stage 2 of denial, we must initiate small group and educational outreach programs that talk about the problems, costs and harms of racism. By starting at this level I am confident that progress can be made. I am sure that there will be some initial resentment, but this is something that needs to be forced in some areas.

According to the Typologies of prevention, most of the ideas I have such as community therapy and forums are secondary forms or prevention. However, primary prevention is necessary in schools from the elementary to college level. Requiring a few classes for students each year to talk about these issues is a good way to prevent them from becoming racist thinkers. I think that something like this could even be expanded into issues of sexism and other forms of discrimination.

Response to Supplemental Notes-Part 2 and 3

In the “Supplemental Notes Part 2”, I have to admit I had a little trouble grasping some of the examples. The first example of health care presented by Gesundheit! Included providing services without charge and without malpractice insurance being carried by the institute. I do not understand how they can run and stay afloat without the proper finances and assurances for their doctors. Other than that I think that it is a terrific concept. I wish that all hospitals were like that. Mental health is extremely important to the successful recovery and care of patients so I feel that this mission is a key to maintaining a strong mental health. The strengths it draws for the community are important as well because it provides an extra source of support.

I read a statistic in the Chicago Tribune this weekend that said 6 out of 100 children who graduate from the Chicago public school system will go to college. A rate of 0.06% is absolutely unacceptable. While there are monetary and family situations that may be a preventing factor, improving the quality of education is essential. I think that if more schools adopted the charter school method, there would be a vast enhancement in the education of these children.

If I understand the idea of “Intentional Communities” correctly then I think they would be a great asset to the nation. I think that the community determining to live and work together more cooperatively is important and that perhaps this is a solution to explore with racism. My only concern is that this idea of forming a town with the people you share views with could explode into an ugly form of discrimination. I fear that it would turn into a town of people who “agree to only allow in Christians” or “Identify only with Italians,” etc.

From “Supplemental Notes-Part 3” my favorite quote is probably the most famous on the page. John Donne’s immortal words, “No man is an island, entire of itself,” are important to remember when dealing with solving some of the community’s ills. Having and giving support to one another gets goals accomplished.

Appreciating Diversity Response (Rudkin, Chapter 5)

The Community Psychology Chapter on Appreciating Diversity was by far the most useful to my Research-Action Topic of racism. So for this response I will focus most of my writing on conveying the parts that rang truest and that I considered my own research.

One of the first barriers to overcome in discussing the differences among us is to find the words to talk about it. So often we, as a society and as individuals, tiptoe around the elephant in the room. If there is just meaningful discussion and acknowledgement of the existence of a problem that could be a huge first step. This is additionally hard when people feel they lack the terms to discuss the topic…how to you refer to different races? Black, Negro, African American? Mexican, Hispanic, Chicano? While adopting group names can enhance a positive collective identification, they can often trip people up. A statement that I found very interesting was the fact that the term diversity reflects an interest in different cultures, suggests positive regard for differences, and avoids dualisms, BUT it deflects attention from historic and ongoing inequities by implying harmony. Recognizing progress cannot blind us from the accomplishments that still need to be made.

Problems also arise with the way we use certain terms. The various “-isms” of society tend to focus almost solely on the victims, not the perpetrators. It forces people to view the lack of justice as something that is the victims fault, thus further aggravating the issues. Using the example of sexism in the “Men shut up” example was something that most of us do not think about but should! It is almost an unspoken understanding, which I myself have felt, that as a woman you do not speak up with your views, and if you do, you better prepare to be ridiculed for them or not taken seriously. I can imagine that those that are affected by other “–isms” feel the same way. In fact, understanding how the victim feels and seeing the faults of the aggressor was a useful tool in the example Jane Elliot’s experiment in educating children on racism. I think educating children to understand and recognize the issue is a great preventative measure for the future of this country.

When the author listed the various difficulties of achieving diversity, I immediately identified because I have thought of some of the same troubles while trying to plan my super-initiative: the legacy of silence, imprecise and changing terminology, false dualisms, complexity of similarities and differences within and across groups, and multiple influences on behavior.
Well those are the problems…but as for the solution? Focus on the GAINS; the strengths NOT the deficits. I agree that we need to learn that heated debate may be healthy, there may be more than a single right answer, and that win-win situations are possible. When we attend to different worldviews, our horizons expand and our solutions to problems can become more complete. My final excerpt to draw on is one that I think is a major factor in racism: Interactions with members of other groups will be more productive and satisfying if they flow from a base of understanding and respect rather than ignorance or fear.

Slife Response Paper

I found the information presented in Slife’s “managing Inescapable Values in Psychotherapy: Moving from Modernist Neutrality to Continental Dialogue” to be very valuable to the way that we look at society and each other. To briefly summarize the author, in the Premodern Era held the psychological perspective that values should be “subjective” and “absolute.” And just as most trends form, the values of “objectivity” and “relativity” in the Modern Era were a reaction to the Premodern values. So where else were the values of therapists to go but to neutrality?

There was no other direction left to take. While at first glance this approach seems wise, as Slife puts it, there is no scientific validation for science and approaching clients with no values is itself, a value. The problem that is that being a therapist who believes in not imposing their own believes and ideals upon their patient inadvertently do just that. Soon, the progress and success of the client is judged based on how much the client has changed to be “value free” like them.
I think this approach is not just prevalent in the therapists of today, but also in society as a whole. I feel that many in this country ostracize and criticize those who have strong “non-neutral” beliefs. I think that it is very important that we are aware of other people’s values instead of condemning them. It is possible to be knowledgeable of other values and ideas without losing your own. My issue of racism for example can even take the same basic concept I have expressed here. People are naturally different, there is no denying that. Many of the people trying to end racism are going about it by preaching colorblindness. Well what a paradox THAT creates because the acknowledgement of different colors is in the definition of being colorblind. Instead, as Slife said, engagement is the key.

Final Problem Definition Analyses (Version X)

The Following View Racism as a Major Problem

~Racism stems from the passing down of negative sterotypes from generation to generation. Many towns across the country were once Sundown Towns. The rippling effect of this history is what spreads racist ideas amongst the towns. The current demographics of towns without racial diversity display a less formal version of segregation. (Society's influence passed to the Individual. PDA focuses on the role of the aggressor).

~Racism is due to the social hierarchy. Because minorities tend to make less and are fewer in numbers, it is simply the domination of the more wealthy white majority over the less powerful. (Society and economic influence. PDA focuses on the role of the aggressor).

~Racism is the government's fault. While there need to be more laws enforcing diversity in bodies of government, businesses, and schools. As for the laws that are in place, racism continues becasue the government and police authorities do not enforce them. (Government influence. PDA focuses on the role of the aggressor).

~Racism is from media portrayals. If the media did not feed ideas of seperation or if it promoted more diversity, racism would disapate. (Media influence. PDA focuses on the role of the aggressor).

~Racism exists because of the lack of proper education on the topic. Schools and other groups fail to emphasize the importance of all races in past and current history, book selected for curriculum, etc. (Education influence. PDA focuses on the role of the aggressor).

~Racism stems soley from what parents teach their children. no matter what kids learn in school or from the media, the parets have the strongest influence over children. If the parents are racist, the children most likely will be too. Also, since it is the parents' genes being passed on to the individual, the infulences of biology make the children more inclined to think the same way. (Heredity/Biological influence. PDA focuses on the role of the aggressor).

~Racism is solely an individual act that stems from that specific person's issues with other races. It is not groups or the community's fault. (Individual influence. PDA focuses on the role of the aggressor).

~Racism is the individual's or community's way of dealing with the unknown. Racial slurs and discrimination become ways for the brain's natural process of mental shortcuts to generalize what they fear. (Psychological influence. PDA focuses on the role of the aggressor).

The Following View Racism as a Minor Issue, but Say it Does Exist

~Racism is a problem but not as big of one as everyone is making it. many of these so called racist situations are over dramatized, taken out of context, or making issues racial when they are not. (Individual influence. PDA focuses on the role of the victim).

~Racism is not a huge issue. The government, bussinesses and schools that implement laws like affirmative action or other race privilaged measures, only make matters worse. Such laws only create resentment toward the "privalged race." (Governmental influence. PDA focuses on the role of the aggressor).

~Racism has majorly decreased in our country since the Civil Rights Movement. It is time to focus our community concerns elsewhere. (Society influence. PDA focuses on the role of the aggressor).

The Following View Racism as a Non-Issue and as Non-Existant

~Racism does not occure anymore. Those that say it does are the problem. They only want attention and power to become the dominate group. (Society and Individual influence. PDA focuses on the role of the victim).

~Racism is not an issue. It is natural to self-segregate with those you identify with, and that is all it is. The idea that this mental function is racism is the individual's attempt to deal with and explain their own inadequacies. (Psychological influence. PDA focuses on the role of the victim).

~Racism is not what is occurring. The divisions of superior people are what God intended. The white majority is simply the superiority. (Society and Group influence. PDA focuses on the role of the aggressor).

Class Media Ethnography

a) Our friends are our rocks
b) Without the support, understanding and simple joys that our friends bring to our lives, we can be lonely and often lose the meaning of who we are and what we are doing. It is not that we should be defined by our friends, but that often they are the ones that help us stay on the track in our lives
c) In the Sex and the City episodes "An American Girl in Paris (Parts 1 and 2)" Carrie leaves everything behind in New York to be with a man in Paris. These episodes, which also served as the series finale, showed Carrie lost in Paris without her friends. It was more than she didn't know how to speak the language, or which places to eat at...it was about the fact that she did not have her friends to share it with. She was lonely and merely longed to just meet up for lunch and laugh with her dear friends that understood and cared for here. The support and happiness she got from her friends was irreplaceable.

Response Paper to McKnight

Building Communities from the Inside Out: a Path toward Finding and Mobilizing a Community’s Assets described the two common ways that our society takes in rebuilding a troubled community. The most common, and often least effective, way is to identify all of a communities needs. However, as the article points out, focusing on all of the negative aspects only hurts the community more. To me, the first thing that comes to mind is everything that you see in the movies. Unless it is from a community members’ point of view, lower income areas are portrayed as dangerous and void of morality. By zeroing in on the negative and lacking parts of that area, the people from outside of it form a degrading mindset and think of it only as a needy area. In my opinion, the people from outside will eventually begin to resent the constant aid that they pour into the community. Eventually, stereotypes of “slackers” or people “cheating the system” start to take hold, and then the people that really DO need assistance will not receive it. Additionally, doing this starts to make the community’s own members view themselves and their area that way too. Soon there is little pride to be had from your community and you start to believe that you cannot survive without help from the outside.
The other method of building the community is to focus on all of its strengths and assets. By concentrating on the positive parts of the area, members of it can have a sense of pride in the change they are making. Plus, who knows more about a community than its own members? They will know best how to use its positive points to influence its deficient areas and promote growth. As McKnight points out, change happens when the people from within are the ones to implement it. There is nothing more gratifying than realizing that you do matter and can make a positive difference. Although it is important to not completely withdraw help from these communities until they can stand on their own, it is essential to let the members of it have a hand in the decisions being made.

The best part of this article was how I found myself applying it to other situations around the world. Currently in World Geography, I am learning about foreign aid: its history, the types, and the countries and organizations that give it. Take the African country of Malawi for instance; it is projected that within a few months nearly 5 million will be suffering from malnutrition due to the current famine. After years and years of aid, many contributors are saying that the best way to make this country change is to withdraw aid so that they may, “learn their lesson.” However, as feeding shelters begin to overflow and the effects of hunger ripple to other aspects of society, most of these people will not survive if food does not come soon. So what is to be done? I think that by using the methods of this article, some positive change might be implemented. Perhaps just giving money to the corrupt government is not the route to go, but if there is a way to involve the people in changing the irrigation system and building their own resources for grain storage, there will be hope.

Overall, I thought that reading this was an important way for us to look at changing communities. It certainly made me feel less hopeless for the situations that before this seemed doomed either way.

My Rough Draft of a Super-Initiative

I think that since the problem of racism lies mainly people's ideology, it is important to analyze how their ideology is formed. Personally, I believe that a what we learn as we grow up comes from three sources: Our parents, our schooling (curriculum/teachers), and the media. All of these influences form our sometimes subconscious outlook on life and the people around us.

Since it is not possible to legally enforce what a parent teaches their child, it is important that schools meet requirements to expose their students to the history and present day nature of different races and culture. By learning about the past, students can appreciate where these groups and thier customs come from and how that connects to today. When sharing current information on different races, these teachers will be exposing students to the reality of racism today, making it harder to deny.

As for the media, I think that directors, producers, and others in the entertainment business, need to be conscious in the stereotypes that they promote. If current laws for equal opportunity are enforced, a variety of people can shape and mold the message that gets sent to so many mass media hungry kids and young adults.

What the younger generation of now does will shape our future. If the community steps up and pushes their government in implementing rules for curriculum and erradicating these media images, there is hope. It is only a first step since there are some peoples' opinions you will never change, but is a strong step.

1st Hand Accounts and Super-Initiative Posts (3/13)

Response to Monica on 1st Hand Accounts:
Thank you for your account! I have shared one of mine on one of my early blog postings that most of you have seen and responded to. But another observation of mine going through a predominately white high school was that the real minority was the latin american or mexican students. Our prom king was born in Ethiopia, and our validictorian was Chinese, but no "popular" kid in our school was one that did not speak English well. I have found that that is one of the biggest propellors of racisim in America--"those who can't speak it shouldn't be here" or "learn English, this is America."


Post to my Group on our Super-Initiatives:
Sorry for all of the posts but after not being able to talk about some of this stuff for awhile, I have a lot on my mind. As a group, I don't think we have expanded on our super-initiatives either. During class we said some rough possible solutions were:
*To ignore it
*To push for laws like affirmative action to help minorities
*Advocate for laws, but only after more important issues are addressed
*Teach and include more of every race and culture in schools and the media
*Do not ask for new laws, but simply the enforcement of current ones

Let me know some other ones that you guys have come up with since then...because these are from awhile ago! :)

"Black. White."

So this past Thursday (9th), I watched a new show on FX called "Black. White." about two families that not only live together for awhile, but go out in public wearing costumes and make-up portraying them as the opposite race. I accidentally only taped half of it because I didn't realize it was a two-hour premire, but the hour that I did see was very interesting.
The black father felt liberated as this white man. He went golfing, bought golf shoes in the pro-shop that were placed on his feet for him, and got a job in a "white" community bar and resturant. He said that he felt in every experience that he was able to bond with these other white people simply because they thought he was white too. The job in the bar proved to be a useful tool for him also because he felt that he could ask about racial issues while people were in a relaxed atmosphere drinking and get a more honest answer than he would elsewhere as a black man. And actually he did...he asked one man about the town and if it was a nice place to live. The man, in so many words, told him that this was a good place to raise your childern and send them to school because it has been untouched by blacks and remains one of the few primarily white communities in the area. The man recommended moving to this town because unlike other towns with black people, it hasn't gone down the drain.
The white father seemed to be looking for something else as a black man. He kept waiting to be called a nigger so that he could have the opportunity to not get angry, and merely ask, "what makes you say that?" He also went to the car dealership and said he recieved the same service he would as a white man. And when trying to explain this to the other father at the end of the night, he proposed that maybe the black father is just looking for racism in every situation and that's why he misinterprets every reaction from others to be about race.
While the other characters went on their own adventures and delt with their own issues, the lighter topics of the show dealt with each family trying to teach the other one "how to be..." in the way they talked, walked, and sat.
I am pretty sure that it aired at 8:00 or 9:00...you should try to catch an episode and see what you think!

Second Definition Analysis Post (3/13)

To my group:
I haven't gotten any replies from you guys yet, but I hope to hear your ideas on a definition analysis soon. My definition is that racism is just a matter of changing the ideology that stereotypes and the media emulate. While this is not easy, the best way that I can propose to start fixing this is to teach the children and young adults of America differently. They are this country's future, with minds much more open to change than older adults. While this is difficult , if we start by reshaping some common community stereotypes, it propels the individual to change his mindset and from there fed his ideas back out into the community. I do not believe this is strictly an individual or community issue. It is both. In fact, if you get further into the problem I believe that the thing causing racism the most is passivism. People hold these subconscious ideals and simply fail to impliment change because of them.

Drinking Posts (3/10)

Personal Stories Response:
I think that after all of the negative stories about alcohol (which my friends and I have definately had my share of too), I want to share a positive one. I had really liked one of my friends that I hung out with two summers ago. We had only met through friends a couple of months before, so I didn't think that he would like me too. One night, him, my friends, and I all were hanging out playing cards and watching a movie...very low key and just causually drinking. That night we really got to talk and know each other. We weren't tense or akward...not because the alcohol "loosened us up," but because it provided a common social ground and we were able to be ourselves and relax. Because of the way he acted I could totally tell that he felt the same way about me and after a week or so we started dating. A year and a half later we are still together. I found out months later that he had just been so nervous because he didn't think I felt that same way. And I think that if we hadn't been in the kind of relaxed enviornment that drinking with friends provided, he wouldn't have asked me out, so soon at least. The important part though, is that we watched are limits. Neither of us wanted to be a drunken, puking fool in front of each other...what kind of impression does that make?


Suggestion Response:
The inside of the bars are definately gross. I know that by the time that most people get drunk they don't care, but the puke out on the street goes right along with the dirty atmosphere inside of the bars. While the idea of the cleaning crew seems an easy fix, that means that the police will need to spend more money to increase the number of officers they have going out to write up tickets. Even if it wasn't the people who recieved tickets that did the cleaning, SOMEONE would need to pay for the crew. I'm not saying it's not a possible solution, but all of this options reprecussions need to be evaluated.

Reviving Ophelia Response

Quite honestly, the most striking and true part of this reading is that we have become numb to the sexist way in which the media and our culture portray women. I went to a Catholic school in middle school and have very conservative parents, so I feel that these two factors helped me avoid the drugs, sex, alcohol, and violence that many of these girls faced. I was not allowed to see movies above my ratings and my parents had to see them first. While all of these precautions protected me from the more serious effects that accompany growing up, they did not protect me from the other struggles mentioned. I lost my interest in science, even though I had advanced to the regional level for science fair, I felt awkward about all of my physical changes, and I didn’t feel like I had a lot of close friends.

In fact, my changes in interest relates very much to a study I recently learned about in my personality psychology class. It has been shown that girls are more academically successful in grade school than boys, yet by the time they reach middle school, they have fallen behind, most notably in math and science. The cause for this shift was in part due to the praises and criticisms girls received. While boys were corrected or praised for their effort, girls received comments on their ability. This led girls to believe that their intelligence was fixed and that they could not get any smarter. Imagine, if it has been found that most girls feel this way about their intellect, what else do they feel this way about?

When I got to high school freshman year, I found the best friends I will ever have in the theatre department. I was known as the “sheltered one” because of the way I dressed, music I listened to, and the movies I had seen. While in most ways, I am grateful for the way that my parents raised me, I feel saddened that they had HAD to shelter me. Luckily, my high school experience was one of the best of my life, but I can hardly remember who I was in middle school. I do not know if that is because I have changed, or because I have remained the same.

In reading this, I also began to analyze my personal relationship with my boyfriend. I love him very much and feel that he respects me, but I wonder sometimes what the future will bring. I am going to college so that one day I can find success in a career. But how will I juggle the hopes I have of being there for my children with my own personal goals for larger success? His support with either decision is a given, but never have I heard mention of him planning on being a stay at home dad. The issue is always what will I do when we have kids...not what will he do.

I think it is very important that we fight the double standard that exists for women. While I admit that even I have connected feminism to being anti-male, I think that the simple approach of conscious awareness is best in eradicating this view. I want there to be more than four choices for women. We should have the choice to prosper, excel, and dominate, not just conform, withdraw, be depressed or get angry. If we allow our sexist society to douse these young women, we could lose some of the world’s brightest stars.

A positive part of U of I

I know it may seem unoriginal, but for class on Monday the thing that I selected to display what I truely love about U of I is the students' dedication to the sports. Even if you forget about the standings of our great Tennis, Gymnastics, Wrestling, and Basketball teams, and focus on our terrible football record, the athletics here really bring students together. I chose this picture because with everyone dressed in Orange, you get a sense of school pride...something to celebrate.

Response Paper to Muhammad Yunus

I was very interested to read about Muhammad Yunus because I found it relating very much to what I am learning in Geography 100. In fact, there is a great book called World Hunger: Twelve Myths that explores all of the common misconceptions about the causes of world hunger. One of the myths is that there is an actual shortage in the quantity of food. The book then continues to dispute this myth by saying it is not a lack of quantity, it is a lack in proper distribution. In many countries around the world, the new technology and food producing methods being introduced will not help if the government and social systems continue to allow uneven allocation of food. I think that this is exactly what we see in the reading by Mr. Yunus. The wealth, food, and land are simply not distributed evenly, creating extreme stratification and gaps within society.

However, he was not satisfied with these gaps and set out to do something about it. That is what I find so striking. Many of us are discontent with the status quo sometimes, yet we do nothing about it. Mr. Yunus went into the actual communities to meet one on one with the people. He got to know the individual, not their stereotype. The negativity associated with certain members of the community just because of their social status is set in the government and banks as well. I find it tragic that these institutions discriminate based no class statures. Even when Muhammad Yunus proved that lending to these people was effective and could work, he was met with stubbornness.

The frightening thing is that I had never even heard of the Grameen Bank before this reading. My question in that is, why? Why is this method not being employed around the world? I think that sadly the large corporations or more powerful people are more concerned with making money than spreading equality. Thoughts like that bring about the realization that perhaps we need to be like Muhammad and zoom in on the problems in our community because often that is the only way to get things done. This reading has certainly proved to me that one person is never too small to accomplish such a large feat. I am having difficulty in finding a solution my own community issue of racism because it seems a hopeless task for one person. Changing that mindset, like Mr. Yunus, is the start. Just imagine the possibilities if everyone discarded that way of thinking?

Posts (2/16, 2/22, 3/5, 3/08)

Documentaries/Films about Race & Racism
In Response to Ruqaiyah on Dave Chappelle's Interview with Oprah:
I saw that interview and thought it was very interesting. Especially when Oprah explained her experience interviewing members of the KKK. For those of you who did not see the interview, she said that she had invited them on the show as a way to expose them to the world. During a commercial break, one of the members on stage raised his fist in triumph to a member in the audience who was saying, "Get her!" She said she then realized that she had instead inadvertantly given them a voice, a way to spread their ideology and that she never wants to do that again.

Sources
In Response to Stephanie:
I think this would be a great way to zoom in and really take a particular place as a model for the broader issue.

Definition Analysis
Ok, so we have all had trouble understanding exactly what we are supposed to be doing to define the problem. But I think in an effort to collaborate for our final super-initiative, people could share the main reason for how they define the problem. I know in class we had briefly discussed that we think the issue is all about people's ideology, but there has to be something CAUSING this ideology...and THAT'S what we need to focus on. Post your ideas!

What's going on?
In response to Samantha for the Cancer in Champaign-Urbana Group:
I got an e-mail saying that teams can register tomorrow at the Union 10A.M.-3:00P.M. (I am not positive that the ending time is correct). Registration is $50 per team. I am sorry that I forgot to announce this to our group in class today. Since we will probably miss tomorrow's fundraiser, I am sure that there will be another date. If anyone passes the tables tomorrow, please get information on when and where else we can register so that we can share that information on Monday/via the message boards.

Problem Definition Analysis

1) Racism continues from generation to generation because of what our culture says to children about racial superiority. The negative conotation of race only exists in our ideology. While we can not become color-blind, the same way we cannot ignore if someone has blue eye or green, is 10 years old or 60, we can learn to love people for their differences. Hating someone for their skin color, and noticing it, are two different things.
*This site offers a general view but more importantly several interesting links:
http://www.rubak.com/article.cfm?ID=6
* I RECOMMEND YOU TAKE THIS TEST. This site takes you through a 10 minute test that measures your unconcious preference to race, presidents, old people...you name it: https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/


2) Racism used to be about fighting for "equality under the law," but now, reverse racism is taking place. The goal of these "race leaders" is to provide special quotas and privilages, like affirmative action, for their own race. These groups do not want a color-blind society, they want to make their race superior. http://www.reasonvsracism.com/


3) The fight against racism has lost ground in the past 30 years. Now, racism is more subtle and occurs despite laws against it. Today it occurs through racial profiling, police brutality, residential segregation, and employment discrimination. It is the government's job to enforce laws against these practices. http://archives.cnn.com/2000/US/09/21/us.racism.ap/index.html


4) There is such a thing as a difference in races and identifying different races does not make you a racist. If you do not believe in equality between races, THEN you are racist. Therefore the problem is not in the idea of race existing...because it does. http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=983


5) There is only one race in the world...the Human Race. There are 3 types of racists: the open racist, the covert racist, and the unconscious racist. It is fear from these groups that keeps racism alive and groups apart.
*Even if you don't agree with this general statement, this site has several good links to many different view points* http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Hills/8908/rframe.htm

Research Action Posts 2/8/06-"Modern Racism"

Sadie's Post on Racism:
Hello group,I wanted to just offer my own perspective, which is based partially on a prejudice class I took last year. I think it's interesting to think about the ways that prejudice (racism in particular) is different today than it was even 20 years ago. Often racism is not expressed through direct hostility but rather passive avoidance. There is some work by Patricia Devine and colleagues that suggests that there is a difference between explicit prejudice (which the person is aware of) and implicit prejudice (which the person may not be aware of and is harder to fight) (You can find some of her articles online at Google scholar). Implicit prejudice might be expressed in more subtle ways such as taking a seat on a bus next to a person of your own race. But these subtle forms of racism can be self-perpetuating since they decrease contact between races, making it harder for us to disconfirm each others' biases. How do the solutions to prejudice change depending on whether we conceptualize prejudice as overt or more subtle? Do you think it might be harder to change one or the other? Just some thoughts I have...

My Response:
I am glad that you brough this up because I definately think that for the majority of the country, racism is implicit. I also believe that because this is the case, it is harder to fight. If people are not aware that they too hold these internal beliefs or are afraid to admit them, it becomes more difficult to know where to begin in solving the problem. I think that for the explicit racism, that is where the law needs to get involved-to stop such things as hate crimes, or blantent discrimination. However, with implicit, that is where we somehow need to get into peoples' minds and aide in changing their ideology. It may be a slow process but I think the best way to start doing that is to find out first, how people formed these ideas about other races...I think the results of that would help us know where to target.

Response to Nicole:
This is a little off topic but I had to reply to Nicole's response. THANK YOU for bringing up Notre Dame. I have used that example with many people and feel the same way about what you had to say. Hahaha I say that we make shirts that say, what about the leprichaun?