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Essential Questions

Where do racial stereotypes come from?
How much of who you are is dependent on your race?
What can we learn by reading about individuals who experience conflict related to race and ethnicity?

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Use 3 of the vocabulary words below in at least 2 sentences.

Race
Ethnicity
Discrimination
Prejudice
Racism

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Race

A grouping of humans based on perceived shared physical qualities into categories

According to the US government, US Citizens have 5 choices for racial categories.

While there is no biological basis for racial classification, sociologists recognize a long history of attempts to organize groups of people based on similar skin color and physical appearance.
An evolving social idea that was created to legitimize racial inequality and protect white advantage

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Race

Ancient societies, like the Greeks, did not divide people according to physical distinctions, but according to religion, status, class, even language. The English language didn't even have the word 'race' until it turns up in a 1508 poem by William Dunbar referring to a line of kings.

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Race in the United States

The term “white” first appeared in colonial law in the late 1600s
By 1790, people were asked to claim race on the census
By 1825, the perceived degrees of blood determined who would be classified as Indian
After slavery was abolished in 1865, whiteness remained important, as racist exclusion of African Americans continued in new forms.

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Race

People with non-white status began to petition the courts to be reclassified

The courts decided who was white and who was not
In other words, people who were already seen as white got to decide who was white

Great Melting Pot Theory

Unified society through assimilation
Only Europeans were really allowed to assimilate into dominant culture

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Ethnicity Video

An ethnic group or ethnicity is a group whose members identify with each other on the basis of common nationality or shared cultural traditions.
Ethnicity connotes shared cultural traits and a shared group history. Some ethnic groups also share linguistic or religious traits, while others share a common group history, but not a common language or religion.

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Prejudice

Pre-judgement about another person based on the social groups to which that person belongs.
All humans have prejudice

Prejudice is an unavoidable reality. If you are aware a social group exists, you will have gained information about that group from the society around you.

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Prejudice

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Stereotype

An oversimplified generalization about groups of people such as appearance, behavior or ability.
They may be positive, but are often negative.
In either case, the stereotype is a generalization that is applied to individuals without first gathering factual knowledge about the individual.

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Racial Stereotype

The false assumption that all members of a racial group are the same and think and behave in the same way.

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Discrimination

Action based on prejudice

Ex: Ignoring, exclusion, threats, ridicule, slander, violence

Unfair treatment of one person or group of people because of the person or group’s identity (e.g. race, gender, ability, religion, culture, etc.).

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Oppression

Prolonged cruel or unjust treatment or control

Explains how a certain group is being kept down by unjust authority forces or societal norms.

Oppression requires power

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Racism

Racism is treating someone differently (usually badly) because of their race.
When a racial group’s collective prejudice is backed by the power of legal authority or institutional control.
Racism is a structure and a system, not an event
Racism = Prejudice + Power
Nobody can be racist if they aren’t in the dominant group, no matter how prejudiced they are, because they lack one of the two variables in the equation.

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Anti-Racism

Anti-Racism is defined as the work of actively opposing racism by advocating for changes in political, economic, and social life. Anti-racism tends to be an individualized approach, and set up in opposition to individual racist behaviors and impacts.

Anti Racist An anti-racist is someone who is supporting an antiracist policy through their actions or expressing antiracist ideas. This includes the expression of ideas that racial groups are equals and do not need developing, and supporting policies that reduce racial inequity.

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White supremacy

A political, economic, and cultural system in which whites overwhelmingly control power, material resources, conscious and unconscious ideas of white superiority
White entitlement is widespread and relations of white dominance are daily reenacted across a broad array of institutions and social settings.

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Institutionalized racism

A form of racism that is embedded as normal practice within society or an organization. It can lead to such issues as discrimination in criminal justice, employment, housing, health care, political power, and education, among other issues.
The collective failure of an organization to provide an appropriate and professional service to people because of their color, culture, or ethnic origin. It can be seen or detected in processes, attitudes and behavior that amount to discrimination through prejudice, ignorance, thoughtlessness, and racist stereotyping which disadvantage minority ethnic people.

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Ideology

Frameworks through which we are taught to represent, interpret, understand, and make sense of society.
For example: Individualism

Racial hierarchies are the outcome of natural order resulting from either genetics or individual effort or talent
Those who do not succeed are just not capable, deserving, or hardworking

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