RACE
What it is:
Robert Wald Sussman writes, "The concept of human races is real. It is not a biological reality, however, but a cultural one. Race is not part of our biology, but it is definitely a part of our culture. Race and racism are deeply ingrained in our history." “...a socially constructed way of grouping people, based on skin color and other apparent physical differences, which has no genetic or scientific basis. This social construct was created and used to justify social and economic oppression of people of color by Whites.” - from Brookline for Racial Justice and Equity (BRJE) |
Remember:
Race, ethnicity, and nationality have different meanings, though are sometimes used interchangeably in casual conversation. To see examples of the differences between these three terms, take a look at the chart in first FAQ of the ethnicity section. There’s lots to learn; you might start with this PBS site. Did you know that slavery predates race, that race is not biological, and that race is a modern construct? |
Examples of Personal Modifiers:
From the US Census: An individual’s response to the race question is based upon self-identification.
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2010 Census Question on Race and Ethnicity |
FAQs
What is the difference between race and ethnicity and nationality?
As written in this chapter, “Because of the problems in the meaning of race, many social scientists prefer the term ethnicity in speaking of people of color and others with distinctive cultural heritages. In this context, ethnicity refers to the shared social, cultural, and historical experiences, stemming from common national or regional backgrounds, that make subgroups of a population different from one another. Similarly, an ethnic group is a subgroup of a population with a set of shared social, cultural, and historical experiences; with relatively distinctive beliefs, values, and behaviors; and with some sense of identity of belonging to the subgroup. So conceived, the terms ethnicity and ethnic group avoid the biological connotations of the terms race and racial group and the biological differences these terms imply. At the same time, the importance we attach to ethnicity illustrates that it, too, is in many ways a social construction, and our ethnic membership thus has important consequences for how we are treated.”
For example:
- David Ortiz (professional athlete: Red Sox) is a racially Black person who is ethnically Dominican and is a dual citizen of the Dominican Republic (place of birth) and the US (as of June 2008).
- Lupita Nyong’o (actress: Black Panther, 12 Years a Slave, Star Wars) is a racially Black person who is ethnically a part of the Luo tribe in Kenya and has Mexican-born nationality. She self identifies as Mexican-Kenyan in this article.
What is the difference between Black and African American?
Some people would identity as both Black and African American, whereas others might identify as Black, but not African American. For example, a Dominican American might identify as Black, but not African American. As another example, a person in the U.S. whose ancestry is African might identify as Black, but not African American, as this person might not know his/her specific African ancestry. This Youtube video
explores the question of what language to use. Interestingly, as reported by this NPR article, the 2020 US Census will ask black people to report more about their specific ancestry.
According to Pew Research Center, “When it comes to reporting their racial identity, Latinos stand out from other Americans. In the 2010 census, for example, 94% of the U.S. population selected at least one of the five standard, government-defined racial categories – white, black, Asian, American Indian or Pacific Islander. But among Latinos, just 63% selected at least one of these categories; 37% of Latinos, or 19 million, instead selected only “some other race,” with many offering write-in responses such as “Mexican,” Hispanic” or “Latin American.” Federal policy defines “Hispanic” not as a race, but as an ethnicity. And it prescribes that Hispanics can in fact be of any race. But these census findings suggest that standard U.S. racial categories might either be confusing or not provide relevant options for Hispanics to describe their racial identity. They also raise an important question long pondered by social scientists and policymakers: Do Hispanics consider their Hispanic background to be part of their racial background, their ethnic background or both? A new Pew Research Center survey of multiracial Americans finds that, for two-thirds of Hispanics, their Hispanic background is a part of their racial background – not something separate. This suggests that Hispanics have a unique view of race that doesn’t necessarily fit within the official U.S. definitions.”
What should I say? “White?” “Caucasian?”
Say “White.” Anthropologist Carol C. Mukhopadhayy writes that we should get rid of the word “Caucasian” because it has racist origins and implication.
What should I say? “Non-white?” “Person of color?” “Racial Minority?”
“Person of color” is preferred over “non-white,” as Yolanda Moses writes in her article “Is the Term ‘People of Color’ Acceptable in this Day and Age?”
The term “people of color” is often used, but -- as Joshua Adams points out in this article “We Should Stop Saying ‘People of Color’ When We Mean Black People” -- “people of color” may not always be appropriate. He writes, “the use of “person of color” is legitimate and there are plenty of situations where it’s appropriate to use the term. One example is if you are discussing why Hollywood should take greater steps for inclusion and diversity, it makes perfect sense to use “people of color” to describe the issue.
“But if you were raising questions about the lack of Native representation in films, using them as an example of how Hollywood needs more “people of color” evades the issue. I’d argue that saying “we need more Native representation in film” is not only a more direct way to address the problem, but it properly centralizes the specific concerns and issues of the Native film community, and it directs you to the spaces where the solutions can be found — Native communities.”
So what should you do if you aren’t sure how to identify a person, in terms of their race and/or ethnicity? Just ask them!
What is a biological construct?
A biological construct is a characteristic that is completely based upon one’s inheritance, and is therefore a “hard-wired” characteristic. If a characteristic were biological, then all individuals with that characteristic would have a particular gene variant (allele), a particular chromosome, a particular DNA sequence, or some other inherited factor. If a characteristic is biological, then an analysis of a person’s genome (DNA) and other inherited features would yield a 100% accurate prediction of whether or not a particular person has that characteristic.
Race is NOT biological because there are no gene variants/alleles/chromosomes/inheritable features that all people of a particular racial identity have in common with one another, and that people of other racial identities do not have. In other words, you cannot analyze a genome and accurately predict the racial identity of the corresponding person.
According to this parenting website (odd source, but the definition is good), “A social construct is something that exists not in objective reality, but as a result of human interaction. It exists because humans agree that it exists.”
Encylopedia.com puts it this way: “Social constructs or social constructions define meanings, notions, or connotations that are assigned to objects and events in the environment and to people’s notions of their relationships to and interactions with these objects. In the domain of social constructionist thought, a social construct is an idea or notion that appears to be natural and obvious to people who accept it but may or may not represent reality, so it remains largely an invention or artifice of a given society.”
Examples of social constructs include race, gender, countries, money, etc.
There are headlines in newspapers and magazines that suggest a link between health and race. For example, multiple studies claim that African Americans are more likely than other racial groups to have high blood pressure, strokes, and kidney disease. Why is this? The answer is complicated.
In part, the relationship between being African American and having a higher chance of high blood pressure, strokes, and kidney disease likely comes from lurking variables such as socioeconomic status (and therefore anxiety, nutrition, health insurance, etc.) and bias from medical providers. If a person doesn’t get good nutrition or doesn’t have good health insurance, the person is more likely to have medical issues like diabetes, obesity, high blood pressure, or strokes. As explained in this New York Times article, even if a person does have good nutrition and health insurance, African American people don’t always get the same attention and medical care as white people from hospitals and doctors.
In part, the relationship may also be explained by geographic origin and genetics. Human beings all have the same genes but inherit different variants of these genes from their parents. For example, Niger-Congo Africans living in West Africa have a higher-than-typical frequency
of a gene variant that protects people from African Sleeping Sickness, which has historically been common in certain areas of Africa such as the Congo. There is a survival and reproductive advantage in having at least one copy of this gene variant if you live in an area with African Sleeping Sickness. However, if a person inherits two copies of this gene variant, this person has not only protection from African Sleeping Sickness, but also a higher chance of cardiovascular and kidney disease. (Read this article for more detail.) Therefore, African Americans with recent ancestry from the Congo may a higher-than-average (relative to the entire United States population) of certain genetic mutations that elevate their risk of cardiovascular and kidney disease. This connection is NOT generalizable to all African Americans because race is NOT the same as geographic origin or ethnicity. Race has no basis in genetics, while geographic origin and ethnicity may make a certain gene variant (mutation) more or less common for a group of people.
For another example, learn more about sickle cell anemia.
To answer this question, start by reading Peggy McIntosh’s “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack.” McIntosh calls white privilege “an invisible package of unearned assets that I can count on cashing in each day, but about which I was ‘meant’ to remain oblivious.” She goes on to list the concrete, daily effects of white privilege in her life, such as “When I am told about our national heritage or about ‘civilization,’ I am shown that people of my color made it what it is,” or “I am never asked to speak for all the people of my racial group.”
Here is another definition of white privilege from Francis E. Kendall, author of Diversity in the Classroom and Understanding White Privilege: Creating Pathways to Authentic Relationships Across Race: “having greater access to power and resources than people of color [in the same situation] do.”
Brookline for Racial Justice and Equity (BRJE) defines privilege as “advantages and immunities enjoyed by one, usually powerful group or class, especially to the disadvantage of others.”
Teaching Tolerance also has a good article on this subject. It provides these arguments in response to those who take offense at the idea of white privilege: “white privilege is not the suggestion that white people have never struggled. Many white people do not enjoy the privileges that come with relative affluence, such as food security. Many do not experience the privileges that come with access, such as nearby hospitals. And white privilege is not the assumption that everything a white person has accomplished is unearned; most white people who have reached a high level of success worked extremely hard to get there. Instead, white privilege should be viewed as a built-in advantage, separate from one’s level of income or effort.”
It also makes this important distinction: “Having white privilege and recognizing it is not racist. But white privilege exists because of historic, enduring racism and biases.”
The ADL states “White supremacy is a term used to characterize various belief systems central to which are one or more of the following key tenets: 1) whites should have dominance over people of other backgrounds, especially where they may co-exist; 2) whites should live by themselves in a whites-only society; 3) white people have their own "culture" that is superior to other cultures; 4) white people are genetically superior to other people. As a full-fledged ideology, white supremacy is far more encompassing than simple racism or bigotry. Most white supremacists today further believe that the white race is in danger of extinction due to a rising “flood” of non-whites, who are controlled and manipulated by Jews, and that imminent action is need to “save” the white race.” The ADL also has a useful glossary of related terms. In particular, they discuss white nationalism as “a term that originated among white supremacists as a euphemism for white supremacy.”
Here’s an interview with Christian Picciolini, a former member of a white supremacist group. He is the author of the book White American Youth: My Descent Into America's Most Violent Hate Movement.
This episode from It's Been A Minute with Sam Sanders “explores a throughline of white nationalism in American politics from the early 20th century to today.”
Unfortunately, there have been several recent examples of white supremacy, including the events and attack in Charlottesville, VA. Here’s a document that discusses how we can stand together against such acts. The confederate flag is one symbol of hate and white supremacy, as discussed in this article.
What is Black Lives Matter (BLM)?
Black Lives Matter is an international activist movement (officially beginning in 2013, via social media) to organize against systemic racism toward Black people. As stated on their website, “Black Lives Matter began as a call to action in response to state-sanctioned violence and anti-Black racism.” The movement is “committed to struggling together and to imagining and creating a world free of anti-Blackness, where every Black person has the social, economic, and political power to thrive.” As Frederick Harris wrote in his article “The Next Civil Rights Movement?”, “core activists of the Black Lives Matter movement have insisted on a group-centered model of leadership, rooted in ideas of participatory democracy. The movement has modeled itself after the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), the 1960s organization that helped black Americans gain legal access to public spaces and the right to vote. Black Lives Matter organizers also operate on the principle that no one person or group of individuals should speak for or make decisions on behalf of the movement…”
Is it ever okay for anyone to use the n word?
In December 2017, Jabari Asim, author of the book
Asim’s views on whether Black people should use the word are more nuanced. While he acknowledged that “n***a” is an effort to turn insult into affection, he noted that n***a has also been used in demeaning ways by Whites throughout history. Asim said that Black people should not “subsist on our captors’ cast-off language” but instead choose language that reflects a “new and invigorating reality.” He believes that there are appropriate uses of the word in art, literature, journalism, and academia, but no one should mindlessly use the word.
Asim suggested that in our teaching, we expose students to examples of the historical uses of the words and then let students draw their own conclusions about it. He advised against banning the word, which would only increase its allure, but suggested that we tell students that it is impolite for the public space.
Here are more resources for thinking and talking about the n-word:
Racism is a system of advantage based on race. (David Wellman, as quoted by this site) There are different subtypes of racism, as described below.
- Internalized Racism - The set of private beliefs, prejudices, and ideas that individuals have about the superiority of Whites and the inferiority of people of color. Among people of color, it manifests as internalized racial oppression. Among Whites, it manifests as internalized racial superiority.
- Interpersonal Racism - The expression of racism between individuals. These are interactions occurring between individuals that often take place in the form of harassing, racial slurs, or telling of racial jokes.
- Institutional Racism - Discriminatory treatment, unfair policies and practices, and inequitable opportunities and impacts within organizations and institutions, based on race.
- Structural Racism - Racial bias across institutions and society over time. It’s the cumulative and compounded effects of an array of factors such as public policies, institutional practices, cultural representations, and other norms that work in various, often reinforcing, ways to perpetuate racial inequity.
What does “reverse racism” mean?
Some would define “reverse racism” as racism against a majority group. However, as Zeba Blay writes in this article
entitled
In this same article, Blay explains that white people may experience prejudice from black people,
What is affirmative action? Does affirmative action take opportunity away from white people?
As defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary, affirmative action is “an active effort to improve the employment or educational opportunities of minority groups or women.” President John F. Kennedy introduced the term affirmative action in his 1961 executive order
that required government employers and contractors to take action against discrimination based on “race, creed, culture or national origin.” Affirmative action based on race is founded on the idea that the cumulative effects of structural racism have caused people of color to have less access to employment and educational opportunities. Therefore, in order to level the playing field, organizations like companies and universities must actively seek out and support qualified candidates of color. In practice, this might look like an employer recruiting job applicants from an underrepresented racial group, or offering a mentoring program to encourage the promotion of employees of color. At a college or university, it might look like considering the racial diversity of the student body as a factor in admissions or providing academic support for students from underrepresented groups.
Some wonder if it would be better to work towards colorblind policies. However, as this article
entitled “Ten Myths about Affirmative Action” explains, “color-blind policies often put racial minorities at a disadvantage. For instance, all else being equal, color-blind seniority systems tend to protect White workers against job layoffs, because senior employees are usually White (Ezorsky, 1991). Likewise, color-blind college admissions favor White students because of their earlier educational advantages. Unless preexisting inequities are corrected or otherwise taken into account, color-blind policies do not correct racial injustice -- they reinforce it.” In response to the question of whether affirmative action takes away opportunity from white people, this same article explains, “Government statistics do not support this myth. According to the U.S. Commerce Department, there are 2.6 million unemployed Black civilians and 114 million employed White civilians (U.S. Bureau of the Census, 2011). Thus, even if every unemployed Black worker in the United States were to displace a White worker, only 2% of Whites would be affected. Furthermore, affirmative action pertains only to job-qualified applicants, so the actual percentage of affected Whites would be even smaller. The main sources of job loss among White workers have to do with factory relocations and labor contracting outside the United States, computerization and automation, and corporate downsizing (Ivins, 1995).”
As described in this article, stereotype threat “refers to the risk of confirming negative stereotypes about an individual’s racial, ethnic, gender, or cultural group.” In terms of the relationship between stereotype threats and classroom/school culture, the article continues with “Stereotype threat may affect many other dimensions of schooling and education reform beyond testing. A classroom or school culture, for example, can potentially exacerbate or mitigate the negative consequences of stereotype threat—in both subtle and blatant ways. Education policies, even those aimed at combating race-based achievement gaps, can paradoxically strengthen existing stereotypes about students from certain racial and ethnic groups, while media outlets may reinforce stereotypes by focusing news reporting and analysis on the racial dimension of achievement gaps. Standardized test results may also be viewed, by some, to be “evidence” that certain groups are intrinsically less capable of academic achievement, and both teachers and students may internalize cultural messages and react to them in negative or self-damaging ways.
“To cite just one example: Teachers may give subtle signals that they perceive girls to be less capable in math and science, while suggesting—implicitly or explicitly—that boys are expected to excel in math and science. If the girls internalize these messages, they may shy away from challenging math problems or learning opportunities such as math-team competitions. If stereotype threat then causes them to perform below their real ability on tests, it may confirm their feelings and perceptions of inferiority.”
According to this article
from Psychology Today, bias is “a tendency, inclination, or prejudice toward or against something or someone. Some biases are positive and helpful—like choosing to only eat foods that are considered healthy, or staying away from someone who has knowingly caused harm. But biases are often based on stereotypes, rather than actual knowledge of an individual or circumstance. Whether positive or negative, such cognitive shortcuts can result in prejudgments that lead to rash decisions or discriminatory practices.”
This article continues by describing different kinds of cognitive biases, including confirmation bias and attribution bias, “Confirmation bias...refers to the brain’s tendency to search for and focus on information that supports what someone already believes, while ignoring facts that go against those beliefs, despite their relevance. Attribution bias, on the other hand, occurs when someone tries to attribute reasons or motivations to the actions of others without concrete evidence to support such assumptions. Cognitive biases may help people make quicker decisions, but those decisions aren’t always accurate. When assessing research—or even one's own thoughts and behaviors—it’s important to be aware of cognitive biases, and attempt to counter their effects whenever possible.”
As written by Dr. Derald Wing Sue in his article “Microaggressions: More Than Just Race,” “microaggressions are the everyday verbal, nonverbal, and environmental slights, snubs, or insults, whether intentional or unintentional, which communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative messages to target persons based solely upon their marginalized group membership. In many cases, these hidden messages may invalidate the group identity or experiential reality of target persons, demean them on a personal or group level, communicate they are lesser human beings, suggest they do not belong with the majority group, threaten and intimidate, or relegate them to inferior status and treatment.” He continues by clarifying that microaggressions can are not limited to one’s racial identity, and that all marginalized groups can be the target of microaggressions. He includes the following examples of racial microaggressions:
- “A White man or woman clutches their purse or checks their wallet as a Black or Latino man approaches or passes them. (Hidden message: You and your group are criminals.).”
- “An Asian American, born and raised in the United States, is complimented for speaking "good English." (Hidden message: You are not a true American. You are a perpetual foreigner in your own country.)”
- “A Black couple is seated at a table in the restaurant next to the kitchen despite there being other empty and more desirable tables located at the front. (Hidden message: You are a second-class citizen and undeserving of first-class treatment.)”
The “model minority” is a common stereotype about Asian Americans that frames them as high-achieving and successful. According to this article, “While a portrayal of Asian Americans as high-achieving, and adept at overcoming humble beginnings to reach great financial and educational success seems flattering, many Asian Americans say this frame is not only factually inaccurate, it’s damaging to the community.” Here is just one example of how this seemingly “positive” might be harmful, as explained by NPR’s Code Switch: “Since the end of World War II, many white people have used Asian-Americans and their perceived collective success as a racial wedge. The effect? Minimizing the role racism plays in the persistent struggles of other racial/ethnic minority groups — especially black Americans.”
In her book “The Color of Success,” historian Ellen Wu explains “the model minority stereotype has a fascinating origin story, one that’s tangled up in geopolitics, the Cold War and the civil rights movement.” This article from the Washington Post is a great read about the history of the model minority stereotype that contains not only an interview with Wu but also an engaging and informative video video that could be shown to students.
Outgroup homogeneity is a psychological construct that can be applied to many different groupings of people including racial groupings. As described in this article entitled “The Psychology of Prejudice,” “...an "ingroup" is a group to which someone belongs, and an "outgroup" is a group to which the person does not belong (hence, one person's ingroup may be another person's outgroup, and vice versa). Research on the outgroup homogeneity effect has found that when it comes to attitudes, values, personality traits, and other characteristics, people tend to see outgroup members as more alike than ingroup members. As a result, outgroup members are at risk of being seen as interchangeable or expendable, and they are more likely to be stereotyped.” In short, we tend to perceive members of our own group (as compared to members of other groups) to be more varied relative to one another. The outgroup is often perceived to be more homogeneous, and the ingroup more heterogeneous.
I’m white. How can I be anti-racist?
The first thing to know is that it is not enough to just not be racist. As Beverly Tatum writes in her book Why are all the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?, "I sometimes visualize the ongoing cycle of racism as a moving walkway at the airport. Active racist behavior is equivalent to walking fast on the conveyor belt… Passive racist behavior is equivalent to standing still on the walkway. No overt effort is being made, but the conveyor belt moves the bystanders along to the same destination as those who are actively walking. Some of the bystanders may feel the motion of the conveyor belt, see the active racists ahead of them, and choose to turn around…But unless they are walking actively in the opposite direction at a speed faster than the conveyor belt – unless they are actively anti-racist – they will find themselves carried along with the others." In other words, because racism is deeply entrenched in our society, you have to fight actively against it to avoid being part of it.
So what do you do? There’s no easy answer, but here are a few tips. First, acknowledge that being white gives you privilege, and move past the guilt that might make you feel. If you focus too much on the guilt, you’re making it about you. Second, reject the idea of “colorblindness.” To fight racism, you must acknowledge that race is real. Finally, listen to and trust people of color. Be an ally. Read more on this topic from Teaching Tolerance.
How do other countries treat the concept of race?
Not all countries use race as an identity. For example, as written in this article, race was added into the French constitution in 1946, and then removed in 2018. Race was replaced with the word “sex.” The new draft of French constitution reads that “citizens are equal before the law “regardless of sex, origin or religion.” This is a debated topic. A recent Washington Post article reads, “making the word race taboo will not change anything in the lives of people who are affected by racism. It will deprive scholars and activists of a powerful tool to study the implications of racism. And it may lead to the criminalization of those who dare use that word; attempting to classify someone by race can be grounds for a lawsuit. Denying the existence of race means denying the reality of racial discrimination.”