YMAY - Chapter 9 - Race

What are the main problems with the concept "African American" as a label for part of the U.S. population?

- Immigrants from Cuba, Jamaica, and Haiti think of those places, not Africa, as their countries of origin. - Manly newly arrived immigrants from Africa do not want to be grouped with the blacks already here.

Why is residential segregation such a serious social problem?

-It fosters a culture of segregation. -It leads to other forms of segregation. -It is hard to change or prevent.

Describe the recent history of Cuban Americans.

1. Communist revolutionaries led by Fidel Castro overthrew the regime of Fulgencio Batista. 2. Middle and upper class immigrants fleeing Cuba are welcomed in the U.S. as political refugees. 3. The US open door policy toward Cuban refugees ends. 4. Poor Cubans attempt to flee to the US in leaky boats. Those that make it through without sinking or being turned back re reluctantly accepted.

Describe the formation of black ghettos in the first part of the twentieth century.

1. Demographic trends and structural changes in the economy increased competition for jobs. 2. The social boundary between blacks and whites hardened. 3. Property owners and police cooperated to maintain segregated neighborhoods. 4. Federal aid to home purchasers favored whites over blacks. 5. Urban 'renewal' projects forced black Americans to relocate into crime-ridden public housing projects.

What are the events leading up to the 1994 Rwandan genocide, in which at least 500,000 members of the Tutsi tribe were massacred by members of the Hutu tribe.

1. Hutus and Tutsis are living together in relative harmony. 2. Belgium, as the local colonial power, institutes a class hierarchy that favors the minority Tutsis over the majority Hutus. 3. Following Rwandan independence in 1962, the Hutus control the government. Ethnic tensions simmer for three decades. 4. Three years of failed crops put Rwanda's social fabric under strain. 5. The Hutu take out their frustrations on the Tutsis, killing hundreds of thousands.

Place the historical events in order. 1. Allied forces fight the racist regime of Nazi Germany. 2. Mandatory busing is used to desegregate schools. 3. The U.S. Supreme Court decides Brown v. Board of Education. 4. The U.S. Supreme Court decides Plessy v. Ferguson. 5. Integration of schools through compulsory busing is widely rejected as unacceptable.

4, 1, 3, 2, 5

Symbolic ethnicity today is a matter of choice for white middle-class Americans, but not for black middle-class Americans. What factors are behind this difference?

For a white person, in the eyes of society, skin color is not a defining characteristic and they can choose to be considered (for instance) Irish or German. For a black person, in the eyes of society, skin color is a defining characteristic, they cannot choose to be considered either black or white, or to be considered (for instance) Kenyan or Nigerian.

Which is the single largest ethnic group in the U.S. today?

German americans

Institutional racism occurs when a seemingly race-neutral policy or social dynamic disadvantages minority groups. Which items are examples of institutional racism?

Higher penalties associated with crack cocaine than with the powdered form. Tax laws that ease the tax burden on the very wealthy. The phenomenon of "white flight," which holds down home values in predominantly black neighborhoods.

What are some of the consequences of making everyone (whites and others) more aware of whiteness as a racial category?

It removes the assumption that whiteness is normal and non-whiteness is deviant. It encourages some whites to embrace white consciousness in racist fashion.

What action by the federal government could in the long run lead to needed changes in U.S. immigration patterns?

Negotiating with other nations to relax their immigration laws.

In 1896, - established the doctrine that "-" services for blacks and whites were permissible. In practice, blacks consistently received inferior services. This eventually led the Supreme Court to reverse itself: in 1954, - made school segregation illegal on the grounds that "separate educational facilities are - unequal."

Plessy v. Ferguson, separate but equal, Brown v. Board of Education, inherently

Which statements are true of Arabs in the United States?

They are united by a common geographic origin, shared culture and cuisine, and shared linguistic heritage.

Which line does Lee say is replacing the white-black divide?

a black-nonblack divide

What word, meaning "well born," refers to the effort to improve a human population by promoting selective breeding?

eugenics

Which factors contributed to the decline and near-disintegration of Native American cultures in North America, following the arrival of European explorers in the late fifteenth century?

forced relocation, disease, forced assimilation, and military technology

Monogenism vs. polygenism

monogenism - claims that all human being are part of a single family tree, view held by religious traditionalists and by Darwinists, eventually won the debate polygenism - claims that humanity is composed of several distinct species, eventually lost the debate

What are true statements about race?

race is about bloodlines and is a social construct

The word race comes from a Latin word meaning "-." Our modern concept of race has evolved in conjunction with -, as a rationale for a group of people with one common - to - other people.

root, imperialism, bloodline, conquer and dominate

(T/F) Segregation is not as bad today as it was in 1940, but worse than it was in 1860.

true

Old-fashioned racism is based on the idea of - traits that make some people better than others. The new racism, called - racism, uses - rhetoric; it blames the troubles of minority groups on their different -.

unchangeable, laissez-faire, race neutral, cultures