color-blind racism:
Key questions:
"How is it possible to have this tremendous degree of racial inequality in a country where most whites claim that race is no longer relevant?" and "How do whites explain the apparent contradiction between their professed color blindness and the United States' color-coded inequality?" (p. 2) -how can we have statisitics that prove there is racism and white people claim we are past racism and it no longer exists?
testimonies
"Knowledge of Some Close Who Is Racist", "Interactions With Blacks (positive and negavite) (pg. 557) - Use personal experience ("I knew someone who") and details- used to support color blind racism (idea that racism isn't present anymore) - Positive- well I'm not a racist because I have a black friend - Negative- well I was mugged once and he was black so most crimes are committed by blacks
story lines:
"The Past is the Past", "I Didn't Own Slaves", "If [others] made it, How Come Blacks Have Not?", "I Did Not Get a Job [or something else] Because of a black Man" (pg. 557) -- - Large cultural/social narratives that are more general and not personal- used to support color blind racism (the idea that racism isn't in our society)
Stories are IMPORTANT, and they can be collective, and are often repeated
"[they] are powerful tools that help most whites maintain a color-blind sense of self and, at the same time, to reinforce views that help reproduce the current racial order" (p. 576).
-white racial frame:
"beliefs (stereotypes and ideologies), integrating cognitive elements (racial interpretations and narratives), visual and auditory elements (racialized images and language accents), a feelings aspect (racialized emotions), and an inclination to action (to discriminate)" (p. 10) --it is a positive orientation to whites and whiteness and a negative orientation to racial "others" (p. 10)
Increasing prevalence of open racial framing and counterframing indicated a....
"racial dialectic" central to society, one regularly shown in the tensions and conflicts between increasingly overt racist rhetoric, speech, and actions and challenging counterframes that critique that still-systemic racism.
Counter Narratives:
- Stories where people don't try to rationalize- admit inequality and resist it - Admitting something is wrong is the first step to trying to figure out how to fix it and build change
soft racial framing
- downplays the reality of structural racism, glorifies people of color who ignore the presence of institutionalized racism and plays up a "colorblind" language, while avoiding the openly racist terminology (n-word) of the hard racial frame.
why is the use of the old version of white racial framing is self-defeating for people of color
- it reinforces the racial barriers they face in racially stratified society.
Common story line
-"the past is the past" - "I did not own slaves" - "if other ethnic groups made it, how come blacks have not?" - "I did not get a job/promotion because of a black man" - some are interrelated.
Hard Framing:
-Explicit racism- nothing hidden or subtle- it is direct -Ex: political cartons portraying the Obama family as monkeys
Racism as a Cancer vs. Racism as part of the Structural-Foundation of the US house
-He throws out the argument because having cancer implies that you were once healthy- but racism ideals are embedded into our society- he argued we had a form of systemic racism- it does exist
Systemic Racism and US History (genocide, slavery, Jim Crow)
-It means it is at our roots and our institutions have been built around it- foundation of a house- the foundation of the house of the U.S. was built on racism- therefore, racism is very difficult to get rid of- it doesn't mean that we can't resist it (individually and collectively)
testimonies
-accounts in which the narrator is a central participant or is close to the characters. -provide "first hand" narratives and help the narrator gain sympathy from the listener to persuade them about the points they are trying to get across- "I know this for a fact because I have worked with blacks for a long time"- saving face- involve more detail and personal investment
Soft Framing:
-downplays the reality of racism and plays up the color blind racism -Ex: housing discrimination -Ex: some of Obama's speeches have used a softer frame- when he spoke out about a police officer arresting a Harvard law professor from being locked out of his house- Obama came out hard and said this happens all the time because they are black- some of the backtracking he is forced to do after backlash
the white racial frame
-helps predominantly white people- not only used by whites- it says basically that whites are superior (i.e. Christopher Columbus founder of our country but hides the other parts of our history that was sparked by him- genocide and slavery) -the "dominant frame does not exist apart from everyday experience, and racist practices flowing from it are essential parts of the larger system of racial oppression" (p. 13).
stories
-social events that instruct us about social processes, social structures and social situation -are central to narrating our individual lives and social relations- stories often reproduce power relations and reinforce social order.
- "Color blind racism"-
-the label put on the racial ideology that follows the post-civil rights structure o Main components: denial of the centrality of discrimination ("it ended centuries ago")- the abstract extension of liberal principals to racial matters ("I am all for equal opportunity that's why I oppose affirmative action")- the naturalization of racial matters ("residential segregation is natural")- cultural explanation of minorities standing ("Mexicans are poorer because they lack motivation to succeed")
o IT IS NOT TRUE THAT THE PAST IS THE PAST
1. The reference to the past ignores the recent overt forms of racial oppression; 2. These stories erase the limiting effects of historic discrimination on the ability of minorities to accumulate wealth at the same rate as whites; 3. The reverse discrimination element is central to whites rationale for their opposition to all race-based compensatory programs- this story line DOES NOT reflect white ignorance- rather it provides whites with a positive/moral standpoint for them to explain why certain programs are unnecessary/problematic.
- Most whites are "color-blind"-
15% of college students and 12% of the DAS were "racial progressives" who were less likely to invoke these stories- white racial progressives and blacks were more likely to provide arguments and narratives against the dominant frames and racial stories of colorblind racism (Ex: girls parents who didn't want her to date a black guy told them they were just going to have to accept it).
data and methods:
1997 Survey of College Students Social Attitudes (3 universities students in social science courses-white- 410 individuals- not representative- bias) and 1998 Detroit Area Study (systematic sample of black and white metropolitan area residents)- both surveys included post surveys, in-depth interviews with a random sample of the participants- they relied heavily on interview data- interviews were structured, in a neutral site and lasted 45 minutes to 2 hours.
Timeline Activity
Columbus started colonialism which created genocide, 300 years of people being okay with genocide, slavery, etc.- declared our independence- one hundred years later the civil war technically got rid of slavery (even though people were segregated); later in 1964 we are supposed to have technical discrimination as being illegal; this is just 50 years ago- these 50 years is not enough to undo and erase everything that has happened until this point.
Counterfaming:
Intentionally speaking out against racism and explaining reality of oppression -Ex: what Obama did intentionally with above incident when he brought attention to the issue with our justice system.
The Dialectic:
Thesis→ Antithesis = Synthesis -He is arguing that hard framing is the thesis, counterframing is the antithesis in the dialectic since it is in direct opposition but they argue that soft framing ends up being the synthesis- since the counterframes have a weaker voice than hard framing- since it isn't balanced we still have racism just not in a harsher form.
racial structure
a network of racialized practices and relations that shapes the life chances of the various races at all levels- produced by the collective normal actions of all actors rather than the behavior of a few "racists".
since obamas election there has been...
a strong reliance on the old and hard racist framing- some have responded with soft racial framing
the white racial frame: centuries of racial framing and counter-framing
article
During jim crow era- the myth of the black rapist ...
became a powerful story line that kept black men in "their place".
- Whites use the story lines to maintain a....
color blind sense of self and reinforce the views that help reproduce the current racial order. Whites tended to use testimonies for self-presentation goals such as saving face when discussing sensitive matters. These racial stories are ideological because they are a part of the post-civil rights color-blind "common sense"
"The Past Is The Past"
core, 2 wrongs dont make a right, it is not true that the past is the past
Racial structure went through changes in 1960's and 1970's...
demographic (urbanized blacks), political (development of minority organizations), and economic (industrialization)- along with civil rights movement
racial dialectic
dialectical materialism"- highlight the importance of material reality of maintaining a capitalistic economic conditions, especially the conflict of economic opposites (i.e. the classes of capital and labor)- historical dialectic involves mutual penetration of polar social opposites, which are played out in social contradictions over the course of historical events- which encompasses dialectical struggles between dominant and subordinate racial groups- race struggles involve issues of group exploitation, intergroup alienation, and group struggle.
- Civil Rights helped remove many obstacles politically but has become standard practices to _________ people of color.
disenfranchise
- The researchers attempt to analyze the social representations that whites have developed to...
explain and justify how the racial world is or ought to be- not to identify the individual racists and prejudice- this fits with the new racism- the now you see it now you don't.
New ideology of colorblind racism
explains racial inequality as "the outcome of nonracial dynamics...white rationalize minorities' contemporary status as the produce of market dynamics, naturally occurring phenomena, and blacks' imputed cultural limitations" (p. 2)
-a frame
is something that "gets embedded in individual minds (brains), as well as in collective memories and histories, and helps people make sense out of everyday situations" (p. 9).
Racism without Racists: Color-Blind Racism & Racial Inequality in Contemporary America (Eduardo Bonilla-Silva)-
more pessimistic and direct with his arguments, doesn't sugar coat anything, "America is racist and there is not much you can do about it?".
- "I Did Not Get a Job Because of A Black Man"
o Core- less qualified minorities are getting into college or taking jobs that more qualified whites deserve. o Allows whites to ignore the possibility that they aren't qualified for the job/promotion or acceptance to college. o Most often used in discussions of affirmative action or race-based policies- 1/4th of the college students and more than 1/3rd of the DAS respondents used this. o Makes case that whites are the real victims of racial discrimination and supports the argument that color-blind decision making is the only fair way to proceed
Elements of the "new race structure":
o Increasingly covert nature of racial discourse and practices o Avoidance of racial terminology and the ever-growing claim by whites that they experience "reverse racism"; the elaboration of a racial agenda over political matters that eschews direct racial references o Invisibility of most mechanisms to reproduce racial inequality o Rearticulation of a number of racial practices characteristic of the jim crow period of race relations
"I Didn't Own Any Slaves"
o Often in conjunction with "the past is the past" or affirmative action- used less frequently though- used by 1/4th of the college students and 1/3rd of the DAS respondents o Core- notion that present generation are not responsible for the ills of slavery o Current social order is race-neutral and based on individual merit and effort- ignored the long history of pro-white racial policies and practices in jobs, housing, access to social space, etc.
- "If Jews, Italian, and Irish Have Made It, How Come Blacks Have Not?"
o Suggest that since other minority groups faced discrimination are doing well then the predicament of blacks must be their own doing- the way to deal with hard times is to work hard and not wallow. o 60% of DAS respondents and 35% of college students. o Problem is that they are comparing immigrant groups with those of involuntary "immigrants" (enslaved Africans)- most immigrants were able to get a foot in the door and figure out education was the way to achieve social mobility- all groups started at the bottom but the bottom wasn't the same for all groups
characteristics in story lines are...
often to be underdeveloped and social stereotypes- "black man" or "welfare queen".
o Almost all DAS respondents express their displeasure with programs they believe benefit blacks solely because of their race-
older respondents vented lots of anger- the idea of giving blacks compensation for a history of slavery when blacks weren't the only ones enslaved
counterframing
opposite function of racial framing- challenges the racial hierarchy- can be used by people of any color by it is most commonly used by black Americans- ex: Frederick Douglas creating a counterframe that focused on equality, black humanity and the fallibility of a social structure that exploited black citizens.
- Testimonies of Interactions With Blacks:
other testimonies involved stories of interactions (negative or positive) with blacks- similar to stories of the racist relative- used for the goal of representing one self as color-blind or in order to signify their own good racial character (positive self-presentation)- positive: veteran explaining how whites can be civil to one another but apparently that didn't penetrate enough into his ideals because he didn't believe they should live near each other or marry one another); negative: crime in his area allowed him to validate his belief that blacks are more aggressive than whites.
White explanations (exculpating)
people of color also participate even though white are more likely
racism often involves
prejudice, antipathy, irrationality and rational foundation- it comes from the "fact that dominant actors in a racialized social system receive benefits at all levels (political, social, economic, etc.), whereas subordinate actors do not"- not a result of individual racist but rather come from the racial domination into a racial structure.
Racial framing
refers to the racial perceptions, stereotypes, images, ideologies, narratives, and emotive reactions used to make sense of a given situation, experience, or issue involving racial matters; dominant forms in the U.S.= comes from media, schools, and other social institutions- very strong white racial frame (allows whites to rationalize the systematic process that maintain racial privilege and inequality)- two types of everyday frames: hard and soft racial framing- not exclusive and people transition between one and another- both reinforce the apparent normalcy of white privilege and structural advantages and cover the extent that other groups are actually disenfranchised by racial inequality- used to legitimize and justify a very unequal status quo
Examples of how new racism operates:
residential segregation (almost as high today as in the past- not overt anymore but covert now such as not showing available houses or quoting higher rent or steering certain races to certain neighborhoods)- "smiling face" discrimination- "we don't have jobs now, but check back later"/ steering people of color to lower wage jobs with limited mobility
story lines
socially shared tales that incorporate a common scheme and wording- most likely based on impersonal/generic arguments with little narrative content
article 2:
story lines and testimonies of color-blind racism
- Testimonies Disclosing Knowledge of Someone Close Who Is Racist:
students telling about a family member (usually grandparent/parent) who is racist; by doing this they believe they will be among the "nonracist" since they distinguished who is racist- gives a racist relative and an example to support it- then explains why he/she isn't racist and not influenced by their ideals. o These testimonies are deployed to convey a message about self (as color-blind) through a discussion of others (the bas racist whites).
core ("The Past Is The Past")
the idea that we must put our racist past behind us and that affirmative action programs do exactly the opposite by keeping racial flame alive- policies are a problem because they attempt to address a past harm done against minorities by harming whites today o USED BY MORE THAN 50% OF THE COLLEGE STUDENTS AND MOST DAS RESPONDENTS
article 1:
the racial dialectic
- When schools teach about Christopher Columbus and his discoveries but don't teach the native Americans or Africans...
this allows the old white framing to continue- puts whites in a superior power position
two wrongs don't make a right
to compensate blacks for a history of white advantage or black oppression would involve unjustified unfair advantage today- irrelevant to current realities
hard racial framing
typically uses more explicit racist imagery and language, openly contextualizes people of color as racially inferior to whites and involves emotional, "gut-level" responses of racial disgust, distaste, or discomfort directed toward people of color (i.e. portraying the Obama family as monkey cartoons).
Actors at the top of racial order tend to display... while actors at the bottom are more likely to exhibit
views, attitudes and stories that help maintain their privileges --------oppositional views, attitudes and counter narratives.
- White racial frame
white dominance and subordination of people of color- includes stereotypes, prejudice, common sense assumptions, images, and images that cast whites as superior or more capable- not exclusive only to whites, some people of color use it to shape their everyday understandings o Example: white dominant elite college- students that are white assume black students are only their due to affirmative action policies- this puts the black person below them.
