Discussion 1 response
I think that this statement means that some people who are white like little children might not understand their races and that they might need to learn about these things while in school in order to get to know more about themselves better, and that they might be afraid to talk about these things because they may be afraid that they are going to get discriminated against on the basis of their races and bullied in school once they talk about these things in school. I also think that this relates to the idea that race is constructed socially and culturally by the way that people have different cultures, ethnicities, and even their own social groups, no matter where they are from such as Mexico, Spain, England, Ireland, or even Italy. Most people will get to know other people by learning about their genders, what they look like, and how they act as a human being, and once people understand these things, they will understand people’s race as well (Halley et al., 2010, p. 5-6). It is very important for most people to think about race critically, and that many people will be kind and gentle with people of different races once they learn that every person is different from one another. I also think that many people of different races can be friends with anyone of different races, and that they will know their ancestry and characteristics better once they form excellent friendships with each other. Even every person has different colors and facial features on themselves, too and that they will have the power to believe in themselves for who they are once they get to know more about race, nationalities, languages, and even their religions (Halley et al., 2010, p. 6-7). I think that these things will definitely make people beautiful and gorgeous human beings, and that their cultures, religions, and languages will make them smarter and brighter.
I think that the different groups have different views of the progress that has been made on equality by controlling inequality in their countries and by reminding people that all lives including black lives matter. I do have a single story, and I remember it like it was yesterday. Almost two years ago, I was on my way home from getting groceries from the grocery store and all the sudden, I saw about thirty people walking on the crosswalk holding signs saying “Black Lives Matter” and “All Lives Matter” while I was stopped at the red light. After seeing the people walking with these signs in their hands, I feel like the whole world and its people are getting a lot of support and love from these supportive people after violence about race occurred after the Covid-19 Pandemic occurred because many people were struggling to overcome violence and that they were stressed out about violence. Even during the pandemic, many black people experienced racial discrimination and that they were treated unfairly because of their race, which is very hurtful (Horowitz et al., 2020). This made sad to see people involved in violence and racial discrimination, but it makes me happy and joyful to see many people getting a lot of support from family and friends after experiencing some violence. The group I most closely agree with is the group of Americans that think that concentrating on race will change the World around them because making changes to the World by learning about race and concentrating on race does help many people to understand that everyone is different and that their cultures, religions, nationalities, and ancestry history is different from everyone else and helps prevent harassment and violence from occurring in the World in the future. The group I would say I am part of is that I am part of a group that concentrates on eliminating racial issues, being kind to one another, and making policy and societal changes, and that this influences my perspective by me complimenting on different people by saying that they are pretty and handsome, and by preventing discrimination and harassment from occurring to other individuals when meeting other people. Many people’s lives will go back to normal and be better once policy and societal changes increase, and once issues about race decrease (Horowitz et al., 2020). I have never experienced race discrimination my entire life, and I was never made fun of for my race and ethnicity my entire life. I will always love myself, and that I am proud of myself for who I am and that I love my race and ethnicity very much.
References
Halley, J., Eshleman, A. & R.M. Vijaya. (2010). Ch. 1: The Invisibility of Whiteness. Seeing White: An Introduction to White Privilege
and Race. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.
http://ezproxy.umgc.edu/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&
db=e025xna&AN=373157&site=eds-live&scope=site&profile=edsebook&ebv=EB&ppid=pp_1
Horowitz, J.M., Parker, K., Brown, A., & Cox, K. (2020, October 6). Amid National Reckoning, Americans Divided on Whether
Increased Focus on Race Will Lead to Major Policy Change. Pew Research Center. Retrieved from
https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2020/10/06/amid-national-reckoning-america
ns-divided-on-whether-increased-focus-on-race-will-lead-to-major-policy-change/
discussion 2 response
I interpreted the statement “Often whites simply perceive themselves as ‘normal’ or ‘just human’ and fail to notice their own race” (Halley, Eshleman & Vijaya, 2010) to mean that individuals that are white perceive themselves as the paradigm, or standard, of humanity that they then judge all others based on. Race is not a biological characteristic; it is a group of people who share some socially recognized physical characteristic that distinguishes them from other groups (Delaney, 2016). The sociological perspective looks at race within a sociohistorical context and seems fitting when trying to discuss the invisibility of whiteness. From a historical perspective, most power throughout time has been held by white Anglo-Saxon Protestants or WASPs (Halley, Eshleman & Vijaya, 2010), which also means much of history was recorded and dictated by white individuals. I do believe that the way history has been taught has been influential in perpetuating the invisibility of whiteness, an example is how racism is typically taught as mean behavior of the past and not the systematic oppression of disadvantaged groups that remains today (McIntosh, 1990). Socially, I as a white female have been taught that if I do not engage in discrimination then I am not a racist, but this method of teaching what is and is not racism does not make up for the reality of the institutional racism that is still a part of the US today.
Reading The Invisibility of Whiteness (Halley, Eshleman & Vijaya, 2010) before reading the Pew Research Center’s (2020) report Amid National Reckoning, Americans Divided on Whether Increased Focus on Race Will Lead to Major Policy Change made it apparent to me that white individuals haven’t changed their views on racial matters much due to their oblivious nature of their own race and subsequently why race matters to people. A perfect example of this is how every minority group represented in this study, Black, Asian, and Hispanic, believes that being white gives an ability to get ahead in the US more than the white group of respondents did. That is how invisible white privilege and whiteness is. There are noticeable privileges for white people, including easier access to safer neighborhoods, that completely escape awareness of white people when they must critically think of their positions in life compared to others. To me, the Black group of respondents were most accurate in their views, including the need to pay more attention to racial issues, becoming more educated on the history of racial injustice, supporting minority owned businesses, and teaching diversity to lower racial injustices (Horowitz et al., 2020). Bringing awareness to racial issues gives individuals an opportunity to become more educated on the racial history of the past that is silently influencing the current racial issue. As teaching diversity has been noted to encourage inclusivity and foster tolerance, it seems like a great place to start encouraging conversations on race. It’s hard to say that belonging to the white group influences my perspective on race as we have just learned this week that white people tend to not think of their own race. Rather, belonging to the white group has influenced me to listen and learn from others more as I feel that I have overheard the white version of stories. I would much rather listen to a Black woman that lived during the Civil Rights Movement recount her story than read about experiences in a whitewashed version during my public-school years.
References
Delaney, T. (2016). Chapter 8: Race and Ethnicity. Connecting Sociology to Our Lives: An Introduction to Sociology. http://ezproxy.umgc.edu/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=1099295&site=edslive&scope=site&profile=edsebook&ebv=EB&ppid=pp_251
Halley, J., Eshleman, A. & Vijaya, R.M. (2010). Ch. 1: The Invisibility of Whiteness. Seeing White: An Introduction to White Privilege and Race. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.
http://ezproxy.umgc.edu/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=e025xna&AN=373157&site=eds-live&scope=site&profile=edsebook&ebv=EB&ppid=pp_1
Horowitz, J.M., Parker, K., Brown, A., & Cox, K. (2020, October 6). Amid National Reckoning, Americans Divided on Whether Increased Focus on Race Will Lead to Major Policy Change. Pew Research Center.
McIntosh, P. (1990). White privilege: Unpacking the invisible knapsack. Independent School, 49(2), 31.
