Stereotyping

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We Always Judge From Where We Stand

 

“When I had that debate with the aldermen about the proposed sagging pants ban in St. Louis, I was on the phone with my ward’s representative. One of my arguments was that this law would be enforced along racial lines. I pointed to the fact that St. Louis arrests black people at 18 times the rate of white people for marijuana offenses despite similar rates of usage. He quickly countered that he knows white people who smoke marijuana, but they do it in the privacy of their own homes where no one can see them. “They’re not out on their front porch doing it!” he cried.

 

Obviously, he’s making some pretty sweeping generalizations about who uses marijuana how, but let’s go ahead and take him at his word for the sake of argument. White people smoke weed behind closed doors; black people do it on their front porches where they can be seen. The implication is that the white choice is the standard (“Sure, everyone does it, but these people do it the right way.”) To then say that a deviation from that choice is substandard (and thus deserving of an arrest) ignores the inequality present in what gets read as a “criminal” act.”
See on www.balancingjane.com

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Unintentional Racism

Unintentional racism starts with unconscious bias.

Accidental-Racism-2Unconscious bias

Psychologists tell us that our unconscious biases are simply our natural people preferences.  Biologically we are hard-wired to prefer people who look like us, sound like us and share our interests. Social psychologists call this phenomenon “social categorisation‟ whereby we routinely and rapidly sort people into groups. This preference bypasses our normal, rational and logical thinking. We use these processes very effectively (we call it intuition) but the categories we use to sort people are not logical, modern or perhaps even legal. Put simply, our neurology takes us to the very brink of bias and poor decision making. –Tinu Cornish and Dr Pete Jones

To learn more check Understanding Unconscious Bias and Unintentional Racism


This clip features Barbie-Danielle DeCarlo, Rinku Sen, Suzanne LePeintre, Tilman Smith, Tim Wise, Robin Parker, and Yuko Kodama.


Jump to 5:02 for the full story on the shooting of Amadou Diallo (age 23), which reminds me of the shootings of Jonathan Ferrell (age 24), Oscar Grant (age 22), Jordan Davis (age 17), and Trayvon Martin (age 17) – all unarmed Black men.


“In The Souls of Black Folk, W.E.B. DuBois suggested that the question white people so often want to ask black people is, How does it feel to be a problem? This program turns the tables and recognizes some simple facts: Race problems have their roots in a system of white supremacy. White people invented white supremacy. Therefore, the color of the race problem is white. White people are the problem. White people have to ask ourselves: How does it feel to be a problem?”

Individuals need to become less focused on feeling very tolerant and good about themselves and more focused on examining their own biases. -Jean Moule

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TEDx – Jay Smooth – How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Discussing Race

 

“You will never bat 1000 when talking about race.” -Jay Smooth

 

“In this talk, he discusses the sometimes thorny territory of how we discuss issues of race and racism, offering insightful and humorous suggestions for expanding our perception of the subject.”

 

“Jay Smooth is host of New York’s longest running hip-hop radio show, the Underground Railroad on WBAI 99.5 FM in NY, and is an acclaimed commentator on politics and culture.”

 

 

Community Village‘s insight:

 

This is the best advice I’ve heard on how to be conscious of personal biases.

 

Think of anti-racism work as a daily hygine routine – ’cause the media feeds you information daily with bias. It takes a conscious effort to see through to the truth.

 

PS – I didn’t hear him explain how he learned to stop worrying. Did you? Or why he loves discusing race?

See on www.youtube.com

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On Asian American Privilege

 

“The explosion of online race talk about Asian Americans lately is enough to make your head spin. Are we progressive or conservative? Are we rich or poor? Are we privileged or oppressed? And the thorniest of all: are we allies or colluders on the question of anti-blackness?”

 

 

Community Village‘s insight:

 

I think U.S. groups are still segregated so much that people don’t even know other groups well enough to know them as fellow humans with the same needs, wants, desires and frailties.

 

One thing remains constant though. Everyone knows which group is the largest oppressor, and that many oppressors are equal opportunity oppressors.

See on www.racefiles.com

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▶ Minority students get harsher punishment in school – YouTube

 

“The Departments of Education and Justice together issued new guidance on Wednesday to help public schools administer student discipline without discrimination on the basis of race, color or national origin. Data shows that students of color face harsher punishments for committing the same actions as their white peers.”

 
See on www.youtube.com

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Family of Georgia student suspended for teacher hug files appeal

The family of a Georgia student suspended for the school year for hugging a teacher has filed an appeal with the school board, the teen’s mother tells CNN.

 

Community Village‘s insight:

 

In his senior year of high school, he is suspended for a year.

 

He did not deserve a suspension for this. However, he should have simply been told that some people don’t like hugs. If he was in a Latin country, this would be less of an issue. It’s common to kiss on the cheek as a greeting in Mexico for example.

 

@getgln

See on www.cnn.com

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10 examples of Indian mascots “honoring” Native peoples

Indian mascots, they’re totes honoring to Native peoples, right? That’s what fans always tell us, at least. Inspired by this image above posted on twitter, from a Sonic in Benton, MO, I…

See on nativeappropriations.com