What Pete Buttigieg—and all White Americans—Need to Understand About Racism

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
pp. 174-177
Author(s):  
Rachel Ann Hanebutt
Keyword(s):  
Education System ◽  
Racial Inequality ◽  
Theoretical Perspective ◽  
Central Issue ◽  
Presidential Candidate ◽  
White Americans ◽  
White Educators ◽  
Structural Racism ◽  
Call To Action ◽  
Opinion Piece

It is essential that educators, particularly white educators, work to understand racial inequality within a prophetic framework, refuse to perpetuate inaccurate and racist images of black and brown youth, and actively deconstruct structural inequalities within the education system. Structural racism, especially that which has been institutionalized within and in perceptions about the education system, is an important issue for the field of education that was recently the central issue of the eye-catching hashtag, #PeteButtigiegisaLyingMF. This Voices opinion piece examines Michael Harriot’s initiation of a conversation about understandings of structural racism with 2020 presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg, contextualizes this online moment through a theoretical perspective, and provides a call to action for white educators.

Amidst pandemic and racial upheaval: Where Asian Americans Fit

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-17
Author(s):  
Whitney Hua ◽  
Jane Junn
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Asian Americans ◽  
Racial Inequality ◽  
White Supremacy ◽  
The United States ◽  
Structural Racism ◽  
Global Pandemic ◽  
American Capitalism ◽  
Racial History ◽  
History Of

Abstract As racial tensions flare amidst a global pandemic and national social justice upheaval, the centrality of structural racism has renewed old questions and raised new ones about where Asian Americans fit in U.S. politics. This paper provides an overview of the unique racial history of Asians in the United States and analyzes the implications of dynamic racialization and status for Asian Americans. In particular, we examine the dynamism of Asian Americans' racial positionality relative to historical shifts in economic-based conceptions of their desirability as workers in American capitalism. Taking history, power, and institutions of white supremacy into account, we analyze where Asian Americans fit in contemporary U.S. politics, presenting a better understanding of the persistent structures underlying racial inequality and developing a foundation from which Asian Americans can work to enhance equality.

Introduction

2019 ◽  
pp. 1-22
Author(s):  
Maryann Erigha
Keyword(s):  
Civil Rights ◽  
Racial Inequality ◽  
Jim Crow ◽  
White Americans ◽  
Culture Industries ◽  
Cultural Preferences ◽  
Film Directors ◽  
The Everyday ◽  
Racial Progress ◽  
Post Civil Rights

Jim Crow Hollywood describes how Hollywood insiders consider race when making decisions about moviemaking. Movies by and about white Americans are said to be worthy investments, while movies by and about Black Americans are said to be risky investments. This way of thinking has profound effects on the way movies and people move through the Hollywood system—shaping their production budgets, determining who directs lucrative tent pole blockbuster franchise movies, and creating stigma around race and moviemaking. This chapter gives an overview of the book’s approach, a summary of prior research on race in culture industries, and a preview of the book’s chapters. Quotes from film directors, statistics on over a thousand movies, and emails between Hollywood insiders reveal that race is back in the forefront regarding how decision-makers in American culture institutions rationalize inequality. Except now understandings about race are mixed with talk about economic investments and cultural preferences, making racial inequality more palatable to the everyday observer and further entrenching racial divisions that counteract post-Civil rights narratives of racial progress.

Achieving Health Equity Through Eradicating Structural Racism in the United States: A Call to Action for Nursing Leadership

2020 ◽  
Vol 52 (6) ◽  
pp. 696-704
Author(s):  
Deena Nardi ◽  
Roberta Waite ◽  
Marian Nowak ◽  
Barbara Hatcher ◽  
Vicki Hines‐Martin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Health Equity ◽  
The United States ◽  
Nursing Leadership ◽  
Structural Racism ◽  
Call To Action

scholarly journals Christian America in Black and White: Racial Identity, Religious-National Group Boundaries, and Explanations for Racial Inequality

2018 ◽  
Vol 80 (3) ◽  
pp. 277-298 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samuel L Perry ◽  
Andrew L Whitehead
Keyword(s):  
Racial Inequality ◽  
White Supremacy ◽  
General Social Survey ◽  
Black Americans ◽  
White Americans ◽  
Racial Justice ◽  
Social Survey ◽  
Group Boundaries ◽  
Black And White ◽  
Group Identities

Abstract Recent research suggests that, for white Americans, conflating national and religious group identities is strongly associated with racism, xenophobia, and Islamophobia, prompting some to argue that claims about Christianity being central to American identity are essentially about reinforcing white supremacy. Prior work has not considered, however, whether such beliefs may influence the racial views of nonwhite Americans differently from white Americans. Drawing on a representative sample of black and white Americans from the 2014 General Social Survey, and focusing on explanations for racial inequality as the outcome, we show that, contrary to white Americans, black Americans who view being a Christian as essential to being an American are actually more likely to attribute black–white inequality to structural issues and less to blacks’ individual shortcomings. Our findings suggest that, for black Americans, connecting being American to being Christian does not necessarily bolster white supremacy, but may instead evoke and sustain ideals of racial justice.

TRENDS: Racial Resentment and Public Opinion across the Racial Divide

2019 ◽  
Vol 72 (4) ◽  
pp. 767-784 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cindy D. Kam ◽  
Camille D. Burge
Keyword(s):  
Public Opinion ◽  
Racial Inequality ◽  
Black Americans ◽  
White Americans ◽  
Black And White ◽  
Racial Resentment ◽  
Quantitative Examination ◽  
Racial Divide ◽  
Black Public Opinion

Research on racial resentment has been meticulously developed, tested, and analyzed with white Americans in mind—yet black Americans have also responded to this battery for the past three decades. To date, little to nothing is known about the implications of responses to the racial resentment battery among black Americans. A burgeoning literature on blacks’ intragroup attitudes suggests that over time, black Americans have increasingly attributed racial inequality to individual failings as opposed to structural forces. As such, unpacking blacks’ responses to the canonical racial resentment battery may provide further insight into the micro-foundations of black public opinion. Using survey data from 1986 to 2016, we engage in a systematic quantitative examination of the role of racial resentment in predicting black and white Americans’ opinions on racial policies, “race-coded” policies, and nonracialized policies. Along the way, we highlight the existence of wide heterogeneity among black respondents and call for further investigation that identifies similarities and differences in the foundations of white and black public opinion.

scholarly journals Yearning for Beauty. The Expression of Melancholy in Toni Morrison’s “The Bluest Eye”

2018 ◽  
pp. 79-86
Author(s):  
Aleksandra Kozłowska
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
Education System ◽  
Negative Emotion ◽  
White Americans ◽  
White People ◽  
Specific Point ◽  
Bluest Eye ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Blue Eyes ◽  
The U.S

The purpose of the paper is to discuss the sources and results of melancholy in Toni Morrison’s novel The Bluest Eye with reference to Dominick LaCapra’s theory based on a distinction between loss and absence. LaCapra claims that the former concept refers to a particular event, while the latter cannot be identified with any specific point in time or object. What is more, LaCapra admits that absence may result in melancholy, i.e. the state in which the individual remains possessed by a negative emotion because there is no possibility of working it through. The idea of absence causing melancholy is exemplified by the protagonist of The Bluest Eye, Pecola Breedlove. The girl dreams about acquiring blue eyes that belong to the prevailing white model of beauty which excludes African-American features. The feeling of absence is intensified by the U.S. education system aimed at promoting the lifestyle and characteristics of white Americans, her own mother who prefers serving white people to taking care of her own children, and the peers that constantly stigmatize Pecola for ugliness. Consequently, she becomes obsessed with the unattainable blue eyes. Since there is no chance for her to be accepted and thus cope with the absence of white features, the girl suffers from melancholy which leads her to insanity and exclusion from society.

scholarly journals Developmental Origins of Anti-Black Bias in White US Children: Exposure to and Beliefs about Racial Inequality

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Rizzo ◽  
Tobias Britton ◽  
Marjorie Rhodes
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Early Childhood ◽  
Racial Inequality ◽  
Racial Bias ◽  
Social Systems ◽  
The United States ◽  
Racial Groups ◽  
Developmental Origins ◽  
Structural Racism ◽  
Racial Inequalities

Anti-Black racism remains a pervasive crisis in the United States today. Racist social systems are rooted in prejudicial beliefs that reinforce and perpetuate racial inequalities. These beliefs have their developmental origins in early childhood and are difficult to change once entrenched in adolescence and adulthood. What causes children to form prejudicial beliefs and racial biases—and what steps can be taken to preempt them from forming—remain open questions. Here we show that children’s exposure to and beliefs about racial inequalities predict the formation of anti-Black biases in a sample of 712 White children (4-8 years) living across the United States. Drawing from constructivist theories in developmental science, we outline a novel account of the emergence of racial bias in early childhood: As children observe racial inequalities in the world around them, they develop beliefs about the causal factors underlying those inequalities. Children who believe that inequalities reflect the inherent superiority/inferiority of racial groups develop biases that perpetuate this worldview, whereas those who recognize the extrinsic causes of racial inequalities develop attitudes geared towards rectification. Our results demonstrate the importance of early intervention to disrupt problematic beliefs before they emerge and highlight children’s awareness of structural racism as an important target for anti-racist intervention.

scholarly journals Structural Racism: A Call to Action for Health and Health Disparities Research

2021 ◽  
Vol 31 (Suppl) ◽  
pp. 285-288
Author(s):  
Naomi Priest ◽  
David R. Williams
Keyword(s):  
Health Disparities ◽  
Structural Racism ◽  
Call To Action

Ethn Dis. 2021;31(Suppl 1):285-288; doi:10.18865/ed.31.S1.285

scholarly journals Christian America in Black and White: Racial Identity, Religious-National Group Boundaries, and Explanations for Racial Inequality

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samuel Perry ◽  
Andrew L Whitehead
Keyword(s):  
Racial Inequality ◽  
White Supremacy ◽  
General Social Survey ◽  
Black Americans ◽  
White Americans ◽  
Racial Justice ◽  
Social Survey ◽  
Group Boundaries ◽  
Black And White ◽  
Group Identities

Recent research suggests that, for white Americans, conflating national and religious group identities is strongly associated with racism, xenophobia, and Islamophobia, prompting some to argue that claims about Christianity being central to American identity are essentially about reinforcing white supremacy. Prior work has not considered, however, whether such beliefs may influence the racial views of nonwhite Americans differently from white Americans. Drawing on a representative sample of black and white Americans from the 2014 General Social Survey, and focusing on explanations for racial inequality as the outcome, we show that, contrary to white Americans, black Americans who view being a Christian as essential to being an American are actually more likely to attribute black–white inequality to structural issues and less to blacks’ individual shortcomings. Our findings suggest that, for black Americans, connecting being American to being Christian does not necessarily bolster white supremacy, but may instead evoke and sustain ideals of racial justice.

scholarly journals Addressing and Inspiring Vaccine Confidence in Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) during the COVID-19 Pandemic

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jasmine R Marcelin ◽  
Talia H Swartz ◽  
Fidelia Bernice ◽  
Vladimir Berthaud ◽  
Robbie Christian ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Severe Disease ◽  
Health Inequities ◽  
Vaccine Uptake ◽  
People Of Color ◽  
White Americans ◽  
Structural Racism ◽  
Vaccine Acceptance ◽  
Vaccine Confidence ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Differential Access

Abstract During the COVID-19 pandemic, we have witnessed profound health inequities suffered by Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC). These manifested as differential access to testing early in the pandemic, rates of severe disease and death 2-3 times higher than White Americans, and now, significantly lower vaccine uptake compared with their share of the population affected by COVID-19. This article explores the impact of these COVID-19 inequities (and the underlying cause, structural racism) on vaccine acceptance in BIPOC populations, ways to establish trustworthiness of healthcare institutions, increase vaccine access for BIPOC communities, and inspire confidence in COVID-19 vaccines.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document