Looking beyond the obvious to figure out the Entry Points of Racial Awareness and Bias in Children: A Commentary of Waxman (2021)

In “Racial Awareness and Bias Begin Early: Developmental Entry Points, Challenges, and a Call to Action”, Waxman (2021) argues that there is a dramatic overestimation by the community when it comes to evidence of the time-frame when it should be discussed with children (p. 898). To counter this problem, they promote the intention of identifying “the developmental roots of these prejudices, forces that sustain them, and pathways to reduce them” (p. 893). The goal of Waxman is to advance the entry points of this bias, especially in our infants and children, as there are obvious and apparent damaging consequences to the children, their communities and the society as a whole. They advocate the use of a more “comprehensive research agenda”, specifically the use of larger empirical base, methodological tool-kit, and psychological-science framework to identify the preliminary stages of the acquisition of racial bias. They look back into the large body of experimental and empirical evidence to provide an overview of the development of racial bias in young children and infants. They then provide a substantially comprehensive framework to tackle this issue. Finally, Waxman argues that the strongest tool to advance the understanding and tackling of early racial bias is by arming the parents, teachers, and other policymakers with strong empirical evidence and evidence-based recommendations, which would allow for better conversations within the families and classrooms.

Looking beyond the obvious to figure out the Entry Points of Racial Awareness and Bias in Children: A Commentary of Waxman (2021)

In “Racial Awareness and Bias Begin Early: Developmental Entry Points, Challenges, and a Call to Action”, Waxman (2021) argues that there is a dramatic overestimation by the community when it comes to evidence of the time-frame when it should be discussed with children (p. 898). To counter this problem, they promote the intention of identifying “the developmental roots of these prejudices, forces that sustain them, and pathways to reduce them” (p. 893). The goal of Waxman is to advance the entry points of this bias, especially in our infants and children, as there are obvious and apparent damaging consequences to the children, their communities and the society as a whole. They advocate the use of a more “comprehensive research agenda”, specifically the use of larger empirical base, methodological tool-kit, and psychological-science framework to identify the preliminary stages of the acquisition of racial bias. They look back into the large body of experimental and empirical evidence to provide an overview of the development of racial bias in young children and infants. They then provide a substantially comprehensive framework to tackle this issue. Finally, Waxman argues that the strongest tool to advance the understanding and tackling of early racial bias is by arming the parents, teachers, and other policymakers with strong empirical evidence and evidence-based recommendations, which would allow for better conversations within the families and classrooms.

A Discriminação Inversa pelo Contributo de Dworkin

The purpose of this paper is to reconstruct Ronald Dworkin’s arguments about affirmative action applied by Universities, policies as measures capable of diminishing long-term racial awareness as a factor of negative discrimination, and to effectively fulfill human dignity in its collective dimension, in the face to concrete cases before the Northern Supreme Court-American. This is an explanatory research, in which we intend to answer questions related to the efficiency in the practical applicability and legality of reverse discrimination measures, before a Constitutional Rule of Law, that is willing to protect and guarantee the right to equality, not only through as a jurisprudential analysis.

Racial Awareness and Bias Begin Early: Developmental Entry Points, Challenges, and a Call to Action

Overt expressions of racial intolerance have surged precipitously. The dramatic uptick in hate crimes and hate speech is not lost on young children. But how, and how early, do children become aware of racial bias? And when do their own views of themselves and others become infused with racial bias? This article opens with a brief overview of the existing experimental evidence documenting developmental entry points of racial bias in infants and young children and how it unfolds. The article then goes on to identify gaps in the extant research and outlines three steps to narrow them. By bringing together what we know and what remains unknown, the goal is to provide a springboard, motivating a more comprehensive psychological-science framework that illuminates early steps in the acquisition of racial bias. If we are to interrupt race bias at its inception and diminish its effects, then we must build strong cross-disciplinary bridges that span the psychological and related social sciences to shed light on the pressing issues facing our nation’s young children and their families.

Our skin is trouble: Racial discourse in Athol Fugard’s Sizwe Bansi is Dead, Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness and Wole Soyinka’s ‘Telephone Conversation’

The recent incident in Minneapolis, United States, where George Floyd, an African-American man, was manhandled by a police officer has brought about the resurgence of racial awareness as championed by the Black Lives Matter Movement. The concept of race has shaped the lives of so many generations and continues to do so in the 21st century. Racial segregation as well as the public hysteria on racism has had so much influence on societies and has led to discrimination and racial slurs across races. Using Critical Race Theory, this study examines racial discourse in Athol Fugard’s Sizwe Bansi is Dead, Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness and Wole Soyinka’s ‘Telephone Conversation’. The analysis of the discourse reveals racial tendencies in the description of the black race through white-black (Self/Other) binary (racial segregation), race-based discrimination and animal metaphors. The paper contributes to scholarship on racial discourses and foregrounds the function of language in depicting the racial orientation of characters in literary texts.

184 Racial awareness and insufficient sleep

Introduction Population-based studies are needed to fully disentangle persistent racial and ethnic disparities in sleep health in the US. In this study, we examine whether the frequency of self-reflection on racial identify influences insufficient sleep among US adults. Methods The 2010 Behavioral Risk Factor Analysis Surveillance System (BRFSS) was used as the primary data source to explore the relationship between self-reflection of racial identity and insufficient sleep. Data was limited to states administering the “Reactions to Race Module,” which included Georgia, Kentucky, and Rhode Island (N=7,085). Frequency of self-reflection of race was assessed using the question “How often do you think about your race? Would you say never, once a year, once a month, once a week, once a day, once an hour, or constantly?” Insufficient sleep was determined using the item, “During the past 30 days, for about how many days have you felt you did not get enough rest or sleep?” Multivariate regression analyses were performed while controlling for age, sex, education, income, marital status, and poor mental and physical health. Results: Results Across the sample, participants reported an average of 8.95+/- 10.06 days of insufficient sleep per month. Participants from Georgia reported the highest number of days of insufficient sleep (9.83+/- 10.51) followed by Kentucky (8.64+/- 9.94) and Rhode Island (8.38+/- 9.67) (p<0.05). After controling for age, sex, education, income, employment, and marital status, individuals reporting any self-reflection on their race were more likely to report insufficient sleep within a 30-day period (Beta=0.026, 95% CI [0.062, 1.02], p=0.027). Conclusion: Conclusion In a sample of US adults, self-reflection of race adversely impacted sleep quality. More studies are needed to fully explore the mechanisms underpinning this association. Support (if any):

Garvey-Rodney-Marley: a Pan-African bridge over Cuba

The race/colour question and its political implications in Cuba have been foregrounded recently. A cross-section of Cuban society has encouraged discourses on racial awareness and anti-racist epistemologies as direct or indirect, but positive, outcomes of the encounter with ideas of decolonisation promoted by Black movements and readings of Black Caribbean intellectuals. Through history and the multidisciplinary nature of cultural studies, this article explores regional intersections among Pan-Africanism, Caribbean social and intellectual thought, and some expressions of these ideas in Cuba. It focuses on identity, Black consciousness and the tangential impact of Pan-Africanism as a political ideology on Cuba in three different periods. The author argues that the ideas of Marcus Garvey, Walter Rodney and Bob Marley provide ideologically connecting points in the assessment of cross-cultural connections between Cuba and the Caribbean.