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Erick J. Saidi
Psychology 1010
03/04/15
Pigmentrocracy
Have you ever wondered if life in America is facilitated primary to those who are
Caucasian? Well, Jane Elliott, a Caucasian guest speaker, came to Salt Lake Community College
(SLCC) on March 05, 2015 to discuss the injustice that subordinate ethnicities experience and
the privileges that Caucasian individuals have; the event attracted a large audience of diverse
individuals. Her strong and firm attitude was quite abrupt, but her motive was to illustrate that
the ongoing dilemma of discrimination is a serious matter. Ms. Elliott presented several
enlightening points correlating to discrimination, but we will only discuss 3 of them. These are:
Categorization, the Mercator Map, and Education.
The beginning of her speech is focused on the unfortunate categorization of skin color
that takes place in America. This categorization has put a false label and determinant on
subordinate groups claiming lack of intelligence and freedom; Ms. Elliott likes to call this
Pigmentocracy. To illustrate, she pointed to an African- American woman on her right side
and also to a Caucasian male on her left side and asked each the question (taking into
consideration the United States law): are you free to do whatever you want? The Caucasian
male said, yes, and the African-American woman said, no. The different answers are
correlated to White Privilege-a set of advantages and/or immunities that white people benefit
from on a daily basis beyond those common to all others. Dominant groups and subordinate
groups both have different perspectives on this, because one isnt facing oppression and the other
is. We need to pave the path in the United States where people are appreciated as they are and
not discriminated by the color of their skin. We are playing with a racist deck, Ms. Elliott
stated. I believe its time for America to ditch that deck and get a new one; we all need to unify
and stand up for each other. Consequently, we wont see much change until the dominant group,
Caucasians, begin to take action, such as Jane Elliott!

Another interesting and surprising point that Jane Elliott discussed is the distortion of
the Mercator Map, which is primarily used in history classes; the distortion is seen in the size
of the countries, it displays white powered countries as being bigger than others. I was shocked,
because this shows that discrimination is being covertly taught in our history classes and we
dont even realize it! Till this day, this map is still being printed and sold for up to $40!
Ms. Elliott strongly suggested that we switch to the Peters Projection map, which demonstrates
the accurate sizes of each country! Accurate education is important to me, especially when
paying for tuition out of pocket. Ms. Elliott quickly realized the importance of education, which
we will discuss in the last topic.
Ms. Elliotts occupation was a 3rd grade teacher at Riceville Community Elementary
School, in Riceville, Iowa, populated by only all white Christian students. The day after the
assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. was the breaking point for Ms. Elliot. She decided to
illustrate discrimination to her 3rd grade class, by separating blue and brown eyed students for
two days. The first day, blue eyed students were the dominant group and were given power and
privileges, such as: sitting upfront, 5 extra minutes of recess, being able to use the playground,
etc. while the subordinate group, brown eyes, were put to the side and discriminated. The second
day, the same thing was conducted, but now the roles were reversed. Ms. Elliotts experiment
attracted the attention of ABC news, which conducted a documentary named The Eye of The
Storm and can still be seen today http://youtu.be/FjSHOaugO-0. Her observations showed that
those that had the power and privilege performed academically better than the subordinate
group. For example, Raymond, a blue eyed student stated: I felt like I was a king. Like I ruled
them brown eyes. Like I was better than themhappy! She concluded that discrimination can
affect academic performance and arouse violence, but we can change it by using the supreme
rule-treat others as they would like to be treated. We need to educate our children about
discrimination, so this blind fold can be removed.
In conclusion, discrimination is a reality and even though it might be disguised, its
affecting people. We need to move away from categorization, teach accurate information,
and educate our children about discrimination so we can alter this vicious cycle. We need

to understand that there is only one race in this world, and thats the human race. Were
all created equal, but an excerpt from the U.S. national anthem disagrees, home of the free and
the brave, which illustrates that freedom is for the Caucasian individuals, and those battling
for freedom are the brave-subordinate groups. Its time to facilitate life in America
for everyone! Will you join and take action?