Racial Identity Development 1

Racial Identity Development

Haley Alwardi

Haley Alwardi
Racial Identity Development 2

What is race? Although many people believe race is biological, it is not. According to Sesnsoy and DiAngelo, race is "Like

gender and disability, is socially constructed. The differences we see with our eyes, such as hair texture and eye color, are

superficial and emerged as adaptions to geography"(p.98). In other words, race is classification that is made up by society

and can lead into issues of racism. The next question would be what is racism? According to Sensoy and DiAngelo, racism

is, "White racial and cultural prejudice and discrimination, supported by institutional power and authority . Used to the

advantage of Whites and the disadvantage of people of color. Racism encompasses economic, political, social and

institutional actions and beliefs that systemize and perpetuate an unequal distribution of privileges, resources, and power

between Whites and people of color" (p.101). In other words racism is the discrimination against people of color in order to

have the privileges that White people have. In the film Race: The Power of Illusion (Part I) they showed examples of

racism, one of the examples they used that stuck out to me was, when the human skulls of a White male and a Black male

were measured and compared to find and figure out why they were different and they were trying to prove race is

biological.

One big factor of race for both White people and Black people is the theory of racial identity development.

According to Tatum, racial identity development is, "One thing that happens during puberty. As children enter adolescence

they begin to explore the question of identity, asking, "Who am I?' "Who can I be?""(p.52). Tatum also explains how there

are four identity "statuses" to exploring identity, "1. Diffuse, a state in which there has been little exploration or active

consideration of a particular domain, and no psychological commitment. 2.Foreclosed, a state which commitment has been

made to particular roles or belief systems, often those selected by parents, without actively considering alternatives. 3.

Moratorium, a state of active exploration of roles and beliefs which no commitment has yet been made. 4 . Achieved, a state

of strong personal commitment to a particular dimension of identity following a period of high exploration"(p.53) . During

the time of racial identity development both White people and Black people go through a long time of exploration to figure

out who they are and where they fit in. This is important for development because it makes a person realize that who they

are is who they are and that there are people on the same boat as them and they can go through it with other people.

There are two different forms of racial identity development, Black racial identity development and White racial

Haley Alwardi
Racial Identity Development 3

identity development. According to William Cross Black racial identity includes five stages; pre-encounter, there is where a

child starts to see stereotypes and questions if it is better to be white. The second stage is encounter, which is where a

person is the target of racist comments or actions. The third stage is immersion/emersion, during this stage they are

exploring wholeheartedly and search out support from people of the same race. During the fourth stage of internalization,

they form a sense of security and decide they know who they are. In the fifth and final state of internalization/commitment

they are very comfortable with whom they are and feel a responsibility to other in their racial group . The theory of White

racial development by Janet Helms also has five stages. The first stage is contact; during this stage whites pay little attention

to their race and take their racial privileges for granted. The second stage disintegration includes, growing awareness of

racism, also, people in this stage may realize that people in their family may be racist and they begin to start to feel a sense

of guilt. In the third stage reintegration, people start to feel guilt and blame it on people of color and they like to be thought

of as an individual and are against race groups. The fourth stage pseudo-independent people are committed to learning about

racism and feel shame of being white. Last, in the final stage of immersion/emersion people find a positive definition of

their race and they accept they are white. The two different types of development are mostly different. Black people and

White people go through different stages and have different ways of finding themselves. One way that they are similar

though is that both groups go through the stage of immersion/immersion, although they are both different versions . The way

that Black identity development works is they search the whole time looking for who they are and they will go to people

who are similar to them. This is why you usually see people of color grouped together in public places . The White racial

identity development theory proves that during this time White people spend a lot of time in denial and feel guilty about all

of the privileges they have.

Someone I know names Sara seems to currently be in the first stage of White racial identity development. In this

stage, contact, whites pay little attention to their race, take racial privileges for granted, believe that colorblindness is ok and

believes racism is an individual act of meanness. Sara will sometimes compare herself to someone that is Black and talks

about how she is glad that she is not black, although she claims she "has nothing against Black people." She believes

because she has black friends that she has no colorblindness. Sara will hopefully be moving from the contact stage to the

Haley Alwardi
Racial Identity Development 4

disintegration stage eventually.

References
Pounder, C. C. H., Adelman, L., Cheng, J., Herbes-Sommers, C., Strain, T. H., Smith, L.,
Ragazzi, C., ... Corporation for Public Broadcasting,. (2003). Race: The power of an
illusion. San Francisco, Calif: California Newsreel.
Sensoy, O., & DiAngelo, R. J. (2012). Is everyone really equal?: an introduction to key concepts in social justice
education. New York: Teachers College Press.
Tatum, B. D. (1997). Why are all the Black kids sitting together in the cafeteria? and other conversations about race.
New York: BasicBooks.

Haley Alwardi