American Ideals: The

African-American Story
(cont).

Student Goals
Learn basic facts about American history
that relate to
The Civil Rights movement of the 1960s
Current issues in American race relations

Use those facts to paint a picture of the

current status of African-Americans in
America
Use this picture to analyze American
ideals in practice
Reflect upon ourselves

Essential Vocabulary

Landmark
Microaggression
Discrimination, racism
Privilege
Bias

Racial Prejudice and

Treatment of Free Blacks
After gaining freedom, African-Americans
faced growing prejudice and
discriminatory laws, Jim Crow laws
Literacy tests, poll taxes, labor sentences,
unequal pay, arrests/executions without
sufficient reasons, hangings, segregation
laws (schools, restaurants, transportation)

Why are these laws bad?

Civil Rights Movement

1960s
1955 Montgomery Rosa Parks will not give up
seat
1955-56 Montgomery bus boycott
1960 lunch counter sit-in by black college
students
Lasts 6 months

1960 other sit-ins, protests

1961-1962 police brutality in the South,
especially Birmingham, Alabama
August 1963 MLK I Have a Dream march on DC
Over 200,000 people, black and white

1964 Civil Rights act passed by Congress

1968 Assassination of MLK

Civil Rights Act 1964

Landmark law
All persons shall be entitled to the full and equal
enjoyment of the goods, services, facilities, and
privileges, advantages, and accommodations of
any place of public accommodation, as defined in
this section, without discrimination or
segregation on the ground of race, color,
religion, or national origin.
Similar laws have been passed in some states,
which expand this language to include: sex,
family status, marital status, sexual orientation,
gender identification, language background,
social class

After 1964
It is now illegal to discriminate against people for
race, color, gender, religion, and a bunch of other
things.
Political correctness: language that minimizes offense

Just because it is illegal does not mean that it

does not happen. Furthermore, we must
differentiate between political/legal and social
discrimination.
Hate crimes, vandalism, attacks, KKK, loans,
language, marginalization, police responsiveness

Structures of societal power are hard to

change, and activist groups regularly work to
change them.

Structures of
Privilege/Power
Structures of privilege refer to ways which societal
rules favor certain groups. Examples are:

Most Congress members are white, male, Christian

Males dont have to worry about the message their
wardrobe sends
Men dont have to fear walking alone after dark in public
spaces
Males are less emotional then females, and therefore
more intelligent, trustworthy, and are taken more
seriously
Whites are taught to mistrust blacks (movies)
Whites can criticize government and talk about how
much they fear its policies and behavior without being
seen as a cultural outsider
White neighborhoods are suspicious of black neighbors
and may actually discriminate against them
If a white gets pulled over, its probably not because of
race

Structures of
Privilege/Power
Structures of privilege refer to ways which

societal rules favor certain groups. Examples are:

It is likely that state and federal holidays coincide with
Christian religious practices, thereby having little to
no impact on their jobs and/or education.
Christians can wear Christian clothing or jewelry
without fear
Christians can promote their religion on cars or
houses without fear of vandalism
Christians can easily find private schools that cater to
their religion
Christians neednt worry about finding foods to meet
religious dietary requirements

Groups with power can assume that they

wont be discriminated against

Power
Power is a result of having majority/minority
groups
These groups create ideas of in-group (us, we) and
out-group (you, the other)
When differences are created, power imbalances
can result, meaning, the larger group uses their
power-in-numbers to work against the other group
Those with power perpetuate these inequalities
through various practices
We talked last week about science being used to say
that blacks were inferior. Science also is used to argue
that women are inferior to men because of biological
traits

Affirmative Action
Controversy
Affirmative action refers to policies that take factors
including race, color, religion, gender, or national
origin into consideration in order to benefit an
underrepresented group, usually as a means to
counter the effects of a history of
discrimination.
Employment, education, public contracting, health care

Supporters say it gives opportunities to people who

would otherwise be held back by privilege structures
Opponents say that it reverse-discriminates and
makes things difficult for members of privileged
groups (after all, they didnt choose to be born
white, etc)
What about job requirements for physical strength?

Microagressions
A macroagression would be something like a
direct insult (the N-word) or refusing to serve
someone at a caf or physically attacking
someone because they are black (or a woman, or
a Muslim, or any other minority group).
Macroagressions are easy to see, and can be
legally punished.
Microagressions are brief, small, and
commonplace daily verbal, behavioral, or
environmental indignities, whether intentional or
unintentional, that communicate hostile,
derogatory, or negative slights and insults
toward minorities

Examples of
Microagressions

You need to move to a safer neighborhood.--My

mother-in-law, after eyeing a car containing two
African-American men going down my street.
Are all African-Americans criminals?

You have such nice hair, not like most Blacks! Are
you half white? --Random older white female passerby.
Is black hair ugly? If a black has nice hair they must also be
white?

Man, outscored by a black guy. --Vietnamese

American male upon finding out I got a higher score
than him on the Chinese midterm.
Are black people automatically dumber than Asians?

I would never, ever hire someone with a black name

on their resume. I wouldnt even interview them.
--An African American co-worker at a team dinner.
What does a name/race say about your intelligence?
Nothing!!

 Put that down right now! Heavy lifting is NOT for women!
--Middle-aged female neighbor to me (24, female) as I
moved furniture into my house. Made me feel angry,
helpless.
Who decides what I can and cant do? ME!

Why would you waste those four years when you could
start having a family? --My boyfriends mother in
response to my announcement that Im attending
university next year. My boyfriend said nothing. Made me
feel shocked, compartmentalized, defensive,
belittled.
Cant women have jobs and families at the same time? Cant
women choose not to have children at all?

Well face it, whenever you see a guy with a rag on his
head on the street you get a bit nervous, you know? --As I
was complaining to an acquaintance about an anti-Muslim
teacher. Made me feel hurt, angry, shocked.
Are all Muslims terrorists?

How long have you been in Canada for? --The question a

man asked me. Im a Black Muslim girl wearing hijab, so he
must have felt this was a valid question. I told him I
was born here, and he laughed the whole way off the bus.
Would a native Canadian wear a hijab? Or be black?

What do we do?
Redefine groups and reorganize our priorities
Examine our own thinking and change it
Examine our own behavior and change it
Be aware of your own privileges and dont abuse
them

Read blogs, articles, books, scientific studies

Read them and look for the biases of the author

TALK to other people

Studies show that if you know someone of another
group, you are more likely to view them
moderately

LISTEN to other people

If a minority has a complaint, take it seriously