November 2011 – Contemporary Racism

White Identity Lost

08/12/201211/25/2011 by Tennille

Black identity is a topic that is discussed and recognized everyday in our contemporary racism class. They are grouped and recognized as a separate ethnicity in which they promote the distinction between white and black. It never really occurred to me until I read this quote by Lipsitz, that whites have lost their individual ethnic identity.

“Urban renewal helped construct a new “white” identity in the suburbs by helping to destroy ethnically specific European American urban inner-city neighborhoods.”

Choosing to be Racist?

08/12/201211/18/2011 by Tennille

This week, we were asked to complete two IAT’s. One that measured our level of association between Blacks and weapons and another the measured ones preference of Blacks versus Whites. I am not skeptical of the tests accuracy. I believe that it can truly measure ones implicit feelings; however, I do question whether these feelings can ever be truly implicit. I believe that the mind is a powerful thing, and that if an individual wants to believe he or she holds certain values, they can convince themselves of it. I do not however think that within an individual, they do not doubt their wanted behaviors. I have a hard time believing that someone can be unaware of their biases/associations when asked directly if such biases/associations exist. They may not know that their bias/association is as strong as a test may show; however, I feel that they must be aware of it. Can someone be truly unaware of his or her biases?

Accessibility & Fit

08/12/201211/11/2011 by Liz

After reading this week’s articles what really stood out to me was the Hogg article on Social Identity Theory. In this article Hogg talked about the idea of groups and how individuals are placed or fit into their so called groups. In my opinion the most interesting part of this was what Hogg called accessibility and fit, what identities we find most and least important. In other words accessibility and fit is the system of how we rank and use our many identities or groups.