history – Contemporary Racism

Protect and Serve Who?

Carolina Escobar — Mon, 01 Dec 2025 17:45:10 +0000

How do you feel about the police? Do you see them as people who are there to protect you from crime? Can you depend on them? This should be the standard and in some areas, it is. I’m sure you can guess as to what I will bring up. You know because it is a huge issue. You know because in 2020, George Floyd was murdered by police officers and it sparked a huge outrage ...

Society Has Ignored Offensive Language and Slurs

Brandon Rosenblatt — Wed, 22 Oct 2025 19:09:04 +0000

Something that has left me frustrated lately is how society is still using the G-word, a slur that is racist toward Roma and Sinti people, both of whom are different ethnic groups within the larger Romani people who share similar roots. I learned in my genocide class at high school that this word was offensive and when people mention that Roma and Sinti people were victims of the Holocaust in addition to Jewish people and ...

The Truth Has Yet To Be Taught

Brandon Rosenblatt — Wed, 22 Oct 2025 18:40:33 +0000

Ever wonder about when you were taught about slavery in your history class in high school or middle school? Well, what if the curriculum was flawed? The answer is yes, that history about slavery is not being taught accurately in classes. When I was in elementary school and middle school, we discussed the founding fathers such as George Washington, John Adams, and Thomas Jefferson. We learned about how these men were inspirational and admirable leaders, ...

The Silent Killer: Racial Disparities in Healthcare

Lily Bernecker — Tue, 21 Oct 2025 16:27:49 +0000

Healthcare is the organized system of services aimed at improving the health of an individual, treating the sick, and supporting recovery. Sounds important, right? It sounds like something that everyone should have access to, right? Yet the reality of healthcare in the United States is a different story. Access to healthcare is a common struggle for millions of Americans, particularly those of communities of color. This unequal access is known as a disparity, an unfair ...

Health Disparities: Racism & Health Equity

Julian Chaparro — Tue, 10 Dec 2024 18:40:05 +0000

To understand health disparities that disadvantage marginalized racial communities, you need to understand health equity. It is important to understand that public health and health equity are not limited to just the medical healthcare field, as many may believe, but are both concepts are involved and are integral to the overall health of the community. While this does include access to reliable and cost-effective medical healthcare, it also means having access to clean and fresh ...

Black History in the U.S. is More Than a Month

PJ R — Fri, 29 Nov 2024 17:28:53 +0000

It would be a lie to say that my pre-college education did not expose me to the history of slavery, segregation, and racism in the United States. It would also be a lie to say that I was told the whole truth about it. I was fortunate enough to go to a school system that, I believe, prepared me for college about as well as I could hope. I can read, for one thing, and ...

Cementing Prejudice: Racism in the Roads and Roots of the United States

PJ R — Thu, 10 Oct 2024 17:10:17 +0000

It would hardly be an exaggeration to say that the Interstate Highway System of the United States was one of the most impactful public works projects in the nation’s history. Tying together one of the largest nations on the planet with millions upon millions of miles of asphalt, many Americans credit it with helping to bring a scattered nation closer to unity. They hold this assumption in ignorance of the ways in which it also ...

Stop Before You Stereotype

Natstermac — Wed, 06 Dec 2023 19:26:47 +0000

I was born in a land littered with Confederate flags. Each flag you drive past holds generations worth of harmful stereotypes about Black Americans. Even if you aren’t from South Carolina, like me, stereotypes are constantly around us. They are found through our thoughts, conversations with others, information from the media, etc. Once we understand that a stereotype exists, what do we do with them? Do we let them control our thoughts and interactions? And ...

The Misinformation in the United States

Ricardo Caamano — Wed, 06 Dec 2023 19:06:23 +0000

Throughout United States history people are continuing to believe things that are not true. Not only are they not true, but they are disgusting and horrible. People who believe in stereotypes which are attitudes and beliefs, usually they are prejudiced which are ill feelings towards people. Which is also related to discrimination which is behaviors against people. These stereotypes are not true, they are racist. In the readings we learned that people who joke about ...

Let’s talk about racism! Sure…But when?

Chau Dinh — Wed, 08 Nov 2023 15:55:12 +0000

My first American history lesson started with the Crash Course series on YouTube in the summer of 2017, about two months before I came to the States. My “teacher” was a white woman from Texas whose name I failed to remember, who seemed nice and honestly was the spitting image of white Americans in media products I had consumed. She taught me everything from “checks and balances,” “electoral college,” and the Constitution to using “bathroom” ...

The Struggle Is Real

KP5 — Thu, 12 Oct 2023 19:39:30 +0000

Being a person of color in American society is no small task, especially in white America. Oftentimes many white individuals will see a person of color automatically assuming the worst about that individual. This reason is because of the unjust prejudice white Americans have grown to learn at a young age; that they now take with them into their adult lives. One of our class readings notes: “Despite social norms and legal sanctions against racial ...

Your Manager Took A Page Out of a Slave-owner’s Book

Isabella Metzger — Thu, 12 Oct 2023 19:17:38 +0000

After the disruption of labor brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic and the economic crisis that we are currently experiencing, Americans are, possibly, finally realizing the intense negative effects that harsh American capitalist business practices have on them. Many Americans are opting to work from home instead of working in the office from 9-5 because they feel that they can excel in their work and have a better overall well-being from the comfort of their ...

A Conversation With a Cop

Madeleine Kemo — Sat, 24 Oct 2020 16:01:48 +0000

I recently met a police officer two years older than me. I started talking to him and having friendly conversation before learning that he was a cop. Naturally, upon finding out about his career, I asked him his thoughts on the current Black Lives Matter movement and police brutality. His response was “Yea, it’s a shame that it was a few bad cops. I work with hispanic people and stuff. I’m definitely not racist.” This ...

Proud to be American?

Tajarie Wright — Sat, 24 Oct 2020 15:50:59 +0000

In the NY Times 1619 project, Nikole Hannah-Jones hosted a podcast called “The fight for a true democracy” where she mentioned a story about Isaac Woodward. He was a 27 year old Black man who had just returned from fighting in WW2. While on his way to see his wife, the bus driver stopped and Isaac asked him if he could use the restroom, he said no. They argued and ultimately, Isaac still went to ...

Monochromatic Colorblind Casting

Morgana Wallace — Sat, 24 Oct 2020 15:06:10 +0000

In the performance world of theater, television, and film, casting without regard to actors’ race or the race of the characters they’ll be portraying is known as “colorblind casting.” It’s a common practice now on Broadway, with Filipina Lea Salonga portraying white French character of Éponine in ?Les Misérables? and Puerto Rican Lin-Manuel Miranda portraying the white founding father Alexander Hamilton, among many other people of color being cast to portray traditionally white roles. The ...

White History Isn’t History

Adebisi Adetoye — Sun, 18 Oct 2020 15:42:54 +0000

This past summer I watched Hamilton the musical for the first time. I was in awe of the Black and Brown people playing our founding fathers and the history that the show made, but I was also aware of its historical inaccuracies. This was the thought that was running through my head as I listened to the podcast for the 1619 Project. I am not a historian, but I’ve always prided myself in trying to ...

Ever heard of Afrocentric Psychology?

Sydney Crispano — Sun, 08 Dec 2019 17:40:05 +0000

Throughout the time as an undergraduate psychology major, students are taught about this idea of Psychology and all of the findings that psychologists have gathered since psychology’s start. What is hidden from these students is the fact that what they are learning is only applicable to one subset of the population of the world. In fact, they may not learn a single thing about other populations. This fact is a blaring one. There are entirely ...

Highlighting Black Artists: Kehinde Wiley

M_Moss — Sun, 08 Dec 2019 16:15:28 +0000

Painting is about the world that we live in. Black men live in the world. My choice is to include them. This is my way of saying yes to us. -Kehinde Wiley I think that an interesting way to examine racism and its various permutations within the U.S., is to look at art created by Black American artists. In my experience, more museums have begun to feature exhibits by black artists and many of these ...

What White People Don’t Get

Isabel Kaufman — Sun, 20 Oct 2019 16:45:08 +0000

This week I listened to a Politically Re-Active podcast entitled: Shaun King on Controversy, Color, and Kaepernick. Shaun King is a civil rights activist who mainly uses social media to discuss race relations. During the podcast, the hosts of the podcasts ask King about whether he thinks there is hope for improvement regarding police brutality in America. King tells them he is hopeful, but unfortunately racism in America is getting worse. King states how during ...

Trump’s Racist Tweets

Devin — Sun, 20 Oct 2019 16:39:13 +0000

Sadly, my main source of news these past few weeks has been Twitter. If you’ve played around with Twitter, you know that it is intended to grab audience attention with short statements and hashtags. After scrolling through my own feed, I’ve just begun to browse hashtags that are “trending”, meaning lots of people are using them in their own posts. Today, I was struck by one hashtag in specific- “PABPOTUS”. At first glance, I was ...

The Whitewashing of Psychology

Ivie Mims — Sun, 20 Oct 2019 16:16:24 +0000

We all have been exposed and influenced to the whitewashing of psychology, whether we’re a part of the professional academic discourse or not. Psychology theories and practices often times inform political policies to educational interventions that impact everyone in their daily lives. Here at Muhlenberg, psychology students learn about these theories and methods but we also are aware of the current field’s limitations. A significant flaw in the field is lack or representation of people ...

Mythbusters: Mass Incarceration

Tovia Marinstein — Mon, 23 Apr 2018 18:09:17 +0000

For most of the 20th century the prison population in the United States remained below 300,000 prisoners. By the year 2000 the population rose to over one million prisoners. When numerically compared to other western nations, the US prison population rises to the top. The racial disproportion in prison populations is unmistakable; African American men make up 39% of the prison population though they represent less than 12% of the total adult male population. (Bobo ...

“The history of America is too big for one building.”

Julia Beatley — Sun, 08 Apr 2018 16:26:27 +0000

“The history of America is too big for one building.” – Lonnie Bunch, founding director of the National Museum of African American History and Culture. Recently, I had a conversation about the variety of museums in my hometown of Capitol Hill and about the wonderful exhibits surrounding the Washington Mall. The person I spoke with had recently visited, they shared, and they loved it. But they didn’t visit the African American museum because they didn’t like ...

Civil What?

Benjamin Starr — Mon, 26 Feb 2018 20:56:25 +0000

Our high schools just aren’t pulling their weight when it comes to teaching about the Civil War and the role of slavery in shaping American society. A report released by the Southern Poverty Law Center on February 1st found that only 8 percent of high school seniors can identify slavery as the central cause of the Civil War. Not only that, but two-thirds of high school seniors were unaware that it took a constitutional amendment ...

Mythbusters: Christopher Columbus

Tovia Marinstein — Mon, 26 Feb 2018 20:14:48 +0000

“History is written by the victors,” Winston Churchill said. Another way to understand this power to define reality is through the construction of master narratives. A master narrative is majority-constructed script that specifies and controls how social processes are contextualized. An example of a master narrative that is perpetuated by our education system is one about the “discovery” of America by Christopher Columbus. When the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria landed on Plymouth ...

Two Sides to Every Story, I Wish I Knew Yours

Morgan Weiss — Mon, 26 Feb 2018 18:38:52 +0000

Everyday we are surrounded and presented with racial tensions, whether we notice them or not. Black oppression dates back to the 1800’s, yet it is still more prevalent in 2018 than ever before. After reading a portion of Michelle Alexander’s book, The New Jim Crow, I have become more familiar with how history intersects with our present day racial divisions. Evidently, the life experiences of blacks and whites are very different, as well as the ...

The Blurred Line Between Old-Fashioned and Modern Racism

Jenna Lehmann — Mon, 12 Dec 2016 01:53:04 +0000

When we were first learning about the differences between old-fashioned, modern, and aversive racism, the definitions made sense to me. I saw that there were differences between the three, each different speeds at which we move down the moving sidewalk of privilege. But now I’m a little less certain about the differences between old-fashioned and modern racism. I agree that in practice they’re different, but I’m less sure that within the person harboring these prejudices, ...

Trump-isms: What’s Next?

Jessica Sperber — Sun, 06 Nov 2016 22:47:31 +0000

I write this on November 2nd, less than a week before the presidential election. I choose to write this now for multiple reasons: 1) it’s becoming pretty clear who the next POTUS will be, and 2) I’m honestly afraid of what the consequences will be. This evening in my Facebook Newsfeed, towards the bottom of the trending bar, was the label “Black Church Burned” (The Atlantic, 2016). Immediately I felt my stomach sink, and when ...

Digging deeper: Finding the counter narrative

Cassandra Baker — Sun, 06 Nov 2016 22:30:55 +0000

This past Summer I had the chance to travel around Peru and visit a variety of different historical sites. One of the places I visited was a beautiful estate on the southern cost, Hacienda San José. The property was nothing less than stunning, a grand entrance, a courtyard, a wraparound porch, a swimming pool, an impeccable lawn, and even a beautiful chapel. My guide told us many people rent out the estate for weddings or ...

Listen to Tupac. Really listen to Tupac.

Haleigh Jacob — Sun, 25 Sep 2016 20:52:10 +0000

Tuesday, September 13, 2016 marked the 20th anniversary of the death of Tupac Shakur. Tupac was a prominent hip-hop artist in the early 1990s well known for his deep, progressive lyrics in popular songs such as “Changes” and “Keep Ya Head Up.” However, he was more than just a rapper – he was a poet, a philosopher, and an activist. From a young age, he expressed incredible insight on contentious topics such as education, poverty, ...

Fostering Racism

lauerbach — Mon, 09 May 2016 00:52:37 +0000

For our final project for Contemporary Racism, we were placed into groups, asked to pick an interesting topic concerning race, do individual research, and record a podcast with our group. My group chose to look at racial disparities in the American foster care system, a subject about which I had no prior knowledge. At first, I was uneasy about choosing a topic that I knew nothing about, feeling as if my unfamiliarity would provide me ...

Psychological Parasites

Hannah — Tue, 12 Apr 2016 13:28:04 +0000

The world is full of hierarchies, organized in distinct categories with distinct characteristics. Hierarchies have a sense of superiority and inferiority between the things being ordered, such as movie ratings. Movies can be rated in different categories, but there is a sense of one movie being better than the other movie, and then better than the next. This can also happen with people. Some experts, such as Michelle Alexander (The New Jim Crow) say that ...

The Road to Racism is Paved with Good Intentions

jsykgrl — Sun, 03 Apr 2016 13:07:23 +0000

Recently, a friend of mine introduced me to the Comedy Central web series “Drunk History.” The host of the show conducts a boozy interview about a specific topic based on U.S. history—primarily unconventional stories—that are then retold with famous people. Given the fact that the interviewer and interviewee are at various levels of intoxication throughout the conversation, I was surprised to find how factual the events truly are. Specifically fascinating is the Harriet Tubman story, ...

Predisposed to Disaster: Institutional Racism and Hurricane Katrina

Brendan — Mon, 28 Mar 2016 16:26:49 +0000

I was only 9 years old when Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, so I do not remember that much about the coverage of the disaster at the time. My parents largely tried to shield me from the extreme tragedy that took place in the city. I knew that a hurricane had hit, and I knew that it was bad, but I had no conception of the extent of the damage and lives that were lost ...

Race & Poverty: It’s Different in America

lauerbach — Mon, 28 Mar 2016 16:07:17 +0000

While in Barcelona over spring break, I found myself thinking a lot about our discussions in Contemporary Racism. The points about the history of the racial caste system in our country that were highlighted in the New Jim Crow readings were put into context when I visited Spain. Although race relations are troublesome universally, it seems when you step outside of this country that poverty may impact minority populations to a greater extent here in the United ...

“Not our Problem, Dude”

G_Wolfe — Mon, 28 Mar 2016 15:59:45 +0000

This past break, I spent some time in New Orleans. We decided to take a walking tour to learn more about the history of the city. Our guide asked, “What does NOPD stand for?” Without hesitation, we replied, “New Orleans Police Department!”. He immediately said, “Nope… It stands for ‘Not our problem, dude’.” This obvious jab at the police department resonated with me, especially after reading about the racism revolving around Hurricane Katrina. As I ...

Hurricane Katrina: Facts We Lost in the Storm

Hannah — Mon, 28 Mar 2016 15:39:47 +0000

In August of 2005, a devastating storm, Hurricane Katrina, shook up the southeastern United States in a way that no one could have predicted…. Or could they? Behind news stories through televised reports, newspapers, and social media, there was an unspoken controversy that many people did not know about – race and race relations between the authorities running the institutions (such as the FHA and FEMA) and the Black population in New Orleans. Through reading ...

Reparations: The Final Destination for White Guilt

Becky Goodman — Sun, 20 Mar 2016 18:19:56 +0000

The injustices and horrors that were common place in the antebellum United States may live for some only as they are presented in history books but for others the lingering effects from slavery are felt in everyday life. So, how do we, as a nation, begin to undo the wrongs that were committed? Many argue that reparations would be an official way for white America to recognize their wrongs and allow for closure in the ...

The Significance of Social Cognition in Determining Racial Ideology

Anna Robinson — Wed, 24 Feb 2016 15:32:47 +0000

As I read the section entitled “The Birth and Death of Slavery” in Michelle Alexander’s The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, the key role social cognition played in creating racial ideologies became abundantly clear. As Alexander explains in her historical analysis of the creation of race in colonial America, a fledgling country had certain capitalist needs for an increase in land and an increase in labor; in order for these ...

Missed opportunity

cmr3991 — Tue, 18 Feb 2014 17:26:25 +0000

Our discussion this past week, regarding the Lipstiz and Adams article, made me think about different moment s in our history, where if the proper steps had been taken, the fight against oppression for minorities could be much better off. The Federal Housing Act of 1934 is a good example of a chance that was squandered to aid in this uphill battle. This act, as described by Lipsitz, put the credit of the federal government ...

Miley Cyrus and the West African Origins of Twerking

Connie — Mon, 02 Sep 2013 14:16:27 +0000

Sadly, yes. I did feel that including Miley Cyrus in the title and tag of this post would garner more attention. Here is one of several thoughtful pieces I’ve seen – not about misguided Miley’s image – but about how the dancers that surrounded her were used “as props.” It also provides a brief history of twerking – a dance I found awkward and mystifying in Miley’s performance. We owe it to twerking to read ...

Voting Rights Act Struck Down by Supreme Court

Connie — Thu, 27 Jun 2013 15:11:15 +0000

While we celebrate the Supreme Court’s momentous decisions on DOMA and Prop 8, we must not overlook their decision on the Voting Rights Act. Read Mother Jones Story here: http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/06/supreme-court-voting-rights-act-decision What other facts and findings suggest we still need policy and laws like the Voting Rights Act?

White Backlash to Electing Black Politicians – Then & Now

Connie — Sun, 04 Nov 2012 20:01:23 +0000

This blog entry from CNN discusses how the first Black man to be elected to the U.S. Senate was met with a white backlash that “helped destroy Reconstruction” after the Civil War. It draws parallels between the white backlash then and the white backlash to electing Obama in 2008. What are your thoughts? Is is a reasonable comparison to make? The post quotes a history professor from Fordham who says we aren’t post-racial but we ...

King’s call to action

Jordan — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 10:10:17 +0000

Martin Luther King’s 1967 address to the American Psychological Association called for action not only an academic level from the APA. He called for action. This stood out to me because we, of course, were discussing this speech in an academic setting: the classroom. King advises: “social science should be able to suggest mechanisms to create a wholesome black unity and a sense of peoplehood while the process of integration proceeds.” He calls on the ...

Japanese American Civil Rights Hero Dies

Connie — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 07:40:28 +0000

Gordon Hirabayashi refused to go to a WWII internment camp in 1942. He died on Monday at the age of 93. Read more about his story here.

Eurocentric Racism in the Classroom

Keith — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 03:38:16 +0000

As they so often do, our discussion in class this week reminded me of one of the most influential teacher’s that I’ve had the privilege of learning from at Muhlenberg, Dr. Charles Anderson. Our discussion of how racism directly effects the testing ability of black youth made me feel as if I was right back in introduction to African American Studies and I had to re-visit one particular article that I felt was so relevant ...

Modern Clark Study

Keith — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 02:12:02 +0000

During Thursday’s class discussion, we compared speeches from Dr. King and President Barack Obama. Though forty one years apart, we agreed that the speeches called for similar action; time had not changed much. I found the same to be true of the results of a landmark social psychology study. In the course of reading James Jones’s article “Psychological Knowledge and the New American Dilemma of Race”, I found myself wanting more details about the Kenneth ...

White Identity Lost

Tennille — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 22:38:08 +0000

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 ...

Can’t escape the discourse surrounding racism: Spring break at Mardi Gras

Alex — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 09:49:55 +0000

For spring break this year I ventured down to New Orleans to visit friends and partake in crazy Mardi Gras festivities. I had not known a lot about the traditions or the meaning of Mardi Gras and carnival time before I arrived, but from the moment my plane landed I started to learn a lot. After speaking to my friend throughout the week and experiencing many aspects of Mardi Gras, I can surely say that ...

Reflection of Obama’s 03/18/2008 Speech

Tennille — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 05:52:38 +0000

In our last class, we went over a speech President Obama had made in 2008. One of the things he said really stuck out to me. “ For the African-American community, that path means embracing the burdens of our past without becoming victims of our past. It means continuing to insist on a full measure of justice in every aspect of American life. But it also means binding out particular grievances – for better health ...

Tar Baby

Connie — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 14:31:05 +0000

Did you know that “tar baby” is racially offensive? Have you ever heard the expression? Republican: Working with Obama Like Touching a Tar Baby | TPM LiveWire. People’s reactions (in the comments) are interesting, and a few explain more about the etiology of “tar baby.” Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah…

The Importance of Talking About Racism

Alexa — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 20:41:13 +0000

After reading Dr. Martin Luther King’s speech and discussing it in class, there are two ideas presented in this speech that have been on my mind. First, Dr. King expressed that it is the social scientist’s responsibility to spread information to the misinformed whites of America. The second idea was a particular quote that Dr. King recited in his speech that really stood out to me. He quoted Victor Hugo saying, “If a soul is ...

Where Do We Start?

Keith — Sun, 05 Jun 2011 16:58:10 +0000

During our class this Thursday we briefly touched on the impact of both laws and public opinion on human behavior with particular concern to attitudes about racial issues. In Rebecca Kook’s (1998) article The Shifting Status of African Americans in the American Collective Identity, she traces the development of the African-American identity in America through landmark events in our history driven almost entirely by public opinion. As her article makes painfully obvious, most positive progress, ...

Chris Rock Speaks about Progress and Racism in America

Alex — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 03:02:29 +0000

In this youtube clip, Chris Rock talks about progress and racism in America. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_L7qoP17-w

Trying To Get Rid of My Bias

Keith — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 22:04:38 +0000

Last week, I wrote about how the challenges of this class extend far beyond anything that can be explained on a syllabus, and this week I suppose is more of the same. However, what I’ve been struggling with this week, or rather the past couple of weeks, is the comment Jordan had heard and brought up in class. The specific comment, which I believe she said was made by a fellow student in another one ...

Survival of the Fittest

Tennille — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 04:38:01 +0000

Acts of omission and collective ignorance creates the socio-cultural atmosphere in which racism thrives. In class, we discussed that “the system” is something that does not just happen out of nowhere. Reality isn’t just there; it is socially constructed. If the system is built, then in theory it should be able to be destroyed and rebuilt; however, I feel that the unity and cooperation amongst individuals that is required for such a transformation is nearly ...