Analysis Of Waking Up White By Jan Arminio

1324 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Essay talking about race

I think that when Tatum mentions that “dominant” and “subordinate” identities have shaped my sense of myself, he means that in society, one’s dominant identity is usually the advantaged group that goes unnoticed, while the subordinate identity would be the targeted group, which would be the ones that society would think would be disadvantaged, such as mixed families, blacks, and interracial couples. One example that Tatum gives about “dominant” and “subordinate” identities would be when the targeted group, which is the subordinates, in this case would be blacks, who have been characterized as less intelligent than whites, and the “dominant” group would be the whites, who society tells them that they have “white privilege”. In fact, by being …show more content…

What did you find helpful about her process of “waking up” and self-education? How is your process of “waking up” similar and different from hers? What are some next steps for you? Be sure to refer to things you’ve learned this semester that have impacted you in this process of “waking …show more content…

The poor whites are looked down on from the rich whites. “The black children learned to fear poor whites more than other whites simply because they were known to express their racism by brutal and brutal acts of violence. The white trash flaunted their poverty and weren’t ashamed. Most poor white folks didn’t want to live anywhere near black folks “Hooks pg.199). “The white poor in fact make up the vast majority of the poor in this society. Then, the mass migration of poor blacks from southern states to northern cities created a huge urban poor population, where the white poor continued to live in isolated rural and suburban areas.” (Hooks pg.

Show More
Related

  • Analysis Of White Privilege Unpacking The Invisible Knapsack

    775 Words  | 2 Pages

    Growing up as an African-American you are always taught to be twice as good. Twice as good as the white people to receive the same treatment as them. I grew up hearing this same phrase constantly but never really understood exactly what it meant until I got old enough to actually see the kind of world we are living in. The author of the article, “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack” Peggy Mclntosh, took as step into shoes of black America and found that white privilege not only exist, but many whites are blind to it. She gives a clear argument about how white privilege is harmful to our society and how we can work together to fix this.

    Read More

  • Analysis of Black Awakening by Robert L. Allen

    1871 Words  | 4 Pages

    “Black Awakening in Capitalist America”, Robert Allen’s critical analysis of the structure of the U.S.’s capitalist system, and his views of the manner in which it exploits and feeds on the cultures, societies, and economies of less influential peoples to satiate its ever growing series of needs and base desires. From a rhetorical analysis perspective, Allen describes and supports the evidence he sees for the theory of neocolonialism, and what he sees as the black people’s place within an imperial society where the power of white influence reigns supreme. Placing the gains and losses of the black people under his magnifying glass, Allen describes how he sees the ongoing condition of black people as an inevitable occurrence in the spinning cogs of the capitalist machine.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Claude M. Steele's Whistling Vivaldi

    1087 Words  | 3 Pages

    Claude M. Steele is the author of “ Whistling Vivaldi”, which mainly represents that the meaning of identity contingencies and stereotype threat, and how can these effect people’s ideas and behaviors. By writing this article, Steele tries to make people know exist of identity contingencies. Gina Crosley-Corcoran, who is a white woman suffered the poverty in her childhood. Through describing her miserable experiences in parallel construction to motivate readers sympathize her, moreover approving that she can as a powerful evidence for affirming the impact of identity contingencies. Crosley-Corcoran admits the white privilege really exist in some way in her article “ Explaining White Privilege to a Broke White Person”, and white privilege

    Read More

  • Jeffrey Jerome Cohen's Monster Culture

    1146 Words  | 3 Pages

    People in America are not all seen as equal, and this is especially true when it comes to people of color. According to “Theories and Constructs of Race” by Linda Holtzman and Leon Sharpe: “The continuous racial targeting of people of color and the privileging of whites, along with the misinformation about race passed along from one generation to the next and reinforced through the media, has imbued people of all races with a distorted sense of personal and group identity” (Holtzman and Sharpe 604). This quote means that people of color are often targeted in a negative way, which shows that racism and discrimination is something that can be passed down or learned from the media. Today, there are people who still think minorities are inferior based on the color of their skin. “Theories and Constructs of Race” also mentions how from an early age, minorities become the target for racism, blame, and overall hatred. According to “Theories and Constructs of Race” by Linda Holtzman and Leon Sharpe: “The myth of racial inferiority and superiority has been upheld not only by physical violence and discriminatory policies but also by the psychological violence conveyed through stereotyping and racist messaging” (Holtzman and Sharpe 604). This quote means that minorities are constantly targeted both physically and psychologically, which shows that inequality is a “monster” due to the damage it causes to individuals on multiple levels. Racism can also lead to internalized racism, which causes individuals to adapt a self-deprecating attitude and engage in self-destructive behavior. Furthermore, hate, racism, and discrimination often result from people not understanding that not everyone is offered the same opportunities due to the lack of

    Read More

  • Analysis of Why are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria by Beverly Daniel Tatum

    1313 Words  | 3 Pages

    One of Beverly Tatum's major topics of discussion is racial identity. Racial identity is the meaning each of us has constructed or is constructing about what it means to be a white person or a person of color in a race-conscious society. (Tatum, pp Xvii) She talks about how many parents hesitate to talk to their children about racism because of embarrassment and the awkwardness of the subject. I agree with her when she says that parents don't want to talk about racism when they don't see a problem. They don't want to create fear or racism where none may exist. It is touchy subject because if not gone about right, you can perhaps steer someone the wrong way. Another theory she has on racial identity is that other people are the mirror in which we see ourselves. (tatum pp18) 'The parts of our identity that do capture our attention are those that other people notice, and that reflects back to us.'; (Tatum pp21) What she means by this is that what other people tell us we are like is what we believe. If you are told you are stupid enough you might start to question your intelligence. When people are searching for their identity normally the questions 'who am I now?'; 'Who was I before?'; and 'who will I become'; are the first that come to mind. When a person starts to answer these questions their answers will influence their beliefs, type of work, where they may live, partners, as well as morals. She also mentions an experiment where she asked her students to describe themselves in sixty seconds. Most used descriptive words like friendly, shy, intelligent, but students of color usually state there racial or ethnic group, while white students rarely, if ever mention that they are white. Women usually mention that they are female while males usually don't think to say that they are males. The same situation appeared to take place when the topic of religious beliefs came up. The Jewish students mentioned being Je...

    Read More

  • The Influence Of Race In Incognegro

    1497 Words  | 3 Pages

    The sheriff of the town who witnesses such power struggles notes why white people continue to torture Black people, “There it is. America. You can see it right out our window. Church-attending, moral-living average men and women in all their glory. Normal people, they need something to hate. Something to blame for why things ain’t perfect in the world. Something to explain their fear” (Johnson 107). By blaming Black people, white people temporarily alleviate their own pain because at least another person’s world is worse than their own. This suggests that white people continue to torture Black people because they do not want to blame themselves for their own problems. Clearly, black people are made to seem inferior by the perceptions of different white

    Read More

  • Why Are All Black Kids Sitting Together In The Cafeterum Summary

    1011 Words  | 3 Pages

    Tatum examines what “Blackness,” means in a predominately white society and explores reasons why black adolescents begin to believe that they are inferior or in other words “not normal” in society, especially in academics where some black adolescents claim that “doing well in school is often identified as being White” (para. 30) which leads them to not give their education their maximum effort in the fear of being labeled as “too white” or simply just “not black”. She uses her son’s personal experiences as well as typical stories of how blacks are misunderstood in order to educate the reader as to how black people eventually develop a self-identity based on the implications of society and the situations that surround them. This can be seen when she says, “The stereotypes, omissions, and distortions that reinforce notions of White superiority are breathed in by Black children as well as white” (para. 10). In this quote Tatum further examines what “Whiteness” means in the same context and explains that since American society associates White people to be the normality, they are not able to create a well-balanced self-identity without it being based off of racial

    Read More

  • History of African Americans in the U.S.

    456 Words  | 1 Pages

    In our past history, African Americans were slaves and were viewed as less important than whites. Still today in our society, people are prejudice and discriminatory against blacks. Many people still look at blacks differently because of how they were treated as slaves. As a result, blacks don’t get the same opportunities as whites with housing, education, employment and healthcare. The white people in the southern states are not as accepting to blacks and discrimination is more common there because that is where a lot of slavery was in history.

    Read More

  • Race : The Power Of An Illusion

    1038 Words  | 3 Pages

    “Black, white and brown are merely skin colors. But we attach to them meanings and assumptions, even laws that create enduring social inequality.”(Adelman and Smith 2003). When I first heard this quote in this film, I was not surprised about it. Each human is unique compared to the other; however, we are group together based on uncontrollable physical characteristics. Eyes, hair texture, and skin tone became a way to separate who belongs where. Each group was labeled as having the same traits. African Americans were physically superior, Asians were the more intellectual race, and Indians were the advanced farmers. Certain races became superior to the next and society shaped their hierarchy on what genes you inherited.

    Read More

  • Essay On Post Racial Society

    1009 Words  | 3 Pages

    Black people are paid almost half of what white people are paid, which forces them to live in low income communities which tend to be unsafe, and also put their whole family in danger. Due to their low income, they might not be able to afford health care which causes them to “lose more work because of illness, have more carious teeth, lose more babies as a result of both miscarriage and infant death…” according to William Ryan from Blaming the Victim page 648. People who have low income due to the wage gap tend not to be able to afford college compared to white people, which hinders their future and their ability to succeed. In fact, on page 214 in Shades of Belonging: Latinos and Racial Identity, Sonia Tafoya states “Hispanics who identified themselves as white have higher levels of education and income and greater degrees of civic enfranchisement than those who pick some other race category.” This shows how minorities are mistreated in society unlike white people. In the end, it doesn’t matter what your abilities are because if you are not white you are not treated equally. “If you’re not white, you’re black,” (141 Sethi). Anyone who is not white in the United States are seen as inferior. If you’re not white, you 're not treated as an equal. Non-whites are judged based on their appearance and are made fun of due to their accents. Numerous non-whites are harassed and are told “you are in America, learn how to speak English!” When in fact, there is no official language of the United States. According to Sonia Shah in Asian American? on page 217, Asians are paid less in the workforce even when they have the same level of education as whites. Regardless of whether non-whites receive the same education level as whites, they are still not equal, not even in the work

    Read More

  • Theoretical Racial Development

    1203 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the relevant course, CRD 2, I was made aware of a few different theories of social identity development, particularly pertaining to race. As I began to examine these theories, I sought out similarities, something that would catch my eye and make me think, “That applies to me.” Beverly Tatum’s ideas caught with me most easily, and I will elaborate on them shortly, but for the most part, I had to struggle to find one that seemed synonymous with who I am and how I see myself. The closest likenesses I could find were for the most part milder versions of the theory’s anecdotes, and I found it unnecessary to make myself conform to a theory exactly. While the theories are excellent material for reflection, and possibly even enlightenment, I assert that, considering the individuality of each person, it’s illogical to assume that every person can be categorized into a theory.

    Read More

  • Racial Discrimination In American Society

    938 Words  | 2 Pages

    Thankfully, sociologists study what cultural elements dictate society’s influence on racial inequality and Brekhus (2015) enumerates identity authenticity as one. Density, “whether one performs the identity adequately” and duration, “whether one performs the identity enough of the time” (Brekhus 2015:120), comprise how authentic an identity is. Although some individuals fail to find their identity until later in life, they observe the duration component by establishing their identity as innate. Erin Johnston (2013) exemplifies Paganism as a supposedly innate trait, where her participants “described [it] as an essential and permanent element of their being” (Brekhus 2015:121). Subcultures, such as music genres, also have identities, where the hip-hop industry desires a racially black, old school, from the hood artist. Conversely, what is not desired signifies identity authenticity and a white, suburban, mainstream artist is not authentic hip-hop. In American society, race is an identity everyone holds, whether white, black, latino, asian, mixed, etc. There are auxiliary characteristics inclined for and against each race, mostly chalked up as

    Read More

  • The Concept Of White Opportunity In Society, By Richard T. Schaefer

    760 Words  | 2 Pages

    This is where the concept of white privilege comes into play. As presented in author Richard T. Schaefer’s text, white privilege can be defined as the rights granted as a benefit for being White or a member of the dominant culture. (Schaefer, 2015. Pg. 36). These advantages particularly favor members of the dominant culture because of notions that one’s society constructs. Some sectors of society obtain the notion that members of a dominant culture are financially secure; yet, one’s association with the dominant culture may influence that perception. If one acquires certain privileges solely based on one’s race and ethnicity, the act of prejudice can be detected. These acts surely prevent others from moving up the social class

    Read More

  • Cultural Autobiography Essay: My Personal Cultural Identity

    1328 Words  | 3 Pages

    One’s cultural identity consists of their race, gender, socioeconomic status, age, religion, and so on. Being aware of your own cultural identity is just as important as being aware of other’s. People’s cultural identity defines who they are, the privilege (or lack of privilege) they receive, and how society views them. It is important to understand that White individuals have more privileges than individuals of color. White individuals do not experience detriment and difficulties due specifically to their skin color and instead receive advantages. White privilege is defined as benefits that white individuals have that people of color do not (Kendall, 2012). The following walks through my personal cultural background, how it was shaped, defined, and developed, and limitations to my personal competencies.

    Read More

  • Returning To School Narrative

    682 Words  | 2 Pages

    I felt as if I was on a different planet, as much as I tried to understand I was still lost in the woods. That day I got home nearly in tears because I didn’t want to fail the math class, for a second I thought about quitting, but then with a positive attitude, I decided to give it a second opportunity. College was different from high school, attending College is like going to a shopping center, the same people enter the same store, but many of them don’t know each other, and the classroom walls are plain white, no painting or decorations. The students are responsible for their actions, assignments and attendance if they pass or fail their class is their responsibility. Returning to school is a whole new experience, in a way I felt excited to be able to expand my knowledge and prepare for a better future. On the other hand, I am blessed with more responsibilities than just school. Now I am compromised to my kids that depend on me. It’s not just homework, also helping my kids with their homework, doing laundry, cleaning the house, and caring for my kids. To be honest, it’s not easy attending college it’s like having another child. I commit to my classes and assignments, just how I do it with my children. Attending college and being a mother, a spouse, and an employee does squeeze my energy. I knew it wasn’t going to be simple, but I also knew it was not impossible. I continued my education, and I know taking baby steps will benefit my future. “The capacity to learn is a gift; the ability to learn is a skill; the willingness to learn is a choice.” (Brian

    Read More

More about Analysis Of Waking Up White By Jan Arminio

Open Document