Why Are The Black Kids Sitting Together In The Cafeterton Analysis

Blaire Butler

Professor BJ Smothers

ENG 102: Assignment 2- Tatum vs. McIntosh

24 March 2016

What Does Gender or Race Have to Do With it? It seems like every time that I log on to any one of my social media accounts, I get stopped during my leisurely scroll by one or two of my friends posts that has clearly been typed out furiously from the heart. These posts are typically created by my friends of color, both male and female. They are speaking about how racism is still very present today because they have each personally been affected by it. It is absolutely mind blowing that we are in the year 2016 and we are still witnessing people of our same species being discriminated against because of their race and/or gender. Beverly Tatum believes that “our educational institutions should do what they can to encourage this development rather than impede it” (Tatum 370). In Tatum’s article “Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?”, she never once bashed or accused any caucasian person of being actively racist. She does, however, state that people of color can be racist and

The whole system of racism is beneficial to white people in ways that Peggy McIntosh proposes in her article “White Privilege: The Invisible Knapsack”, whether it was done unintentionally or intentionally. In this article she states “I think whites are carefully taught not to recognize white privilege, as males are taught not to recognize male privilege” (McIntosh 351). Dr. Tatum does understand though that blacks cannot be racists for they are in a oppressed state and are just caught up in the historical and standardized ideals of racial prejudice. She states “They know how to be black. They have absorbed the stereotypical images of black youth in the popular culture and are reflecting those images in their self-presentation” (Tatum