Race Oppression
Like the last time, answer it numerically, in a conversational way.
1. WHAT WERE THE MOST APPLICABLE OR ENGAGING PARTS OF CLASS OR THE ASSIGNED ARTICLES AND/OR VIDEOS FOR YOU THIS WEEK? WHAT WERE THEY ABOUT? WHAT SPECIFICALLY CAN YOU TEACH ME ABOUT WHAT YOU LEARNED? WHY WAS THIS RELEVANT OR ENGAGING TO YOU? HOW, IF AT ALL, DID THEY RELATE TO YOUR LIFE PERSONALLY? THIS QUESTION CALLS FOR US TO BE SPECIFIC AND TALK IN ENOUGH DETAIL TO DEMONSTRATE OUR LEARNING FROM THE CLASS MATERIAL.
2. AFTER READING ON THE TOPIC OF OPPRESSION FOR TWO WEEKS NOW, HOW DO YOU SEE OPPRESSION EXISTING IN THE WORLD AROUND YOU PERSONALLY OR IN YOUR OWN LIFE? HOW IS THIS "OPPRESSION" IN THE WAY NICKY YUEN DEFINES IT IN HIS ARTICLE "OPPRESSION AND DEMOCRACY"? HOW IS IT "SYSTEMATIC" OR "INSTITUTIONALIZED"? ESPECIALLY APPLY THE MATERIAL FROM HEATHER MCGHEE'S BOOK DEMONSTRATING THE MANY QUASI-"INVISIBLE" ASPECTS OF HOW RACISM AFFECTS EVERYONE. HOW ARE **YOU** MOST IMPACTED BY RACISM? THIS QUESTION FOCUSES ON THE IMPACT ON REAL LIVES, ESPECIALLY ON YOURS.
3. WHAT IS SOMETHING NEW YOU LEARNED FROM OUR CLASS MATERIAL ON *THE STRUCTURE* OF RACIST OPPRESSION THAT WILL HELP YOU ELIMINATE SOME ASPECTS OF THE STRUCTURAL OPPRESSION OF PEOPLE OF COLOR IN OUR SOCIETY? WHY WILL EVERYONE BENEFIT FROM THIS STRUCTURAL CHANGE? BE SPECIFIC ABOUT HOW YOU LEARNED THIS FROM OUR CLASS MATERIAL AND/OR ASSIGNMENTS THIS PAST WEEK. REFER TO SPECIFIC MATERIAL FROM CLASS. OR... IF YOU HAVE NO INTEREST IN ELIMINATING THE OPPRESSION EXPERIENCED BY PEOPLE OF COLOR, PLEASE EXPLAIN HOW YOU COME TO THIS CONCLUSION AND THEN DISCUSS HOW YOU ARE RESPONDING TO THE ASSIGNED MATERIAL ON RACE, REFERENCING SPECIFIC CLASS MATERIAL. PRO TIP: APPLY THE WELLSTONE TRIANGLE MODEL OF SOCIAL CHANGE IN YOUR ANSWER AS WELL!!!
4. DID YOU GET TO CHAPTER 3 ("GOING WITHOUT") AND CHAPTER 7 OF THE SUM OF US ("LIVING APART")? IN THESE CHAPTERS, HEATHER MCGHEE DISCUSSES THE EFFECTS OF DEFUNDING PUBLIC EDUCATION IN CALIFORNIA AND RESIDENTIAL SEGREGATION. WHAT DID SHE SAY ABOUT HOW THESE THINGS HAPPENED? THAT IS, HOW DOES HER ANALYSIS APPLY RIGHT HERE IN OUR COLLEGE, OUR REGION, AND OUR STATE""
5. HEATHER MCGHEE ARGUES THAT RACISM CREATES A "ZERO SUM" MENTALITY WHERE WHITES THINK THEY WILL LOSE OUT IF PEOPLE OF COLOR ADVANCE. SHE ARGUES THAT THE "ZERO SUM" CONCLUSION IS FALSE-- THAT IT IS POSSIBLE FOR EVERYONE'S LIVES TO GET BETTER TOGETHER. SHE SAYS IT IS IN FACT EASIER FOR EVERYONE WHEN WE ALL RISE TOGETHER. BUT, HOW DOES THIS WORK? HOW MUST A SOCIETY BE STRUCTURED FOR **EVERYONE** REALLY TO GAIN? HOW WOULD IMPROVING WOMEN'S EQUALITY HELP MEN? HOW WOULD IMPROVING GAY AND LESBIAN LIVES, HELP HETEROSEXUALS? ETC... WHAT DO YOU THINK? IS SHE RIGHT OR WRONG? ARE WE IN FACT INHERENTLY IN COMPETITION OR DO WE ALL DO BETTER WHEN WE **ALL** DO BETTER? LET'S GIVE EXAMPLES FROM OUR LIVES **AND FROM THE ASSIGNED MATERIAL** TO SUPPORT OUR CONCLUSIONS-- WHETHER WE AGREE OR DISAGREE.
Readings:
-The Sum of Us by Heather McGhee- Chapters 3, 4, and 7
-https://dollarsandsense(dot)org/archives/2016/0516wicks-lim.html
-americanprogress.org/article/the-top-10-most-startling-facts-about-people-of-color-and-criminal-justice-in-the-united-states/
-https://fair(dot)org/home/institutional-racism-ignored/
-https://www(dot)theatlantic(dot)com/ideas/archive/2021/04/we-are-constantly-reproducing-anti-asian-racism/618647/
The Nation Magazines:
-https://www(dot)thenation(dot)com/article/politics/civil-war-isnt-on-the-horizon-the-original-battle-never-ended/
-https://www(dot)thenation(dot)com/article/archive/if-black-lives-mattered/
-https://www(dot)thenation(dot)com/article/society/juneteenth-independence-day/
Others are attached.
Videos:
-https://www(dot)youtube(dot)com/watch?v=VH_oCyt3_js&list=PLGaU_kmP7hitwbqbGHIYtpgW2YjX4EPK2&index=2
-https://www(dot)youtube(dot)com/watch?v=WdHJtyf7TB0&list=PLGaU_kmP7hitwbqbGHIYtpgW2YjX4EPK2&index=3
-https://www(dot)youtube(dot)com/watch?v=uuXWJDyGct4&list=PLGaU_kmP7hitwbqbGHIYtpgW2YjX4EPK2&index=4
-https://www(dot)youtube(dot)com/watch?v=6ecdP0RbHTo&list=PLGaU_kmP7hitwbqbGHIYtpgW2YjX4EPK2&index=5
-https://www(dot)youtube(dot)com/watch?v=36XCiGr8muw
Instructor
Course
Date
Race Oppression
Question 1
Watching the YouTube series “Mirrors of Privilege” was engaging. The series discussed whites are privileged and how people of color especially blacks face discrimination in America. I learned that racism is a systematic issue that has been institutionalized. For instance, Tim Wise indicates how when he got into college in 1986, the sheriff of Jefferson Parish indicated that he was going to have his deputies stop every black man in a rinky-dink car, because of the assumption that they were too no good. Additionally, Philip’s article “Civil War Isn’t on the Horizon—the Original Battle Never Ended” was an eye opener to the Confederates who have never stopped fighting for the progress of the black people, years after the Civil War. The article is relevant in understanding why the US has been experiencing racial problems, and the progress it has made in other areas. I relate to the institutionalized challenges that blacks face since I have interacted with black friends who have narrated their ordeal in the hands of police just because they were black. For instance, one friend told me how the police arrested then while he was walking with four of his friends in the neighborhood, something that Wise alludes to in the video.
Question 2
After studying the topic of oppression, I see oppression existing especially towards people of color and especially African Americans. European Americans make up 75% of the US population while African Americans constitute 13%. While the former account for 76% of all drug users, only 25% have been incarcerated for drug crimes. However, while blacks make up 14% of all drug users, they comprise 35% of all drug arrests and 55% of all drug convictions. This is why Yuen (12) sees oppression as systematic where a group acts on behave of the society as a whole. In this regard, such oppression is systematic because it is not occasional, rather it is done regularly. The criminal justice system continues to oppress African Americans and society approves the same. Because of the systematic oppression, Osajima (153) demonstrates that oppressed individuals come to think that the problem is as a result of their inadequacies and inabilities, rather than relations in society. In “The Sum of Us,” Heather McGhee demonstrates how oppression is institutionalized through quasi-"invisible" aspects of racism like racial resentment. Here, hostility is directed towards a race because of a perceived threat to one’s social, economic, and political status. Individuals with high racial resentment oppose racial public policies like college quotas (McGhee 41). Sometime back I got into argument with a white friend while discussing the importance of giving college quotas to people of color. She demonstrated that people of color were lazy and needed to shift from the mentality of getting things for free.
Question 3
I have learned that oppression is socially condone...