Affirmative Action Creates Reverse Racism… Discuss

Affirmative Action Creates Reverse Racism… Discuss

May 17, 1954 marked a very important date in history. On this day the Brown vs Board of Education was decided, and desegregation of schools was nationally enforced. However, this case still hasn’t achieved all its goals. This can be seen in present day. Although there has been a lot of progress in desegregating schools and improving civil rights for minorities. All minorities are still at a disadvantage. In order to try and remove this advantage for the white population, something called affirmative action came into place. This is the policy of favoring members of a disadvantaged group who suffer from discrimination within a culture. I believe that although affirmative action might not always be totally fair, it is the best way to try and relieve the disadvantaged populations.

Back to the main question, I think that Affirmative action does not  create reverse racism by putting a fair advantage to a person of color. Even though I am not a man of color I still acknowledge that most of the time people of color will have to take on more challenges in life compared to a white man. Although, I feel like minorities deserve a type of booster by affirmative action I do partly believe that the person whoever is more qualified for the job should be hired.

Brown vs board of eduaction

In what ways has Brown v. Board of Ed achieved its goal of ensuring educational equity? And in what ways has it not?

Brown v. Board of Education was a United States court case decided on May 17,1954. It declared that it was unconstitutional to have separate schools for black and white students. This case overturned the Plessy v. Ferguson case. The Brown v. Board of Education case has partly achieved its goal of ensuring educational equity in several ways. Firstly, in modern day there are no more segregated schools like how they were before and shortly after the civil war. Secondly, across America even in private schools there are African American students. Although in certain schools there may not be that many African American students, in a large majority of schools there are students of color. However, one way the Brown v. Board of Education case has not achieved its goal of ensuring educational equity is that African American students and other minority students are normally outnumbered by white students in private schools. Secondly, students in public schools are often given fewer opportunities to thrive.

Blog Post #4

 Micro-aggressions and other inequalities will inevitably persist largely due to the dominant middle class culture of power. Discuss.

I totally agree with this statement.  Due to ignorance of other cultures and lack of exposure to other minority groups it is very easy for the middle class to stereotype others.  This stereotyping results in micro aggressions which could be seen as unintentional discrimination.  This behavior will persist because the people perpetuating it are totally unaware that they are being stereotypical, demeaning or causing harm to others.  Micro aggressions is racism is a very subtle way thereby allowing people to be offensive to others without feeling any guilt.  The media in reporting the news is full of micro aggressions when referring to certain minority groups in a very derogatory manner and see nothing wrong with this.   Middle class America is predominantly white and does not step out of their comfort zone to get to know others, hence their view of others is based on stereotyping. Even the middle class non whites are the victims of micro aggressions when referred to as not the average black, Asian or whatever nationality they are.  It would be nice to think that micro-aggression and inequalities will eventually be eradicated from our society. Sadly, this behavior will persist because we are people from different backgrounds and cultures and some of us are not willing to get to know each other beyond what they perceive that person to be or what they heard about that group.  Micro-aggressions like overt racism is a learnt behavior.g

Will Panczner

Week 4

Microaggressions and other inequalities will inevitably persist largely due to the dominant middle class culture of power. Discuss.

I agree with the above statement because microaggressions are so embedded in our world that it would be nearly impossible to get everyone to terminate them. This is the case because there are too many people in the middle class that make these micro aggressions daily. These micro aggressions are made and then little kids hear them and will repeat them over and over again unless they are corrected over and over again. The lower class do not make many micro aggressions so they will not affect many people, and the upper class on a daily base make a lot of micro aggressions, but since they tend to hang out with other members of the upper class they only affect themselves so they will only keep the cycle going within themselves. These things that we all say that turn into micro-aggressions have been engrained into our brains. The stereotypes about different ethnicities are still being said everywhere, and the media is only enforcing these stereotypes. The media is constantly controlling the way that we think everyday, and we can never escape it because we see it everywhere we go. The people controlling the media are from the middle class, and usually white people, too. Those people are the ones engraining the things we say in micro-aggressions. People often repeat subtle language used by the media, and microaggressions become ingrained in people’s minds. As a result, most are unaware that they perpetuate microaggressions, and microaggressions become “the norm.” In order to break this dangerous chain, diversity in schools and in society’s influential positions need to expand. 

Will Panczner

Week 3

Given your understanding of intentional and unintentional racism both through teacher- student interactions and curriculum development, how would you encourage diversity in the classroom?

I think that diversity in the classroom is often looked over and ignored because it may not be part of a certain curriculum since there usually aren’t classes devoted to talking about social issues. One way to combat this is to encourage talking about diversity as a whole. I think by doing this, it becomes less of an alien-like thing and it becomes more comfortable and familiar to our everyday lives. I think the main reason racism happens is because of the differences two people may have.  By encouraging other races and cultures, you’re receiving a whole new perspective on another person’s life and you receive more knowledge from them. Diversity in the classroom will always be present and people should learn how to deal with others that might not be the same race, gender or religion as one another. All people have past judgment about a race, gender or religion before then encounter someone that they differ from, the approach that needs to be taught is to go in open minded. By allowing yourself and others to have an open mind you will be able to see things from other people's perspectives and gain more knowledge then you ever deemed possible. Black History and Asian Heritage should be honored year round. The curriculum of today should not teach to any one particular audience. America is made up of all different people and schools need to teach that in order to develop a society free of both blatant and unintentional 

Blog Post 3

                Given your understanding of intentional and unintentional racism both through teacher- student interactions and curriculum development, how would you encourage diversity in the classroom?

I believe that encouraging diversity within the classroom is extremely important. The reason why I believe it to be so important is because I think if kids grow up in a very diverse and comfortable environment, the chances of them growing up and being racist towards other students or teachers would not be as common. I think you can encourage diversity by learning about different cultures and customs within other races and really trying to embrace the differences of other students. I think by doing this, it becomes less of an alien-like thing and it becomes more comfortable and familiar to our everyday lives. I think the main reason racism happens is because of the differences two people may have.  By encouraging other races and cultures, you’re receiving a whole new perspective on another person’s life and you receive more knowledge from them. I also believe encouraging diversity within the classroom does not start with just one student or a teacher, but it is something you need to have the entire community involved in. I think we also need a change in curriculum if we want to encourage diversity within the classroom, many of the books we read are written by Caucasian writers. I believe we need a change to an assortment of authors, and also how they were successful. Also, it is important how we respond to racism comments within the classroom, we cannot just dismiss them, or ignore them, or joke along with the comments, but instead tell the student that they are wrong and WHY. I think encouraging diversity can lead to a great change with intentional and unintentional racism in the classroom.

Blog Post 4

                Microaggressions and other inequalities will inevitably persist largely due to the dominant middle class culture of power. Discuss.

                Microaggressions and other inequalities will inevitably persist largely due to the dominant middle class culture or power. I definitely agree with this statement because the middle class is the largest economic class system, within it they are upper middle class, middle class, and lower middle class. Also, economic status tends to play a big role within our culture. The definition of a microaggression is a brief and commonplace daily verbal, behavioral, or environmental indignity, whether intentional or unintentional, that communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative racial slights and insults towards other races. Normally we consider white men as the “upper class”, and if the majority of them are of the same color and race there are no tangible reasons as to why there would be microaggressions. Whereas the middle class is made up of all different kinds of races and different colors, and since it is made up of so many different races, there are many occasions where microaggressions can be used. I think judgement and ignorance will always exist. However, just because I believe microaggressions will inevitably persist largely due to the dominant middle class culture, it does not mean we should avoid diversity within our schools. If anything, this should push us even more to encourage diversity within our school. 

Natalie Forsman - Blog Posts 3 & 4

Week 3: 
I would encourage diversity in the classroom by involving not one student or one teacher but the school and community as a whole. Diversity in the classroom will always be present and people should learn how to deal with others that might not be the same race, gender or religion as one another. All people have past judgement about a race, gender or religion before then encounter someone that they differ from, the approach that needs to be taught is to go in open minded. By allowing yourself and others to have an open mind you will be able to see things from other people's perspectives and gain more knowledge then you ever deemed possible. That is where the change from unintentional to intentional racism can change. There would be less racism if people were able to get past their differences and no feel the need to comment or act as if something is wrong. For a teach to help out with diversity in the classroom the curriculum could change to a variety of authors, white, black, Hispanic, and talk about how they were all able to be successful. The teacher also needs to be a model for the students and be active when hearing racism or comments being made. It is their responsibility to correct racism in the classroom, since it is not appropriate for a learning space and does not have to do with determining someone's success or potential. 


Week 4: 
Microaggressions and other inequities will inevitably persist largely due to the dominant middle class culture of power since economic status plays a major role. Weather the microaggression is intentional or not they still effect people. Ones economic status has to do with microaggressions simply because of what that money allows you to do and the types of people that you do them with. A majority of the middle class is white and for most people that race is all they know, since that is all they have ever seen. Inevitably white middle class feel superior to other people of race or color since they feel they are the dominant race weather they acknowledge it or not. With this mindset comes stereotypes, and judgements that lead to microaggressions against others. Unfortunately changing this problem is quite difficult since it has been embedded in American culture and to change the problem you have to change the people as a whole. Some people might have a problem with that since that would mean they would have to change the way they perceive themselves, which would be equal to everyone else: female, male, African American, American Asians and everyone in between. It's exactly the middle class culture of power, the idea that whites are better and that causes the rude comments since they deem themselves as "best fit". 

Jamie Noh - Blog Post 5

Microaggressions and other inequalities will inevitably persist largely due to the dominant middle class culture of power. Discuss.

            Unfortunately due to not only middle class culture, but also of the internalized biases that come along with, it is hard to see a future where minorities don’t frequently face microagressions. The middle class culture values normalcy and conforming to mass ideology. Therefore, often people are forced to either conform and forget their past differences or isolate themselves from mass society. In either case it is impossible to not face inequality.

            Obviously we cannot just blame the dominant middle class society without mentioning the biases that we all hold each other to. Many are based off of personal experiences with people of a certain race, gender, religion etc. Acting out towards others who are not affiliated with the previous experiences based on your past and internalized biases is terrible. I think that the most important thing is to learn to separate older experiences/trauma and your current life. Being able to put aside what has happened to you is a very mature thing to do. You are acknowledging your awareness that not every person that identifies with a certain group of people are all the same. They all come from different experiences and backgrounds.

            In closing, theres no one reason why microagressions and inequality persist in our society. Everyone has their own excuses for the way they treat others. Perhaps, they just have not interacted enough with enough people of that specific group or have misinformation.

Dora Gelerinter - Blog Post 5

Microaggressions

In today's society, normalcy is celebrated. Those who do not belong to the majority of a particular category are frowned upon. And because the middle class composes the largest percentage of the American population, non-members are immediately labeled as "the other." Therefore, microaggressions and other inequalities will inevitably persist. Even if someone is not consciously discriminatory, microaggressions are not executed with ill intent. Recognizing inequality is not a choice. When growing up in an environment where stereotypes are perpetuated through the media for entertainment, it is difficult not to apply this imaginary "comedy" to reality. In a video that I found for my intern-led presentation (but we ran out of time and didn't get to show it), news anchors reported that although Millennials are less likely than their parents to proclaim racist beliefs, they still hold the same implicit biases as their parents. On the surface, we as Americans are becoming more accepting, but in our minds, the same negativities persist. This may present an even greater problem: if we  only think subconsciously about microaggressions, then the issue will not be brought to the forefront of discussion. Inequality will be even more difficult to solve.

Lindsey Mattson - Blog Post 5

Lindsey Mattson

Blog Post 5

Microaggressions and other inequities will inevitably persist largely due to the dominant middle class culture of power. Discuss.

I agree with the above statement because microaggressions are so embedded in our world that it would be nearly impossible to get everyone to terminate them, but I do not agree that microaggresions and other inequities with persist due to the middle class culture of power.   Instead, I believe these inequities and microaggresions will continue because they are things said, heard, and done everyday, whether intentionally or unintentionally, that are looked at as something we don’t need to address or worry about. Because of previous and more recent acts of pure racism the media has deemed microaggresions something to joke and laugh about.  For example, almost every song that is popular to young adults makes microaggressions towards women, in treating them as sexual objects and less human than a man, making a stereotypical statement about African American women and their physical appearance, or uses the “n” word. I believe that it is the media and our embedded stereotypes that allow us to overlook some of the crucial problems in our society, and as much as I hope in the future we can end microaggresions and resolve those inequities, I believe it will be some time before this can be achieved.  Yes, the members of the middle class do play a very large role in microaggressions and other inequities, but are problems are not limited there. Microaggressions are said and done everyday by people of every race, economic status, age, and gender.