Race and Racism

[sheshe2]

Race and Racism

Illumination Project Curriculum Materials

By
Dr. Rowan Wolf, Sociology Instructor and Caroline Le Guin,Writing Instructor Portland Community College Oregon

INTRODUCTION

There aren’t too many Americans who want to claim to be racist, and most people would like to believe they are “colorblind” when it comes to matters of race. But race and racism are integral and inescapable parts of our culture and social history. Race consciousness is key to how we learn to perceive ourselves and the people around us (even if we don’t always want to admit it); just think of how we describe people—“an elderly asian woman, about five foot three; a tall black man in his thirties, wearing a leather jacket”. In these “identifying descriptions”, race, along with gender, is essential,especially if it is other than white.

Given the importance of race to our society, it’s remarkable how difficult it is to talk about and how complex the definitions of race and racism can be. In fact, the issues surrounding the definitions of race and racism are themselves a product of racism’s long and conflicted history in our society. Any discussion of race and racism probably should begin with definitions of the concepts involved, especially since there tends to be confusion and overlap between a lot of the terms.

DEFINITION OF CONCEPTS

Race:

Race is a socially constructed artifact that categorizes people based on visual differences which are imputed to indicate invisible differences. These categorizations are amorphous and fluid over time which reflects their social rather than physical basis. Its significance arises out of the meanings we as societies assign to it, and the way we structure race in our societies. This structuring shapes what we refer to as "institutional racism" (defined below).

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Racism:

Racism can be defined simply as any policy, belief, attitude, action or inaction, which subordinates individuals or groups based on their race.What this definition leaves out, however, is the specific historical formation of racism as an institution and an ideology over the last several hundred years. Taking into consideration the social and historical perspective, Paula Rothenberg offers this more pointed—and useful--definition of racism.

"Racism involves the subordination of people of color by white people. While individual persons of color may well discriminate against a white person or another person of color because of their race, this does not qualify as racism according to our definition because that person of color cannot depend upon all the institutions of society to enforce or extend his or her personal dislike. Nor can he or she call upon the force of history to reflect and enforce that prejudice. . . . History provides us with a long record of
white people holding and using power and privilege over people of color to subordinate them,not the reverse.&quot Paula Rothenberg. Defining Racism and Sexism)

Read More:https://www.pcc.edu/resources/illumination/documents/race-and-racism-curriculum.pdf

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Longish read yet not nine pages. Most of that is references. Good read. I heard and we all need to listen. This is not a black problem, it is our problem. We are the ones that need to change.

[GeoWilliam750]

1. Thanks for the links

Very interesting read.

[sheshe2]

2. Some of the links are broken,

ones I would have liked to follow. I will research more later. Yes, it was a good read.

Thanks Geo.

[heaven05]

3. Just saw this, will read

bookmarked

[sheshe2]

4. Hey.