Africana Studies: Racism?

“It’s time for black people to stop playing the separating game of

geography, of where the slave ship put us down. We must concentrate on where the slave ship picked us up.”

~ Hon. John Henrik Clarke

What is race & racism?

Vocabulary•Race or Racial Group- the categorization

of humans into populations or groups on the basis of various sets of heritable characteristics. • Ethnic group- a group of human beings whose

members identify with each other, through a common heritage that is real or presumed (cultural, linguistic, religious, behavioral or biological traits of contrast to other groups)

• Pan-ethnicity- is the grouping together and labeling of various ethnicities into one all-encompassing group. (dark skin =African-American regardless of their country of origin.

Vocabulary (continued)

• Minority- a sociological group that does not constitute a politically dominant voting majority of the total population of a given society.

• Racism- “The predication (declare; affirm; imply) of decisions & policies on considerations of race for the purpose of subordinating a racial group & maintaining control over the group”

• Maafa- (aka the African Holocaust or Holocaust of Enslavement) is a word derived from the Swahili term for disaster, terrible occurrence or great tragedy. The term refers to the 500 years of suffering of Africans and the African diaspora, through slavery, imperialism, colonialism, invasion, oppression, dehumanization and exploitation.

Vocabulary (continued)

•Bigot- One who is strongly partial to one's own group, religion, race, or politics and is intolerant of those who differ in creed, belief, or opinion.

•WASP- a White Anglo-Saxon Protestant; A member of the privileged, established white upper middle class in the U.S. 

What is “Black”?

black/blæk/ –adjective

1. lacking hue and brightness; absorbing light without reflecting any of the rays composing it.

2. characterized by absence of light; enveloped in darkness: a black night.

3. (sometimes initial capital letter) a. pertaining or belonging to any of the various populations characterized by dark skin pigmentation, specifically the dark-skinned peoples of Africa, Oceania, and Australia. b. African-American

4. soiled or stained with dirt: That shirt was black within an hour. 5. gloomy; pessimistic; dismal: a black outlook. 6. deliberately; harmful; inexcusable: a black lie. 7. boding ill; sullen or hostile; threatening: black words; black

looks. 8. (of coffee or tea) without milk or cream. 9. without any moral quality or goodness; evil; wicked: His black

heart has concocted yet another black deed. 10. indicating censure, disgrace, or liability to punishment: a black

mark on one's record.

What is being “Black”?(continued)

black/blæk/ –adjective

11. marked by disaster or misfortune: black areas of drought; Black

Friday. 12. wearing black or dark clothing or armor: the black prince. 13. based on the grotesque, morbid, or unpleasant aspects of life: black comedy; black humor. 14. (of a check mark, flag, etc.) done or written in black to indicate, as on a list, that which is undesirable, sub-standard, potentially dangerous, etc.: Pilots put a black flag next to the ten most dangerous airports. 15. illegal or underground: The black economy pays no taxes. 16. showing a profit; not showing any losses: the first black quarter in two years. 17. deliberately false or intentionally misleading: black propaganda.18. British. boycotted, as certain goods or products by a trade

union.19. (of steel) in the form in which it comes from the rolling mill or forge; unfinished.

By Definition…

Is the term “black” a positive or a negative way to describe the African-American Community? Explain.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2lW3OjLBkU

Think About It!

•As it is said in the clip to Malcolm X aka Denzel, “Who are you”?

•What labels do you use to describe yourself?

Think About It!• If not “black”, then what?

▫Afro/African-Arab Mixed African and genealogical Arab ancestral heritage and/or

linguistically and culturally Arabized Africans. This also includes descendants of African slaves who were brought to the Arab world during the Arab slave trade.

▫Afro/African-Latin person of at least partial African ancestry More commonly,

when referring to cultural aspects of African origin within specific countries of Latin America, terms carry an Afro- prefix followed by the relevant nationality. Examples include Afro-Cuban and Afro-Brazilian

▫Afro/African-Caribbean Caribbean people of full or at least partial African ancestry .

▫Afro/African-European people with Sub-Saharan African ancestry, cultural and social

heritage who were born in a European country or migrated to Europe from Africa.

Think About It! (continued)

▫ Afro/African-Asian people of African ascent as well as Asian ascent and or African

people living within the Asian continent ▫ Afro/African-Indian/Native-American

people of African ascent as well as Native American ascent, who were, or are, embedded with Native Americans, or who possess strong cultural, social and political ties to their indigenous American heritage.

▫ Afro/African-Misc Caribbean Canadians African Canadians Gullah African-Australian

▫ Emancipated African (EA) -or- Afro/African-American (AA) Partial Sub-Saharan African ancestry, the direct descendants of

captive Africans who survived the slavery era within the boundaries of the present US. This term can also apply to immigrants from African, Caribbean, Central American or South American nations.

▫ African Applies to all peoples with full to partial African ancestry. This

includes people who live in Africa, or people who trace their ancestry to indigenous inhabitants of Africa.

What is being “African” or “African-American”?

•Identity includes the adoption of personal behaviors and identification with a group of people with similar characteristics.

Note that persons within an ethnic group should not be assumed to be alike

•in culture, philosophy, and history•Afrocentric theory

OK….ok ok ok!

•Now that we have a label in which to call ourselves, how do we “act” the part?

Cross’s Nigrescence Model

• A major contribution to the understanding of the African American personality has been the Nigrescence models a.k.a. racial identity development theory

• “Nigrescence” is defined as the “developmental process by which a person becomes Black, where Black is defined as a psychological connection with one’s race rather than pertaining to their skin color” The model also posits that individuals go through several stages in developing an awareness of individual and collective racial identity.

The Nigrescence attitudes

•The nigrescence attitudes include:▫Preencounter▫Encounter▫Immersion-emersion▫Internalization

Cross’s Nigrescence Model

Describes Black American process of self-actualization; measures 4 themes of racial identity:

1) Pre-encounter : pre-discovery of one’s racial identity ▫attitudes are pro-white and anti-black ▫ thinks in terms of White frame of reference

(devalues/denies Blackness) ▫does not realize implications of being a Black

American (sees society as “colorless” or “colorblind”)

2) Encounter : significant racial incident causes the individual to explore their Black identity ▫ individual makes a conscience decision to develop a

Black identity

Cross’s Nigrescence Model

3) Immersion-emersion : following the encounter experience, the individual immerses himself in Black culture ▫wears ethnic clothing▫black hairstyles▫associates only with Blacks

4) Internalization : individuals become comfortable with racial identity ▫wants to be acknowledged for being Black ▫more aware of what being Black means ▫recognizes and appreciates other ethnic heritages

OK….ok ok ok…again

•Where are you according to cross?

Race A social concept, but biologically unsupportable!

Most of us can see differences in humans: skin color, eye color, hair are obvious.

We, and most others in the world, tend to use these traits to categorize people.

Morally, many of us understand the ramifications of our use of these categories and the harm they have brought and can bring.

We need to understand the difference between what is essentially a sociological view of race rather than a biological view of race.

Is race in our genes or just in our heads?

If you were walking down the street, would you identify the following people “African American”

Activity!!!

YES (Left) NO (Right)

How would the people who you identified as “”African-American be treated in society?

How would the people who you identified as “non-African American” be treated?

GIVE EXAMPLES!

OPINIONS

A biological view of race:

“The anatomy of a given racial group is used in comparison with that of other racial groups to investigate how people adapt to environments.”

It is essentially "value free."

A sociological view of race:

Race is used as a means of determining how a person should be related to or treated, either on a personal level or under some aspect of the law.

Race is a modern idea; ancient societies did not divide people of physical features, but by language, wealth, status, religion, or class.

Homer (fl. 1200 - 850 B.C.E.) • Iliad and Odyssey acknowledge variability • Aethiopians: People at the eastern and western

edges of the known world

• Cubit-men: African (?) pygmies

Herodotus (484?-425? B.C.E.) • Historiae argues for an environmental cause of

variability between human groups

• Egyptians have strong skulls due to exposure • Persian skulls are brittle due to the use of felt hats

Hippocrates (460 - 377 B.C.E.) • Environmental influences on human variability are

noted in Volume I of Corpus Hippocraticum

• Body build and temperament of different peoples are said to be related to their climate and life style

Early Racial Classifications

Homer

Herodotus

Hippocrates

Aristotle (384-322 B.C.) Claims environmental causes of physical variation in humans

Wooly hair of Aethiopians due to arid climate

Straight hair of Scythians due to moist air

St. Augustine (354-430)In De Civitate Dei Contra Paganos he says all men born everywhere, no matter how strange they appear to us, are descended from Adam, i.e., are descended from a single ancestral stock

Aristotle

St. Augustine

Early Racial Classifications

Differential Worth: The Beginnings

Races are ranked on various criteria judged to assess intelligence or moral standards The rankings are used either to bolster the scala naturae or proto-evolutionary relationships Such rankings are highly subjective and loaded with potential for ethnocentric abuse, with the highest rank always being reserved for the race of the person doing the ranking

Carolus Linnaeus, 1707 – 1778

Viewed the task of classification as one of attempting to understand the natural laws of the Scala Naturae (the ladder of nature)

Races according to Linnaeus• Americanus: Red, choleric, erect • Europaeus: White, fickle, sanguine, blue-eyed, gentle, governed by laws • Asiaticus: Sallow, grave, dignified, avaricious, ruled by opinion • Afer: Black, choleric, obstinate, contented, regulated by customs • Ferus: Wild man, walks on all fours, hairy • Troglodytes: You wouldn't believe it • Monstrous: Giants, mutants

Johann Friedrich Blumenbach, 1752 - 1840German Anatomy Professor Father of Physical Anthropology Father of Craniology Founder of Anthropology in Germany On the Natural Variety of Mankind (1775)

•We owe much of our view of the races to him, but he was probably one of the least racist people of his time. •Advocated Monogenism•Proposed a system for classifying humans into five different races based on the shape of the skull •Using a skull from the Caucasus mountains as the perfect European form, he claimed his four other races degenerated from this group :•Caucasoid (Europeans), Mongoloid (Asians), American (Native Americans), Ethiopian (Africans), and Malayan (Southeast Asians)

Samuel George Morton, 1799 - 1851Physician from Philadelphia

•Polygenist, convinced of inferiority of African populations

•Measured cranial capacity (volume of braincase) to assess differential worth

•Very careful technician, published extensive list of measurements of cranial capacities

Pierre Paul Broca, 1824 - 1880Founder of French Anthropology First Society of Anthropology (1859) First School of Anthropology (1876)

•Instigated the study of Craniometry •Attempted to quantify differential worth •Ratio of radius to humerus: a high ratio is ape-like, hence lower worth. •Found Caucasians scored higher than Hottentots, Eskimos, and Australians •He discarded the ratio in favor of measures with whites furthest from the apes •Brain size: bigger is better

• Men > Women • Eminent Men > Mediocre Men • Superior races (Caucasian) > Inferior

(Other races)

A popular belief about specific types of individuals based on

sweeping generalizations

Stereotypes

What are a few common stereotypes

about different minority groups?

Stereotypes

Take the next 10 min to fill out the following survey

Activity!!!

Watch the following Banned cartoons & pick out at least five stereotypes

Activity!!!

What is the point of racism & stereotypes?

OPINIONS

Racial Privilege •Sociologists Noël A. Cazenave and

Darlene Alvarez Maddern define racism as “...a highly organized system of 'race'-based group privilege that operates at every level of society and is held together by a sophisticated ideology of color/'race' supremacy. It all boils down to:

•  Economic Power• Political Power

White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack

• In 1988, Peggy McIntosh wrote this essay about the different unspoken privileges utilized by Caucasian Americans in their daily life while working on issues of feminism and male privilege…

White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack

•“I decided to try to work on myself at least by identifying some of the daily effects of white privilege on my life. I have chosen those conditions which I think in my case attach somewhat more to skin-color privilege than to class, religion, ethnic status, or geographical location, though of course all these other factors are intricately intertwined. As far as I can see, my African American co-workers, friends and acquaintances with whom I come into daily or frequent contact in this particular time, place and line of work cannot count on most of these conditions.”

1. Count off by eight and join the people with the same number.

2. In you groups discuss the list complied by Peggy Macintosh & answer the following question:

• Why are these issues important to a deeper understanding race based oppression, power, privilege, and resistance? 

Activity!!!

What is race & racism?

Skin Color Production

Skin color is due primarily to the presence of a pigment called melanin . 

Both light and dark complexioned people have this pigment. 

However, two forms are produced—pheomelanin, which is red to yellow in color, and eumelanin, which is dark brown to black. 

People with light complexioned skin mostly produce pheomelanin, while those with dark colored skin mostly produce eumelanin. 

To a lesser extent, the color is affected by the presence of fat under the skin and carotene, a reddish-orange pigment in the skin.

The Importance of Melanin

Melanin provides many benefits to human beings.

•Melanin in humans is found dispersed throughout the body, in the skin, hair, eye, adrenal gland (chiefly responsible for regulating the stress response through the body chemical change of corticosteroids ( which control stress response, immune response and regulation of inflammation, carbohydrate break down, protein break down, blood salt levels, and behavior) and catecholamines ("fight-or-flight“ hormones), including cortisol (the "stress hormone" as it is involved in response to stress and anxiety. It increases blood pressure and blood sugar, and reduces immune responses) and found inside the ear and the brain. It is necessary in order for the brain and nerves to operate and the cells to reproduce.

•At the core of your brain is the "locus coeruleus," a structure that is dark in pigmentation because it contains large amounts of Melanin which is essential in order for it to operate! In fact, all the most crucial brain structures are heavily melanized. "Brain melanin is concentrated in a region that functions as a gate for all sensory, motor, emotional and motivational input and output" as well as a region that mediates conscious awareness

The Importance of Melanin (continued)

•Freckles, which occur in people of all races, are small, concentrated areas of increased melanin production

•Melanin provides a natural protection against the harmful effects of ultraviolet rays of the sun.

•Melanin is a mechanism for absorbing heat from the sun.

•Melanin is a key ingredient in the DNA of the genes, and protects the DNA nucleus.

•Melanin is centrally involved in controlling all mental and physical body activities

•It is important for sharpness of vision; melanin serves to minimize the number of light beams that enter the eye. It also provides for the absorption of scattered light within the eye. In this way, pigmentation allows for more keen sight.

•Melanin is abundantly present at the inception of life: a Melanin sheath covers both the sperm and the egg.! In the human embryo, the melanocytes (skin pigment cells), the brain, and the nerve cells all originate from the same place; the neural crest.