Agenda for 1/9 - Maroon

1. Race may not be real, but the effects of race certainly are:
 
2. Maybe these effects are the result of "white privilege?"
"White privilege refers to the unearned advantages that whites receive because of their skin color. It includes a vast array of concrete advantages varying from institutional settings (systemic discrimination in housing markets) to everyday encounters (e.g. being able to shop in a store without getting followed). They provide a variety of social and economic benefits, and can be cashed in, to confer greater power, authority, and status upon whites. But as Peggy McIntosh argues in 'White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack,' these privileges are usually invisible to people who benefit from."

3. White privilege = white as the normal/regular and nonwhite as a foreign "other." 

• We can see this assumption of "whiteness as normal" in these racial "micro-aggressions."
• How is this idea expressed in this video: "What type of Asian are you?"

4. White have also been privileged in the ability to buy homes through various government programs that worked to deny home ownership to blacks for many decades.

• The effect of these policies? An America today that is still segregated by race. An interactive version of these maps

 5. Here are more subtle, and less obvious, examples of white privilege.

• Read through the examples of white privilege, individually.
• Choose the five examples that you think are the most beneficial to white people.

6. What about white Privilege in education?
    

HW: Assignment #18 - The White Privilege Assignment - due Tues. 1/13
Imagine that you are a 34 year old African American single woman with a young child. You have just met this gorgeous man who has asked you for a date in two days. You really want to make an impression on him so you intend to go to a grocery store to buy a few things that you will need to get ready for your date. While you are in the kitchen, trying to write your shopping list, making supper, and watching your 6 year-old daughter, you somehow manage to cut your finger. You use the last bandage you have at home and add "bandages" to your shopping list. Your shopping list now lists the following items:

• Bandages
• Silk stockings
• Blemish cover/Make-up
• Book and toy for 6 year old daughter
• Fashion magazine for fashion and beauty tips
• Romance novel for entertainment in case the date doesn't work out
• Birthday card for your best friend (an African American woman who'll turn 40 in a few days)

Because you are African American, you want to make sure that you buy bandages, silk stockings, and blemish cover/make-up in a color that matches your skin color. Similarly, you will buy a fashion magazine created for an African American audience that gives beauty and fashion tips to African American women. Also, you feel that your daughter should develop a strong African American identity, so you intend to buy a children's book and a toy that feature pictures/stories/etc. of other African American children. Because your friend is an African American woman, you'll buy a humorous birthday card, featuring African American cartoon figures. Finally, in case things don't work out with the date, you want to read a romance novel written by an African American author featuring African American people.

Go to a grocery, department, or drug store and try to find the articles listed on the shopping list. Do not buy the products, just to try to find them.

After your shopping experience, answer the following questions:

1. Were you able to find all the items listed on the shopping list? Which items did you find? Which ones were you not able to find?

2. If you found items from the shopping list, how did they compare in price to comparable products for European American customers?

3. If you found items from the shopping list, how many different companies or manufacturers (e.g., Almay, Cover Girl, and Revlon) produced African American products, and how many different companies/manufacturers produced comparable products for European American customers? In other words, would you be able to choose from a number of different products?

4. Assuming that you, as an African American woman, encountered some difficulties in deciding on certain beauty products (e.g., making decisions regarding the best color of blemish cover to use), whom in the store would you ask for help? Is there an African American sales person around? Are there other African American women in the store that might be able to advise you?

5. If you were to encounter problems with one of the sales people and you wanted to talk to the manager, who would the manager be, an African American man or woman or a European American man or woman?

6. Having answered these questions, how do you as an African American woman feel?