Agenda for 6/12

1. The history of race in America.

2. So, race may not be real, but the effects of race certainly are:
  3. Stereotypes 

• What are stereotypes? Why stereotypes?
• Physical stereotypes?  
• What stereotypes must black men endure? 
• What was the message of this skit?

•  The effect of stereotypes on how children perceive racial differences and demonstrate racial preferences.

4. 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."
5. 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?"

6. 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
• The making of Ferguson. 

  7. 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.

    HW: Assignment #27 - The White Privilege Assignment - due Tues. 6/16
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?

Agenda for 6/10 and 6/11

Like height, race (skin color) is a spectrum. Where you draw the line is arbitrary.

Where does white end and black begin?

1. Is it hard to talk about race? The "difficult conversation" about race. 

• Do you agree? 
• Is it difficult to talk about race? 
• Why is it difficult for some to talk about race?

2. Big/Essential Idea - "Race is a social construction" (video 1, video 2)

• How do we determine a person's race? Physical characteristics? How well can YOU identify a person's race from physical characteristics?
• The "myth" of race.
• How is this idea different from how most people think about race? 
• The history of race in America.

3. How does race impact the lives of people in America?

•  Stereotyping: 
• What are stereotypes? Why stereotypes?
• Physical stereotypes?  
• What stereotypes must black men endure? 
• What was the message of this skit?

• Racism - its not just the KKK (hidden racism is much more common)
• Racial Microaggressions.
• White Normativity - "What kind of Asian are you?"

• Racial segregation
• How segregation happened in the North? It's all about where you could buy a house.

•  Life expentancy, health, employment, wealth...etc.

Agenda for 6/3 and 6/4

1. Complete Assignment #26 - The Social Construction of Race

• Answer the questions in a separate document and upload to eBackpack "Assignment #26."

Assignment #26 – The Social Construction of Race and Racial Preferences

1. What is the main point of  "Race the Power of an Illusion pt. "?

2. What is the main point of  "Race the Power of an Illusion pt. 2

3. What is the main point of "The Social Construction of Race" 

4. What is the main point of "The Unequal Opportunity Race"  

Answer the following questions using the article "A Long History of Racial Preference - for Whites"

5. How did the 1830 Indian Removal Act benefit white settlers? What did it do to the Cherokee, Creek and other Native American groups?

6. How did the 1862 Homestead Act benefit white settlers? How much land was given for free to primarily white settlers ?

7. How did the 1790 Naturalization Act benefit free white persons and white European immigrants?

8. What effect did Alien Land Laws have on land ownership in California?

9. When were racial barriers to US citizenship removed?

10. Who were the only people compensated for slavery in the United States?

11. How did the Social Security Act of 1935 help whites but discriminate against non-whites?

12. How did the 1935 Wagner Act help whites workers but discriminate against non-whites?

13. How did the Federal Housing Administration help whites workers but discriminate against non-whites?

14. How does the mortgage industry discriminate today?

15. How has the history of economic discrimination effected the net worth of African Americans compared to whites?

16. What are ways that whites are able to pass on this wealth from generation to generation?

17. How has the percentage of total net worth owned by African Americans changed from 1865 to 1990?

Agenda for 6/1 and 6/2

Complete the following assignment (using the resources/link to answer the questions) and upload to "Assignment #25 - Stop and Frisk"


1. Read this article on the policing tactic called Stop and frisk. 

• In a few sentences, describe/explain what "stop and frisk" is.
• Why do some claim the practice is racist?

2. Go here to see a data visualization of all "Stop and Frisk" stops by the NYPD in 2012. 

• Read the introduction. How many stops were recorded in 2012? How many stops does each "dot" represent? How many total "dots?"

• Click "The Suspected" tab at the top of the page. 
• Which NYC borough had the most stops?
• Which race was stopped the most?
• Which age group has been stopped the most?
• Which sex has been stopped the most?
• Put these together. What is the profile of the average person stopped by "Stop and Frisk?"

•  Click on "The Stops" tab.
• What were the five most common reasons for stops? What does "furtive" mean?
• Was it more common for the person to be frisked or not?
• What were the three most common reasons that a person was frisked?
• Was it more common for force to be used or not?

• Click on "The Outcome" tab
• In how many stops was contraband (illegal items) found?
• In how many stops was a weapon found?
• In how many stops was a gun found?
• In how many stops was an arrest made?

3. Watch this video about Stop and Frisk in NYC victim?

• What was the main point (message) of this video?
• What does the video suggest the impact of Stop and Frisk is on the relationship between police and members of the community?
• How does the NYPD "encourage" officers to make Stop and Frisk stops? Why do many officers who disagree with it, still make "250s"?

4. Use the 6 short opinion articles from the NY Times Stop and Frisk debate to answer the following questions:

• What are the primary arguments in support of "Stop and Frisk?" Provide at least three pieces of specific data that supports the policy. 
• What are the primary arguments against "Stop and Frisk." Provide at least three specific pieces of evidence to support arguments against the policy.
  

5. What is your opinion of the policy?

• Which arguments are most convincing to you?
• If you agree that it should be used, what would you say to a law-abiding New Yorker who is stopped 5-7 times a year for no other reason that the color of his skin and the neighborhood in which he lives? 
• If you disagree with the process, what would you say to those people who live in dangerous areas of NYC and are desperate for the police to be as active as possible in preventing violent crime?

6. Do you think the policy would have the support it does if 87% of the people stopped were White instead of Black and Latino?

Sociology Final Exams (Seniors only)

Hello Seniors!

Sorry, I cannot be there for your last few days in sociology, but I've got my hands full at home with little Addy.

I want to remind Seniors that your final exam papers are due soon.

• Gold Day Sociology Seniors - due Friday 5/29 at 8:00 am

• Maroon Day Sociology Seniors - due Wednesday 6/3 at 10:45 am

Be sure to read the assignment description (attached to the assignment on eBackpack). Please email me with any questions you have.

Your papers should be passed into the "FINAL EXAM" assignment on eBackpack.

Enjoy your final days as high school students!

Mr. Parise

Sub Plans Day and Day 2

Day One:

1. View "Botany of Desire"

• link to film on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OIChx00z7aw

Day Two: 

1. Finish "Botany of Desire"

2. Complete viewing questions. Submit to "Assignment - Botany of Desire" on eBackpack.

Agenda for 5/19

1. Deadly Shoot-out among biker gangs in Waco, TX. Why are they destroying their community?

2. White-On-White Crime Strikes Again In Waco


3. The problem with the "white culture of violence"

4. Bill O'Reilly - "President Obama and the Race Problem"
 
5. FBI 2010 National Crime Statistics - who really commits the most crime?   

6. The "Affluenza" defense. What was the role of race and/or class?

HW - Assignment #23 (Maroon), Assignment #24 (Gold) - respond to each question below in a paragraph. 

1. Why do you believe race is often suggested as a cause of criminal behavior for blacks in America, yet race is almost never suggested as a reason for the criminal behavior of whites?

2. Do you believe Ethan Couch (see item #6 above) would have received the same sentence if he were black and/or poor. Discuss what you think the role of race and class was in his sentencing. What do you think played the biggest role in his sentence, race or class? Do you believe that our justice system is truly "blind" in terms of a person's race and class?