Racism Goes Both Ways

By Ivonne Mosquera

For someone from my background, the first thing that comes to mind when considering the origin of racism, is a picture of a ruthless landowner brutally punishing his slaves two centuries ago. It may be a comfort for modern people to ascribe race problems to another, earlier time, but perhaps we are really brushing off the real problem behind racism: does each of us have a bit of racism within?

Perhaps if we thought about humanity like an endangered species, and then considered ways of protecting that species, the abolishment of "difference", "threat", we have a chance to get in front of racism.

Racism is not a color illness, a political one, nor a religious one; it is sadly a mental sickness. The Ku Klux Klan was (or is?) more than a right-wing extreme movement. They were convinced about "white supremacy", because in their minds, they were unprepared to accept the results of the Civil War, which decided the question of "man by man exploitation." The KKK spilt much blood, but for what purpose and to what end? The Black Panther Party, born as a "self-defense" movement, developed the same racist feeling in the opposite way.

Europe suffered the ravages of the Nazi absolutist regime, spurring a reluctant United Kingdom and America to oppose it because its outrageous racist ideology and deeds. All that effort, however, resulted in an equally horrible communist regime at the end of WWII throughout Eastern Europe. One by one, these oppressive states began to fall, ending in the dissolution of the USSR in 1990. What was the communist regime of the USSR about? Intolerance of difference, not focused on the issue of skin color, but about ideas. Nazis propounded the myth of the Aryan "superman," while the Communists showed a sort of evolved racism of propaganda. Both houses of cards ended up crashing in on themselves.

The United States knows racism well, having cast its net over a succession of "others," apart from the horrible treatment of the stolen and enslaved Africans: the myths about Chinese survival, the disdain of Irishmen, the distrust about the "Italian mafia", and most recently the generalized hate of Muslim people in the wake of the WTC disaster.

This is our reality, and is not going to change until we understand the problem is in our minds, racism is a deep fear of the other, a fear which make us weak.

Foreigners Between Love and Hate

By Ivonne Mosquera.

From the country I come from we have some kind of fascination with  foreigners. It is very common to open our houses' doors to host them, to invite them to our table, and to please them in anything they need. We enjoy looking at their clothes, corporal expressions, and accents.  Even having a foreigner hosted in our home is a matter of pride and an object of envy in the neighborhood. There is a story about a foreign man who came to a small town in the north coast of my country. He identified himself as an "Indian ambassador". The people there believed he was what he said and every family wanted to honor the "ambassador" at their homes. So, everyday he enjoyed of the most succulent banquets, music and dance performances, and everything he pleased.   This expressive love to foreigners in my country, or the cordial and affective embrace to them is known as Xenophilia.  But what if instead of this warm embracement happens the opposite? Sadly there are subcultures in the world and in the USA that express their hate for the presence of others groups that no share their origin, race, religion, and other cultural aspects. We call this: Xenophobia.

Xenophobia can be seen as a cultural and social phenomena. In Our society, the USA, is very common to see how some reactions of social groups to foreign presence is reflected, for example in the laws of some states as the controversial Arizona SB 1070. This bill was criticized hardly because encourages racial profiling. Even it faced strong opposition by President Barack Obama who said that "it would undermine basic notions of fairness that we cherish as Americans, as well as the trust between police and our communities that is so crucial to keeping us safe". Other example of xenophobia are paramilitary groups of "civil police" in the border with Mexico that enjoy playing target shooting, instead of giving human assistance to people who are starving and thirsty. Also in our beloved Philadelphia we were witnesses of a controversial sign posted on a Geno's Steaks' window that said: "This is AMERICA: WHEN ORDERING please 'SPEAK ENGLISH'". The  Philadelphia  Commission on  Human  Relations filed 

a complaint because they considered it a violation of the city's Fair Practices Ordinance. Arguing that the sign promoted discrimination in public accommodation. Even the same owner himself admitted that the sign were directed at the Mexican immigrants of the neighborhood.  If we continue analyzing the USA reality,  we can also  find numerous cases of xenophobia, among them, the hate to the muslim population, as is showing in the next video:

Xenophobia  phenomena is not new, in fact it is very primitive. N.Meza from monografias.com said that "is very common in ancient cultures, even the Greek, where the city of  Sparta, for example, avoid the entrance of foreigners to its territory.  He explains that prejudices, convictions without foundation, against anything that is foreign triggers or led easily to discrimination. It is materialized by discriminatory actions or omissions in detriment to them.  Also, he explains that xenophobia comes from the generalized ignorance of the population over the Human Rights that difficults a favorable environment of coexistence with foreigners. He notes that one of the characteristics of the Human Rights is the “Universalism", and it means that all human beings in the world have the privilege of enjoy of the same human rights, without discriminatory differences because of their social origin, nationality, age, sex, sexual preferences, religion and so on.  He pointed that this is an idealistic or utopic principle if analyzing the global reality, but I think if every of us change our attitude against others who look different to us, and if we overcome the fear to the unknown and embrace the innumerables benefits that offer the richness of cultural diversity, our community or even our world could  be a nicer place to live. 

Defining Deviance in our Society

Submitted by Christopher Getz

    Deviance is defined within the text “Sociology Matters” as “...behavior that violates any social, whether it concerns conduct or personal appearance. Some forms of deviance carry a negative social stigma, while others are more or less accepted.”

    Certainly, within this definition, we would consider racism and bigotry as deviant behavior. In fact, many argue that we have so stigmatized racism, sexism, homophobia, and other forms of bigotry, that even the allegation of such bias in action can be enough to condemn the accused in the eyes of the media or wider public. But interrogating this claim, we have to ask if the society at large has truly taken steps to stigmatize this form of deviance, or if some societal messages are, at best, mixed.

    Consider the case of the killing of James C. Anderson in Mississippi, this summer. Warning, the video below contains both footage of the murder of Anderson, as well as a discussion involving the use of racial slurs.

    The CNN report expresses outrage and surprise at the racially motivated murder of Mr. Anderson by white teenagers, commenting repeatedly that this is the sort of behavior one would expect in the beginning of the 20^th century, even saying that Anderson's family are shocked by a crime they could not reasonably see taking place in this day and age.

    There is, of course, no question that society has deemed this deviant behavior. Those who committed the crime have been arrested and charged, with one of the teenagers-- thought to be the leader of the group-- charged with murder and Hate Crimes. Clearly, the message of this is that society deems not just murder, but racially-motivated crimes, to be “deviant”.

    However, it is not simply an isolated largely white community that has socialized these teenagers. Were that the case, we could simply point an accusatory finger at the offending community, parents, or church that encouraged or justified violent behavior against Blacks. But our society, which extends well beyond such a confined space as Rankin County, Mississippi where these teenagers lived, also socialized these teenagers, and sent coded messages that formed and influenced their worldview, beliefs, and, ultimately, their crime.

    It is worth noting, beyond as a tragic case of adding insult to injury, that the state of Mississippi denies Mr. Anderson's same-sex partner the right to join the wrongful death lawsuit filed by his other family members. The couple have adopted and are raising a four year old daughter together, but under Mississippi law, they are not considered a “true” family and afforded the rights of a heterosexual couple with children. Seemingly, Mr. Anderson and his partner's relationship was considered, to some degree, deviant within the state of Mississippi.

    Similarly, Mississippi, was the last state to recognize the 13^th Amendment to the US Constitution banning slavery within the United States. Originally ratified in 1865 as the first of the post-Civil War Reconstruction Amendments, Mississippi rejected the amendment, as did New Jersey, Delaware, and Kentucky. New Jersey was the first to reverse their decision the following year, Delaware followed suit in 1901. In the 20^th century, only Kentucky and Mississippi refused to ratify the Amendment. Finally, in 1976 Kentucky reversed its earlier position, however, Mississippi would wait until 1995 to follow suit.

    So, although the violent crime which killed James C. Anderson would and is clearly labeled deviant behavior by our society, so too was Mr. Anderson's very life. He lived in a state which considered his relationship deviant, and stated-- regardless of how subtly or implicitly in their laws-- that Mr. Anderson's very freedom from involuntary slavery was only recently considered to be a social norm and not, in and of itself, a deviance. Considering the role that such subtle and often unremarked upon socialization has on the perpetrators of such violent hate crimes may help us to better understand what it is that our society considers truly deviant and how we socialize our youth to accept our values.

Racial stereotyping and inequalities

Submitted by: Hansel Frias




  An ethnic group is a group of people with a common genetic origin. It's a subgroup of race which is a social construct based on the characteristics that people present. Even though The Equal Rights Amendment gives people equal rights no matter race or gender, inequalities among the different races and ethnic groups still exist today. Segregation, prejudice, stereotypes, and status differences can all lead to racial and ethnic inequalities. These inequalities may cause difference in rights and opportunities for each individual based on their race or ethnicity. 

          White people are much more likely to get into better paying jobs then Latino or African Americans, because they are certain stereotypes in our society that may portray some races in a negative way. Stereotyping is the main reason why there is a different view on a person due to their race. One example may include the way white people are portrayed in the media compared to blacks. Especially in the news, which most of the time you will see a black or a Latino doing something wrong in society. This usually results in employers and individuals being prejudice since they would then get treated differently based on their race. 

     

    In This video ABC does an experiment to see how people will respond to the same situation where the only difference is the race of the “Vandals”.  The experiment clearly shows that the people took a more serious approach to the situation when the “Vandals” were black, and made more 911 calls. This video is an example about what we have talked in class on how someone race can influence people reaction and behavior in certain situation, and that people can look at someone right away and judges them based on their race. I think that negative stereotype contribute a lot to racial inequality, and can make people believe the one race is superior to other.

    Discrimination on racial minorities is still a major problem, which limits a person potential to succeed in life. I believe that everyone should be treated equal no matter the person race or color. The reason behind this is because someone race does not determine a person’s intelligence or qualities. Therefore we should not follow stereotypes since they can be misleading and are not always accurate.