Think for yourselves, especially if your thinking is wrong.

-The original letter from Ishema Kane- source The Huffington Post

                While I have several topics which I want to add to this blog, I had a moment with myself the other day that has caused me to put them on the back burner. 

                I was at the laundromat doing, well naturally, my laundry.  It was after midnight, because sometimes that is the only time I have, so I was alone for awhile until a man walked in with-surprise-laundry.  He couldn’t have been much older than me, and nothing about him seemed particularly dangerous, but I found myself having an instinctual reaction as if I was in danger.  I realized I felt this way because the man was black.  Then I felt like an asshole.  During the very process of my trying to educate myself about racism and discrimination and ways that people can fight against this, I was, however unintentionally, being racist.  Literally, I was reading an essay about classism when this happened to me, this random fear of this man, when there was no reason to feel that way.

                Being the ever curious woman I am, I came home and wanted to investigate this more, and came across covert and overt racism.  Overt racism is exactly what it sounds like, blatant hate and discrimination.  Covert racism, on the other hand is tricky business.  How I had felt when that man had walked in was covert racism.  This is the same treatment that happens, most often to minorities, when they are followed in a store (speaking from a decade in retail, truth is, everyone steals, not just minorities).  Every time a person adds to a thought or in conversation:

-             That is so black

-      She speaks English really well for a Hispanic

-      I didn’t think he was gay, he seems so masculine

-      They looked poor, they must have bought that car with welfare

-      Wow, for a <insert anything other than white male here> he/she turned out really well

They are guilty of covert racism and/or discrimination.  Chances are, we are not even aware we are doing it, or that it is continuing the systems of oppression that continue to work in this country at all times.  We say and think things like this ALL THE TIME and we need to stop. I am not saying it is easy, clearly I found myself thinking in a racist way without intending to, but when we catch ourselves doing this, ask: “Why am I really thinking this way?”  Society perpetuates this veiled discrimination and we continue it as we don’t question it into adulthood.    Given the above examples, I am also not excluding anyone from being guilty of this, at some time, everyone thinks in a way that is discriminatory to someone else.  However, there are resources to continue to educate us, and I am not just talking textbooks and essays- one particular site I am across www.changefromwithin.org is an amazing website created by Jaimie Utt, who takes an open and frank approach to discussing discrimination and racism, and how we can make changes to stop these cycles. 

                With my rant complete, here is a humbling story which I feel proves, if nothing else will, that hate is learned, not a naturally occurring thing.  Ishema Kane, a young girl from Germany, wrote a letter to a newspaper- on her own- telling them how angry she was that older children’s books still had the word nigger in them (the spelling is different in German, but the meaning is the same).  I was not even aware that books still used this term, much less that they were still being printed with them in it.  As a child from a mixed racial background, Ishema understood that the word was hateful and reacted emotionally against it, and more power to her!  While changes have not been made to remove this word from children’s books, if more people stood up to it, how could they ignore it?  If a child can not only recognize that hate speech is wrong, but stand up for it, where are we going wrong as adults?  Think for yourselves, especially if you're thinking is wrong.  

References from this post: (which are very much worth checking out)

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/27/ishema-kane_n_2554165.html

http://changefromwithin.org/

Asians- is there such a thing as a good stereotype?

Well my timing coincided nicely with Chinese New Year on this one, though it was actually not on purpose.

While it seems to me that no one ever talks about it, Asian-Americans have quite the history in this country. These individuals, often men, left their homes hoping to find jobs so that they could send money home to their families; since the countries they came from were either poor or going through strife such as civil war and famines. 

              Much of our railroads would have not been completed, especially on the west coast, were it not for the countless individuals brought here from various Asian countries under the guise of finding gold and other wealth.  Instead they were brought to be slaves.  Even after slavery was abolished, Asians were not allowed to become citizens, were only given dangerous jobs at best, had no personal rights, and could neither send for their families, nor leave to return to them.  If you were an Asian woman, you were most likely forced to be a prostitute.  This was in the 1800s though, so of course it got better right? 

Until the internment camps…this spot in American history that gets half a page in the textbooks, although it went on during and after World War II.  Naturally we were at war with the Japanese, so every Japanese-American must be under suspicion of being a spy.  We made sure we added others of Asian descent as well, just to be sure. 

Last I checked, we were also at war with Germany and Italy at that time…and I don’t recall any of those immigrants being put into camps.

            Then the sixties came along, with the Civil Rights movement and Model Minority Stereotype.  This was a fun filled tool used by (naturally) White politicians at the time to show how Asian-Americans, despite all of the adversity they had faced, had begun to triumph in areas such as academics.  Statistically, Asians and Asian-Americans do perform better academically than virtually every other group (including Whites), this is true.  However, during the Civil Rights Movement, this was a political weapon to once again affirm that African-Americans clearly were not succeeding by faults of their own, such as that they were lazy.  It also created a competition between Asian and White Americans. And for the hat trick: Asian-Americans now have standards to live up to which studies have shown can lead to depression and self-perpetuating beliefs about what Asians can excel at- such as math and science.

So, is it possible for a group of people to be stereotyped for good qualities?? 

You betcha’

As a summary, Asian-Americans were treated to a life of abuse and hate for many years, until that downgraded to mere discrimination.  Now, not only are they discriminated against, but it is often because they are trying to be “better” than other Americans.  Add insult to injury: being Asian often time’s means that other Americans will not even realize that there is other “kinds” of Asian than just Chinese and Japanese. 

            While this blog post is not of my original plan to focus on words which cause continuous discrimination and oppression, I felt that the harmful nature of so called “positive stereotyping” of Asian-Americans was something which needed to be shared.  As always, I welcome any constructive criticism and would genuinely love to hear from anyone who wants to share about their experiences as an Asian-American.

Happy New Year J

Contributions to this blog post are from:

Shen, F.C., Swanson, J.L., & Wang, Y.W. (2011).  Devlopment and initial validation of the internalization of Asian Americans stereotypes scale.  Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 17 (3), 283-294.  doi: 10.1037/aoo24727. 

- As well as the Asian American Alliance 

http://www.asianamericanalliance.com/Statistics.html

 

Are You Able?

While perusing dictionary.com, I came across these definitions, which in themselves give a preview of what is to come. 

nor·mal

adjective

1.

conforming to the standard or the common type; usual; not abnormal; regular; natural

2.

serving to establish a standard.

3.

Psychology .

a.

approximately average in any psychological trait, as intelligence, personality, or emotional adjustment.

b.

free from any mental disorder; sane.

4.

Biology, Medicine/Medical .

a.

free from any infection or other form of disease or malformation, or from experimental therapy or manipulation.

b.

of natural occurrence.

dis·a·bil·i·ty

  noun

1.

lack of adequate power, strength, or physical or mental ability;incapacity.

2.

a physical or mental handicap, especially one that prevents a person from living a full, normal life or from holding a gainful job.

3.

anything that disables or puts one at a disadvantage

4.

the state or condition of being disabled.

5.

legal incapacity; legal disqualification.

          Thus far, while in my search to undercover words and phrases which can harm, I found a staggering lack of information on discrimination against those who were deemed a “person with a disability.”  Definitions in our dictionary alone classify having a disability as not being able to have a “normal” life.  Then we look at the definition of “normal,” which includes being natural and free from any manipulations.  Normal, in my opinion, is a word often used to ostracize things which are different from what we are comfortable with. 

          This brings us to the history of using the terms disability and disabled.  African-American slaves were historically considered to be inferior because they were considered prone to mental and physical disabilities which made them less than their White counterparts. 

Women were considered prone to mental disabilities, such as “nerves” or hysteria, which made them incapable of participating in the political and social arena during the period of women’s suffrage. 

During the immigration waves during the early nineteenth century, individuals were classified based on the fact that they were immigrants, and could therefore be more likely to be “lunatics” or “idiots.” 

Until 1973, those who identified as gays or lesbians were considered “disabled” or “mentally-ill.” 

While these notions are inaccurate, as we know today, has anyone noticed that they were justified by lumping minorities into the ever-so-scary realm of those with disabilities?  In addition, those who were being discriminated against were often times most angry that they were classified as “disabled,” not that they were being oppressed based on their gender, race, ethnicity, or sexuality. Individuals in positions of power have used the stigma of having a disability to continually oppress those who they wished to control, throughout all of American history (and this is not to exclude other countries from this guilt). 

What has this done over the years is to increase the bias and discrimination against those who have a disability.  It has increased the lack of understanding, decreased tolerance, and created blind judgments against individuals who are worth no less than anyone without a disability.

Frankly, look again at the definition of “disability,” have we not all had moments when we have lacked strength, been disadvantaged, had some sort of blockage preventing us from leading the “normal” life we wish to lead? 

Perhaps you or someone you know has been classified as a “person with a disability,” and face that stigma on a regular basis.

However, here is what I know about individuals with a disability:  you are stronger than most, you are patient, you are tolerant, you have most likely put up with more shit than any other minority group,  and any “normal” person would likely not be able to walk a day in your shoes.  

- References for this blog post are from:

Disability and the Justification of Inequality in American History by Douglas C. Baynton

Retrieved from Race, Class, and Gender in the United States, Paula S. Rothenberg 8th Edition (2010)

How White is Your Trash?

How White is Your Trash?

Corruptions of Connotations

While we would all love to believe we are open-minded and free-thinking, there is much to be said about the hidden agendas maintaining the status quo in this country.  Veiled discrimination comes in all shapes and sizes, whether it be to oppress by race, class, gender, sexuality, religion, cultural heritage, level of education, age...this could go on for awhile.  It is the realization of my own ignorance about these hidden agendas that have prompted me to become better informed, and share what I am learning with others in the hopes that these cycles can start to break.  What I have learned so far is this- language is one of the most silent ways (ironically enough) that discriminatory ideals are perpetuated.  This occurs in general discourse, entertainment, news sources, even our own educational system. It is important that we begin to not only recognize the systematic chains that are in place, but begin to understand how to make positive changes by recognizing that we indeed, need to keep talking about these things. Disclaimer: This is not meant to make anyone feel comfortable, sometimes the hardest things to talk about are the ones we should the most.   

  

Many of us would feel we could clearly define concepts such as racism and discrimination. We know what words are "not ok" to say because of their specific and offensive racial connotations.  However, are there words and phrases in Western society which are also equally offensive, and yet somehow widely accepted? This is not to downgrade the harmful and hurtful nature of any discriminatory and racist language, but merely to point out how easily judgments are passed in America.  Specifically, this post is concerned with the term "white trash."  The phrase has origins suspected to be from the period when slavery was still legal in America, as an expression from those who were severely oppressed.  Given what was happening in this country before and after the Civil War, it was one of the few ways slaves could express anger, at a group of people who were only marginally oppressed themselves.  


Years pass and the phrase evolves to become associated with lower class, typically urban whites.  Often due to large masses of individuals flocking to cities to find work as industry boomed, so-called  "respectable whites" began to separate themselves from White Trash.  A wonderful example about Detroit:

"Hillbillies, they said, were lazy, licentious and prone to violence. White Detroiters
were appalled, too, at the way these character traits blurred a rapidly collapsing
social line between black and white racial orders. Southern migrants to Detroit,
white and black, shared regional commonalities in speech and lifestyles that
unnerved native white Detroiters, compelling them to abandon the City
(Hartigan, 1997: 42)."

What this particular turn of phrase is then stating is this: those who are deemed "White Trash" are similar to those who are not white, and therefore in turn, must be devalued as human beings.  The acceptability of this term not only undermines blatant discrimination based on socioeconomic status, but it is yet another direct insult against African Americans. 
The continued ignorance that any of these types of terms can be harmful is exactly what keeps the stereotypes alive.  

- Contributions to this post:

Wilson, J.Z. (2002) Invisible Racism : The Language and Ontology of `White Trash.' Critique of Anthropology 2002 22: 387. doi: 10.1177/0308275X020220040101.

http://coa.sagepub.com/content/22/4/387 (to view this article)