Final Analysis Paper

Final Analysis Jacob Angelo Comm 3313, Fully Online Dr. Kara Winkler May 7, 2020

Introduction

In this paper I will analyze my overall experience with this classroom online. I will also analyze five theories from our course that helped me to understand race as a social construct and give an overview of my cultural identity. I conclude this analysis with a reflection of my experience this semester outside of the classroom and how at least one concept from our book changed my thought process in a negative racial encounter.

Part I Experience and Growth

My personal overall experience in Comm 3313 has been one of growth. As with any form of growth or exposure to a new concept it can be confusing and painful. After all there is no real guide to the issue of race and the current state of our society. We are a diverse nation, but we are also a divided nation on the issue of race. I did not realize, for one, that there are others outside of our country that are not aware of how racially divided we are here in the United States. A discussion post on Discussion 2 for this class posted by Rafia is a perspective that I have not considered much before this. It is humbling to read because this nation has always claimed to be the leader of “the free world.” How do we reconcile this with perspectives like the one that came from this person’s discussion post? This person came to our country, presumably, to pursue a better life and has found that white privilege and racism is very much a part of our cultural fabric here. People do not arrive here from other countries and just say this. There has to be an experience that causes this.

Another example of growth for me happened in a local store this semester. I perceived the encounter to be a matter of feeling threatened by a person and not of race. However, there was another side to this story that was not available to me until after the incident occurred. Had I known about this before it would have likely changed the way I responded. A very frustrated man yelled at me from across the aisle and asked in a demanding tone if I had money to spare for him. I did not. The person got angry and charged up to me and stood within a couple of inches from my face and demanded an answer for why. The only thing I could think to do was to back away and go get help. From my perspective I was trying to purchase a fire extinguisher for the rental I had just moved to and that was all that was on my mind. When I informed management that there was an immediate issue the manager asked for a description of the person. I still had not thought about race. I gave a clothing description and approximate age. The manager wanted to know “the color” of the person. And for the first time in this incident I thought of race. Others in the store had witnessed the incident and approached the management and spoke up. I saw that everyone around me speaking to the manager was Caucasian.

Security removed the person from the store and others offered to follow me to my vehicle for safety. While he was being escorted out the individual yelled that this was happening because he was “black and I was “white”. By this time, my mind was already considering this as a possibility. Would a Caucasian person be escorted out like this? I do not know, honestly. I have read this semester that it is African American culture to come across in an aggressive manner at times. It does not necessarily mean that aggression is present.

Others began telling me that this same person had approached them asking for money. Again, all of them were Caucasian. They talked down about him as a person, someone they had never spent time with, and alluded to his race (Harris, 2015, pp. 224-25) as being “lazy”. I am certain that this tone of non-verbal communication was something this man perceived when they responded. In the end, he really did have a young child with him and by all accounts really did need money or for someone to help him purchase items for her. I thought about this for several days and think about this incident even now. It is obvious that this person was having a really bad day. Perhaps, he was frustrated by the time he found me. I cannot help but to think from his perspective, now, and see that he was in a neighborhood full of white privilege where there were higher chances of him getting help. From my perspective I was simply afraid of getting hurt. A small paradigm shift in thought with the notion that his speech code (Harris, 2015, p. 146) is probably different than mine and it led to me misinterpreting his intention. Perceptual differences (Harris, 2015, p. 249) changed the outcome of this incident. Incidents similar to this one occurs regularly in our country and are a source of tension in race relations.

A final example of growth involved people at my work, one of them a supervisor. Again alluding (Harris, 2015, pp. 224-25) was the specific incident. A co-worker made a small error at a jobsite the previous day that required another employee to go back and correct it the next day. It is something that is not out of the ordinary for my work. Unfortunately, these individuals turned it into a racial conflict. My co-worker is an African American and he works just as hard as the rest of us. Some of my Caucasian co-workers are not as accepting of others outside of their race and when they began making fun of him and alluding to his race as lazy, I went directly to the owner of the company to verbally complain. These co-workers, one of them a supervisor, were stereotyping from a racial perspective. The owner immediately corrected the issue. I later talked to my other co-worker, who was not present when this happened. I did not tell him about the incident. I just showed him where the mistake was made so that he would know next time. That is how I learned, and it is the fault of the supervisor for not showing him.

What makes this incident different for me is that this class taught me the correct

terminology to use when I approached the owner with my complaint. This brings home the fact

that people in this country have to educate themselves regarding racial issues if we are ever to overcome this division. It is an extremely good feeling inside to know how to articulate what I am trying to say regarding race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender, and religious issues that affect us as a whole. I do not claim to know all there is to know. My standpoint is that I am comfortable in speaking up because I can articulate meanings because of this class.

Part II Interracial Communication Theories and Concepts

Ethnocentrism, Socioeconomic status, Media & Racism, and Sexual Orientation are all social constructs which have a role in the identity construction in interpersonal and interracial communication. My understanding of these theories and concepts has improved throughout this course and helped me to better understand myself and others regarding how I choose to communicate with others regarding these issues when they arise.

In this time of division, it is not enough to say that we do not live in a post-racial (Harris, 2015, p. 3) society in the United States. I believe that we have become complacent in this assertion. Calling out that we recognize something as racist and/or inappropriate is the first step. We have to express to others that racism is shameful and not something in which to take pride. Ethnocentrism (Harris, 2015, p. 9) plays a huge role in racism against non-whites more than other races. The belief that a person’s culture, in this case white privilege, is normal and that all other cultures should be evaluated and judged based on this concept is one major factor that contributes to the racial division in the U.S.

European Americans have a long history of racist attitudes toward minorities, especially African Americans. In the 1960’s when the government ordered the desegregation of public schools whites generally felt like the superior race and that they should not have to be in the same school as African Americans. Thus, when schools were opened to African Americans the Caucasian Americans mostly abandoned the public school system in the south (Crosby, 2012). European Americans (Whites) would not allow their children to go to the same public school as Blacks because the White race perceived itself as superior. This is evident in the racial tones taken by the White majority, to include actions taken at the time by the racist group known as the KKK.

Socioeconomic status, or status as it relates to income, wealth, and power/position (Harris, 2015, p. 128) contributes to racism in this country. Overwhelmingly, minorities make up the majority of poverty-stricken families in the U.S. People tend to stereotype based on class or status. The sad reality is that stereotyping based on income or status or race/ethnicity is one of the best ways to communicate ineffectively regarding race (Harris, 2015, p. 133) . Currently, in our society European Americans make up the majority of the ‘upper class’ and enjoy the protections of being 2.5 times less likely to be shot by a police officer during a police encounter than African Americans (Blackwell, 2020, p. 458). An even more startling reality is how we treat kids in public schools based on their socioeconomic status. Kids in predominantly white, upper class schools are given better grief counseling when there is a shooting incident (Bonilla-Silva, The Invisible Weight of Whiteness: the racial grammar of everyday life in contemporary America, 2012, pp. 182-183). When the Columbine shooting happened in the late 1990s grief counselors were on scene and present to interact with kids when school returned. The same for the shooting that happened in Santa Fe. However, when an African American teenager walking home from Lamar High School was shot and killed in 2018 it was ruled gang related. School counselors could be contacted if needed by students, but none were present after the incident. The kids simply had to work through the incident for themselves. Columbine and Santa Fe have higher percentages of white students and are considered upper class schools while Lamar High School is considered to be an inner-city school riddled with violence. If our attitude as a country is going to change it will have to come from the majority – whites. When African Americans stand up for their rights it is labeled as a protest and our media almost always portrays these protests with African Americans who are in the streets, carrying signs, yelling and in an almost frenzied state. But one has to search the internet to find documentaries that depict the people behind these stories and how police brutality has changed and/or ruined their lives- and leads directly to the idea of the role that media play in racism. Just like has happened with our public schools where minorities make up the majority, our media has portrayed the cry of African Americans for justice (i.e. BLM) as a dangerous group who needs to be watched and feared by the public. When this happens, it is difficult to erase this from the psyche of American jurisprudence. It affects every aspect of our society (Bonilla-Silva, Feeling Race: Theorizing the Racial Economy of Emotions, 2019, p. 3)

The media have more influence in the social learning theory (Harris, 2015, p. 272) than any other social outlet in our society. The social learning theory means that people are directly influenced by what they are exposed to the most by the media. If people are always exposed to images of a ghetto with African American people who are depicted as homeless beggars or African Americans who are violent criminals, then this affects how they personally view that race. Even seemingly harmless movies that have great actors, like Chevy Chase, in National Lampoon’s Vacation depict African Americans as a subordinate race to European Americans. Toward the end of the movie Mr. Chase’s character ordered an African American security guard to lay on the ground and roll over. The guard was forced to lay on his back with legs and hands

in the air and literally treated like an animal. Of course, scenes like this would be harder to

achieve today due to backlash from social media but the fact remains that this was allowed to happen, and nothing has been done to remove that scene from the original movie. For me, this scene was not funny, and it ruined the entire movie. The fifteen second scene had no bearing on the plot at all and could be removed without consequence. Scenes like this may appear harmless but they are not. Picture the same scene in your mind only reverse the roles and the race. Now reverse the roles of history. This is just a symptom of the bigger problem in our country.

The notion that Chevy Chase’s character was racists is silly. He was just a family man trying to treat his family to a great vacation. Just your average Joe. That is exactly the problem. The majority of European Americans are not the kind of open racists that we might have encountered in the 1960s where clansmen burned crosses while wearing white hoods. Since the burning of a cross was hardly ever punished as a crime it seared an image of white supremacy into the minds of people living in this country. If people could burn crosses and carry racist flags and signs without hindrance then there is no harm in a silly scene where a European American forcing an African American security guard to act like a dog is a harmless gesture. The truth is that it is NOT harmless and it should not be accepted because it continues to feed the idea of white supremacy in this country (Lovell, 2017, p. 578). Until the media begin to take responsibility for their actions and depict a fair and equal status of race, the way it should be, a post-racial society in this country is going to be difficult, if not impossible, to achieve and will affect how individuals communicate with and view other races.

Sexual orientation is also a social construct that has a significant role in interpersonal communication. I am Jewish and I am gay. The two seemingly cannot go together in our culture (Harris, 2015, p. 126). But they can and when experienced from my personal standpoint it is

quite normal for the most part, though not without problems in today’s society.

Typically speaking there is ethnic Judaism and religious Judaism. I am ethnic because my biological mother was fully, 100% Jewish. Many orthodox Jews who I have encountered have argued that this makes me religiously Jewish as well and that because I am gay, I have fallen away from the protection of God. Rather than argue a point with people who, the more one argues, becomes all the more convinced of their own views, I choose to live my life for who I am. The ethnically Jewish part of me inevitably intertwines the religious practices of spiritual Jews much the same way secular individuals of contemporary America incorporate Christian practices into their lives (i.e. Christmas). I still practice Hanukah because of its historical value for Jewish people. I also feel as though the Ten Commandments are great principles to try and live one’s life by. However, I do not tear my clothing and rub ashes on my head whenever I fall short of them.

I wear a yarmulke and I am not the least bit ashamed of myself or how I represent my ethnicity. There are quite a few people within the Jewish community who understand and accept that I am gay and that I am no less Jewish because of this. Still, there are others within the community who do not understand and can only offer acceptance to me if I change my way. Attaching their social acceptance to a behavior that is in line with their belief only serves to ostracize people like me. It has no bearing on me at all when it involves changing who I am. The idea of a supreme being trusting the interpretation of their words to infallible humans is concerning for me. However, I also realize that there are people who live by this notion and base their entire lives on it. So, I do not judge them or speak negatively toward them or about them. They are free to choose their way of life just as I am free to choose mine. Therein lies the fundamental difference between us. Their lifestyle demands that they make efforts to force their beliefs on other Jews. They do this by affording or withholding acceptance. In practice what this really does is create anxiety (AUM) (Harris, 2015, p. 140) for both sides. No one is sure how to act around the other and the orthodox Jewish people create a stereotype based on their own interpretations of religious writings (The Torah) and religious traditions. The anxiety that is created by being uncertain how others will accept or deny acceptance is almost palpable. Still, I continue to live my life in acceptance of others, even those who openly reject me because I am gay.

Part IV Impact on Classroom Community

From a communal frame (Harris, 2015, p. 99) I found that I related well to others in the discussions. There was a post in particular where I got to share with another classmate how discrimination based on looks is still present in our society. Several classmates also felt free to post about their experiences within their own communities about racial incidents that were negative and directed at them. I had the impression throughout the semester that although others could freely post about their experiences nothing was taken out of context and classmates that I interacted with did not express any form of anger that was inappropriate. Even though we were all different races and ethnicities we had shared similar experiences of discrimination.

• a response to one of my discussion posts a classmate seemed to express that I was wrong to incorporate political correctness in some of my interactions at work. The discussion topic that I chose was political correctness, but I felt like they misunderstood where I was coming from. If I understood their response correctly it came across indirectly as Divergence (Harris, 2015, p. 143) in that their cultural pride or distinctiveness was being called out by my post. Even though the response to my post seemed to indirectly call me a liar I still hold to my belief that I posted in that discussion question that it is appropriate in a workplace setting to use the term Hispanic. However, seeing that my classmate seemed to be upset at the idea that political correctness would even be allowed at all in our society is proof of how volatile the issue of race and ethnicity can be. Our differences in communication is likely because of our field of experiences (Harris, 2015, p. 149) . I agree with my classmate that political correctness usually hides true thoughts and feelings. Based on how their response was to my post I thought about the preferred outcome (Harris, 2015, p. 149). I was a little frustrated when I read their response because I did not understand how my post could be misunderstood that I support political correctness because I felt I strongly opposed the use of it in most settings and I also felt that I worded that clearly enough in the first part of my post.
• do not view this misunderstanding as tension or unfairness. In fact, I feel like their response to my initial post is a real-time, real-life example of the need for our society to embrace the open conversation of race and ethnicity. We have to call racism for what it is. Our society can no longer afford to pretend that we live in a post-racial society when we do not. What this discussion question did for me was emphasize in my psyche that we have a coherence (Harris, 2015, p. 159) as a community of U.S. citizens and that regardless of race or ethnicity we have an equal say in how we feel and/or perceive the world around us.

The diversity in our online classroom and the discussions we openly responded to showed me that if I chose to exercise my privileged right to respectfully express how I perceive an issue about race and ethnicity then I have a duty to listen in the same respectful way to another’s perception of the same issue. Tolerance and understanding.

Part V Reflection and Application

One way that I can say that I have been affected by this class is described in Part I of this analysis. The incident at the store really opened my eyes to the world around me. I am not saying this to simply pay homage to a good class. That moment was a real experience for me and was more than just an encounter with a different race/ethnicity- that moment was a growing experience. In the immediate aftermath of the emotion I could see the high and low context cultural differences in conflict (Harris, 2015, p. 255). What I perceived as a threat was, in reality, a cry for help out of desperation. Had this incident not happened I probably would not have seen my own shortcoming in how I perceive the world around me. The striking implication for me is that I have had to endure my own moments of discrimination or harassment just for being Jewish. This tells me that Ethnocentrism can be poisonous if not taken in the correct context. This also tells me that I need to not only dig deeper the way Box 12.5 (Harris, 2015, pp. 304305) but to keep digging deeper and then dig deeper still. When my saliency reaches the level that I can understand an incident like this one as it happens and not after then I feel like I am doing my part.

Another important issue of race that this class affected was when my supervisor alluded to another race for being “lazy”. I was able to use terminology from this class to articulate to the owner of the company what happened. I realized how important it is to know what you are trying to say when you reach out to complain like this. Our culture in this country is one that has a strong tendency to punish those who speak out against something. Racism is alive in this country. But if one person can teach another and then perpetuate that cycle, we will experience

real and meaningful change in our culture.

I also feel that as a result of my interaction with others in this class and the concepts I learned in our reading material that I will make an effort to attend two different churches that I always am nearby but have never been to. For instance, I wash my clothes on weekends across the street from a Catholic Church. I always see the people going in and I am usually gone before their services are finished. It would require nothing of me to go a little earlier to the same location and then walk across the street and experience one of their services. The other place I would like to visit is a mosque. I am on the southwest side of town at least twice a month to run errands. I always see the giant church led by the Osteens. There are several mosques located in that general area. I have spoken with many Muslim individuals and the fact that I am Jewish has never been an issue for them any more than them being Muslim is for me. I feel like it would be a learning experience that challenges me.

Conclusion I cannot pretend that I have achieved any manner of enlightenment. In fact, the more I read and learn about the race and ethnic division in our country the more I realize that I have so much more to learn. In this class I have learned from the experiences of others through their discussion posts and their responses to my initial posts. We do not live in a post-racial society and many races and ethnicities are suffering because of this. I have had the opportunity to experience real life examples of how this affects others, like the incidents at the local store and at my work. But I have also taken steps to become wiser and more proactive. Tolerance and understanding are just the first steps to overcoming the racial divide in our country. Everyone needs to be proactive and not responsive in their approach to ending racism.

I have learned how ethnocentrism and socioeconomic status affects how others see different races and how they respond to them. I have also seen my own shortcomings. As I grow, I also see how I offend others when I do not fit the ‘norm’, like at my work. But in the same situation I get to experience the reward of being part of the solution and not part of the problem.

The book for this class is one of the books that a person keeps long after college is over and tuition debts are paid, it is something that you pass along to your kids. The same can be said of personal experiences. My only wish is that the generations before me would have taken steps to end racism in our country because our society is not owned by this generation or the previous. It is on loan to us by the future ones.

References

Blackwell, W. (2020, February). The Reverse Racism Effect: Are Cops More Hesitant to Shoot Black than White Suspects? Crimonology and Public Policy, 19(1), 361.

Bonilla-Silva, E. (2012, February). The Invisible Weight of Whiteness: the racial grammar of everyday life in contemporary America. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 35(2), 173-194. doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/01419870.2011.613997

Bonilla-Silva, E. (2019, February). Feeling Race: Theorizing the Racial Economy of Emotions. American Sociological Review, 84(1), 1-25.

Crosby, E. (2012). White Privilege, Black Burden: Lost Opportunities and Deceptive Narritives in School Desegregation in Claibborne County. The Oral History Review, 260.

Harris, M. P. (2015). Interracial Commuication Theory into Practice. Thousand Oaks, California: Sage.

Lovell, G. I. (2017). Reflections on a Funhouse Mirror-Racist Violence, the Protection of Pirvilege, And the Limits of Tolerance. Journal of the American Bar Foundation, 42(2), 571-576.