Concept Identification Project

HDF 110-RACISM

RACISM: Racism is a system in which one race maintains supremacy over another race through a set of attitudes, behaviors, social structures, and institutional power. Racism is a “system of structured dis-equality where the goods, services, rewards, privileges, and benefits of the society are available to individuals according to their presumed membership in” particular racial groups (Barbara Love, 1994. Understanding Internalized Oppression). A person of any race can have prejudices about people of other races, but only members of the dominant social group can exhibit racism because racism is prejudice plus privilege and the institutional power to enforce it.

RACISM AND WHITE PRIVILEGE

When did racial differences become relevant and how did white privilege develop in America?

Chapter 3 (Johnson text)

Whites themselves developed the idea of “whiteness” as defining a better or privileged class of people (socially constructed). They could do so because they were far greater in numbers. This idea justified slavery and other treacherous treatment of people who are different (Native Americans) from a moral standpoint (If they were seen as less than human…the treatment did not appear as offensive to the Constitution nor God…)

Some Key Exosystem Considerations relating to Black History

Dred Scott Decision(1857)- Dred Scott was the name of an African-American slave. He was taken by his master, an officer in the U.S. Army, from the slave state of Missouri to the free state of Illinois and then to the free territory of Wisconsin, living there for several years.

When the Army ordered his master to go back to Missouri, he took Scott with him back to that slave state, where his master died. In 1846, Scott sued for his freedom in court with the help of abolitionist lawyers, claiming he should be free since he had lived on free soil for a long time. The case went all the way to the United States Supreme Court.

In March of 1857, Scott lost the decision as seven out of nine Justices on the Supreme Court declared no slave or descendant of a slave could be a U.S. citizen, or ever had been a U.S. citizen. As a non-citizen, the court stated, Scott had no rights and could not sue in a Federal Court and must remain a slave.

At that time there were nearly 4 million slaves in America. The Court's ruling affected the status of every enslaved and free African-American in the United States. The ruling served to turn back the clock concerning the rights of African-Americans, ignoring the fact that black men in five of the original States had been full voting citizens dating back to the Declaration of Independence in 1776.

The Supreme Court also ruled that Congress could not stop slavery in the newly emerging territories and declared the Missouri Compromise of 1820 to be unconstitutional. The Missouri Compromise prohibited slavery north of the parallel 36°30´ in the Louisiana Purchase. The Court declared it violated the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution which prohibits Congress from depriving persons of their property without due process of law.

Anti-slavery leaders in the North cited the controversial Supreme Court decision as evidence that Southerners wanted to extend slavery throughout the nation and ultimately rule the nation itself. Southerners approved the Dred Scott decision believing Congress had no right to prohibit slavery in the territories. Abraham Lincoln reacted with disgust to the ruling and was spurred into political action, publicly speaking out against it. Overall, the Dred Scott decision had the effect of widening the political and social gap between North and South and took the nation closer to the brink of Civil War.

(Copyright © 1996 The History Place)

Emancipation Proclamation- January 1, 1863- an executive order that was issued by United States President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863, during the civil war under his war powers. It proclaimed the freedom of 3.1 million of the nation's 4 million slaves, and immediately freed 50,000 of them, with the rest freed as Union armies advanced. On September 22, 1862, Lincoln announced that he would issue a formal emancipation of all slaves in any state of the Confederate States that did not return to Union control by January 1, 1863. The actual order was signed and issued January 1, 1863; it named the locations under Confederate control where it would apply. He was able to use this authority as "Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy" under Article II, section 2 of the U.S. Constitution.

THE FOLLOWING AMENDMENTS ARE COLLECTIVELY KNOW AS THE RECONSTRUCTION AMENDMENTS:

Thirteenth Amendment-(Dec 18th 1865) Officially abolished and continues to prohibit slavery and involuntary servitude except as punishment for a crime. This along with the 14th and 15th Amendments to the Constitution were part of the reconstruction amendments. Even though President Lincoln had signed the Emancipation Proclamation, it did not address the border states and there was worry that people might argue that it was only a wartime measure.

Fourteenth Amendment-(1868) No state shall deprive a citizen of U.S. of life, liberty, pursuit of happiness…(contains the Due Process and Equal Protection clauses)

Fifteenth Amendment(1870)-Cannot deprive a person the right to vote based on color or race

“Separate but Equal Docterine”- a legal doctrine in United States Constitutional Law that justified systems of segregation. Under this doctrine, services, facilities and public accommodations were allowed to be separated by race, on the condition that the quality of each group's public facilities was to remain equal. The phrase was derived from a Louisiana law of 1890. This doctrine was upheld in the legal case Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) and continued to be the policy until the Supreme Court overturned it in 1954.

Jim Crow Laws-Enacted in southern states meant to further segregation and keep white services separate from black services (including schools, public works, etc.)

Brown vs. Board of Education (1954) a landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court that declared state laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students unconstitutional. The decision overturned the Plessy v Ferguson decision of 1896 which allowed state-sponsored segregation. The Supreme Court’s unanimous (9–0) decision stated that "separate educational facilities are inherently unequal." Segregation was ruled to be a violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. This ruling paved the way for integration and the civil rights movement.

African American Civil Rights Movement (1950’s and onward)-Initially a religious based movement, non-violence, civil disobedience.

Goals: Desegregate Public Institutions

Fight Jim Crow laws

Address denial of economic opportunities and resources

Increase Blacks participation in voting

Increase participation of Blacks in public affairs

Address violent and terroristic acts towards Blacks

Montgomery, Alabama Bus Boycott- A political and social protest campaign that started in 1955 as a means to oppose the city's policy of racial segregation on its public transit system. Many historically significant figures, such as Martin Luther King, Jr., Ralph Abernathy and others involved in the Civil Rights movement were involved in the boycott. The boycott resulted in a crippling financial deficit for the Montgomery public transit system, because the city's black population who were the drivers of the boycott were also the bulk of the system's paying customers. It started on December 1, 1955, when Rosa Parks, an African American woman, was arrested for refusing to surrender her seat to a white person, to December 20, 1956 when a federal ruling took effect, and led to a United States Supreme Court decision that declared the Alabama and Montgomery laws requiring segregated buses to be unconstitutional.

Little Rock Nine- A group of Black students who were enrolled in Little Rock Central High (Chosen by the NAACP based on their excellent academic history) in 1957. Resulted in the “Little Rock Crisis,” in which the students were initially prevented from entering the previously all white school by the Arkansas Governor, Orval Faubus. Governor Faubus called the Arkansas National Guard in to prevent the students from entering school and mobs of protestors threatened the students and their families. The black students were finally allowed to enter following the intervention of President Eisenhower. This is considered to be one of the most important events in the African American Civil Rights Movement and began the movement toward public school integration.

Integration of University of Mississippi-In late September 1962, after a legal battle, an African-American man named James Meredith attempted to enroll at the University of Mississippi. Chaos briefly broke out on the Ole Miss campus, with riots ending in twodead, hundreds wounded and many others arrested, after the Kennedy administration called out some 31,000 National Guardsmen and other federal forces to enforce order.

Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act was passed, prohibiting employment discrimination on the basis of race, religion, national origin, or sex.

Selma-During the civil war, Selma was one of the main centers of weapons production for the confederacy. In the 1960’s Selma clung strongly to maintaining segregation even though the Court’s had ruled against it. Schools remained segregated, as well as many public places such as restaurants and movie theaters. Black individuals were still often beaten or arrested for sitting in “white sections.” Additionally, even though over half of the citizens in Selma were black, only around 1% were registered to vote as a result of overly cumbersome electoral laws that included required subjective literacy tests, and restrictive voting registration opportunities. As a result Black could not serve on juries or in local office. Several civil rights groups started organizing in 1963 to address the issue of segregation and voting rights. One positive result was the desegregation of the public library in Selma. In summer of 1964 a local judge issued an injunction barring more than three people to organize who were affiliated with one of the know civil rights groups and more than 41 prominent civil rights leaders including Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. In January of 1965, Dr. King defied the injunction and spoke (by invitation at a local church.) Soon after, several civil rights groups decided to revive voting initiative attempts with negative results once again from local government. Soon after, leader decided to organize a march from Selma to the state capital of Montgomery to bring national attention to the issues of inequity in voting rights. The first March occurred on March 7, 1965 with approximately 600 marchers resulting in attacks from local authorities and state troopers driving the marchers back. This was covered by national press and television news. A second symbolic march led by Dr. King on March 9 was joined by 100s more people including several clergy members and nuns and included 1/3 white marchers. This effort was again met with violence and resistance. Finally, King and other leaders filed for protection for a third larger scale march from Selma to Montgomery and were granted it. The final march started on March 21, 1965 with approximately 3.200 participants and by the time the group reached Montgomery on March 25, the number had grown to 25,000 people. This helped increase public support for the cause and later that year, congress passed the Voting Rights Act of 1965, that provided federal oversight and enforcement for all citizens in jurisdictions that had a pattern of underrepresentation and discrimination in voting practices.

NATIVE AMERICANS

American Indian Wars Native Americans inhabited our country first. They had a highly developed and functional culture and religion before the arrival of Europeans. Their cultural was one that highly respected the natural environment. Wars resulted from multiple conflicts between American settlers or the federal government and the Native American people. These conflicts started from the time of earliest colonial settlement until approximately 1890. In some cases, wars resulted from conflicts and competition for resources between the European colonists and Native Americans. Resulting population pressure occurred as settlers expanded their territory, generally pushing indigenous populations northward and westward. As conflict between European populations developed, the opposing Europeans would sometimes enlist the help of tribes to join their side and fight against their opponents.

In addition to the conflict over land, European settlers along with the Federal government expected the Native Americans to abandon their own culture and adapt to the culture of Europeans in terms of language, education, religion, etc… Also, European Americans brought diseases to which Native Americans had developed no immunity.

Forced Assimilation- The cultural assimilation of Native Americans was an assimilation effort by the United States to transform Native American culture to European–American culture between the years of 1790–1920

Indian Relocation Act of 1830- A law that was passed by Congress on May 28, 1830, during the presidency of Andrew Jackson. It authorized the president to negotiate with Indian tribes in the Southern United States for their removal to federal territory west of the Mississippi River in exchange for their homelands.

Trail of Tears is a name given to the forced relocation of Native American nations from southeastern parts of the United States following the Indian Removal Act of 1830. The removal included many members of the following tribes, who did not wish to assimilate: Cherokee, Muscogee, Seminole, Chickasaw, and Choctaw nations, among others, from their homelands to Indian Territory west of the Mississippi River. The Native Americans who chose to stay and assimilate were allowed to become citizens in their states and of the United States. The phrase "Trail of Tears" originated from a description of the removal of the Choctaw Nation in 1831.

Many Native Americans suffered from exposure, disease and starvation on the route to their destinations. Many died, including 2,000-6,000 of 16,542 relocated Cherokee. European Americans and African American freedmen and slaves also participated in the Chickasaw, Choctaw, Muscogee Creek and Seminole forced relocations.

Mexican Americans

Similarly, during the Mexican American War, the United States annexed land that had previously been Mexican territory. Also, during the Great Depression of the 1930’s The Mexican Repatriation program sought to have people of Mexican descent voluntarily return to Mexico, however, many were forcibly removed against their will. In total, up to one million persons of Mexican ancestry were deported, approximately 60 percent of those individuals were actually U.S. citizens. During times of economic growth and prosperity, immigrants are often welcome. During times of slow economic growth and recession, immigrants are seen as undesirable.

Ethnic Discrimination (Involved “white” discrimination towards other people who were “white”)- Legally sanctioned racism sanctioned privileges and rights for White Americans not granted to Native Americans, African Americans, Asian Americans, and Latin Americans are well documented throughout American history. European Americans (particularly Anglo Americans) have experienced privilege by law in matters of education, immigration, voting rights, citizenship, land acquisition, and criminal procedure over periods of time extending from the 17th century to the 1960s. During the heavy periods of immigration during the 18th and 19th centuries, many white non-Protestant groups immigrating from Europe - particularly Jews, Irish people, Polish and Italians – also suffered xenophobic exclusion and other forms of ethnicity-based discrimination in the American society. This was based primarily cultural and ethnic differences that included religion and language. Although Freedom of Religion is a cornerstone of our American ideology, Christian privilege continues to permeate our society.

Religious Privilege in America? Examples?

Immigration Act of 1917- Was passed over President Woodrow Wilson’s veto. It created further categories that barred people from immigration: homosexuals, alcoholics, “feeble-minded,” and “physically defective.” Also barred people over the age of 16 who were illiterate. Created a head tax per immigrant. People from the “Barred Asiatic” zone were also barred from entering.

The Influence of Historic Events on Privilege, Prejudice and Discrimination- Often, wars between other countries, in which the United States has involvement have resulted in incidences in prejudice and discrimination here in our country. A couple of examples include Japanese Internment Camps and the increased prejudice and discrimination towards Arab or Muslim Americans following the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001.

Model Minority”- refers to a minority ethnic, racial, or religious group whose members achieve a higher degree of success than the population average. It is most commonly applied to ethnic minorities. This success is typically measured in income, education, and related factors such as low crime rate and high family stability. Generalized statistics are often cited to back up their model minority status such as high educational achievement and a high representation in white collar professions (jobs such as medicine, investment banking, management consulting, finance, engineering, and law). People of Asian and Indian decent are most often associated with this label. Indians and Asian Americans may also be commonly stereotyped by the general public as being studious, intelligent, successful, elitist, brand name conscious, yet paradoxically passive. The Model Minority refers to groups as a whole, not individuals members of a minority.

https://aapf.org/japanese-internment

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yo1bYj-R7F0