Reading Journal

Hill 1

Kyle Hill

Professor Hill

ENGL 1A & 1AS

3 February 2021

Sample Unit 2 Reading Journal: “Racism Today is Subtle, Insidious, and Systemic”

● Dr. Quist-Adade’s thesis or central claim is that racism is even more a problem

today because people are scared to talk about it for fear of being labeled racist or

losing privilege, so they silently participate in a system that advantages some

and disadvantages others; he also emphasizes that racism is a social construct

that people have created to signal insiders and outsiders and that behaviors can

change - this is not a hopeless situation.

● Dr. Quist-Adade’s paper seemed logical and well presented to me. The one thing

that I did not observe Dr. Quist-Adade do in the paper was handling opposing

viewpoints. While Dr. Quist-Adade does cite sources in his paper, he mainly uses

his sources to support and illustrate his ideas, not necessarily challenge them.

It’s hard for me to imagine what those opposing viewpoints might be since I tend

to agree with Dr. Quist-Adade. For this reason, I think it would have been helpful

for me to see how others might argue against the idea that racism is subtle and

systemic just so I have a better idea of what the opposition might say.

● “For example, racism in the USA has ceased to be the avowed commitment of

Southern white supremacists. Now its ​INSIDIOUS ​form is an unconscious habit

corrupting legions of Euro-Americans, including some well-meaning ones among

them” (Quist-Adade).

Hill 2

○ Adjective: operating or proceeding in an inconspicuous or seemingly

harmless way but actually with grave effect.

○ My cousin was ready to divorce her husband by the time she realized how

INSIDIOUS ​their daily quarrels and disagreements had become.