erica

ECSU

Department of English, History, and Interdisciplinary Studies

Intercultural Communication

COM 201D2 (Summer Session 2026)

LEARNING ACTIVITY

CHAPTER SIX

OBJECTIVE: You will understand prejudice and intolerance and distinguish between aspects of perception as they relate to intolerance.

*Case Study: DWB [Driving while black]

Arnell and his friends, Jim and Mike, all African American, were traveling from their apartment on Main Street to play a music gig in a band contest at the university. They were chatting and did not notice the change in speed limit from 40 to 30 MPH. They were promptly pulled over for traveling at 40 in a 30 MPH zone. The officer didn’t only check Arnell’s license, however, but insisted on seeing all the licenses of all the men in the vehicle. He then wanted to look in the trunk—“just a random check,” he said. Arnell knew that people sped by this intersection all the time, but he rarely saw anyone being stopped here. He did not know that there were two low-cost housing units in the neighborhood (housing people of a variety of racial groups), which were a place of frequent drug stops and calls to the police for incidents of violence. As the White officer looked over his license and registration, Arnell tried to remember how many officers of color he had seen in the city police force.

· Is intolerance involved? What should you do?

· How does the case relate to some of the different dimensions of intolerance described in the book?

· Does racism (or other intolerances) exist in your community? At which level(s) do you see it (e.g., individual, societal, institutional)?

ECSU

Department of English, History, and Interdisciplinary Studies

Intercultural Communication

COM 201D2 (Summer Session 2026)

ECSU

Department of English, History, and Interdisciplinary Studies

Intercultural Communication

COM 201D2 (Summer Session 2026)

LEARNING ACTIVITY

CHAPTER SIX

OBJECTIVE: You will understand prejudice and intolerance and distinguish between aspects of perception as they relate to intolerance.

*Case Study: DWB [Driving while black]

Arnell and his friends, Jim and Mike, all African American, were traveling from their apartment on Main Street to play a music gig in a band contest at the university. They were chatting and did not notice the change in speed limit from 40 to 30 MPH. They were promptly pulled over for traveling at 40 in a 30 MPH zone. The officer didn’t only check Arnell’s license, however, but insisted on seeing all the licenses of all the men in the vehicle. He then wanted to look in the trunk—“just a random check,” he said. Arnell knew that people sped by this intersection all the time, but he rarely saw anyone being stopped here. He did not know that there were two low-cost housing units in the neighborhood (housing people of a variety of racial groups), which were a place of frequent drug stops and calls to the police for incidents of violence. As the White officer looked over his license and registration, Arnell tried to remember how many officers of color he had seen in the city police force.

· Is intolerance involved? What should you do?

· How does the case relate to some of the different dimensions of intolerance described in the book?

· Does racism (or other intolerances) exist in your community? At which level(s) do you see it (e.g., individual, societal, institutional)?