"A New Civil Rights Movement" - Bob Herbert +

"It is ironic, to say the least, that now, nearly a century and a half after the Emancipation Proclamation, much of the most devastating damage to black families, and especially black children, is self-inflicted" - Bob Herbert. This statement is like an unavoidable sting. Why? One huge reason - I'm Black.  Throughout the entire Herbert article, this statement stuck with me as I read through the unsettling statistics about Black people as a race.  The startling data caused me to frequent the question "why". Why are Blacks the face of so many problems including poverty, HIV/AIDS and lack of education? While Herbert does not give his reason for why Blacks undergo many of these issues, he does give a solution - another civil rights movement. This solution looks dandy and terrific on paper, but how does the movement begin, and how do we know it will be sufficient to extinguish these statistics and horrific stereotypes of African-Americans?  While another civil rights movement would be great for a multitude of reasons, it is not the quick fix for the complexities of problems that Blacks in America are faced with. I believe that multiple issues are the cause of the hardships Blacks face whether it be self-infliction, environment, the American society as a whole, racism or a combination of all of these.  With multiple facets in play it will take far more than a movement for civil rights to rebuild the brokenness from these issues.

The lack of consideration for all of the elements that play a role in the setbacks faced by Blacks in poverty and dealing with many of the other issues mentioned in Herbert's article are ignored also by presidential candidate Newt Gingrich. In one of Gingrich's latest speeches, he proposes his idea of a fix to Blacks on food stamps. Gingrich says that Blacks should start demanding paychecks. His adamant statement about how Black people on food stamps should simply just demand paychecks really pinched a strong nerve after viewing this. If it were that easy to just "demand a paycheck" then many of the population of those on food stamps would probably choose the other route.  First off, examine today's economy - it isn't as simple as demanding a paycheck. This speech eludes to the sense that Blacks just need to work to fix the problem. It isn't that simple. So many other factors play a role in the cycle of food stamps and welfare. In my opinion, Gingrich's stance confirms the lack of adequate research and adds on to the ignorance of the multiple other factors that play a major role in Black people who do use food stamps and why.

Is Race Real? PBS + "The Roots of Racial Classification" + "How White People Became White"

I decided to complete the Sorting People PBS assignment while at work so I grabbed a co-worker and close friend of mine to help me out with this activity.  I figured this would be a really neat way to have 2 perspectives present while going through the racial matching process.  My friend is Asian.  There we were, choosing who belonged in which category.  Fair skin tones go under "White", automatic guess.  Darker complexions go under "Black", and the in-between were fair game for Hispanic, Asian and American-Indian categories.  Soon into the puzzle we found ourselves second-guessing because we were running out of room and were going back and forth on our opposing views about who should go in which category.  About 1/4 of my way through the activity, I found it absurd and pointless to try and place people under different racial classifications.  I grew tired of running out of boxes for a certain race or trying to figure out what they were.  To me, each of these people are clearly human, so what difference did it make what race they were?  To my surprise, I found that I had only guessed 5 races correctly.  My friend and I were both shocked at the results.  This proves that race cannot be simply guessed by skin color because some people who I thought were White were actually Black, and some that I guessed as Asian were actually American Indian.  This made me stop and think about racial classifications today.  Automatically we categorize one another - male/female, young/old, attractive/unattractive, Black/White/Other.  The Black/White/Other category is one that I seem to have been grappling with lately because it is far more complex than what it seems.

Three facts that stood out to me:  Colorblindness will not end racism, Race is a modern idea, and Race has no genetic basis.
The point about colorblindness not ending racism stood out to me because after reading through all of the facts about racism and going through the activity, I came to the conclusion for myself that colorblindness could be a potential remedy for ending racism.  I did not take into account all of the many stereotypes and false judgments that are rooted in skin color before reading this fact. 
I enjoyed reading about race as a modern idea because it coincided with some of the discussion and lecture from Tuesdays' class.  The fact that race is a socially constructed idea that has not been around forever is crucial in education about where racism roots from.
Race having no genetic basis was also interesting because it backs up the argument that race is in fact a modern idea.  This fact also goes alone with the activity of matching races.  Clearly no race has the same genetic makeup across the board.

In the readings "The Roots of Racial Classification" and "Hot White People Became White", we see a merge of how racial classification began.  Both articles discuss different races and how skin color came into the forefront of identity.  Both articles discuss Whiteness and how it even came into play.  The major take-away for me from all of this is the fact that race is used to bring one group to the top ranking, and place all others far below it.  This main group being "White" people and the rest being all other races.  Hence the term "racism" in order to keep other groups below the "highest ranked".  This is crucial in understanding how racism or race even came into existence because without the knowledge of how it happened, a clear direction or solution becomes out of reach.

Before reading the Peggy McIntosh article I had an understanding of "White Privilege" but no in-depth look into what it really is.  It's so beneficial to be able to hear from another race's point of view.  As for privileges that I have, my five are:
1. Being a student at UT
2. Having a car
3. Living in the U.S.
4. Having my own room or living space
5. Speaking English as a first language