· Inequality
· Opportunity
· Misunderstanding
· Education
· Segregation
· Society
· Denial
· Action
· Status
· Inferiority
· Institution
· Rights
· Oppression
Lawrence argues that we cannot deny the reality of race in America. The continuing segregation of blacks in society promotes an inadequacy and inferiority complex that they continue to struggle with. I think he is trying to say that the institutions of whites need to admit that they are trying to make people feel inferior before any positive changes can take place.
Evidence:
· “That the purpose of the institution of segregation has always been to stigmatize and subordinate rather than to simply separate…”
· “In short, segregation American-style, like South African apartheid, has only one purpose to create and maintain a permanent lower class or subcaste defined as race”
· “Once it is understood that the injury results from the existence of the label of inferiority, it becomes clear the cure must involve the removal of that label”
· “State sanction of purposeful segregation that declares black children
· inferior in one district operates to stigmatize black children throughout the state”
When I first started reading this article I was not quite sure where the author was coming from. I thought the reading was going to be a lot about blame and such but it turned out to be a clear argument with a somewhat clear solution. At the end of the article it seemed like there was no hope and maybe blacks would have to keep struggling forever. Of course this is another article where my privilege as a white woman makes it hard for me to say anything. I do think it is hard to change the institution and that is probably what he is talking about. He mentions the word ingrained a lot and I think that it is true that a lot of these imbedded prejudices are locked up in our cultural blueprints. We don’t even know we are being prejudice half the time.
The author was talking about how segregation makes children in school feel inferior. They probably were not getting the high quality education that they needed and constantly were being reminded that they were different all the time. To me, the author was saying that this is what the system wanted and I don’t necessarily think that was the initial plan. I think the problem with whites in most cases is that we are afraid of people unlike us. The system was scared of integrating schools because they did not know enough about diversity and how it would affect their children. The problem with this is the children will always feel like how they are is wrong and that is such a problem. That is where we get the behavioral problems and the why try attitudes.
This is where the big picture clicked for me about oppression and everything else. White society fears all people that are unlike them so as the people in power we make those different from us, become the minority. So we segregate those minorities and give them fewer opportunities. This makes them less likely to learn the codes of power and less likely to thrive in society. The minorities began to hate the institution and the whites and power (for good reason) which make the issues of prejudice and race even worse. Without being able to learn the codes the minorities become impoverished (cycle of poverty). Now generations after slavery and such we are all still dealing with this ingrained issues of inequality. What I just said may be clearly obvious to some people but I just put it all together after reading all of these articles. I never quite understood where others were coming from until I got to read all of their points of view. What upsets me is how we end this viscous cycle?
I think it has already started with equal education and acknowledging the institution of segregation. The new generation of teachers can begin to change the system and prepare every student for the real world. The real world will still have those issues of segregation but with the credentials hopefully minorities will get more opportunities and if they do not get these opportunities legal actions can be taken. I was watching Remember the Titans the other night and it made me realize how far we have already come with changing the institution. I think future educators will become much more prepared to teach diverse classrooms and that will have lasting effects on the children’s outlook. We are slowly getting away from teaching inferiority to teaching optimism but we have to make sure that we do not teach the myths of education either.
*One thing that I did not like about this article was when the author said that if whites do not want affirmative action then they are refusing to acknowledge their superior status. I am keeping in mind how equal opportunity is still an issue in our society however I want to point out that sometimes a stigma is put on whites. I think there is a misconception that a lot whites in power are racists. I think a lot of us might disagree with affirmative action because in an ideal situation we want the person with the best qualifications to get the job. There are no hidden meanings or underlying issues in that statement and I am not ignoring my white privilege but now I wonder is that privilege the only reason I am successful? In my personal opinion I don’t think so.
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