Download Ethnic Groups and Discrimination

Race in Your Community
Running Head: RACE IN YOUR COMMUNITY
Race in Your Community
(ENTER YOUR NAME HERE)
(SCHOOL)
(COURSE)
(INSTRUCTOR)
(DATE)
1
Race in Your Community
2
Race in Your Community
I grew up in Springfield Montana. I am a Caucasian male. In Springfield, 93% of
my community is white and the rest are of African American, Hispanic, and other ethnic
groups. While growing up, I was never so immersed in cultural diversity. I had a
wonderful childhood and was lucky enough to have a pleasant, memorable experience of
life in Montana. I have lived in Springfield all of my life and was the only child. I was
surrounded by basically the same types of people for the most part of my young life. As I
got older and moved around during summer vacations with my family, I truly started to
appreciate the different race, skin color, culture, religion, language and ethnicity. All my
experiences and opinions on cultural diversity are derived from my time traveling with
my family and what I have learned in Montana. For me it was like moving to another
country. The culture shock was great. I knew that not everyone was the same but I had
never lived among people who did not share my customs, culture, religion, skin color, or
race.
In examining my activities in the community, with all things being equal, I do
indeed would feel comfortable with both blacks and whites, since that is mostly who I
have interacted with in my life. In fact, I don’t see a difference in the ethnic groups. Some
people in my community however do not feel the same way I feel. Some view other
people of different descent in a negative way. Moreover, it seems like they enjoy
contrasting themselves from them and perceive their group as being better than others.
Again, Brewer (1979) found that due to in-group bias, members of the group find
themselves to be good while the other group as bad. There exists a given positive opinion
Race in Your Community
3
for the other and an instant negative dismissive attitude to those who do not "belong."
Again, this is what makes up the racist attitude.
I try to stay away from individuals who have this type of thinking. In some cases,
I find that if I distance myself from these individuals they believe that I am the bad
person. People in my community need to be more understanding and view each other as
human beings. Love has no color and every individual should have that mentality. As
times change my hopes for my community to change with it. In the mean time I will
continue to do my best to give every ethnic group a chance.
I always thought that school, government and other institutions create order and
lessen prejudice and racism that could possibly take place in my community. Given the
upper hand of authorities in implementing rules and regulations, I always thought that it
was the case. Apparently, it was the reverse. As Myers (2005) stated, segregation by the
use of social institutions such as schools, media and government create more prejudice.
In fact, the political leaders never take the middle ground and instead reflect or refract
certain attitudes of his or her community.
In my observation of the actions and policies that the political leaders of my
community implement, I noticed an existing schism between white political leaders and
black people and/or black political leaders and white people. More often than not,
privileges and services are given towards the political leaders' race and little for the other.
According to Thomas Pettigrew (1979), human beings are very much susceptible
to committing the attribution error when explaining our behaviors and those people who
belong outside our group. The group serving bias explains the former example wherein
Race in Your Community
4
the dominant white community attributed so easily the behavior as negative, where in if
the case were the reverse, they would have easily made up an excuse for the action of
their group member. This is actually evident in how the local media treats white people
versus black people. Often times, the achievements that are brought to the news done by
whites are more sensationalized than for the case of blacks. More often than not, blacks
are associated with crime, violence and discord.
Another prevalent phenomenon that exists in my community is the just world
phenomenon. In a study by Melvin Lerner and colleagues (Lerner & Miller, 1978), it was
found that the mere observation of an innocent individual being victimized makes it
easier to see the victim as less worthy. Sometimes, I feel as if I am victim of this
tendency just because I am single and have a 9 year old kid. Just because I was pregnant
out of wedlock and oftentimes need to assert myself in order to be respected, I find that
people give me less credit that I think I am worth.
Having examined the extensiveness of representation in my community, there is
no doubt that racial groups are favored over others. However, I noticed that though the
minority groups are accommodated by the community leaders, they are also categorized
into a special category with peculiar characteristics than the mainstream population.
According to Hewstone & colleagues (1992), this is the accommodation that is called
subtyping. As an extension to this, the phenomenon of sub grouping follows. Sub
grouping is still another accommodation strategy to minority groups. However, it entails
the creation of new views or stereotypes that the group may possess (Richards &
Hewstone, 2001).
Race in Your Community
5
In the middle of all this external view of things is my further examination of
myself and how I have come to develop a certain cognition and behavior just because of
how others view me. This is the stereotype threat and self-fulfilling prophecy victimizing
me, unconsciously shaping myself into how others see me supposedly. This is another
consequence of racism and the accompanying prejudice and discrimination others have
for me as well. What I see is that dominance in number is not a guarantee that one not be
attacked by racism due to prejudice. Just like a two-way mirror, minority communities
have some preexisting notions of what a black woman is or what she is like.
Though I feel that my color of my skin does not lead me to getting what I deserve,
at the back of my mind, there is guilt for being so passive towards this subject.
Unfortunately, my powers in resolving these inequities are limited. I could try my very
best to propagate the fight against racism but the irony of it all is that our minds play
against us. As much as I want to do something or to change my point of view, the preexisting notions of race have hardened and settled in my veins just like plaque. The thing
about racism is that it is well documented and well explained. Yet, the reduction of
instances of abuse and discrimination has not been eliminated.
According to Myers (2005), the prejudice and the discrimination that results from
racism is made of interrelated factors that proposes no simple remedy towards the
betterment of inter personal relationships between mankind and his fellow men. Despite
this difficulty, there is always a way to alleviate things by anticipation of prejudice
(Myers, 2005). He proposed that by seeking cooperative and equal status in relationships,
prejudice may be reduced (Myers, 2005). Also, he suggests that despite the racial
Race in Your Community
discrimination through the various social institutions, members of the community can
easily withdraw support by utilizing the media.
There are lots of ways that offer prevention even if the cure hasn't been found
yet. Just like what I mentioned earlier, it is the automated behavior that makes me
succumb to performing racial prejudice and discriminatory attacks. Yet again, Myers
(2005) found a solution for this. Use the guilt that you feel in the habit of doing things
incorrectly and channel this to motivate thyself to improve and break the habit of
widening the gap between races. By doing so, it is our conscience, the human nature that
we rarely value these days that can serve great use as an impetus for social change
towards human solidarity and harmony.
Although I am older now and interact with many different people, my childhood
still rings true as I find myself comparing my race to other races, although it may not be
the right thing to do I find sometimes I do it without knowing? As society continues to
change and race remains a factor in so many lives, I fight a battle within me to realize
that race is just a color and the person themselves ultimately counts in the end.
6
Race in Your Community
References
Hewstone, M., Hopkins, N., & Rout, D.A. (1992). Cognitive models of stereotype
change: Generalization and subtyping in young people's views of the police.
European Journal of Social Psychology, 22, 219-234.
Lerner, M.J., & Miller, D.T. (1978). Just world research and the attribution process:
Looking back and ahead. Psychological Bulletin, 85, 1030-1051.
Myers, David G. (2005). Social Psychology. McGraw Hill: NY.
The people in my community have similarities and differences in terms of
physicality. I currently live in a small community in a nice neighborhood. The
community where I live has about 2 or three white families but mostly black.
7
Race in Your Community
8