Frequently Asked Questions

Question: Why isn't racism considered hate? People treat other races as if they are inferior, abuse them, and there are still cases where people are discriminated against. Why isn't this considered hate?

Answer: Racism can certainly be motivated by, associated with, and manifest itself via hateful behavior like we saw in the Michael Richards clip from the Laugh Factory in 2006. What is important to understand is that if we only associate racism with hate we will be missing the larger picture of understanding how racism impacts people of color and how racism is woven into our social structure through laws, public policies, popular culture, educational curriculum, lending practices, hiring decisions, housing availability, interest rates, access to health care, and life opportunities. It's an everyday structural phenomenon that most experience on a daily basis whether they are aware of it or not.

Think about the video in class True Colors, the story of Glen and John as they navigate life in St Louis and how radically different and unequal their experience was. This inequality had nothing to do with gender, class, or sexual orientation. Did you see any hate in that video? Hate on the order of the Michael Richards clip? Would Glen even know that the job or apartment was still available without the Primetime Live hidden cameras? Would Glen know he was being charged a higher down payment and bottom line price than John? Would you even see this type of everyday racism? No. So if we don't see or hear about incidents like Emmett Till, Vincent Chin, Rodney King, Michael Richards, Oscar Grant, then racism doesn't exist? It's the everyday racism that we don't see that is the most pervasive and damaging to our communities. The lasting effects of past racism that produced the vast racial inequality we experience today is much more harmful to our communities than a particular racist hateful act such as cross burning or Michael Richards yelling racial slurs at some comedy club customers.

Rebuttal: I still have a problem with the fact that racism is not hate. I do not dismiss the fact that racism is about power and money. I totally agree with that. For many it is all about money and power, we should not just dismiss the fact that at a certain point, hatred comes in. After watching the "Eyes on the Prize" and Rodney King's beating on youtube, I definitely think it is not just a matter of money and power. There are several ways in which Whites can impose white supremacy on people. To me when physical violence sets in, racial issues become hatred. How on earth can two grown men mutilate a young innocent boy? How can that be justified? By power? No, I don't think so. When someone intentionally takes away someone's life, or hurts him just because of their race, gender, sexual orientation or whatever, I call it HATRED and nothing else. I was so choked up to see Rodney King being beating up mercilessly on the ground handcuffed, by about 6 policemen. Is that power? Can't six policemen neutralize someone without beating him up almost to the point of death? Yet they were found... NOT GUILTY. How should we consider this sentence? As power? Still no. That kind of judgment means, "they are nothing, they are not even better than our dogs." Why then should they be treated fairly? I repeat however that I agree that racism is about money and power and that hatred does not apply to all those who practice racism.

Answer: It is problematic to only or primarily associate racism with hate since if you do, then:

  • Nice people can't be racist. "I'm sorry, that position has already been filled." or "I'm sorry, that apartment has already been rented."  Smiley Face Racism Smiley Face as one author puts it.
  • Laws can't be racist - Slavery, Segregation, Chinese Exclusion Act, Executive Order 9066, Mexican Repatriation, Indian Removal, etc.
  • College admissions criteria can't be racist
  • Standardized tests can't be racist
  • Lending practices can't be racist
  • Stand up comedian's material can't be racist, "Hey, it's just a joke, lighten up! You people are too sensitive."
  • Insurance premiums based on zip codes can't be racist.

If we associate racism with power and understand it as part of our social structure, then we can understand how pervasive and influential racism is in our daily lives. Hate can be an integral part of racism, but it is a small slice of the racism pie.

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Question: Are Blacks the racial group that have suffered the most hate crimes?

Answer: For 2007, yes, by a large margin. According to the FBI:

In 2007, law enforcement agencies reported that 4,724 single-bias hate crime offenses were racially motivated. Of these offenses:

  • 69.3 percent were motivated by anti-black bias.
  • 18.4 percent stemmed from anti-white bias.
  • 6.0 percent were a result of bias against groups of individuals consisting of more than one race (anti-multiple races, group).
  • 4.6 percent resulted from anti-Asian/Pacific Islander bias.
  • 1.6 percent were motivated by anti-American Indian/Alaskan Native bias.

Historically who has suffered the most hate crimes would require more research and statistics have only been recently compiled and tracked. For more info, see the FBI's website on Uniform Crime Reports 
These types of discussions can become a counter-productive competition that Ethnic Studies folks refer to as The Oppression Olympics.

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Question: What is going to be on the midterm/final? What is the best way to study for it?

Answer: Take a look at the Schedule since it has every topic we discussed, the readings, and the videos we saw in class. I recommend getting together with other students from the class and going over notes and studying together in a group. The midterm will be 80-100 questions, True/False, Multiple Choice, and Fill in.

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Question: Are student groups like APASL (Asian Pacific American Students for Leadership), BSU (Black Student Union), CSA (Chinese Student Association) etc. racist?

Answer: Student groups like the JSA, KSAS, LEAD!, VSA etc. would not be considered racist since they don't advocate hating on a particular racial group, they don't exclude members based on race, they don't create a system of advantage based on their race, and they don't create or maintain a structure of domination based on essentialist categories of race. They seek to be empowering and inclusive of groups that have been neglected from the mainstream discourse.

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Question: What is race exactly?

Answer: It depends on who you ask. If we were to look at the US Census, then "race" would be defined as racial categories. More specifically:

The Census Bureau collects race data in accordance with guidelines provided by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget and these data are based on self-identification. The racial categories included in the census questionnaire generally reflect a social definition of race recognized in this country, and not an attempt to define race biologically, anthropologically, or genetically. In addition, it is recognized that the categories of the race item include racial and national origin or socio-cultural groups. People may choose to report more than one race to indicate their racial mixture, such as "American Indian and White." People who identify their origin as Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish may be of any race.

In addition, it is recognized that the categories of the race item include both racial and national origin or socio-cultural groups. You may choose more than one race category. If we were to look for a working definition of "race" itself, in Racial Formation in the United States, Professor Michael Omi from UC Berkeley defines race as, "A concept that signifies and symbolizes social conflicts and interests by referring to different types of human bodies."

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Question: What are the correct terms for different racial groups?

Answer: It depends on who you ask.

  • To look historically where these groupings first started, Carolus Linnaeus, a swedish botanist and zoologist invented Linnaean taxonomy in 1735 and classifies Homo sapians in five "taxa" or what we might think of as racial categories.

"These categories were Africanus, Americanus, Asiaticus, Europeanus, and Monstrosus. They were based on place of origin at first, and later on skin colour.[17] Each race had certain characteristics that he considered endemic to individuals belonging to it. Native Americans were choleric, red, straightforward, eager and combative. Africans were phlegmatic, black, slow, relaxed and negligent. Asians were melancholic, yellow, inflexible, severe and avaricious. Europeans were sanguine and pale, muscular, swift, clever and inventive. The "monstrous" humans included such entities as the "agile and fainthearted"dwarf of the Alps, the Patagonian giant, and the monorchid Hottentot.[18]"


It is important to note there were characteristics assigned to each group and his concept of a hierarchy. This classification of racial groups, their assumed characteristics, and a racial hierarchy concept is still with us today. Reference Wikipedia and Linnaeus' book Systema Naturae.

  • Following Linnaeus' work was Johann Friedrich Blumenbach whose racial classificationsfrom On the Natural Variety of Mankind in 1775. On page 303, Blumenbach lists five categories:
    • Caucasian, the white race
    • Mongolian, the yellow race
    • Malayan, the brown race
    • Ethiopian, the black race
    • American, the red race

Although he retained geographical names for his categories, the change marked a shift from geography to physical appearance and craniometry. These phenotypical classifications also included his perceptions of beauty, mental capacity, and a racial hierarchy and have been very persistent through time and space.

  • If we were to look at the US Census, then the standards for racial groups would be:

American Indian or Alaska Native; Asian; Black or African American; Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander; and White. Instead of allowing a multiracial category as was originally suggested in public and congressional hearings, the OMB adopted the Interagency Committee's recommendation to allow respondents to select one or more races when they self-identify. With the OMB's approval, the Census 2000 questionnaires also include a sixth racial category: Some Other Race. There are also two minimum categories for ethnicity: Hispanic or Latino and Not Hispanic or Latino. Hispanics and Latinos may be of any race.

Note: The Census Bureau has included a question on race since the first census in 1790. The racial categories have also changed over time. Marking more than one race was not possible until the 2000 census.

http://www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/race/racefactcb.html

  • The terms we commonly use in class are Asian, Black, Latino, Native American, and White.

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Question: Something I couldn't quite wrap my mind around was your "zip code" example of racism. From a business/legal standpoint, it seems perfectly legitimate to discriminate based on zip codes on the grounds that certain zip codes house people that are more prone to accidents than others. However, you showed us that it's easy for this kind of mindset to be warped and transformed in justification for discriminating against a certain race.

Answer: Auto insurance companies charge different rates for the exact same person and car if they move and give a different zip code where the car is stored. This is due to auto theft statistics. This makes sense from a business standpoint since a company should charge a higher premium if they statistically have more losses within that zip code. The point was that a particular law, public policy, or business practice may not have a racist intent, but may produce racial inequality.

Question: Why is it that UC admissions aren't considered racist because the majority of applicants admitted are Asian? I understand the whole point about meritocracy--each individual considered for admission has proven themselves worthy through achievements they have personally made, and it just so happens that the majority of worthy applicants are Asian.

Answer: The UC system has no control over who applies for admission. If more Asians apply to the UC system and are qualified, wouldn't it make sense that more Asians are admitted?

Rebuttal: But the zip code situation entails a certain kind of meritocracy too--those who drive more safely are rewarded with lower insurance rates while those who get into more accidents are punished with higher rates. It just so happens that the majority of those who get into accidents are a certain race.

Answer: You're confusing accidents and theft rates. If you have a lot of accidents on your record your insurance premiums will go up regardless of your race or where you live, it's based on meritocracy. If you live in an area that has a high auto theft rate, your insurance premiums will go up regardless of your race. This isn't based on meritocracy, it's just based on where you live and the corresponding theft rates. If this area code is primarily mono racial, do you see how this produces racial inequality though there is no intent to do so? The point is that a particular law, public policy, or business practice may not have a racist intent, but may produce racial inequality.

Rebuttal: In both cases, the institutions are acting in rational self-interest: universities want to accept and educate those who have proven themselves to carry the most potential, because the universities' prestige will grow (when the selected applicants become successful/famous), and in the same vein, insurance companies want to charge more to customers who are more likely to get into an accident because the insurance company is more likely to have to pay for damages for those customers. Shouldn't they both be considered forms of racism?

Answer: In general, if a university's admission policies admit applicants based on meritocracy then it would be difficult to call that policy racist. If a insurance company charges higher premiums to members who have been in more accidents and lower premiums to members who have been in less accidents, it would be difficult to call that racist. Past and current racial oppression can lead to inequalities in the educational system that lead to less prepared students applying to the UC, but this isn't the UC admission policy being racist.

Question: What happens to our ning account access after the quarter ends?

Answer: I usually don't delete students accounts unless they drop, withdraw, or stop coming to class.



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