To initiate discussion of racial prejudice and bigotry in my classes, I sometimes hold up next to my ruddy face a sheet of white paper. “Is my skin white or non-white?” I ask my students. The correct answer is clearly non-white. I go from there to trying to explain how “black” and “white” are mental constructs which we impose on a browntanpink reality.

Not Nearly Enough, at 8:25 am EST on January 11, 2007

Too late!

It is great that American Anthropological Association has embarked on “exhibit gets at the impact of how we live our life every day,” however they should not neglect to show the picture of Governor George Wallace standing in the doorway of the University of Alabama to block two African American students from enrolling.

He has his supporters hanging around in IHE.

David Robertson, Professor at SUNY, at 8:51 am EST on January 11, 2007

To “Enough” and others who claim that the voters of Michigan rejected race as a criteria for admission to college- it’s worth noting that Michigan (one of the MOST segregated states in our country) is 86% white- and only 14% non-white. No doubt those “voters” were white and worried about losing power or privilege. Yet, ironically, exit polls show that most people who voted for Prop 2 have never been to college. it’s the old pattern of ECONOMIC insecurity justifying RACIAL animosity. Our history shows that whenever the majority fears a loss of power or privilege, they rely on policies of “neutrality” and fairness to maintain that power. This is why, sadly, we won’t fix the race problem in American by disproving race as a biological phenomenon. It’s really about power.

Beyond biology and culture, public univ. in PA, at 9:35 am EST on January 11, 2007

To Dean Perkins

Dean Perkins — I hope you can get the roving exhibit to Northeastern. I also hope your department is willing to set up an internet course based on the exhibit — for CE credits, perhaps? — so that NU alums such as myself who live a distance can also learn from that exhibit.

NeUHusky, at 10:41 am EST on January 11, 2007

One has to ask “Beyond” what percentages have to do with “segregation?”

One also has to ask the academics on thisforum what they see in the student unions on their campuses. Are the blacks and whites mingling? Why not? Is it because one or the other group is ignorant of race?

Of course not.

The AAA effort has that nasty little whiff of victimhood about it. My own college blathers on constantly (and pays people to do it!) in efforts to teach us about “diversity.” Pfui! The staff, faculty, and students are already accepting of diversity and doubtless have been all their lives. After all, they are middle-class Americans.

I have my wife to do the job of scolding me for minor (and often imagined) errors—I can do without my college’s busybodies or the AAA.

Hubert Smith, Instructor, at 10:45 am EST on January 11, 2007

Little Boxes

People will find ways to prove they are elite. The ones that count are total net worth and how one spends their free time. The average banker and average trucker make the same amount of money. The former rub with facts and people who help them make more money while the later are isolated with interests that are counter productive. They come together to keep people in the minority from achievement. They use the law to further their position. George Wallace had the local law on his side. If race is to be neutralized as a factor, we must have an educated public first — then laws to provide justice.

Lyndon Johnson did a good job of leadership with the 1972 Civil Rights Act. It cost the Democrats the South. Bigotry still exists in the United States.

Michigan voters proved that. The first step is to determine how long it will take to overcome the 150 years of denial of an adequate education to Blacks in this country. The voters are not qualified to answer that question. I would trust the leaders of the University of Michigan to know what they need to do. As well as the leaders who set admissions policy at other higher ed institutions. Their needs will be different, as witnessed by the Wayne State example. And, some will need to be forced to do right by minorities.

We also need more efforts like this one to create better public awareness of our history and similarities.

Bill

William Sumner Scott, J.D.

Judicial Equality Foundation, Inc.

wss@jefound.org

William Sumner Scott, J.D., at 12:30 pm EST on January 11, 2007

Just like in China?

” .. The voters are not qualified to answer that question ..”

Hmm .. yes. Last night on PBS, the special on China, noted how in local city elections, sometimes the Chinese Communist Party unilaterally prevents the winners from taking office due to “anti-democratic” and “counter-revolutionary” statements.

How insightful and brilliant, such thinking can exist on both sides of the world. Including how laws are OK if LBJ is involved, but otherwise not. Four legs good, two legs bad.

L.L., at 1:01 pm EST on January 11, 2007

I just visited the website. While it has some useful information, it also has much misleading information that is surely influenced by certain value orientations commonly shared by members of the AAA. The value orientations are obviously supposed to be agreed with in coming into contact with the information given. Take for example the life experience section. This was very obviously designed to make a person walkiing away from it say “wow, we sure are a racist society.” But of course by selectively presenting information and hoping that observers jump to the same (not always justified) conclusions as they would and do, the AAA does everyone a disservice. For example they mention that in “San Jose” white motorists, while making up x% of the population are “only” y% of those stopped by police. As I teach my classes, these stops may be out of porportion because of perfectly legitimate legal reasons (perhaps white motorists speed less, or drive reckelessly less, for whatever reason). Of course, they may be due to a policy that is not overtly racist but that nevertheless has a disparate impact on certain groups (stopping all older cars for example). Or this could mean that, yes, the officers are stopping people for quite overtly racist and discriminatory reasons. But the AAA I suspect, typical of many social science groups, does not give us the extra information because they do not want us to think ‘critically’ about such issues as they want people to agree with their perspective (that we have very racist institutions). Maybe their persepctive is correct, but they certainly do a disservice by trying to ‘trick’ folks into accepting it this way...

Ken, at 3:55 pm EST on January 11, 2007

A Question, Gently Posed

Here’s a question that I pose to anyone who responds with bitterness, complaint, or condemnation when they hear about the American Anthropological Association’s exhibition and website on race: What are you doing to erase racism in America and the world in your own small way?

Jonathan David Jackson, at 5:16 pm EST on January 11, 2007

Kenneth,

I think the connection between the two issues is tenuous at best. We could also legitimately ask “Is America ready for a Mormon president?"(and, if not, why not), but that certainly doesn’t mean that we should have preferences for Mormons (although they probably would add more real diversity to many college campuses).

Al, at 10:10 pm EST on January 11, 2007

Do Facts Matter

B.D.,Thanks for your comment. It would be nice if the facts were the only criteria we use to judge a person’s ability to be the cheif executive of this nation. The answers a candidate gives should definitely be considered in deciding who should be the next president, but I have yet to hear Sens. Obama or Clinton ask “Are you ready for me America?” On second thought, maybe by expressing an interest in the office, they did. I’m just saying, if the playing field were level, that question wouldn’t be asked and shouldn’t even matter. Shouldn’t more folks be upset that the question has come up in the first place? Did anyone bring up in Condi’s confirmation hearings “Is America ready for a Black woman as National Security Advisor or Secretary of State?” Did anyone ask outright of Justice Thomas “Can America accept another Black man on the Supreme Court?” Besides, neither Ms. Rice or Justice Thomas has expressed aspirations to the nation’s highest office.

Kenneth, at 6:35 am EST on January 15, 2007

Biological Differences

Studies by professors such as Philippe Rushton and Charles Murray have shown that there are biological differences between the races. These differences have been established through millions of years of evolution, and if one believes in evolution, then it is virtually impossible to not believe in biological racial differences. In 2005,Bruce Lahn, an Asian-American professor of human genetics at the University of Chicago, reported that DNA analysis had shown signs of recent evolution in the brains of some people(Asians and Europeans), but not others(sub-Saharan Africans). The political correctness police were quick to attack, and by 2006, even though he still stands behind his findings, Mr Lahn was intimidated into backing off his research, claiming “It’s getting too controversial.” He has now moved on to other fields that do not involve studies of the brain.Thanks to the religion of egalitarianism and equality, and with the help of the AAA, it may be a long time before we as a society are open to learning the full truth of human genetic variations and the biological differences between the races.

barack for prez, at 2:10 pm EST on January 21, 2007