Black adolescents are more likely to be suspended or expelled than their White peers, yet close to all government and community based programs are focused on specifically helping young Black men achieve academically. Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw wrote the article “Black Girls Matter” in 2015. This article was meant to be informative and persuasive. Crenshaw wanted to inform readers about the issue of Black girls being excluded from race-based government initiatives and persuade them to agree with her claim about this being an issue. In order to convince readers that government and community officials need to create more programs that focus on the academic success of Black girls, Crenshaw had to inform readers with statistics and other facts about …show more content…
Intersectionality is “an integrative perspective and analytical framework that illuminates how gender, class, nation, sexuality, religion, and other categories of identity, power, privilege, and oppression interconnect to affect the lives of individuals and groups and social, economic, and political phenomena at community, societal, and global levels” (Kirk & Okazawa-Rey, 2013, p. G-3). This term was actually created by Crenshaw. The article focused on Black girls, which put an emphasis on the intersection of race and gender. An assertion in the article that featured intersectionality was that although Black boys and girls face the same obstacles in life, Black girls face many others due to being Black and a woman (Crenshaw, 2015, p. 28). To go into depth about this particular claim, Crenshaw gave examples of other obstacles Black girls face in life based on this intersection. One of these barriers is that “when it comes to disciplinary measures such as suspension and expulsion, Black girls face a higher level of racial disparity than their male counterparts” (p.28). The article being focused on the exclusion Black girls meant that their specific intersection of oppression due to their race and gender would be discussed greatly throughout the …show more content…
Gwyn Kirk and Margo Okazawa-Rey (2013) defined internalized oppression as “attitudes and behavior of some oppressed people that reflect the negative, harmful, stereotypical beliefs of the dominant group directed at them” (p. G-3). This was demonstrated in the article by Crenshaw discussing that among others, some women of color have accepted the belief that girls being ignored when it comes to race focused programs is “justified and necessary” (Crenshaw, 2013, p. 28). This illustration of internalized oppression in the article was short yet very powerful. It showed that although women and girls (especially of color) are already deeply oppressed, some of them begin accept the oppression of being ignored and excluded from the numerous programs that are supposed to be for all at-risk youth but specifically focus on
In many contemporary spaces, intersectionality is taught and consumed as a static concept of merely listing identities carried by one person simultaneously. It’s used more often as a checklist than a place of analysis or resistance. However, the use of intersectionality as just an apolitical tool, rather than a theory born from the knowledge of Black women experiencing a “triple jeopardy” of oppression and seeking liberation by deconstructing the institutions that bind them, is reductionist at best. In “Intersectionality is Not Neutral”May communicates that intersectionality pushes us to question and challenge the relatively mundane or acceptable norms in society that lend themselves to a continuous legacy of systemic inequality.
Minorities, African American and Latinos, in America are faced with challenges daily in white society. There are many obstacles minorities experience such as: being judged based on race, stereotyped, or worst being discriminated against by peers. Sadly, minorities can’t seem to escape to harsh realities society created. Citizens in the white society categorize humans by their race to socially construct the achievements and legitimate political goals. Minorities struggles with these goals due to the challenges they experience. The location of these challenges can occur in various places including on the job and/or at school. You may be under the impression that such challenges occurs within the adult minority groups. However, this applies to minority children as well. When the children are face with
In conclusion, African American children face unwanted obstacles that prevent them from getting the equal education opportunities that they deserve. These children face problems everyday regarding crime, poverty and the school system not providing the right supplies for them to become effective members of their communities. When these children grow up in the high-poverty areas, they are already being set up as a failure. The time for equal education opportunities may not come due to the lack of funding, poverty levels and the way they are looked at through societies eyes. It is up to the black community to fix what they need to succeed.
This essay will be unpacking and analysing the different elements that create my own intersectionality in my life. This essay will be discussing how class, gender/sex and race have influenced who I am and the experiences I have had throughout my life, and how various structures impact these experiences, with reference to the Crenshaw and Dill and Zambara articles, I will connect their thoughts and ideas to the intersectionality of my own life.
This power keeps the behavior of the oppressed well within the set guidelines of the oppressor (Freire, 2000, pg. 47). Critical Race Theory outlines this system of oppression as it relates to white and non-white races. By using the critical race theory coupled with the system of oppression described by Freire (2000), I propose that within the system of oppression, the oppressor must keep its own members in line with the prescribed guidelines by reinforcing the social norms from birth. Freire (2000) suggest that the interest of the oppressors lie in “changing the consciousness of the oppressed not the system” (pg.34). Identifying as white, therefore, starts at birth when members of the white class work to reinforce social norms that began with our founding fathers at Plymouth Rock. This long history of white privilege was taught to me and I continue to teach it to my children. As an educator of white affluent high school students, I believe we provide college and career counseling based on this white privilege system of oppression as well. Here, I journey even closer to unraveling the myth of white privilege as I encounter the intersection of an affluent white student choosing a career after high
In this brief report, I will be examining common practices, policies and resources that support Black women attending Princeton University. Included is a brief review of national averages in regards to higher education attainment and a rationale for continued rhetoric on this topic. My interest in this topic stem from my experience at State University’s Women Studies Program. While the conversation around gender is necessary and crucial, little attention was given to discussions of how race and gender affect an individual’s lived experience. I was constantly aware of my lack of representation among students who were in those classes and the faculty who taught.
Perhaps more importantly, the average black teenager is raised within a single parented home, typically with their father being absent. Not only does the absence of father’s affect the home financially, but also emotionally and socially destruct the family. Although most single mothers do a great job in raising their kids, 71% of all high school dropouts come from fatherless homes. For children who live only with a mother, a male teacher may be the only positive male role model in their lives. Most black teens attend urbanized schools in the city or in low budgeted areas. In most cases, these schools does not always function at it’s full potential, due to the high number of students. The average high school graduation rate in the nation’s 50 largest cities was 53 percent, compared with 71 percent in...
from U.S. high schools in 2008, compared to 78% of White male students” (Kafele, B. (2012). Not only were...
In public schools, students are subjected to acts of institutional racism that may change how they interact with other students. In the short story “Drinking Coffee Elsewhere” by Packer, readers are allowed to view firsthand how institutionalized racism affects Dina, who is the main character in the story. Packer states “As a person of color, you shouldn’t have to fit in any white, patriarchal system” (Drinking Coffee Elsewhere 117). The article “Disguised Racism in Public Schools” by Brodbelt states “first, the attitudes of teachers toward minority group pupils” (Brodbelt 699). Like the ideas in the article “Disguised Racism in Public Schools” Dina encounters institutionalized oppression on orientation day at Yale.
African American women are considered the most disadvantaged group vulnerable to discrimination and harassment. Researchers have concluded that their racial and gender classification may explain their vulnerable position within society, despite the strides these women have made in education, employment, and progressing their families and communities (Chavous et al. 2004; Childs 2005; Hunter 1998; Settles 2006; Wilkins 2012). Most people agree that race and gender categories are explained as the biological differences between individuals in our society; however sociologists understand that race and gender categories are social constructions that are maintained on micro and macro levels. Historically, those in power who control the means of production within a society have imposed race, class, and gender meanings onto the minority population in order to maintain their dominant position and justify the unequal treatment of minority individuals by the divisions of race, class, and gender categories (Collins 2004; Nguyen & Anthony 2014; Settles 2006;).
In this world we are constantly being categorized by our race and ethnicity, and for many people it’s hard to look beyond that. Even though in the past many stood up for equality and to stop racism and discrimination, it still occurs. In this nation of freedom and equality, there are still many people who believe that their race is superior to others. These beliefs are the ones that destroy our nation and affect the lives of many. The people affected are not limited by their age group, sex, social status, or by their education level.
The way humans look externally and feel internally has been a barrier and the kernel to many of America’s social conflicts. Audre Lorde’s essay, “Eye to Eye: Black Women, Hatred, and Anger,” attempts to answer why Black women feel contempt among one another. It resonates that Black women, in lieu of their hatred for each other, should replace it by bonding together because they share the same experiences of being women and Black. In the essay titled, “Colorblind Intersectionality,” penned by, Devon W. Carbado seeks to expand the definition of “intersectionality,” which is a theory Professor Crenshaw initially introduced as a, “Drawing explicitly on Black feminist criticism,” (Carbado 811). Carbado is able to provide other forms of intersections by
In the world of sociology and the studies of human interaction, the term intersectionality has been defined as, “the idea that various biological, social, and cultural categories – including gender, race, class, and ethnicity – interact and contribute towards systematic social inequality” (“Definition of Intersectionality – Sociology”). However, as Dr. White defined the term on the Spring 2014 Final Writing Assignment sheet, these categories that make up one’s identity can “intersect or interact in ways that can either advantage or disadvantage the person’s well-being and development” (White). In regards to the text, David M. Newman’s Identities & Inequalities: Exploring the Intersections of Race, Class, Gender, and Sexuality, Newman progressively explores the concept of intersectionality throughout the entirety of the text, but he does not ever actually define the term itself. Although an exact, clear-cut definition of the term “intersectionality” has not been officially established, the concept of the term is fairly simple to understand. Every person has different social identities that they carry to their name. Intersectionality is simply an analysis of how those different identities play off of each other and how they affect the person they are describing.
I was aware of these oppressions and have often times struggled with what I can do individually to work towards alleviating these oppressions. The Next Steps portion of the chapter on racism really outlined methods of actions that could be applied to all forms of oppression. One method entitled “FLEXing Cross- cultural Communications,” outlines productive communication, depersonalization, and open- mindedness when it comes to understanding and practicing competency. This model serves as a tool to motivate action to those form other cultures in ways that in the end everyone can
African American people have been oppressed for hundreds of years. Slavery was a significant time period when African/African American individuals endured massive oppression, which refers to the feeling of being deprived of their human rights and dignity (Reed, 2016). Knowing that my ancestors had to conceal their feelings along with their cultural values, makes me feel more entitled to express my ethnic identity as an African American woman. My ethnic identity has increase my sense of belongingness because it gives me the ability to share and live amongst individuals with the same physical appearance and in some cases, the same obstacles. Society has placed its’ social norms on modern day women, which allows men to make more for the same labor, or that stop successful women from achieving their goals by installing the glass ceiling. However, there is a higher increase of risk for African American women, such as decrease in the male head of household, along with urbanization. Which caused African American women to work long hours that resulted in a devastating shift in the family structure (Reed, 2016). Past, present and current experiences of African American women is why my ethnic identity is so important to me, because it is used as a constant reminder of the struggles that I have to overcome for my daughter and the generation after