Analysis of Why are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria by Beverly Daniel Tatum 'Why are all the black kids sitting together in the cafeteria'; by Beverly Daniel Tatum Ph.D. is a book of many subjects, theories, ideas, as well as opinions that are discussed, challenged and criticized. Are we free from racism? Why, are all the black kids sitting together in the cafeteria? These questions I hope to answer for myself and for others. One of Beverly Tatum's major topics of discussion is racial identity. Racial identity is the meaning each of us has constructed or is constructing about what it means to be a white person or a person of color in a race-conscious society. (Tatum, pp Xvii) She talks about how many parents hesitate to talk to their children about racism because of embarrassment and the awkwardness of the subject. I agree with her when she says that parents don't want to talk about racism when they don't see a problem. They don't want to create fear or racism where none may exist. It is touchy subject because if not gone about right, you can perhaps steer someone the wrong way. Another theory she has on racial identity is that other people are the mirror in which we see ourselves. (tatum pp18) 'The parts of our identity that do capture our attention are those that other people notice, and that reflects back to us.'; (Tatum pp21) What she means by this is that what other people tell us we are like is what we believe. If you are told you are stupid enough you might start to question your intelligence. When people are searching for their identity normally the questions 'who am I now?'; 'Who was I before?'; and 'who will I become'; are the first that come to mind. When a person starts to answer these questions their answers will influence their beliefs, type of work, where they may live, partners, as well as morals. She also mentions an experiment where she asked her students to describe themselves in sixty seconds. Most used descriptive words like friendly, shy, intelligent, but students of color usually state there racial or ethnic group, while white students rarely, if ever mention that they are white. Women usually mention that they are female while males usually don't think to say that they are males. The same situation appeared to take place when the topic of religious beliefs came up. The Jewish students mentioned being Je... ... middle of paper ... ...Sitting Together in the Cafeteria; Basic Books, 10 East 53rd Street, New York, NY 10022-5299; 1997 Appendix 1) Why does she seem like a racist herself?: She always is talking about how white people benefit so much from things they don't even realize they benefit from. Well how about all the special groups and organizations that are set up just for black people. I think she should take another look at our society before she says that white benefit so trememdously. I am not saying whites do not benefit more but she really, really drills this opinion and I disagree. 2) She seems like she is telling everyone they way they should think: I don't get why she is so hung up on telling people who they should call what, and what they should do about it. Half of her book is about letting people feel free to be who they are, being proud of ones back round, and having a mind of your own and thinking for yourself. 3) Why does she believe so much in Affirmative action?: If Affirmative action was to be implamented then white people would be discriminated just because they were white. If she is trying to abolish racism, causing racism towards another race isn't solving the problem.
“I repeatedly forgot each of the realizations on this list until I wrote it down. For me, white privilege has turned out to be an elusive and fugitive subject. The pressure to avoid it is great, for in facing it I must give up the myth of meritocracy. If these things are true, this is not such a free country; one’s life is not what one makes it; many doors open for certain people through no virtues of their own.”
Tatum’s book “Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?” (1997) analyses the development of racial identity and the influence of racism in American’s culture. She emphasizes the Black-White interactions by comparing the terminology in which racism perceived based on David Wellman’s definition of racism. Tatum also believes racism is not one person in particular but is a cultural situation in which ethnicity assigns some groups significantly privileged compared to others. She illustrates how engaging children in terms of interracial understanding will empower them to respond to racial stereotypes and systems of discrimination.
Leslie Marmon Silko has many feelings tied up when it comes to racism. She was raised in the Laguna Pueblo where her parents and neighbors interacted free of judgment. She was taught that people should not judge others by their skin color or other means of racism because those external features could not present what a person really is and it might deceive (Leslie Marmon Silko Fences Against Freedom 103). She stated that she was raised that way and; hence, she feels very proud of that.
Genetic testing has been a very controversial topic. While some people believe that genetic testing is completely right in any situation, others believe that it is completely wrong in any situation. However, both sides prove valid points of why genetic testing is both right and wrong. Genetic testing can be very good when it is being used for helpful reasons. However, genetic testing can also be very bad when it is used for the wrong reasons. Genetic testing is okay to do as long as it is being done for the right reasons and following good moral guidelines.
There are eleven thousand children in public schools in Detroit. Out of those eleven thousand children, only twenty-six of them are white. Third graders wrote a paper to Kozel on what they think about their school day in and day out. The children wrote back how they have nothing. They don’t have a clean school or a clean place to study.
Introduction We live in a society where race is seen as a vital part of our personalities, the lack of racial identity is very often an important factor which prevents people from not having their own identity (Omi & Winant, 1993). Racism is extremely ingrained in our society and it seems ordinary (Delgado & Stefanic, 2000). However, many people denounce the expression of any racist belief as immoral (Miles & Brown, 2003) highlighting the complicated nature of racism. Critical Race Theory tries to shed light on the issue of racism, claiming that racism is ingrained in our society both in legal, cultural, and psychological aspects of social life (Tate, 1997). This essay provides us with the opportunity to explore this theory and its influence in the field of education.
Mary Mebane used her own experience on the bus to show how segregation affected her life. Mary Mebane points out, white people “could sit anywhere they choose, even in the colored section. Only the black passengers had to obey segregation laws.” When Mebane was young, she saw a conflict on the bus. The driver asked a black person who sat in the ‘no-man’s-land’ to move back to colored section to give the seat for the white person who was standing on the bus because the bus was full. Segregation on the bus represented how white people unequally treat black people. When black people refused this driver to move, the driver try to send them to police. Black people were living in the shadow of racism and segregation at that time. However, that situation still affects school system and community now. Mebane asserts, “It was a world without option.” Black people have lower economic and social status because they are restricted to a small box because of segregation. “In Six Decades After Brown Ruling, in US Schools Still Segregated”, Dexter Mullins claims that in some schools like Valley West Elementary School in Houston, about 90% of people are not white people. These kinds of schools do not have enough funds to support adequate school resource to these students, and these students have lower opportunities to contact with cultural diversity. Both reasons negatively impact on the
To begin, many kinds of segregation in schools existed during the 1930s, even though African Americans won their equal rights from the civil rights movement. After all, the African American students were treated separately by the white Americans in all educated areas , yet they were still seen as equal, according to the constitutional law (Pilgrim). For Instance, children of colored races and white races must be taught apart from each other, during the 1930s, as a result of the Jim Crow laws.. The two races are often separated in public schools. African Americans would have their own school to be taught in while the white Americans had their own too (Pilgrim). For this reason, it is unlawful for white Americans to attend an African American’s school and for an African American to attend a white American’s school (“Jim Crow Laws”). In addition to the different schools that the two different races were taught in, many public libraries were a segregated place for people dealing with education (Pilgrim). The Jim Crow laws prevent the African Americans and whites to have physical contact as mu...
One of these issues is the moral and ethical issue of genetic testing. Genetic testing is a controversial topic that affects patients, fetus to adult. For the sake of keeping this article from being too broad, I will focus on prenatal and fetal genetic testing. Proponents of genetic testing argue that it is a form of preventative medicine, allowing the parents to be prepared or make decisions about a child before the child is born. They may point out that with knowledge of defects or disabilities while child is in utero, medical staff can be ready to act immediately at birth to save the infants life. Place states that genetic testing gives prospective parents a choice in having a child with a disability or birth defect (as cited in Farrelly, et al., 2012). Malik points out that
I was very mad and upset after reading Truth’s speech because I’m also a minority women too; therefore, I can understand how Truth felt when writing this speech demanding for women and equal rights. Plus, everyone is a human being; why discriminate each other base on their skin color? My impression was still the same after rereading this speech. In Truth’s speech, she had described how white man treated white women with all the care and respect that a woman deserved but, on the other hand they had mistreated her and other minority women. Truth’s then came up with a question that isn’t she a woman also. Truth’s stated in her speech that whatever a man can do she can do twice as better than them, but why treat her like a piece of trash. She is
Gene testing is the practice of testing individuals who show no symptoms to determine whether they carry genes that could cause them or their children to develop certain genetic diseases later in life. Gene screening is a very controversial topic because of the risks that come with it. Would you want to know if you’ll develop a life threatening disease later in life? Many individuals would want to know this, but some would not. Personally, I think gene testing is ethical under certain conditions.
What is identity? Identity is an unbound formation which is created by racial construction and gender construction within an individual’s society even though it is often seen as a controlled piece of oneself. In Dr. Beverly Daniel Tatum’s piece, “The Complexity of Identity: ‘Who Am I?’, Tatum asserts that identity is formed by “individual characteristics, family dynamics, historical factors, and social and political contexts” (Tatum 105). Tatum’s piece, “The Complexity of Identity: ‘Who Am I?’” creates a better understanding of how major obstacles such as racism and sexism shape our self identity.
Evidently if genetic testing was made mandatory then the person that was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis would be able to start treating the symptoms of cystic fibrosis and make life more enjoyable. So, in conclusion genetic testing should be mandatory for everyone. Because it makes the insurance companies pay for the testing, it gives the person being tested options on how to go about treating cystic fibrosis, and it informs the family of the person being tested that they might have the genetic marker for cystic fibrosis. Genetic testing should be mandatory. Because if it was mandatory then the 70,000 people worldwide that were diagnosed with cystic fibrosis would probably have more treatment plans in the
Genetic testing before or during pregnancy is something that I strongly agree with and is something I suggest everyone should do. Genetic testing is taking that extra precaution before or during birth. By performing this type of testing before/during getting pregnant it can catch certain disorders you might have. These tests show whether you have an increase or decrease change of having a child with genetic abnormality. I personally would get these types of testing to give me the extra reassurance for a healthy baby. I feel that many things can go wrong during birth and consider that everyone gets genetic testing before thinking about having kids. These genetics tests are to help us through the process of birth. You can perform genetic testing
In terms of the personal and professional journey related to race I am at two distinct positions. First, from a personal perspective, I am aware and accepting of my racial identity. Further, I am aware and accepting of other’s perception of self in their process of becoming. Notwithstanding this reflection, I recognize that I am also always in the process of becoming. A lot of the challenges I encounter revolve around the methods I use to intervene with others who I perceive as struggling within the transecting spheres of race, privilege, bias, stereotypes and prejudices. Whereas before this class I was more fixed on a “matter-of-fact” type intervention, where I would point out the behavior of others (their comments, the “underlying” meaning of their remarks, etc.), and force them into a realization of their incoherence, I am now creating a less antagonistic deportment. This step of my personal journey involves categorizing importance on the underlying reactions of others towards racial dialogues (cognitive, behavioral, and emotional), and the various types of microagression being utilized in the presentation of dialogue; then, converging my energy towards finding exceptions to their biases, and providing understanding rather than a comprehensive