I'm Tired of Hearing About Race

I have a close friend who grew up in Mississippi - one of the states known as the "Deep South." I was saying to him how much I love the book To Kill A Mockingbird, and he responded along the lines of "I'm tired of hearing about race."

This stunned me, because in my mind, if there is any region of the United States that needs to be concerned about race and racism, it's the Deep South. This isn't true of course; racism is still prevelant throughout every region of the United States and we should all be concerned about it. 

In thinking about what he said, however, it makes sense. When we talk about racism in elementary school all through high school, we talk about it like it is a problem of the past. After all, nowadays we're all equal, right? 

We don't talk about the fact that the effects of racism are still with us today. When slaves were emancipated, their "freedom" was really all they got. They were not suddenly given equal treatment - as evidenced by Jim Crow laws, segregation, etc. We just desegregated schools about fifty years ago, against much opposition. If there was so much opposition then, why do we think that just faded away? Change takes time, especially when it is something that has been deeply engrained into our society. 

Here in Davis, we're in what one of my professors termed "a racial nirvana." I'm not saying we are exceptionally diverse, but we don't have noticeable racial undertones in our everyday interractions. (Please take this with a grain of salt, as I am a white middle class female and therfore extremely unlikely to experience racism. However, the professor who was speaking about this was African American, so I am trusting his experience of it.) I've never heard of race fights happening or heard someone say the "n word." 

But for my friend who grew up in Mississippi, these were common occurences. Even in elementary school, there would be large fights between groups of African Americans and white kids. One of his close friends talked about how his uncle was a member of the KKK, how he too wanted to join the KKK, and he frequently used the "n word." 

If we always spew the rhetoric of "racism is wrong" but speak of it as a problem of the past and do nothing to discourage behavior such as this, then it's no wonder that people are "tired of hearing about race/racism." 

But just because you don't see race fights or hear about the KKK member next door doesn't mean that there isn't racism around you. I grew up outside of Sacramento, and participated in accelerated curriculum programs begining in third grade, and attended private school prior to that. In private school, there was one student in my class who wasn't white. Starting in third grade, my classmates were either white or Asian. 

So where were the Latino and African American students? They were in what my teachers termed "the dumb classes." In high school I saw a much larger percentage of African American and Latino students, but they were still in "the dumb classes." According to my teachers and common belief amongst the accelerated program kids, they were the "troubled" students, the ones doing drugs and participating in gangs. 

Biologically, race doesn't exist. Race only exists because it is socially constructed - we think it exists, and so effectively it does. So why is there such a large racial disparity between the students in the regular curriculum programs and the accelerated programs at my school? It has to do with racism. 

The students in the regular programs are being racially stereotyped, put in a box and ignored. They are not any less intelligent than I or my classmates, but they are being held back by their race, socioeconomic status, parents' education/jobs, and many other factors that originate from racism. If for fifty or more years we don't offer well paying jobs or decent educations to minorities, then why do we act as if we are all of the sudden on an equal playing field? The fact that we have (to some degree) stopped these biased behaviors is largely because of legal rulings and suits, not because white people all of the sudden went, "Oh! We're wrong, sorry." 

When we look at the media, we are told that criminals, gangmembers, drug users, etc. belong to a racial minority. We have been programmed so that when we see a strong African American man walking down the street, we feel a bit afraid. They might be a rapist or a criminal. We "other" them. They do not belong with us, they are something "other" than us. So it is no surprise that in schools we pressume that Latino and African American students will follow these "trends" and become criminals and drug users as well. We've already othered their parents and families, why not them? 

Here are a few news articles or videos that I'd like to share with you regarding modern racism:

http://www.slate.com/blogs/weigel/2013/10/25/gop_precinct_chairman_says_voter_id_will_hurt_lazy_blacks_then_resigns.html

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/09/20/13989510-empty-chair-lynchings-anti-obama-protests-gone-too-far

Racism is an ongoing problem. It's not in the past. Furthermore, racism is taught. We are taught to look down upon, fear, and dislike others. It isn't something we do straight out of the womb. So, if you, like my friend, are tired of hearing about race and racism, I understand. It's always talked about like it's in the past, or it's not happening around you. But even if you're tired of it, you should still care. We can't stop talking about race until it ceases to be a problem. And despite how far we have come, we still have a long way to go before racism disappears. 

The Problem With Being a Girl

When I first came to the Soc 30A class, I didn't think I had really ever been a victim of sexism. To me, sexism was the "women belong in the kitchen" way of thinking, not a subtle and hidden tool of the hegemonic regime.

The rhetoric is that females are equal to men, that we are past the era of sexism. While we are moving past the "women belong in the kitchen" style of sexism, the idea that sexism is completely eradicated is a lie propagated to keep you from noticing and thinking. Sexism is rampant in our society. Here's several brief examples.

Girls do not naturally like pink. We are programmed to. Walk down a toy isle and it's obvious that toys are another tool to segregate and treat our two genders differently. Girls' toys are pink and "pretty," they encourage us to play house and raise a baby(doll). A 2005 MIT study found that "girls’ toys were associated with physical attractiveness, nurturance, and domestic skill, whereas boys’ toys were rated as violent, competitive, exciting, and somewhat dangerous." From a young age girls are taught to associate the color pink with things that are meant for them.

Check out these articles:
Nerf's new line of "girl-specific" toys
Girls' legos now have breasts
Toys R Us finally stops gender-specific marketing

I played with a lot of nerf guns and legos as a kid. I don't recall wanting my gun to be pink, or my lego people to look less blocky and more fashionable. I enjoyed them without caring if they were meant for boys or girls. So why does it matter what color your toys are? In the article about Toys R Us, Megan Perryman notes that the application of a gender binary to toys is "extremely limiting as it strongly shapes their ideas about who they are and who they can go on to become."

Remember Mitt Romney's "binders full of women" comment? There was public outrage over the comment, and yet we allow routine work-place harassment far worse than this to go unnoticed. The other day I heard a coworker say that one man "hits on everyone" like it was to be expected and accepted. When it comes to work, women have to be careful with how they dress - too feminine and they won't be seen as competent, too androgynous and they will be seen as "going against their sex." The objectification of women in  the workplace is a serious issue. Men aren't taught that their lives and reputations can be ruined if they dress the wrong way, or that they should get used to being sexualized and mentally undressed by others, so why are women told this?

Just look at Hillary Clinton. Unfortunately we seem to hear more in the media about her gender and the affect it has on her work than we hear about the actual work she does. Will menopause make her too unstable to be president? Is she too emotional? Oh, and don't forget that she has cankles and wears pantsuits. Hillary Clinton is a prime example of how society still doesn't treat men and women equally. I don't recall hearing anything about McCain or Obama's cankles.

And these gendered double standards begin at a young age. Ever been to a kids' soccer game and noticed that boys are encouraged to "tough it out" when they are hurt, while girls are told "it's okay to cry?" Why can't girls be tough? A lot of us would argue that we experience a good deal of pain on a monthly basis, and childbirth has been scientifically shown to be super high up on the scale of pain. So why tell boys to be tough but not girls when it comes to a skinned knee? This mindset of women as delicate continues on throughout life - just think about how few women are in the armed forces compared to men, and how women are not allowed to be in direct combat.

Or maybe you've watched a movie recently that featured a woman feeling the pressure of her "biological clock" and the need to have children - i.e. The Switch, The Back-Up Plan, the adoptive mom in Juno, What to Expect When You're Expecting... the list goes on. Society seems to think that women are desperate to have kids. Some of us are, and some of us aren't - it is a personal preference, not a biological urge.

Finally, look at wages (above) and employment. Even though in the past thirty years women have accounted for over 30% of doctorates in social and behavioral sciences and 20% in the life science, at top research institutions, only 15.4% of full professors in social and behavioral sciences are women, with an even lower 14.8% in the life sciences. Did you know that there was a recent lawsuit against the UC system for gender discrimination in faculty hiring and promotions?

Men and women aren't equal. They should be, but in our society, they aren't treated as such. We need to speak up for change. It's time for sexism to end.

P.S. - In the spirit of Halloween, here's one more. 

Makes You Think

Chalk 'graffiti' on the second floor balcony of Wellman.

I imagine (or at least hope) that if I asked you, you would say that you support the rights of transgendered people, value their participation in and contributions to society, and value them as people. But how many of you could really swear that you have never looked (or stared) a little longer than normal at someone who was transgendered? Stared because that man was wearing makeup or a skirt, or commented to yourself and others that the girl in your class "dresses like a man"? Have you ever felt uncomfortable because you could not tell if an individual identified as a man or a woman? 

Discrimination and prejudice against individuals who are not cisgendered is rampant, and an important sociological issue. A cisgendered individual has "a match between the gender they were assigned at birth, their bodies, and their personal identity," (from Wikipedia's article on cisgenderism).

So here's a question for you: How are the people in Jose's life treating him now that he is no longer Josefina? What about society?

Let's look at some statistics. Between 2 and 5% of the population identify as transgendered, and yet only 16 states plus the District of Columbia have laws which prohibit discrimination based on transgendered status. Here's a fact sheet (which I pulled my above stats from): http://www.transgenderlaw.org/resources/transfactsheet.pdf. 

If we look in the news recently, the convicted Wikileaks leaker, Bradley Manning, has recently announced that he identifies as a female and from this point forward, would like to be known as Chelsey Manning. Although she will be imprisioned, she intends to seek gender reassignment surgery, which is currently against the policy of the prison she will be held in. Not only was there a slew of insults and degrading comments about the transgendered community following her announcement, but also within the transgendered community, there was disappointment about the announcement because they felt having a convicted 'traitor' (though many would disagree that she did anything wrong) brought further negative light upon them. It's a very fascinating story, and I encourage you to read some of the articles. Here are the links: 

http://t.today.com/news/bradley-manning-i-want-live-woman-6C10974915

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/08/23/20153443-first-person-trans-traitor-manning-adds-to-transgender-perception-problem?lite

http://t.nbcnews.com/health/transgender-prisoners-hormones-seen-matter-life-death-6C10981031

If you read those three articles, you'll see that gender reassignment surgery can be of major importance for transgendered individuals. Transgendered individuals don't arbitrarily choose to go from male to female or from female to male. They feel, often from a very young age, that they have been born into the wrong body, and who they are does not match their physical attributes. I'll bring up something that really put it in perspective for me. 

In one of Professor Kiburi's classes, we watched a documentary on transgendered children and their families (those of you in Soc 30A may watch it this quarter). What does it tell you when a toddler tries to cut off his genitalia with toe nail clippers because "it doesn't belong there?" What does it tell you when a six or seven year old is considering suicide because they cannot bear to live in a body that does not match who they really are on the inside? 

Transgendered individuals are not unnatural. Someone who was born a biological male but identifies as a female is no less of a woman than I, who was biologically born a female. Think of all the ads and such on the internet nowadays proclaiming that "real women have curves." Yes, some women have wonderfully curvacious bodies and should feel proud and comfortable in them. But curves do not make someone a woman. There are women who are naturally extremely skinny - and they are no less of a "real woman." So, to be a real woman, or a real man, it doesn't matter what genitalia you were born with or what you look like. What matters is who you feel that you are and identify as. A major problem with our society is that we place too much importance on what's on the outside, and not who the person really is.

To conclude, I'd like to ask this of you. Be loving to those around you, and don't judge. If you recall Professor Kiburi's friend, who recently committed suicide, hopefully you can understand that even if in the end we cannot prevent or control the outcome, we should always be there to support and love the people around us, especially those who are having a harder time than the rest of us because society has not learned to accept them. 

_________________

First photo (Jose was once Josefine) is my own (though the artwork in it is not).

Statistic graphics from: 

http://aaronftm.tumblr.com/post/31173440505/50-of-transgender-gender-fluid-americans-reported

Look the Other Way

Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle - Plato

My boyfriend and I were walking out of the grocery store when a man standing outside of the store said something to us. I thought he was trying to sell or distribute something and said "no thank you." My boyfriend simply said nothing and kept walking. He had not seen the man, and thought he heard "do you have one?" as in a dollar bill. As we got into the car, my boyfriend remarked, "I thought he was homeless, so I didn't acknowledge him." 

Why is it, that we are so willing to donate money, clothes, and time for the poor, starving, and impoverished people of third world countries, yet when it comes to those in our own neighborhood who suffer from the same conditions, we look the other way?

The town I grew up in outside of Sacramento had a fairly significant homeless population. They camped out near gas stations and the Goodwill, where ever they could find shelter and friendly faces. Some of them lived in groups, and most had shopping carts in which they kept their possessions. The image of a scared looking woman in her sixties, clutching her teddy bear as her companions organized their belongings, is forever seared into my mind.

When we think of the plight of poverty stricken citizens of third world countries, we do not assume their situation is their own fault. Instead, it is the result of poorly run governments, civil wars, and decades of bad fortune. The same is not said of the homeless within our own country and cities.

When someone is living on the streets in the United States, we say they are lazy, that they should get a job, they are dirty and to be avoided. Where did this perception of the homeless begin? It certainly is not true - it's a generalization based upon prejudices and stereotypes.

Who are the homeless in the United States? They are veterans (about 62,000 each night during 2010), mentally ill individuals, victims of domestic abuse, families, children (1 in 50 in 2009), people who have lost their jobs and/or their homes, and people who are struggling with life crippling addictions. They are on the streets because they have little or no choice. For many of them, their lack of a job is not because they are not trying or don't want one, but because their situation makes it nearly impossible to attain one. Some of them do not have access to medical care and thereby the medications that would enable them to work. Others, perhaps were raised in situations where a good education was not available, which now prevents them from gaining employment. People are more than just their personality and actions; we are products of the society and situations we find ourselves in.

Here's an excellent interview from a man who is homeless and struggling to get a job which will help him get off the streets.


Homelessness affects people of all races, genders, sexualities, backgrounds, and ages. It affects people with families as well as those without. It affects the physically and mentally disabled in our country, as well as this nation's veterans. Homelessness is not a personal trouble, it is a serious social issue. I recommend looking at http://www.nationalhomeless.org/factsheets/ (and some of the links below this article) to learn more about the issues driving homelessness and those who are affected by it. 

Outside of the Woodland Walmart, a homeless man holds up a sign asking us to just smile. Near the West Sacramento Ikea, another homeless man's sign says anything helps, even just a smile. And recently, a homeless woman on the corner of 3rd and E street in Davis, playing her blue ukulele as her tiny dog sat beside her, was simply looking to get enough money for a motel room for the night.

For those of you in Professor Kiburi's Sociology 30A class who are following along, my hope is that this blog post gets you thinking. Since no sociological theories have been covered yet in lecture, I did not include any (though an incredible amount of what you will learn this quarter can be connected). But I do feel that the first step to understanding sociological issues and theories is to open your mind and look around you. Too often we ignore someone's personal experience, labeling it as an "exception," when really it is a symptom of a much larger problem.

The next time you see a homeless person, don't just look the other way, even if all you can offer them is a smile. 

____________________________________________

Photos from:

http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.com/2012/12/on-dogs-cats-and-babiesand-homeless.html

http://www.nchv.org/index.php/connect/story/location  CHECK THIS ONE OUT

http://www.today.com/id/29602056/ns/today-today_news/t/us-children-experiences-homelessness/#.UlSNw9K9KSM   CHECK THIS ONE OUT