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A few days ago, I read an article in the NY Times about how people actually talk about race. (Story is at http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/15/fashion/15race.html?ref=fashion) One of the more interesting paragraphs was this:
Two studies on strategic colorblindness conducted by researchers at Tufts University and the Harvard Business School (the former appeared in The Journal of Personality and Social Psychology in October, and the latter in Developmental Psychology in September) concluded that whites, including children as young as 10, may attempt to avoid talking about race with blacks, or even acknowledging racial differences, so as not to appear prejudiced.
The studies also found that blacks viewed that tactic as evidence of prejudice.
While working at the hotline, the most difficult and dreaded question we had to ask callers was not "What happened to the child?" or "What does the injury look like?" or anything like that. It was "What is your race/ethnicity?" or "What is the family's race/ethnicity?"
There are several good reasons to ask the question. In a situation with very limited information, we might only know the child is a 7 year old at Generic Elementary School, that the child is named Lee and a girl. It could be handy to know Lee is Hispanic if there are four different 7 year olds named Lee there, as well as any other descriptive information we could obtain. The department also keeps statistics for all those fancy reports to ask for government funding and to give to community outreach groups.
But having to ask total strangers on the phone about race is agonizing. A lot of us would skip that question, evaluations be damned, because of the numerous unpleasant reactions it could bring. People would get angry, defensive, ask if they wouldn't get help if they were white, black, Hispanic, whatever.
One time I was taking a report with very little identifying information, mostly because my caller was a jerk. He couldn't tell me any names or definite information despite being the landlord. In hopes of providing some kind of identifying information to the field worker, I asked the dread question.
"Are the children white, black, Hispanic, Asian?" I asked hopefully. The man began screaming at me.
"There are only two races goddamn it. I want to talk to your supervisor, I can't believe the way you are talking to me!" The screaming went on for eight more minutes before I could get off the phone.
I grew up learning that it was impolite to mention race as a descriptor. I learned that one shouldn't really acknowledge it at all in casual conversation or daily life. Race was just a superficial issue, a cosmetic difference, and pointing it out was akin to pointing out someone's weight or the birthmark on their nose. Talking about race and racial differences was something for history discussions and anthropology courses.
Part of my family once owned a plantation in southern Alabama. My great-grandfather was a dragon of the Klu Klux Klan and was monitored by the FBI. I heard a lot of casual racism from various relatives while growing up and felt very conscious of the need to steer away from it as much as I could. I avoided any sort of qualifier or racial descriptive in my speech, both to avoid acknowledging there was any sort of difference and to avoid any sort of commentary about it.
So the racism wank has been making the rounds of Livejournal lately, ever since someone decided to critique a book she hadn't even finished for racial depictions. (Which, honestly, I think is bad form. Read the entire book if you're going to tear it apart.) I felt a bit bad for Elizabeth Bear, as she is hardly the raging bigot someone like Orson Scot Card is and I don't think her work is nearly as terrible as it was made out to be. Yes, I think reasonable people can agree that racism and stereotypes can lead to terrible things and even bad novels. But the amount of vitriol has reached a level of Python-esque absurdity. What can one say at this point? I see your point, I feel you've misinterpreted my words, sorry for misunderstandings? I'm not a racist? (That one never goes over!) You've made a good point, provided food for thought, given me things to think about? But I fear we will just see more hand wringing and hysterical denunciation and not very much of it seems to lead to anything useful.
Two studies on strategic colorblindness conducted by researchers at Tufts University and the Harvard Business School (the former appeared in The Journal of Personality and Social Psychology in October, and the latter in Developmental Psychology in September) concluded that whites, including children as young as 10, may attempt to avoid talking about race with blacks, or even acknowledging racial differences, so as not to appear prejudiced.
The studies also found that blacks viewed that tactic as evidence of prejudice.
While working at the hotline, the most difficult and dreaded question we had to ask callers was not "What happened to the child?" or "What does the injury look like?" or anything like that. It was "What is your race/ethnicity?" or "What is the family's race/ethnicity?"
There are several good reasons to ask the question. In a situation with very limited information, we might only know the child is a 7 year old at Generic Elementary School, that the child is named Lee and a girl. It could be handy to know Lee is Hispanic if there are four different 7 year olds named Lee there, as well as any other descriptive information we could obtain. The department also keeps statistics for all those fancy reports to ask for government funding and to give to community outreach groups.
But having to ask total strangers on the phone about race is agonizing. A lot of us would skip that question, evaluations be damned, because of the numerous unpleasant reactions it could bring. People would get angry, defensive, ask if they wouldn't get help if they were white, black, Hispanic, whatever.
One time I was taking a report with very little identifying information, mostly because my caller was a jerk. He couldn't tell me any names or definite information despite being the landlord. In hopes of providing some kind of identifying information to the field worker, I asked the dread question.
"Are the children white, black, Hispanic, Asian?" I asked hopefully. The man began screaming at me.
"There are only two races goddamn it. I want to talk to your supervisor, I can't believe the way you are talking to me!" The screaming went on for eight more minutes before I could get off the phone.
I grew up learning that it was impolite to mention race as a descriptor. I learned that one shouldn't really acknowledge it at all in casual conversation or daily life. Race was just a superficial issue, a cosmetic difference, and pointing it out was akin to pointing out someone's weight or the birthmark on their nose. Talking about race and racial differences was something for history discussions and anthropology courses.
Part of my family once owned a plantation in southern Alabama. My great-grandfather was a dragon of the Klu Klux Klan and was monitored by the FBI. I heard a lot of casual racism from various relatives while growing up and felt very conscious of the need to steer away from it as much as I could. I avoided any sort of qualifier or racial descriptive in my speech, both to avoid acknowledging there was any sort of difference and to avoid any sort of commentary about it.
So the racism wank has been making the rounds of Livejournal lately, ever since someone decided to critique a book she hadn't even finished for racial depictions. (Which, honestly, I think is bad form. Read the entire book if you're going to tear it apart.) I felt a bit bad for Elizabeth Bear, as she is hardly the raging bigot someone like Orson Scot Card is and I don't think her work is nearly as terrible as it was made out to be. Yes, I think reasonable people can agree that racism and stereotypes can lead to terrible things and even bad novels. But the amount of vitriol has reached a level of Python-esque absurdity. What can one say at this point? I see your point, I feel you've misinterpreted my words, sorry for misunderstandings? I'm not a racist? (That one never goes over!) You've made a good point, provided food for thought, given me things to think about? But I fear we will just see more hand wringing and hysterical denunciation and not very much of it seems to lead to anything useful.