Personal Staement

¶ … narrative which describes your personal understanding of how race functions in contemporary society.

I understand that "race" is largely a human social construct that has little factual basis. With the benefit of the various modern DNA sciences, we know today that the external features that typically denote race are completely unreliable because they do not accurately correspond to our lineage. I would define "race" as a meaningless distinction that has evolved into one of the primary factors that many people use to distinguish groups of people they consider "different" from themselves.

Racism is evident to me on a daily basis in the sense that I continually observe social interactions dictated substantially by race-based associations and expectations instead of by objective elements of those interactions. To me, racism encompasses much more than negative conscious beliefs and attitudes about other people; it includes the so-called "positive" elements of racial heritage, such as cultural celebrations and social affiliations. In my opinion, it is nonsensical to simultaneously teach that (1) racism is wrong because race doesn't matter and (2) ones racial or cultural heritage is something to consciously identify with and embrace as an important part of our psychosocial identity. Racism is wrong because race is irrelevant to the personal qualities of individuals; but, for any society to become genuinely color-blind or race-blind, it must stop reinforcing the natural tendencies that people already have to regard their own race more positively than other races. As a member of the race that enjoys the most privilege and opportunity in my society, I am not ordinarily affected by race in any noticeable way on a daily basis. However, I am acutely aware that individuals from other races (especially minority races) expect race to be on my mind and I have experienced instances of reverse racism at times.

2. Read Chapter Colorblindness: Challenging the Discourse of Contemporary U.S. Racism

The chapter perfectly explains why the concept of racism encompasses a tremendously broad set of psychological and sociological conditions and that conscious or overt negative racial attitudes represent only a very small sliver of that broad range at the very top of all identifiable forms of racism. Viewed from the perspective of an ideal society, the chapter describes an unfortunate state of human affairs in connection with notions about race. However, viewed from the longer-term perspective, the chapter describes the slow progress that modern Western societies are making on the long road to societies in which race and racial identity are no longer significant at all.

The most important ideas in the chapter are that: (1) the formation of ideas and expectations about race takes place within the context of the socialization process, and (2) because of this unconscious origin of racial attitudes, one must commit to actively identifying, understanding, and eliminating racial expectations to overcome the strength of unconsciously absorbed perspectives. In fact, I am so aware of this process that even though I believe that I am significantly less racist than others that I was expecting the Harvard IAT to identify some racism in me of which I am truly unaware. I was relieved to see that the results of my test confirmed that I do not have any racial biases.

I agree with the chapter's criticism of reliance on (some) diversity models, but my criticism is more general and, I believe, fundamental to the core of the problem. Specifically, I worry less that diversity models assume all Asian are the same than I worry about the fact that (some) diversity models reinforce so-called "racial pride" and identity. To my mind, any improvement that does not address the underlying uselessness of even the most positive associations based on race cannot achieve the ultimate goal: namely, a society where nobody identifies with or cares about race.

3. Did the chapter Colorblindness or the Harvard IAT, inform your perspective about race in any way? How does this new information compare or contrast with Personal Statement I? Do you have new insights you can add to your personal statement?

You have completed the African-American - European-American IAT.

Your Result

Your data suggest little to no automatic preference between European-American and African-American. Your data suggest little to no automatic preference between African-American and European-American.

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