B.A.W.L.E.R.

Black Asian White Latino Ethnicity and Race

[raceawayfromracism-blog]

Response: Would You Like a Side of Segregation with That?

I think the way you talked about your workplace is very interesting. It also depicts restaurants accurately in the way I have seen them. You usually have an attractive hostess or waitress helping you out. I never thought much of it but now I can see that it must always be done on purpose. Whether we want to accept it or not, we live in a society where aesthetics are held in high regard. You are always judged by the way you look before anything else because it is the first thing you register when you see or meet a person. When we walk into a restaurant and see an attractive person right off the bat, then we feel more at ease you can say. It makes the place pleasant. Minorities are looked down on by society most of the times so that is why they are usually placed in unskilled jobs. They are not highly valued so they can be easily replaced. Your post truly shows how bad segregation can be especially because it is something you relate to. -Emily Melendrez

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Response: How to be a Successful Immigrant

It is true that most immigrants that come to the United States become just as impoverished as they were in their own country. If they do happen to improve their condition, it is not always by much. There are many obstacles that immigrants have to face when they come to the United States like you stated. They have a language barrier as well as a limited skill set. This makes it easy to replace them in the work force because they cannot protect themselves or defend their right to work. It is rare that immigrants make it big once they arrive to this country. It is very sad because they deserve the right to do better for themselves. They had the courage to leave their own country with everything they have ever known to make a better life for themselves and their family. They should be able to prosper. -Emily Melendrez

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Response: To Be Gay in a Masculine Culture

Being gay or lesbian in a Latino community is definitely difficult. There are many traditional roles that a man and a woman must play but they do not include being same sex partners. Usually Latino families are less accepting of being homosexual because of their religious background or because they have been taught that women have to be feminine and men have to be masculine. Anything that does not fit into these ideals is not considered “normal”. In my research paper I talked about how Latino homosexuals usually have to deal with negative religious comments from their parents. Their actions are viewed as a sin or a moral evil. Parents say their child will go to hell. Latino homosexuals usually feel more comfortable coming out to friends or anonymous people online. It makes them feel more comfortable. It is also true that a mother is more accepting than the father. In my research it said that the reactions of fathers are twice more likely to be negative. It is hard for Latino homosexuals to come out because their family does not accept them and society does not either. They have double the problems because they are a minority and they are homosexuals. -Emily Melendrez

[racialtendencies-blog]

For hundreds of years we have examined our countries history about racism and slavery throughout the beginnings of the states. It went as far as trading slaves (which were all primarily all blacks) to other people so power over there slaves to do their work which is crops. Slavery eventually led...

[raceawayfromracism-blog]

I agree with what you are saying about colored people in low paying jobs. When we go to a restaurant I usually see a Hispanic male cleaning up the table and even cooking. You usually see minorities doing the job that many other people do not want to do and they are taken for granted. It is really to move up in life to respectable place when the rest of society tries to prevent that. Sometimes they see a colored person and automatically assume the worst. Don’t get me wrong there are colored people who have done very well for themselves and we see it quite a bit. The problem is that they are always overshadowed by their white counterparts. We see many white people gain success in ways that colored people sometimes do not. I understand what you mean about inequality. -Emily Melendre

[raceawayfromracism-blog]

To be gay in a Masculine Culture

To be Hispanic and gay in a rich Latino culture is deeply frowned upon.  Latinos and Latina's are taught to be proud of whom they are and that they need a good man or woman in their lives. I say this because I myself come from a very masculine family who doesn’t accept it if a member is gay. Masculinity runs the show and if a man is feminine in any way, the father feels a sense of shame that his own son acts that way. Just like for a woman, if she is a lesbian and acts masculine, it is seen as she is out of place and needs to be put back into it by a very strong man.

As seen in the pictures above, you don’t necessarily have to be Latino, to see that homosexual are not accepted in society who has been led to believe marriage is only between a man and woman. Yet, in the case of Latina's, it’s something that is not allowed and as much as they want to be proud of being lesbian, her father will not accept it and in a way disown her, which is hard to embrace so they hide it from their family for years.  The only reason this is such a problem is that we’ve learned over many years to live with the idea of being with a woman if you are a man and if you are woman you would want to be with a man. When women come out to their parents, the father ridiculous them a majority of the time and isn’t faun of the idea while the mother learns to accept it before the father. Overall the mother is more accepting if her son or daughter is gay, but the father will never accept it even if he shows he has.

I have two cousins that are gay, but will not come out to the family because it’s well known that it’s not allowed and they don’t want to be bashed on for like people of the same sex. They say that if Latino society hadn’t grown up being so masculine/feminine based and proud then they would come out and the same goes for my other cousin who is a female. It’s hard on the both of them because they can’t tell their actual family like parents and they usually go to gay groups to be helped and be themselves. Their lives have been hard since they cannot be who they truly are and feel like they are betraying themselves since they have to act different for their parents.

One thing about our society today is that were old / fairly young mixtures of people who see being gay or lesbian is wrong, while the young support people being happy with who ever they please.  In the picture above there are support groups for Latin men who are gay and are accepted in a society, especially in the Latin community were its not always about being masculine, but being who you are. Certainly their are very masculine gay men who still fill the role of a straight man, but prefer having the company of another man, just like most lesbian Latina women like being the “men” in the relationship or being fully feminine with another girl who is feminine and having a real relationship like a normal straight couple. if anything, gays and lesbians act more like couples then normal straight men and women.

             Latinos and Latina's can still preserve the same rich culture that’s been passed down the ages, but its not longer the older days were it was a sin to be gay, as we progress forward; more and more Hispanics come out and say they are gay or lesbian, just like Ricky Martin.

-GABRIEL

[raceawayfromracism-blog]

How To Be A Successful Immigrant

Does the fact that someone is an immigrant limit the amount of success they will achieve in America? Actually, this issue is much more complicated than that. There are more factors that are significant to the success of immigrants and their ability to integrate into mainstream society. Financial success and social mobility is directly related to their social standing in their home country, fluency in English, and the level of education they have received.

     If an immigrant arrives in America impoverished in their home country, they will be impoverished in America. Sadly, the American dream of starting at the bottom of the social ladder and climbing to the top is not very realistic. For example, it is common for Mexican immigrants to arrive in America in hope of escaping their poverty-stricken lives, but this is not what normally happens. In fact, the longer these impoverished immigrants stay in America, the worse conditions get. There is no way of getting out of poverty because, in the work place, all workers are considered easily replaceable. The competition for low-skilled and low wage jobs increases as more immigrants arrive in America. Since these workers are easily replaceable, employers have no interest in improving work conditions, whether it is the physical location or the income they receive. However, if immigrants are from the upper class in their home countries, they have a much higher chance of success. The social standing, or class, of an immigrant before they arrive to America is an important determining factor that relates to the success of immigrants.

     The ability to speak English fluently is also a factor that relates to the integration of immigrants into America. Speaking and understanding English helps some immigrants have a broader range of job opportunities because it gives them the advantage over non-English speakers. Sticking with the same example as Mexican Americans, these immigrants normally arrive in the U.S. with little or no knowledge of the English language. The language barrier between these immigrants and employers is a disadvantage to Mexican Americans, and impedes their ability to achieve success in America. Other immigrants such as Filipinos, for example, arrive in America with the ability to speak English fluently. Because they can speak and understand English perfectly, overall they are a very successful ethnic group. They are able to assimilate into American society and have better job opportunities compared to ethnic groups who cannot speak English.

     Education is another factor that is seemingly very significant in the amount of success and integration an immigrant can achieve. If an immigrant is very well educated prior to arriving to America, it is a very good predictor of what this individual is capable of achieving. Mexican American immigrants come to America with a low education level. The average amount of education they have before they arrive to America is nine years of schooling or less. Since they have low levels of education, the only jobs that are available to them are the menial and low-paying jobs, that so many are competing for already. The lack of education makes social mobility difficult for these immigrants, and causes them to always be in a state of poverty. Some other ethnic groups have the resources that allow them to have a higher education than the Mexican immigrant community. This includes high school graduates and college degrees which are very beneficial when trying to achieve success in America.

     The key factors that relate to immigrant success is the social class that an individual is part of in their home countries, the ability to speak English fluently, and the level of education one has prior to arriving in America. These factors are significant to the amount of social mobility and financial success immigrants are able to achieve.  

     -Christine vivit

[raceawayfromracism-blog]

Cholos N The Hood

It’s funny, Los Angeles is one of the most diverse cities in the United States, yet I find it is also the most segregated. Aside from its urban vibe and the warm weather, L.A is additionally known for its gang violence and density.

After doing some reading on a study conducted in an effort to combat gang violence, I learned that of the total 120,636 gang members reported in all surveyed cities, 70,000 were estimated to reside in Los Angeles County!! An LAPD report showed that out of 463 active gangs in the city, 246 of them are Hispanic. The question of why the Los Angeles has so much Chicano gang concentration comes to mind.

It is quite obvious that the immediate border to our neighboring Latino countries plays a huge role, but we tend to overlook the concept that gangs are formed due to the fact that most Chicanos are not being able to assimilate. It is a cycle. When immigrant parents come to the United States, they do not have access to many resources within the community. Even the inability to bridge the gap in language barriers has a major effect. It can lead to poor education achieved by their native born children. This also feeds into the diminished work conditions for these Latinos. Because they are not able to obtain skilled jobs, many of these Latino workers are left to scavenge for jobs in a supply and demand environment. Only a small pool of these low skill jobs are being offered to the flood of low skill workers. and then low income. These are only a few of the problems impeding integration. This finally leads to low income. Many of this Chicanos in Los Angeles choose to take the criminal route of easy money.

“Male/Hispanic – bald head. 5’6”- 5’10. 160-170lbs (stocky build). 20- 25 years of age. Mustache and goatee…”

It is tragic to listen to reports of suspected criminals targeting minorities with details as vague as those listed above. We all watch the news or hear about criminals in our area one way or another. The characteristics presented above are almost inescapable in Los Angeles. It seems everywhere we look, we find a possible suspect fitting this profile depiction. In fact, it describes most of the males in my family! A quick Google search using any one of these physical features will bring up images such as:

       Do they all look like malevolent delinquents to you? It just to happens, one of them is a Hollywood actor, two of the men were found after searching “bald Latino”, one is even my own brother. It is so easy for any of us to brush them off as the typical L.A “Cholo”.

It seems the Cholo culture is spreading and it is drawing in a lot of our youth today. Songs and media influences, for example:

only make it so much easier to have others use such images as means of racial profiling. It is also another influence further hindering assimilation of Latinos in Los Angeles. It is because of such images presented in today’s impressionable society that many Latinos, although qualified, do not get the high paying job. This also makes the Latino worker fairly disposable; because there more supply than demand for low skill workers, employers will hire the next “Jose Sanchez” on the list.

Once again, it is the concept of possessive investment whiteness that continues to keep the Latino ethnicity down. It is because their failure to assimilate due to immigration rates, language barriers, lack of resources and education and their portrayal in the media that they are not able to move up and out of the barrios.

-Patricia Sandoval

[raceawayfromracism-blog]

Home Improvements

I think being Mexican is perceived differently among people. Even to Mexicans it can mean something different. Some people are prouder of their ethnicity while others do not really pay much attention to it. For me, being Mexican meant family gatherings, eating “traditional” Mexican food, speaking Spanish, and going to Mexico. I never really gave it much thought. I tend to be indifferent about a lot of things I suppose. But I guess I did not think of it much because it was a part of me.

Sometimes we are sitting around and my parents mention something. It usually goes something like “when we were kids we didn’t have…” or “things were different back then”. It is hard to imagine what life was like back then. Both my parents have many siblings; in fact I believe each of them has eleven siblings. My dad is the youngest in his family and my mom is the middle child. Both families were very poor. They both came to the United States to make a better life for themselves, much like other Mexican immigrants. My dad was fifteen at the time that he came and my mom was seventeen when she came. My dad went to adult school and worked odd jobs like cleaning offices and yard work. A while later he went to work at a factory making bottles. My mom started working at the same place making bottles eight months after arriving here. That is where they met.

 My dad still works in the factory even after twenty seven years. My mom worked there for seventeen years until she started working at a warehouse repairing iPods where she has been working for close to six years. In all the years that they have been here they have kept the same jobs because it has been hard to find anything else. Both my parents had very little education so they had to make do with the jobs that they got in fear of not finding another. That seems to be the case with many Mexicans and other ethnicities in the US. They tend to only be able to work within a certain skill level that when those jobs start to dwindle, worrying about paying bills and putting food on the table becomes the norm. The one thing I can say about my parents though, is that working hard all those years gave us what we have today.

We lived with an aunt of mine in a three bedroom house until I was about ten. My parents saved up for years to finally buy the house we live in today. It is a relatively nice house. It is two stories in what I would call a middle class neighborhood. My parents bought the house and we moved in as soon as they were finished being made. For eight years I have lived in a house paid with my parent’s hard work. They may have had the same job for many years but they worked with what they had and made a good living for themselves and for my sister and me.

Losing their job is still a great fear of theirs because of the economy. Both of their jobs have had serious layoffs and they are worried about the possibility of being next. Neither knows what they will do without a job.

In fact I know quite a few family friends in the same predicament for the same reason. They came here hoping to earn a better living with only a limited skill set. Many people look down on immigrants for being so low on the socioeconomic latter but it is not something that can always be helped. They were poor in their own country and they want to have a better life here. Sometimes they do not understand the hard work that they do to just simply live. They see Mexican as people who are taking over jobs or lowly field workers or they seem them as gang members because of a group of people that give the rest of them a bad name. Mexicans are not taking jobs. They are here for the opportunities. It is like a Mexican going up to a white person and telling them that they are taking up all the jobs. Because they are white they feel superior and they feel like they own the jobs, like everything is theirs. Mexicans are no different from the people that are already here. They just come from a slightly less fortunate background to improve their lives.

I think everyone is entitled to improving their lives, don’t you?

 -Emily

[raceawayfromracism-blog]

White meat or dark meat?

I am a Latina in the work force. Despite that though, I cannot say I have really experienced any discrimination in the work place. It could be because it is a minimum wage job at a fast food place. That is not to say that there is not any discrimination in fast food jobs, but those jobs do tend to be full of minority workers. Maybe that in itself is a type of discrimination or stereotyping. I work at Kentucky Fried Chicken and most of the workers there are either Latino/a or Asian-American. There are also many women workers. The store manager, the assistant manager, and two of the shift supervisors are even women.

 The difference between the women employees and the men employees is that most of the men employees do the "heavy duty" work. Only four of the male employees are cashiers/packers and one of them is a shift supervisor. The rest of them cook the chicken, clean everything, and, literally, do the heavy lifting.

                Now that I think about it, it is kind of ironic. In a normal or domestic environment, all of that would be a women's job. In a traditional setting a women cooks and cleans. At work, though, they hire men specifically for these jobs. It sounds simple but it is a lot of work. They have to be constantly cooking chicken, running back and forth. They have to clean the ovens at the end of the day which takes a lot of work and they have to put away the food deliveries and help us out with the lifting. I had never really thought about their job much, but now that I do, the roles seem a bit reversed.  The women workers are mainly cashiers or they simply make the side orders like mash potatoes and coleslaw. It is one more job men have taken over in the work force.

 Now I will move on from the gender aspect to the racial/ethnic perspective. Like I mentioned earlier, many of us are Latino/a or Asian-American. In fact, we only have one "white" person working there and it is a female. It is the only job I have ever had and I got the job because I have known the manager since I was young. Like I mentioned earlier, fast food jobs tend to be full of minority workers. It seems like all of these jobs have been regulated to the minorities of America. When one thinks of fast food jobs, they might think of low wages and low education. That may also be how everyone sees minority groups. People do not think of them as being highly capable. This may be a form of discrimination because it is like these jobs are being given to them.

Maybe I do not have much to say about segregation because I have not yet faced it, but I am positive it is still out there. Women are still used for jobs simply because they are women. Some example are teachers and nurses. This appeals to their "feminine" side so they are ideal jobs for women. I have never thought about these things as much as I have now and it is amazing how much I have learned. Not everything is as it seems. Not much has changed for women, even in "modern" times.

                                    - Emily  

[raceawayfromracism-blog]

Would You Like a Side of Segregation With That?

                                            I love getting up really early in the morning to go to work! (sarcasm)

A successful restaurant is like a well-oiled machine; business runs smoothly when everyone is doing their job to their fullest potential. I recently started my first job taking on the responsibilities of a predominantly female occupation at a fairly popular Japanese restaurant.  As one of my coworkers said, “The job of a hostess here is to do everything to keep the customer happy and look good while doing it.” Initially, I took these words rather lightly and it wasn’t until my first couple weeks on the job that I began to understand exactly what was expected of me. It takes extreme patience to deal with customers and their complaints with a smile on your face as well as major leg muscle to endure the ache of running around in heels all day as part of my uniform.

After observing the operations of my job, I find restaurants are perfect examples to illustrate the sex, race and ethnic inequality in U.S workplaces. For instance, kitchen and busboy duties are filled by colored minority males, mostly Hispanic. Jobs at the sushi bar are primarily done by Asian men. Waiters and waitresses as well as the job of hosts and hostesses tend to hieratically segregated, expressed with Asian women taking the majority of these positions. I notice myself being further segregated as the only female Hispanic employee to be working directly with customers. The organization of the disbursement of these occupations proves to have some logic, as customers tend to gravitate more towards female employees. They (including myself) tend to receive a larger tip on average as opposed to an equally qualified male coworker.

                              You may think that female employees would advance faster because they are, on average, making more sales are rated higher on customer service; but you would think wrong. Even in a female dominated occupation, men continue to rise up the job ladder faster than women. Recently, one of the male waiters was given the position of assistance manager, though there had been waitresses who had been employed longer than this young man (kudos to him on his progress).

My current job clearly illustrates the concept of the dual labor system similar to what is described in Glenn’s “Cleaning Up/Kept Down” article. I definitely do not fit in with the Asian majority of my fellow coworkers. My gender has also determined my position as a hostess. If I were a Hispanic male, I would almost surely be working in the kitchen deskilled labor. It seems there is strategic plan for me as a hostess. The job required one to dress formally and must have an outgoing personality. I am required to speak with confidence and always remember customer service is key. When working my shifts, I find myself being the only Spanish-speaking employee in the dining room. I am often asked to help translate for some of the customers. Many times I am also singled out by customers, questioning whether or not I know the meaning of Japanese phrases I am required to announce when seating guest simply because I am obviously not if Japanese decent. I am the black sheep of the hosts.

Though the job may not always be a breeze, facing minor forms of discrimination based on both my race and gender and answering to rude customers; it shows just how far we are from a society that truly values equality.

To all of whom like to complain at restaurants:

                                ;)

-Patricia Sandoval

[raceawayfromracism-blog]

click on the pictures above.

“We are seen as objects,

The men in the past and present

See us as objects of pleasure

Willing we accept it until now

We are no longer just objects

Objects to abuse and get a rise out of

I will no long put my thoughts aside

I demand respect and equal rights

Just because I am a women

Doesn’t mean I can not compete with men!

Attempting to keep me down due to my ethnicity

I say no!

I am not just some object

A living human being stands in front of you

Asking for simple things men give to each other

RESPECT AND EQUAL PRIVALEDGES LIKE OTHERS!

You may consider me an object, but this is one object

You personally will not want to deal with when we all come

AS ONE!

The whole main point of this poem to show how women are see worthless things only good for cooking,  emotional connections for your children, and sex above all. Even though we’ve come a long way since the 1920 bill for women’s equal rights, we tend to resort back to our primitive ways of no trusting them or even giving them two simple things like respect and equal opportunities. Even in the work area, they are assigned to low wage jobs and paid less then men. If it takes 10 years for a cashier to be promoted to higher positions and she has the same skill as the next male cashier being promoted and it only took him 5 years to be promoted, it shows that their is still unequal treatment and that  men get treated better due to the glass ceiling effect placed on females.

The other night, I was with a buddy of mine who prefers to remain nameless. She was telling me how she got fired from her last job because she knew a previous employee from there who wasn’t allowed to get rehired. So they fired her because of that. It’s not really fair because she was a good worker, but if the role was switched and if it was a man who was in her place he wouldn’t get fired. Treatment for both genders in the workforce is by far different especially when one gets paid. Another situation which I find interesting is that I get paid more in two weeks then my friend who is a girl that is a manger. She’s been working as a manger for 3years and only got a ten cent raise while I get 2-3 dollars more then her. Overall it shows that guys get taken care of better and better pay then women who get less.  Prior to last week, I was at work a old man in his late 50’s came up to me saying ,”I need a man who knows his paint and I want you to help me.” I had told him I’m not much of help since I didn’t know a lot about my department and a female co worker came next to me, so I told him that she would know more about the products then I would. So he was shocked and said, “I girl knows more about paint then YOU!” I had told him yes and he was disappointed. Things like this show me that much hasn’t changed in our society and that men only trust other men. Even when I’m at work, guys come up to me and ask me instead of the girls, the same goes for the girls who come in looking for some information about products.  A main thing our society was built upon was that the common man is superior to women in every aspect and it’s a rule we still see today. Mainly through how women are mistreated and not trusted in the workforce. Ideas of how they belong at home instead of working.  Norm ideas like this will never disappear as long as many continue to practice them in jobs or live by the idea.

Women in third world countries like thailand are seen as sex objects who do what told and give birth to children. Men are the ones who work everyday and maintain the house hold. Here in America, our women have more freedom to do things, but its not the same as a guy doing it because that fact that they are girls is frowned upon. Its hard to work with women since guys have to act a certain way unlike if their around guys for the next 8hrs. Factoring this problem into unequal work rights, creates a sense of discrimination towards them and influences many to treat them different.

[raceawayfromracism-blog]

Job Segregation Based on Gender

   Society has this notion that men are physically stronger than woman. But one has to wonder if this is biologically true, or have we socialized ourselves to believe so. Young girls are taught to play with dolls, which fulfills the stereotype that women are meant for nurturing. However young boys are given toy guns and trucks, planting the idea that men are meant for hard labor because they have strength that surpasses that of a woman. Men are always portrayed as the dominant gender, and society accepts the idea of feminine frailty to be true. These concepts stay with us as we grow up, and it eventually leads to job segregation, within the workplace, based on gender.

     Historically, the weak persona of women offered a “plausible” explanation to why women were not accepted in the workforce. The men of the family went out to work and earned the only income in the household, while the women stayed to do the housework and care for the children. Though, this idea only applied to white women. Women of color were never categorized as too weak or frail for hard labor, so they were part of the workforce long before upper middle class white women.  However, there was a shift in roles, as the men went off to war in World War II. The white women needed to take the responsibility of going to work for money. Even though women attained more rights by taking these jobs, the equality of genders in the workplace still does not exist today.

     As a result, women normally perform certain types of jobs that are appropriate for them based on their gender. For example, elementary school teaching and nursing are a few of the occupations that are predominantly for women. These jobs require a desire to nurture and take care of others, as if they were originally created for women based on stereotypes. Even within the education and medical fields, there is gender segregation because the men tend to have the jobs where they are higher in power and have bigger paychecks.  In the education field, principals tend to be male, and are paid more than the teachers. Even if they aren’t normally in direct contact with the students as much as the teachers, they are considered to be the “big boss” within school campuses. Also, this is seen in the medical field, where the doctors are mostly male. The doctors are significantly richer in power and money compared to the nurses. The nurses’ sole job is to take orders from the doctors because they are responsible for their patient’s health.

     The gender-specific jobs that attract women unfortunately lead to limited amounts of mobility one can achieve in the workplace. The terms “glass ceilings” and “sticky floors” relate to the issue of job segregation based on gender. Glass ceilings refer to the fact that women have a limited amount of mobility within the hierarchy in their specific workplace. Sticky floor is another phrase that relates to women being stuck in the lowest paid menial jobs.  This limited mobility is the reason why most of the people under the poverty line are single-parent households led by women.  In families, women earn some money, but still depend more on the man’s income. Although, this describes most women regardless of race, white women still have the advantage because they apply their possessive investment in whiteness. White women hire women of color to do domestic service, and they benefit from this type of power.

    Stereotypes have led society to believe that certain jobs are better suited for women and others for men. The occupations for women are the lowest paid and requiring less hard labor than men. The men still have the hard labor jobs, but also are the supervisors and bosses of the departments traditionally meant for women. This has been the case all throughout history, and is still being done today. The cause of single women being under the poverty line is because women are being paid less than men. If all women, despite race, unite to create more equality among the workplace, this social problem will benefit all women.

-Christine Vivit

[raceawayfromracism-blog]

The video illustrates the stereotypical gender roles shown in popular Disney films. -Patricia Sandoval

[raceawayfromracism-blog]

The Image of An American

As a kid, every time I told my mom about a new friend I made, she would ask “Are they American?”. Now, I always thought it was odd that she would ask, but I answered her any way. My reply was “Of course, aren't most people who live here, an American citizen?”. She would get frustrated with me and say “No! I mean, are they white?!”. My mom is a first generation immigrant, so I would imagine her perspective on the image of an American may be different than the general public. She grew up in the philippines, and was only exposed to America through television, which gave her the idea that all Americans lived in beautiful mansions with nice cars, and all of the people are white. The idea of Americans all being white successful people stuck with her, even after she got her American citizenship. Recently, I realized that this is not a new concept, and historically, the image of a white person got to be synonymous with the image of an American.

When European immigrants travelled to America in hope of a new life without poverty, this is not what they found. They arrived and were given low paying jobs, with bad working conditions. They were at the bottom striving to be the people who were successful and in charge, who, at the time, where all the white people in America. In order to climb the social ladder, they had to ditch their Polish, Italian, or Irish ethnicities and strive to become more American, which meant to essentially become “white”. In David Roediger's essay on whiteness and ethnicity, he explains that these immigrants chose to leave their cultural identities “because they sought to assimilate into the broad category of American, [and] ...to be accepted as white rather than as Irish or Polish.” To become white meant achieving high economic and social status', as well as an increase in political power, so naturally the American dream was to become white.

The phenomenon of non-white Americans trying to be white, because of the benefits that come with the association, is a very interesting concept but it is hard to relate. Today, racism is not as prominent, so the idea of relating whiteness to success is not a modern topic. In my opinion, people see success as an earned trait rather than a racial issue. The American dream has gone through a shift from becoming successful in being as “white” as possible to being successful through the importance of an education and/or hard work, or even talent. Rather than defining American as being white, it is defined as an idea that anyone, regardless of race, can find success if they work hard and never give up.

The image of a white person does not accurately define an American anymore. However, my mom begs to differ. Even though, she herself is an American, she doesn't let go of the old idea of a picture perfect rich white family that is similar to the one in the photo above. The family seems to be happy, almost to the point where it is fake. Also, the big house and white picket fence adds to the whole idea of what it means to be “American”, for my mother. The idea seems silly to me, but growing up in America, I wouldn't know what other countries think of when someone mentions “American”. I think the image of America my mom perceives is probably accurate to what most immigrants, or anyone not living in America believes. When I think American, I think of how diverse this country really is, compared to others, and the fact that people can have nothing, and still make a better future for themselves.

-Christine Vivit

[raceawayfromracism-blog]

To Be White or Not

Many years ago since the 1800's, various races have faced hard times in achieving a job to provide for their families or so they can make a name for themselves. “Pushed from Ireland by economic hardships and famine, the immigrants were pulled to America by the Market Revolution’s demand for labor. Yankees regarded the Irishman as “as one made to work” (An “Immortal Irish Brigade” of Workers 8). Towards the 1860’s, New York was hit hard by immigrants getting jobs and left the common white folks jobless, which caused an up roar among them which led to hate crimes against the Irish. “America for Americans”, meaning it’s a place for whites and it doesn’t take kindly to invaders. In the video, the environment is crappy and more of a poor city which whites saw fitting for low class families. In another video from the same movie that I couldn’t find, you see the more elegant wealthy class in amazing houses, having amazing clothes, and the streets were cleaner than today. The gap among the poor and wealthy was very large. Who wouldn’t want to live like that and NOT HAVE TO WORK TO BE RICH! I would, yet Irish didn’t have that privilege due to the hazing and system of keeping the poor down. White is the way to go apparently because any other race got the crap left over. Times got better for the Irish as they were being accepted due to the large amounts of blacks in America.

Far later on the timeline Irish were seen as equals, since they had adopted white laws and beliefs, ethnicity wasn’t as important, but race was. The not so new enemy shared among both groups were the black. Just like back in the days, blacks have been disliked and it’s easy to befriend someone when you hate the same person. From the 1860’s till now, the 21st century, the idea of being white is still seen as the dominate trait. The main point I’m throwing out there is that a majority of groups still want to be white.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3s2d3kkP1rg&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kr26fqlx4vE&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWEXJ-Qd1uw&feature=related

I remember growing up watching many shows and noticing that everyone was mainly white like in Power Rangers or the Rugrats. Deep down I wanted to be white and only picked the white toys to plays with, the like the link above demonstrates young black girls and boys wanting to play with the white doll because it was better, nice, and not the trouble making one. I wished I was white mainly. Noticing how all the good things literally happen to the little white boys and girls like toys, money, and adventures made me jealous. Other than just wanting to be white, I wanted to change my whole appearance, brown eyes to blue eyes, brown skin to white skin, my name to a more fitting white name, and even my lifestyle. As I grew older the idea of being white still stayed in my head since they get all the benefits like jobs and money, making it harder on minorities like myself. I’m proud of whom I am, yet the thought doesn’t just get up and leave your head when you have wished it for many many years. Overall a lot had to do with images and media, which I think is unfair because this is something we shouldn’t be putting in kid’s heads. Instead show that it’s good to be any race, not just white. Look how long the ideas has been around, its spread all over the world like a disease to the point where in the 1860’s, Irish had a concept of white and made that one of their priorities, even joining the army was seen as the most American thing you can do like shown in the first video link. Personally that’s oblivious, no man or women should have to go to that extent to show their American, helping citizens or donating money is good enough. Ask yourself this... do you want your child growing up believing white is the best while the rest are less?

-Gabriel

[raceawayfromracism-blog]

White Flight

                                          It has become evident that throughout the course of history, the white population has used their “whiteness” to their advantage. Through the self-proclaimed status of superiority we find racial minorities slipping further and further down the social ladder. This idea of possessive investments in whiteness is better illustrated within the concept of residential segregation.

I feel it is crucial to first identify the differences between an ideal suburban neighborhood and a model urban neighborhood. Urban areas are generally understood to contain ghettos where people of color struggle amongst crime and poverty while in the suburbs, white families raise children in a clean and pleasant setting. Over time these distinctions have been made clear through racial segregation and I find we are all affected by it. It becomes increasingly prominent when we take the time to observe the area we live in.

              One example I find that best fits this scenario would be the transition of the San Fernando Valley from mostly white to racially congested. During the post-WWII time slot, many tantalized families decided to pick up and begin their lives in the Valley. The once pleasant region slowly began to distance itself from its ethnic neighbors through the construction of highways and relocation of businesses. Today, the identified 17 Asian gangs and 46 Hispanic gangs run the urbanized streets of the San Fernando Valley alone.  Graffiti plasters the freeways and apartment buildings that seem to snake amongst the landscape. Housing projects that were designed to assist residents are now overrun by crime. The area is also prime real-estate for landfills. It is no wonder why the Valley, where I call home, is looked down upon. The understandable low property value is decreasing political power, destroying the lives of citizens, as well as labor, education systems and law enforcement of such urban ruins.

Through it all, it has become clear that the oppressed ethnics continue to submit to this plague while the superior race thrives. It would be silly to think that anyone would willingly give up their advantages to live in an imaginary utopian society. These possessive investments in whiteness are also further elevating the devastating power of racism. As George Lipsitz suggested in his work, he claims white dominance is so influential that there is no need for a label and that we may even go as far as to say we can now see it as regularity within our society. Take a look at those in power today; politicians, businessmen, etc. Our observations would conclude that they are among the white population, with minor exceptions. The decisions made have the biggest effect on minorities through their decrease in political and economic standing. Unless drastic changes are made, white powers will continue to unfairly soar above all others.

-Patricia Sandoval

[raceawayfromracism-blog]

This video demonstrates that its okay to make fun of another race, as long as its funny to people. It's not considered racist of Carlos Mencia because he's funny, if he wasn't then he would be considered racist against blacks. It goes to show how the double standard of racism in American society today is.

-gabe