I didn’t realize what racism really was until the seventh grade when I changed from a small Christian elementary school to a larger “Christian” college-prep school. In my elementary school, I knew there were kids who were African American but I didn’t think Tracy or Brandon were any different than me, part poor Kentucky tobacco farmer and part Native American. I didn’t think that my mom’s coworkers at Proctor and Gamble were any different, even though they were Egyptian, Indian, Chinese, Mexican, or Jewish. They were my friends. The lunch tables at my new school were strange, all of the Black kids sat together, all of the Asian and Hispanic kids sat at another table, and all of the White kids sat at the rest of the tables. It was weird and I didn’t know what questions to ask to understand why they were separated. Racism always really bothered me because as a White person, I didn’t know what to do. I already speak out when someone is bullying another for the color of their skin (or for any reason, really), I already treat everyone like they’re cut from the same cloth, I already befriend anyone who is kind, what am I to do? My hometown of Cincinnati is known for its race-riots that occurred as I graduated high school and even though that was almost 20 years ago, the tension is still in the streets. What can I do?
Lonnie Bunch, the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, was highlighted last Sunday on CBS Sunday Morning. Bunch is an African American gentleman and he said his grandmother always said that as an African American, “you have to be twice as good to go half as far.” (Link to video: https://www.cbs.com/shows/cbs-sunday-morning/video/bT34mYAXcXi0GW3WrevZl7Ouy2wAoQ_z/the-smithsonian-s-lonnie-bunch-learning-from-history/) His stories broke my heart as he spoke about the lunch counter sit-ins in the 1960’s as Black diners were unable to sit at the lunch counters. He acquired the Woolworth’s lunch counter from Greensboro, North Carolina where on February 1st, 1960, four African American students sat at the Whites Only lunch counter and demanded to be served. This started a revolution of sit-ins throughout the country, calling for the segregation at the counters to be reversed. Over 3,000 were arrested in these protests but it brought enough attention to the issue that the segregation was reversed six months later (CBS, 2019). He had a personal experience at a Woolworths in Raleigh a few years prior, where he was asked to leave the counter even though he was able to eat at the Woolworth’s counter in New Jersey (CBS, 2019). In the interview, Bunch says that “The burden of race, the burden of expectation, was often heavier on African Americans. I didn’t have the luxury to screw up” (CBS, 2019). This harkens to our text’s message about stereotype threat, where the fear that your behavior will solidify a negative stereotype actually confirms the stereotype. Bunch’s family ingrained in him that he had to overcome any stereotypes and work so hard to get half as far as a White person.
In an article by Steele and Aronson, we learn of a study where White and Black students from Stanford were brought in for a series of IQ tests. The African American students who were told that they were taking an IQ test scored lower than the Caucasian students on average. The African American students who were told that their tests were not being scored, instead the researchers are looking at how they take the test, their scores averaged the same as the White students (1995). So, there is no difference in ability, the students are just carrying that negative stereotype with them. So what can we do?
As detailed by Dwerk, a study in 2007 developed a social intervention to help African American students increase their expectations of being accepted at their university. The African American participants were taught that doubts about fitting in at college are normal and fleeting. They were presented with statistics, testimonials from upperclassmen and gave a speech about how someone’s perception of acceptance changes over time. This had a dramatic effect on the students. Compared to the control group who learned about political beliefs, the intervention students took more challenging courses, they were more resilient, they had no change in motivation when presented with adversity. They were also three times more likely to reach out to their professors, studied more hours per day, had higher retention rates, and an increase in their grades (2008).
So, we have an intervention that may help Black students which could be translated into different segments of our society, but what about everyone else?
Our text discusses diversity training, where students are brought into the dialogue about diversity. The educational program is made of readings, workshops and presentations, group exercises, writing assignments, and discussions, all with the intention of bringing different cultures together (Gruman, et al., 2017). Our text also describes coalition building, where people of different cultures are brought together informally, and it was made “normal” for their cultures to interact. Then the students are challenged with a task and rewarded, creating camaraderie (Gruman, et al., 2017). Basically, the best way to fight racism is to open a dialogue between the races where questions can be answered and relationships are formed.
Given how divisive race has gotten in the United States since 2016, I cannot say that these two things will revolutionize the way that races interact. But as a person who studies psychology, as a person who wants to know what to do, I can use these tools. I can encourage my African American friends to be a part of my group and make sure that they feel included. I can try to create a dialogue for those who are not used to being exposed to different cultures, to try to open their eyes. Although this plan of bringing races together may sound very idealistic, it seems better than doing absolutely nothing at all.
Resources:
Dweck, C. S. (2008). Can Personality Be Changed? The Role of Beliefs in Personality and Change. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 17(6), 391–394. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-8721.2008.00612.x
Gruman, J. A., Schneider, F. W., & Coutts, L. (2017). Applied social psychology: understanding and addressing social and practical problems. Los Angeles ; London ; New Dehli ; Singapore ; Washington DC ; Melbourne: SAGE.
Steele, C. M., & Aronson, J. (1995). Stereotype threat and the intellectual test performance of African Americans. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 69(5), 797–811. doi: 10.1037//0022-3514.69.5.797
The Smithsonian’s Lonnie Bunch: Learning from history (2019, October 6). CBS Sunday Morning. Retrieved October 7, 2019, from https://www.cbs.com/shows/cbs-sunday-morning/video/bT34mYAXcXi0GW3WrevZl7Ouy2wAoQ_z/the-smithsonian-s-lonnie-bunch-learning-from-history/.