1. Race is socialized through multiple agents of socialization crafting the image and idea of race. The most prominent--and most dangerous--is the mass media. By limiting the view of certain races, and perpetuating negative stereotypes about these race, the mass media helps discriminate against nonwhite people. A study done by USC's Media, Diversity, and Social Change Initiative found part of this phenomenon: there is a severe "inclusion crisis" in Hollywood, meaning that white men dominate the industry and minorities are criminally underrepresented. This is prominent because the media socializes people by giving them models to which they should look up; if one's role models don't look like them, it becomes harder to make that connection. This is especially poignant for race because in a white-majority nation, role models for people of color (PoC) are few and far between. If they become more scarce, it only further disenfranchises young PoC and makes them feel powerless. Another example of how the media influences the socialization of race is the popular sitcom called Modern Family. In it, the main characters are a white traditional nuclear family, a stereotypical white gay couple with an adopted Asian child, and an unorthodox family with an old white patriarch, a young immigrant wife, and her son from another marriage. On the surface, it seems like a diverse show that tackles many relevant issues, but the show uses many stereotypical caricatures of minorities in an attempt at humor. It is often difficult to know if these caricatures are meant as satire or purposefully inserted as a legitimate attempt at humor--and therein lies the problem. People who do not have experience with people who do not look like them may assume that those caricatures are representative of everyone within a particular race. This is a clear example of how lack of racial diversity can lead to very bad consequences.
Another agent of socialization utilized to construct race is the prison system, also known as mass incarceration. The New Jim Crow, written by Michelle Alexander, chronicles the ways in which the American prison system is designed to keep black people as an oppressed people in the same way that Jim Crow laws were meant to hurt black people. She asserts that "criminal" is now code word for "black", and that through governmental systems, public perception, and mas incarceration, a modern racial caste system has been created to keep black people at the bottom. This leads to a plethora of negative stereotypes about black people being seemingly proven true by the number of black people in the prison system, even though black people are trapped in a system designed to keep them in the prison system. Michelle Alexander's metaphor of the "new Jim Crow" may be imperfect--it fails to encompass the non-POC trapped within mass incarceration--but it shows how race is often used and manipulated in social systems. The documentary 13th also highlights how America as a whole has used different social and political systems to oppress black people and how mass incarceration is the latest system in a long line. It details how the loophole in the 13th amendment allowing prisoners to be worked as slaves led to the first instance of mass incarceration and exploitation of black bodies within jails. This created the "criminal black man" stereotype which still is prevalent today. The documentary shows how media influenced discrimination against blacks: the widely acclaimed "Birth of a Nation" inspired Ku Klux Klan members to burn black people at the cross. This abhorrent practice is still referenced today, as seen when black people are left burning crosses on their front yard. It then details the evolution of mass incarceration from the civil rights movement to the modern day. Civil rights attempted to redefine what it meant to be arrested by peacefully protesting; unfortunately, their attempts coincided with a steep hike in crime. This hike led to an outcry from concerned citizens for law and order, which the political establishment all too happily provided. This led to mass incarceration as we know it, locking up black men and women at incredible rates for minor drug charges. This all led to the development of the stereotype of the "crack whore" and the cementing of the "criminal black man" stereotype. These examples highlight how race has been viewed in America: a defining part of life. The socialization of race has followed the conflict perspective framework: the idea of race is meant to create conflict and inequality.
2. I am a black man in America. This unit is especially relevant to me because I am the target audience for many of the written essays and videos used during this unit. I have a higher likelihood of facing the discrimination described within this unit more than most other racial groups. This unit highlighted the narrow gaze with which we view race in America. To us, it is a solely black and white issue; the issues of other racial groups and ethnic minorities are often ignored. Often, I get a sense that sometimes, black people forget that they are not the only oppressed people within America, nor are we the largest. There needs to be a point where we confront that disparity. At the same time, I began to truly see how carefully we tiptoe around race within our country. There are people who will come up with convoluted explanations to assert that a certain instance has nothing to do with race, when every clue points directly to it being about race. There are also those who will do the exact opposite, trying to make connections to race where none exist. Even after this unit, I still don't know quite how to feel about race and where it belongs in my identity and sociological imagination. On the one hand, I want to take pride in the fact that I am black and accept any ramifications that come along with being black. On the other hand, I need to be able to step away from my blackness and evaluate the state of society from a neutral point of view. This unit has given me a lot to think about.
3. The idea of race has been ingrained into the very fabric of America's consciousness: slavery existed in the thirteen colonies before independence, there was a civil war over the issue of state's rights to legalize the exploitation of black bodies, and laws that openly targeted black people were only repealed half a century ago. There were the Japanese internment camps during WWII. There was what was essentially a genocide against Native American indigenous peoples. Through American history, there have always been oppressed groups acting as scapegoats for social ills against their will. The idea of race is so ingrained, a mere "solution" for a complex issue seems lacking. Nevertheless, there are things that can be done to resolve racial discrimination in America. Camara Phyllis Jones crafts a comparison between a garden and the different types of racism in her essay titled Levels of Racism: A Theoretic Framework and a Gardener's Tale and attempts to offer a solution. Camara asserts that in order to defeat racism as a whole, we must address institutionalized racism within governmental systems before addressing the social ramifications. This solution has merit: institutionalized racism has the most visible effect on overall racial relations, as seen by Jim Crow laws and the mass incarceration system. But it ignores the personal prejudice that often rears its head when institutions begin dismantling their own racism, as seen by the very vocal public backlash to Brown vs. Board of Education. Positive role models in media would be a strong step forward, and already there are examples of this: people like Michael Jordan, Beyoncé, and Neil DeGrasse Tyson are all examples of black role models. But there needs to be more visibility of Latino, Asian, and Native American role models so that every American child is able to see someone that looks like them on television and aspire to be them. Ultimately, it comes down to individual people. If we cannot change the people, there is no point trying to change the laws.
