Every few days we will be reading articles out of the magazine Us and Them: A History of Intolerance. The articles that we read will cover a wide range of discrimination topics from around the United States and from various time periods. Use these Discussion Questions to help guide your way through each of the articles.
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Stereotypes A "stereotype" is a
generalization about a person or group of persons. We develop
stereotypes when we are unable or unwilling to obtain all of the
information we would need to make fair judgments about people or
situations. In the absence of the "total picture," stereotypes in many
cases allow us to "fill in the blanks." Our society often innocently
creates and perpetuates stereotypes, but these stereotypes often
lead to unfair discrimination and persecution when the stereotype
is unfavorable. For example, if we are walking through a park late
at night and encounter three senior citizens wearing fur coats and
walking with canes, we may not feel as threatened as if we were met by
three high school-aged boys wearing leather jackets. Why is this so?
We have made a generalization in each case. These generalizations
have their roots in experiences we have had ourselves, read about in
books and magazines, seen in movies or television, or have had related
to us by friends and family. In many cases, these stereotypical
generalizations are reasonably accurate. Yet, in virtually every
case, we are resorting to prejudice by ascribing characteristics about
a person based on a stereotype, without knowledge of the total
facts. By stereotyping, we assume that a person or group has certain
characteristics. Quite often, we have stereotypes about persons who are
members of groups with which we have not had firsthand contact.
Television,
books, comic strips, and movies are all abundant sources of
stereotyped characters. For much of its history, the movie industry
portrayed African-Americans as being unintelligent, lazy, or
violence-prone. As a result of viewing these stereotyped pictures of
African-Americans, for example, prejudice against African-Americans
has been encouraged. In the same way, physically attractive women have
been and continue to be portrayed as unintelligent or
unintellectual and sexually promiscuous.
Stereotypes also evolve
out of fear of persons from minority groups. For example, many
people have the view of a person with mental illness as someone who
is violence-prone. This conflicts with statistical data, which
indicate that persons with mental illness tend to be no more prone
to violence than the general population. Perhaps the few, but
well-publicized, isolated cases of mentally ill persons going on
rampages have planted the seed of this myth about these persons. This
may be how some stereotypes developed in the first place; a series of
isolated behaviors by a member of a group which was unfairly
generalized to be viewed as a character of all members of that group.
Discrimination When we judge people and groups based on our prejudices and
stereotypes and treat them differently, we are engaging in
discrimination. This discrimination can take many forms. We may
create subtle or overt pressures which will discourage persons of
certain minority groups from living in a neighborhood. Women and
minorities have been victimized by discrimination in employment,
education, and social services. We may shy away from people with a
history of mental illness because we are afraid they may harm us. Women
and minorities are often excluded from high echelon positions
in the business world. Many clubs have restrictive membership
policies which do not permit Jews, African-Americans, women, and
others to join. In some cases, the civil and criminal justice system
has not been applied equally to all as a result of discrimination.
Some studies indicate that African-Americans convicted of first degree
murder have a significantly higher probability of receiving a
death penalty than whites convicted of first degree murder, for
example. When political boundaries have been drawn, a process known
as "gerrymandering" has often been used to provide that minorities
and other groups are not represented in proportion to their
population in city councils, state legislatures, and the U.S.
Congress.
Racism Anthropologists,
scientists who study humans and their origins, generally accept that
the human species can be categorized into races based on physical
and genetic makeup. For example, many, but certainly not all
African-Americans have physical differences from Caucasians beyond
their dark skin, such as wiry hair. Virtually all scientists accept
the fact that there is no credible scientific evidence that one
race is culturally or psychologically different from any other, or
that one race is superior to another. Past studies which reached
conclusions other than that have been found to be seriously flawed in
their methodology or inherently biased. Yet despite overwhelming
scientific evidence to the contrary, there are people who maintain
that their own race is superior to all others. These people, known
collectively as "racists," are the most likely to engage in
discrimination, persecution, and violence against those they deem to be
members of "inferior" races.
In 19th century Europe, Jews were
classified as an "inferior" race with specific physical and
personality characteristics. Some thinkers believed these traits
would disappear if Jews received political and social emancipation
and could assimilate into the broader society. Others felt that
these traits were genetically passed on and could not be changed.
Racial theory, distorted into a pseudo-science, sanctioned negative
stereotypes existing from classical and Christian anti-Semitism
(see Chapter 4). An increasing emphasis on nationalism also
highlighted the Jews as a "foreign element," which could contaminate
the native stock and culture and potentially dominate the
native population economically and politically (see Chapter 5). This
long-standing history provided a seed-bed for the Nazi ideology and
program of genocide.
In North America, African-Americans were
brought from Africa as slaves, and their descendants have
endured centuries of oppression. During the Civil War, slaves were
freed and granted citizenship. Discrimination continued. "Jim Crow"
laws in the South required separate bathrooms, buses, and nursing
homes for African-Americans. Poll taxes and literacy tests were
required solely for the purpose of disenfranchising minorities. Before
the landmark 1954 U.S. Supreme Court decision of Brown vs. Board of
Education (Topeka, Kansas), segregation of school systems was
legal. Decades later, many school systems remain segregated.
Racism
against African-Americans is still prevalent in the United States.
Despite laws and other protections against discrimination,
African-Americans still face discrimination in housing,
employment, and education. African-Americans are still victimized by
insurance red-lining, and the racism of whites and others is
exploited by block-busting, a practice which is illegal in
Pennsylvania and many other states. Although racist organizations such
as the Ku Klux Klan have small memberships, they have been actively
recruiting and holding rallies in Pennsylvania and other states and
spreading their messages of hate against African-Americans,
Jews, Catholics, and other minorities.
Civil rights laws have
been passed at the local, state, and federal levels to combat racism
and the persecution and discrimination which racism promotes.
While the First Amendment to the Constitution protects the
rights of everyone to assemble peaceably and speak freely, racist
messages universally bring a response of condemnation from responsible
members of the communities that racists visit. The international
community universally has condemned the apartheid policies of
the government of South Africa, and the debate on sanctions against
this government is a continuing public policy issue before the U.S.
Congress.
Immigration Quotas Based on Racism Before
1890, the overwhelming majority of immigrants to the United States
was from northern and western Europe. They were
predominantly Protestant and included many industrious farmers and
skilled workers with a high rate of literacy who were easily
assimilated. In the 1840s and 1850s, hundreds of thousands of Irish
citizens fled their homeland for the U.S. to escape famine and
discrimination. At the turn of the century, immigration shifted
to a southern and eastern European population which was mainly
Catholic, Greek Orthodox or Jewish. Many were impoverished, and there
was a high proportion of illiteracy. Unlike the first wave of
immigration which had dispersed throughout the United States, these
groups settled in pockets in major cities, retaining their language
and customs. They also provided a large pool of unskilled factory
labor which competed with the American labor force. Concern about
economic competition intertwined with concern about the "illiterate
poor" becoming public charges. In the early 1900s, groups were
formed to place barriers to the immigration of such people. Among
these were the American Protective Association in the Midwest
and the Immigration Restriction League established in Boston. Studies
and reports were commissioned to "prove" that southern and eastern
Europeans were racially inferior to northern and western Europeans.
One such study, sponsored by a nine-member Immigration Commission
appointed by the U.S. government in 1907, culminated in a 42-volume
report to support this racist notion. Immigration policies were
influenced by these reports and studies, and also contributed to
the growing isolationist viewpoint of U.S. government
policymakers.
The Quota Act of 1921 put the first numerical
restrictions on European immigration, followed by the Immigration Acts
of 1924 and 1929. The total number of immigrants permitted each year
was cut by over 80% from the average immigration numbers at the turn
of the century and the distribution was based on the ethnic origins
of the U.S. Population in 1920. As a result, 83,575 places out of a
total 153,774 were assigned to Great Britain and Ireland which
provided relatively few applicants. On the other hand, countries with
more potential immigrants had smaller quotas: Germany, about 26,000;
Poland, 6,000; Italy, 5,500; France, 3,000; Rumania, 300.
Arthur
D. Morse, in his volume, While Six Million Died wrote that "Later
these impersonal figures would doom Rumanian, Polish, and French Jews
seeking sanctuary while the English and Irish quotas lay unused."
These figures were unchanged until the Administration of Lyndon Johnson
in the 1960s.
Sexism The concept
of equal rights for women is as old as the ancient Greeks; the
Greek philosopher Plato advocated for equality between the sexes in
his Republic. Few civilizations have even approached this equality,
however, and it has only been in modern times that women have been
granted legal rights which were routinely applied only to men.
Actual equality in society has lagged far behind legal emancipation,
many believe. Legal rights for women have evolved in the United
States since the early 1800s. Pennsylvania was the first state which
had a medical school for women (1850). Other professions also began to
permit women to practice most states did not admit women to practice
law until the middle of the 19th century, and virtually none did
before 1820. In most states, married women were not permitted to own
property or enter into contracts until the mid-1800s.
In 1920,
the 19th Amendment to the Constitution was enacted giving women the
right to vote. It was not until 1933 that a woman served as a member of
the President's cabinet (Frances Perkins, Secretary of Labor) in the
Administration of Franklin D. Roosevelt.
The Civil Rights Act of
1964 prohibited sexual discrimination with regard to most employment
issues. A proposed amendment to the Constitution to grant women
equal protection under the law (the "Equal Rights Amendment") was
passed by the Congress in 1972, but failed to receive approval from
three-fourths of the states needed to ratify it in the prescribed
time period for it to become effective.
Laws which exist in
every state provide that women must receive equal pay for equal work,
a concept which only a few decades ago was unthinkable. "Comparable
worth" laws have been proposed in several states which would end the
disparity between the pay of women in historically "female"
dominated professions (such as teaching, nursing, and secretarial
work) and "comparable" positions which are dominated by males.
Although
sexual discrimination remains a problem at all levels of society,
women have risen to leadership positions in government, business, and
the professions, but not to the same degree as their male counterparts.
Women have run for President (Rep. Shirley Chisholm in 1972) and
have been nominated on the ticket of a national party (Democratic
Vice Presidential nominee Geraldine Ferraro in 1984).
Minority Persecution and Genocide Just as a school bully can assert his power over a weaker student by
pure physical intimidation, a minority group may be victimized by a
more powerful majority which is insensitive to the needs and
aspirations of that minority. Minority groups may be subjected to
dehumanization experiences made to feel powerless by being
subjected to degrading and humiliating experiences based on
prejudice. Examples in history have been:
African-Americans being forced to ride in the back of the bus
German Jews being required to wear a yellow "Star of David"
minorities being referred to by pejorative slang names
(if appropriate, the teacher may wish to discuss
racial or ethnic epithets relevant to their students'
community or town)
minorities being the subject of
jokes which poke fun at the target's race, religion, or
ethnic origin, and which rely on stereotypes
Japanese-Americans being isolated in camps during World War II
Native Americans having their land confiscated in
violation of treaties, being the victims of
government-sponsored massacres, and being placed on
reservations.
Minorities have also been the victims of
violence based on their minority status. Minority institutions, such
as places of worship, schools, and cemeteries, have been the target of
vandalism, arson, and desecration. African-Americans were victims of
lynching and whippings in the South and other parts of the United
States as well. In Eastern Europe, random violence directed at Jews,
called pogroms, resulted in the massacre of thousands. Today, there are
groups such as the Ku Klux Klan (KKK), the White Knights, the
Order, the Posse Comitatus, and neo-Nazi Skinheads, which openly
condone discrimination and advocate against certain minorities as part
of their doctrines.
Genocide, the destruction of a people, is the
most extreme form of persecution. During World War II, Hitler's
dream of destroying European Jewry substantially came to fruition.
Through the use of propaganda, he successfully convinced millions of
followers that the Jews were to blame for Germany's troubles,
including its humiliation during World War I, and its economic
chaos. Six million Jews were annihilated. The Armenian genocide of the
early 20th century and the murder of millions of Cambodians by Pol
Pot and his Khmer Rouge are other examples of genocide in the 20th
century.
Scapegoating Scapegoating
is the practice of blaming an individual or group for a real or
perceived failure of others. The origin of the term comes from the
Bible. The high priest in Biblical times would place his hand upon a
goat's head and transfer the sins of the community to the goat,
which was then released into the desert. It is not uncommon to
blame others for our own mistakes, and especially to affix blame on
those who are unable or unwilling to defend themselves against the
charges. Minorities are often the targets of scapegoating. First,
minorities are often isolated within society and are thus an easy
target. Those in the majority are more easily convinced about the
negative characteristics of a minority with which they have no
direct contact. Violence, persecution, and genocide directed against
minorities often occur when a minority group is being blamed for
some social ill. Unemployment, inflation, food shortages, the plague,
and crime in the streets are all examples of ills which have been
blamed on minority groups.
Demagogues and Propaganda Some
prejudice has been passed down from generation to generation.
Prejudice against Jews, called anti-Semitism, has been known for more
than two thousand years. It is usually the case, however, that the
passions of hatred against minorities by members of the majority are
stirred up by charismatic leaders who exploit latent hatreds for their
own political ends. These leaders are called "demagogues," and they
depend upon propaganda and disinformation to achieve their ends.
Many demagogues have been successful because people want to
believe that there is a simple cause of their problems. Through
the use of propaganda techniques, persuasive arguments are made
that one group or another is to blame for all of our problems, and
these problems would go away "were it not for those (fill in the
target minority)." As a population becomes educated, it becomes less
easy to sway with propaganda. In a free society where access to
information is not restricted, it becomes even more difficult.
Positive Responses to Prejudice and Stereotypes Understanding the nature of prejudice, scapegoating, stereotypes, and
discrimination is the first step in combating these practices. All of
us have prejudices about members of groups different from ourselves.
We should, however, recognize that we are not acting fairly if we
treat people differently because of these stereotypes and prejudices.
Each one of us deserves to be considered a unique human being. In
his 1963 "I Have a Dream" speech at the Lincoln Memorial, civil rights
activist Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said, "I have a dream that my four
little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be
judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their
character." Dr. King devoted his life to fighting bigotry and
prejudice. His message was meant not only for African-Americans
but for all oppressed minorities. In taking a courageous stand
against racial hatred, Dr. King was subjected to personal injustices
which culminated in his murder at the hands of a racist assassin.
Yet his message of brotherhood, of understanding, of
intergroup dialogue, of coalition-building, of non-violent resistance
to injustice, has endured. His birthday is celebrated as a national
holiday.
All of us face peer pressure when confronted with a joke
which puts down a certain minority. It takes courage to raise
objections to these jokes and pejorative names and to actively
fight the prejudice and bigotry which they foster. It is important to
stand up against injustice, and fight the discrimination, stereotypes,
and scapegoating which have served as the precursors to
persecution, violence, and genocide.
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