Beverly Daniel Tatum (1997/2017), author of Why are all the black kids sitting together in the cafeteria, draws an analogy between racism and polluted air: “but always, day in and day out, we are breathing it in.” Provide your own personal observation of an example of “day in and day out” racism. Then, determine if the example reflects institutional or interpersonal racism.
In your own words in one brief statement, what is the difference between race and ethnicity. Based on your response and what you have read, is whiteness an ethnicity? In your response please provide an example of how whiteness is held up as the status quo and whether/how such dominance perpetuates/strengthens the existence and impact of institutional racism.
Sociologists contend that race is socially constructed, In your own words but using concepts from the reading, briefly explain what this means. How can we use the “sociological imagination” that was coined by C. Wright Mills to explain why some people of color in the U.S. may highlight their ethnicity to resist American racial categories.
W. E. B. Du Bois admonished us to not “make the all too common error of mistaking names for things.” Discuss how labels, categories, and classifications have shaped race and ethnicity in relationship to institutions. Please provide an example of how one of the five fallacies or misconceptions about racism might emerge and be perpetuated by this distraction of focus on how we are focused on labels in our culture instead of the actual problems and social ills that exist?
