Why Didnt I Learn This Before Unlearning Myths

“Why Didn’t I Learn This Before? ” Unlearning Myths of Race and Racism Dr. Karen Gaffney, English Department Book: Dismantling the Racism Machine: A Manual and Toolbox Blog: dividednolonger. com Email: Karen. Gaffney@raritanval. edu Twitter: @dividednolonger Facebook: Divided No Longer

Where I begin Significant gap between what scholars who study race take for granted and what general public knows Especially focused on how white people have been manipulated to believe racial myths People of color should not have to bear burden of teaching people, especially white people, about racism As a white anti-racist educator, one contribution I can make is to help bridge that gap between scholars and public

Today Speak for about 25 minutes Then plenty of time for discussion, questions, and comments So please hold questions until I get through everything I’m only providing an overview of some of the concepts that my book discusses in much greater depth This Powerpoint is available on my blog dividednolonger. com

Dismantling the Racism Machine: A Manual and Toolbox Metaphor of “racism machine” to represent racism as systemic, humanmade, and complex “manual” to show a step by step process for beginners to understand history and creation of race and racism “toolbox” to provide readers with options of resources and actions to best suit them “dismantling the racism machine” to emphasize tangible and practical nature of this project, including action steps

Dismantling the Racism Machine: A Manual and Toolbox Step 1: Chip Away at the False Ideology that Race is Biological Step 2: See the Racism Machine Step 3: Examine the Racism Machine’s Powerful Mechanisms Step 4: Analyze the Racism Machine’s Recalibration after the Civil Rights Movement Step 5: Take Apart the Racism Machine

Step 1: Chip Away at the False Ideology that Race is Biological Ideology = myth or belief we’re unknowingly indoctrinated into believing Powerful ideology prevents us from seeing the Racism Machine Instead of being able to confront and examine the Racism Machine, we don’t see it and are distracted by a myth

Myth: Human races are inherently, biologically different Josiah Nott, Types of Mankind, 1854 Reality There are no inherent or biological differences between groups we call races because race is a social construct (a human invention). • Washington Post, 2016 “Researchers at the University of Virginia quizzed white medical students and residents to see how many believed inaccurate and at times "fantastical" differences about the two races -- for example, that blacks have less sensitive nerve endings than whites or that black people's blood coagulates more quickly. They found that fully half thought at least one of the false statements presented was • • Human DNA is 99. 5% – 99. 9% identical; tiny difference does not correlate with race Light skin color is very recent adaptation No scientific way to separate humans by “race”

If Step 2: See the Racism Machine we chip away at the false ideology that race is biological and recognize the reality that race is a human invention, then we start to see the Racism Machine. We ask: Who built it? When? Why? How?

Myth: Race has always existed. Whiteness has always existed. Reality Race is an invention, a relatively recent human invention. One location: Colonial Virginia, 1600 s The line between servant and slave was ambiguous People didn’t identify as “black” or “white” (nationality, language, religion) Skin color was not a dividing line Elite wealthy landowners vs. labor Bacon’s Rebellion (1676) Race was invented to protect the elite and divide and conquer the masses through the creation of a

Step 2: See the Racism Machine, continued This invention of race included a racial hierarchy of white supremacy: people identified as white were given unearned advantages, including freedom from slavery and access to stolen indigenous land Racial hierarchy positioned black people at the bottom and black slaves were identified as “chattel” (property) with no rights In this hierarchy, indigenous peoples, Asian Americans, and Latinx people occupy various intermediary positions

Step 3: Examine the Racism Machine’s Powerful Mechanisms Ideologies of race, racial hierarchy, and white supremacy were built into the creation of this nation and normalized through every system (law, housing, finance, education, media, etc. ) Mechanisms of laws and government policies carried out these ideologies: slavery, citizenship for whites only, Indian Removal, Manifest Destiny, Chinese Exclusion, Jim Crow segregation, convict leasing, Immigration Act of 1924, ban on interracial marriage, redlining, and more

Today Myth: Racism occurred Reality in the past, but that problem has been Systemic racism is a resolved “Slavery is over. ” “The civil rights movement ended racism. ” “We elected a black President, so racism must be over. ” serious problem in the US today. Mass incarceration, police violence, pollution, inadequate school resources, poverty, oversurveillance, underrepresentation, etc. disproportionately impact people of color

Step 4: Analyze the Racism Machine’s Recalibration after the Civil Rights Movement Backlash against civil rights movement included massive divide and conquer strategies: COINTELPRO “model minority” stereotype of Asian Americans (if there’s a “good minority” there must be a “bad minority”) “welfare queen” stereotype of African Americans criminalization of African Americans and rise in mass incarceration “illegal” stereotype of Latinx people “terrorist” stereotype of Muslims myth of voter fraud that led to restrictions to voting rights myth of “lazy” poor people that led to cuts to social services Fueling white fear of becoming the minority (Census)

Step 5: Take Apart the Racism Machine Recognize how people, especially white people, have been manipulated to believe pervasive false racial ideologies that are in the very air we breathe Confront the reality of the Racism Machine, how race was invented to divide and conquer, how our nation and institutions developed around that fundamental racial ideology Become undivided and unconquered Dismantle the Racism Machine

Thank you Thanks to Dean Richeleen Dashield and Office of Multicultural Affairs Check out my book: Dismantling the Racism Machine: A Manual and Toolbox My blog dividednolonger. com has this Powerpoint and many resources Feel free to email me with feedback: Karen. Gaffney@raritanval. edu