Kellie Burch

Dr. Price
Sociology 001
06 December 2020
Writing Assignment: Chapter 13 – Understanding Race

Read Witt 13 and answer the following questions in your own words.

1)    What is racial profiling (See Witt; do not use other sources)? Provide examples of how law
enforcement, government officials and/or ordinary citizens used racial profiling to label and
harm others (See the Michael Brown case, p. 313, and feel free to discuss George Floyd &
others)?          
Racial profiling is any police-initiated action based on race, ethnicity, or national origin rather
than on a person’s behavior. Examples of racial profiling can unfortunately be seen daily.
Michael Brown was a man that was shot twelve times and killed by a police office while he was
unarmed. Witnesses stated that it looked like Mr. Brown was trying to surrender prior to him
being killed. Stephon Clark was shot 8 times and killed in his grandparent’s yard because he
matched the description of someone that was vandalizing cars nearby. Mr. Clark was also
unarmed. George Floyd was brutally murdered by a police officer practicing unnecessary force.
A friend of mine’s 19-year old daughter was aggressively taken down by a white police officer
resulting in a shoulder injury. This happened because she matched the description of someone
that committed a crime in the area, she was simply walking to her friend’s house. There are
numerous examples of racial profiling resulting in harm and even death toward others that do
not deserve it. This must stop!
 
2)      Who is Peggy McIntosh? Identify various unspoken privileges of Whites as described by
Peggy McIntosh? (See pages 327-328) How are such privileges linked to color-blind racism (p.
311) and color-blind privilege?  (See article by Charles Gallagher)  
 Peggy McIntosh is a feminist scholar that studied white privilege and how someone of white
decent does not face the same struggles in society as someone of a different ethnic
background. Peggy describes whites as having many unspoken privileges simply by being white.
Some of these include shopping in a store without a security guard watching you, cashing a
check without suspicion, easily receive help from a doctor or lawyer, not having fear for your
children due to the color of their skin, and not being constantly evaluated in racial terms. These
privileges are strongly linked to color-blind racism which is when race-neutral principals
perpetuate a racially unequal status quo. Essentially when you minimize the significance of
racial differences, it supports inequality. When someone with white privilege does not
recognize that they in fact do have these privileges, they will have no sense that there is
disparity between races, and ultimately will see no need for social change. In his article, Color-
Blind Privilege, Charles Gallagher argues that color-blindness maintains white privilege by
negating racial inequality. Through many interviews and focus groups of white individuals he
found that there was a common thought that color-blindness was the norm in the U.S. He
states that color-blindness does not ignore race, rather it ignores racial hierarchy. He found that
by having a color-blind perspective of race it greatly benefits the dominant race by removing
their acknowledgment of having privilege over other races. Essentially, we need to embrace our
differences, acknowledge and respect them, not ignore them.

3)      In an effort to clarify issues concerning racism, five fallacies were developed. Identify and
discuss each fallacy. How has each fallacy helped with our understanding of racism (310)? Also,
how did Native Americans (the Powhatan tribe) assist the first English settlement (310)? What
was the consequence?
The five fallacies or misconceptions to clarify the issues concerning racism are:
1. Individualistic fallacy: that racism springs from the “bad” ideas of a few prejudice
individuals. This approach of racism ignores the social, cultural, and
institutional dimensions of racism. This has helped our understanding of racism by
showing that racism is much more broad than simple some extremists negative views of
a particular race.
2. Legalistic fallacy: that racism will be eliminated through laws. While laws that strive for
equality are important, these will not fix the principles of individuals. You cannot simply
change someone’s deep rooted belief of race superiority by stating that certain
inequalities are illegal.
3. Tokenistic fallacy: the success of a few individuals demonstrate that racial obstacles no
longer exist. Essentially having successful individuals other than white such as Barack
Obama and Oprah Winfrey supports the idea of color-blind privilege. This does not
consider all the additional struggles that these individuals had to go through that a
white person did not simply because of their race.
4. Fixed fallacy: the view that racism is narrow and extreme and always takes form in
horrifying ways such as genocide or slavery. This is a naïve view because racism happens
in big and small ways every day. People that have this view seem to be ignoring racism
all together.
5. Ahistorical fallacy: patterns of the past do not have any significant impact on the
present. This fails to understand that historical precedents are embedded in our current
social structure. The U.S. has a strong history of racism and the effects of that can still be
seen, we must not ignore that.
The Powhatan tribe assisted the first English settlement by teaching them how to plant and
farm tobacco. The settlement most likely would not have survived since the production of
tobacco became their main source of income. This skill that they gained from the Native
Americans resulted in the settlers seizing more and more land to grow their farms which caused
violence between them and the natives. This violence has been perpetuated throughout history
and across the entire country. The white settlers overtook the land and forced the natives out
resulting in many deaths and a long history of treating Native Americans extremely unfairly.

4)      What is the contact hypothesis (306)? How might contact hypothesis contribute to
pluralism (316) and therefore a more diverse society? Explain?
The contact hypothesis states that interaction with people unlike ourselves decreases negative
attitudes we may have about them. Pluralism is the mutual respect for one another’s culture
among the various groups within society, which allows minority groups to express their own
cultures without expressing prejudice. The contact hypothesis would greatly contribute to
pluralism because the more exposure we have to other cultures, the more respect and
understanding we can have for those that are unlike us. I am a firm believe in this viewpoint
because I think it is the only way we can truly “fix” racism. If we can grow our appreciation for
all cultures, then we can start breaking the barriers between them.