Paku Midin: AMERICAN RACISM BIG ISSUES NOWADAYS

" American racism is alive and well big Issues Nowadays."

" People often define racism as disliking or mistreating others on the basis of race. That definition is wrong," said Researchers - Roberts, who directs the Social Concepts Lab, part of the psychology department, in the School of Humanities and Sciences. " Racism is a system of advantage based on race. It is a hierarchy. It is a pandemic. Racism is so deeply embedded within United States minds and United States society that it is virtually impossible to escape."

" Just as citizens of capitalistic societies reinforce capitalism, whether they identify as capitalist or not, and whether they want to or not, citizens of racist societies reinforce racism, whether they identify as racist or not, and whether they want to or not."

After examining research on racism from psychology, the social sciences and the humanities, the researchers argue that American racism systematically advantages White Americans and disadvantages Americans of color - but that it does not have to. It all starts with awareness, they contend.

" Many people, especially White People, underestimate the depths of racism." A lot of attention is rightfully put on the recent murders of Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd and far too many others. But people need to understand that those horrific events are a consequence of a larger system.

There are seven (7) factors of Conflict

1- Categories - which organize people into distinct groups

2- Factions - which trigger ingroup loyalty and intergroup competition

3- Segregation - which hardens racist perceptions, preferences and beliefs. Simply put, the United State systematically constructs racial categories, places people inside of those categories and segregates people on the basis of those categories.

For example, there is a considerable body of research showing that people, adults and children alike, tend to feel and act more positively toward those they consider to be like them and in their "ingroup." This means that they are likely to treat people from outside of their social circles less favorably.

For many White Americans, their ingroups do not include Black Americans. Part of the reason for this has to do with America's fraught history of racial segregation, which kept White and Black communities separated.

Researchers also shows that children are more attuned to faces of the racial majority group. That is, Black children are better at recognizing White faces than White children are at recognizing Black faces. This disparity can have tragic real-world consequences. In a criminal lineup, for instance, not being able to recognize Black faces, paired with biased preferences and beliefs, increase the odds that an innocent Black suspect will be misidentified as the perpetrator of a crime.

The remaining four (4) factors the researchers argue contribute to American racism include:

4- hierarchy - which emboldens people to think, feel and behave in racist ways.

5- Power - which legislates racism on both micro and macro levels

6- media - which legitimizes overrepresented and idealized representations of White Americans while marginalizing and minimizing people of color

7- Passivism - such that overlooking or denying the existence of racism encourages others to do the same. In short, they argue that the United States positions and empowers some over others, reinforces those differences through biased media, and then leaves those disparities and media in place.

Of the seven (7) factors they identifies, perhaps the most insidious is passivism or passive racism, according to the scholars. This includes and apathy toward systems of racial advantage or denial that those systems even exist.

Discussions about passivism are particularly relevant now, as thousands take to the streets to protest against racism. " If people advantaged by the hierarchy remain passive, it is no suprise that those at the bottom cry out to be heard." People have been crying for centuries."

Anti - Racism

At the end of the review here, the scholars call for a move to anti-racims. Inspired by historian Ibram X. Kendi's work, Roberts and Rizzo contribute two (2) new terms to the conversation -reactive anti-racism, defined as challenging racism before it appears.

" One of the most important steps for future research will be to shift our attention away from how people become racist, and toward the contextual influences, psychological processes and developmental mechanisms that help people become anti-racist," Roberts and Rizzo wrote. " In a state of increasing racial inequality, we hope to find future students and scholars, both in the United State and beyond, well-versed and embedded within a psychology of anti-racism."

In a move that they hope becomes standard, the scholars included an author's statement in their paper indicating that one author, Roberts, identifies as Black American and the other, Rizzo, as White American.