The Phoenix, Pandora's box, and race share one thing in common; they are all myths. There is no gene that makes one person “black” and another “white”, however, this does not diminish the role that “race” has played in history. The idea of race is a social construct, an idea that has been created by and ingrained in society but may not necessarily have any basis in reality (Coates). Race is a concept of modern times and saw its rise during the time of European colonialism of the Americas. In order justify the genocide of Native Americans and the gradual theft of their land as well as the exploitation of Black African slaves through chattel slavery, white colonizers had to convince people that the Natives and Africans were different. Using pseudoscience such as the examination of the differences in skulls among the different races, Europeans were able to convince everyone else that these races were not like whites, and more savage-like and animalistic, and thus making it acceptable to oppress them. This ties directly into social dominance theory, which describes the relations between different groups which in which it is the goal of the dominant group to maintain the hierarchy. As previously described, the group at the top of the hierarchy will often use justifications, such as moral or physical superiority, in order to maintain its position.
Social Darwinism in the age of enlightenment furthered these views by suggesting that whites were more “fit” and their dominance over the “lesser races” was not only acceptable, but it was the “White Man’s Burden” to civilize darker people. This mentality allowed for slavery, Jim Crow, which codified segregation laws in the South, and racist immigration laws such as the Chinese Exclusion Act. These were examples of overt racism, which describes deliberate hateful behavior towards someone because of one’s race.
It is especially difficult after Civil Rights era in the 1960s for the government and individuals to get away with overt racism, however, this does mean that racism has disappeared. Sociologists have studied three different types of theories pertaining to modern racism: covert, symbolic, and aversive racism. The theory behind covert racism is that old-fashioned racism has not gone away but it has gone underground because it is not socially desirable to be overtly racist. Symbolic racism theories suggest that discrimination does not exist but white people still hold racist views that other races are morally inferior. This can easily be seen on Fox News where they may justify racism towards black people by explaining that issues affecting the black community are a result of the “degradation of the black household”. By attacking black people’s “values and morals”, one can be racist, without being overtly racist. In addition, what this effectively does is places African-Americans in a stereotype model in which they are seen as low competence and low warmth as well, by suggesting that African-Americans bring the problems amongst themselves and therefore do not deserve sympathy from other groups. This leads African-Americans to be seen with contempt or disgust, as suggested by the stereotype content model. Lastly, there is aversive racism, which describes the racism of usually well-meaning people with egalitarian views who still maintain unconscious racist views. By understanding racism and its different forms, one can implement policies that will ameliorate race relations in the South Philadelphia school and formulate a community which embraces diversity as opposed to exploiting differences.
Covert racism suggests that the United States has stayed in the 1950s and that changes to legislation such as the Civil Rights Acts have just been a facade to feign racial equality while maintaining a racist system. Covert racism is hidden within the fabric of a society as opposed to being out in the open such as overt, traditional racism. This form of racism has gone underground due to social desirability bias. Social desirability bias is the tendency of people to behave in a way that is deemed more “politically-correct” rather than express their actual views. This is most frequently seen in surveys regarding race. A famous example is the “Bradley effect”, which is named after the former mayor of Los Angeles, Thomas Bradley (Payne). Bradley, a black man, was running for governor of California and when people were asked whom they were going to vote for, many said that they would vote for Bradley as this was the politically-correct answer because saying otherwise may make one seem like a racist. While polls suggested that Bradley would win, he ultimately lost the election, showing that people, in an effort to seem as avoid seeming prejudiced, are not very honest when asked questions that may pertain to race. Some people also point to this effect playing a role in the 2016 presidential election as it was socially undesirable to say that one was going to vote for a politically-incorrect candidate who had offended many minority groups. When people were surveyed about whom they would vote for, they hesitated to answer that they were voting for Trump, causing the great shock from pollsters and the general public on the night of November 8.
This is the racism that allows for the great racial disparities that we witness today because while the police officers do not need to say that they have prejudices against Blacks, Latinos and Native Americans, it is evident that these groups are targeted, incarcerated, and killed by law enforcement at rates disproportionate to their population in the United States without significant evidence suggesting that groups commit crimes proportionate to their rates of incarceration. One of the most blatant examples of covert racism is the war on drugs which disproportionately targeted African-American and Latino drug use while virtually ignoring that of white Americans. The most striking example of this is the discrepancy made in laws regarding the sale and use of cocaine. Those who distributed 5 grams of crack cocaine received a minimum five-year prison sentencing while it took 500 grams of powdered cocaine, which is the same exact drug, to receive the same sentence (Thomas). While one may not be able to see the racial implications of this law at first glance, one must remember that African-Americans, who were often poorer, were more likely to possess the crack form of the drug, as it was cheaper and likewise, white people were more likely to have the powdered form. There is no evidence to show that one is more harmful than the other because they are the same drug, just in different forms, therefore this is often the prime example of covert racism as these laws were specifically made to target communities of color. The opposite can be seen today with the Opioid crisis, which is being treated as a health epidemic instead of a crime epidemic, as most of the users are white.
Covert racism can possibly play a role in the actions, or lack thereof, of the administration as it is clear that the issues are not being well addressed and it is possible that this could stem from repressed prejudices against Asian-Americans. It is very common for groups to act aggressively towards incoming outgroups such as foreigners, especially when they are visible minorities, such as Asian-Americans. In this case, the principal LaGreta Brown was accused of having a discriminatory attitude when she addressed the efforts from the Asian-American advocacy groups as the “Asian agenda”. While this is a discriminatory statement, they cannot prove that she has acted on this statement and purposely neglected these students and therein lies the problem with covert racism theory; it is hard to prove undeniably that the administration is harboring racist views and is acting in a manner that will not allow justice and healing for the Asian-American students who have been targeted by the attacks. In addition, it is possible that there is covert racism against the general black population at the school, most of whom did not participate in the attacks against the Asian students. Many people hold the idea that black students are violent and this story allows them to justify their biases and blame black students without seeming as if they are being racist towards black students.
As opposed to covert racism, aversive racism is that which one usually witnesses in generally well-meaning, egalitarian-minded people who have unconscious biases that they have learned through socialization, the process through which one learns what is acceptable in their respective society. An example of this type of racism is seen through the Implicit Association Test. This test gives the participant good and bad words and has them associate them with white then black faces. Studies show that regardless of order, test-takers were quicker to associate whiteness with good than they were with blackness. These test-takers are not all closeted members of the Ku Klux Klan but as an aggregate, they have a clear bias which favors white people over black people, which has been taught through socialization. Tests such as these are especially important in their work for exposing the remnants of racism in a supposedly color-blind society.
Psychologists Gaertner and Dovidio also did tests which examined potential aversive racism and racial biases in white Americans. What they noted was that in unambiguous situations, such as a well-qualified black person competing with an under-qualified white person or a dark-skinned Latina woman clearly being discriminated against for her skin color, white Americans who identify as liberals or progressives, and thus had more egalitarian views, were less likely to discriminate against the person of a different race. However, in ambiguous situations, these same people were more likely to discriminate (Gaertner and Dovidio). This is because people who are aversively racist hold unconscious racist views but consciously know that racism is wrong so, in a clear situation, they know that it is wrong to discriminate and act accordingly. In unclear situations, it is more likely that one’s unconscious biases may present themselves, causing people to behave in racist ways, even if they necessarily hold these racist views.
This racism stems from the cognitive dissonance between believing in American egalitarian views that embrace the “melting pot” that is the American society while also acknowledging the racial history. In more metropolitan areas such as Los Angeles and New York where people tend to be more liberal and more diverse than a small town in Montana or Arkansas, people are more likely to encounter people from different backgrounds and those experiences allow them to overcome many conscious stereotypes that others who may not be similarly exposed may still harbor. However, these people are humans nevertheless and they watch television and went to a school where they are taught different ideas about the different groups of people in the United States. Therefore, they unconsciously form these schemas about different groups so their views about equality often compete with implications of race in this society.
It is possible that the administration of the school is implicitly biased leading to their poor management of this conflict. It is a common stereotype that Asian-Americans are high-performing “model minorities” and this idea leads to their position in the stereotype model as low warmth and high competence and are thereby treated with envy, not compassion. Because of this low warmth, in an ambiguous situation in which both African-American and Asian-American students have committed racists acts against each other, someone with implicit biases may behave in a way that is implicitly biased, such as by not adequately addressing and dealing with the racism faced by the Asian students.
Both covert and aversive racism play roles in modern-day society in the United States. Both are the product of the Civil Rights movement because the legislation during this time put an end to legalized overt racism, which gave way to covert racism, while also promoting equality which is accepted in mainstream society, even by those who have unconscious implicit biases. Furthermore, they both share the quality of being hard to recognize and very hard to prove as many people are not willing to admit to someone that they are racist due to social desirability.
The main difference that separates covert and aversive racism is the intent. With covert racism, the perpetrator is making a conscious decision to commit racist acts or behave in a prejudice manner and concealing it in a way that may not be obvious at first glance. With regards to aversive racism, the perpetrator may not be aware that they are acting with prejudice because aversive racism is not deliberate. Because of these differences, it would be a mistake to suggest that these two forms are the same because they are coming from different places and have different implications.
In addressing the situation at the South Philadelphia school, it important to note that this is not the traditional racism that is usually discussed, which mainly involves white Americans and a minority group; this situation involves two minority groups: African-Americans and Asian-Americans. Both groups have suffered from different types of racism in this country at the hands of the dominant groups yet schemas about the two groups have evolved very differently. The different stereotypes of these groups and their relative positions in American society can be described by the racial triangulation theory coined by Claire Kim which suggests that there are two different scales in America which define how groups are treated: superiority and insiderness (Kim). This partially explains some of the racial tension between the two groups at a larger scale as they are fighting for the second-place position that the other group has in a system that places whiteness and “insiderness” above all else. White Americans rank the highest with regards to being superior and insiders. Asian-Americans, due to their success in the United States, come in second with respect to superiority and Black Americans come last, scoring the lowest on the relative valorization of their group. However, when it comes to being an insider, African-Americans are usually seen as insiders while Asian-Americans, even those who have been in the United States for generations, are often considered as foreigners and facing civic ostracism. Civic ostracism occurs when the dominant group, in the case white Americans, keep members of another race or ethnicity from fitting into society, thus rendering them “unassimilable”. This idea that Asian-Americans are less American is exacerbated by the fact that many of these students and their parents are recent and first-generation immigrants.
With respect to the South Philadelphia school, it clear that the increased security presence and security measures have not done enough to ensure Asian-American students feel safe on campus, which has led to the boycott. The root of the issue is the lack of tolerance coming from both groups which has caused unrest on campus. Some social psychologists suggest that contact theory could ameliorate the situation. Contact theory suggests that exposure to one’s outgroups, groups to which one does not belong, and finding a shared identity can promote cooperation between seemingly different groups (Gaertner, Samuel L., et al.). In order for this to be successful, all parties must be aiming for the same goal, there must be participation from all groups, members must form relationships with each other, and this must be endorsed as a social norm. Evidence suggests that this is effective in fostering unity between groups and this can implemented at the school in many ways. For example, the principal can meet with students from different ethnic groups and have them talk with each other over lunch because while the may be from different cultures, they are all American kids and could find similarities in even the smallest things such as favorite television shows. This will enable personal relationships to form, while also making it a social norm for students from both ethnicities to interact with each other However, in implementing practices using contact theory, the school must make sure that it does not promote colorblind policies and instead focuses on exposure to the different cultures and backgrounds that make up the school and the community at large (Apfelbaum).
The Vietnamese-American community organization put forth demands that they believe would some of the issues regarding race-relations at the school and some these ideas are consistent with the contact hypothesis. It is wise to suggest that “50-member Task Force for Racial and Cultural Harmony” would promote unity between the different groups. This groups should be comprised of everyday Asian-American and African-American families as well as community leaders in order to foster a sense of community between the groups. The presence of community leaders should endorse a norm of community between the groups, which is necessary to achieve the goals of contact hypothesis. Furthermore, the inclusion of the parents can pressure the students to think more about how they treat and interact with each other. This is an example of parental induction, in which parents stress how victims are affected when their child mistreats someone. While these students are not small children, parents are still a primary source of socialization and if parents can instill values of the community into their children, the students will be more likely to treat each other with respect.
In conclusion, the end of racism does not seem near as it continues to take different forms, however, this is not an excuse to accept its existence. It is one’s job to join with others and resist prejudice and harmful racist tendencies that they have been taught through socialization. However, it is is not enough to not be racist, but people must also make a concerted effort to embrace diversity by associating themselves with those who are not exactly like oneself. Only by recognizing racism and attacking it can there be cooperation between people of all colors and backgrounds, thus overthrowing a system that has oppressed people of color for centuries.