In American history, discrimination of blacks has played a predominant role in our society. Although there has been major steps taken in the right direction against discrimination since the Civil Rights Movements, there are still discrimination and many barriers for middle-class black Americans. Focusing on whites targeting middle-class blacks, this article emphasizes a few key areas within the subject. There are many ways discrimination plays out for the benefactor and receiver. The author defines the middle-class blacks as people with white-collar jobs, college students preparing for a similar professions and business owners. Through the data collected, responses to discrimination and the various personal anecdotes, my personal awareness
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The severity of discrimination for a black person is greatly decreased when he or she is surrounded in a safe environment with family or friends. As the person moves out into the public, say at work or school, their encounters with others increases therefore upping the likelihood of discrimination. There is a correlation between the amount of people that someone comes into contact with and the amount of discrimination that person receives. This leads to the location with the highest chance of obtaining discrimination, public areas. If a black person is involved in a social event or a public place such as a restaurant, he or she has the most likely chance to receive discriminatory behavior from others. Within a public setting, the amount of strangers that this person meets or has an interaction with is highly increased therefore creating a more aggressive environment. This theory of hostile stranger interactions was proven by Goffman in 1963 and 1971, although the studies were never conducted in a public …show more content…
The act can be expressed by one of many ways like negative verbal or physical attacks made to a group of individuals or one person in specific. This can be from white police officers, other whites or white chauvinists. Another way to display discrimination can be in the form of rejecting service for public accommodations such as refusing to serve a black family before a white family was served. Another subtle form that may not even occur to the person demonstrating the act is avoidance. This can be as refined as moving to the other side of the street to dodge walking next to a black person. Although these acts of discrimination can be extremely harsh, before the desegregation movement in the 1960s, blacks were undoubtedly expected to respond in a peaceful and respectful way. If they were to respond too violently they were punished and made an example to the rest of the black community by being lynched or aggressively attacked in a public setting for everyone, blacks and whites, to watch. Today, certain groups still display these peaceful responses such as lower income blacks, although there are many more types of responses displayed by middle-class blacks. These mechanisms can be anywhere from more reserved responses such as evaluating and removing oneself from the situation and tolerating the act to more aggressive responses like verbal and physical opposition. Many middle-class blacks calculate
The severity of discrimination for a black person is greatly decreased when he or she is surrounded in a safe environment with family or friends. As the person moves out into the public, say at work or school, their encounters with others increases therefore upping the likelihood of discrimination. There is a correlation between the amount of people that someone comes into contact with and the amount of discrimination that person receives. This leads to the location with the highest chance of obtaining discrimination, public areas. If a black person is involved in a social event or a public place such as a restaurant, he or she has the most likely chance to receive discriminatory behavior from others. Within a public setting, the amount of strangers that this person meets or has an interaction with is highly increased therefore creating a more aggressive environment. This theory of hostile stranger interactions was proven by Goffman in 1963 and 1971, although the studies were never conducted in a public …show more content…
The act can be expressed by one of many ways like negative verbal or physical attacks made to a group of individuals or one person in specific. This can be from white police officers, other whites or white chauvinists. Another way to display discrimination can be in the form of rejecting service for public accommodations such as refusing to serve a black family before a white family was served. Another subtle form that may not even occur to the person demonstrating the act is avoidance. This can be as refined as moving to the other side of the street to dodge walking next to a black person. Although these acts of discrimination can be extremely harsh, before the desegregation movement in the 1960s, blacks were undoubtedly expected to respond in a peaceful and respectful way. If they were to respond too violently they were punished and made an example to the rest of the black community by being lynched or aggressively attacked in a public setting for everyone, blacks and whites, to watch. Today, certain groups still display these peaceful responses such as lower income blacks, although there are many more types of responses displayed by middle-class blacks. These mechanisms can be anywhere from more reserved responses such as evaluating and removing oneself from the situation and tolerating the act to more aggressive responses like verbal and physical opposition. Many middle-class blacks calculate