As a minority, there is one issue that stands above the rest: Racism and discrimination of minorities. Being mixed ethnicity, I have experienced firsthand the discrimination of bigoted individuals. I have witnessed how people treated my half black siblings versus their white mother. I have listened to my grandparent 's recount stories describing how they were made to feel inferior because they were “dirty Mexicans.” The cruel lessons racism and discrimination teach are everyday occurrences for a subset of Americans. Commonly, people focus on either racism or discrimination as racism is a manifestation of discrimination. However, focusing on both racism and discrimination allows for the explorations of race discrimination, gender discrimination,
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My hope is to illuminate those I work with and work for regarding the depth and breadth of the issue. I hope to demonstrate that racism and discrimination are still the seminal issues of our day. This is no small feat, I have no illusions of grandeur, and understand the limitations upon the role of public administrators. Yet, the power to change comes from a united front which I believe stems from other administrators working towards similar …show more content…
Systemic racism and color-blind racism have differences but are more similar than not. Yet, Color-blind racism’s attribution to color-blind ideology as the subtext for color-blind racism is important as this indicates the need for open discourse regarding race in the United States. Bonilla-Silva suggests race ought to be discussed in terms of social construction. That is to say, race, as a socially constructed idea “. . . is not a fundamental category of analysis and praxis” (Bonilla-Silva, 2010, p.8). Social constructs are an abstract concept but are explained as ideas “. . . built upon layers of meaning we assign to the people, places, and things we encounter” (Cooper, 2012, p.45). Thus, the first step in openly discussing race is to completely dismiss the idea of race. This may be confusing for some but there is a significant difference between dismissing race as an underlying social issue versus acknowledging race as a social construction. The reality is, people that adhere to color-blind ideology are not free of their unconscious prejudices simply because they choose to believe we have all assimilated. Studies have shown individuals harbor unconscious biases which are shaped by several factors of the socialization process (Quillian, 2008 ; Moule, 2009). Understanding that we all possess unconscious biases can assist
My hope is to illuminate those I work with and work for regarding the depth and breadth of the issue. I hope to demonstrate that racism and discrimination are still the seminal issues of our day. This is no small feat, I have no illusions of grandeur, and understand the limitations upon the role of public administrators. Yet, the power to change comes from a united front which I believe stems from other administrators working towards similar …show more content…
Systemic racism and color-blind racism have differences but are more similar than not. Yet, Color-blind racism’s attribution to color-blind ideology as the subtext for color-blind racism is important as this indicates the need for open discourse regarding race in the United States. Bonilla-Silva suggests race ought to be discussed in terms of social construction. That is to say, race, as a socially constructed idea “. . . is not a fundamental category of analysis and praxis” (Bonilla-Silva, 2010, p.8). Social constructs are an abstract concept but are explained as ideas “. . . built upon layers of meaning we assign to the people, places, and things we encounter” (Cooper, 2012, p.45). Thus, the first step in openly discussing race is to completely dismiss the idea of race. This may be confusing for some but there is a significant difference between dismissing race as an underlying social issue versus acknowledging race as a social construction. The reality is, people that adhere to color-blind ideology are not free of their unconscious prejudices simply because they choose to believe we have all assimilated. Studies have shown individuals harbor unconscious biases which are shaped by several factors of the socialization process (Quillian, 2008 ; Moule, 2009). Understanding that we all possess unconscious biases can assist