What Causes Racist Attitudes And How Do They Affect People

I’m dozing off in my sociology class when Dr. Harris announces he has an article for us to read. The article is titled, “What Causes Racist Attitudes? And How Do They Affect People? ” it introduces the idea of colorblind racism-at first I’m confused. I’ve never heard of this concept before, but it is explained to be the idea that racism is present in today’s society in subtle ways. It makes sense to me, I know that racism is ever present but this concept is new to me. I’m still somewhat confused about the topic when Dr. Harris makes the statement, “Suppose I’m a young African American, working two jobs and struggling to support two kids- why is that?” A student raises his hand and says it’s because of his poor choices in life that he finds …show more content…
This is also known as double consciousness, it is a term that W.E.B. Du Bois coined, to describe a divided in identity. The concept is the idea that a person has to have two identities, one when in the majority group, and another within their own minority group. Basically, minorities have to live in two different worlds. In my sociology class I realized that that I could relate to this, having one identity around my own group and a different, more acceptable one, around the majority. I adapted to the setting I was in and the issue that I have faced is that when I’m in the majority, I’m the odd one out. Often times I don’t understand the references being made because I grew up differently, I didn’t grow up reading The Lord of the Rings, or watching Star Wars. My parents didn’t even speak English when I was younger, and when they did learn they were too busy working to give me more opportunities. Sometimes it makes me feel insecure, like I have this knowledge gap and I often feel that I’m the problem. It makes me feel hyper aware of myself and like an outsider. So I have to adapt to fit it, truth is that I love listening to music in Spanish; I like watching novellas with my mom. There are things that I know, that make me unique because of my background and I like it that way. So I don’t want my ethnicity to be ignored. I want to be recognized for who I am, and I want to talk about and