Contemporary Perspectives on Ethnic Studies FIRST EDITION

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Contemporary Perspectives on Ethnic Studies

A READER

edited by Kebba Darboe and Wayne E. Allen

Minnesota State University, Mankato

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3970 Sorrento Valley Blvd., Ste. 500, San Diego, CA 92121 To: My widow Sandra, my son Kelefa, and my daughter Sia

I proudly dedicate this book to the loving memory of my first cousin Professor Lamin Sanneh for his lifetime of teaching, research, and scholarship. He had the privilege of teaching at both Harvard (1981–1989) and Yale (1989–2019) Universities, two of the world’s bastions of intellect and rationality. He was loved by his aunts, especially my mother, who told us to consider him as our good role model. Dr. Sanneh was an intellectual giant, a great writer, and Gambia’s ambassador to the world. He had a good sense of humor, and I enjoyed every second of our long discussions on multiple topics. His life exemplified the classic lines of a scholar in Samuel Johnson’s History of Rasselas: Prince of Abyssinia (1887): “To talk in public, to read and to hear, to inquire and answer inquiries is the business of a scholar. He wanders about the world without pomp or terror …” We miss you, Mala. He died on January 6, 2019, and may he rest in peace! Dr. Kebba Darboe Professor, Minnesota State University—Mankato

For Justine Mambo Allen, a loyal and loving daughter and sister, a true wife and friend, a great mother, aunty, and grandmother, and a dedicated daughter of God; and to everyone in our Mankon family in Bamenda, Cameroon, this book is in honor of you. Dr. Wayne E. Allen Professor, Minnesota State University—Mankato

v CONTENTS

Foreword: Cultural Diversity Becomes More Important xiii By Yueh-Ting Lee

Introduction: Introductory Overview of Ethnic Studies xv By Kebba Darboe and Karamo Barrow

CHAPTER 1 Historical Perspectives on Race and Ethnicity 1

READING 1 Historical Perspectives on Race and Ethnicity 3 By Kebba Darboe and Karamo Barrow

READING 2 The Evolution and Consequences of Kelo v. City of New London 11 By Jeffrey D. Eicher, J.D., Jerry D. Belloit, and C. Frank Shepard, Jr., J.D.

CHAPTER 2 Native Americans: Brief Historical Perspectives 23

READING 3 An Exemplary Program for Recruiting American Indian Students 25 By Mary C. Dowd, Ed.D., Megan R. Heutmaker, M.S. and Kelly S. Meier, Ed.D.

READING 4 Native American Sovereignty and U.S. Citizenship 39 By Robert Keith Collins

READING 5 American Indian Women in Higher Education: Navigating The Doctorate 47 By Mary Jo Tippeconnic Fox

vii CHAPTER 3 African Americans: Brief Historical Perspectives 53

READING 6 Why Do You Call Yourself Black and African? 55 By Carina Ray

READING 7 The Case of Affirmative Action Policy 59 By Michele S. Moses

READING 8 The Politics of Gerrymandering: Overview of Supreme Court Precedent 75 By Congressional Digest, 20(8): 5–8.

READING 9 Michelle Alexander’s The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness 81 By Devereaux Kennedy

CHAPTER 4 Hispanics/Latinos: Brief Historical Perspectives 91

READING 10 The Hispanic Category and the Development of a New Identity Politics in America 93 By G. Cristina Mora

CHAPTER 5 Arab and Muslim Americans: Brief Historical Perspectives 111

READING 11 Arabs and Muslims: Introduction 113 By Hamdi Elnuzahi

viii READING 12 Muslim in America: A trip to two of the most Islamic cities in the U.S. 115 By Shikha Dalmia

CHAPTER 6 Asian Americans: Brief Historical Perspectives 127

READING 13 Chinese Students and Critical Thinking in Education 129 By Lu Yan

READING 14 Asian Americans and the Shifting Politics of Race: Asian Americans as Victim and Success Stories 139 By Rowena Robles

CHAPTER 7 Social Movements: Brief Historical Perspectives 155

READING 15 The Origins and Causes of the Civil Rights Movement 157 By David Levering Lewis

READING 16 Contributions of African American Women in the Modern Civil Rights Movement 169 By Bruce A. Glasrud and Merline Pitre

READING 17 A League of American Citizens 181 By Craig A. Kaplowitz

READING 18 The Movement For Native Lives: Native Americans are killed by police at a rate higher than any other group 207 By Stephanie Woodard

ix READING 19 Coming Together: The Asian American Movement 219 By Yen Espiritu

READING 20 The Current State of Same-Sex Marriage: An Analysis of the Federal and State Income Tax Consequences 251 By Alisha M. Harper and Elizabeth Breathitt

READING 21 Black Lives Matter and the Struggle for Freedom 267 By Brian P. Jones

READING 22 MeToo to #MeToo: What’s in the Name? 275 By Sherrise Truesdale-Moore

READING 23 The Collective Power of #MeToo 281 By Sarah Jaffe

READING 24 Black Women Say #MeToo: The #MeToo Movement Gives Women of Color a Space to Share Struggle 289 By Deborah Douglas

CHAPTER 8 Migration/Immigration: A Case Study on the United States 291

READING 25 Theoretical Perspectives on Immigration 293 By Kebba Darboe

READING 26 Key Findings About U.S. Immigrants: Pew Research Center, Washington, D.C. 299 By Gustavo López, Kristen Bialik and Jynnah Radford

x READING 27 DACA has Shielded Nearly 790,000 Young Unauthorized Immigrants from Deportation 305 By Jens Manuel Krogstad

READING 28 Zero Tolerance for Illegal Immigration: An Urgent Policy Need 307 By Donald Mann

CHAPTER 9 Challenges of Multiculturalism VS. Pluralism 323

READING 29 Introduction: Assimilation 325 By Kebba Darboe

READING 30 The Whiteness of America 331 By William Raspberry

READING 31 American Multiculturalism VS. French Ethno-pluralism: The Debate over Arab and Muslim Assimilation 333 By Lanouar Ben Hafsa

Author and Contributor Biographies 349

xi FOREWORD Cultural Diversity Becomes More Important

By Yueh-Ting Lee Southern Illinois University, Carbondale

am so honored and privileged to be invited to write this preface for this very important anthology by Drs. Kebba Darboe and Wayne Allen that I cannot help sharing a compelling storyI with all readers. That is, in 2000, I was hired as a chair of the Department of Ethnic Studies at Minnesota State University, Mankato. I had worked there for five years. Those were among the best days in my academic and administrative career. I was so proud of the colleagues, friends (including Dr. Allen and Dr. Darboe and many others), and students in the department that this initiative brings me back to what we worked on almost 18 years ago. For example, together we discussed and finalized the Department Mission Statement in fall 2000 as follows: The Department of Ethnic Studies, an interdisciplinary program, is academically committed to promoting multicultural and ethnic knowledge and values both within and outside the United States and to preparing our students for effective functioning across the culturally diverse and global community. During those years, we updated undergraduate curricula and developed two graduate programs collaboratively—an MS in multicultural and ethnic studies program and an online cultural diversity certificate program. These two programs are still very successful. I am even more proud of the department that has been flourishing since I moved to Minot State University in North Dakota in 2005, to the University of Toledo in Ohio in 2007, and then to Southern Illinois University Carbondale in 2015 as a professor and an administrator. Cultural diversity and inclusive excellence (e.g., ethnic studies) are near and dear to my heart as a teacher, researcher and an administrator. Today we face more opportunities and challenges when we teach or talk about cultural and ethnic diversity. In the United States, we will be either stronger together or may be weaker and more traumatized due to the current political environment. America’s culturally diverse groups or underserved groups are like endangered species due to the politically close-minded mentality in the nation. Violence, hatred, and hostility have increased every day since the 2016 election.

xiii Ethnic studies programs also face both challenges and opportunities. Undoubtedly, ethnic studies, like America itself, is at a crossroads. Thus Dr. Kebba and Dr. Allen’s book is very important and timely. This anthology covers a wide range of topics which provides an extraordinary range of knowledge, theories, and research findings for our students, scholars, and researchers, and other readers in and outside the academic area. It includes diverse issues related to Native Americans (or American Indians), African Americans, Latino/a and Hispanic Americans, Asian Americans, Muslim/Arabic Americans, immigrants and other people of multicultural and diverse groups. This volume offers both historical perspectives and current or contemporary topics that are central and critical to all readers. I really enjoy reading it and highly recommend it to all students, colleagues, and friends. Time flies. Human nature remains hardly changed. Cultural diversity and inclusive excellence will play a much more important role both on campus and in our daily life. To survive and thrive domestically and globally, human beings as a species must not only be in harmony with other beings but also with other species on Earth. Finally, we salute, and also appreciate, all our colleagues and friends in the Department of Ethnic Studies at Minnesota State University, Mankato who shoulder this important ethnic diversity mission for the region, state, nation, and the world. This anthology absolutely helps all of us to learn, to think and act more critically and more diversely. Reading it is a must!

xiv INTRODUCTION Introductory Overview of Ethnic Studies

By Wayne E. Allen and Kebba Darboe Minnesota State University, Mankato

thnic studies, like America itself, is standing at a crossroads. In fact, it might not be too presumptuous to say the whole world is standing at a crossroads as we move into the 21st century.E Modern technology, globalization, the mass migration of large populations of diverse peoples, and an interconnected world of commerce and culture are redefining who we are as a species. As one human race made up of many diverse populations, we have many challenges before us. Human beings are extremely diverse in very many ways. People differ in opinions, race, national- ity, gender, age, sexuality, ethnicity, socioeconomic class, religion, differing abilities, lifestyle choices, and so much more. Yet, at the very basic level, we are all a single human species—one human race. All people share common traits such as hopes and aspirations, feelings, desires, and needs, and these are all universal to our species. Today, the changes in technology and mass movement that have resulted from globalization have made it pretty much impossible for any population of people to live without interacting with others outside their “in-group.” Often people of different cultural and geographical backgrounds meet in differing settings through tourism, international conferences, education exchange programs, sports, etc. Sadly, the history of differing populations of humankind discriminating against each other based on cultural differences has been with us from the beginning. So many people have died or have been denied their rights because of ethnic conflict, conquest, and oppression. Whole populations and their cultures have been destroyed, as well as peoples enslaved, due to ethnocentrism, a lack of understanding, and xenophobia. Unfortunately, the vestiges of some of these occurrences are visible even today, perpetuated by people who little understand the importance of the uniqueness of our diversity. Little do they know that:

xv Diversity Creates Richness in Opinion The complexity of challenges facing the world today requires the input of people from different cultural backgrounds if we are to succeed. A diverse set of opinions and approaches will offer fresh ideas to solve some of our impending problems. Diverse peoples have often been found to be creative and thus produce alternative solutions to problems. Human history is rife with examples of the inventiveness of members of oppressed populations making significant contributions to human advancement.

Diversity Makes us Empathetic and Understanding About Others

When we interact with people not like us and try to understand them, we are actually enriched, both personally and professionally. This helps us empathize with others, understand our differences in a broader context, and learn from one another. We are then able to live in harmony, help one another, and grow together as a community, a nation, and a planet. Cross-cultural awareness and understanding allows us to first listen to others and give the other a fair hearing, and then hopefully to grow and empathize with them in solidarity. Doing so helps us realize that all human beings share the same needs and hopes and dreams. Hatred between people of differing identity backgrounds only diminishes us by denying us the opportunity to live life to the fullest in a vibrant multicultural world.

Diversity is a Growing Trend Today, no country in the world has only native peoples living there. Each and every day, millions of people are moving from one part of the world to another. Most people are in search of better opportunities, education, and a chance to experience something new and different. In the process, people of different cultural, ethnic, and religious backgrounds often find themselves going to the same schools, working in the same offices, shopping in the same stores, attending the same events, and so on. As citizens of this world, we are, therefore, left with no choice other than to embrace our diversity and learn as much as we can from it. Children really need to be raised in settings that celebrate diversity, as well as taught to live with and respect people who are different from them in some way. In this way, the world will be a more peaceful and prosperous place in which to live.

Diversity Opens Up New Market Opportunities By embracing and learning about diversity, entrepreneurs have been able to reach new markets in the global economy. Today we have multinationals setting up offices in different parts of the world,

xvi  CONTEMPORARY PERSPECTIVES ON ETHNIC STUDIES and this is not possible without embracing diversity. This further creates employment and travel opportunities for people in all parts of the world.

How to do Ethnic Studies Ethnic studies is not, and should not simply be, about minorities for minorities. It needs to be relevant to all people as a social and behavioral science discipline. A tendency to emphasize identity politics and make ethic studies about minorities for minorities actually ghettoizes and delegitimizes the discipline. Certainly, the discipline should celebrate diversity along with contributions made by all peoples, and it needs members of underrepresented populations in its ranks. And it should teach about the history of oppression—how and why it is leveled at disadvantaged populations of people, and how real redress really works. But it should not become a broken record refrain of the sad victimology lament listened to while on the treadmill of blame and self pity. And ethnic studies should not try to find its legs by standing on reverse discrimination and quotas. The discipline needs to balance merit with inclusion, and that is not an easy job. But the editors contend that is precisely the challenge, and any ethnic studies program worth its funding will rise to the challenge.

Identity Politics: Strengths and Weaknesses The strength of identity politics is that people take pride and strength from multiple identities, and everyone has more than one aspect to his or her identity. We live in a world where identity—ethnic, racial, religious, gender, differing abilities, sexual orientation, age, social status, economic class, education level—is as definitive to who you are as your name and your address. We all have to balance and juggle these identities every day of our lives, whether overtly stated or not. A weakness of identity politics is that it disunites people on the basis of certain physical/social identity characteristics rather than uniting them under the culture and values broadly grouped under democracy, which is meant to be a unifying force in social and political life in a free society. This is seen as a weakening force for nation-states. It is contended that people should be coming together under a shared identity instead of fragmenting off into ever-diversifying interest groups. The classic push and pull between country unity and country division based on identity categories is at the heart of the national identity dilemma for the West in the 21st century. The American political scene has become more and more partisan these days because factions are no longer reaching out to one another across party lines to get the business of governing done. Ethnic studies, when done properly, can actually help to inform a balance between these seemingly divergent aspects of identity in education, commerce, social and political life, and governance by teaching understanding, cultural sensitivity, and cross-communication skills, as well as the practical value of these things in business, education, politics, and governance.

Introduction Introductory Overview of Ethnic Studies  xvii A Practical Career-Oriented Approach to Ethnic Studies At Minnesota State University (MSU), Mankato, the home campus of the editors of this anthology, we approach the teaching of ethnic studies in a multifold manner. First, we teach our students about the differing socially constructed categories people use to identify themselves and others: race, religion, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, differing abilities, age, and socioeconomic class differences. Then, we teach them about the history of social, economic, and political relations between members of differing identity categories. Next, we teach them about the value and relevance of diverse identities, languages, and traditional practices and customs in the United States and the world at large, as well as how to engage one another in meaningful ways across these identity categories. Lastly, we require our students to gain knowledge and skills in areas of professional concentration: business, government, local and/or international service, education, health care, law enforcement/corrections, and counseling. We teach them to apply what they have learned about diversity within a professional career track and in this way better-serve their community, their home country, and the world. Ethnic studies as a discipline has fallen out of favor in certain parts of the United States due to its over-emphasis on identity politics, accompanied by the view that it is simply “politically correct studies” and an exercise in reverse discrimination. It is viewed as that portion of the college curriculum that is a “diversity requirement”; the “real” scholars and scientists on campus believe it to be politically correct “fluff ” that radicalizes both students and faculty, thereby dividing rather than uniting us as Americans and global citizens. It is for those “other” people, not real scholars and scientists. Such critiques of ethnic studies, however, while valid on some levels, in no way negate the facts concerning the history of racism, sexism, discrimination, and oppression that must be addressed in an attempt to redress the wrongs faced by members of formerly subjugated populations within a modern (post-modern) enlightened society. There simply must be equal treatment under the law and equal opportunity for all if America is to move forward into the 21st century as a viable society. And this is not political correctness, it is common sense—and it is good business. The economy does a lot better if there is peace and harmony, equal opportunity for education, employment, and entrepreneurship, and equal treatment under the law. Conflict is costly. With declining enrollments, impending budget cuts, and an offsetting increase in students from underrepresented populations, challenging these critiques by refining the ethnic studies mission becomes critical.

The Impact on Academic Diversity and Inclusion Historically, most interdisciplinary programs like ethnic studies owe their intellectual heritage to traditional disciplines like anthropology, education, history, psychology and sociology. It is, therefore, axiomatic that the theories on ethnicity, such as primordialist, constructionist, and instrumentalist perspectives, be derived from social science theories. The purpose of ethnic studies is to provide a compliment to the Euro-American curricula. Ethnic studies programs started in the early 1968 at

xviii  CONTEMPORARY PERSPECTIVES ON ETHNIC STUDIES San Francisco State University, then spread to other campuses in California and across the country. However, ethnic studies has a much longer history because it is built on the pioneering writings of Carter G. Woodson and W.E. Du Bois; as well as freedom schools of the 1960s, black independent schools, tribal schools, and language immersion schools. Black History Month was created in 1926 in the United States when historian Carter G. Woodson and the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History announced the second week of February to be “Negro History Week.” This week was chosen because it coincided with the birthdays of President Abraham Lincoln on February 12 and of Frederick Douglass, a freed slave and African American leader on February 14, both of which black communities had been celebrating together since the late 19th century. Du Bois stated that the problem of the 20th century is the color line—social relations will be based on racial identity. European imperialism and colonization ended in the 19th century. Subsequently began the decolonization and self-determination struggles of Africa, Asia, and Latin America in the 20th century. In this historical context philosopher Frantz Fanon pointed out that the goals of self-determination and anti-racism of the third-world project are similar to the students of the Third World Liberation Front at San Francisco State College when they proposed ethnic studies “to aid in further developing politically, economically, and culturally the revolutionary third-world consciousness of oppressed peoples both on and off campus” (Okihiro, 2010, p.3). In addition, the resistance to European imperialism was the impetus of the liberating ideas of Negritude and Pan Africanism. Negritude is a literary movement of the 1930s, ‘40s, and ‘50s that began among French-speaking African and Caribbean writers living in Paris as a protest against French colonial rule and the policy of assimilation. The francophone intellectuals, writers, and politicians included Martinican poet Aimé Césaire, Léopold Sédar Senghor (the first president of Senegal from 1960-80), and Léon Damas of French Guiana. They argued for the importance of a Pan-African racial identity among people of African descent worldwide, (Markovitz, 1969). In this context, Kwame Nkrumah, the first president of the Independent Nation of Ghana in 1957, was a Pan-Africanist. He played an important role in developing the Organization of African Unity (OAU) in 1963, the same year he was awarded the Lenin Peace Prize (Timothy, 1963). Nelson Mandela is a South African leader who spent years in prison for opposing apartheid, the policy by which the races were separated and whites were given power over blacks in South Africa. Upon his release from prison, Mandela, from 1994 to 1999, became the first president of a black-majority-ruled South Africa in which apartheid officially ended. A symbol of hope for many South Africans, Mandela is also a former winner of the Nobel Peace Prize (Mandela, 2010).

What Ethnic Studies is Not First, ethnic studies does not teach the separation of America into racial/ethnic groups, neither does it advocate an overthrow of the United States government. For example, on May 11, 2010, Arizona’s

Introduction Introductory Overview of Ethnic Studies  xix Governor Jan Brewer signed HB 2281 into law. The law bans schools from teaching classes that are designed for students of a particular ethnic group or that promote resentment or ethnic solidarity. While the Arizona law deals with primary and secondary schools, the issue is very much alive in higher education as well. What ethnic studies really does is to include all racial/ethnic groups, especially marginalized communities, in a multicultural American curriculum. Consistent with this observation, many sectors of American society, including prominently the military, businesses, and members of the entertainment, sports, and educational spheres know that diversity is not only important, it is good for business. That is why a record number of institutions filed friend-of-the-court briefs arguing that diversity is a compelling interest in the affirmative-action case decided in 2003 by the U.S. Supreme Court in Grutter v. Bollinger. The Supreme Court in a 5-4 decision upheld the University of Michigan Law School’s policy that race can be one of many factors considered by colleges when selecting their students. Another misperception is that ethnic studies can be perceived as lowering academic standards. In reality, ethnic studies curricula are academically based and actually improve disadvantaged students’ academic performance and university preparation. Ethnic studies is often falsely characterized as cheating students of color by substituting ethnic pride for knowledge and skills necessary to succeed in the mainstream society. But when ethnic studies is done properly, its interdisciplinary approach offers an academic curriculum that supports diverse student success, as revealed in the research findings at San Francisco State University.

The Benefits of Ethnic Studies Courses Research at San Francisco State University revealed that colleges should add ethnic studies courses to their curricula in order to address the history of racial division and discrimination in the U.S. Additionally, students who pass an ethnic studies course improved their overall performance in other courses. Further, the data compiled by the college’s Division of Institutional Analytics found that ethnic studies majors in general graduate at a rate about 20 percentage points higher than non-ethnic studies majors. Ken Monteiro, the acting director of the César Chávez Institute at the university and former dean of the ethnic studies college, said the data point in one direction, and that is that there should be more ethnic studies courses. According to Monteiro, there are several reasons why ethnic studies affects improved student learning outcomes as compared to other majors. First, ethnic studies faculty members spend more time on advising and supplemental education than faculty in other areas. Second, ethnic studies faculty teach students information that directly relates to them. And third, ethnic studies faculty teach critical thinking skills, as well as interdisciplinary approaches, to show students that they can look at things from a range of different perspectives.

xx  CONTEMPORARY PERSPECTIVES ON ETHNIC STUDIES The Future of Ethnic Studies For a new generation of ethnic studies scholars, the focus is not just—or even foremost—on the relations between white and nonwhite people, but on relations among peoples of all backgrounds that make up the United States of America. If ethnic studies scholars and students fail to articulate a compelling practical social, political, and economic value of the field to any educated person in the 21st century, the discipline will fade into irrelevancy no matter how loud or compelling its narrative. As a result, the threat to ethnic studies comes not from the liberals, who make it into self-interested factionalism, nor from the conservatives, who deride it as a celebration of cultural diversity and multiculturalism that is just a front for politically correct studies. The challenge comes from whether or not ethnic studies can be shown to have practical merit as an academic discipline that is hierarchically integrated with other practical professional disciplines. Therefore, ethnic studies must have some practical criteria for accreditation through application in real-world professional settings, thereby demonstrating its practical merit in a 21st century economy with shrinking budgets. While ethnic studies is about the history of identity politics in America, and its emphasis on multiculturalism and promoting affirmative action as redress for institutional discrimination and disparities in education and the workplace, as well as society at large, is at its core, its relevance in the 21st century is as an interdisciplinary field that offers an academic curriculum that provides cross-cultural diversity training that supports successful professional practice in other practical disciplines in the academy and in business for the betterment of American society and the American economy. This anthology represents a cross-section of relevant articles in the field that are intended to introduce the student to the substance, relevance, and practice of the discipline of ethnic studies as we move forward into the 21st century. Truly, the discipline is at a crossroads, but that is actually a good thing because a crossroads allows one to look in all directions at once. After all, looking at and celebrating all diverse perspectives has always been the forte of ethnic studies, and it is and ever will be a professional discipline ready to rise to the many outlooks and challenges ahead.

Introduction Introductory Overview of Ethnic Studies  xxi