Racial Attitudes and White Upbringing Master Thesis

Home , Ambivalent prejudice

UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK IN PRAGUE Department of Psychology

Prague 2018 B.A. Psychology Svobodova

UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK IN PRAGUE Department of Psychology

Racial Attitudes and White Upbringing Master Thesis

Supervisor : Submitted by: Jan Zahorik Sarah Svobodova

Prague, 2018

Declaration

I hereby declare that I wrote this thesis individually based on literature and resources stated in references section.

In Prague: 15.8.2018 Signature

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would first like to thank my thesis advisor Dr. Jan Zahorik of the at The University of New

York. He consistently allowed this paper to be my own work, but steered me in the right the

direction whenever he thought I needed it. I would also like to acknowledge Dr. Radek Ptacek,

Director of the Masters of Psychology program for all of his continued support during this thesis.

Finally, I must express my gratitude to my parents, my sister, my friends and to my partner for providing me with their continued support throughout my years of study and through the process

of researching and writing this thesis. This accomplishment would not have been possible

without them. Thank you.

Table of Contents

ABSTRACT...... 7

INTRODUCTION...... 8

LITERATURE REVIEW...... 9

METHODOLOGY...... 28

RESULTS ...... 32

DISCUSSION...... 60

CONCLUSION...... 80

REFERENCES...... 82

APPENDICES ...... 84

Appendix A: Consent Form ...... 85

Appendix B: Interview Guide...... 87

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this qualitative study is to examine the impact in which upbringing affects attitudes on race. Since negative racial views still persist within America, there needs to be increased awareness within the white community. Developing children’s racial awareness within white society is crucial to understanding American systemic racism. For this study ten American citizens, both living in the states and abroad, were interviewed about their upbringing, neighborhood diversity, and current racial views. They were also questioned on childhood experiences regarding implicit and explicit racism both at home and at school, religious beliefs, their professional experiences and their current political views. The interviews were then transcribed and coded into themes according to their prevalence during the interviews.

The results showed that parental upbringing had a significant influence during their childhood and anti-racist values and racial awareness diminished racial prejudices. Aversive Racism,

Ambivalent Prejudice, and Color-blindness were also reported. Although participants reported growing up in all loving, open minded household, they did not discuss race explicitly and witnessed acts implicit and explicit racism. 8 out of 10 (80%) of the participants responded with an answer that suggested color-blindness was present in their upbringing. Answers ranged from

“we didn’t speak about race” to “ I would say both my parents are very open-minded and accepting of all people.” Racism was also reported in many of their views about white privilege mindfulness.

Introduction

Following the 2016 U.S. Elections, events such as the White nationalist rally at University of

Virginia, the overwhelming public adherence to the Government’s recent immigration proposals including costly Border Security measures, which were a major component leading up to the

Government’s January 2018 shutdown, alongside the impact of the Global Refugee crisis have highlighted racism’s continuous stronghold in America’s present culture. These events exhibit

America’s ongoing racial divide and how it’s time our nation faces the prejudice that lurks behind our country’s intransigent mirror. Many Americans feel they currently live in a post- racial time. Although extensive survey data records show that attitudes of Blacks and Whites have changed over the years with questions including “racial equality, government efforts to ensure equal treatment, affirmative action, preferred social contact with racial groups, and other topics”, Krysan & Moberg’s Trends in Racial Attitudes (2016) research finds that indeed racial attitudes are far complex than we imagined.

The purpose of this research is to examine the impact in which upbringing affects views on race, particularly in developing racial habits within white society. Studies have shown that children’s attitudes and prejudices regarding race are consistent with overt influences during developmental upbringing. This qualitative study will examine white adults aged 21-30 and their current racial attitudes and reveal the extent that domestic upbringing and social experiences (school, media) influenced their attitudes. The first section of the paper introduces the terminology to provide the reader with a basic understanding of the terms and relevant studies mentioned throughout the

paper. The second section of the paper discusses the methodological processes which were conducted to perform this study. The third section reviews the results found during the interviews, these results provided insight into the understanding the development of racial attitudes. The penultimate section of the paper provides the interpretation of the results. It also focuses on the strengths and weaknesses of the methodology, provides further implications for future studies, and highlights the significance of the study backed by evidence based interpretation. The final section of the paper synthesizes the main ideas, and provides possible solutions to decrease the prevalence of systemic racism in America.

Literature Review

Definition of Terms:

Race is the distinguishable physical differences that an individual person has, representing the carnal part of their identity. Some of these features include the shape of one’s eyes, the hue of skin, or the texture of hair. Race differs from ethnicity in the sense that race refers solely to physical traits, whereas ethnicity is a grouping of social traits within a culture, such as language, customs, and heritage. We attribute these traits to into different ethnic groups which carryover similar overall physical characteristics.

However, race can attest to both biological and social concepts. Race has closer ties with social connotations and less as just a geographically focused origin. A person can typically self identify as a race based on one’s ancestry, social, and cultural identities. Interestingly enough, in the

United States Census there had not been an official option to choose multi-racial in the questions regarding race until the year 2000 (Census). In essence, the twenty first century has led America into recognizing the importance of self identity through race. Yet, it should be noted that any conclusions based on solely one’s race are not truly definitive and serves an environment that is substantially divisive amongst races.

Racial Divide: The divide created when making conclusions based on race, is one of the key determining factors of racism. Inherently, racism is a mindset that focuses on the racial superiority or inferiority of one race when compared to one another. According to Diangelo

(2010), “Race is not about difference, it is about the meaning a society assigns to difference, in this case the superficial differences of physical appearance.” Race is presently referred as social construct, one which unnaturally categorizes individuals based on appearance, but not limited to culture, socioeconomic class, political needs, relations historical relations within as society, and most importantly as Diangelo describes, an “Unequal distribution of privileges, resources and power between Whites and people of Color. (Diangelo, 2010) This can be further broken down into subcategories such as individual racism and institutionalized racism.

One of the issues posed with individual racism is the (colorblind) mindset towards minorities being the reason for their respective failures (Bonilla-Silva, 2017). In addition, Whites are found guilty of ditching racial slurs of the past for blaming the very communities in which they have been passively and actively suppressing for centuries. According to the Oxford Dictionary institutionalized racism is a form of, “Racial discrimination that has become established as normal behavior within a society or organization.” The normalization of racial discrimination

leads to strong hindrances of those deemed as racially oppressed in society. As it stands, between whites and nonwhites when institutionalized racism is present, it is typically one sided in nature, with whites being the dominant oppressive force, which further emphasizes the growing power of Whites versus people of color (DiAngelo, 2011).

Throughout the complex racial history of America, class structure and wealth distribution have contributed in the shaping and maintaining of racism. Middle class whites have often attempted to break associations with lower class whites, emulating the relationship between slave masters and their slaves (Sullivan, 2014). (Sullivan) calls attention to the historian Joel Williamson’s

“grits thesis”, which white “elites” would put full blame on poor whites for the actions of the entire white society thus, eliminating the need to address racism as an institutional issue. Fast forward to present day, where middle class white families still refrain from accepting responsibility for the role in normalizing racism in society. One of the ways in which racism has been normalized today is in the wealth distribution gap and also prevalent in employment opportunities available for minorities when compared to their White counterparts.

When compared to most minorities, Whites have one of the lowest rates of unemployment in the

United States, conversely they also have the highest employment rates. These rates are 3.7% for unemployment and 60.2% for employment of white workers (BLS, 2016-2017). Although the rates slightly favor whites when compared to other races, the divide becomes further apparent when looking at the hirings for positions requiring high school diplomas or higher.

Racial attitudes/mindsets. Racial attitudes are the principles in behavior regarding race relations that individuals assume, the environments in which they acclimate to, and the role that White

Americans believe the government should address racial inequality (Marsden, 2012). An interesting association to make between classism and racial attitudes is that more often than not, live in communities of mainly white and do not get to partake in intersectional conversations, with those outside of their respective communities. This barricade is often observed in studies focusing on residential integration, where Whites and Black communities are surveyed to assess whether individuals would be comfortable living in white or black neighborhoods, coming to the conclusion that large percentages of whites and blacks alike would not prefer living in areas predominantly white or black. This is due partly to the social rigidity of a new environment, and also due to underlying superiority and/or inferiority complexes.

Prejudice refers to the negative preconceived notions about an individual or a social group.

Racial prejudice occurs when negative attitudes are directed at a group of people are based on social associations based on race.

Ambivalent Prejudice is a theory in social psychology that suggests people experience negative emotions while realizing their incongruent views about another group outside of their own.

These emotions are referred to as cognitive dissonance. Cognitive dissonance assumes the idea that people would rather have their values, ideas, and mannerisms aligned and when there is an interference with their moral congruence, cognitive dissonance is formed. (Kite, Whitley 2010)

The foundation of these conflicting emotions are the divide between a person’s extrinsic value system (a good samaritan) and their intrinsic values (dedication, perseverance).

Ambivalent prejudice and Cognitive Dissonance occur because both values serve as equally important. When one value impedes another, or a situation surpasses the necessity to make a decision between the better value, the negative emotions decrease until a similar situation resurfaces. (Kite, Whitley 2010) These emotions can be triggered by the simple realization that the person is experience conflicting value sets. A study done on White racial ambivalence found that “heightened guilt and discomfort, prejudice-related discrepancies were uniquely associated with heightened guilt and reduced positive affect.” (Monteith, J. M. 1996)

A study on immigrants in St. Louis, Missouri investigated the relationship between egalitarian,

PWE (Protestant Work Ethic) attitudes and personal and impersonal contact on perceptions of immigrants. Theories on prejudice have explained that feelings of compassion Americans experience are a result of a conflict stemming from two opposing values; egalitarianism (Social equality) and Protestant Work Ethic (Individualistic success). They believed that the immigrants

“provided a model system for testing the nature of ambivalent prejudice” due to the belief that

Asians practice PWE ethic, while other minorities (Latino, Black) do not. (Matsuo, Hisako;

McIntyre, Kevin, 2005) Participants were male and female undergraduates from a Catholic

University. The measures used for the study were questionnaires which were divided into Social

Contact, Attitudes toward Specific Ethnic groups, General attitudes towards Immigrants, and the

Humanitarian/Protestant Human Ethic Work Scale. Their model hypothesis was significant, meaning “increases in egalitarianism and primary contact were predictive of more positive attitudes toward immigrants, whereas increased support for the PWE was associated with more negative attitudes, F (4, 113) = 10.377, p<.001.” (Matsuo, Hisako; McIntyre, Kevin, 2005)

Response amplification is the differentiating behavioral responses of a person, according to positive and negative circumstances. Response amplification stems from a person’s motivation to reduce their negative emotions. These motivations can be both conscious and unconscious. A study assessing Canadian college student’s conscious ambivalence towards Native Canadians assigned positive or negative essays regarding native land claims. The purpose of the study was to see if Ambivalence induced response amplification resulted from efforts to decrease levels of ambivalence. The results showed that “Ambivalent participants displayed a significant difference between the positive and negative message conditions in their attitudes toward Native people, whereas non-ambivalent participants did not.” (Bell, 2002) Bell found that the students which demonstrated response amplification were motivated to see ambivalence negatively, while the students who were motivated to see ambivalence positively did not.

Racism can be divided into two distinct categories; implicit and explicit. Explicit racism is defined as a conscious awareness that other racial groups are inferior to their own. This kind of racism is easily distinguishable and overt, and is openly practiced by institutions and individuals in favor of racial discrimination. Implicit racism is the practice of the individual’s unconscious negative biases when passing judgment on a racial group. This form of racism is harder to identify as individuals are often unaware of their biases, and would deny admitting to any racist ideologies. (Dovidio, Gaertner, 1996) However, racism isn’t focusing on the external nature of the term, which could imply that its something that can be used or rejected. Racism is also about its internal nature, its deeply rooted process which influences the attitudes and behaviors of

people. The infrastructure of racism has the power to not only affect individuals, but racial identities as a whole.

Racism and Youth: Research shows that children begin to show an understanding of white superiority from as early as preschool. (Clark, 1950) (Sparks, Ramsey, Edwards, 2006) Our culture tells us from a very young age that white is better, and although many whites today say that they were raised with their arms wide open to love and welcome everyone, studies suggest a different story. A poll in 2014, taken before the Trump elections, surveyed young adults and found that they claim to be more tolerant and and exercise equality better than earlier generations. (Bouie, 2014) They also found that due to their color blind nature, these millennials were actually opposed to any ways to reduce racial equality because of their discomfort surrounding the race issue. 41 percent of millenials believed that there is too much government intervention surrounding minorities, and another 48 percent believe compare white discrimination to black discrimination.

A study done by sociologists Leslie Picca and Joe Feagin, (2007) examined the behavior of 626 white American college students by asking them to keep records of any acts of racism, imagery and understanding they encountered for 6-8 weeks. There were over seventy five hundred accounts of racist commentary that occured varying from friends, families, and strangers. The most frequent racially specific behaviors were noted: Acting overly nice, Avoiding contact,

(crossing a street Mimicking black mannerisms and speech, avoiding racially charged terminology, using code when describing people of color, acts of violence towards people of color. They also found that when not around people of color, the students reinforced racial

stereotyping by making jokes to perpetuate white superiority. This study confirms that while younger white Americans perceive themselves to be more forward thinking, they still display acts of overt racism. (Picca, Feagin, 2007)

Symbolic Racism is a system of beliefs that mirrors specific, undisclosed prejudice towards

African Americans. Symbolic racism differs from Aversive racism by the individual fundamental processes which occur. Symbolic racism is overt, and engrained into their overall racial attitudes, while Aversive racism deals with an emotional struggle between two opposing extrinsic and intrinsic value sets. Racial attitudes of symbolic racism aimed at blacks include varied emotions including different anger, fear and disgust. These attitudes are not always deliberate, and most likely stem from childhood. (Whitley, Kite 2010) They are a result of stereotypical beliefs that

Blacks’ work ethic fails to mirror the traditional American standard of hard work and dedication.

Instead, they succumb to dependence of the Governmental support system. Although Whites also benefit the support system, this information is discarded, and the focus of attention is redirected towards Black conduct. There also appears to be a divide in the ideology of racial equality.

While they adhere to racial equality in opportunity, they reject the means to achieve equal outcome. For example, “intervention of the government “when individuals do not have the same talent, effort or historical background would violate traditional values of equality of opportunity.” (Whitley, Kite 2010)

Anti - Racism is a set of views, and actions that deter inter-abled, social, religious, cultural within communities affected by racial inequality, and strive through education and activism to promote and inflict change. It is a process that strives to dismantle institutional and social racism (white privilege) by actively encouraging racial awareness and gaining support within communities.

Microaggressions as defined by Merriam-Webster, are comments that subtly and often unconsciously or unintentionally expresses a prejudiced attitude toward a member of a marginalized group. For example microaggressions directed at a minority would be everyday phrases such as “You are a credit to your race” or “I don’t see color when I look at others.”

These messages denies a person their own ethnicity and assumes their ethnicity is inferior. These comments may be both intentional or unintentional. A psychology professor at Columbia

University correlated the use of microaggressions with the “rapidly changing demographics in that minorities will outnumber whites by the year 2042”, in his book Microaggressions in

Everyday Life: Race, Gender, and Sexual Orientation. (Sue, 2010)

Classism refers to prejudice of the upper or lower classes, and can be either personal or institutional. The United States currently has a poverty rate of 12.7 percent. (U.S. Census, 2018)

African American communities’ poverty rate is 22 %, with an even higher rate in African-

American female-headed households at 32%. Data collected from show African-American students (3.2 million children) attend high-poverty schools which is six times the rate of whites.

African-American college students have the highest level of student debt ($29,344 on average) of any racial group. The median income of an average American is $59,039, while African

Americans average only $39,490, respectively. A study done in 2012 by the University of

Wisconsin Madison found that social class discrimination leads to poorer health. The study examined 252 17 year old children from Upstate New York, who were undergoing a long term study on human poverty. They assessed stress on the body by taking urine samples and blood pressure, and measured stress related hormones. The results showed students who grew up in poverty experienced more discrimination, and reported having lower physical and mental health,

13% attributed to perceived discrimination. (Fuller-Rowell, Evans, Ong, 2012)

A recent study looked at the health impact of discrimination in community health care centers in

Boston, MA. My Body, My Story consisted of three parts; the self reports: the Experiences of

Discrimination (EOD) instrument and the Everyday Discrimination Scale (EDS), the Implicit

Association Test (IAT), and physical measurement which where administered to 1001 members

(504 black, 501 white) from health care centers in the Boston area. They found that explicit and explicit measures of discrimination were not equal. When examining social desirability, they found that Black members from a higher socioeconomic status reported more exposure to explicit racism than those from lower socioeconomic classes. (Krieger, 2011)

Whiteness can be defined as a “constantly shifting boundary separating those who are entitled to have certain privileges from those whose exploitation and vulnerability to violence is justified by their not being white.” (Kivel, 1996, p. 19) The term whiteness has less to do with racial identification, and more to do with its social and political significance, that has dated back to

European imperialism. There are many aspects of the construct of whiteness which are based on beliefs, behaviors and attitudes which equate to the uneven distribution of social power. (Frye,

1983; Kivel, 1996). Within the confines of America, white nationalism is a movement gaining

momentum through the years, to preserve their race. It’s main focus is a white ethnocentric agenda that strives to implement and preserve an all white national identity. White Nationalism poses a threat to minority groups, that polarizes believers to envision a world of aryan race. The main fear among these groups are that the Whites will cease to be the majority, and all benefits of being affiliated to the power in which the white race has will be stripped. “White nationalists recognize that America is already a multiracial, multiethnic society, but given their pessimism about the long term health and viability of these societies, they believe drastic measures must be taken to change things” (Swain, 2002). According to Swain, off these measures include two prominent forms of separation but are not limited to, ethnic separatism, racial separatism. Each of these separatisms respectively advocate for a form of divide based on territory or in the case of racial separatism, the race of a minority being the sole indicator of malicious intent. In recent years, white nationalism has managed to incline itself into rigid political spheres, consisting of

“alt-right” groups. (The highest position in office in the United States is the President, Donald

Trump, who has been spotted with a former Klansman turned white nationalist, David Duke on multiple occasions.)

There are three main parts of whiteness, racial identity, racial bias, and racial privilege. The

"Whiteness as Group Identity" model attributes its mass by four parts: group size, group power, group discrimination and group appearance. (Helms, 2005) The model suggests that those whose group has a smaller number, has less power, and experiences more discrimination and therefore is expected to have a greater racial identity.

White privilege as defined by the Oxford dictionary, white privilege is “a special right or advantage, or immunity granted or available only to a particular person or group.” These rights grant power and access over those who don’t identify within the confinements of white race. For example Redlining was a common tool established in the 1930’s by government officials and backed by taxpayers to keep American housing segregated. African Americans are still victims of white privilege even after such acts to prevent racial discrimination have been established, such as the Fair Housing Act. The act, established in 1964, prohibits “discrimination in the sale, rental, and financing of dwellings, and in other housing-related transactions, based on race (and) color.” A recent study done by The Center of Investigative Reporting found alarming results after analyzing “31 million Home Mortgage Disclosure Act records covering nearly every time an American tried to buy a home with a conventional mortgage in 2015 and 2016.” The study looked at 9 different socio economic factors and found that Blacks were substantially refused that Whites in 48 cities, while facing the most discrimination in the South.

White guilt is defined as the feeling that individual or collective guilt experienced by some whites about the historical racism that occurred in the United States, South Africa, and the

United Kingdom. White guilt is attributed as a “psychosocial cost” for whites, according to a study done on the development and initial validation of the Psychosocial Costs of Racism to

Whites Scale (PCRW). (Spanierman, Heppner, 2004) They found that the effects of racism holds many psychosocial costs, including White Empathic Reactions Toward Racism, White Guilt, and

White Fear of Others.

White fragility is the result of a racially protected, environmental fortress built around whites, resulting in a lowered stress capacity, disabling them from discussing pertinent racial issues and topics. The consequence is a range of emotions such as “anger, fear, and guilt, and behaviors such as argumentation, silence, and leaving the stress-inducing situation.” (Diangelo, 2011)

There is an occurance of racial coding as well for example describing places as “urban”, or

“inter-city” while refraining to acknowledge terms like “privileged” or “advantaged.” Diangelo describes a set of “triggers” that activate a range of defenses in situations such as “Suggesting that a white person’s viewpoint comes from a racialized frame of reference (challenge to objectivity), people of color talking directly about their racial perspectives (challenge to white racial codes) or a fellow white not providing agreement with one’s interpretations (challenge to white solidarity). ( Diangelo, 2011) Whites have difficulty regulating these emotions and cultivating responses in a constructive manner. They lack these abilities because they have not needed to develop the necessary skills to partake in constructive racial relations. Diangelo (2001) mentions factors that instill white fragility in white society; Entitlement to racial comfort, racial arrogance and racial belonging. Diangelo states that Whites are “racially comfortable and thus have developed unchallenged expectations to remain so.” (DiAngelo, 2006) Diangelo goes on the say that “many whites believe their financial and professional successes are the result of their own efforts” while simultaneously disregarding their white privilege. Because of the lack of education about white privilege in education, there is an absence of racial comprehension.

(Derman-Sparks, Ramsey & Olsen Edwards, 2006; Sleeter, 1993)

Child Development and Racial Attitudes

Many studies on child development and racial attitudes have found that there is a congruence with their beliefs and their parental upbringing which plays a important role in modeling their racial attitudes. These findings suggest that children, from a young, age are aware of race and the messages they receive from the environment, intrinsically as well as extrinsically. (Quintana,

2008) views racism as a non genetic, socially constructed mechanism that could be changed by the altercation of settings that “diminish intergroup tensions.” He believes that children are susceptible to the “culturally shared” influences about different ethnic groups. An example of this the negative impact that racial prejudice and bias have on Mexican children. The influence stems from the frequency of the racial prejudices, rather than the actual ethnic heritage. (Pahl and

& Way, 2006) Children who experience implicit messages about race are usually being encouraged through colorblindness, which teaches children to ignore race. (Quintana, 2008)

Although there are occasions where parents do make negative comments about race, “these references are subtle and nuanced.” (Quintana, 2008)

In literature, connections have been made to racial understanding in child development and their understanding of the world around them. Quintana introduces the Racial Perspective Taking

Ability (RPTA), a model that connects how children comprehend race with how they comprehend the world. This model “represents the application of children’s social cognition to the racial aspects of their social and personal worlds.” (Quintana, 2008) He uses Selman’s model of social perspective-taking ability (SPTA) which is comprised of four interpersonal areas: peer group, individual, family and friendship contexts and makes an addition; race as a fifth domain. (Quintana, 2008) In the first domain the children are limited to basic understanding of biological external traits, and using the physical appearances to categorize people into

different groups. The next domain is comprehending the idea of ethnic heritage, and understanding different cultures. The social domain explores themes such as racism and and social class and its relations to racial disparities. (Quintana, 2008).

The next domain is the racial group consciousness perspective, which children are able to recognize different racial groups by identifying specific situations and observing their trends.

According to Quintana, the group with the lowest RPTA capabilities are at the top of the racial pyramid. He believes that because these children are lacking the experience and understanding of racial discrimination which coincides with Jackson and Hardiman's (1993) theory of White identity development. The theory is compromised of 5 separate stages: Naive/ No Social

Consciousness, Acceptance, Resistance, Redefinition and Internalization.

In the first stage Naive/ No Social Consciousness, children are unaware of how to participate within their complex social group. In this stage the children do as they please, navigating from their own internal needs and views. They test barriers within the social group until they reach the next stage. Children begin to become more aware of differences between themselves and other social groups. They begin to ask questions about noticeable differences such as ethnicity and sex.

For example some children may ask questions such as “Why does she have different skin color than me?” or asking questions about gay marriage. There are many influences that shape children during this stage such as parents, authorities, other children, and religion. Verbal and non verbal expressions are observed and translated into a stage of social dominance and this can affect their understanding and behavior.

In the Acceptance stage comprised of dual stages, the passive stage and the active stage.

The developmental internalization of the “dominant culture’s” beliefs and attitudes begins to appear. This level of internalization can be either conscious on unconsciousness and reflects the views of their group identity. For example white men would fall into the superior group identity and people of color would fall into the inferior group identity. In the passive acceptance stage, decisions and actions no longer have to be consciously motivated, the person acts according to these instilled beliefs more naturally. Instead of questioning, those in passive acceptance, these actions become normalized and integrated into their belief system. For example a white driver may lock his car doors at night while passing a black neighborhood or assuming asians are all bad drivers. During Active Acceptance, individuals learn that those to blame are the discriminated victims, instead of society. For example blacks are criminals, or that men are smarter than women. The main contrast between Active and Passive Acceptance are the implicit or explicit behaviors expressed. Individuals that reach the Acceptance stage are unaware of their superiority and privilege. (Hardiman, Jackson 1997)

In the Resistance Stage, there is increased awareness of the effect of treatment of the oppressed and the oppressors. During the Resistance stage, the oppressors realize that their former views and beliefs were cultivated by an secular ideology which imposed radical and unjust views on its agents. They also began to see their true white privilege emerging in their careers and lifestyle.

There is a separation of beliefs entwined with negative emotions, mainly anger. At this stage many separate themselves from this society while others are isolated from them because their progressive insight poses a potential threat to the rest of the group. After realizing what society they belong to, they begin to detach from the negative and reconstruct their own new identity.

In the Redefinition Stage, we can see the transition from the former group identification and the shift to a new independent thinking, free from systematic oppression and discrimination. Its is in the redefinition stage where confidence in an collective identity can remerge, and all former ties with the previous group have been severed. For the oppressed in the redefinition stage, much effort is focused on finding similar like minded individuals and spending time revisiting their heritage and cultural history. It is in this group where they can shift away from the negative labels and identify themselves with new terminology that empowers them. For example, shifting from the term negro, to African American. In this stage it is important to note that a key part of forming a new social identity is be taking back their ethnic group properties. (Hardiman, Jackson

1997)

The fifth and final stage is the Internalization stage, where the new social group has been formed and the members start to attribute their new beliefs into the real world. During this state they will socialize with society with their newfound collective confidence and empathize with other oppressed peoples with similar experiences to theirs. This results as a bigger understanding and solidarity. Although they still face many challenges their new mindsets will not only help them to remain positive and pave the way for future generations. (Hardiman, Jackson 1997)

The direct model of influence, which has been applied to various research studying how racism directly affects and influences children. These influences can come peers or adult prejudices which can arrive from the school or home setting. For example, authority figures such as the police or teachers “racially driven behaviors” can leave a significant impression the child. The

consensus seems to be that the most of the influence is a result of direct interaction with the child. Quintana argues that there needs to be more attention paid to other significant influences, for example, witnessing. A study on violence exposure in children finds negative consequences such as “substance abuse and internalizing (mental) disorders” in adulthood. In another situation, he describes a child and father in a vehicle that is pulled over by racial profiling. The child experiencing the father’s treatment will most likely be internalized. This confirms William B

Dubois, an African American sociologist, and civil rights activist, views about racial prejudice and its negative impact on children, having witnessed experiences of his own. (Quintana, 2008)

A recent study by scholars from the university of Bristol and York University in Toronto found that implicit racism can be seen from children as young as 5 years of age. Looking at 359 white children aged 5-12, researchers used the Affective Priming Task, Affect Misattribution

Procedure, and the Implicit Association Test, to measure racial attitudes. The automated attitude measure aimed to find the degree of positive and negative racial attitudes towards other ethnicities. In the category based measure, children associated racial attitudes by categorizing photos of black and white children. The results suggest that children between the ages of 5-8 demonstrated “automatic in-group positivity toward White child exemplars, whereas older children (9‐ to 12‐year‐olds) did not.” (Williams, Steele 2017) There was no presence of automatic negativity towards black child models, albeit consistent exposure to black and white biases. The results indicated there was no automated negativity towards blacks, however, when shown images of white children, automatic positivity occurred.

Color blindness

The term color blindness is an euphemism used to combat racism, which was coined in the 1960s during the Civil Rights and international Anti-Racist movements. (Ansell, 2008) Its meaning implies that people are not seen different or insignificant based on the color of their skin, as well as limiting opportunities for others based on solely on skin color. The presenting issue with color blindness is that those who support color blindness believe they are practicing and teaching Anti-

Racism, but studies confirm that racial colorblindness is highly “associated with negative behaviors and attitudes towards racial and ethnic minorities.” (Neville et al. 2013) Derman-

Sparks and Ramsey (2006) regard silence as a key part of white racism in what is called racial silence. This is the practice of whites encouraged to remain silent about racial conversations instead of addressing them openly. (Tatum, 1997)

Because of the the negative associations associated with colorblindness, it has been referred to as a form of “ultra racism”. Recent studies show that color blindness correlates with “less support for affirmative action policies (Awad, 2005), less support for confronting racism (Zou and

Dickter 2013), and greater approval of racial insensitivity” (Tynes and Markoe, 2010). A study done in 2014 involving attitudes about hurricane Katrina evacuees in the Houston area found that those who practiced color blindness are “less aware of cultural diversity issues.” (Wang, 2014)

The study examined data from 765 and 750 people in the years 2006 and 2010, which was collected from Houston area surveys using a “cross sectional telephone survey, administered annually since 1982”. (Wang, 2014) The study used “color blind racism frames” measuring various attitudes towards the hurricane Katrina evacuees. They found that in 2006 alone, 56 percent believed that “the overall impact of the evacuees had been a bad thing for the city” and

that a striking 72 % that a major increase in violent crime was a result of the evacuees and 77% believed that helping the evacuees put a “ considerable strain on the community.” (Wang, 2014)

In 2010, the survey showed increasing negative attitudes increasing to 64% stating “the overall impact of the evacuees had been a bad thing for the city”.

A study in 2011 focused on color blindness in the education system, arguing that color blindness has no place in the classroom setting and encouraging early education teachers to speak more openly about race and racism. Children “have an unstated but nonetheless sophisticated understanding of issues of race and power.” (Boutte 2008; Delpit 2007; Earick 2008; Tenorio

2007). Creating awareness about race and racism during childhood is important during early education, because children at this age are very impressionable and learn about racism implicitly and explicitly throughout a variety of social settings, with the main influencers being parents, teachers and the media. Because of the potential amount of exposure, “homes, communities, schools, and society are not neutral spaces absent of racist overtones and actions.” (Boutte,

Lopez-Robertson, Powers-Costello, 2011)

A recent study in 2017 looked at individual differences in racial colorblindness, by measuring color blind racial ideology using the Color blind Racial Attitudes Scale (COBRAS; Neville et al.2000) and the Big 5 Scales taken from the International Personality Item Pool (Goldberg,

1999) on a sample of 319 undergraduates from a Midwestern public university between the ages of 18-20. (Mekawi, Bresin, Hunter, 2017) The results found that there were two recurring patterns, "unawareness of racial privilege was associated with lower openness to experience and perspective taking, whereas unawareness of institutional racism, unawareness of blatant racism,

and the full racial colorblindness scale were related to lower agreeableness and empathic concern.” (Mekawi, Bresin, Hunter, 2017) These findings suggest there may be a correlation that there maybe a correlation between personality and prejudice, particularly levels of empathy.

Anti racism education

Anti-racism has been defined as an ongoing “process of identifying and eliminating racism by changing systems, organizational structures, policies and practices and attitudes, so that power is redistributed and shared equitably" (NAC International Perspectives: Women and Global

Solidarity). Anti-racism looks at various aspects such as how race targets people, how it is systematic, and how white people participate in racism. These “imbalances play out in the form of unearned privileges that white people benefit from and racialized people do not” (McIntosh,

1988).

A 2011 study titled Moving Beyond Color Blindness examines a second grade bi-racial (JLR)

Spanish-English classroom setting, “five of the children spoke only English; 10 were bilingual

(Spanish/ English); one child was Native American; one child was Puerto Rican & Mexican; one child was Biracial (White and Mexican–American), and 12 were first generation Mexican–

American.” (Boutte, Lopez-Robertson, Powers-Costello, 2011) Every week the topic of race was covered in the form of literary discussion. This allowed students to share and express their individual “understanding of the issues raised in the literature and to share these beginning understandings with their classmates” (Short 1995, 1997).

The children were asked questions such as “What did the book make you think about? Do you have any connections to the story? Has anything like this ever happened to you or anyone in your family?” The children were asked to draw pictures expressing what the term racism means to them and how they understand it. One of the children, Steven, drew an image of two boys engaging in a physical fight, explaining that racism means “hurting other people.” Another child named Julissa expressed her understanding of racism during a lesson about the Civil Rights period in America. She shared her image of black people sitting in the back of a bus, explaining that racism is segregation. These children “demonstrated an awareness and understanding of race and racism” that were based on their individual experiences. Creating an open and safe atmosphere in the classroom allowed these children to express their feelings and identify their experiences. (Boutte, Lopez-Robertson, Powers-Costello, 2011)

In conclusion, it is apparent that children have the capacity to understand concepts about racism in the world surrounding them. Knowing this, places a great pressure on adults such as parents and educators to enlighten children about the real systematic structure behind race, the white privilege that benefits from it, and the implications it brings for future generations to practice awareness as we aim to bridge the gap of racial inequality. The presented studies show that children from early age are able to cognitively understand practice racial awareness. Teaching children about anti-racist values and creating safe spaces and learning environments for children in a educational and domestic settings allows them to freely ask questions, thus dislodging their mindsets from society’s current stance on racism and its failed attempts to explain race by using methods such as color blindness and implicit and explicit prejudices.

Methodology

This study is aimed to look at racial attitudes of whites American citizens between the ages of

18-30, their experiences, education and upbringing and how it influences their attitudes. The subjects that will supplement this research are American citizens, both in country and out of country citizens (abroad), who will be interviewed about their upbringing and current racial views. Participants in this study were asked to provide their demographic information, current political views, and asked to describe information about their parental upbringing and educational experiences. They were asked about whether they experienced implicit or explicit messages about race during their upbringing and if this affected their racial attitudes.They were also asked if they believe racism had impacted them. They were questioned about the racial make up of their current and previous living environments, and if they travelled outside of the

United States. They were also asked about the racial makeup of their workplace and school environment. Finally they were asked about their political views and how they feel racism should be addressed in society.

The purpose of this research is to examine the impact in which upbringing affects views on race, particularly in developing children’s racial habits within white society. Since negative racial views persist within, there is a need to for increased awareness within the community. The main focus during the interviews was the degree of involvement schools and parental upbringing play in shaping racial attitudes. White Americans were also asked about white privilege, their own awareness and what steps needed to be taken to address social issues concerning racial inequality. By focusing on an agenda that promotes the discussion of racial mindsets in domestic

and educational environments, encourages future generations to communicate on racial injustice, which will lead to the eventual decrease of racial tensions within America. A qualitative study with 10 participants is a slim representation of White Americans as a whole but this could give a better idea of how education and upbringing can affect racism and stand as an implication for future research purposes and action that we can take to support positive racial mindsets in the future.

The sample size for this study was 10 White Americans who were interviewed about their demographic, childhood experiences regarding implicit and explicit racism both at home and at school, and their current political views. The interviews bridged 30- 65 minutes each of audio files. The audio was recorded on a MacBook using the Simple Recorder program. The main themes from the interviews were recorded and then coded from the data.

The criteria to be considered for the study, the participants had to racially identify as White, be between the ages of 18-30 years old, and be an American Citizen. The participants were from a middle to upper class background, had varying religious upbringing and sexual orientation.

There was a total of 10 people involved in the sample, 4 females and 6 males.

Data Collection

Participants were recruited using a snowball effect, and were chosen from Universities and

Educational facilities. The Educational Facilities that were included were the University of New

York in Prague, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, and Beehive International School. I personally contacted participants through the facilities and they referred me to another colleague after the interview. There was emphasis on inclusivity of gender, age, sexual orientation and religion. The interviews were held at the facilities where they were working/studying at in a quiet isolated room/or area with the exception of two participants who were unable to meet at the available times so we did the interview via phone. Everyone who met the criteria and responded before the deadline participated in the study. The process was held until all the data was collected and every participant that showed interest was interviewed. This helped to strengthen the overall validity of the study.

At the beginning of each interview, I greeted each participant warmly and explained the procedure of the interview. I walked them through the consent form and made sure they were aware of any of the potential risks that it may pose, and what the information would be used for. I provided contact information for them incase they had any questions or concerns after the interview, or in case they weren’t sure with going through the interview process. In case they felt uncomfortable, I informed them they were not required to answer every question and could stop the interview at anytime. I made sure to address the benefits that participation in this study could bring about helping promote education racial awareness. I also mentioned that his opportunity a great way for them to be able to share and reflect on each of their individual

experiences. This insight would help get a sense of to what degree childhood experiences shape attitudes about racism.

After going through the consent form, I proceeded to explain the steps of the interview it self.

The interview was comprised of 6 parts: Demographic information, Background History, School,

Profession, Politics, and Travel. Each part had a set of questions relating to each theme. For example a Background History question would ask: “ What types of implicit and explicit messages about race did you experience growing up?” I asked them how these experiences affect their racial attitudes today. I reminded them that they had the right to refuse any questions asked and stop the interview process at anytime. After reviewing the interview forms, I waited for each participant to sign the consent form to ensure confidentiality before we began. After each interview the data was collected and saved in a locked file with a password for extra security.

The signed consent forms were also kept in a stored away form for safe keeping. The participants were informed that any names and information would remain anonymous when reporting the data. The only persons with access to the transcribe interviews and would my dissertation supervisor and myself.

Data Analysis

The data was coded into different themes according to the groups responses. The coded words were derived by the interview questions themselves, as well as reoccurring themes that were

identified through the coding process. For example, some of the coded words were based on the nature of the questions such as Color Blindness, White Privilege, ambivalent religious affiliation, microaggressions, diversity, activism, economic status, White awareness, Ambivalent Prejudice.

I selected the themes that reoccurred the most, that were the most relevant to my study and that corresponded with the literature review. Many of the themes were supported with quotations directly from the data. Names were changed to protect confidentiality. These final themes were then analyzed and reported.

Results

This study sought to examine the impact in which upbringing affects views on race, particularly in developing children’s racial habits within white society. There were a total 10 participants for this study, both in country and out of country citizens (abroad), who will be interviewed about their upbringing and current racial views. In the first part of the interview, participants answered question about their age, relational status, education, and religion. The second part of the interview answered questions from each other the following sections: Background History,

School, Profession, Politics, and Travel. The questions sought to get in depth perceptions on the degree of involvement schools, education and parental upbringing play in shaping racial attitudes, and how their personal awareness and understanding of privilege were shaped in light

of these experiences. Due to the nature of this paper’s requirements, less relevant questions were omitted from the result analysis. Due to the nature of this paper’s requirements, less relevant questions were omitted from the result analysis.

Demographics

There was a total of 10 racially identifying White participants included in this study. Four of the participants identified as female and Six participants identified as male. There were no participants that identified as other. Their age ranged from 21-30 with the mean age of 26.1 and the median age of 26.5. The participants were all American Citizens, 70% were living in Prague,

Czech Republic and the other 30% were living on the east coast of the United States; New York,

Pennsylvania, and Ohio specifically. The remaining participants were scattered geographically in the south, midwest and eastern coast.

Geographic Location

The participants were asked to specify where they grew up in the United States. Seven (70%) of the participants reported growing up on the east coast; 3 (30%) in Maryland, 1 (10%) in New

York, 1 (10%) in Ohio, 1 (10%) in Indiana, and 1 (10%) in Pennsylvania. The remaining 3 participants (30%) reported growing up in the South and Midwest, 2 (20%) in Texas and 1 (10%) in Arizona. From these participants, 3 (30%) are currently living in the United states and 7

(70%) are living abroad in Prague, Czech Republic. All participants have reported traveling abroad at some point.

Religion

The participants reported various religious upbringing. 100 percent of the participants reported belonging to a Christian denomination growing up. Six of the Ten participants (60%) of participants currently identify as being religious, with 100 percent of those following their previous religious upbringing, (50%) Catholic, (40%) Protestant, and (10%) Mormon. Four out of the ten participants (40%) did not currently identify with any religion, and (20%) wouldn’t impose their religion on their children.

Chris:

“Raised to be Catholic but I do not associate myself anymore with religious beliefs. I’ll be raising my kids with religious affiliations but I wouldn’t force it on them. Church was more of a family outing, church every friday, after all my religious responsibilities baptism communion confirmation, I would say all of my siblings “outgrew” our religious affiliations myself included.

Still celebrate Christmas, Easter, but we don’t go to church services to celebrate these religious holidays. Participate in Lent, as a family each person has to give up something. My church was very densely populated with other cultures and ethnicities.”

Chris was raised in a Catholic upbringing, but does currently hold any religious affiliations.

Although he does not intend to force his children to practice Catholicism, they will have exposure to religious traditions.

Level of Education

All of the participants, (100%) reported having some form higher form of education (Bachelors), or is currently attaining a level of higher education.

Relational Status

Eight out of ten participants, (80%) reported being single. Two out of those participants (20%), reported their relational status as engaged.

For the first part of the interview section, participant were asked to describe their background, location, socioeconomic status. 7 out of 10 (70%) participants stated that they were raised in an upper-middle class socioeconomic background, while 3 (30%) stated they came from a middle class environment. There was a mixed responses to questions, and the following topics were coded: racial awareness, white fragility, anti-racism, microaggressions, ambivalent prejudice, symbolic racism and color-blindness were present throughout the interviews.

Interview Questions:

What types of implicit and explicit messages about race did you experience growing

up?

The first question specifically regarding race was “What types of implicit and explicit messages about race did you experience growing up?” There were various responses to this questions, some very descriptive while others were pretty short. Eight out of the Ten (80%) of participants expressed that their families were open minded and accepting of people, while (20%) reported that they had experienced implicit messages about race.

When Ema was asked what types of implicit and explicit messages about race she had experienced growing up, she replied:

I would say both my parents are very open-minded and accepting of all people.. they're

very religious people, but not in the traditional conservative sense.. in the sense that they

believe in loving all people. (and) it was certainly paralleled at home, …they may have

participated in micro aggression… due to the fact that it's something they weren't

necessarily educated to be aware of. That’s the only thing I can think of other than in a

church setting when we were very young being told to love everyone.

Ema seemed very calm and open during this segment of the interview. Although she was very confident that she was exposed to racial awareness growing up, she did seem hesitant when

mentioning possible microaggressions that could have occurred. This maybe due to the fact that she realizes this contradiction in the moment and feels like she could be judged. She also mentioned that her family wasn’t religious in the “traditional conservative sense” meaning that they may be more open minded than others. Again, it seemed that she had make an implicit connection with conservative religious views and racism.

On a similar note, Craig responded with the following answer:

As a youth, I attended a private school where most of the students were white. I also

attended public school where most of the students were black. As This could be

interpreted as an implicit message of segregation by race and class. My parents and

teachers were mainly progressives and made an effort to educate me on matters of race.

Craig expresses his school institutional experiences held strong implicit messages of segregation and racial discrimination, although his teachers and parents practiced racial awareness.

When Phil was asked the same question his response was the following:

Explicit experiences would include family friends.. my parents were good friends with

the Dudley family and I remember an experience when the father of the Dudley family

told me explicitly to never let a black man be better than me at anything. I was probably

11.. maybe 10. I went to school with probably five or six black people and just not seeing

them added to a lack of exposure. Racist jokes were pretty common in school. The news

was pretty good making me aware of the racial tension fox is a out of know if I can else

them because of the low amount of diversity in my area it was just never an issue never

had to worry about who is being treated differently for whatever purposes.

Phil experienced various explicit messages about racism during his childhood. He justified the experiences by saying that this was typical of the environment around him since there were few

African American children in his community and a “lack of exposure.” He didn’t mention the way the experiences impacted him emotionally. He also relied on information from Fox News, an American basic cable and satellite television news channel, notorious for sharing for their alt- right ideologies.

Jake also reported having similar experiences:

I was raised at home to accept people for who they were, but also heard about stereotypes

for each race. I'll certainly take truth as a choice, but I’ve heard their stereotypes were

used for a reason.

Jake was very confident in his response, and placed great emphasis on the second half of his answer. He clearly states his point of view, but also doesn’t hesitate to mention the general negative racial attitudes surrounding childhood environment. Jake may be experiencing feelings of ambivalent prejudice, although he believes in his moral values, he also understands the reasons for stereotyping.

Chris however, experienced no explicit racial messages:

No real discussion of race in the household. However, my neighborhood and schooling

were significantly diversified went to school with mainly blacks and hispanics (middle

school), High school was evenly distributed among the races.

Chris’s family practiced color-blindness in his household, although he grew up in a racially diverse neighborhood and school environment.

Describe your family’s attitudes towards people of other races. Did it parallel their

attitudes at home?

Seven from 10 (70%) of participants identified their families as Conservative, while 30% of participants families identified as Democratic.

Craig (Democratic):

Being from the Midwest, there is a culture of public politeness. Being civil to people,

regardless of their background, is very important to my family. However, this is not

always the case in private. I have observed my more distant relatives making all sorts of

inappropriate and offensive comments about race and social class throughout my life. My

family discussed race frequently, as we tend to be politically involved in our community.

The main talk most likely focused on my first interracial dating experience. My family

was supportive of my relationships with black women as a teen and throughout my life.

Craig explains that being civil is a fundamental part to his upbringing within his direct family.

However, he was not a stranger to the racist comments that persisted within is external family members. His family practiced racial awareness, and anti-racism within the household.

John (Conservative):

They were very polite in public and relatively the same at home, but I guess they would

vocalize things a little bit more. In a recent conversation with my father it was kind of a

negative experience, he said something about race and something negative towards a

different race and my brother and I corrected him and told him that you know that's

totally acceptable this needs to stop, stop feeling that way saying those things.

John practiced anti-racism when he actively stood up to his father’s symbolic racist comments.

Although his family were polite in the public setting, they still expressed prejudices within the household.

Phil had a similar experience (Conservative):

My siblings and I are pretty liberal when it comes to race up everyone's equal until they

prove that they are a dick ...my mom holds a similar viewpoint my father however grew

up in small-town and does have moderate tendencies...Yep most of the racial experiences

were behind closed doors very much making jokes at the expense of other people never

overt or obvious in public it was just a I don't know like my father never yell at anyone

but he would say we would make jokes in public.

Ema (Conservative):

When I was older I like the first year of college my best friend from childhood starting

started dating a black man we have grown up together in Florida store families were close

and I remember being shocked when I heard that her parents had an issue with the

relationship I talked to my parents about it and came to understand certainly that they

didn't agree with her parents but that they had known all this time the friends around

them are not the most understanding and open-minded of people. I guess I would say it

was a negative experience it was more just an informative experience I think it was

negative in the sense that I had grown up with this family these people were like my

second parents and I couldn't believe that the whole time they have held these attitudes...

so I think it was just that moment of like more awareness at especially having grown up

in a bubble and not even seeing what's right in front of you.

Ema illustrates that she grew up in a Conservative household, where many of her family members held negatively racial mindsets. She experienced racial awareness when she realized the prejudices surrounding her family. Ema describes the experience as a positive one, despite the circumstances, she believes it was a learning experience.

Chris (Democratic):

Honestly, my parents were the first people off the boat, but Ireland in general hasn’t had a

bad race situation as the United States does. My father on the other hand, since he works

with many different races, in construction, has some prejudice, but he’s not the type of

person to go out in public to say it to them, keeps it in the house. However, I have not

lived with my father since middle school due to living situations.

Kelly (Conservative):

Conservative, my family was conservative, probably not in the way you think, that (for

example) we’re republican because we’re racist. We’re Republican because we think

what’s fair is fair and Liberals, well.. I don’t know how to explain that. (Chuckles)

Liberals think that minorities should have everything handed to them and they don’t have

to work for anything, whereas we believe everyone is equal and and should work for

what they have and they shouldn’t be treated differently, but if they act differently, then

yeah.

Kelly demonstrates overt Symbolic racism, a result of stereotypical beliefs that Blacks’ work ethic fails to mirror the traditional American standard of hard work and dedication. “Liberals think that minorities should have everything handed to them and they don’t have to work for anything, whereas we believe everyone is equal and and should work for what they have.” It is important for me to note that Kelly hesitated and quickly added “probably not in the way you think” assuming I would immediately associate conservative with racism. Ambivalent prejudice is also present, it seems that although she doesn’t directly identify with racism, her views are conflicting, resulting in cognitive dissonance. This is congruent with Kite and Whitley’s (2010) idea that when there is an interference with their moral congruence, cognitive dissonance is formed.

School

This section of the interview was comprised of 6 questions that asked about the racial makeup of their schools growing up. Nine out of the ten participants (90%) reported growing up in a predominantly White neighborhood, while 1 participant reported growing up in a diverse neighborhood. Eight (80%) of the participants attended a ethnically diverse school, while 2 participants (20%) stated that they attended a predominantly white school. Participants reported

that they experienced more racial diversity upon entering University level education. All participants reported that parents allowed them to have friends of other ethnicities.

Excerpts of this have been provided below:

Phil:

As a child my friendship circle was very white but as I consider the people I spend my time with now actually grown a lot more diverse, and I think college had a lot to do with that.

Chris:

I had friends of of other ethnicities, had a tough life in middle school, needed friends

everywhere. Didn’t matter to me what they looked like just as long as they were cool.”

Star:

Because I grew up with this girl who’s more black than white, for sure, and she was my

best friend from the time I was four, I think that smoothed any transition that needed to

happen, about accepting other people because she was like very different looking than

me, and it never was a problem because we became friends before the age of recognizing

those things I guess. So you know you don’t really notice it when you’re a kid. I don’t

know though, I mean I grew up in a white neighborhood, the street itself was all white

except one family, I don’t think it was a particularly affluent neighborhood though. It was

just like, a middle class neighborhood.

Interviewer: Was she from your neighborhood?

Star:

She was from a different town, but a similar type of neighborhood. It wasn’t like she was

from the projects or anything. Actually the poorest kids I knew were white. There were a

couple of kids i knew and their family lived in a hotel. I think it was due to their low

credit score, they had to live week that way.

Ryan:

I remember in grade school forming those bonds, those relationships, I just, you know my

school was predominately white, I remember looking, (thinking) I would like someone

like myself. So I’d like to be with a white person. Then when you get to high school, and

you’re with all these other people, and yeah you might think that someone from another

race is pretty, or cute or something, but I don’t know that I ever really wanted to explore

it. I think my parents probably wanted me to be with someone of my own race, just

because that’s how our family has been, um I don’t know if you have a family for

generations that has had mixes, you know when those kids grow up, do they want to fall

in the same, or do they want to break away. So, I think for myself it was just, when I was

in grade school I was forming those opinions I just thought I’d like to be with someone,

like myself. So it wasn’t really like an outside factor, my parents or society... I was just in

my head, it was coming from my feelings.

Interviewer: Was it something that you consciously thought about, or was it just attraction?

Were you thinking ok, I like her, or her..or was it because she’s white.

Ryan:

No, no... cause I remember I think like probably in high school or college, like thinking

there were you know Black people, or Spanish or Asians, who were pretty, and I’d like to

ask that one out or something, but for everyone I saw like that, there was also a White

one. There’s a White girl and you know it just it really wasn’t like i was singling these

people out and I guess I could have went a different route.. but I just always wanted to be

with someone like myself, and not be with someone so different.

Interviewer: Because of physical appearance, or culture?

Ryan:

Culture, look, everything, I don’t know. Just because I can remember back to grade

school, and I remember just.. Even though i was with everyone in my class was white, I

just cant remember I want that.. for my family. When you’re in elementary school, you

can’t really say that’s wrong, or that’s bad of me to think that way, because..you’re still

young yet..you still have your whole life to change your mind, and form other opinions..

But I just remember like.. My earliest thoughts were like, my family in the past was all

the same race. I remember growing up, all of my friends were White, it’s not by my

choice.. It’s who I clicked with, are they pure White? I don’t know, but I think my friend

who I used to hang out in grade schools dad was.. or his mom wasn’t white.. but then

hanging out with someone and being friendly with someone, are two different things. I

would primarily hang out with White people, but I didn’t have a problem sitting at table

with people from different races, or going to the library and going to work on projects

with other races.

Work Environment

100% of Participants reported that they work/worked in a racially diverse environment at some point in their lives.

Have you experienced or seen any acts of discrimination at your workplace?

If so, did you get involved? Why or why not?

Ryan (Who worked for the postal service):

I would say, my little building consisted of 50 workers, 75% were white, and the rest

were another race. No, I mean, I used to think that White people would get it easier, but

then sometimes that would change… because I would think I am doing more work

because I am White, and I would think oh, they’re just doing it to be nice to them

because, they don’t want that race to sue them, or you know, make it easier for them, so

that they’re happy. So, if I felt one way, and then I felt another way, and then those ways

just cancelled each other out, it’s just like, it’s one zone perception. Am I really doing

more work than another person, or are they really doing more work than me, I don’t

know. I would say probably no.”

Ryan experienced feelings of Ambivalent prejudice, having mixed feelings about his work load and if he was getting the recognition and attention he deserved, perceiving to more than his other racially diverse coworkers. He felt that he wasn’t sure if everyone was doing an equal amount of work, which seemed to have caused him feelings of distress, “Am I really doing more work than another person, or are they really doing more work than me, I don’t know. I would say probably no.”

Chris (Who worked in construction):

Of course all the time, discrimination with the police, looking for paperwork for

immigrants that were working with contractors on the jobsite, since they had no english

speaking, they were being racially profiled and abused.

Interviewer: Did you get involved?

Chris:

Yeah I intervened but I was told by the officers that this issue didn’t concern me and if I

had gone any further I would of been arrested. It sucks because this racism view that

occurs on the daily at my job and I’m sure is the same with other jobs with equally

diverse people. To me it’s annoying because it just affects the nature of the job, people

viewing spectacles and not properly working, there’s a lot of frustration.

Chris expressed a lot of frustration when describing the racial discrimination he witnessed at his worksite. Although he spoke out, his anti-racist attempts to defuse the situation were missed, and he was threatened and would eventually be arrested if he continued to interfere with the process.

Craig (Who worked in customer service):

I witnessed an uncomfortable situation between a white coworker and a black coworker.

The dispute involved some inappropriate comments. Fortunately, the argument was

defused and both co-workers went on to become friends afterwards. I was involved in the

situation whether I liked it or not. It happened during a meeting and all members present

at the meeting contributed to the resolution of the situation. I am also friends with both

coworkers outside of work, so resolving the issue was a personal priority for me as well.

Ema:

My last job in America was what you would think would be diverse because it was an

international education company but all the people in power where White men white

Swedish men, and even though it was international, my office itself was 70% of White

women.

Phil:

The last job I had in the States was at a Sprint and the almost every individual that

worked there was African-American I and one other guy were the only white people there

return. Actually the area was very diverse so a lot of the clientele was either Indian or

African American, but this tension was always over cell phones rather than race.”

Political Views

Views on current Immigration Reform/Refugee Crisis

Phil:

I believe Trump is working against people who are trying to flee hardship yes you I think

it's wrong that he is just keeping people from the States.. I don't, however, think the door

should be thrown wide-open and that anyone should be allowed to enter as with most

things I think there's a middle ground that is the best choice.

Ema:

I strongly believe that our country was founded as the melting pot and a blending of all

people and cultures so to see what is going on today is extremely discouraging having

been in an almost five year relationship with an immigrant struggling for citizenship I am

saddened to see what the current administration is doing.

Ema uses the phrases “melting pot” and “a blending of all cultures”, both of which are microaggressions. The reason that these phrases are problematic is that it suggests that race doesn’t determine one’s opportunities in life. Colorblindness is also prevalent, where Ema isn’t identifying individual races, but rather seeing them as one.

Craig:

I disagree with the recent attacks on the rights and protections of immigrants in the USA.

I believe that the movement to restrict immigration is a result of racism, nativism, and

reactionary conservatism. None of the recent policy proposals made by the current

administration make any sense to me. I wish that the United States of America would

open its doors to more refugees. I am impressed by countries such as Germany and

Canada who take in many thousands of refugees.

Chris:

United states has always been an immigration based country which let many European

citizens come to America to find their “American Dream” with riches and gold and

there’s not as many riches and gold, I believe we should slow down our acceptance rate

of immigrants just to focus on prosperity and growth of the nation and the spread of

wealth. My parents came on back then what was the equivalent of working papers but

they had expired, my mother was working as a nanny, and father doing construction but

they later got their citizenship.” (On the Refugee Crisis) “We as a country do not have the

resources economically to support refugees of foreign religious seeking asylum countries,

I believe every country should share the responsibility of accepting refugees,

housed/located government supported housing while also having support through the

transition process, getting the help they need to have the transition they deserve, and also

transition into its culture. These people have no choice many of them would like to be at

home but they can’t due to the situation back at home.

Ryan:

I don’t know if anything we do is right, there is probably a lot wrong with what we do,

but having open borders isn’t exactly right either, um, things have changed since the

1900s, the 1800s, where people just came across the ocean, went through Ellis Island,

went through a checklist of things, and they just wanted to start a new life for their

family, themselves, whatever. That’s what America was founded on, that’s what

happened, you know how people came there, they came on ships for a new land, new

opportunities, but somewhere that whole thing changed. Not so much Canada to the

United States, but Mexico and Cuba, they do want a better life, but the people of today

want to take advantage of it. There are still ones out there that based on those old time

principles that they just want to come over, and leave everything behind and want to start

over for their family, and they want a better life and freedom, there are those, but for

everyone of those, there might be 10 others that care nothing about that and they just want, free things, or they just want to run away from whatever responsibilities they have in their country, and just come here to hide, and I don’t want to say hideout, but they want to get things, so there’s a couple different ways to look at it, there’s people who genuinely want a new life, there’s people hiding away, there’s people in the middle like caught up, there’s people who are doing it because everyone else is doing it. There’s a whole group of people coming from Mexico to the United States, there’s this hole in the fence and it’s just “Oh, I’m going to get in the group with these, and when they get here they just, I don’t know.. What are their intentions? Like 2001, September 11th, I think part of our issue is just like Europe with the refugees, you don’t know who is in each group, you have all these ones that want a new life, but somewhere in there could be a terrorist. And what about that person? We’re just like ok, we don’t build any walls, we don’t have any kind of immigration policies, and just let everyone come in, what if there is just no America left anymore? What if someone comes in with Nuclear bombs or something, and blows something up and someone’s going to come back to us and say well you didn’t do anything. You know? “You did nothing.” And sometimes it is about race and for instance DACA, we’re going after these people because of race and we don’t want them here we want to exterminate them, eliminate all of them, get them all out of here, but that’s not entirely true. There can be people who..for lack of a better term, serve a purpose. They can come over and be a doctor, can save lives. There can be someone who comes over, winds up being an astronaut and goes to the moon or something, it’s just the thought, were not living back in the 1800s, the 1900s, we’re living now with these fears, with what’s going on today. It would be nice if we could go back to the way

things were, people could come over on Mayflowers, cause my family, they came over

from Europe, they didn’t want to be around wars, dictators, communists, they wanted to

see what America was all about. And they get this new life for themselves, but that’s not

how it is anymore.

Again, Ryan demonstrates Ambivalent prejudice, here he shares conflicted feelings about the political situations. On one hand he says, if things were like “1800 and 1900s” where people would come to America for a better life, he would be okay, but judging from the situation today, where “Mexicans” want to benefit from the system and sneak into the country, he is against it.

Do you believe that classism and racism are correlated?

Phil:

I do and I think it's because historically the minorities have occupied a lower socioeconomic status so they are not only different because of the color of skin, of their genetic makeup, but also because they've blamed for the things that other people further ostracize them for.

Craig:

I believe that racism is more pronounced in those of lower socioeconomic status. For instance, poor uneducated whites are more likely to be racist.

Kelly:

No..I think Black people are usually more poor, but that’s because I feel like they don’t want to do anything, they just want to sit around and have the government give them money.

Kelly has made a fundamental attribution error, which is the tendency to justify her behavior by internally dispositioning the blame “they just want to sit around”, rather than looking into possible situational factors. She also demonstrated implicit racism and Aversive racism, it seemed she hadn’t realized that she was making a racist comment, but rather stating a fact.

Ryan:

Classism, like middle class? Um, I mean.. There’s a scale, as with anything in life there’s

scales. The middle class accounts for so many people, no matter what race, and lower

class, homeless people, that accounts for so many people as well.. They’re not just

Blacks and Spanish..and Mexican and Asian. Poor people, they can be any color or

nationality, and the only thing is when you get to the higher class..it’s a little skewed

because you see more White people in the higher class, but maybe that’s all that society

wants to show you, um maybe they don’t want to show you a lawyer that’s Black, and

he’s in the higher end of the class.. Or an astronaut and he’s an astronaut and he makes so

much money.. But they exist, they’re there, it’s just the way society is, the way

economics are with what you can afford and how much money you make. A whole lot of

people wind up in the middle, doesn’t matter the race, you just wind up there, whether

it’s paycheck to paycheck or if you have comfortable padding. A gallon of milk costs the

same, it’s not like a White person is paying less than a Black person. And then the poor

people, there’s a mix of colors, there’s depression and there’s people making less than

minimum but that doesn’t matter what race you are, but the upper class, it’s not as

diverse, because those people put forth the effort and time to get to where they are. For

example, Donald Trump, before he was president, he worked hard to achieve what he has

now, and there could be a black version of Donald Trump, somewhere.. We just don’t

hear about it.

Interviewer: And why is it that we don’t hear about it?

Ryan:

But some of that has to do with personality, what sets Donald Trump apart from the

Black or Asian person, he’s loud, he’s out there, he’s doing charity.. And maybe this

other person is a quiet person, maybe they have a modest home, but they’re in the upper

class because of what they made. We don’t hear about it because they’re not in the

tabloids, not in the news all the time. But all these media organizations portray separate

stories for example, in New York they could show only Black people doing things, or in

Houston only Mexicans doing things. But what if the people behind it are racist? What

about the Director, the cameraman?

Ryan describes his mixed views about classism, he believes that the media networks may be responsible for the disproportionate misrepresentation of wealthy White men and wealthy people of other ethnicities. He also says that it could be due to the personalities of the people themselves, if they choose to be overt or not. He is also using Aversive racism, as he maintains a

positive self image to express his belief that “ The upper class, it’s not as diverse, because those people put forth the effort and time to get to where they are.” which assumes that systematic racism isn’t to blame for the socio-economic gap, but rather their lack of dedication and work ethic.

Do you believe that white people have a responsibility to be mindful of the privilege in which their race permits?

Star:

Mindfulness is a nice word, um yes I think white people have a responsibility of giving

space to those people who don’t have as much space to have a voice, I don’t think it’s so

much about being aware of your privilege, although that’s part of it. I think it’s more

about being aware of the space you occupy with that privilege and opening it up for

people that don’t have it, because I think it’s really easy when you have access to like, all

of these networks, or if you have these balls that come with being in a situation, instead

of using those balls to swing them around and show everybody how much you can talk

on the internet, why not use that confidence you have to allow another person space to

say something, which i think is counterintuitive, which is like the average American ego,

especially anybody of privilege or mild racism, that their idea of showing their

confidence is actually for me screaming totally unconfident. I think that White privilege

is something that White Americans need to face, to breathe a little bit more when they

face that. I think it’s a very hard thing to come to terms with. There’s a lot of cognitive

dissonance, because I think there is a lot of guilt that White Americans need to square in

within themselves and I think that it’s coming to terms with our history as the oppressor.

I think giving people that are oppressed, or a history of oppression room to talk about that

and exercise that pain is really important, but then we need to be there to do the same. It’s

not about us just listening like “oh you poor thing, that sucks, we’re sorry about what our

ancestors did. No, actually we’re guilty, because we didn’t do it but to own it, as if you

are is way more empowering than distancing yourself from it to leave Black people in

their vacuum to talk to the void about how they feel.. about how they were treated.

Star recognizes her privilege clearly in her answer and has progressive thoughts about race relations in the United States. She believes it isn’t enough for Whites to speak up on racism or identify their guilt, but to allow oppressed people a place to express their injustice and and how the system’s shortcomings affect their lives is a crucial part of acknowledging privilege. She practices anti-racism views in her response by offering ways to dismantle current racist attitudes.

Ryan:

A white person may walk into a place and get a discount on something, but for

everything that that person gets, there’s a black person gets the same thing. Even though

it looks bad, sometimes certain things cancel each other out.

Interviewer: So what kinds of things?

Ryan:

I don’t know, I’m trying to think of one, hmm, I didn’t have white privilege when I tried

out for the basketball team. Maybe it was because they were all black, It could just be

because I didn’t have skills, it could be a combination of a bunch of things. So I didn’t

have white privilege there, I didn’t get on the team. Probably when I wasn’t on the team,

a black person was on the team in my spot. I don’t know, because I don’t know who took

my spot.” You don’t make the team so you don’t know the difference. You don’t know

who was picked.” So from that instance, just because I was White, doesn’t mean I was

due for that position. I wasn’t supposed to be on that team, I was destined for something

else, I had another calling. My other calling was track and field. Now the person who

took my place on the basketball team, their calling might have been basketball, so I’m not

saying white privilege like, I guess I haven’t had that, everything has a reason. For

example, a job I got wasn’t because I was White, it was because I had more experience,

or because I went to college and had a degree, which was paid for. But there’s a Black

person out there who’s getting a job, do you call it Black privilege? And it doesn’t have

to be color, it can be men and women.

Ryan has difficulty identifying White privilege, and throughout his responses he continues to make justifications, “I’m not saying white privilege like, I guess I haven’t had that, everything has a reason.” He also practices Ambivalent Prejudice, an internal conflict of views, when he implies that someone from the basketball team “took his position.” Although he admits that it could be due to his lack of skills, he still refers to the position as his. This example highlights

Ryan’s White Fragility.

Kelly:

(Chuckles) There’s no privilege. We have no privilege, because.. anytime a white man

wants to do something..he gets harrassed for being a Christian or a man or for saying that

he’s white.. ..There’s no privilege.

Kelly has expressed Symbolic racism, which is overt, and engrained into her overall racial attitude. When first answering the question, she chuckled as if I had been joking about the term

White Privilege, I also noticed she became more angry, defensive, and raised her volume towards the end of her answer. These attitudes are a result of stereotypical beliefs that Blacks’ work ethic fails to mirror the traditional American standard of hard work and dedication.

(Whitley, Kite 2000) Kelly demonstrates another example of white fragility. She feels like White people, specifically men are the ones undergoing attack and be discriminated against. Sociologist

(Bonilla-Silva, 2006) states: “Because the new racial climate in America forbids the open expression of racially based feelings, views, and positions, when whites discuss issues that make them uncomfortable, they become almost incomprehensible.”

Discussion

As stated in the Result section, many reoccurring themes presented themselves. The codes were then categorized into themes, with the most relevance in accordance to the study: Teaching

Colorblindness, Teaching Racial Awareness, Ambivalent Prejudice, and White Fragility.

A theme that both implicitly and explicitly reoccurred during the interviews was color-blindness.

In the first section of the interviews titled “History”, participants were asked to report their childhood experiences, regarding race. One of the questions, specifically was “What types of implicit and explicit messages about race did you experience growing up?” 8 out of 10 (80%) of the participants responded with an answer that suggested that colorblindness was present in their upbringing. Answers ranged from “we didn’t speak about race” to “ I would say both my parents are very open-minded and accepting of all people due, but there were microaggressions.. due to the fact that it's something they weren't necessarily educated to be aware of.” We can see here that colorblindness is a seemingly progressive, common form of education amongst White parents who chose to teach their children in a “pseudo anti-racist” style . The problem with this is that, color-blindness is still, ultimately, a form of racism.

Color-blindness leads Whites into a privileged, un-disadvantaged societal bubble, where they can ignore racism efficiently without consequences. Breeding this kind of behaviour not only allows whites to keep a sense of comfort about their privilege, it continuously perpetuates white ideology, maintains the current social order (Fryberg, 2010), and denies minorities’ their painful, individual experiences, heritage and standpoints. By choosing not to see color, (Hence the term color-blind) we indirectly discriminate against and indignify people of color. If we can’t

recognize or see color, and acknowledge it, then we can’t simply understand the impact of racism.

Americans hold a view that by not seeing color, they are actually saying that color isn’t significant. This is not the case at all, as minorities suffer from the socio-economic gap, opportunities and stereotypes alike. Instead of seeing it as a societal issue, rather they are compartmentalized into individual issues, which stagnates any progress. Color-blindness develops from a lack of racial and white awareness stemmed by whiteness. (Tarca, 2005)

80% of Participants reported that they didn’t experience explicit messages about race, but did report incidents where microaggressions, jokes or prejudices occurred and reported that their parents were polite in public, all though it may not have parrelled their attitudes at home. It seems that parents had hoped to educate their children with anti-racist values, however, they seemed to have contradicted their beliefs. Teaching a child to be to not see race and be accepting of all people, and making stereotypes about a particular race is counter-productive and gives children inconsistent views. Should children discuss race? Yes, because by ignoring race, we are ignoring our history, and the social and personal ramifications because of it.

Another prevalent theme that occurred during the study was Ambivalent Prejudice.

6 out of 10 (60%) of participants described implicit feelings of ambivalent prejudice, the state when people are aware of their conflicting beliefs about a particular group outside their own.

Many of the participants adhere to a set of values and fall into a conflicted position when that value is challenged. Participants used the phrases “I don’t know” and sighs of hesitation because one on hand they agree with an idea or value like “dedication and hard work ethic” but they also agree with helping people who are disadvantaged. This results in a mixture of emotions, feelings which lead to cognitive dissonance.

Many of the participants were uncomfortable expressing their feelings about the following questions: Views on current Immigration Reform/Refugee Crisis or Do you believe that classism and racism are correlated? They found themselves stumbling for a definitive answer or evaded the entire answer completely. These mixed feelings are difficult to distinguish due to polarity of

“pro-black and “anti-black” attitudes. (Kate, Hass 1988) Pro-black attitudes attribute their disadvantage with historical segregation, and the absence of opportunity, which Anti-black attitudes attribute these shortcomings with their lack of worth ethic, ambition and laziness. (Kate,

Hass 1988) Although Pro-black attitudes show compassion, they pay attention to the disadvantage, while ignoring the advances in the black community and successes they have made. Overall, American attitudes are subjectively ambivalent, fluctuating from hostility to positivity depending on the situation.

Another type of dichotomy that was present during the interviews was Aversive racism. 5 out of

10 (50%) participants characterized Aversive racism in their answers. There were overtly assertive opinions expressed about their behavior towards blacks, both individually and societally, while concurrently making negative, hostile attributions. These implicit responses are distinguishable by researchers. (Dovidio, Kawakami, Gaertner, 2002) 5 out of 6 (83%) of the

participants who displayed ambivalent prejudice, also expressed aversive racism. One participant in particular described a situation where he was denied white privilege in school. He reported that he didn’t make the basketball team, and asked “where was my privilege?” and went further to rationalize that he might not have been good enough but, kept referring to the place that “was taken from him” as “my spot.” He appeared to be discontent with the situation as he described it.

Another reported case was when a participant reflected on his childhood. He described being raised to accept all people and coming from a non racist home. He recalled an even that his parents told him that some areas weren’t safe and there was criminal activity happening according to the news. Soon after that incident, he reported seeing a black man walking on his side of the sidewalk and he walked quickly to cross over to the other side of the street. This responses parallels the research by (Bargh, 1999) that implicit and explicit racial attitudes can influence behavior. A study on implicit bias found that criminal activity impacts racial views, and that white people feel threatened around black people. (Quillian, Page, 2001)

Aversive racism conflicts with one’s beliefs of equality and just treatment. Those who engage in aversive racism do so save face, “I judge people by their character, not their skin color.”

(Diangelo, 2011) They do so in various ways to preserve their self image such using racial coded terminology, “urban”, “good neighborhoods” and implying the lack of diversity in workplaces is due to the lack of applicants.

Although America appears to be moving forward progressively in the last decades, we are still living in a bubble of comfort when it comes to talking about race. A recent study on implicit bias found that 8 out of ten blacks believe racism is a big issue in society, (Pew Research center,

2017) while 55% of whites believe that they are being discriminated against. (Robert Wood

Johnson Foundation, 2017) Discussing race and privilege seems to trigger stress for whites and leaves them feeling uncomfortable, cause feelings of guilt and defensiveness. (Diangelo, 2011)

7 out of 10 (70%) of participants demonstrated instances of white fragility during the interview sessions. Participants were categorized into feelings of guilt, anger, and uncertainty and those that exhibited traits of anger were overtly defensive, (20%).

Clear examples of this were noted when participants were asked the question: Do you believe that white people have a responsibility to be mindful of the privilege in which their race permits?

Many of the participants I asked were uncomfortable asking the question and asked me to specify, and one participant became increasingly hostile and defensive. They asserted they weren’t aware that they had any privilege and described situations where they were denied their so called “privilege.” Some of the participants agreed that they needed to be mindful but failed to elaborate on why. It is evident that the topic of race and racism is a delicate subject for whites to discuss and while there were few progressive thinkers that were able to solidly express their views, (20%) most of the participants struggled with that portion of the interview.

It is a common perspective to believe children are too young to understand race and differences, but children do form opinions which are learned their environment. This perceptions unfortunately parallel society’s prejudicial treatment of people of color. Research shows that there children begin to develop and understand principles of race from a very early age.

Understanding of racial superiority can be seen from as early education onwards. (Clark, 1963)

Judith Butler, (1999) explains a child’s perception growing up in a bubble of white superiority:

Raised to experience their racially based advantages, as fair and normal, white children

receive little if any instruction regarding the predicament they face, let alone any

guidance in how to resolve it. Therefore, they experience or learn about racial tension

without understanding Euro-Americans’ Historical responsibility for it, and knowing

virtually nothing about their contemporary roles in perpetuating it. (pg. 51)

Holroyd & Kelly (2016) found that we are able to practice direct control over our attitudes, which constitutes as a part of our character, for instance counter-stereotypical priming against implicit attitudes. (Dasgupta & Greenwald, 2001) Only 2 out of ten participants (20%) reported being taught about racial awareness during childhood. These participants responses were very progressive and they acknowledge their white privilege without hesitation. They were aware of the systemic racism that surrounds America and believes education is the next step to combat racism. Racial awareness at an early age is important, because educating children that color doesn’t matter only perpetuates racism. By teaching children not to speak about racism allows systemic racism to prevail, leaving voices of children and people of color unheard. By teaching racial awareness and and anti-racist fundamentals, children will be able to learn about experiences of people whose history and stories were left unheard. Anti-racist education promotes inclusion and an understanding of racial differences, answering questions about equality issues in our society, and teaching parents, teachers, and children steps toward an equal society. Schools that deliberately incorporate an anti-bias method can help students attribute positive values on ethnic differences, which simultaneously teaches respect. Although anti-racist education exists, many schools continue to teach children using an anti-intersectional analysis that focuses on racism. (Shapiro, 2002) This kind of method privileges on type of racial experience over another, which limits the overall purpose of the anti-racist capability.

A recent study done in Australia about attitudes towards cultural diversity of teachers teaching in a anti-racist education school program found that teachers attitudes towards multiculturalism was greater than those in other school communities and were more open to student diversity(92%) than other school communities (84%). (Forrest, Lean, Dunn, 2017) Teaching racial awareness to children not only promotes less bias and understanding, but has the power to extend to teachers and gradually, society.

The strengths of this study were the vast and broad amount of research that was acquired due to the in depth questions I selected for the interviews. There were various themes which could have been developed into further independent studies. The questions provided fruitful insight about current racist attitudes in America. One of the limitations I struggled with was narrowing the study down more concisely. There were too many variables to look at, which resulted with me taking many of the questions out of the results to narrow the focus. The interviews results actually raised more questions than answers, which was challenging, but I had plenty of information to make a decision about how to steer the focus. I should have focused on a more specific target group, because i think my results wouldn’t have been so varied, which would have made the results and coding process easier. I would liked to have looked at personality types, and see what effect that has on aversive racism.

In conclusion, the study suggests that racist attitudes still exist within America, and that teaching young children color-blindness only reinforces racism, and hinders the progress to eliminate progress. By implementing racial awareness and anti-racist education, we can create the

understanding needed in or order to address and dismantle the systemic racism so prevalent in our society. By educating children through anti-racism and racial awareness and hearing the voices of those who have experienced oppression, we allow children, and white Americans alike to be liberated of the constructs of racism. Affirmative action needs to take place in order for anti-racist education and awareness to embody society.

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Triliva, S., Anagnostopoulou, T., & Vleioras, G. (2014). Sensitizing children to the social and emotional mechanisms involved in racism: A program evaluation.International Journal of

Emotional Education, 6(2), 3-20. Retrieved from http://ez.lib.jjay.cuny.edu/login?url=https://search-proquest- com.ez.lib.jjay.cuny.edu/docview/1635395023?accountid=11724

Tynes, B. M., & Markoe, S. L. (2010). The role of color-blind racial attitudes in reactions to racial discrimination on social network sites. Journal of Diversity in Higher Education, 3, 1–13. doi:10. 1037/a0018683.

Wang, K. T., Castro, A. J., & Cunningham, Y. L. (2014). Are perfectionism, individualism, and racial color-blindness associated with less cultural sensitivity? Exploring diversity awareness in

White prospective teachers. Journal Of Diversity In Higher Education, 7(3), 211-225. doi:10.1037/a0037337

Warren, M. Deidre. (2013) Color-blind racism in post-Obama America: An examination of attitudes toward Hurricane Katrina evacuees in Houston, Texas. Race and Social Problems, 5(3),

213–225.

Whitley, Bernard E.; Kite, Mary E. (2010). The Psychology of Prejudice and Discrimination.

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Williams, Amanda ; Steele,Jennifer R. (2017). Examining Children's Implicit Racial Attitudes

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96. doi:10.1037/a0031115.

APPENDIX

Racial Attitudes and White Upbringing

The Department of Psychology at the University of New York in Prague supports the practice of protection of human participants in research. The following will provide you with information about the experiment that will help you in deciding whether or not you wish to participate. If you agree to participate, please be aware that you are free to withdraw at any point throughout the duration of the experiment.

In this study you will be asked to complete an interview answering a series of questions regarding current racial attitudes and the extent domestic upbringing and social interactions

(school, traveling etc) influences these attitudes. All information you provide will remain confidential and will not be associated with your name. If for any reason during this study you do not feel comfortable, you may discontinue the survey and your information will be discarded.

Your participation in this study will require approximately 35-45 minutes. When this study is complete you will be provided with the results of the experiment if you request them, and you will be free to ask any questions. If you have any further questions concerning this study please feel free to contact us by email: Sarah Svoboda at [email protected] or Jan Záhořík at

[email protected]. Please indicate with your signature on the space below that you understand your rights and agree to participate in this study.

Your participation is solicited, yet strictly voluntary. All information will be kept confidential and your name will not be associated with any research findings. With your signature, you agree to answer all questions with complete honesty.

______

Signature of Participant

______

Print Name

______

Date

I would like to receive the results of this research project. Please email them to me at the following email:

Demographic Information

1. Gender: ☐ Male ☐ Female

1. Age:

2. Relational status: ☐ Single ☐ Monogamous Dating ☐

Cohabitating

● ☐ Divorced

● ☐ Widowed

1. Religion: ☐ Atheist ☐ Catholic ☐ Protestant

☐ New Age ☐ Orthodox ☐ Other:

1. Education:

1. Highest level: ☐ High school ☐ Bachelor ☐ Masters ☐ Doctorate

2. Field(s) of study:

Interview Questions:

Demographic Information:

Age/ Relational Status/ Religion/ Education/ Profession

History:

1. Describe background, location, socioeconomic status

2. What types of implicit and explicit messages about race did you experience growing up?

3. Describe your family’s attitudes towards people of other races in public.

4. Did it parallel their attitudes at home?

5. Did you have a babysitter/caretaker of color?

6. Did you ever have a talk about race with your family?

7. What was the context? Was it brought on by situation Was there ever a defining moment

that brought about this talk with you family? Was it a positive one or negative one?

8. Family Political Party - did this affect their view of minorities, if yes explain

9. Family Religious beliefs -did this affect their view of minorities, if yes explain

10. Family views on interracial dating

School:

11. Were you allowed to have friends of different ethnicities?

12. How racially diverse was your school?

13.Were you involved in extracurricular activities?

14. How racially diverse was your childhood neighborhood?

15. What was the racial makeup of your childhood friends/ friends today

16. Were there any influences that affected this?

Profession:

17. What is the racial makeup of your workplace?

18. Have you experienced or seen any acts of discrimination at your workplace?

19. If yes, did you get involved? Why or why not.

Political Views:

20. View on Immigration Reform?

21. View on Global Refugee Crisis?

22. Do you feel there is discrimination in the hiring process based on race, explain?

23. Do you feel it is important to address these issues on social media etc?

24. Do you feel that were doing enough as a country to address racial inequality?

25. Do you believe that classism and racism are correlated?

26. Do you believe that white people have a responsibility to be mindful of the privilege in which their race permits?

27. How should we combat future social issues regarding race?

28. Are there nonviolent means to address racial injustices in America/Globally?

29. Do you feel as though America is currently focusing too much on a nationalistic agenda?

30. If so, do you feel it promotes/caters to a white supremacy/white agenda?

Travel:

31. Have you ever travelled outside of the U.S.?

32. Please describe family reactions to traveling abroad if any.

33. Have you ever encountered racism while abroad?

33. Do you believe that people who live in ethnically diverse are are less racially prejudiced?

Any other contributions you would like to add?

Thank you for your time!