Readings on Race and Ethnicity

Michelle Alexander, “The New Jim Crow”

Reading Questions:

1. The article addresses the high incarceration rate for African Americans. According to the author, what are the reasons?
2. How have criminal justice practices in the war on drugs negatively and unfairly impacted Black Americans?
3. Find examples of how Alexander uses facts and data to support her claims.
4. Why is racial discrimination in the criminal justice system difficult to prove?

Writing Questions:

1. Compose a Summary and Response Essay in which you summarize Alexander’s article, including her claims, main ideas, and most important examples. Then, respond to what she says about the criminal justice system and its treatment of African Americans. She provides many statistics to support her argument. Is her argument convincing? Explain why you think so (or not).  Should ex-felons be denied constitutional rights, such as the right to vote, and be discriminated against in seeking employment and housing?
2. Compose a Synthesis Essay in which you bring this article into conversation with Garnette Cadogan (“Walking While Black”), Peggy McIntosh (“White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack”), and/or Robin DiAngelo (“How Race Shapes the Lives of White People”). All of these writers are writing about the impacts of racism and discrimination in America. They talk about how basic rights that everyone should have are often denied to Black Americans and how White Americans are the beneficiaries of unearned privilege. Your essay should summarize and draw connections between these sources, and you should use them to support your own argument about this topic.

Garnette Cadogan, “Walking While Black”

Reading Questions:

1. Cadogan contrasts walking in his hometown of Kingston, Jamaica, with the city he moved to, New York City. Although the streets of Kingston were dangerous, he felt safer there than in Manhattan. Why did he feel this way?
2. Cadogan states that as a Black man, the simple act of walking is complicated and potentially perilous because of racism. In the examples he provides from his experience, what are the biased assumptions made by the police and others about him? How do those views impact how Cadogan is treated? Is walking a White privilege?
3. Why does Cadogan feel “infantilized” by the “rules” of walking while Black?

Writing Questions:

1. Compose a Summary and Response Essay in which you summarize Cadogan’s article, including his claims, main ideas, and most important examples. Then, respond to what he says by reflecting on your own experience. How has racial bias and prejudice impacted you while doing similar everyday activities, either as the receiver of negative bias or as one advantaged by favorable bias (e.g., White privilege)? Virtually all of us have some form of bias; reflect on whether you have negative or positive biases toward particular groups. If so, how has it affected (perhaps unconsciously) your treatment or views of others?
2. Compose an Analysis Essay in which you analyze the rhetorical methods used by Cadogan in his article. Note instances where Cadogan appeals to ethos, pathos, and logos. How would you describe the ways the author makes these three types of rhetorical appeals? Analyze the effectiveness of each of the appeals Cadogan uses to support his argument.

Robin DiAngelo, “How Race Shapes the Lives of White People”

Reading Questions:

1. DiAngelo traces some of the specific ways that her life has been shaped by racism. Consider your own socialization. In what specific ways has your life has been shaped by racism?
2. The author lists many instances of White privilege. Choose one and reflect on how it has affected and impacted your life.
3. DiAngelo states that there is an unspoken taboo about talking about race. Explain what she means and what examples she uses. How does this impact addressing racial inequality?

Writing Questions:

1. Compose a Summary and Response Essay in which you summarize DiAngelo’s article, including her claims, main ideas, and most important examples. Then, respond to what she says by reflecting on your own experience. How has racial bias and prejudice impacted you, either by being discriminated against or by being advantaged by White privilege?
2. Compose a Synthesis Essay in which you bring this article into conversation with Peggy McIntosh (“White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack”), Garnette Cadogan (“Walking While Black”), and/or Michelle Alexander (“The New Jim Crow”). All of these writers are writing about how human rights and equitable treatment that everyone should have are often denied to Black Americans and how White Americans are the beneficiary of unearned advantages. Your essay should summarize and draw connections between these sources, and you should use them to support your own argument about this topic.

Augustín Fuentes, “The Myth of Race”

Reading Questions:

1. What do you think of how Fuentes’s “On the Myth of Race” is organized? What does the inclusion of different types of evidence do for the reader and the focus of the argument?
2. What is Fuentes’s argument for race not being biological? Trace his logic through the paragraphs and note the claims he makes to support his argument.
3. What does Fuentes’s inclusion of the history of trying to classify racial groupings do for the reader? What does it add to his argument?
4. Fuentes states that “…race matters as a societal factor in the United States. The concept of race and how it plays out in our society are core factors in structuring our individual schemata and the maintenance of cultural constructs of, and societal expectations for, human behavior” (639). How so and what does this say about the importance of race in our society today?
5. What does the example of President Obama show about the misconceptions of race as biological and our perception of people based on race?
6. Fuentes states that, “Ethnicity is a valid way to describe social histories and social symbolic identification, but it is not biology and most definitely is not race” (647). What does this mean about our understanding of ethnicity? Do you think most Americans believe or understand this?

Writing Questions:

1. Compose a Summary and Response Essay that summarizes Fuentes’s argument for why race is not biological but that it is still important in the social constructs of our society. Respond to his claim that “…education and information (and access to them) are the main tools for myth busting…it is a possibility for the future of our society. As more and more of the myth-busting information discussed here becomes part of our social context, as children develop their schemata in the context of an accurate information-rich social network, the effect on our cultural constructs and societal perceptions can be substantial” (647). What is he saying we, as readers, need to do to make change in our society? Do you agree with this or not and why? Do you have any personal examples to support your opinion on this issue?

Peggy McIntosh, “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack”

Reading Questions:

1. McIntosh lists examples of White privilege. After reading her examples, identify some examples of other instances of White privilege.
2. What does McIntosh mean by “positive advantages” and “negative advantages” that result from White privilege? Identify examples of each.
3. McIntosh states that White privilege is invisible and people advantaged by it are often oblivious of their privilege. Do you agree? Explain why.

Writing Questions:

1. Compose a Summary and Response Essay in which you summarize McIntosh’s article, including her main claim, main ideas, and most important examples. Then, respond to what she says about White privilege by reflecting on how your own experience. How has White privilege impacted your life? How can this problem be addressed?
2. Compose an Analysis Essay that uses McIntosh’s ideas to analyze examples of White privilege in everyday life. Are the examples advantages that everyone should have, or are there negative effects of White privilege that result from having and being oblivious to those advantages? How has your understanding of White privilege changed after reading McIntosh’s article?

Additional Readings on Race and Ethnicity

1. Alan Aja, Daniel Bustillo, William Darity, Jr., and Darrick Hamilton, “From a Tangle of Pathology to a Race-Fair America” 
2. Ta-Nehisi Coates, “The Case for Reparations” 
3. Ta-Nehisi Coates, “Letter to My Son” 
4. David Cole, “Five Myths About Immigration” 
5. Andrew Sullivan, “What’s So Bad about Hate”