Five Fallacies of Racism PDF

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false beliefs about racism...

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Five Fallacies of Racism  Racism thrives in our unintentional thoughts and habits, as well as in the social institutions in which are all embedded  Fallacy = a mistaken belief  Five fallacies about racism o 1. Individualistic Fallacy = assumes that racism only lives within “racist” people o 2. Legalistic Fallacy = abolishing racist practices leads to the abolition of racism o 3. Tokenistic Fallacy = the presence of people of color in influential positions means racism had been eradicated o 4. Ahistorical fallacy = racism practiced in the past is not important to today o 5. Fixed fallacy = racism always looks the same, across time and space Terms  Racialization = imposing or ascribing race to human bodies, to place, to objects, or to behaviors  Racial Ideology = ways for interpreting information about race; rules for thinking about race  Colorblindness = the idea that one doesn’t “see” and thus respond to people on the basis of their race (implies to institutions, etc.)  Racial code words = “phrases or symbols that refer directly to racial themes but do not directly challenge popular democratic or egalitarian ideals”  Frames = mental filters that help us organize perceive, interpret, and communicate about reality in order to make sense of the world  White Racial Frame = an organized set of racialized ideas, stereotypes, emotions, and inclinations to discriminate; an interrelated set of cognitive notions, understandings, and metaphors… used to rationalize and legitimate systemic racism  Dominant racial ideology today: *Colorblindness*  Racialization of crime = ascribing criminal propensity (a natural inclination or tendency) to race  Social Darwinism = human evolution is the outcome of individual competition for survival. The fittest groups will prevail over inferior ones and eventually humanity will cleanse itself of unfit races...