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To what degree do participants in the Whiteness Project and participants in the Blackness Project agree about the ways race figures in their lives? In what ways do they experience race in their lives?
Of course, with the shared topic of race in both projects cover a lot of the same ground. Some people do discuss similar topics to each other so it’s not any great coincidence that some of the people they interview discuss the same topics. an example of this is the two interviewees Barbara and Carson. Both talk about self-worth and how race undermines it. Barbara talks about how “Race has really been a construct that has been manufactured and we don’t talk about that. This is part of the issue of not talking about race, is not understanding of where the concept of race comes from and how it’s been manipulated and how we’ve been manipulated to buy into it and to accept it as a valuable way in which to identify ourselves.” And Carson echoes this sentiment in “It’s hard to know that I will be given more because of who I am. And it makes me want to call into question my merit.” Now Barbara is Referring to African Americans while Carson is talking about his own merit.
What views do participants in the Whiteness Project and participants in the Blackness Project have about how institutions of power act about race in our society?
The Blackness Project talks a lot more about institutions from the past and their effects on the present. An example “For 200 years being told you’re not even a person maybe 2/3’s of a person and then you’re told well that the tables are set against you. it’s never been a leveled playing field and that’s stupid too. Anyone who thinks the only way to get out is to put someone below me, that dismisses all of us but they. don’t know that yet.” Lakeisha. Again, like in the last question, we see a far broader application of race. While the Whiteness project tends to focus on the individual and their experiences with race. “Taken advantage of the fact that I was white and and you know I always kind of knew that if I got in trouble that I could just get a lawsuit up show up and you know is a slap on the wrist I would be in jail if I wasn’t white you know I’ve been arrested probably over 20 times and you know the only thing I have on my record to show for it is is a public intoxication and they have there been some Hefty drug possession charges and I’ve never served time I sold drugs you know I did what I wanted to do know that there was going to be absolutely no consequences.” Connor. Now this is likely this is due to the differing formats as the whiteness project is individual interviews will the blackness project is a long form documentary with interviews interspersed.
As we think about ways, we could work towards ending racism, what should your readers think about the similarities and differences you’ve noticed. How do the insights you’ve generated help us understand why racism (and the inequities it justifies) persists and what hints about how to end racism do they offer us?
The prime thing that’s keeping please going right now is probably economic inequality and geographic separation. Both of these ideas’ kind of factor into each other you know poor people of color will we stuck in urban areas. While poor white people tend to be spread out across rural areas. People are just stuck in their own little bubbles they need to be moved around and given economic opportunities. It’s like how you need to keep water moving with enclosed marine systems to aerate the water and allow things to live and thrive. I believe that more should be done with these concepts as they seem to have yielded interesting perspectives into how people think and respond to race that could be crucial towards either reconciling it with people or out and out eliminate it.
