Geography 101 Lab Series: #6

*Smack* America is a racist country! *Smack*

Repeat that over and over and over again for most of Chapter 6.

I “Just Said No”

The Assignment: Prejudice and Ethnocentrism

The United States is generally considered a very open society that offers many opportunities for upward mobility. Even so, the nation must receive bad marks on some matters, for example, its treatment of Native Americans, Chinese, and African Americans. In fact (in part because of the country’s openness to immigration), racial prejudice and ethnocentrism have always played a part in U.S. history.

Which ethnic, cultural, and racial groups are most subjected to prejudice today? Which were denigrated in the past but not the present? Do either of these groups themselves exhibit prejudices or ethnocentrism? Is mainstream U.S. culture more, or less, tolerant of different peoples today than it was ten years ago? Support your comments with evidence.

How can a society overcome its racial/ethnic prejudice and ethnocentrism?

Have you had any personal experiences that relate to these issues?

Answer as many of these questions as possible.

Lab #6

If prostitution is the world’s oldest profession, then demagoguery must be the second oldest. Our human survival instincts tell us to trust those who are like ourselves and to distrust those who are different. Once our fears are piqued, it takes very little fanning of the flame to make the fire grow.

The spark that starts the fire has very little to do with the dislike: It could be race, religion or economics. It could be none of those and just be someone from one region of a nation, say, California, denigrating people who live in, say, Texas.

Speaking on the topic of American cultural matters, the dynamics of prejudice of one thing or another have played parts both large and small in American history. Just as they have everywhere else in the world, at every other point in history.

Because of changing biases, not all of yesterday’s victims of prejudice are victims today. For instance, in the latter half of the 19th Century, there was widespread Hibernophobia, or hostile attitude towards people of Irish ancestry. It was the usual trope of stereotypes; accusations of criminal activity and constant drunkenness, that have plagued various populations worldwide for centuries.

In my lifetime, however, I have never heard of anyone speaking against someone because of their Irish ancestry. Unless you wish to count derogatory statements about Notre Dame’s football team.

Unfortunately, true numbers on the subject of prejudice cannot be properly attained because almost no one is going to give you honest answers as to who they discriminate against or why. Even though everyone discriminates against one group or another, we’ll never be able to get accurate numbers. We can only use official statistics of known bias crimes to try and paint a picture of bias in modern America.

Today, according to official statistics, those who feel the brunt of discrimination are blacks, people of Jewish descent, and homosexuals. Per the Federal Bureau of Investigation studies for crimes committed in 2006, 52.1% (5020 crimes) of discrimination crime was committed because of racial bias, with 66.4% (3333 crimes) of those crimes being against blacks. 18.1% (1720 crimes) of discrimination crimes were committed because of bias against a particular religion, with 65.4% (1124 crimes) of them being against people who practice Judaism. And 15.3% (1472 crimes) were committed because of bias against someone’s sexual orientation, with 98% (1443 crimes) of those victimized being gay, lesbian or bisexual.

Oddly enough, the statistics of who the offenders are tells a somewhat different story. For instance, 56.2% (4295 individuals) of bias criminals are listed as â€œWhiteâ€. Using the 2000 Census data, â€œWhitesâ€ constitute 77% (274,596,000) of the US population. That means that barely over 1.5% of the US â€œWhiteâ€ population is willing to commit a bias crime.

In comparison, 20.6% (1510 individuals) of bias criminals are listed as â€œBlackâ€. Again, from the 2000 Census data, â€œBlacks or African Americansâ€ constitute just 12.9% (36,419,000) of the US population. Which works out to approximately 1.6% of the â€œBlackâ€ US population is willing to commit a bias crime.

All of which goes to show that while we are led to believe that the members of one race are more inclined to commit a bias crime against another, in reality, prejudice is pretty much level across the board.

Or is it? What almost always goes unmentioned with these numbers is that because of the way US law enforcement agencies count ethnic origin, Hispanics are counted as â€œWhiteâ€. This can only mean that comparing the numbers from the Census Bureau versus the numbers from the FBI is like comparing apples to oranges. The Census numbers are rather specific and the FBI’s numbers are combining two very different ethnic cultures.

If the math is completed, the FBI is counting 4295 bias criminals out of an approximate population of more than 309,902,000, having added 35,306,000 Hispanics/Latinos. This averages out to less than 1.4% of the â€œWhiteâ€ (Caucasian and Hispanic) population is willing to commit a bias crime.

The only way to stop prejudice is interaction and time. Plain and simple. As the above law enforcement statistics show, making it illegal to commit a bias crime doesn’t lend very much help to solving the problem. If a person has no direct contact or interactions with an individual or group, they have nothing but anecdotal evidence on which to base their attitudes. However, forced interaction can compound the problem. Forcing someone to do something they are convinced will be harmful to them, no matter how wrong their views, will almost certainly lead to violence. So it is a very fine and dangerous line to walk for those seeking to integrate two or more groups.

Grade: 100%

I used a little insider information on this one. After I found out that the Professor was from Ethiopia, I picked upon the stereotypical prejudices recent immigrants from Africa harbor against American Blacks a bit. Finding sources that made my point for me probably didn’t hurt either.

3 Responses to Geography 101 Lab Series: #6

Chris says:

March 27, 2010 at 6:48 am

I could be a little slow on the uptake this morning but what does this have to do with geography?
Kristopher says:

March 27, 2010 at 12:31 pm

Geography is about people and politics in a given area.

It’s about the political lines on a map … not the landforms and geology itself, except if they effect those lines.

People, in other words, and not the ground that people created map is imposed on.
Fred says:

March 27, 2010 at 2:28 pm

Good job Phil–At NTU that would have been a 69%.