Objective: Foster dialogue on racial issues, exploring racial issues and bringing back for reflective dialogue.
Slogan: Erase Racism
Members: Amanda Cervantes, Dilo Dube, Manmitha Gundampalli, Rebecca Hsu, Jahnavi Jagannath, Melody Lin
Activity 3 Blog Title: Structural and Institutional Racism
For our third activity, we conducted research about local issues pertaining to Structural and Institutional Racism. Each of our experiences is described in the paragraphs below.
287(g): Houston Beyond ICE
- Amanda Cervantes
As an intern at Mi Familia Vota, Amanda has gained much knowledge of many of the issues that affect the Latinx community of Houston, Texas. Throughout her time there, she has worked with and volunteered for organizations such as United We Dream, Houston Beyond ICE, and SEIU Texas. While many issues were addressed by each of these organizations, what stood out most was the reaction to the 287(g) bill.
287(g) is a local ordinance and partnership with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) that allows local police officers to question the citizenship of people once they have been pulled over or detained. While the text of the bill is, admittedly, free of obvious racially motivated sanctions, the enactment of the bill has not been quite as just. While 287(g) cannot be utilized until a person has been pulled over or detained by a police officer for alleged illegal activity, the method of policing used by local law enforcement is what has caused an uproar. People of color are pulled over at much higher rates and for very minimal infractions. This has caused a disproportionate amount of fear in the Latinx community of Houston. A distrust of police and fear of arrest has developed. In addition to this, families are continually being torn apart. Undocumented immigrants, because of the racial profiling of local law enforcement, are being pulled over for infractions as small as not using a turn signal. They then face the threat of immediate deportation, leaving behind children who rely on the small wage that their parents bring home.
Documented citizens are as well affected by 287(g). They are not safe from the disproportionate policing and racial profiling that 287(g) encourages. This is not just an immigration issue; it is also a mass incarceration issue. The Latinx community in Houston suffers from this institutionalized racism and continues to live in fear of being pulled over, arrested, or even deported for minimal crimes.
In response to this injustice, Houston Beyond ICE continues to petition for change. They have collected signatures for petitions and letters from Houstonians affected by the bill and have delivered them to Sheriff Hickman’s office. They as well continue to motivate citizens to re-elect a new Sheriff in this upcoming election. Amanda, motivated by their cause, joined Houston Beyond ICE in delivering hundreds of pages of signed petitions to Sheriff Hickman’s office.
In learning about and, later, joining this cause, Amanda has witnessed the massive amount of pushback from the local law enforcement. In walking with members of Houston Beyond ICE to the Sheriff’s office, it was very clear that this peaceful form of protest was unwelcome. In anticipation of our arrival, signs were posted all over the building announcing that no visitations with the sheriff could be held on that date. The group was as well made to stand outside in the blistering Houston heat before finally being let into a small waiting room to wait for another hour before they would eventually accept our petitions. Still, Amanda will continue to fight for change against this unrelenting institution.
Presentation of petitions to Sheriff’s office and the completed stack of envelopes with signed petitions
Food Deserts in Houston – Rebecca Hsu
This week Rebecca looked into food deserts, a problem in Houston (and around the country) that comes out of and contributes to structural racism. Food deserts are defined as areas where a high number of residents live more than a mile away from a supermarket or grocery store. Grocery stores primarily target affluent neighborhoods, which means that lower income and minority neighborhoods disproportionately become food deserts. These neighborhoods often have large numbers of residents who also do not have a car available as transportation, and existing grocery stores can be far away and expensive. This limits their access to fresh produce and healthy and affordable options. Many of these food deserts do have a high number of fast food options, meaning that people turn to those options – which may be a factor (among many) in the high rates of diabetes and other diet-based health issues that disproportionately impact minority and low income communities. Grocery stores’ disregard for the needs of neighborhoods and focus on richer (and less Black/ Latino) areas is an example of structural racism. Although the motivations for placing their stores in affluent areas may not be motivated by racism, the result is still that lower income minorities become disadvantaged in ways that has health and wellbeing repercussions.
Rebecca primarily learned about the Houston food deserts through conversations with her friend Meredith Glaubach, who is highly involved in food justice and has worked in the broader Houston community, as well as at Rice in areas such as sustainable farming, food access, and GMO education and advocacy. This summer Meredith is working with Urban Harvest, a nonprofit that promotes community building around sharing healthy food. Meredith said, “My interest in food justice stems from my interest in social justice. I believe that food has been highly racialized and gendered in ways that make it a really important and complicated site for social justice work.”
In Houston, one way that communities address this lack of access to fresh and healthy food is by developing community gardens. These community gardens (for example in Houston, Last Organic Outpost) pop up as neighborhood efforts, support co-ops such as Broke Ass Pizza, and are developed as educational programs at schools as people find different approaches to grow their own healthy options. Farmer’s markets are another way that groups make fresh and healthy food available and affordable for communities in food deserts. It is important to raise awareness about food deserts in Houston, and to understand the factors that contribute to their existence and persistence, as well as to look at how people are organizing and acting to benefit their communities.
For further reading:
http://lastorganicoutpost.com/
Melody Lin:
For her activity this time, Melody decided that it was fitting to research about racial diversity and representation in D.C. (unpaid) internships as she has noticed a lack of such diversity at her own workplace. Her interest in looking at racism in the internship system for aspiring politicians, law-makers, and policy researchers (and really just institutionalized racism in D.C. jobs in general) was also inspired by the recent controversy over Speaker Paul Ryan’s selfie with a crowd of Capitol Hill interns. While the Speaker’s caption of this Instagram was captioned “I think this sets a record for the most number of #CapitolHill interns in a single selfie. #SpeakerSelfie,” many people tweeted out statements that seemed to be more apt, as they described the lack of diversity they saw in the crowd of faces. A user @MatthewACherry tweeted out “Finding a POC in this image is like playing Where’s Waldo. I did manage to find one tho” while other users created the hashtag #internssowhite. Now, upon further research, Melody found that interns had been chosen at random (from all parties) to attend Ryan’s speech, meaning that this lack of diversity was not a partisan issue.
So, what can be said about this finding? First of all, the lack of racial diversity in the interns is something reflected in Congress: a December 2015 report by the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies found that just 7.1% of senior Senate staff were people of color. Pew Research Center found that the current Congress (114th) is the most diverse yet – but the percentage of non-whites in Congress (17%) compare dismally to the percentage of non-whites in the nation’s population (38%).
Second of all, why exactly is there such underrepresentation of minorities in these very important internships that are training an amazing amount of future leaders and public servants of the nation? An article published in the NYTimes, titled “Part-Time Jobs and Thrift: How Unpaid Interns in D.C. Get By,” addresses part of this problem. The key word for many D.C. internships is “unpaid.” By making no-pay a policy, esteemed and sought-after internships such as White House internships become exclusively accessible to those who can afford to live in D.C. for a summer, semester, or year without a main source of income. Coupling these socio-economic restrictions with the disproportion of African American, American Indian/Alaska Native, Hispanic, Pacific Islander, and Native Hawaiian families living in poverty in the U.S., and with the large gaps that remain in minority education attainment, and other social disadvantages in place for minorities in the U.S., we are able to paint a picture of the state of inaccessibility that D.C. internships provide for non-white, non-upper class people. Yet, this is but a small piece of the story. The smaller percentage of minorities having access to unpaid internships isn’t a cause of the problem, but a symptom of a much larger systemic problem. To say that minorities are not filling these internships because there’s a lack of them to hire from is problematic in itself. As civil rights leader Jesse Jackson said about Facebook’s staff diversity problems: “There is no talent deficit but an opportunity deficit. There is a pipeline of qualified board members. There is a pipeline of C-suite leaders. There are more black computer science students than are being hired.”
Thus, to fully understand why Paul Ryan’s photo had such a lack of diversity, a cursory look at articles on the internet is not enough – especially because there is currently a lack of research provided about this topic. Melody realized that the problem with systemic and institutionalized racism is just that – it is systemic and institutionalized, entrenched in so many different aspects of the system that it cannot be pinned down to one concise issue. Despite the fact that she started off looking at representation in Capitol Hill internships, Melody was soon looking through other intertwined racial inequalities: in education, socio-economic status, the lack of legislation asking for better minority representation in different sectors, and the easy dismissal by those with racial privilege that “there just happened not to be any black people qualified for the job – it’s not racism at all,” to just name a few. To address systemic racism, all aspects of it must be tackled.
Dilo Dube:
It was really alarming that the last theme was structural and institutionalized racism and it uncannily aligned with recent national outcry about police brutality against people of color. For her part of the project, Dilo wrote a thought piece in response to this using mainly her own experiences:
“Change is Slow”
Pretty much everyone who comes into contact with me knows that fighting racial injustice is my passion. I’ve had numerous conversations about racial injustice and many of my friends have expressed the desire to be white allies.
Sounds great right? And it is, and I’m really proud of them for trying to do something about it, but the fact of the matter is old habits die hard and challenging the status quo is a struggle, lightly put.
I say this because this past week the country has exploded with visuals of the structural and institutionalized racism that have always existed. My social media sites have been filled with posts and videos and articles illustrating a country that is suffering and in many ways divided. This is a time where we need everyone to stand up and say enough is enough.
So why did so many of my white friends choose to stay silent? How does change happen when you turn off the TV and say “that’s awful” or “that’s so sad” then go to sleep with your comfortable white privilege intact? To be clear, I AM NOT playing a blame game. It just prompted me to write this because I realized something.
Change is slow.
It’s frustrating. I put so very many hours of friendship, and racial talks and effort into sharing all my knowledge with my friends. They already had everything they needed to get educated and I gave them everything I had. So why didn’t they speak up?
Change is slow.
Do my friends realize that though it was their individual decision to stay silent it was made alongside thousands of others. And that those are the voices we need right now to see real change happen soon?
I wish we could take more time to acknowledge why we do what we do or why we don’t do what we don’t. I wish we would think about why we make excuses to get involved or put something off or decide that it is not our fight. I wish we caught ourselves everytime we chose to believe that someone is just exaggerating or being too dramatic when they tell their story. I wish we all realized that “my friends” are anyone in any position of privilege, whether they mean well or not, who see injustice and for whatever reason decide to stay silent.
Then maybe change could happen a little less slow.
Manmitha’s Research:
Judicial System’s Effects on Poverty
For Manmitha’s research, she looked into the recent lawsuit on Harris County’s judicial bail system that has thousands of poor people jailed because they cannot pay bail. The cases for which these people have been jailed are small misdemeanors such as speeding and parking tickets or driving with invalid licenses. Many leaders within the area are working together to advocate change in this unjust system and hope to release these people and set lower bails.
As she learned about this topic, she was shocked about the number of underprivileged people who get jail time for mistakes considered to be minor issues by people of a higher socio-economic class. The process of how much bail is to be paid per offense is inadvertently affecting the lower economic class because they come from a lower income bracket and are entirely unable to pay bail. In turn, this is affecting a significant amount of people of color due to the higher percentage of them being impoverished. And, because of the cyclical nature of poverty, many people of color who are continuously struggling to place themselves out of these conditions are still stuck in the lower class. Moreover, this system does not help this cycle because jail time on one’s record dramatically affects one’s chances to a better life. In addition, people of color have a bigger threat from this system because they deal with the above mentioned misdemeanors at disproportionate rates due to their race. Also, those who have been jailed have not even been entirely convicted of a crime and are only serving time for a crime they allegedly committed.
After learning about this problem, Manmitha surveyed her co-workers and neighbors to see how many people were aware of this problem. A small percentage of these people were aware of the issue and only one person knew about the lawsuit. This was alarming because a large amount of people do not educate themselves about the problems in our society and without understanding these problems, true change cannot occur. The Harris County bail system is perpetuating the cycle of poverty as well as institutionalized racism. This activity allowed her to understand how important it is for the judicial system to change in order to aid people of the lower class.
Manmitha learned about this issue from her sister and a friend who works for an organization who advocates change within this system.
Jahnavi’s Research:
Black Lives Matter: Importance of Collaboration
In light of the social events that happened in the past week, Jahnavi attended a Black Lives Matter rally. She sat and learned about her friend, a new acquaintance she met during the portion in which the protesters were encouraged to make connections with those around her. This person was on a jog in his neighborhood, his residential area in San Jose. The police pulled a gun on him and demanded that he stop, screaming obscenities at him and insisting that he was a criminal. This man, a sixth grade English teacher, was forced to sit on the sidewalk while his students, their parents, his community members, walked by. The police returned half an hour later and informed him that he was “lucky” because he was jaywalking in his own neighborhood. During the rally, he calmly held his hands up throughout, yelling “don’t’ shoot”.
He then got up on the podium a few hours later in front of City Hall and brought up a point most refrain from thinking about. Even the most socially aware of citizens insist upon sending their children to a school in the “privileged” area; his question was, “when will you send your children to community schools? When will you do this? When will you truly start supporting Black-owned businesses and know that this is the key to social improvement?” This was a point that she had not considered before; social change is required from all points and all angles.
Jahnavi researched the political repercussions of police transparency and the lack thereof in San Francisco. She learned that there were an incredible number of incidents that went unreported. This is something that can only be rectified when much social action is taken off of many different corners of society and different groups of people.
http://www.sfexaminer.com/telling-truth-police-brutality-san-francisco/
http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2016/07/09/hundreds-march-black-lives-matter-rally/
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Activity 2 Blog Title: Complicating the Black/White Dichotomy
For our first activity, we interviewed people and/or took observations about how the black/white dichotomy is challenged or expressed. Each of our experiences is described in the paragraphs below.
Jahnavi Jagannath:
Both of Jahnavi’s interviewees are from the Bay Area and go to schools in DC and Boston. They discussed the way that cultural attitudes shaped the understanding of the black-white dichotomy present in discussions about race.
Andrea (pictured right):
“As a Hispanic woman, I feel like we’re really pushed out of the conversation- racism still exists against Hispanic people and it’s more complicated because within Hispanic community, racism towards Black Hispanics exists- but with other outside people, racism finds itself against generally Hispanics. A lot of people don’t know that there are a lot of differences within Hispanic community and a lot of different identifications. In the Bay Area, you see a lot more interracial couples and interracial friends—my friend group had Hispanic people, half Hispanic, black, white, but on the east coast friendships and couples feel really segregated.
There’s like an expectation that minorities will understand each other’s experiences but there are misconceptions amongst minorities as well. Here it’s like… people are like “I don’t really care where you’re from, you’re valuable”—here, people don’t notice or ask you. In the east coast they’re like
“Where are you REALLY from”
“Why do you speak Spanish”
“How do you speak English so well?”
Brittany (pictured left):
“The Asian American community is very prominent here, so you don’t feel a lot of racism around here in those senses, but in the East Coast you feel it a lot more. At Georgetown, the African American community is separated from the rest of campus and that’s something that’s a point of tension. I’ve grown up in a White, Asian, Indian community and there’s a fear of talking about it.
That being said, the East Coast is way more separated. The Asian-American community at Georgetown is so much more separate than I ever imagined. The Bay Area is such a melting pot that it’s kind of culture shock to go to the East Coast. You tend to notice differences a lot less here. The east coast is very homogeneous so you stand out and race issues are always about Black vs. White—but the Bay celebrates diversity and acknowledges the spectrum of issues that exist outside of that dichotomy.”
These interviews allowed Jahnavi to gain different perspectives about race in America and how it is viewed in different communities. She was able to understand the importance of interracial interactions and diversity. These conversations emphasized importance of differences within minority races as well as distinguishing them from the black/white dichotomy.
Manmitha Gundampalli:
Manmitha interviewed numerous people from different backgrounds about their opinions on the black/white dichotomy. Each was a college student who described their experiences and discussed the issues prevalent in society.
Her first interviewee, who asked to remain anonymous, was a Hispanic student from Rice University. She talked about the environment she grew up in and the ways in which privilege and the lack of it affected her. A point she emphasized was the education system and the underfunding of schools in certain areas. Growing up in a largely Hispanic community, she was surrounded by teachers and community members whose first language was not even English. Thus, she was at a disadvantage when taking standardized tests, when writing college application essays, and even when transitioning to the new college environment. Schools in communities like hers do not have the funding to sufficiently prepare students for the future. These school districts struggle to even buy the proper textbooks and materials for students to use. She expressed the unjustness in the fact that people do not care to change the level of education received by students in these communities, yet still expect them to compete with people from far more privileged areas. As if this weren’t enough, the outward racism that Hispanics, especially those of darker skin, face adds an extra barrier to an already difficult struggle. In sharing with her, she referred to her situation as one in which “it is easier to give up than to try to fight against the hardships”. While she overcame the hardships of her community, she is only the exception to the rule. Through this conversation, she was able to bring to light the fact that Hispanic communities face many problems that go unaddressed and the despair that comes them.
Next, Manmitha interviewed a group of Asian American women that study at The University of Texas. The first thing they discussed was the depiction of Indian culture in American textbooks and media as “fantastical and strange.” The point they stressed was the large amount of misrepresentation regarding Indian religions. Instead of trying to capture the core beliefs and structure of the religion, most books describe extreme ideologies, which are sometimes entirely false, and almost belittle the culture. Schools and other organizations do not try to fix this issue and rarely ever bring up this topic. Next, the students talked about the role of Asians in media. They brought up the fact that it is not uncommon for people who are not Asian to be cast as Asian characters and questioned the prominence of Asian leads used in mass media to play the “brainchild turned awkward IT whiz kid”. The stereotype that Indians and other Asians “only care about studying” and are identified as nerds is so widespread and frequent. It’s an issue that affects many Asian teenagers. These women voiced their discomfort growing up facing this problem. They believe that Asian communities and cultures are largely disregarded in America and people must work together to bring equality among the races.
Both interviews show that complicating the black/white dichotomy is extremely important. There are so many people that are not fairly represented and whose cultures are entirely whitewashed. This tendency to ignore other cultures and races has dramatic consequences on ethnic identities as well as individual identities. This opportunity allowed Manmitha to create a dialogue among college students and force students to think about their race and its place in society. She was able to understand the struggles different ethnicities face and also came to realize the struggles she encountered in her own life. She comprehends and supports that every individual, their culture, their race, and their struggles are unique and must be justly addressed to promote true equality.
Amanda Cervantes:
The Latinx Voice
During Amanda’s time in Houston, she had the privilege of meeting and mentoring Latino youth within Houston. One of the major focuses of her internship is recruiting and developing the leadership abilities of Latino youth in the Houston area. This goal lead to the creation of a program called Emerging Latino Leaders. Through this program, Latino students from Houston who fall within the ages of 17 and 22 were brought together to participate in a five-month program. To kick off this program, the students attended a four-day training in which they learned to share their stories to compel others to action, were educated on the issues that the Latino community faces, and were trained to register others to vote and instigate dialogues regarding civic engagement within their community.
During this training, Amanda was able to meet many students with powerful stories. Their stories, however, are not ones that you would often hear discussed in a conversation about race. In this group of students, however, the conversation was far from theoretical. While the lessons Amanda learned during that classroom will be shared below, the identity of the students will remain anonymous.
The most prominent experience that these students shared tended to surround the nature of poverty and lack of educational resources. Coming from a community where most do not have more than a high school education, these students spoke about what it felt like to dream of a life of higher education but fail to attain it. One of the female students spoke of her first time taking the SAT. While she was a bright student with all A’s who was ranked towards the top of her class, she did not foresee how difficult this standardized exam would be for her. In a high school that lacked rigor and resources, she thrived and, thus, believed she was prepared for the future. In reality, however, she had no idea what to expect nor how to prepare for attempting to apply to college. When she received her first SAT score, she felt her dreams slipping out of her grasp, but she could not reach out to her community for help. In her community, there was no one who could guide her. This story was echoed by many other students who spoke of the struggles of trying to navigate a system that was not created for students like them. One student, through his hard work and dedication, earned a full scholarship to Texas A&M University. While he was able to make it through the very difficult process of applying, however, there were still many obstacles to face after he entered college. This student, like many others in the Latino community, had no resources or mode of support from people back home. None of his family understood what the college experience was like and, thus, he struggled for emotional and academic support. He did not know how to study effectively, and he did not know who to turn for such knowledge. While he tried his hardest, he still was not able to pass one of his science courses. This lead to the immediate removal of his scholarship. He was not given a second chance despite his willingness to try harder. Now, he no longer attends Texas A&M and struggles to find a way to finance his education.
Poverty and lack of education are some of the many struggles that the Latino community faces. Many Latino parents work low-paying jobs as janitors or housekeepers. Many Latino parents are also incapable of helping their children with homework and do not have a strong enough grasp of the English language to build up the vocabulary of their children. Things as simple as job security, English proficiency, and basic understanding of academic material are privileges that many of the students Amanda met did not have. This privilege, however, is something that most take for granted. As a member of the Latino community and as a product of an underfunded, resource-lacking, predominantly Latino education system, Amanda understands what it feels like to struggle to become a part of an institution that was not made for her. She understands what it is like to battle against low expectations and a lack of preparation. What was very clear to her during this experience, however, is the fact that so many others do not know what it feels like to be in this situation. The struggles of gaining an education in the Latino community aren’t necessarily understood by the masses. Instead, most relegate a lack of education to low socioeconomic status among other reasons.
In short, while the failings of the education system are all but hidden, the unique struggles that Latino students face within this system get lost in the conversation. Thus, the Emerging Latino Leaders program aims to create leaders who can share these stories and fight for the resources that they know their community needs. Otherwise, the Latino community may forever be lost within the Black/White dichotomy.
Melody Lin:
For her activity on the black/white dichotomy, Melody decided to interview a close friend also interning in DC for the summer who has made a lot of insightful comments about race in the U.S. in the past. An Asian American woman, Alice had a lot of opinions about how blackness and whiteness encompass much of the dialogue on race in the U.S. When Melody asked her what came to mind when asked about the black/white dichotomy, Alice answered, “when people think about race, their mind just goes to black and white. I think that minorities that are a part of a non-black community are often overlooked when people think about race.” One examples of how she felt non-black minorities were being left out of the discussion on race was in the media. She presented the example of movies, saying that “nowadays, people are trying to be more diverse because people applaud that idea. However, as we can see in a lot of movies and TV shows, a diverse cast has translated to mean having black actors involved while forgetting that the world is so much more than just black and white. It’s much harder to find movies/shows that star an Indian, Chinese, Native American, etc actor as part of the leading cast.” Melody found this point to be very important, as it highlighted how the concept of “racial diversity” in the U.S. is also influenced by the black/white dichotomy.
When asked about the cases in which TV shows do cast non-black minorities, Alice replied, “I think that people definitely see non-white characters in TV as stereotyped. This applies even to black characters. We often see stereotypical personalities applied to these characters. An example would be the TV shows Fresh off the Boat and Blackish. They portray families with “typical Asian values” and “typical black values”. It seems as though minorities aren’t given any roles unless it has to do with their ethnic identity. Many Asians are even told to do Asian accents. I think this makes for a skewed representation on TV.” In talking about casting decisions based on stereotyped ethnic identities, Alice hit on a point that made Melody think about how diversity cannot just be on the casting level, but must extend throughout all aspects of a show or movie. Melody also agreed with Alice’s concluding point: “it is time to acknowledge that the US is more than just black and white. We should continue to talk about black and white because that in itself is still an ongoing conversation. Talking about the black/white dichotomy is not an attempt to detract from the important conversation about being black in the U.S., but it is important to start including other races when we refer to racial minorities.” Melody also started thinking, in the same vein as the theme of intersectionality last week, that dialogue on race is rarely nuanced enough. Part of what needs to create substantial, meaningful dialogue on race in the U.S. is to create an understanding that minorities do not all face the same type of stereotyping or discrimination. Challenging the black/white dichotomy means understanding that being members of different minorities create different experiences that are very worthwhile to share with each other, listen to, and empathize with. For example, the Asian American community often faces the model minority stereotype and the negative connotations of descriptive words such as “ethnic” or “oriental.”
Rebecca Hsu:
Rebecca works with a public health group and sees how a lot of the research work that her group does has to account for race and how it relates to health outcomes. Her research group does a lot of work with CBOs (community based organizations) which focus on community outreach and providing HIV testing and referrals to care to highly impacted populations – most significantly, Black men who have sex with men. However, different racial and ethnic groups come with their own considerations as well. Last week, Rebecca worked on a short assignment for one of the researchers on her team. He wanted to understand what kind of community organizations are available for the Asian community in Houston because the research group had not previously paid much attention to the question of how Asian groups are impacted by and relate to HIV. In her search for Asian community health promoting services, Rebecca found that just like the Black communities and the Latinx communities, Asians too have culturally specific ways that they relate to healthcare and in some cases experience unequal access to care. While there are a variety of clinics and community based organizations that focus on serving the Black community, she found only one major clinic and its parent community health organization that specifically serves the Houston Asian community.
There is good reason for resources to be prioritized for the groups that are the most highly impacted. At the same time, it is also important to address that these health issues, as well as others impact all minority racial groups. In many cases, racial stereotypes can be the source of health inequalities. For example, Asian Americans are affected by the model minority myth, which is that as an entire race Asians are healthier or more successful groups in America, and therefore don’t need community based organizations or outreach in the same way. However, this dramatically distorts, oversimplifies, and homogenizes Asian Americans while simultaneously pitting them against other racial groups. This stereotype leads the de-prioritization of the needs of poor Asian people, recent immigrants and those who need multilingual services, Asian people who have health problems, and also tends to paint a picture of what an Asian person looks like in a way that cannot possibly be reflective of a huge and diverse group of people. Challenging the Black/White dichotomy is about more than just reminding people that other racial groups face issues specific to them, but also reminding people not to reduce racial groups to a stereotype or to see them as a homogeneous entity. This theme is important in complicating our understanding of a group of people and recognizing that racialized inequality (as well as prejudice) is experienced by all groups of color.
Dilo Dube:
Complicating the black and white dichotomy with Amigos de las Americas
For Dilo, it has been really interesting to see how little discussions of race arises in the office at Amigos Headquarters. Amigos de las Americas is an organization that is dedicated to sending youth to Latin America to do service projects primarily during the summer. Despite this, AMIGOS remains silent on issues that Latinos are facing here in the United States, for instance, the immigration issue that has always been a hot topic. This topic is now even more relevant with AMIGOS headquarters being located in Houston where a huge population of Latino immigrants live. Dilo felt like this was a missed opportunity. In addition to this, the company faces many diversity issues. Though it is an organization that prides itself on being the “friends of the Americas”, its national office is still a majority white, and two of four Hispanics that work at AMIGOS headquarters work in lower roles such as office assistant and receptionist. There are also only two Asian employees within the office. Moreover, there were only two black workers in the office (including Dilo) and those were only summer hires.
Dilo hopes to learn more about what ways AMIGOS gets involved in or would like to get involved in racial issues now and in the future, particularly in Latin American issues. In one of the LRME essay readings about high-impact nonprofits, some of the most important actions to exhibit were to serve and to advocate. AMIGOS does not participate in any kind of advocacy for the communities that it engages with. Actions like advocacy, however, could help take AMIGOS to the next level.
Another missed opportunity is in training/interacting with participants. Because the majority of participants are white females, Dilo thinks that bringing this up, in even a small discussion out of the many that are held (participants go through over 30 hours of training before they go into the field) would be beneficial to creating participants with a stronger sense of their privileges and how they can use those to help others. Participants are taught to be accepting of other cultures when they go into the field, but it might not necessarily hold constant when they return to the states. If participants were taught to understand how their identities are prevalent not only abroad but here at home, that could become a huge step in building the leaders of tomorrow which is one of AMIGOS ultimate goals.
With that said, there are ways that AMIGOS has already begun to make a change. They realize that in order to flourish and compete they need to do better in areas of diversity. They recently created a survey for all of their current employees in order to better identify areas of diversity growth. In addition, Dilo was thrilled to have recently received instructions from her mentor and form the CEO to do research on how other companies (specifically similar nonprofits) advertise their dedication to diversity. She is glad that issues like this are on the CEO’s mind, and Dilo can’t wait to see where this project leads to next.
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Activity 1 Blogpost: Humans of LRME
For our first activity, we went out and interviewed people in our lives about how they understand intersectionality. Each of our experiences is described in the paragraphs below.
Rebecca:
Rebecca has been working with a research group that studies the spread of HIV among men who have sex with men and how it relates to the places they go and services they use in Houston. In the research setting, studying people becomes a question of how you control variables in order to better isolate what is actually happening and what is affecting what. Facets of a person’s identity often are those variables that you have to control for. This particular study looks at sexual behaviors, but does further analysis down the lines of race and socioeconomic status. For the first Humans of LRME activity, Rebecca interviewed her friend Sarah on how she sees intersectionality. Sarah responded,
“Intersectionality means that we’re more than the sum of our parts. When you bake a chocolate chip cookie, you can’t go back and take out the flour and sugar and treat them separately anymore. In the same way, we need to recognize the interdependence of our identities. […] Really, what we learn when we study intersectionality is that our identities—all of our identities—are even more complicated than they first appear, and that our experiences are all the more worthy of introspection.”
This perspective raised interesting questions for how research about people and the factors that might influence their behaviors can be understood in an intersectional way, or when that is necessary in all research for all research questions.
Melody:
For her first Humans of LRME activity, Melody chose to have an in-depth discussion with another intern at her placement, Pooja Patel, about Pooja’s personal intersections of social identities. While categorically, Pooja identified her intersections as being straight, Indian-American, and female, by the end of their conversation, Pooja and Melody were able to untangle many more nuances in the different identities that influenced who Pooja was as a person. For example, while heavily intertwined with the identity of Indian-American, skin color and “the fairness of skin” brought in a different layer of identity to Pooja’s life experience. As Melody has described and quoted in her Humans of LRME post, Pooja talked to her about how an Indian-American’s lighter skin can be regarded as more attractive – a social construct that Pooja also realized was part of so many other cultures and races. Melody was surprised to find that she could learn so much about a person’s background and their understanding of their own race and ethnicity through simply talking to a person for 20 minutes. The interview opened her eyes to threads of many new topics that are a part of intersectionality: like how someone from multiple cultures and races might struggle to make sense of their racial/cultural identity or how the relationship between culture and race differs from person to person. Talking to Pooja about topics like these made Melody realize that to really educate oneself of the importance of intersectionality, it is crucial that one listens and deeply reflects on other people’s personal experiences with intersectionality. There were certainly many other aspects of intersectionalism in Pooja’s identity, such as the socioeconomic status of her family that Melody and Pooja did not discuss, which Melody looks forward to learning more about as she continues to get to know Pooja better.
Manny:
Manny interviewed her friend, Prasanna Tamminayana, from her neighborhood for her first Humans of LRME activity. As she asked Prasanna various questions about her views on intersectionality, she was able to discuss with her, the societal issues that Indian American females face. Being one herself, Manny was able to relate to the many struggles faced by this group of people as they grow up in a different culture. They discussed different stigmas held about Indians, such as the assumption that Indian parents force and pressure their children to become doctors or engineers or the impolite comments about Indians smelling a certain way or not being beautiful enough or fair enough. They were able to discuss the internal struggles that young Indian Americans feel due to the labels given to Indians. In addition, they were also able to share personal experiences during which they were unable to explain their culture to an outsider. Prasanna brought up an important issue, which is Indian children’s disdain towards their own culture to try to fit in and how drastically this affects the world. All of these issues have made Prasanna realize that it is crucial for different social classes and races to accept each other and share this world without degrading any particular culture. They both agreed that for cultural and individual preservation, there must be an awareness of intersectionality. This interview allowed Manny to see that many people feel emotions that she has felt towards intersectionality. But she also was able to gain a different perspective and learn about issues she never noticed.
Amanda:
Norma: My Queen
Throughout Amanda’s time at Mi Familia Vota, she has met many that encompass the idea of intersectionality. One of the people that she has met throughout her internship is Norma Torres Mendoza. Norma is a Rice alum and a recent graduate of the Harvard Kennedy School. Norma is Hispanic, but what makes her such a wonderful human being does not stop skin deep. Norma is a driven, Mexican woman. She is the daughter of an undocumented immigrant and was raised by a single mother who supported her family by cleaning houses. Norma came to the United States at age 9 and, despite being raised in an environment where achieving such a high level of education was far from what was expected of her, Norma was able to far surpass those expectations with the support of her mother and through her hard work and dedication. Norma is a multi-faceted woman, and this is an aspect of her that you cannot appreciate unless you delve into the different intersections of society in which she exists. What makes her outstanding record so impactful, however, isn’t just her stellar academic record. In the media, there has been a recent outcry and demonization of the Mexican community and of undocumented immigrants. This hateful rhetoric, however, is one that disregards the multiple facets that make up an individual. These generalizing statements dehumanize the individuals that they reference. Norma is living in the United States under Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). While she is exempt from deportation for a limited time, she is still an undocumented immigrant and, thus, one of the people dehumanized by the hateful rhetoric that people like Donald Trump have been popularizing as of late. Norma is a living example as to why we must strive to understand a person for more than what they appear. She is an example of why we must work to understand individuals for the intersection at which they stand. After speaking with and getting to know Norma as a person and as a strong-willed individual, Amanda was left with one very clear idea in her mind. As a society, we must open our minds and our hearts to understanding those around us. If we do not, we are perpetuating a cycle that allows the misconceptions and rhetorics of hate that exist now to continue existing.
Jahnavi:
Jahnavi’s interview was slightly less formal, taking place from the passenger’s seat of a Lyft car ride. The driver, Angelica, was a college-aged Latina woman, studying at a small school in Iowa. She was from the Oakland area and grew up there; as a first-generation college student, she was proud of her accomplishments but also frustrated by the system in which she lived. She discussed the way that being a Latina woman in today’s time created an air of “you’re going to be pregnant, you don’t like art, you’re just in it for the man and then you’ll quit”. She said that Oakland was an immensely de-segregated city, and going to a mostly-white school made her feel like both an outsider and a representative for her race. Facing sexism at home and cautious racism at school, she said, had made her aware of the different parts of the world in which she lived and the way that this would affect her career and life. Jahnavi was especially impacted by the way that this can be applied to Rice; many Rice students come in with preconceived notions and students of a particular race are often seen as spokespeople for that race. Angelica’s friendly chatter and optimism was inspiring and made Jahnavi immensely conscious of the ways in which this exists and can be addressed at Rice.
Dilo:
These past few days and Dilo had the pleasure of getting to know a coworker whose approach to life is very intersectional. Dilo was already very interested in getting to know her because she was the only other black person in the office beside her and she was a woman as well! Dilo got to have lunch with her and she told me a bit about herself and her passions. She started her own blog called Bonafide Hippy (http://thebonafidehippie.weebly.com/la-bohemias-vault.html) and she dedicates it to inspiring young poor women of color to travel. That’s intersectionality for sure! It was very refreshing to hear her opinions on the matter. It was also refreshing to see that she believed that being black, and female, and low income should not limit you from chasing after your dreams. Dilo is excited to get to know her more and hear more about her efforts to address the challenges that someone like that might face and how they too can overcome it.
Overall we found that intersectionality was a huge part of daily life in all of our cities. It was interesting to see how much thought it had been given. Though not everybody viewed it exactly the same way or used the same rhetoric they all had their own unique ways of addressing it.