Dismantling the Racism Machine: Myths Taught to

Transcript:Dismantling the Racism Machine: Myths Taught to:
Dismantling the Racism Machine: Myths Taught to White People that Perpetuate White Supremacy Dr. Karen Gaffney English Department Raritan Valley Community College Branchburg, NJ Blog: dividednolonger.com Email: dividednolonger@gmail.com Twitter: @dividednolonger Pronouns: she/her/hers Introductions Name, preferred pronoun, where you’re from Why did you decide to come to this conference? What do you hope to get out of this institute? Where I begin There is a massive gap between what scholars who study race and racism take for granted and what public (especially white public) knows introductory course on race at my NJ community college local community-based NJ anti-racism coalition community courses and workshops I facilitate in NJ libraries and churches for predominantly white audiences workshops at national conferences As a white anti-racism educator, one contribution I can make is to help bridge the gap My book and my workshops are part of that effort This is my 4th year presenting at WPC and my first time facilitating an institute Today’s plan Our discussion today from 9am-5pm will center on 3 key myths that white people in particular are often taught that obscure reality of racism We’ll break each one down and discuss it; then you’ll have opportunity to develop an action plan We’ll take breaks periodically, and boxed lunches will be available 12-1pm Step 1: Chip Away at the False Ideology that Race is Biological Ideology = myth or belief people are unknowingly indoctrinated into believing Power Damaging and false ideology blocks the view of the Racism Machine Myth #1: Human races are biologically different Reality There are no inherent or biological or genetic differences between groups we call races because race is a social construct (a human invention). Josiah Nott, Types of Mankind, 1854 Washington Post, 2016 “Researchers at the University of Virginia quizzed white medical students and residents to see how many believed inaccurate and at times "fantastical" differences about the two races -- for example, that blacks have less sensitive nerve endings than whites or that black people's blood coagulates more quickly. They found that fully half thought at least one of the false statements presented was possibly, probably or definitely true.” Human DNA is about 99.9% identical throughout the world No scientific, biological, or genetic way to separate humans into “races” Thomas Jefferson, Notes on the State of Virginia (1788) “I advance it therefore as a suspicion only, that the blacks, whether originally a distinct race, or