Throughout analyzing Dyer’s reading, there was an article that stuck out to me that I read last year in a PSTL course, titled “Driving While Black”.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/inside_game/magazine/life_of_reilly/news/2002/08/06/life_of_reilly/
Throughout the article it is mentioned that police pull over African American drivers more frequently than white drivers, especially when driving an expensive vehicle. The police assume that the car has been stolen and they are frequently are pulled over because of it. It is described throughout the article that they are often asked for proof of ownership of the car. This happens to a lot of famous athletes as well, but once the police realize that it is an athlete; they simply apologize, ask for an autograph and walk away.
I posted two pictures in this blog for a few reasons. There is political and cultural racism shown in both of these pictures. One of them is more serious and says a lot by a simple picture, and the other tries to make this racial issue in a comical light. I think that is one of the biggest thing that is used to try to tame situations like this: sarcasm.
The way I read the first picture is simple, yet intense at the same time. When the driver is black, there is a cop car following him, yet when the driver is white, there is no cop car in sight. This picture does a good job of showing that it is the exact same situation, the exact same person, and the only thing that is different is the color of the skin. The only other difference in the picture is that there is a cop car located behind the black driver. This shows a lot of things: politically, racially, and authoritatively.
The second picture is one of a child that is talking to a police officer. I added this picture mostly to show the way that people try to interact with the socially hard to discuss topics of gender, class, and race. In general, people like to deal with these types of topics by sarcasm or somehow making other jokes.
The last thing that I wanted to add for this blog, is that I think nurture vs. nature has a lot to do with this, and it isn’t mentioned enough in Dyer’s account. I went to high school where I was the minority (I am white). In his writing he says, “In other words, whiteness needs to be made strange” (pg.10). There is a lot to be said behind this statement, and because of cultural differences can be interpreted in a lot of different ways. I appreciated going to a high school where I was the minority, because there was virtually no segregation. I could argue a few points from his writing that would prove racism is prevalent with white people as well, but obviously not nearly in the same context.
In the moments that are described throughout his text, it seems like the view is very dramatic at points. But, that could just be because of where I was raised and the way that I view racial issues. I think that there are a lot of other aspects that need to be taken account for in this reading that he doesn’t touch much on, but he does a good job explaining the way of studying “whiteness.” That’s the beauty of different cultures; we all see things differently.
But without racial profiling the nation would be worse off, do you know how many things have been prevented because of it? I am not saying hey lets all be racist and profile everyone but it has helped.
ReplyDeleteI am not one to be shy about talking about race, I love to talk about it. There would not be stereotypes if not at one time a race had some person or a select few of the people act like the stereotype.
You know what a good example of social profiling is and racism, White people on the bus. The back of the bus usually filled with black people with a few seats open. Consistently the white people will not go up and mingle with the black it is hilarious, and frustrating. Black people are not all mean gangsters who carry Glock 45s in their pants, only some. So go mingle people.
In a class last year however, we had a first hand account of African American men who STILl did not feel safe driving through white in the South. They consciously drove 10 MPH under the speed limit so there couldn't be any grounds to get pulled over. I do agree with Shawn to an extent though, that if there was not one or more to create a stereotype,they would not exist. We just continually classify once we have an encounter with a stereotype which, I talked about in my blog, is streamed through every form of media. We can't escape stereotypes and probably not racial profiling.
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