Sometimes I'm right and I can be wrong My own beliefs are in my song The butcher, the banker, the drummer and then Makes no difference what group I'm in I am everyday people, yeah yeah There is a blue one who can't accept the green one For living with a fat one trying to be a skinny one And different strokes for different folks And so on and so on and scooby dooby doo-bee Oh sha sha - we got to live together SLY AND THE FAMILY STONE "Everyday People"
Transcript
Sometimes I'm right and I can be wrongMy own beliefs are in my songThe butcher, the banker, the drummer and thenMakes no difference what group I'm inI am everyday people, yeah yeah
There is a blue one who can't accept the green oneFor living with a fat one trying to be a skinny oneAnd different strokes for different folksAnd so on and so on and scooby dooby doo-beeOh sha sha - we got to live together
SLY AND THE FAMILY STONE "Everyday People"
I am no better and neither are youWe are the same whatever we doYou love me you hate me you know me and thenYou can't figure out the bag l'm inI am everyday people, yeah yeah
There is a long hair that doesn't like the short hairFor bein' such a rich one that will not help the poor oneAnd different strokes for different folksAnd so on and so on and scooby dooby doo-beeOh sha sha-we got to live together
There is a yellow one that won't accept the black oneThat won't accept the red one that won't accept the white oneAnd different strokes for different folks
SOCIOLOGY 202
Chapter 9 Associations
May 9
A COUNTRY OF JOINERS
A Country of Joiners
• High number of civic organizations in the United States
• Gunnar Myrdal called associations the “salt of American politics”
• A healthy and functioning democracy requires its citizens to establish communal bonds
• Associations can exclude just as easily as they can unite
THE ORDEAL OF INTEGRATION &THE RISE OF ETHNIC NATIONALISM
A Culture of Segregation• Rapid rise in number of
organizations both of blacks and of whites
• Establishment of white organizations to counter black successes
• Southerners did not have as much success in post-war civic organizing
• One exception was the Ku Klux Klan, practitioners of racial terrorism
“Membership in the Order is limited to white male citizens of the United States … who believe in the existence of
God”
~ Pamphlet for the Elks society
Elks’ assertions of “Charity, Justice, Brotherly Love, and
Fidelity” did not pertain to nonwhites or women
Slie 7
Toward Integration
Integrated associations proliferate
- NAACP
- Commission on Interracial Coalition
- Veterans of Foreign Wars
- American Legion
- United Mine Workers
“The man working beside you, be he negro, Jew, or Pollock, is a working man like yourself. …You work together--fight together.”
YMCA• The Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA) began segregated
• In 1920, black women pushed for integration
• They also pushed the YWCA to dedicated itself to fighting racism
• The YWCA transformed itself into an antiracist, fully integrated organization
“Eliminating Racism; Empowering Women.”
“I realize what you have before you, what you are trying to do, and . . . most likely all across the country you will hear people saying, ‘The time is not ripe.’ . . . If the time is not ripe, then it is your job to ripen it!”
~ Dr. Benjamin Mays to the YWCA, 1946
In what circumstances today have you heard people saying “the time is not ripe” for change?
In your personal life, have you avoided trying to make a difference because the time was not ripe?
Why or Why Not?
Ethnic Nationalism
• A small but committed cadre of nonwhites fought against racial integration
• For these nonwhites, racial integration did not lead to liberation but only to more oppression
• Racial segregation and complete independence from whites was the only answer
• They championed self-determination, race pride, separatism, the creation of an independent nation
Malcolm X• Nation of Islam: a small separatist black
sect led by Elijah Muhammad
• Malcolm X converted to the Nation of Islam in prison
• He urged blacks to cleanse themselves of thoughts of inferiority
“The purpose of our organization. . . is to bring about the complete independence of people of African descent, . . . to bring about the freedom of these people by any means necessary.”
Malcolm X on Black Nationalism
Legacy of Black Nationalism
Failures Successes
A separate black nation never came to be
Racial integration became the widely desired goal
Struck a blow to symbolic violence
Nurtured pride in blackness and black history and culture
“Integration has been a material success but an ideological and spiritual failure.Black nationalism . . . has been an ideological success but a material failure.”
~ Norman Kelley
CIVIL SOCIETY IN A MULTIRACIAL DEMOCRACY
“Citizens cannot leave politics just to politicians.” ~ Gunter Grass
What does democracy mean to you?
How do you participate in our democracy?
Are you involved in any political organizations?
Civic Participation
Whites participate in civil society at higher rates
• Identity politics: Political action intended to address unique interests of historically oppressed groups
• White participation in identity politics: Non-action on issues of racial equality is a form of identity politics that supports white majority
• Is identity politics tearing apart civil society?• Evidence says it is not• Surprising consensus on core political issues
“Political Correctness”
“For the first time in our history, Americans have to be fearful of what they say, of what they write, and of what they think. They have to be afraid of using the wrong
word, a word denounced as offensive or insensitive, or racist, sexist, or homophobic.”
~ Bill Lind, American University, 2000
Who does Mr. Lind have in mind when he referencesAmericans who, for the first time in history, have to watch what they say?
What does the use of the term “political correctness” accomplish?
HATE GROUPS
Hate Crimes• Criminal offense committed
based on the offender’s bias against a race, religion, ethnic/national origin group of sexual orientation group
Since the Hate Crimes Statistics Act was passed in 1990, the FBI has compiled nationwide data on victims and offenders. In 2007, the number of hate crimes was 7,624. Of those, about half were motivated by race; the rest involved religion, sexual orientation, ethnicity or national origin, or disability. http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-beliefs17-2009aug17,0,777181.story
The logic of hate crime laws is based on the argument that hate crimes are a form of terrorism, designed to intimidate large groups of people.
Man Convicted Of Assault In Hate Crime CaseCoy Found Guilty Of Assault In Attack On Nigerian Student
According to police, Coy and Harris hurled racial slurs at Nigerian CU student Oluyibi Ogundipe and his friend Ahmad Abdulkareem, of Saudi Arabia, around 2:30 a.m. Sept. 18 on Broadway. Police said the two foreign-born men fled after the verbal confrontation, but Coy chased them down and hit Ogundipe in the face, knocking him unconscious and breaking facial bones.
Posted: 04/21/2011 10:42:08 AM MDT
August 30, 2010Hate Crime Charges in Stabbing of a CabdriverBy JOHN ELIGON
A film student arrested in the slashing of a Muslim taxi driver in Manhattan last week was indicted on Monday on charges of second-degree attempted murder and first-degree assault as hate crimes.
The taxi driver, Ahmed H. Sharif, 44, said Mr. Enright had first made small talk with him. After he told Mr. Enright that he was Muslim, Mr. Sharif said, Mr. Enright responded with an Arabic greeting, silence and then told him, “This is the checkpoint” and “I have to bring you down.” Mr. Enright then slashed Mr. Sharif in the throat, face and arms, prosecutors said. Mr. Enright, who is being held without bail, would face up to 25 years in prison if convicted of the attempted murder charge.
8 Are Charged in Tormenting of Learning-Disabled ManBy NEIL MacFARQUHAR
Published: February 17, 1999Apparently copying a horror movie, a pack of men and women living near the New Jersey shore enticed a man with learning disabilities to a party and then tormented him for almost three hours, the Monmouth County Prosecutor charged yesterday.
''It was just cruelty,'' said John A. Kaye, the Prosecutor. The abuse included whipping the 23-year-old, shaving his head and dragging him into the woods for further beatings, Mr. Kaye said.Eight men and women were arrested Monday after a two-week investigation into the incident. Most of the defendants face kidnapping or assault charges.
Speaking Out Against Hate• Not in Our Town http://video.pbs.org/video/2196486631/#
• Organized hate groups• Commanding and institutionalized • Unified by a philosophy that demonizes “enemies”
• White nationalist groups• Have fed off recent influx of Hispanic immigration• Advocate violence• Use the Internet to recruit and communicate• Believe race relations a “zero sum game”
