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https://compton.us-west-2.instructuremedia.com/embed/8c4db613-b80e-474e-aa8a-122ddd00e27a

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Fletcher Psych 110 FALL 2021 Film Analysis-1

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1. Institutional racist policy choices have resulted in massive amounts of disproportionate detrimental health conditions such as diabetes and heart disease in the African American Community. On top of these physical consequences, massive amounts of stress is disproportionately applied to people of low income as well as those who have been disadvantaged historically.
2. Several factors relating to the overall concept of health, such as health insurance and health education are effecting the African American Community strongly. First off it is known that there is an unconscious bias in America of believing black people can take more pain with less help  which has a long history dating back to colonial slavery. On top of this the United States has a history of taking advantage of black people with the medical system, for example like in the Tuskegee experiment. This adds an additional layer of distrust for the medical system among AAs. A lot of community members feel afraid to attend the doctors and often times they are unaware that they are in poor health condition due to a lack of proper health education.
3. The number one way I believe we can solve this issue is to unite through health. Health truly is your wealth and many people just do not have a proper understanding of what it takes to be healthy. Also I think it would be smart to begin educating African American children as early as possible on good nutrition. Besides education and a healthy diet, African American children must be showed the power of exercise, which is proven to improve psychical health as well as psychological health.
4. https://www.americanbar.org/groups/crsj/publications/human_rights_magazine_home/the-state-of-healthcare-in-the-united-states/racial-disparities-in-health-care/
-This article helped to provide a differing opinion on how to explain the disparities. It is stated that  doctors and their biases cause them to give their patients of color inferior health care and, in so doing, contribute to higher rates of morbidity and mortality.
5. One thing from the video which made go back and look at the statistic twice was the fact the African Americans are 50% more likely to die a premature death from hearth attack or stroke.

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Theme 2
1. There are obvious disparities present in the medical situation of African American women needing pain medication. It has been confirmed by a 2011 paper published in Clinical Orthopedics and Related Research, a peer-reviewed journal, found that
“racial/ethnic minorities consistently receive less adequate treatment for acute and chronic pain than non-Hispanic
whites, even after controlling for age, gender, and pain intensity.”  The reasoning behind this is society's long held core belief that black people some how feel less pain than whites.
2. There are a number of factors contributing to the disproportionate amount of African American babies as well as mothers who die during childbirth. Overall black mothers are 243 percent more likely than white women to die from childbirth. One massively important factor contributing to this issue is that that black college educated mothers who gave birth in local hospitals were still more likely to
suffer serious pregnancy or childbirth related complications compared to other minority women  who never graduated from high school. This shows that this is not an issue which can be solved by education or social class. One more issue that is critical to both the health of the mother and child is common disregard for the complaints of black women by doctors. If a African American mother is already in a compromised condition and now is getting worse, they mention that to the doctor and they provide no help. This is clearly a slippery slope leading to possible death.
3. I believe this one of the most difficult issues to provide solutions to, due to studies already eliminating multiple possible causation's such as lack of education or social class. The best solution I think is going to be to better the psychological perspectives of our doctors. The number one factor causing these fatal issues for African American mothers is a preconceived mindset of doctors that African Americans can take more pain and do not need help. Our new generation of doctors must completely eliminate this idea.
4. https://www.prb.org/resources/black-women-over-three-times-more-likely-to-die-in-pregnancy-postpartum-than-white-women-new-research-finds/
-This article provided me with a new additional solution to the issue. The researcher stated that birth programs must " “treats a mother’s culture, racial identity, and background as assets during pregnancy, rather than pathology or a problem.”
5. Honestly this entire theme is what stood out to me most. I was unaware of these massive disparities and realize now that giving birth is not always the happy process that many imagine.

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In the United States, Black-white disparities in maternal mortality-deaths related to pregnancy or childbirth-may be larger than previously reported, new research shows. Closing the gap involves addressing structural racism-that is, those aspects of social, political, economic, and health care systems that reinforce inequity, researchers say.

Because pregnancy is riskier to women's health than abortion, state initiatives to restrict abortion could lead to more deaths, particularly among Black women, new estimates suggest.

Black Women Five Times More Likely to Die from Pregnancy-Related Cardiomyopathy, Blood Pressure Disorders Than White Women

By thoroughly reexamining death certificates from 2016 and 2017, researchers found that the maternal mortality rate among non-Hispanic Black women was 3.5 times that of non-Hispanic white women. This is a dramatic increase from previous analyses, based on standard medical codes, that found that Black women faced a maternal death rate 2.5 times that of white women, according to Marian MacDorman of the Maryland Population Research Center (MPRC) at the University of Maryland, who led the study.

The new analysis also revealed that these disparities were concentrated among a few causes of death. Postpartum cardiomyopathy (a form of heart failure) and the blood pressure disorders preeclampsia and eclampsia were leading causes of maternal death for Black women, with mortality rates five times those of white women. Pregnant and postpartum Black women were also more than two times more likely than white women to die of hemorrhage (severe bleeding) or embolism (blood vessel blockage).

In the researchers' analysis, embolism and preeclampsia/eclampsia tied for the leading cause of maternal death across all racial and ethnic groups during pregnancy or within six weeks after pregnancy (see figure). These were followed by postpartum cardiomyopathy, hemorrhage, and complications from obstetric surgeries such as cesarean sections.

Among White and Hispanic women, causes of maternal death ranked somewhat similarly. However, for Black women, preeclampsia/eclampsia was the leading cause of maternal death, followed by postpartum cardiomyopathy, embolism, and hemorrhage. Ectopic pregnancy, the fifth leading cause of maternal death for Black women, was not a leading cause for white or Hispanic women.

Preeclampsia/Eclampsia Is the Leading Cause of Maternal Death Among Black Women

U.S. maternal deaths per 100,000 live births for five leading causes of maternal death by race/ethnicity, 2016-2017

Notes: Maternal deaths include those during pregnancy and up to 42 days postpartum. For Hispanic women, the values for preeclampsia/eclampsia, obstetric hemorrhage, postpartum cardiomyopathy, and other complications of surgery and procedures are not statistically reliable, based on 10-19 deaths in the numerator.
Source: Table 2, Marian F. MacDorman et al., "Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Maternal Mortality in the United States Using Enhanced Vital Records, 2016‒2017," American Journal of Public Health 111, no. 9 (2021): 1673-81.

The study also found that late maternal deaths-those occurring between six weeks and one year postpartum-were 3.5 times more likely among Black women than white women. Postpartum cardiomyopathy was the leading cause of late maternal death among all races, with Black women having a six-times-higher risk than white women.

The prominence of cardiovascular conditions-eclampsia, preeclampsia, embolism, and cardiomyopathy-among the leading causes of maternal death, particularly for Black women, "highlights the importance of increased vigilance to improve early diagnosis and treatment of these complications," MacDorman says.

The elevated risk of maternal mortality for Black women, from multiple causes, reflects the impact of structural racism on health and health care in the United States, argues study coauthor Marie Thoma of the University of Maryland School of Public Health and the MPRC.

"Further research into the experiences of people of color can inform efforts to improve health care systems and, thus, improve the birthing experience for all," Thoma says. "We need new models of care before, during, and after birth to address these inequities."

Promoting Equity in Women's Health Requires Fundamental Changes in Approach

Addressing the stark racial disparities that MacDorman's team highlighted requires fundamentally reorienting the current approach to health care, argues Rachel Hardeman of the Minnesota Population Center at the University of Minnesota. Research and action must be grounded in the understanding that racism is at the root of health inequities, she says.

"We must first ask, 'How do systems, policies, and social structures combine to create the conditions for poor health?' rather than asking, "'What's wrong with people of color that makes them die younger and at higher rates and suffer more illnesses?''" says Hardeman, who is also director of the new Center for Antiracism Research for Health Equity at the University of Minnesota.

As part of a four-person team, Hardeman documented that Black newborns' in-hospital death rate was one-third lower when Black newborns were cared for by Black physicians rather than white physicians.

Hardeman is now studying a model prenatal care program designed to reduce birth complications and maternal death that "treats a mother's culture, racial identity, and background as assets during pregnancy, rather than pathology or a problem." The Roots Community Birth Center is an African American-owned, midwife-led, freestanding birth center located in a Minneapolis neighborhood with one of the highest infant mortality rates in the city. The care plan includes regular prenatal classes on gestational diabetes, nutrition, and other topics, and longer and more frequent-than-typical prenatal and postnatal visits, including three home visits in the first week after birth.

Since opening in 2015, the birth center has cared for 284 families with no premature or low-birthweight babies and a high proportion of mothers successfully breastfeeding. Preliminary findings suggest this model shows promise for providing midwifery care in a culturally centered environment, according to Hardeman.

However, the birth center faces financial challenges due to current maternity care payment models and inadequate Medicaid reimbursement, Hardeman says. To support innovative centers such as Roots, Hardeman suggests policymakers increase Medicaid reimbursement rates. In the long run, the added expense will lead to increasing numbers of healthy babies and mothers who avoid expensive and dangerous complications, and-ultimately-reduce racial disparities, she says.

Banning Abortion Could Raise Pregnancy-Related Death Rates

Legislation designed to limit abortion could exacerbate racial disparities in women's health and survival. New research by Amanda Stevenson of the CU Population Center at the University of Colorado Boulder shows that banning abortion nationwide would lead to a 21% increase in the number of pregnancy-related deaths for all women and a 33% increase among Black women, compared with rates for 2017.

Published in the journal Demography, the study estimates only the portion of increased deaths from such a ban due to complications of being pregnant and delivering a baby. Any increases due to unsafe abortions or attempted abortions would be in addition to these estimates.

"The takeaway here is that if you deny people abortion, pregnancy-related deaths will increase because staying pregnant is more dangerous than having a safe, legal abortion," Stevenson says.

Stevenson points out that media outlets and some supporters of abortion rights often raise the specter of dangerous "back alley" or self-induced abortions. But deaths from such incidents, which numbered in the hundreds annually prior to the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, would be far less common today due to the advent of safe, self-managed abortions using medications, including misoprostol, available via prescription or online, Stevenson reports.

"We expect a lot of people will turn to these safer forms of self-managed abortions, but a lot of people will also just stay pregnant," Stevenson says. "What happens then?"

Carrying a pregnancy to term is many times riskier than having an abortion-14 times riskier, according to one estimate.

To predict the maternal mortality consequences of stricter abortion laws, Stevenson used published statistics on the number of abortions and births that occurred annually in recent years, calculated how many more pregnancies would be continued in the absence of legal abortion, then applied pregnancy-related mortality statistics to that number.

The study estimated that in the years following a national abortion ban, an additional 140 women would die annually from pregnancy-related causes, representing a 21% increase from 2017. Among non-Hispanic Black women, pregnancy-related deaths would increase by one-third.

Among white women, the lifetime risk of pregnancy-related death following a national ban would increase from 1 in 4,500 to 1 in 3,900, Stevenson found. By contrast, among Black women the lifetime risk of pregnancy-related death would increase from 1 in 1,300 to 1 in 1,000.

Research also shows that those most likely to seek abortion care, including Black and Hispanic women, women with lower income, and those with chronic or acute health conditions, are also more likely to encounter serious complications during pregnancy, Stevenson explains.

Black women are more likely to seek an abortion for a variety of reasons, including unequal access to housing, education, jobs, and health care, Stevenson says. Meanwhile, the mortality risk of carrying a pregnancy to term is more than three times higher for non-Hispanic Black women compared with non-Hispanic white women.

"Increasing Black women's exposure to the risk of pregnancy-related mortality by denying them access to abortion would exacerbate an existing public health crisis," Stevenson says.

_____________________________________________________

This article was produced under a grant from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD). The work of researchers from the following NICHD-funded Population Dynamics Research Centers was highlighted: University of Maryland (5P2CHD041041-18), University of Minnesota (5P2CHD041023-19), and University of Colorado Boulder (5P2CHD066613-10). Lisa Marshall of the University of Colorado Boulder and Charlie Plain of the University of Minnesota contributed to this report.

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Black Women Over Three Times More Likely to Die in Pregnancy, Postpartum Than White Women, New Research Finds

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Theme 1
1. The spiritual and religious practices of the  African American community differs from the larger community. First off in the whole religious picture, African Americans are more religious than Whites and Latinos statistically speaking. Another common difference of specifically elder African Americans is the tendency to be associated with historically black Protestant churches.
2. The religious practices of black millennials are differentiated from practices of older African Americans. Overall, black millennials are more religious than others in their generation but still not at the level of older African Americans. For example black millennials are more likely to regularly read scripture outside of religious services than  other equal generational groups but older African Americans are still much more likely. Older African Americans also demonstrate a much stronger loyalty to historically black churches.
3. Attending church can have very beneficial affects on mental health for African Americans. We all know how hard life is as an African American in this country and for many, the church serves as the most effective coping method.  Many African Americans, rather than seeking support in the form of a mental health professional, go to their church.
4. https://afsp.org/story/the-role-of-the-church-in-improving-mental-wellness-in-the-african-american-commu
- This article allowed me to better understand the traditional roles that the church has played in the African American community throughout our history.
5. Something that really caught my eye and stuck with me from this modules reading was the fact that millennials are more likely to believe in heaven than are non-black millennials.

Theme 2
1. Santeria holds immense significance due to how closely connected the religious practices of Yoruba Orisha faith are to the African American community.
2. For practicing African Americans, Santeria serves to provide a connection back to Africa. It provides a feeling of home as well as a massive ancient spiritual heritage which dates back before slavery. A stronger confection to racial identity is also formed with these religious practices.
3. Health and healing is treated in Yoruba as being very closely associated with ones own spirituality. The goal is to appeal to the gods so they might heal you and in order to do so there are often sacred offerings laid out for them.
4. https://news.clas.ufl.edu/the-survival-of-the-yoruba-healing-systems-in-the-modern-age/
- This article really helped me to shine light on the more in depth practices of healing methods in Santeria. For example they  believe that physical ailments can be remedied through the application of physical elements found in the environment.
5. One thing that I newly learned from this section is that a lot of African Americans who practice Santeria were actually previously traditional Christian.

Theme 3
1. African American religious practices can relate to traditional African religious practices in a few different ways. First off both share a common core theme of religion serving as the backbone of moral and societal values.
Next traditional African as well as African American religious practices both commonly name their children based off of religious meaning. One more thing that these groups have in common is that the religious leader does not only have influence in the church but they are also prominence in the whole community.
2. Although there are many similarities between these practices,  there are also obvious differences. The most significant difference in the big picture is African Americans religious practices are much more aligned with traditional American Christianity.
In addition, there is much less native spirituality present in African Americans. One more thing that is not held in common belief is the concept of heaven. Much more young African Americans are believing in heaven than other groups but in traditional African practices the afterlife did not hold much significance.
3. The greatest altering factor to African American religious practices was slavery. During colonial America as well as the slave era, traditional African spirituality was suppressed. African American's religious values were restructured in order to better align with the traditional christian values of the white settlers.  A common thought theme of enslaved Africans was that Christianity will provide them with a better life after they die only if they were obedient to their masters.
4. https://aaregistry.org/story/from-africa-to-the-americas-santeria/
- This article assisted me in deepening my knowledge more into the beginnings of Santeria
5. One thing that I can say I learned from this chapter, is that in traditional African religious practices they did not attach much significance at all to the idea of an afterlife. This was shocking because that is a main focus of many religions today.

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American Foundation for Suicide Prevention

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Jul. 23, 2019 - July is National Minority Mental Health Awareness Month, which was established in 2008 to bring awareness to the unique struggles that underrepresented groups in the United States face regarding mental illness. Clearly, mental health conditions do not discriminate based on race, color, or gender identity, yet we see stark differences in access to, and utilization of, treatment resources. Approximately 1 in 5 adults in the U.S. (46.6 million) experiences mental illness in a given year, regardless of their race.¹ Fewer than half of adults in the U.S. with a mental health condition receive mental health services in a given year. African Americans however, utilize mental health services at about one-half the rate of Caucasian Americans.² This begs the question: why?

We cannot rule out the impact of historical adversity, which has led to race-based exclusion from health, educational, social and economic resources. Many African Americans today still feel the socioeconomic impact of slavery, sharecropping, and Jim Crowism. Socioeconomic status is linked to mental health, in that people who are impoverished, homeless, or incarcerated are at higher risk for poor mental health. We also cannot rule out the impact of stigma associated with mental illness in the African American community. According to the Health and Human Services Office of Minority Health, African-Americans are 20% more likely to experience serious mental health problems than the general population, yet African Americans are less likely to initiate treatment and more likely to end treatment prematurely.

Literature suggests that African Americans are much more likely to rely on their faith as a coping mechanism for dealing with depression and anxiety than they are to utilize a mental health professional. One study found that 90.4% of African Americans reported use of religious coping in dealing with mental health issues.³  In other words, many African Americans, rather than seeking support in the form of a mental health professional, go to the church.

This is not surprising when one understands the traditional role of the African American Church. There has always been a connection to faith and the emotional well-being of African Americans. I can remember personally, sitting on the front pew of the church, the son of a pastor, watching in awe as my father recited spirited sermons from the pulpit as the congregation hung on every word. After church it seemed that everyone wanted to get close to him. There was something about connection with the faith leader that brought a sense of comfort and familiarity. There has always been an intersection of faith & freedom. It was faith that sustained our African ancestors through slavery. Whether it’s in terms of freedom from physical bondage, spiritual bondage, or mental bondage, faith has been viewed as the key to unlock the shackles. Within the African American community, there was often a belief that no matter how great the burden, prayer was the answer.

The African American church has traditionally been the gateway into the African American community. It has been our access to social services, family counseling, and a sense of belonging. African American faith leaders also play a pivotal role in community messaging about what is important to black & brown people. We have historically looked to our faith leaders for political guidance, and to be the spokesperson when our communities have needed a champion. As stigma is a significant barrier to accessing the needed support and care for individuals facing mental health concerns, the ability for individuals in distress to have a conversation with a trusted faith leader with whom they have a shared history is often an essential component.  It is imperative that our faith leaders are equipped to respond appropriately to the lack of mental health resources in our communities while removing barriers to care.

Our faith leaders can play a pivotal role, if we are to move the needle on improving mental wellness in the African American community. My use of the term “wellness” is intentional; a crucial first step in changing the narrative is to change the language. We should focus on wellness rather than “illness.” Illness implies that something is wrong. Wellness lends itself more easily to viewing treatment as preventive.

If we want to strengthen the role of the church in promoting metal wellness, we must:

Educate church leaders about mental health, make sure they understand that mental health conditions are just as real (and common) as physical health conditions, and that it is likely that several families in church congregations may be experiencing mental health challenges

Seek opportunities to collaborate and work together with community mental health providers – imagine how much more comfortable a church member would be accessing his mental health clinician virtually from his local church, rather than visiting a clinician’s office

Opportunity exists for African American churches and mosques to provide depression education and treatment on their campuses – reach out to community stakeholders and invite them to speak to your congregations about mental health, and include mental health when scheduling health fairs

Encourage churches and mosques to offer Mental Health First Aid Training at their facility

Prepare church leaders to recognize mental health symptoms, learn how to have an appropriate conversation about it, and refer congregants to mental health professionals rather than trying to “counsel” them themselves

Recruit trained mental health professionals to church staff

Find ways to normalize the conversation and increase social support for those experiencing mental health symptoms.

The topic of mental health is still often associated with a sense of shame among African Americans, making it hard for those experiencing distress to reach out for help, and for those who care about them to help connect them to that help. By spreading awareness and understanding about suicide prevention and mental health, the church can become an important place of refuge for those struggling.

[1] Any Mental Illness (AMI) Among Adults. (n.d.). Retrieved May 1, 2019, from https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/statistics/mental-illness.shtml#part_154785

[2] Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Racial/Ethnic Differences in Mental Health Service Use among Adults. HHS Publication No. SMA-15-4906. Rockville, MD: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 2015. Retrieved July 2017, from https://www.samhsa.gov/data/sites/default/files/MHServicesUseAmongAdults

[3] Religious Coping Among African Americans, Caribbean Blacks and Non-Hispanic Whites.[J Community Psychol. 2008] Chatters LM, Taylor RJ, Jackson JS, Lincoln KD J Community Psychol. 2008 Apr; 36(3):371-386

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The Role of the Church in Improving Mental Wellness in the African American Community

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Our faith leaders can play a pivotal role, if we are to move the needle on improving mental wellness in the African American community.

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Theme 1
1. Code switching can be defined as a person changing the way they express themselves, it can be in a subtle way. This concept can affect an African American's success because it can force them to alter their behavior to aim towards being the most non threatening person of color, instead of pursuing their highest level.
2. Code switching represents a dangerous threat to diversity, because it conditions the minority groups to not act in their own way which is what produces diversity but instead code switching teaches them to act in line with societal stereotypes.
3. Code switching and its effects have the ability to take a toll on a person's mental health. For example someone may be altering the way they act in a different way for different groups of people in their life. Editing behavior depending on whether the person is at work, school, home, rich friends or regular friends could all be examples.
4.  https://www.yesmagazine.org/opinion/2019/12/17/culture-code-switching
-This article really served to provide an alternate perspective on the concept. The article stated that the core idea of code switching is to alter dialect in the best way possible to align and unify with the group at hand.
5. A strategy I believe that would be useful in addressing the misconceptions regarding code switching in the African American community in to have overall more inclusive policy. We should give respect to who people are and where they come from, no matter how that may make them speak or appear.
6. One thing that I learned that was shocking to me was the Harvard professor Henry Gates Jr being arrested for breaking into his own home.

Theme 2
1. AAVE is the distinctive dialect which is historically spoken by African Americans. Standard American English is much more strict, AAVE is considered by some to be a broken English.
2. Speaking in Ebonics in the classroom setting is usually always met with a quick correction to Standard American. Speaking in this manner is often times also viewed on a lower intellectual level.
3. Dual language speaking students can be empowered in the classroom by making them understand that it does not matter how they communicate their mastery but instead it only matters that they mastered it.
4. https://studybreaks.com/news-politics/should-ebonics-be-used-in-an-educational-setting/
This article helped me to understand one of the main factors behind not teaching Ebonics in schools and that is a fear of traditional English being taken over.
5. I agree with the professor at the end of the video when he stated that we must retrain our teachers to understand that AAVE is actually all around Standard American English.
6. One additional quote that stuck with me from the video stated that "dismissing a child's words only diminishes their identity."

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The voice that sprung from my throat was unfamiliar as I introduced myself to a classroom of White students. Its tone was high-pitched and enthusiastic-a far cry from my naturally soft raspiness.

It wasn't the first time I was unsettled by being the sole Black person in a room, but these moments had a profound effect on me. Without thought, I'd shifted my demeanor and speech. My thoughts were calculated, quickened, and in search of the "right" things to say. The words poured from my mouth pointed and stiff. I enunciated each consonant and vowel, and stressed each syllable. The production of it all, though a departure from my normal self, was seamless.

It was the first time I noticed I had code-switched.

Admittedly, I was later ashamed for abandoning my native tongue-African American Vernacular English-and sense of self in an effort to assimilate into a space of teaching and learning, particularly because, as the instructor, I was an authority figure.

Code-switching is an age-old practice that is familiar to many Black people-and people of color-in the United States. Though when sociolinguist Einar Haugen coined the term in 1954, it was to describe language alternation, or the mixing of two or more languages, or dialects. Albeit, the practice had been known since the early 20 th century. Linguists studied code-switching to examine when it occurs, while sociologists studied why it occurs. The findings differed across ethnic and racial demographics. According to Bridging Differences: Effective Intergroup Communication, code-switching facilitates several functions: to mask fluency and memory in a second language, go between formal and informal conversation, exert power over another, and align and unify among familiar group in certain settings.

In the '70s, the phenomenon gained traction in African-American spaces-academic and otherwise-to describe the relationships between people of color-particularly Black people-and the colonial other. In the text, Language and Interracial Communication in the United States: Speaking in Black and White, George B. Ray describes African-American code-switching as "a skill that holds benefits in relation to the way success is often measured in institutional and professional settings." And though, at times, the performance is superficially understood as a lingual phenomenon that often occurs vis-a-vis a range of social settings, similar to my experience in the classroom, for many African Americans code-switching is a skillset that is integral to our survival.

For African Americans, code-switching is a performative expression that has not only helped some of us thrive in mainstream culture, it has helped many of us simply survive.

The late W.E.B Dubois, world-renowned scholar and civil rights advocate, alluded to the concept of code-switching more than a century ago, when he wrote about African Americans reckoning with dual identities-Blackness and Americanness-while navigating everyday Whiteness in his most celebrated book, The Souls of Black Folk:

"It is a peculiar sensation, this double-consciousness, this sense of always looking at one's self through the eyes of others, of measuring one's soul by the tape of a world that looks on in amused contempt and pity. One ever feels his two-ness, an American, a Negro; two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings; two warring ideals in one dark body, whose dogged strength alone keeps it from being torn asunder."

Dubois speaks to how this sense of being is a testament of resilience. However, code-switching goes beyond "feeling." For African Americans, it is a performative expression that has not only helped some of us thrive in mainstream culture-it has helped many of us simply survive.

I consider the "talk" many African American parents have with their children to warn them of, and prepare them for potential encounters with law enforcement, an element of code-switching. The conversation involves clear directives on how to switch up behavior when approached by police. It goes a little something like this:

"Turn down loud music."

"Adjust your posture."

"Keep your hands visible."

"Exercise good manners."

"Speak properly."

Such conversations are a response to the dominant culture's attitude toward Blackness-Black people, Black culture. Unfortunately, for Black citizens, such a perverse attitude remains present during quite a few brushes with the law. A recent study conducted by Stanford researchers revealed that Black motorists experience traffic stops at significantly higher rates than their White counterparts, and were 20% more likely to be ticketed by authorities. Mere traffic run-ins can escalate and sometimes result in death for Black people.

In the case of Sandra Bland and Philando Castile -whose police encounters were recorded and publicly consumed-I often wonder how code-switching may have preserved their lives. If for one moment, like myself standing in the center of that classroom, they had ordered their words, tweaked their voice, or code-switched in the more ironic way I've only read about, when the enslaved and the oppressed dumbed down their literacy and downplayed their dignity when faced with the crack of the slaver's whip or the scrag of Jim Crow's noose.

The ability to code-switch back into our Black selves is another way we subsist, feel whole and in some regard redeemed. Derrick Harriell, a poet who is the director of M.F.A. Creative Writing Program and associate professor of English and African American Studies at the University of Mississippi, like me, says he experienced personal disappointment when he switched up being himself.

"I know certain forms of code-switching have been responsible for saving our lives as Black people and key to our survival, so in that way I'm not judgmental," Harriell says. "I understand that my ability to not code-switch is a privilege, but it's also a privilege my people died for, therefore for me, I have to [be myself] or else I feel as if I'm doing my ancestors a disservice."

Harriell affirms that for a number of Black Americans, despite the conviction of "selling out" oneself in an effort to assimilate into White culture, code-switching is a form of pointed privilege and power.

The privilege speaks to the once-denied prerogative to be audibly and visibly one's authentic self, or masked and acculturated for one's own advantage. However, how we wield that power varies from person to person.

Dr. Dione Mahaffey, an Atlanta-based business psychologist and coach, says the very notion of code-switching is draining, but asserts that the practice has been most beneficial as she progressed in her career.

"It's exhausting, but I wouldn't go as far to call it inauthentic, because it's an authentic part of the Black American experience," Mahaffey says. "Code-switching does not employ an inauthentic version of self, rather, it calls upon certain aspects of our identity in place of others, depending on the space or circumstance. It's exhausting because we can actually feel the difference."

For Mahaffey, code-switching is about exchange, a give and take of sorts. Much of her participation is predicated on how much of herself she is willing to negotiate. She says she doesn't share the things that make her a dynamic woman, or the remarkable professional she is.

"I save that for my village," she says. In the professional sphere, Mahaffey flips those feelings on their head. She has mastered the performative niceties of code-switching and uses it to her own advantage, particularly when working in White spaces. The business coach says she "consider[s] double consciousness to be a part of the laws of power: Play the perfect courtier, and grace your way to the top."

She uses it to get her way, Mahaffey says of code-switching.

"[White folks] don't see me coming because I've made them comfortable. I blend in enough to get my way, to learn what I need, to secure what I came for and then I go on and create and build in an unconventional way."

While I am unsure that code-switching in a classroom of fresh-faced White students was disarming or caught them off guard like Mahaffey's did her colleagues, I am certain it caught me off guard and complicated self-doubt.
My code-switching in the classroom occurred because I doubted that my authentic self was enough to be in the room, and that further complicated how I felt about myself. Because I'm now more consciously aware of the impact code-switching had on me, I'm almost certain I won't do it again. However, I realize that code-switching, for some, is not about assimilating but surviving, and well, I'm not sure how to feel about that.

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Opinion | Code-Switching Is Not Trying to Fit in to White Culture, It's Surviving It

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The voice that sprung from my throat was unfamiliar as I introduced myself to a classroom of White students. Its tone was high-pitched and enthusiastic-a far cry from my naturally soft raspiness. It wasn't the first time I was unsettled by being the sole Black person in a room, but these moments had a profound effect on me.

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1. One thing that stood out to me from the reading was explaining why in the first place attraction occurs in black male and female interpersonal relationships. It stated that we are more likely to choose someone who holds the same attitudes and mind set as us. This helps to understand that the main thing that a lot of people seek in relationships is validation.
2. Stereotypes ingrained in our society  regarding African American women have showed to be extremely psychologically dangerous. For women noticing these stereotypes it can shape their minds to value characteristics that she thinks are uplifting her in a mans eyes but in reality she is degrading herself.
3. The rising number of single black unmarried families is a cause of a few different factors. The number one overwhelming factor  is mutual lack of trust between women and men. In the qualitative study of motherhood and marriage in low-income Philadelphia and New Jersey neighborhoods, Edin and Kefalas (2005, p. 126) wrote, “Mistrust seems to permeate the very air of these neighborhoods.” They argue that mistrust is particularly pernicious with respect to marriage: “Becoming comfortable with the idea of marriage is about trust - - the astonishing lack of it in most couple relationships, and the profound need for it in order to sustain a marriage.”
4. A stigma has developed in the African American community against the LGBTQ+ community due to old societal norms still controlling many in the community. Statistics show that for black family members who identify as LGBTQ, 59% of them say that their own family makes them feel bad about it.

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9.6 Discussion: Thesis, Direction and Resources for Critical Analysis Project

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9.6 Discussion: Thesis, Direction and Resources for Critical Analysis Project

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9.5 Self-Reflection SWOT Analysis of Neighborhoods and Communities

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9.5 Self-Reflection SWOT Analysis of Neighborhoods and Communities

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1. The black community has several strengths that serve as it's core foundation. These strengths, although were brought about from times of extreme discrimination and having to endure peak racism in the America. The most powerful strength held by our black community I must say is resilience. People of color are disproportionately overlooked and over prosecuted in all areas of life. This I say has put a chip on our shoulder that we know we can come back from the discrimination we are currently facing and have been facing, but in order to do so we must work twice as hard as those who are white privileged. The second most prevalent strength of our community has to be a strong family connection. Our families have a outstanding ability to alter family roles to do whatever needs to be done to help our family members.
2. Although I stated family connection to be one of the strengths of our community, it is also our most detrimental downfall. The ability to switch  family roles around had to come about due to a lack of family accountability, in specific on the part of the father. Single motherhood rate has skyrocketed over the past few decades to over 70%. This is unacceptable and should not be incentivized in any way by placing single motherhood on a pedestal.  Single motherhood is draining the potential out of our young children. Boys are worse off across the board without their father in the house, more likely to be violent, do poorly in school, have criminal run ins, drug issues and more likely to live in poverty. This is not up for debate. The final most critical issue that can not be over looked is the black abortion rate. From the WSJ According to a city Health Department report released in May, between 2012 and 2016 black mothers terminated 136,426 pregnancies and gave birth to 118,127 babies. This is not sustainable at all and frankly is demonic. We can not be killing more of our babies than we give birth to. In terms of a solution to this we must stop propagandizing our mothers into thinking that they just have a clump of cells in their belly and that just because a baby is inconvenient at the time doesn't mean you can kill it. Even then if you want to hold those beliefs, there are horrible psychological and physical effects that will happen to the mother due to an abortion. It is a lose lose situation and we need to stop acting like abortion is a great thing that needs to be celebrated. We can find common ground on situations of rape, incest and danger to the mother but we need to come back to reality and realize we were all one of those "clump of cells" at one point.
3. I could name three simple and easy ways for our community to play a role in the progressive movement. First off our community needs to go back to valuing accountability and not material things. What do I mean by this, we must value ensuring our sons and little daughters have the correct mindset to thrive in life. Second we must progress towards a post racial society as much as we can. In specific, not shaping our children's minds around race which is completely made up, but instead shaping our children's minds around concepts of success and the blueprint to achieve it.  The final thing I want to say  that can apply to all minorities in America, is we must stop seeking to divide with language.  We are not African Americans, we are not Asian Americans or Mexican Americans, we are all Americans. That is something we can all find strength in.
4. A few detrimental effects on the progressive movement by the black community are still obvious. First off something I can attest to myself is the racism within our own community. Any person of color knows that It is different being light skinned, different being brown skinned and different being dark skinned. We can not be preaching a progressive agenda when we discriminate over our shade. Second I would say there is an ignorance to the sources of our problems. At a certain point we need to take accountability for our own lives and stop looking to the government to help us. Finally we must stop trying to give our children everything we didn't have but instead teach them everything we didn't know.
5. WSJ pertaining to our abortion issue
https://www.wsj.com/articles/lets-talk-about-the-black-abortion-rate-1531263697
6. The most interesting thing to me from this unit I must say had to have been the concept of social disorganization theory.

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As Judge Brett Kavanaugh's Supreme Court nomination tees up another national debate about reproductive rights, is it too much to ask that abortion's impact on the black population be part of the discussion?

When the Supreme Court decided Roe v. Wade in 1973, polling showed that blacks were less likely than whites to support abortion. Sixties-era civil rights activists like Fannie Lou Hamer and Whitney Young had denounced the procedure as a form of genocide. Jesse Jackson called abortion "murder" and once told a black newspaper in Chicago that "we used to look for death from the man in the blue coat and now it comes in a white coat."

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Let's Talk About the Black Abortion Rate

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As Judge Brett Kavanaugh's Supreme Court nomination tees up another national debate about reproductive rights, is it too much to ask that abortion's impact on the black population be part of the discussion? When the Supreme Court decided Roe v. Wade in 1973, polling showed that blacks were less likely than whites to support abortion.

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7.6 Padlet Discussion: Intersectionality, Bias and Microagressions

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7.6 Padlet Discussion: Intersectionality, Bias and Microagressions

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1. For people of color, unwanted consequences can come about resulting from subconscious racial slights. The most significant and impactful one is an overall feeling of alienation among society. Many will feel extremely degraded by the ideas which are being subconsciously implied.
2. Stereotypes can easily develop from microaggressions. An example of this could be like the lady stated, she was being spoke down to like a child by another woman. The stranger was surprised at how smart she was but that was only the case because she already had the preconceived either conscience or subconscious stereotype in her head of black people are uneducated and dumb.
3.  Intersectionality, racial microaggressions, bias or white privilege can have devastating effects on ones sense of self. Intense feeling of loneliness, anger, depression, anxiety and an overall lower psychological well being.
4. https://www.apa.org/news/podcasts
-This article helps to explain that many white Americans tend to ignore and even deny that white privilege exists, and what needs to be done to combat racial injustice.
5. I believe that the best strategy in order to counter microaggressions is for people to put thought into what they say and place themselves in the other persons shoes so they can see how they would want to be talked to.
6. The most insightful thing that I learned from this module I would say was how to classify microaggressions into different categories.

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Kim Mills : Over the past several weeks, protests against racial injustice have made headlines around the United States and the world. People of diverse backgrounds are turning out in large numbers, in small towns and big cities , incensed by recent high-profile instances where police have killed unarmed black people. For some white Americans, this movement may be prompting them to consider-some for the first time-the white privilege they've benefited from all their lives.

What can psychologists' research tell us about how and why white Americans have long been able to ignore and even deny the advantages they enjoy merely for being white? How do white people distance themselves from their privilege in order to preserve it? And do they realize it when they do so? Welcome to Speaking of Psychology, the flagship podcast of the American Psychological Association that explores the connections between psychological science and everyday lives. I'm Kim Mills.

Our guest today is Dr. Brian Lowery, a senior associate dean and professor of organizational behavior at Stanford University's Graduate School of Business. Dr. Lowery has studied the psychology of racial privilege in the U.S., including why White Americans are often blind to their privilege and how they react when it's brought to their attention. Recently, he published an op-ed in the Washington Post describing his own experiences of racial discrimination and calling on white Americans to support policies that advance racial justice. Welcome to Speaking of Psychology, Dr. Lowery.

Dr. Brian Lowery: Hi Kim. Thanks for having me.

Mills : In your op-ed you discuss the racism you've experienced, including being targeted with racial slurs as a child and being unjustly stopped and searched by police as a teen. You connect those experiences with your research on racial privilege. Why did you feel it was important to write this op-ed now and have this conversation?

Lowery : That's a great question, Kim. I wanted people to realize that this is just how common it is. And I think the recent videos and people's ability to see what's happening in real time has increased that awareness, but I don't know that people will have understood just until recently just how common these kinds of experiences are. And I wanted to turn the focus from what's happening to Black people in this country, to what that means about the experiences of white people in this country. And so that's really why I thought it was important to write it at this time.

Mills: Much of your research has been on how white people make sense of the unfair advantages that our society confers on them. In one paper, you talked about the three D's: deny, distance and dismantle--strategies that white people use to cope when confronted with evidence of white privilege. Can you talk a little bit more about those three D's and the psychology behind each of those behaviors?

Lowery: Of course. So the first thing is that I think the psychology that drives it is a desire to feel like a good, moral person. And in the context of a society that explains our outcomes as a function of deservingness, of meritocracy, it challenges our sense of self to believe that we might have benefited from unearned advantages. And in the case of race, the idea that being white has conferred unfair advantages can be incredibly uncomfortable. So I think that's the psychology that drives what we talk about and the deny, distance and dismantle. And so what actually happens, how that's managed, it can vary. One thing that white people do is to deny that they personally benefit from white advantage or white privilege. And this is done in multiple ways.

One common way is to highlight hardships they faced. And while we think those hardships are legitimate, that everyone faces legitimate, serious hardships, hardships don't somehow absolve people of privileges or negate the existence of privileges. So that denial is an interesting strategy, because it's as if, if you've gone through something hard in your life, that being white therefore doesn't confer advantages or privileges. Or it's the idea that privileges or advantages means that life is always easy for you, where that's not at all the case. That's not the claim that we make. So that's the denial side.

And the distance one is interesting because the distance allows for the existence of privilege, but simply says that I--I don't benefit from it, right? So it doesn't deny that privilege exists. It doesn't deny that it could exist for other people, but you really kind of separate yourself from other white people and say, I don't personally benefit. Whereas denial is a way of sometimes denying the full existence of privilege.

Mills: Meaning that nobody has white privilege.

Lowery: Right. So when I, the example I gave was really personal, but you can also see this denial in the way where you see some people focusing on very successful Black people, right? As a way of saying, look, they made it, therefore there isn't racial inequality. So there are other ways to get at that denial of privilege--that it doesn't exist at all in this country. And so I think very recently, whites were claiming that they were at least a great a target of discrimination as Black Americans are. So there's a lot of evidence that whites are uncomfortable with the possibility that white privilege exists at all. And then further that they personally benefit from it.

Mills: You've done research on how the way that you frame a discussion of racial inequality and privilege affects people's reactions to them. Are there strategies to talk about racial privilege in a way that leads people to have a dismantle reaction rather than a denial or a distancing reaction?

Lowery: That's a good question. When people are willing to accept that privilege exists, there's reason to believe that they might actually support policies that dismantle it or work against it. And it looks like when they don't, when people feel more affirmed in their self, when they feel better about themselves, it's easier to acknowledge the existence of privilege. So that's what we do in a number of our papers. We show that when you affirm people's sense of self, when you give them the opportunity to talk about what they value, what's important to them, that they have an easier time acknowledging the possibility that privilege exists and that they might benefit from it. And once people acknowledge the existence of privilege, if you can get people to see that it exists, then there's a greater likelihood and more, I wouldn't say comfort, but a greater willingness to support policies that dismantle that privilege.

Mills: Let's talk for a moment about the invisibility of white privilege. In a recent research article, you wrote that white people in the United States often don't even need to resort to the denial and distancing strategies we've talked about because of something you call herd invisibility. What does that mean? And how does herd invisibility happen?

Lowery: I think it happens in part because the society is structured in a way to hide the privilege that people benefit from. So you can see this in obvious ways, for example, segregation. Very few white folks in America actually have black friends. And many fewer live in circumstances where they see the disadvantages or the racial inequity in our system. So that segregation allows for people to be remain blind to their own advantages because they don't see the disadvantages that exist. They don't see the racial inequities. They blind themselves to the racial inequities simply by the way they go about their daily lives. They don't have to make a conscious choice to ignore it so much as it's hidden from them by the way the society is set up. So that's one way that you get herd invisibility. And then each individual act that white people engage in to deny or distance actually serves the broader white community, in that if I deny it exists and I create a narrative that it doesn't exist, then that serves you, even if you aren't actively denying it yourself.

Mills: And these are some of the cloaking strategies that you described that people use to address some of the discomfort that they feel.

Lowery: Yes. So again, going back to the underlying psychology, I think when I talk about, when we talk about invisibility, it's an interesting and ironic way to talk about it because in reality, you have to be willfully ignorant not to see racial inequalities in our society. So the cloaking is a way of suggesting that what's happening, it is willful, but it doesn't require each individual person to participate at all times, right? So that's the herd immunity part, herd invisibility part rather. If enough people engage in it, it hides it, it allows an act of hiding from everyone. This is what's I think often hard to convey, that it really is an act of hiding. It's not that it can't be seen, because the water we swim in and that's sometimes how it's talked about.

From my perspective, the disparities are so great, so stark and so easily accessible, that there really has to be some process in place to allow us to not see it. We have to engage in some psychological gymnastics as a society to deny its existence. And I think that's probably, for white people, there's discomfort when they're not allowed to do that. And for Black people and other people of color it can be enraging to see people engage in these mental gymnastics in a way that allows them to ignore the pain of say the Black community or other communities of color.

Mills: Is the fact that so many white people are joining the protests evidence that at least some white Americans are engaged in dismantling, even if they don't know that's what they're doing?

Lowery: I certainly hope so. I would just say that I don't personally tend toward optimism. And some of that I think is realism. The history of the United States is littered with movements that in the moment seemed like they were gaining traction, but there's inevitably been a backlash to those movements. And that backlash tends to come when you move beyond simply the sense of moral benefit that people have from pointing out the pain that other people experience, to the necessary work of actually changing the system, which comes at a personal cost. So the question will be, when it comes at a personal costs, will the energy that we see now in the streets remain?

Mills: And those personal costs mean giving up some of the privilege, right? I mean, you have to share some of the pie.

Lowery: Yes. But I think that it may be hard for white people to fully understand the benefits of being white in this society. They can see, it's easier to see the pain that people of color experience, and Black folks in particular right now, experience. I think it's harder to internalize and accept the degree of privileges that are enjoyed as a function of the system. And the question I think will be, when we really move towards trying to produce equity, are people going to be willing to give up those privileges? My sense, and in some of my research, I find that people can both acknowledge the existence of inequity, see that a particular policy would reduce the differences that are associated with that inequity, and honestly feel as if it's unjust to support those policies. In part, because people separate the disadvantages that some groups face, like the disadvantages that Black people endure, and the advantages enjoyed by whites. They separate those things. And they say, let's just eliminate those disadvantages. But when they start to experience a cost themselves, they find that unfair, unjust, they don't understand why they should have to pay a price for the elimination of someone else's disadvantages.

Mills: So in concrete terms, what is it that white people need to do to fully dismantle white privilege?

Lowery: That's a really good question. Some of it is supporting policies that actually redistribute resources, that would be a big one. It would be accepting that the system of, say, education in this country is fundamentally, I personally believe fundamentally unjust, and working on policies that push back against things like funding schools through property taxes. Which would have an effect on people's property values, perhaps short term. I think just those two things alone, I would say let's start there and see how it goes.

I would be also thinking about understanding that diversifying organizations is not letting in unqualified applicants, but in fact is--when you have the kind of privileges that we've had now, when you've not really allowed the full pool of people to have access to opportunities, then the people who are really benefiting from affirmative action are the people in the jobs right now. Understanding that and accepting that as a possibility. I mean, these are things that I think are going to be really tough and time will tell whether people are really going to be willing to go there, after the energy of the outrage over the deaths of Black people at the hands of police passes.

Mills: The U.S. Census Bureau has projected that America's white population will drop below 50% in 2045, and that the nation will reach majority minority status. In your view, will that have any impact on the notion of white privilege?

Lowery: Oh, that's a good question. Well, it already, those projections already do, right? So there's research done by Jennifer Richardson, an incredible social psychologist at Yale, that shows that when you present people with that information, whites often become threatened and respond in a way to try to maintain the privilege that they have. When that actually comes to pass, I think if we haven't rectified the deep inequalities in society right now, we're going to be in a really tough situation where you will have the vast majority of the political and economic power in the hands of a minority. And it's not as if that doesn't exist in other places, but I think it, that is a dangerous place to be. And I think it's possible. There's nothing to suggest that simply the shift in the demographics of the country will necessarily eliminate the privileges associated with race. If anything people will, I anticipate people will try to hold on to their advantages, and maybe even more tightly as they start to see them challenged.

Mills: Is the tide toward pulling down Confederate monuments and renaming places that were named for Confederate generals. Is that helpful in the scheme of things or is that just something that people are doing to feel good?

Lowery: It's a good question. What do I think about that? I think that for people of color it's important symbolically, it's important in terms of people's sense of comfort in their own physical space. I think that that symbolism for white folks is also important by itself. Does it change much? I don't think so. But I don't know that I would label it just a feel good action. I think the symbolism can be important and is meaningful and I think that pulling down icons of what I would call white superiority, because a lot of those monuments were put up decades after the civil war, as a way of reasserting white superiority, pulling that down is symbolic and important, but that's not going to create racial equity.

Mills: The American Psychological Association just released a poll that found a large majority of Americans, 72%, believe our country is at the lowest point they have ever observed. It also found that 71% said police violence toward minorities is a significant source of stress that they're feeling. At the same time just over two-thirds said the current movement against systemic racism and police brutality is going to lead to meaningful change in America. Given the work that you've done, looking at white privilege and racism, how much credence do you give to those numbers?

Lowery: Meaning, do I take seriously that people are concerned about the state of the country right now?

Mills: And that they really feel that this is going to lead to meaningful change?

Lowery: I think that people are concerned right now. I think when you see the disruption in systems that causes legitimate concern. I think that people are, I think that people really do believe things are going to change. I think that there's likely to be at some point the declaration of victory. Do I think that victory will be real? That's harder to say, I'm less optimistic about that. So I believe the numbers in terms of people reporting honestly their experience right now. I think that the mechanisms in this country that are designed to maintain the status quo are incredibly powerful. And I think that people can engage in behaviors that maintain the status quo and actually feel moral while doing it right. I think--who doesn't want to take care of their child, who doesn't want to give their child all the advantages they can? And if we just do that, we'll maintain the status quo. So I think that the amount of work it will take to radically shift the racial hierarchy in this country is vast. And while I am heartened by the demonstrations and protests, my sense of how much further we would need to go is such that any optimism I have is incredibly guarded right now.

Mills: What further research are you planning on the topic of white privilege? What do we still need to learn?

Lowery: Oh, I think we need to learn quite a bit. I, right now, my research is moving a little bit. So I'm really interested in how existential concerns, how we understand ourselves and how we understand ourselves socially in groups, drives our behavior. And that includes the intergroup behavior. What it means to be a Black person or a white person, what it means to be American, how that drives our, or creates our sense of self, and a desire to jealously guard that self, how that basic existential need is driving many of our behaviors, that's kind of where I am now. I have a number of students who continue to work on white privilege in particular. But honestly my interests are now moving more towards how our deep existential needs are driving our intergroup behavior.

Mills: How does this topic go over with students? Do you find a lot of resistance when you talk about it in the classroom?

Lowery: That's a good question. I don't talk about this often in the classroom, honestly. So when I'm in the classroom, what I do is work on leadership. And now as a senior associate dean, I spend even less time in the classroom. So I do often stand in front of students and talk about their responsibilities. So working at Stanford, our students are both incredibly talented and also incredibly privileged, as am I and everyone else associated with Stanford as an academic institution, and many other really elite and high status academic institutions. And in front of those groups what I say is that when we behave, the decisions we make affect many other people. And it's very easy to focus on how our decisions affect our outcomes, what it means about our career, what it means about our family, and lose sight of the fact that from our perch, those decisions actually affect many people's lives.

And so I don't talk in particular about race, but what I try to impress upon people in positions of power is that if we lose sight of the consequences of our behavior on other people, we will likely end up supporting existing inequities, right? Exacerbating existing inequities. It doesn't require us to be bad people or racist. It just requires us to continue to go along with the system as it is, and to continue to try to maximize our own outcomes. And that I think it's incumbent upon us to do more than that. So when I talk with students, that's the message that I give them. And I don't find a lot of resistance to that, because again, people want to see themselves as good and moral people. So I think it's important to convey to them what that actually requires of them.

And I think often we don't do that. We focus so much on the individual--individual racism or individual advancement or whatever--that we lose sight of the collective and our collective responsibility in the system. And also, this is what ends up going back to the Washington post piece. If you are part of a corrupt system, you yourself are going to be corrupted, right? So if you want to maintain or elevate yourself, then it's incumbent upon you to push against the corruption of the system you live in.

Mills: I think you've given us a lot to think about Dr. Lowery. Thank you for joining us today.

Lowery: Thank you for having me. I appreciate it.

Mills: The American Psychological Association has resources available on our website on race, racism and the fight for racial justice. Visit us at apa.org. You can also find previous episodes of Speaking of Psychology on our website at speakingofpsychology.org . And you can subscribe to our podcast on Apple, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. For more information on Dr. Lowery's work, visit the Stanford University Graduate School of Business website. You can also follow him on Twitter at Brian Lowery, PhD. If you have comments or ideas for future podcasts, email us at speakingofpsychology@apa.org . That's speakingofpsychology, all one word, at apa.org. Speaking of Psychology is produced by Lea Winerman. The editor and sound engineer is Chris Condayan. Thank you for listening. For the American Psychological Association, I'm Kim Mills.

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The invisibility of white privilege, with Brian Lowery, PhD

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Brian Lowery, PhD, discusses the factors that drive many white Americans to ignore and even deny that white privilege exists, and what he believes needs to be done to combat racial injustice.

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1. Imposter syndrome can be defined as an inability to internalize accomplishments and instead having a constant state of fear that they will be exposed as a fake.
2. Students can be affected by imposter syndrome by internal feelings being created of extreme incapability and inferiority. This can carry on after education and cause young adults to way undersell themselves.
3. Regarding the mental health and self esteem of African American women it can be detrimental to progressing in life as well as extremely harmful for the mental state.
4. Race and gender are front and center in the African American woman's work experience. They are much too often spoke down upon and looked over by white coworkers and bosses. It was found that white bosses expect less success from black workers.
5. One suggestion I could make to improve the work experience for black women and all minorities is to develop the mental strength to not allow someones perception of you to become your own belief. You can never control what others think of you.
6. One thing that I learned that was surprising to me was that white teachers think black students are 40% less likely to graduate high school.

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6.5 Education and Work (Theme 1) *Updated

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6.5 Education and Work (Theme 1) *Updated

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1. I feel that the most significant factor contributing to a low number of African Americans in the STEM system is the feeling of being lost and out of place on campus. Many African American students feel as if there is no one like them around them and this can cause a lot of anxiety. The second factor I must mention is the pain caused by preconceived stereotypes regarding African Americans.
2. Teachers play the role of being a guide to help the students navigate and thrive through the same stereotypes and feelings of imposter syndrome. A quote from Mark Van Doren states that " the art of teaching is the art of assisting discovery." Teachers play the role of a role model to their students to show them that someone who looks like them can achieve whatever they want to achieve.
3. The implicit bias of educators can often serve to cause feelings of inadequacy in the students and a stronger avoidance of those subjects. Most importantly, these strong feelings can shape the overall mindset of young students. Implicit bias can also cause even already qualified candidates to be overlooked and dismissed due to them being a minority.
4. This knowledge can easily lead to developing imposter syndrome, because these types of bias is what plants the seeds for more serious emotions to occur. In the context of the educational system This information leads to an overall inability to believe that as a minority student, you can hold high positions of intellect and authority. This in turn leads to an avoidance higher education and more prestigious school selections.
5. I think the best and most effective method to avoid these problems happening is to not address students by their race, ethnicity, or gender at all. Refer to everyone as their preferred name, and provide equal encouragement and assistance to all students.
6. I learned the major concept of imposter syndrome and was actually able to relate to it as well.

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Racial Autobiography Outline

1. Introduction Paragraph: Definition of Race

1. In the present day, there are a few core main issues on the hearts and minds of Americans but race is one everyone can be hurt by. The mental associations we have connected with race must be examined to figure out what causes them and to better help us move towards a post race society.

2. Is race biological or social?:
In my belief race is completely a social construct just in the same way gender is. Race has become a set in stone set of rules that we have been raised and trained to abide by.

2. Body Paragraph 1: Self-Assessments/Scores/Analysis

1. Main point 1: The Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure (MEIM)

1. My score came out to a 33. Meaning that I indicate a higher sense of ethnic identity and bonding with a group of people.

2. Main point 2: Rosenberg’s Self-Esteem Scale

1. My score for this test came out to 55. This signals that I have an above average self esteem

3. Body Paragraph 2: Summary of Stages of Racial Identity Development & Life Examples

1. Main point 1: Racial Identity Development

1. Supporting detail:  Presented heavily with internalization, I would now say I am in the commitment stage.

2. Main point 2: Multi-dimension of Ethnic Self Identification

1. Supporting Detail: In regards to this I would say my mindset has shifted from thinking of being connected to others to now more just myself and family

4. Body Paragraph 3: Post Racial Society Critical Analysis

1. We absolutely do not live in a free post racial society today. With events like George Floyd there is no way that statement can be made that we are in a post racial society.
2. African Americans are subjected to institutional racism across all areas of life, suffer low income, low fatherhood and high rates of police violence

1. Conclusion Paragraph

When thinking of the United States of America which is supposed top be land of the free, we can not stand for the systemic hate and white supremacy forming against African Americans. We must learn from our wrongdoings and treat everyone equal.

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1. After analyzing the reading I was able to find many things that make the Black family unique, but a few significant ones stood out. First off I would say the family components of the black family, things such as nurturing, guidance, and providing structure are the most unique in my opinion.
2. The strengths and challenges of the black family have been present for hundreds of years. They have faced many challenges in the past such as slavery and segregation, which the community has came a long way from and has used it now as strength. But now the black community is plagued by problems such as single motherhood, poverty and few resources.
3. The concept of racial socialization affects parents as well as children in the black family. This has an affect first off on parents because it forces them to know that they need to tell their children of how the world and society is going to be for them being black children. Then on the other hand the children grow up hearing this their entire life and they can sometimes feel too weighed down or they can feel even more motivated in life.
4. The things most negatively affecting the black family in my opinion is the alarming single motherhood rate as well as poverty levels. It is easy to see how these might relate to each other but the more significant side of is it is a lack of a father in the home. Statistics show that kids are more likely to do drugs, commit crimes, do poorly in school, be abusive and many other things when they don’t have their father in the home.
5.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/wbna39993685

6. One thing that has shocking and horrible to learn from the lesson was the elderly abuse that occurs. Also the fact that 22% of elderly African Americans are poor.

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1. After listening to the audio clip, I was able to easily recognize a few different "isms" throughout it. The first one I was able to recognize better after hearing the breakdown of microaggressions was racism. Asking someone a question such as where you from can boil up emotions within the person such as feeling like an alien in their society. Also to use the example of the black lady who stated that someone came complementing her with microaggressions regarding her intellect. This is yes obviously racism but also to me it feels in the same way ageism does. The lady complementing was talking to the other woman as if she was a child and that she was surprised with her capabilities.
2. To answer the question of do we live in a post racial society, I would say no and we never will.  Our country has been taking small baby steps but that's about it. But I think It is also important we stay thankful we are not somewhere worse like
Mauritania or Yemen where active slavery is still practiced.
3.For me I do not need a definition of race at all, I see it like a name. Just like my name is just word assigned to me that I had nothing to do with and means nothing. My race is not me, my name is not me, all that I identify with is my spirit and soul.
4. The topic that stood out to me most was for sure colorism. It is just so hard to understand why people seem to search for something to discriminate against when they are literally the same. I have seen this first hand my whole life, being half black with brown curly hair and light eyes.
5. https://www.vox.com/2014/10/10/6943461/race-social-construct-origins-census
6. Something new that I learned from this chapter is that racism can affect not only psychological factors but it can also affect peoples physical health, even affecting disease.

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Every time someone struggles to explain or select a racial identity, every time we have a public debate about should check get to check box, and every time a person's looks don't seem to match up with what they call themselves, it's a reminder that race is a social and political construct.

But what does that actually mean?

It means that racial categories are not real. By "real," I mean based on facts that people can even begin to agree on. Permanent. Scientific. Objective. Logical. Consistent. Able to stand up to scrutiny.

This, of course, does not mean that the concept of race isn't hugely important in our lives. Although race isn't real, racism certainly is. The racial categories to which we're assigned, based on how we look to others or how we identify ourselves, can determine real-life experiences, inspire hate, drive political outcomes, and make the difference between life and death. But these important consequences are a result of a relatively new idea that was based on shaky reasoning and shady motivations. This makes the borders of the various categories impossible to pin down and renders today's debates about how particular people should identify futile.

If you have any lingering belief that the racial categorizations we use make any real sense, read this and change your mind:

1) Americans embraced the idea of race to make slavery feel okay

Racial classifications didn't always exist. Of course, there were always people in different parts of the world who had some physical traits in common, but they weren't forced into rigid categories. Discrimination and stereotypes existed, but they were based on country of origin, religion, or culture, not so-called scientific distinctions.

With the 1776 edition of his book, On the Natural Variety of Mankind, German scientist Johan Friedrich Blumenbach is credited with creating one of the first race-based classifications. He decided on five categories: "Caucasian, the white race; Mongolian, the yellow race; Malayan, the brown race, Ethiopian, the black race, and American, the red race."
It's the basis of a manmade strategy for making sense of treating some people better than others.
Americans bought into this idea, too. Why was it so appealing? "Americans of European descent invented race during the era of the American Revolution as a way of resolving the contradiction between a natural right to freedom and the fact of slavery," historian Barbara J. Fields explained in a presentation to the producers of PBS's series Race: The Power of An Illusion (which is worth checking out for more detailed information on all this).

If "whites" were in their own category - with innate differences backed by science - then that category could be deemed superior. As a result, they could justify their own rights and freedoms while enslaving, excluding, and otherwise mistreating people who had been placed in different racial categories.

So the division of people into groups based on general geographical origins of their ancestors or descriptions of the way they look, is the basis of a manmade strategy for making sense of treating some people better than others.

2) The way we legally define different races in America can change on a whim - and it has

If race were based on permanent, innate divisions of human beings, the American government wouldn't have to constantly scramble to change the definitions and qualifications for each category.

But it does. All the time. As political priorities change, American racial definitions adjust right along with them.

So, for example, people of Mexican birth or ancestry were "white" until the 1930 Census snatched that privilege back. Since then, their status - white or Hispanic - has flip-flopped several more times, all depending largely on whatever the current thinking was about their role in labor or immigration.

Similarly, courts went back and forth in the early 20th century about whether people from Japan were white, finally deciding in 1933 that they weren't, based on "the common understanding of the white man." (Sounds really official, huh?)

And what it took to be "black" once varied so wildly throughout the country (from one-quarter, to one-sixteenth, to the infamous one drop of African ancestry) that people could actually change races by crossing state lines.

Then, suddenly, in 2000, the government decided that Americans could be more than one race, adding options to express this to the Census. In other words, one day you could be a single race, and the next day you could be as many as you pleased.

With these constant changes, it's hard to make the case that the concept of race is anywhere near stable.

3) Once upon a time, some people from Europe were "not quite white"

Today, the term "European" is treated as largely interchangeable with "white" in America. But that wasn't always the case. According a timeline published as part of the Race: The Power of an Illusion series, when immigration to the US from Southern and Eastern Europe increased in the late 1800s and early 1900s, many of the new arrivals worked low-paying jobs, were clustered in urban ghettos, and were seen as "not quite white." In fact, Germans, Greeks, Irish, Italians, and Spaniards have all - either legally or as matter of public opinion - been excluded from the "white" category at some point.
Germans, Greeks, Irish, Italians, and Spaniards have all - either legally or as matter of public opinion - been excluded from the "white" category at some point.
Today, the "white" census category is available to "a person having origins in any of Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa." History proves that that list was heavily informed by various groups of immigrants' popularity, not biological differences.

4) The government still hasn't figured out a good way to get people to pick a race

The US Government uses the Census to determine the official racial makeup of the nation. That's important information because, although the idea of race has no biological basis, the various groupings we've embraced now shape social reality when it comes to law, public policy, and interpersonal interactions. There's no question about whether race informs Americans' experiences with education, employment, the justice system, and countless other measures. The data collected can help paint a clear picture of how that works.

But accurately polling an entire country full of people who have different ideas about race and what it means has been tough, bordering on impossible.
Accurately polling an entire country full of people who have different ideas about race and what it means has been tough.
"Increasingly, Americans are saying they cannot find themselves on Census forms," a Census Bureau official told the Pew Research Center in March. As many as 6.2 percent of Census respondents selected "some other race" in the 2010 survey.

As a result, the Bureau undertook what it called "the most comprehensive effort in history to study race and ethnic categories," hoping to convince fewer Americans to skip the racial identification question by the 2020 Census.

One proposed fix that's under consideration: to make "Hispanic" a race of its own, which means changing it from its current status as an ethnicity choice that can be combined with a selection for race or "some other race." The government's controversial goal is that many of the people who in 2010 selected "Hispanic" and then checked "some other race" will in 2020 choose "Hispanic" as their race, leaving fewer unanswered racial questions about the population.

5) The race of people of Middle Eastern and North African descent is in limbo at this very moment

In addition to the Hispanic question described above, the Census Bureau is currently taking into consideration the views of people of Middle Eastern and North African descent who have told the Census Bureau they don't want to be categorized as "white" any longer.

It's unclear whether the Bureau will get behind these changes and, if so, whether the Office of Management and Budget will approve them in time for the 2020 Census. But if the fix does take effect, plenty of people who are considered white right now won't be in six years.

6) Siblings with the same parents can claim different races

The occasional sensational stories in the " Black and White Twins: Born a minute apart" vein are really just overblown reports on siblings who, because of normal genetic variations, have different complexions. That the public feels empowered to declare that two infants born to the same mother and father are actually different races says a lot about how many people give racial identity more credit for being objective than it deserves.

But here's what's even more revealing: adult siblings who share the same parents are free to choose different racial identities when they fill out the Census or otherwise decide how to identify. One might be "black" while the other chooses "black, white, and Asian." Yet another kid from the same family could declare him or herself "multiracial." They might make different choices because of their different looks, different experiences, or different personal politics.

7) You're free to change your race over the course of your life, as many times as you want

Between the years 2000 and 2010, millions of people who said they were of Hispanic origin (remember, that's currently an ethnicity option, not a race option) changed their census selection for race from "some other race" to "white."
There are stories of people who decide to "come out" as black, shedding, or sometimes, still holding onto, their previous "white" or "Latino" identities.
They're not the only ones in this country who've made adjustments to their racial identities. There are stories of people who decide to "come out" as black, shedding, or sometimes, still holding onto, their previous "white" or "Latino" identities. Maybe these individuals make the switch because they learned something about their parents' background. Or maybe it's because they've just begun to think about identity differently.

You'll of course raise fewer eyebrows if your appearance is one most associate with your new chosen race (and, if you are a person of color, no declaration on your part will preclude you from experiencing prejudice), but if you decide to check a new box, it really doesn't have to make sense to anyone but you.

8) You can't tell by looking at someone what box they check or how they identify

Last year, NPR reported on a tiny town in the Appalachian foothills of Ohio, where, for the past 100 years, people have called themselves African-American despite the fact that many would say they appear to be white. (Check out the pictures here.) This is an extreme case, in which " racial lines have been blurred to invisibility" among an entire community. But the idea that someone might look one way and identify another way - or that they might be really hard to place in a racial category - is not unfamiliar.
It's why there was a public debate about whether MSNBC's Karen Finney could say she was black.
It's why there was a public debate about whether MSNBC's Karen Finney could say she was black, and why people are curious about whether actress Rosario Dawson declares herself black, Latina, or both.

These are individual and relatively unpredictable decisions because there's nothing about the concept of race that requires more of them.

9) Seriously, there's not even a consensus on Obama

A 2009 Pew Research Center poll, the results of which were published this year, revealed that 52 percent of Americans said Barack Obama was of "mixed race," while 27 percent called him "black." In other words, we can't even agree on the racial label assigned to the President of the United States.

10) DNA tests can't measure it

A DNA test can give you information about where your ancestors came from. That's not the same as telling you what your race is. The constant changes to whether people from various parts of Europe are "white" at any given time in United States history - including the one that might change with the next Census - are proof of that.

And while we're on the topic of science, Dorothy Roberts, the author of Fatal Invention: How Science, Politics, and Big Business Re-create Race in the Twenty-first Century explains that when the medical community links race to health outcomes, it's really just using race as a proxy for other factors such as where your ancestors came from, or what social inequalities people who have been grouped similarly to you tend to face. Here's how she put it in one interview:

There are studies to explain racial divisions in health that are actually caused by social inequalities. Yet you have researchers studying high blood pressure, asthma among blacks, etc. and looking for a genetic cause. However, research shows these [illnesses] are the effects of racial inequality and the stress of racial inequality ... Of those who say [race is biological], they usually point to sickle cell anemia, as proof that illnesses are race-based. Even if you look at these genetic diseases that seem to run along with race, it's actually caused by environment. Sickle cell is an adaptation in areas with high rates of malaria. You find it in some areas of Africa, Asia and Europe. It's not about race at all.

11) Race is impossible to explain to children

Try to explain to a curious kid why his mom, who has light skin, is "black," how we can tell for sure what race anyone is, or who decided on this handful of groupings of human beings, and you'll immediately realize how nonsensical it all is.

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Every time someone struggles to explain or select a racial identity, every time we have a public debate about should check get to check box, and every time a person's looks don't seem to match up with what they call themselves, it's a reminder that race is a social and political construct.

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Padlet post 3.4 Three Self-Assessments, Racial Identity Development and Identity Resource

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Padlet post 3.4 Three Self-Assessments, Racial Identity Development and Identity Resource

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3.1- 1. In regards to the Natal Measures, I choose my parents first off then my siblings as well as my grandparents. The reasoning behind choosing my parents is because they are the sole reason behind my existence on earth. I mentioned my siblings because when you have siblings it allows you to see similarities between each other and you become closer because of them. Finally I said my grandparents because when spending time with my grandparents I realized they come from a much different time and place than we currently live in.
2. - Within the category of Behavioral Measures, my first selection would be language. Being able to communicate clearly and comfortably with your family is crucial. I would also mention music and food because these are things that are extremely meaningful to me. Finally I would say bonding through religious activities as well and sports help me connect even stronger with my own ethnic self identity.

3- Regarding the subjective measure category I chose, one significant topic which is role models. I put such emphasis on this because the role models we have in our lives especially at a early age, heavily shape who we end up becoming. For example if someone was determined to get their masters degree but they are taking advice from someone who dropped out of junior college cause it was too hard. You must follow success.

4-Within the final category of situational contextual-measures I could identify with all the topics listed but most with home family, work, recreation, religion and spirituality. For me, my home family were the ones who ingrained all these other areas into my life and I am forever grateful. The first example that comes to my mind is playing sports with my dad, brothers and sisters.

3.2- 1. My multi-group ethnic identity measure score was a 32
2. My score on this test tells me that my connections to my ethnic group is known and present but to me but not massively significant
3.  I think this shows that I have a moderate bond with my ethnic group due to me mainly not displaying a lot of pride for my group. This is not due to any particular reason, I would say I just do not naturally feel a strong attachment towards my group. But I do feel like I belong for sure

3.3- 1. Scored a 26 on the Rosenberg’s Self-Esteem Scale

2. My score indicates an overall above average sense of self esteem. This makes sense to me as I have been aware of this sense I was a  child, even if I didn't always show it.
3. I believe that my score was the number it is because at one point early in my life I did not have good self esteem and I set out to change that.

3.4- 1. I would state that I am in the 4th stage which is "Identification as a new racial group" I will say I am not fully in this stage although because I do not identify the most with other biracial people but I do identify more with them on average.
2. I know I am in this stage because I have been through moments in my life when I significantly favored one side.
3. I know I have progressed through other stages because I no longer feel obligated to only identify with my white side.
4. One of the most important things I learned in this process is accepting things I have no control over has greatly helped me psychologically.

3.5 My Racial Identity Resource
https://youtu.be/E44kFkyl_Y8
This video and this man Bob Proctor has helped me to progress greatly in my racial as well as spiritual journey. As well as break free from many harmful socital stereotypes

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2.4 Ubuntu, Afrocentricity and Nguzo Saba

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2.4 Ubuntu, Afrocentricity and Nguzo Saba

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Theory 1-
After reading about the concept of Ubuntu as well as listening to Nelson Mandela speak on the topic, I believe that Ubuntu is very much alive and well in today's African American culture.  Mandela gave an example of a man who would come into the village and without asking, people would try to assist him in anyway necessary. I think present day examples can be seen nowadays when people who have found out how to attain success, go out and try to help out those who don't have someone to show them how to do it.  I believe that similarities can be seen not only between African and African American culture, but in every culture on the planet. I say this because the main idea and message of Ubuntu is to give the energy to others that you wish to be given back to you. That is a message that doesn't only come from Ubuntu but it comes from all of our individual consciousnesses. This concept definitely altered my worldview to a much more selfless manner.
Theory 2-
1. The concept that I feel is most present in the African American community today is Spiritness. I have noticed this throughout my life when seeing people who have faced extreme adversity and discrimination still keep their spirit and because of that they end up reaching their highest version of self.
2. One key concept that I believe is currently missing in the African American community in Human Authenticity. Life if priceless and every person on this planet is on a timer, our daily focus should be on the things that truly matter, like becoming someone we are proud of, or being strong for your family for example. In my opinion, there is too much importance placed on insignificant areas of life within the African American Community. I believe there should be more of an attitude which serves to teach rather than give.
Theory 3-  Kujichagulia can be defined as self determination or in more words as reaffirming the right of people to determine their own destiny. This concept I would say heavily resonates with me because I believe this idea allows people to unlock their true potential. I have witnessed this first hand with people who were always set on a vision from a young age, and even though a lot of people did not believe in them or they just could not see the vision, the person still ends up reaching that vision in the end, this was due to an extreme amount of self determination.

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Prompt 3. Positive Sense Of Self Brainstorming

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Prompt 3. Positive Sense Of Self Brainstorming

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-I believe it is absolutely necessary to have a positive sense of self because it will more so allow you to see race and ethnicity in a proper way
-Someone who has an extremely negative sense of self, is going to be more likely do disrespect others race and ethnicity and not be in touch with the topic
-If someone identifies positively with African American psychology, I would bet that they have a stronger sense of racial identity. I say this because they clearly have self respect.

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My first memory that I can dig up out of my mind about race is from when I was about 7 years old. Me and one of my best friends Alec were hanging out with my cousin Brandon who is a lot darker than me and my family who are light skin for the most part. But Alec was calling my cousin burnt pancake, when they were messing around, but I could tell that it bothered my cousin and Alec could tell too. My cousin actually spoke up and said he didn't like it and to stop. The overall emotion that it made me feel at that young age, made me never want that to be done to me so why would anyone do it. We all joked about it a few weeks later and still joke about it today, but it really served as a real lesson. The impact my early experiences with race had on my world view now is that it taught me that the most important thing we can do is treat others the way we would want to be treated

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Who Am I???
- I am Michael Fletcher.
Who Do I Pretend To Be???
- I would say that If I ever pretend to be someone that I am not, It would be pretending that I am a social type person.
Who Do People Think I Am???
- A hardworking strong young man.
Who Do I Wish I Could Be???
I wish to be someone that I can be proud of at any moment of my life.
How Has Race Or Ethnicity Played a Role In My Responses???
- When It comes to my responses to these particular answers, I would not say race played a role.