Essay summary of racism

The first topic that is going to be addressed is stereotypes and dating. I am more familiar with this topic then the other two topics because I was the once who did the research for our group presentation about this. I came across numerous articles that were very eye opening to me. The first article I will talk about is called, ” Is Love Becoming Color Blind? “. I really enjoyed reading through this article because it had personal examples from three different interracial couples. The first couple was Kristina Adamski and John Phillips, who were both in their early thirties.

In the article it stated that being an interracial couple has been less of a challenge because the two communicate their feelings, and they have a large supportive network offamilyand friends. Kristina also said, ” The key is to have a diverse circle of friends and people who are open-minded. ” I think that statement from Kristina is very true and if everyone can keep that in mind then we could easily grow not just as people, but also as a country. In that very same article it also talked about blacks and whites, and how many people who are under the age of 30 who cross the color line without giving a second thought to race.

That statement right there is a huge statement when talking about the positives to a color blind society. When you can look at someone who you are attracted to for theirpersonalityand not the color or their skin, that shows a lot about our country and how we are changing for the better. In that same article, another couple who spoke very wise words were 32 year old Paquita and her 34 year old husband Craig Morgan. This interracial married couple has two beautiful biracial children. They live in Atlanta Georgia where race is still an issue, but Paquita did state that ” Race is quickly becoming more and more of a non-issue. Moving onto the next article which is titled, ” Gender Perspective in Cross-Cultural Couples,” it states that in modern relationships, the concept of intimacy and the right tohappinesshave become the core of what is considered to be a solid and committed relationship. Also, increased cultural movement, immigration, tourism, job training, andstudy abroadhave created couples who romantic choices reach across cultural, racial, and religious lines. Therefore, people are no longer looking at color of skin, religious views, or ethnicity, but simply who and what makes them happy.

We often look to our significant others for certain qualities, certain roles and expected behavior that we hope will fit our roles and help to balance us out. Differences that emerge from cross-cultural perspectives help with learning and growth of the relationship as well as bonding. A study that I came across which was titled, ” Interracial Dating Attitudes Among College Students,” involved 620 University students who completed an anonymous questionnaire that helped to assess attitudes towards interracial dating. The result of that study showed that almost one fourth (24. %) reported having dated interracially and almost half (49. 6%) expressed an openness to becoming involved in an interracial relationship. Interracial dating is growing steadily and something that is helping it to grow are increased individualism, tolerance for diversity, and greater minority enrollment in college and universities. The next topic that will be discussed is stereotypes and employment. When it comes to stereotypes and employment, many studies have been done to look at the relationship between race and employmentdiscrimination.

The results were that blacks have received lower scores and evaluations on both objective and subjective measures (found by Roth, Huffcut, and Bobko). Least to say, black and white raters have higher ratings to members of their own race. Many racial problems are brought about because of racial stereotypes and prejudice. There was a women by the name of Yolanda Spivey and she was a victim of employment discrimination. Yolanda was unemployed for two years after working ten years in the insurance industry. Yolanda was struggling to find a job.

She applied to a website that helps with job placing, and Yolanda was asked to take a diversity questionnaire. She was not having any luck with that site so she decided to go back and act like a white women, and the results were that the white women got more emails and calls for jobs then Yolanda did. If we could slowly start to improve our countries thoughts when it comes to race and employment, we could be more balanced and successful. In a color blind society we would have equal opportunity employment.

The next topic to be discussed is stereotypes and media. Stereotypes in the media are very common. Media stereotypes of ” angry black women” have become more noticeable in recent years, and this stereotype is effecting how people see race. Black women in the media are more than often portrayed as dark skin, loud ” ghetto acting” women. There have been television shows that have tried to help with different races such as the Jefferson’s and The Cosby Show. Those shows were still criticized for their use of stereotyped black characters.

Another television show named Ugly Betty, had a main character who was a light skinned women named Wilhelmina. Wilhelmina simply was not seen as a black women because of her social mobility and her light colored skin and eyes. That statement alone from the fans of Ugly Betty, brings up colorblindracismor media stereotype racism. If we want to become a colorblind society then the media needs to do a better job at being colorblind. People of different races and ethnicities help to bring different personalities to the media which can be a very positive thing.

In conclusion, the world would be a better, more positive place if we were completely colorblind. Stereotypes in dating, employment and media all need to change before our society can become colorblind. Interracial dating is steadily growing, and we are seeing some change in stereotypes and media, but the biggest adjustment that we need to make is stereotypes in employment. If we can get people to judge others based off their personalities and skills instead of the color of their skin, then our country would be a more positive place.