Friday, October 25, 2013

It's Just Natural



           Is it possible to be a racist without trying?  If one was raised with the idea of segregation as a normal occurrence among schools and other activities, are they the ones in the way of a truly united America?  In Bonilla-Silva’s Racism Without Racists, he explains Naturalization, one of the four central frames of color-blind racism as: “ [A way] to rationalize whites’ preferences for whites as significant others” (pg. 37).  The idea does not only stretch to significant others, but can also refer to basic interaction in daily lives.  This frame of mind essentially states that races like to be with their own kind, because it is a natural occurrence.
            As crazy as it may seem, if someone had given me that explanation as to why segregation is so prevalent in America, I would have completely agreed before this class.  It seems to me that people would feel more comfortable around their own kind because they feel safe and secure.  I can relate this very closely to my old high school lunches.  There was always one side of the room with whites and another side with blacks and latinos.  The only time anyone from another race would intermingle was because they were athletes or in some club activity together.  Very rarely did someone go out of their comfort zone unless they were forced to.  Just the intimidation alone shown from all of these groups is enough to make someone feel uncomfortable and not want to try to intermingle.
            However, it seems like social status also has a lot to do with racial the natural frame of color-blind racism.  According to Project Censored, U.S. schools are currently more segregated than they were in the 1950’s.  Even in rural areas it is a problem, with:  “73 percent [white students] attend schools that are 80 to 100 percent white”(pg. 2).  With rural areas barely experiencing any race change throughout their lives, many could believe in this framework of colorblind racism.  Maybe it is just natural that the minorities would want to be in schools where they feel comfortable among their peers.  If a mindset like that is easy to believe in a college setting, it might as well be second nature for high school students to believe the same thing.
            According to an article in the Chicago Reader, the sponsor of the first colored school that was opened up in Chicago had a school renamed for him that is now 98 percent black.  This school was created by the government to keep blacks separate from whites in their learning environments in Chicago.  Many of the blacks at this school could have believed that it was natural for them to attend this school.  If it was a school created for their specific race, then it should be a school that they would want to attend.  No matter how bad crime or gang violence could have been around the area, blacks may have continued to go to the school because they still believe it to be their natural place of education even after the segregation law was changed just as many of the whites in that area of Chicago may think.
            The Naturalization framework gives whites a way to think that racism and segregation is ok because it is a natural phenomenon.  With this way of thinking it is easy for one to brush over the fact that all of these races could be working together.  Many whites with this idealism may not even know that what they are thinking is part of racism and a major factor of segregation.  Proving that this is not natural may be the way to bring someone out of this logic.     

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