Race and gender assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Race and gender - Assignment Example But Crashs weaknesses far outweigh its strengths. It fails to delineate and explain the differences between forms of bias found in different communities, reduces discussions of race to discussions of feeling and bias, ignores social institutions and different access to privilege and resources, and focuses discussion on race while masking other important factors such as class and gender. Jensen and Wosnitzer explain, â€Å"The central theme of the film is simple: Everyone is prejudiced -- black, white, Asian, Iranian and, we assume, anyone from any other racial or ethnic group. We all carry around racial/ethnic baggage that’s packed with unfair stereotypes, long-stewing grievances, raw anger, and crazy fears. Even when we think we have made progress, we find ourselves caught in frustratingly complex racial webs from which we can’t seem to get untangled†. This is a fair enough point, but is it true? Is everyone equally embroiled? No. Internalized racism is certainly a problem, as is racialized resentment towards a dominant class (e.g. whites, men, etc.) But not all groups are made equal when it comes to their expression of racism and bias. Blacks express the desire to live in integrated communities overwhelmingly; it is whites who are opposed (Defina). Further, more subtly, there is a big difference between the prejudiced attitudes of those who are the oppressed, the underdogs, of societys social structure, and the attitudes of those who are on top. It is the difference between the hatred that the Jews in the Warsaw ghetto felt for the Nazis and the hatred the Nazis felt for the Jews. The hatred might be equally virulent and violent, but the first is defensive and is in response to the perceived actions of the second. The Jews did not think that Nazis were genetically or culturally inferior, vermin who needed to be extinguished; blacks did not think whites were too stupid to manage their own affairs and deserved to be enslaved. It is the dominant group that