Soc. 3251W Race, Class, and Gender

On February 20th, we watched the film "The Color of Fear". This film documented eight men from different ethnicities who spent a weekend discussing their experiences of race with one another. Throughout the weekend these eight men of Asian, European, Latino and African descent presented their personal experiences with race issues and the pain that accompanied it. They attempted to understand each others pain and to trust one another, but found it was often very difficult. The discussions became quite intense and emotional, and as a member of the audience, even fearful.

One of the main topics of discussion was regarding what makes someone an American. To be an American meant to be born, raised and educated in America according to these eight men. Even though all eight men were American, many of them still wanted to be identified as "African American" or "Chinese American". Identifying as just "American" denies one of who they are. There is no American ethnicity; being American means giving up your ethnicity. The eight men also discussed that to be "American" means to be white, and to be "white" means to be human. This topic related to the American civic identity that we talked about in class. Whiteness is associated with what it means to be American and is also considered the norm. Everyone is supposed to act white to fit in with society, and it is those of non-white cultures that stand out.

This film was also a perfect example of how race is a socially constructed category. The culture and the media have a large role in constructing these socially unequal categories or race through language, norms, and expectations. Language is one of the ways in which we subconsciously reinforce as well as reproduce inequalities related to race. Some examples of language that we talked about in class were racial slurs, color symbolism, ethnocentrism, loaded words, labeling, and controversies over speaking English. The media is also one of the ways, possibly the most important, in which inequalities of race are maintained. The media is largely responsible for adjusting our perceptions of race by reinforcing the white middle class. The reason the media conforms to the existing stereotypes is because it is easier than having to challenge them. Because of social categories such as the media and language, white privilege and racial stereotypes gain an immense amount of power. White privilege was also talked about in the film. A few of the men discussed what it meant to be white; having the privilege of being able to blame colored people. They also discussed that black people equate lighter skin with privilege; an idea created and reinforced by the media.

“The Color of Fear� was a wonderful film that took many of the concepts of race we have learned about and transformed them into how they are actually experienced in a white supremacist society. It was very interesting to see the many different perspectives and experiences of race presented by these very diverse eight men.