tag:theconversation.com,2011:/global/topics/racial-minorities-42306/articlesRacial minorities – The Conversation2020-05-26T00:57:00Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1392962020-05-26T00:57:00Z2020-05-26T00:57:00ZWhy Trump’s Make America Great Again hat makes a dangerous souvenir for foreign politicians<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/337463/original/file-20200525-106848-1q1skv7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=19%2C0%2C4242%2C3181&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>It looked just like any posed political picture. The politician, in this case the National Party’s newly elected leader, Todd Muller, standing by a bookcase. So far so normal. It wasn’t even a new photo.</p>
<p>Except that clearly visible in the lower left-hand corner was a powerful piece of political symbolism – a red Make America Great Again (MAGA) hat.</p>
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<p>Nothing to see here, Muller responded when questioned about the hat’s significance. It was just a souvenir from Donald Trump’s America; he had Hillary Clinton memorabilia too.</p>
<p>The debate quickly became tribal: the offence taken reflected the left’s obsession with identity politics, it was a Wellington beltway issue nobody else cared about, the hat was about nothing more than Muller’s interest in US politics.</p>
<p>Muller has <a href="https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12334370">subsequently said</a> he found Trump’s style of politics “appalling” and the hat will be retired from view. That it didn’t necessarily reflect Muller’s own views was possibly why the Labour-led government didn’t play on the controversy.</p>
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<p>But people were curious, which meant Muller was forced to spend too much of his first weekend as leader explaining it. </p>
<p>Suddenly he was not in control of the agenda. And if he’d really wanted to convince people the hat didn’t matter he might have been better off, as the <a href="https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12334292">Islamic Women’s Council</a> advised, to leave it at home. The council’s Aliya Danzeisen put its case succinctly:</p>
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<p>That hat represents the denial of the freedom of beliefs. That hat represents the denial of minority voices. That hat represents the vitriol that has been harming that nation and has been harming the world for the last four years.</p>
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<p>From whichever perspective, the hat – and Muller’s defence of owning it – brought his political judgement into question.</p>
<h2>Perception is reality in politics</h2>
<p>Understanding the power of symbolism in politics is important for any leader. It was why people cared about the hat but not the Clinton campaign badge Muller also brought back from his trip to observe the 2016 US election.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/337460/original/file-20200525-106828-5ge9xj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/337460/original/file-20200525-106828-5ge9xj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/337460/original/file-20200525-106828-5ge9xj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/337460/original/file-20200525-106828-5ge9xj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/337460/original/file-20200525-106828-5ge9xj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/337460/original/file-20200525-106828-5ge9xj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/337460/original/file-20200525-106828-5ge9xj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">US President Donald Trump at a rally in February 2020: not the politics of inclusion New Zealand leaders need to cultivate.</span>
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<p>The MAGA hat has become a symbol of violence, division and exclusion. Those were not the values Muller set out in his <a href="https://www.national.org.nz/speech_todd_muller_new_leader">speech</a> accepting his party’s leadership last week: </p>
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<p>Fundamentally I don’t believe that for each and every one of us to do better, someone else has to be worse off.</p>
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<p>Nor were those the values that will re-engage women, ethnic and religious minorities who, <a href="https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2020/05/second-poll-spells-more-trouble-for-simon-bridges-jacinda-ardern-s-popularity-skyrockets.html">according to recent opinion polls</a>, are among those who have shifted their support from the National Party to Labour. </p>
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<p>Swinging voters are by definition in the middle. They are not part of Trump‘s base. But if they are not part of Muller’s New Zealand he won’t get to form a government after the election in September.</p>
<p>Muller knows who <a href="https://www.national.org.nz/speech_todd_muller_new_leader">these people</a> are. He wanted to appeal to “the people who help their elderly neighbours with the lawns on the weekend, the dad who does the food stall at the annual school fair, the mum who coaches a touch rugby team”.</p>
<p>Some of them are the sorts of people MAGA rallies target.</p>
<h2>No ordinary souvenir</h2>
<p>New Zealand politics can be passionate, of course. Racism and misogyny have their influence. In 2004, then National leader Don Brash showed the power of divisive rhetoric with his “<a href="https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0401/S00220/nationhood-don-brash-speech-orewa-rotary-club.htm">Orewa speech</a>” that alleged Maori privilege. He took his party’s poll ratings from <a href="https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=3549474&pnum=0">28% to 45%</a>.</p>
<p>Brash confronted what he called a Maori <a href="https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0401/S00220/nationhood-don-brash-speech-orewa-rotary-club.htm">“birthright to the upperhand”</a>. In fact, Maori politics was concerned only with a birthright to be Maori.</p>
<p>For women, for ethnic and religious minorities, and for whoever else there might be political mileage in vilifying, the MAGA hat also represents the denial of a birthright to be who they are. </p>
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<p>The MAGA hat and the movement that wears it represent a denial of the liberty at the heart of the American dream. The message is clear: you don’t belong.</p>
<p>That is why the MAGA hat is no ordinary symbol of partisan politics. And it takes on a particular resonance when displayed in a parliamentary office. It represents the violent expression of anti-democratic ideals.</p>
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<p>At another tactical level, the hat is problematic. If National’s biggest obstacle is Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s well-regarded and so far effective response to the COIVD-19 pandemic, why get too close to a president whose leadership of the pandemic response has been among the most ineffective in the world?</p>
<p>Because in politics perceptions count. So too do distractions. Like the perception that Muller is trying to create that Ardern’s cabinet is full of <a href="https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2020/05/ardern-hits-back-at-muller-s-claims-of-government-incompetence-defends-clark-twyford.html">“empty chairs”</a> – and which may be gaining early traction.</p>
<p>But encouraging the perception that he has a broad, inclusive and distinctive vision for economic recovery was what Muller most needed to be doing right away. That would have been more effective than defending his ownership of a hat that is emblematic of the opposite of each of those aspirations.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/139296/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dominic O'Sullivan was a Labour candidate in 1990 and 1993. </span></em></p>If perception is everything in politics, what does it say when a leader poses with a Trump MAGA hat?Dominic O'Sullivan, Adjunct Professor, Faculty of Health and Environmental Sciences, Auckland University of Technology, and Associate Professor of Political Science, Charles Sturt UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1200682019-07-29T12:24:48Z2019-07-29T12:24:48ZWhy Trump’s stoking of white racial resentment is effective – but makes all working-class Americans worse off<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/285554/original/file-20190724-110166-aahcot.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Trump's largest base of support comes from white men. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Trump/ebeac91b95f34e3492554fef0b061eb7/12/0">AP Photo/Gerry Broome</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Many white men <a href="https://www.npr.org/2017/10/24/559604836/majority-of-white-americans-think-theyre-discriminated-against">say</a> <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/9/28/17913774/brett-kavanaugh-lindsey-graham-christine-ford-backlash">they feel</a> <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/white-men-react-poorly-women-and-minorities-power-positions-study-finds-839862">threatened</a> by the increasing presence and success of minorities in the workplace.</p>
<p>As <a href="https://www.umass.edu/issr/eric_hoyt">social</a> <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=6IIFqigAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">scientists</a>, we wondered if there is any evidence to support this perceived economic threat, a perception that can provide fertile ground for current rounds of racist and xenophobic political messaging. </p>
<p>Our work at the <a href="https://www.umass.edu/employmentequity/home">Center for Employment Equity</a> at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, involves using Equal Employment Opportunity Commission data to explore workplace discrimination and diversity in states and cities across the U.S. Our aim is to discover and promote more equitable workplaces. </p>
<p>In our most recent report, called “<a href="https://www.umass.edu/employmentequity/diversity-reports">Race, States and the Mixed Fate of White Men</a>,” we examined the connection between minority populations and the job prospects of white men in private-sector companies. </p>
<h2>White male privilege</h2>
<p>Social scientists generally agree on three research findings about white men in the U.S. and the notion that they are losing their unearned but expected racial privileges.</p>
<p>First, white men at every education level are more likely than women and non-Asian minorities to get access to <a href="https://www.epi.org/data/#?subject=wage-education">higher-wage jobs</a>.</p>
<p>Second, while wages of average working-class people in the U.S. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/qje/qjx043">have stagnated in recent decades</a>, and economic insecurity has grown, earnings for middle- and upper-class jobs – which are dominated by educated whites – have soared. </p>
<p>A third and more recent finding is that working-class white men are the group that is most <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/ps-political-science-and-politics/article/explaining-the-trump-vote-the-effect-of-racist-resentment-and-antiimmigrant-sentiments/537A8ABA46783791BFF4E2E36B90C0BE/core-reader">racially resentful and most opposed to further immigration</a>. This finding is based on analyses of survey data of the whole U.S. population examining both voting behavior and attitudes toward blacks and immigrants, zeroing in on President Donald Trump’s core supporters and the content of his political messaging to them.</p>
<p>This resentment probably explains why working-class whites, particularly men, are <a href="https://www.sociologicalscience.com/articles-v5-10-234/">so receptive</a> to President Trump’s anti-immigrant and racist messages – and why <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1468-4446.12315">he targets them</a>.</p>
<p>We suspected that the reception to racist and xenophobic messages might be a reflection of a growing competition between working-class whites and minority men for increasingly insecure, low-wage jobs. </p>
<h2>White men dominate the executive suite</h2>
<p>In our study, we compared different racial groups’ share of specific occupations with their percentage of their state’s workforce. In other words, we wanted to see how over- or underrepresented white, black and Hispanic men were in various jobs. </p>
<p>In general, we found that while some white men are prospering in executive and managerial roles, there is another group of white men with very different employment experiences.</p>
<p>At the top end of the labor market, our data showed that in every state, white men were overrepresented in executive and managerial jobs. But this white male privilege varied substantially by state. White men got even more of the top jobs in states with larger minority populations.</p>
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<p>Texas, where minorities make up a third of the labor force and white men slightly more at 37%, was the most extreme. White men held 85% of private-sector executive jobs, making them overrepresented in top jobs by 138%. </p>
<p>Other states with sizable minority populations, such as California, New Mexico and Mississippi, similarly showed white men are especially advantaged in their control of the executive suite.</p>
<p>We found the same, if less extreme, pattern of white male advantage in private-sector management jobs.</p>
<h2>Working-class competition</h2>
<p>The pattern shifts dramatically, however, when we look at lower-paid working-class jobs. </p>
<p>These include machine and factory operatives, manual laborers and service occupations. Such jobs typically require high school degrees or less and tend to pay low wages. We find that more than half of these jobs pay below the living wage target of US$15 per hour.</p>
<p>In every state, black men were overrepresented as machine operatives, manual laborers and service workers. Hispanic men were overrepresented in machine operative and manual labor jobs in every state except Hawaii. </p>
<p>Working-class overrepresentation for minority men tends to be higher in states with <a href="https://www.governing.com/topics/urban/gov-majority-minority-populations-in-states.html">small minority populations</a>, such as Vermont, Maine and North Dakota.</p>
<p>But we wanted to get more directly at the degree to which working-class white men are competing for the same low-wage jobs as minority men. So we compared the number of black, Hispanic, Native American and native Hawaiian men performing operative, laborer or service jobs versus white men. In all states except Hawaii, these minorities are mostly black or Hispanic or both. </p>
<p>We found that in almost all states, working-class white men were competing for jobs with relatively large groups of minority men. And in 20, there were more minority men in these working-class jobs than white men. This pattern was most extreme in Washington, D.C. and California, where there were more than three minority men in these jobs for every white man.</p>
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<h2>Improving working-class lives</h2>
<p>This does not mean that working-class whites have lost their entire racial advantage, but rather that it is more tenuous and exists in a context of wage stagnation and increased insecurity. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.russellsage.org/publications/american-non-dilemma">Research</a> shows that many whites attribute being stuck in low-wage, insecure jobs to competition with minorities but are unaware of the larger trends of wage stagnation and growing insecurity for all working-class jobs.</p>
<p>So it is perhaps not surprising that this combination of visible competition and misplaced blame creates fertile conditions for stoking racial and immigrant resentment, particularly at a time of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/qje/qjx043">stagnating incomes</a>, <a href="https://www.doi.org/10.1146/annurev.soc.25.1.95">falling unionization</a> and a <a href="https://www.doi.org/10.1177/000312240907400101?casa_token=APOLn-6H_kYAAAAA:Ky6iXAV-mH5oYuZoxn_aL26VAHhKdtN46gA0GtvV6MJujA35vfeX19aZsbNxvdF5JDdhB-Q4zjz46w">growing lack of job security</a> – problems that have done the most harm to the working class, regardless of race or national origin. </p>
<p>Perhaps it is politically simpler to encourage workers to see each other as rivals, but <a href="https://www.epi.org/research">policy solutions</a> that will actually make a difference need to focus on shared economic security – rather than blame games. </p>
<p>[ <em>You’re smart and curious about the world. So are The Conversation’s authors and editors.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=youresmart">You can read us daily by subscribing to our newsletter</a>. ]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/120068/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Donald Tomaskovic-Devey is the director of the University of Massachusetts-Amherst’s Center for Employment Equity, which receives funding from the W.K Kellogg Foundation.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Eric Hoyt is the research director of the University of Massachusetts-Amherst’s Center for Employment Equity, which receives funding from the W.K Kellogg Foundation.</span></em></p>Two social scientists investigate why working-class white men are particularly receptive to President Trump’s racist and anti-immigrant messages.Donald T. Tomaskovic-Devey, Professor of Sociology; Director, Center for Employment Equity, UMass AmherstEric Hoyt, Research Director of the Center for Employment Equity, UMass AmherstLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/886222017-12-19T01:41:52Z2017-12-19T01:41:52ZThe dangerous belief that white people are under attack<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/199751/original/file-20171218-27538-1r9g2jc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Lucian Wintrich, left, leaves court on Dec. 11 after charges of breach of peace were dropped. In November, Wintrich had delivered a speech at the University of Connecticut titled 'It's OK To Be White.'</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/It-s-OK-To-Be-White/3ea3ce0016ad4ee28fc1bf9299351b92/5/0">AP Photo/Jessica Hill</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In August, the Justice Department <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/01/us/politics/trump-affirmative-action-universities.html?mwrsm=Email&_r=1">decided to investigate instances of bias against whites</a> in university admissions. Since then, campuses have been flyered with “<a href="http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/its-okay-to-be-white">It’s okay to be white</a>,” and in November, <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/US/conservative-speaker-arrested-white-event-uconn/story?id=51451426">violence erupted</a> at the University of Connecticut during a speech about discrimination against whites.</p>
<p>Are white people actually under attack? </p>
<p>After all, in the U.S., whites have historically been viewed as perpetrators of bias, and racial minorities as the victims. </p>
<p>But perceptions of this relationship have shifted. According to a <a href="https://www.rwjf.org/content/dam/farm/reports/surveys_and_polls/2017/rwjf441554">recent survey</a>, the majority of whites – 55 percent – now believe that whites experience racial discrimination. </p>
<p>What’s more, whites <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2011/05/22/is-anti-white-bias-a-problem/jockeying-for-stigma">believe bias against their group is increasing</a>, while believing bias against blacks is declining. </p>
<p>What’s behind this dramatic change in attitudes? </p>
<p>Research from my lab and others has found that social changes are a big reason. We’ve also found that these perceptions of bias – despite not being grounded in reality – can have real consequences.</p>
<h2>The threat of social change</h2>
<p>There’s comfort in predictability, and people have a psychological tendency <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1751-9004.2012.00427.x/full">to favor the status quo</a>.</p>
<p>For some, a preference for the status quo also means a preference for a social order in which whites have more status, power and wealth than racial minorities. </p>
<p>This reality – <a href="http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/11/01/how-wealth-inequality-has-changed-in-the-u-s-since-the-great-recession-by-race-ethnicity-and-income/">still ingrained in American society</a> – was <a href="http://www.people-press.org/2008/11/13/section-2-the-president-elects-image-and-expectations/">seemingly interrupted</a> by Barack Obama’s historic presidential win in 2008. </p>
<p>After his election, <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022103109000286">many started believing</a> racial progress was taking place. There was the sense that more racial minorities were occupying the high-power, high-status positions historically reserved for whites. </p>
<p>For many, this was a good thing. But for the subset of white Americans who think that they rightfully deserve to have a higher status than racial minorities, it was unsettling: Were they falling behind? Was society becoming stacked against them? Had whites become victims?</p>
<p><a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0956797613508412">In a series of studies</a> conducted while Obama was president, psychologist Cheryl Kaiser and I were able to show how this phenomenon played out. </p>
<p>We asked participants to either read an article about racial progress or a neutral article. Then we assessed whether they believe whites experience racial discrimination. We also assessed the extent to which they endorsed the racial hierarchy.</p>
<p>Among white participants who endorsed the racial status hierarchy, those that read about racial progress believed whites experience more bias than those who read a neutral article.</p>
<p>It’s important to note that this wasn’t the case for all whites: If participants rejected the racial hierarchy, they didn’t increase the belief that whites are discriminated against after reading about racial progress.</p>
<p>Essentially, this study indicates that some whites don’t welcome social progress – they actually respond by seeing themselves as victims of discrimination. </p>
<p>The country’s growing racial diversity is also likely fueling perceptions of anti-white bias. While whites currently comprise the majority of the U.S. population, <a href="https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2015/cb15-tps16.html">recent census projections</a> suggest that within the next several decades, whites will become a numerical minority. </p>
<p><a href="http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0185389">According to recent research</a>, if whites are alerted to this trend, they are more likely to fear being discriminated against.</p>
<p>In sum, social change – whether it’s racial progress or increasing demographic diversity – has caused some white Americans to see themselves as victims of racism.</p>
<h2>The slippery slope of whites feeling victimized</h2>
<p>My other research with psychologist Joseph Wellman suggests that this phenomenon isn’t benign. It leads some to adopt perspectives that could, ultimately, exacerbate social inequity.</p>
<p>For whites who are particularly eager to maintain the racial social order, the idea of anti-white bias is particularly alarming. It implies that the entire social system is unstable, and they are eager to restore it. </p>
<p>These people might attempt to “reestablish” the group’s position because they believe it has been damaged.</p>
<p>This could play out in a number of ways.</p>
<p>One way is through support for other white people who claim to be victims of racial discrimination. There’s a tendency <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0146167201272010">to respond negatively</a> to black people who claim to be victims of discrimination: People see them as complainers who use racism as an excuse for their shortcomings. </p>
<p>White people who support a racial hierarchy, on the other hand, <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022103113001480">respond relatively favorably</a> to other white people who claim to be victims of anti-white bias – and say they’d be more willing to help those whites out.</p>
<p>They also might respond by trying to minimize opportunities for other racial groups. For example, when white people think they’re being discriminated against, my collaborators and <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022103114001620">I found</a> they’re less inclined to support affirmative action policies. They say they’re also more willing to support policies that help white people, like efforts to address discrimination against whites.</p>
<p>It goes without saying that in a country where racial <a href="http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2016/06/27/1-demographic-trends-and-economic-well-being/#blacks-still-trail-whites-in-college-completion">educational, employment and wealth disparities</a> persist, greater attention to bias against whites (and less to bias against racial minorities) would only exacerbate social inequality.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/88622/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Clara Wilkins does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A majority of white Americans now believe that white people experience racial discrimination, and memes like #ItsOkayToBeWhite are only fanning the flames.Clara Wilkins, Assistant Professor of Psychology, Wesleyan UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/828822017-08-24T00:45:14Z2017-08-24T00:45:14ZDo minorities prefer ads with white people?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/183078/original/file-20170823-13660-12uam6a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">New research suggests that members of ethnic minorities like advertising that features ethnic minorities -- but only their own.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The marketplace is becoming more inclusive than ever. Today, advertisements that include models from ethnic minorities are commonplace. That wasn’t the norm a few decades ago.</p>
<p>Academic and market research show that ethnic minority consumers like advertisements that include their own ethnic group. They also appreciate brands that use such advertising. </p>
<p>However, research has overlooked how ethnic minority consumers evaluate advertising that feature members of <em>other</em> ethnic minorities. </p>
<p>In a forthcoming paper in the International Journal of Research in Marketing, our team of marketing experts at three Canadian universities <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijresmar.2017.06.005">reports a backlash effect.</a> Ethnic minority consumers feel more ostracized by advertisements featuring models who belong to other ethnic minority groups than they do when they see ads with white models. And that leads to a less favourable attitude toward those advertisements.</p>
<p>In North America, white models advertising a variety of products has been the norm for decades. We argue that when advertisers include ethnic minority models, racially diverse consumers take notice. </p>
<p>But if the models are not from their own ethnic group, they may wonder why the advertisers chose models of another race or culture. They question why their own ethnicity is not represented.</p>
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<p>We conducted five experimental studies with American and Canadian participants belonging to different ethnic minority groups. Participants consistently reported more positive attitudes towards advertisements that featured white models. They felt ostracized by the advertisements featuring members of other ethnic minorities.</p>
<p>This backlash was especially true for participants whose membership in their own ethnic group was important to them. It was strongest for participants with so-called high social-dominance orientation, a personality trait indicative of political conservatism.</p>
<p>Advertisements that feature multiple models of different ethnicities suffer from the backlash too.</p>
<p>In one study, Asian and Latino American participants were shown a bank advertisement that included models from several ethnic backgrounds. For half of the participants, the advertisement included a person belonging to their own ethnicity. For the other half, the advertisement excluded models belonging to their own ethnicity. </p>
<p>Participants who saw the advertisement that featured a model of their own ethnic group evaluated the advertisement more positively than those who did not see their ethnic group represented. </p>
<h2>Portrayals of compassion change ad perceptions</h2>
<p>We also found that advertisements that promote thoughts of compassion do not face the same backlash as other advertisements. In one study, ethnic minority participants who viewed an advertisement featuring another ethnic minority showed higher preference for the advertisement when it included words like sympathetic, gentle and forgiving than when it did not include such words. </p>
<p>In general, compassion increases our perceived similarity to others. And so advertisements highlighting compassion make us more likely to see people as similar to us regardless of their ethnicity.</p>
<p>Our takeaway from this research is that ethnic minority consumers do not see themselves as one large minority group. They take note of which ethnicity is represented in advertisements, and may not appreciate advertisers who consistently overlook theirs. </p>
<p>We encourage advertisers to be inclusive, because ads featuring ethnic minorities are received positively by those groups that are included. Advertisers should also aim to be thoughtful when it comes to which ethnic groups they highlight in their advertising.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/82882/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors receive funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. This project was supported by funding from the F. Ross Johnson Professorship in Marketing and a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) (453-
2014-0898) Insight Grant awarded to the second author.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors receive funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. This project was supported by funding from the F. Ross Johnson Professorship in Marketing and a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) (453- 2014-0898) Insight Grant awarded to the second author.</span></em></p>Visible minority consumers prefer advertising that features white models to advertising that feature models from other ethnic minority groups. Why?Mohammed El Hazzouri, Associate Professor of Marketing, Mount Royal UniversityKelley Main, Associate Professor of Marketing, University of ManitobaSergio Carvalho, Professor, Rowe School of Business, Dalhousie UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/826332017-08-21T10:57:05Z2017-08-21T10:57:05ZColleges need affirmative action – but it can be expanded<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/182642/original/file-20170818-7941-147b9b6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Race-neutral affirmative action can help identify first-generation students like Blanca Diaz and LaQuintah Garrett.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Amy Anthony</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In 2003, <a href="https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/539/306/case.html">Justice Antonin Scalia</a> predicted that the Supreme Court’s sanctioning of race-conscious affirmative action in higher education would spark future litigation for years to come. And right he was. From <a href="https://www.oyez.org/cases/2015/14-981">defeated claims of discrimination</a> against the University of Texas at Austin to an <a href="http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2014/11/18/law-suit-admissions-alleged-discrimination/">ongoing lawsuit</a> against Harvard, colleges continue to come under attack for considering race as a factor in admissions decisions.</p>
<p>The recent report of the Department of Justice’s <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/01/us/politics/trump-affirmative-action-universities.html">possible investigation</a> of “intentional race-based discrimination in college and university admissions” demonstrates that the assaults aren’t likely to end anytime soon.</p>
<p>As a <a href="http://sc.edu/study/colleges_schools/law/faculty_and_staff/directory/nelson_eboni.php">professor of law and scholar</a> dedicated to ensuring equal educational opportunities for students of color, I believe now is an important time to earnestly consider other methods for diversifying student bodies. Race-neutral alternatives could effectively consider such factors as socioeconomic status and educational background, while supplementing more traditional affirmative action.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/182008/original/file-20170814-28487-csunzj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/182008/original/file-20170814-28487-csunzj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/182008/original/file-20170814-28487-csunzj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182008/original/file-20170814-28487-csunzj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182008/original/file-20170814-28487-csunzj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182008/original/file-20170814-28487-csunzj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182008/original/file-20170814-28487-csunzj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182008/original/file-20170814-28487-csunzj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Lawyer Bert Rein and his client, Abigail Fisher, failed in their discrimination case against UT Austin’s affirmative action policies.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>‘Race-based’ vs. ‘race-conscious’</h2>
<p>When thinking about affirmative action, it’s important to first define (and debunk) a few key terms, starting with “race-based” and “race-conscious” affirmative action.</p>
<p>“Race-based affirmative action” is a misnomer often used to describe some college admissions policies. “Race-based” implies that an admissions decision is made <a href="http://dailysignal.com/2015/12/02/how-affirmative-action-at-colleges-hurts-minority-students/">solely because of or based upon an applicant’s race or ethnicity</a>, which could not be farther from the truth. A university’s decision to admit, deny or waitlist an applicant is based upon <a href="https://professionals.collegeboard.org/guidance/applications/decisions">myriad criteria</a>, ranging from standardized test scores to state of residency. Race is <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/college-admissions-how-diversity-factors-in/2012/02/20/gIQAs0BHSR_blog.html">just one of many admissions factors</a> a university may consider.</p>
<p>This approach is more appropriately termed “race-conscious.”</p>
<p>Schools that employ race-conscious admissions policies do so in order to achieve the <a href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/40251923">educational, social and democratic benefits</a> of a diverse student body.</p>
<p>As the Supreme Court held in <a href="https://www.oyez.org/cases/2002/02-516">Gratz v. Bollinger</a>, race is not and cannot be the determining factor under a constitutional race-conscious plan. Therefore, when people claim that an African-American or Hispanic student was admitted because of race, they’re often not only inaccurate but also dismissive of the student’s other numerous attributes that played a role in the university’s decision.</p>
<h2>Race-neutral alternatives</h2>
<p>Opponents of race-conscious affirmative action often assert that such policies are <a href="http://www.theblaze.com/contributions/todays-affirmative-action-is-racism-2/">racist</a> or <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/affirmative-action-based-on-income/2012/11/08/a519f67e-17e9-11e2-9855-71f2b202721b_story.html">disproportionately benefit privileged minority students</a> from middle- and upper-class backgrounds.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/182636/original/file-20170818-7934-p46oz6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/182636/original/file-20170818-7934-p46oz6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/182636/original/file-20170818-7934-p46oz6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182636/original/file-20170818-7934-p46oz6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182636/original/file-20170818-7934-p46oz6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182636/original/file-20170818-7934-p46oz6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182636/original/file-20170818-7934-p46oz6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182636/original/file-20170818-7934-p46oz6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Justice Sandra Day O'Connor delivered the majority opinion in Grutter v. Bollinger, which asserted that schools must consider ‘workable race-neutral alternatives.’</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Susan Walsh</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>For its part, the Supreme Court is also skeptical of using <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/pdf/11-345.pdf">racial classifications in governmental decision-making</a>. As a result, it has held that institutions of higher education must afford serious consideration to “<a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/12pdf/11-345_l5gm.pdf">workable race-neutral alternatives</a>” before implementing a race-conscious policy.</p>
<p>Importantly, the court’s use of the term “race-neutral” does not mean “race-blind.” That is, universities are permitted to think about how alternative admissions criteria could help them achieve their diversity goals. <a href="https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/edlite-raceneutralreport.html">Race-neutral criteria</a> could include socioeconomic background, high school or undergraduate institution, or class rank. In other words, these are factors that may contribute to a school’s racial diversity, but applicants themselves are not considered based on race.</p>
<p>In some cases, it’s <a href="http://www.uclalawreview.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Kidder-D64-update.pdf">proven difficult</a> for race-neutral admissions policies to achieve the same levels of racial diversity as those achieved through direct consideration of race. However, such measures <a href="https://www.universitybusiness.com/article/race-neutral-policies-and-programs-achieving-racial-diversity">have been useful</a> in helping to diversify student bodies when used in conjunction with or in lieu of race-conscious affirmative action.</p>
<h2>The viability of race-neutral alternatives</h2>
<p>When coupled with the stark <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/11/the-33-whitest-jobs-in-america/281180/">racial disparities</a> that continue to plague some professions, the uncertain future of race-conscious affirmative action calls for a renewed focus on alternatives that look beyond race alone.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/182628/original/file-20170818-7952-63e9xt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/182628/original/file-20170818-7952-63e9xt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/182628/original/file-20170818-7952-63e9xt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=882&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182628/original/file-20170818-7952-63e9xt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=882&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182628/original/file-20170818-7952-63e9xt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=882&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182628/original/file-20170818-7952-63e9xt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1109&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182628/original/file-20170818-7952-63e9xt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1109&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182628/original/file-20170818-7952-63e9xt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1109&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">TV isn’t the only place where the legal profession remains one of the whitest.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">USA Network</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>My co-researchers, <a href="http://cosw.sc.edu/faculty/ronald-pitner">Dr. Ronald Pitner</a> and <a href="https://dickinsonlaw.psu.edu/academics/faculty/resident-faculty/carla-pratt">Professor Carla D. Pratt</a>, and I recently took a look at one particular aspect of higher education diversity: law school admissions.</p>
<p>Law schools play a unique role in training <a href="https://harvardlawreview.org/2013/12/law-schools-leadership-and-change/">our country’s next generation of leaders</a>. It is, in fact, <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2336994">vital to the future of our democracy</a> that we continue to provide students from historically underrepresented racial groups with access to legal education. And yet, the legal profession was recently determined to be “<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2015/05/27/law-is-the-least-diverse-profession-in-the-nation-and-lawyers-arent-doing-enough-to-change-that">one of the least racially diverse professions in the nation</a>.”</p>
<p>To help law schools improve their diversity, we examined the relationship between race and race-neutral identity factors in law school admissions. The project, which was funded in part by a grant from <a href="https://www.accesslex.org/accesslex-center-legal-education-excellence">AccessLex Institute</a>, surveyed over a thousand first-year law students at schools throughout the country and asked about various aspects of their identity, such as socioeconomic status and educational background.</p>
<p>Our findings indicated that African-American and Hispanic students were <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2849546">significantly more likely</a> than both white and Asian/Pacific Islander students to have qualified for free or reduced lunch programs in elementary or secondary school, had a parent or guardian who received public assistance when the student was a dependent minor, and received a Pell Grant during their undergraduate studies – all of which are race-neutral factors that schools could consider in admissions decisions.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/182641/original/file-20170818-7956-wqrhu9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/182641/original/file-20170818-7956-wqrhu9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/182641/original/file-20170818-7956-wqrhu9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=426&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182641/original/file-20170818-7956-wqrhu9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=426&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182641/original/file-20170818-7956-wqrhu9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=426&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182641/original/file-20170818-7956-wqrhu9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=536&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182641/original/file-20170818-7956-wqrhu9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=536&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182641/original/file-20170818-7956-wqrhu9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=536&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Race-neutral affirmative action can help identify first-generation students and students from low-income families.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Pat Sullivan</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>How admissions could change</h2>
<p>Based on the sample of participants in our study, it’s clear that privilege did not catapult all students of color to law school. Many of them had to overcome the structural inequalities of poverty, race and public education to embark on a legal career. Expanding opportunities for these and other minority students will benefit not only legal education and the legal profession, but also society more broadly.</p>
<p>Race-neutral admissions policies could help identify and create opportunities for these students.</p>
<p>To be clear, I do not advocate for the wholesale substitution of traditional race-conscious admissions measures with the factors we studied. Race-conscious policies continue to be the <a href="https://www.ets.org/Media/Research/pdf/reardon_white_paper.pdf">most effective</a> means by which to create diverse student bodies.</p>
<p>However, we encourage law schools and other institutions of higher education to utilize these and other race-neutral admissions factors as a means of complying with the Supreme Court’s affirmative action mandates and testing the viability of policies that take such factors into account.</p>
<p>Doing so will help ensure that traditionally underrepresented students of color will continue to have access to colleges and universities that serve as gateways to career, financial and life opportunities.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/82633/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Eboni Nelson receives funding from AccessLex Institute. </span></em></p>Race-conscious admissions policies are still the best way to achieve diversity on campus. Yet, some race-neutral methods could help colleges improve diversity – and stand up to legal scrutiny.Eboni Nelson, Professor of Law, University of South CarolinaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/626662016-07-19T10:07:04Z2016-07-19T10:07:04ZAmerica’s police culture has a masculinity problem<p><a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/news/baton-rouge-police-officers-shot-wounded-airline-highway/">Three police officers</a> were killed and three wounded in a shooting early on Sunday, July 17 in Baton Rouge. Ten days earlier – on July 7 – a <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/09/us/dallas-police-shooting.html">sniper gunned down</a> five police officers in Dallas. </p>
<p>I know many strong critics of the police. Many of them are affiliated with the
<a href="http://blacklivesmatter.com/">Black Lives Matter movement</a>. None of them stand for ambushing police officers. I also know a few police officers and many prosecutors. Most of them are against racial profiling.</p>
<p>Now, it would be a false equivalence to say that Black Lives Matter activists and defenders of the police are in the same position. </p>
<p>Black Lives Matter activists are seeking changes in an institution – the criminal justice system – that has <a href="http://www.civilrights.org/publications/justice-on-trial/race.html">disproportionately targeted</a> and killed people of color. These activists are disproportionately drawn from communities that <a href="http://www.dailydot.com/layer8/black-lives-matter-queer-trans-issues/">have been marginalized</a> based on their race, gender identity, sexual orientation and related issues. </p>
<p>In contrast, police officers are sworn to protect the public, even when they are the subject of criticism and protest. Police officers are also disproportionately drawn from <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/09/03/us/the-race-gap-in-americas-police-departments.html?_r=0">relatively privileged</a> segments of society: men and whites. </p>
<p>The recent controversy over policing has often been traced to racial bias, but it may stem in equal part from gender. I have spent a decade researching ways that race and gender intersect in policing and found that hidden police officer machismo is exacerbating the more commonly noticed problem of racial profiling. </p>
<h2>Issues around masculinity</h2>
<p>To bring about peace, we must first acknowledge that we have a problem. </p>
<p>The evidence that police officers target racial minority men for stops on suspicion of crime is overwhelming. This has been statistically proven in New York City <a href="http://ccrjustice.org/sites/default/files/assets/files/Floyd-Liability-Opinion-8-12-13.pdf">racial profiling litigation</a>. In a recent study, <a href="http://scholar.harvard.edu/fryer/home">Harvard professor Roland G. Fryer Jr.</a> also found <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/12/upshot/surprising-new-evidence-shows-bias-in-police-use-of-force-but-not-in-shootings.html">racial bias</a> in police uses of force. Additionally, in New York, as elsewhere, <a href="http://moritzlaw.osu.edu/students/groups/osjcl/files/2015/01/11-Richardson-and-Goff.pdf">racial profiling</a> of these types mostly happens to men. </p>
<p>Having seen such gender patterns before, my colleague <a href="https://law.unlv.edu/faculty/ann-mcginley">Ann C. McGinley</a>, a professor of law at University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and I have <a href="https://law.unlv.edu/event/monday-law-talk-whats-masculinity-got-do-it-gender-pop-culture-and-law">often asked</a>,</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“What’s masculinity got to do with it?” </p>
</blockquote>
<p>By masculinity, I simply mean popular assumptions about what is manly behavior. For instance, men do not wear dresses, do not ask for directions and do not dance. Or so we are told. </p>
<p>If one is a man, or just wants to perform masculinity, one will be drawn toward the behaviors that are popularly understood to be manly. An important tendency of masculine behavior in the United States is to <a href="http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1257183">confront disrespect</a> with violence. </p>
<p>In policing, this has meant punishing the “noncrime” of “contempt of cop” (offending a police officer) with trumped up charges of law-breaking or physical violence. </p>
<p>The killing of Philando Castile serves as one example of the way racial bias and police officer machismo work together. </p>
<p>Racial profiling was evident in the fact that police officers had stopped Castile at the borders between black and white neighborhoods in and around St. Paul, Minnesota. Castile was stopped <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/stopped-52-times-by-police-was-it-racial-profiling/2016/07/09/81fe882a-4595-11e6-a76d-3550dba926ac_story.html">at least 52 times</a> over the course of a few years. Yet at least half of his citations were dismissed. That is an extraordinary number of stops, and an even more surprising number of dismissals.</p>
<p>Implicit in these excessive race-based stops is a macho stance that is <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/19/us/oakland-police-scandals/">especially prevalent</a> amongst those who go into policing. First, perhaps because police forces <a href="http://www.militarytimes.com/story/veterans/2014/12/08/enlisted-police-officer/20102901/">often give preference</a> to former members of the military, police officers are prone to <a href="http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1257183">bullying the suspects.</a> It should be no surprise that more masculine men thrown into police forces patterned on the military are more prone to aggressive behavior.</p>
<h2>Here are the consequences of this culture</h2>
<p>To maintain face in the culture that prevails in many police departments, officers must meet any physical threat or even disobedience with violence. As the “<a href="http://www.aapf.org/sayhername/">Say Her Name” movement</a> has pointed out, when police officers get macho, women of color may also become victims of their violence. </p>
<p>Police bullying of women can come in the forms of false charges, physical violence, or sexual assaults. For instance, former Oklahoma City police officer <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2015/12/10/us/oklahoma-daniel-holtzclaw-trial/">Daniel Holtzclaw</a> was convicted of 18 counts of sexual offenses against African-American women.</p>
<p>Second, masculinity exacerbates racial profiling because young men of color are the boogeyman. They are the personification of danger in the eyes of much of the public and the police. That status stems from the U.S.’ long history of white supremacy and apartheid. Police officers may be both seeking to maintain their place in the male pecking order and genuinely afraid of men of color.</p>
<p>That is why the mention of a gun by a black man can lead a police officer to shoot first and question later. In the case of Castile, as an audio recording of the events later revealed, Castile’s <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/philando-castile-police-scanner-audio_us_5783a3a2e4b0c590f7ea0d4d">“wide-set nose”</a> got him pulled over. And being the subject of heightened fear – a black man with a gun – got him killed.</p>
<p>Of course, police officers are not a monolithic group. White police officers are not all explicitly, or even implicitly, biased against men of color. Many police officers are racial minorities themselves. Moreover, <a href="http://womenandpolicing.com/PDF/2002_Excessive_Force.pdf">increasing percentages</a> of police officers are women, whose presence has been connected to lessened police brutality. </p>
<p>Nonetheless, acknowledging that racial profiling and police officer machismo travel together is important, as it will require a different approach to fixing policing. </p>
<h2>Way forward: deescalate</h2>
<p>We cannot just observe the police through body cameras, for that will not stop police officers from feeling more threatened by men of color in the first place. Instead, we need to train police officers to acknowledge both that many of them have implicit biases against racial minorities and that they may feel more fearful of men of color than any other group.</p>
<p>As I think about how this proposal might become reality, I have the same advice for each side of the policing divide: deescalate.</p>
<p>To protesters against the police I say this: After Baton Rouge, rightly or wrongly, you will have to go first. Do not stop criticizing racial profiling and police officer machismo, but do unequivocally disavow shooting police officers. </p>
<p>To police officers I say this: You rightfully feel vulnerable, but do not ratchet up this conflict. Do not condone the idea <a href="http://www.nationalreview.com/author/heather-mac-donald">advanced in some conservative quarters</a> that the slaying of police officers means you must allow crime to rise. Honor your fallen comrades by doing your job even better. </p>
<p>In the day-to-day job, that means using deescalation techniques to turn potential conflicts into peaceful resolutions. Deescalating the overall conflict between police officers and protesters will not be easy, but it will be worth the effort.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/62666/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Frank Rudy Cooper does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A macho culture prevails in police departments in America. The recent killing of Philando Castile serves as one example of the way racial bias and police officer machismo work together.Frank Rudy Cooper, Professor of Law, Suffolk UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/534662016-01-21T21:42:58Z2016-01-21T21:42:58ZHow white are the Oscars and does it matter?<p>In 1964, Sidney Poitier became the first African American to win an Academy award for best actor in a leading role for “Lilies of the Field.” </p>
<p>It took another 38 years for another African American, Denzel Washington, to win the award for his role in “Training Day.” But only two years later, Jamie Foxx won for his portrayal of Ray Charles. </p>
<p>That suggests significant progress in identifying the accomplishments of African Americans in cinema. </p>
<p>Yet the other day I saw these tweets by actress Jada Pinkett Smith:</p>
<p></p><blockquote><p>At the Oscars…people of color are always welcomed to give out awards…even entertain, (pt. 1)</p>— Jada Pinkett Smith (@jadapsmith) <a href="https://twitter.com/jadapsmith/status/688380300586450945">January 16, 2016</a></blockquote> <p></p>
<p></p><blockquote><p>But we are rarely recognized for our artistic accomplishments. Should people of color refrain from participating all together? (pt 2)</p>— Jada Pinkett Smith (@jadapsmith) <a href="https://twitter.com/jadapsmith/status/688380460662050817">January 16, 2016</a></blockquote> <p></p>
<p>On Monday, Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday, both she and Spike Lee <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/19/movies/spike-lee-jada-pinkett-smith-oscars.html?_r=0">said</a> that neither would attend the Oscar ceremony because of the lack of diversity in the nominations – there was only one nonwhite nominee (Alejandro González Iñárritu for best director). Chris Rock, this year’s host, made a quip about the “whiteness” of the ceremony as well, describing the Oscars as the “white BET awards.”</p>
<p>Have the Academy Awards really moved forward in recognizing the role that African Americans and other nonwhites have played in the advancement of movies (in both entertainment and art)? Are we seeing a new, more regressive trend or is this just a statistical anomaly? </p>
<p>If it’s a new, disturbing trend, is there anything the Academy should do to change this (such as the measures it is <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/21/business/media/film-academy-under-fire-is-expected-to-take-steps-to-improve-oscar-diversity.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=second-column-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0">expected to announce</a> next week)?</p>
<h2>Color and the data</h2>
<p>Jada Pinkett Smith and Spike Lee have stated that the nominations are lacking persons of color. But what does that mean exactly? </p>
<p>My analysis of Oscar nominations in this article will focus on underrepresented minorities including African Americans, Mexican Americans, Native Americans and mainland Puerto Ricans, but also foreign nominees from developing countries like Mexico and Cuba. This definition is similar to what is forwarded by the Association of American Medical Colleges <a href="https://www.aamc.org/download/54278/data/urm.pdf">AAMC</a> and the National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering <a href="http://www.nacme.org/underrepresented-minorities">NACME</a>.</p>
<p>Using historical Oscar data from the Internet Movie Database (<a href="http://www.imbd.com">IMDb</a>), I examined the nominees and winners in five categories: best actor in a leading role, best actress in a leading role, best actor in a supporting role, best actress in a supporting role and best director, from 1987 through 2016. The results are found in the table below.</p>
<iframe src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/ORBmS/3/" frameborder="0" allowtransparency="true" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" webkitallowfullscreen="webkitallowfullscreen" mozallowfullscreen="mozallowfullscreen" oallowfullscreen="oallowfullscreen" msallowfullscreen="msallowfullscreen" width="100%" height="500"></iframe>
<p>The table is pretty straightforward. In 2013, for example, there was one underrepresented minority in the best actor category (<a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000243/">Denzel Washington</a>), and one in the best leading actress category (<a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm4832920/">Quvenzhané Wallis</a>). </p>
<h2>What the data mean</h2>
<p>From 1987 to 2004, no more than three underrepresented minorities were nominated in these categories in any one year. </p>
<p>In 2005, however, a total of six underrepresented minorities were nominated, and two of them – Jamie Foxx and Morgan Freeman – won Oscars. That trend of better representation continued, more or less, in subsequent years, with underrepresented minorities nominated six times twice and five or four times once each. None were nominated in 2011, however, which is the fourth time that happened in the 30-year period.</p>
<p>But in 2015 and 2016, there was just one underrepresented minority nominated, both times for best director. Does that signal the Academy is regressing? </p>
<p>I don’t think so. Any single year might reflect more or fewer nominations of a particular type – more veteran actresses or more rookies, more younger actors or perhaps more older actors, a few more people from the East Coast or a few more from the West. It is not appropriate, from a statistical point of view, to pick one or even two Oscar ceremonies and declare that they represent anything.</p>
<p>But, in terms of a dominating trend, we can see that in the last dozen years more underrepresented minorities have been nominated in these categories than in the 18 preceding ones.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/108764/original/image-20160120-26125-10pp7ji.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/108764/original/image-20160120-26125-10pp7ji.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/108764/original/image-20160120-26125-10pp7ji.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/108764/original/image-20160120-26125-10pp7ji.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/108764/original/image-20160120-26125-10pp7ji.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/108764/original/image-20160120-26125-10pp7ji.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/108764/original/image-20160120-26125-10pp7ji.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A pattern emerges.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Reuters</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>How nominees are nominated</h2>
<p>As a person who enjoys the movies and numbers, I was really curious to study the racial and ethnic trends in Oscar nominations. </p>
<p>The Academy Awards is a peer-reviewed process (the rules regarding the nomination process can be found <a href="http://www.oscars.org/oscars/rules-eligibility">here</a>). The Academy has approximately 6,000 members in 17 different branches – from actors to costume designers to film editors. The members from the specific branch (actors and directors, in this example) nominate from their own categories of specialization. When the top five nominees are identified, the entire membership is eligible to vote for the nominees. The actress or actor receiving the highest votes wins the award. </p>
<p>The Academy members are directed to a site on the Academy <a href="http://www.oscars.org/sites/oscars/files/88th_reminder_list.pdf">page</a> that lists all the films and the corresponding actors and actresses that are eligible to be nominated. Although the full list of Academy members is not available, you can see the <a href="http://www.comingsoon.net/movies/news/580414-list-of-new-academy-members-for-2013">list</a> of the 276 persons invited to become members in 2013. The Academy includes Chris Tucker, Danny Trejo, Jennifer Lopez, Jason Bateman and even Prince. </p>
<p>Spike Lee might not be able to nominate whomever he likes for actor (Spike is probably an Academy member in the director branch), but Jada Pinkett Smith certainly can, and so can Will Smith and Chris Tucker and Danny Trejo. Studios can send out “for your consideration” emails to members asking them to nominate a particular actor or actress or director. This whole system really is a “family affair.” </p>
<p>Considering that there are nearly 300 award-eligible movies this year, and perhaps quadruple that number of eligible acting roles, the chance of anyone receiving a nomination is statistically small. Here’s a statistical oddity of the current voting system: suppose that Denzel Washington had extraordinary performances in three movies made over four years but all released in one year. If the votes for him were spread out over all the movies, he might not get nominated at all, even though he would almost certainly be the best actor. </p>
<p>Or perhaps there are three underrepresented minorities in three different movies that pull the voters in different directions. Again, it’s possible that none of the actors will receive enough votes to draw a nomination.</p>
<h2>What to do about it</h2>
<p>The news of the day, so to speak, is that the Academy will try to implement <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/21/business/media/film-academy-under-fire-is-expected-to-take-steps-to-improve-oscar-diversity.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=second-column-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0">changes</a> to increase diversity following the pressure from the Smiths and others. </p>
<p>The Academy is reportedly weighing the option of a 10-nominee panel similar to what it has done with best picture nominations in the past. Although this would, in all likelihood, increase the number of persons of color receiving nominations in a single year, this might actually <em>lower</em> the percentages. </p>
<p>Consider the 2005 Oscars, in which six underrepresented minorities were nominated in the top four acting categories: 24 percent of the nominees were people of color. If the Academy moves to 10 nominees in each category, the Oscars would need 12 persons of color nominated to match the 24 percent high-water mark. </p>
<p>If, for example, seven underrepresented minorities are nominated in these five categories next year as a result of changes (which would be the highest number of persons of color nominated), it would only account for 14 percent of the nominations. </p>
<p>So what is the goal – more bodies or higher percentages? </p>
<p>In any case, perhaps we’re missing the point altogether. The first “Star Wars” movie was released in 1977. Thirty-eight years later the male lead of the new “Stars Wars” movie is played by a British actor of color. This is progress. More progress is of course needed, but it appears the Academy is working toward making this happen.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/53466/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
Just one underrepresented minority was nominated for an Oscar this year. Is that too few? Let’s look at the data.Thomas More Smith, Associate Professor in the Practice of Finance, Emory UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/437392015-06-24T10:08:19Z2015-06-24T10:08:19ZLet’s talk race: a teacher tells students not to be ‘color-blind’<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/86138/original/image-20150623-19371-2jm7yv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">If you can't see it, does race not exist?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/cat.mhtml?lang=en&language=en&ref_site=photo&search_source=search_form&version=llv1&anyorall=all&safesearch=1&use_local_boost=1&autocomplete_id=143507156883316950000&search_tracking_id=AjelgxbkwTX3tWv0bDqE0w&searchterm=eyes%20coverec&show_color_wheel=1&orient=&commercial_ok=&media_type=images&search_cat=&searchtermx=&photographer_name=&people_gender=&people_age=&people_ethnicity=&people_number=&color=&page=1&inline=89337400">Woman image via www.shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Following the recent events featured in the media such as the riots in <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/crime/baltimore-police-credible-evidence-of-gang-threat-to-officers/2015/04/27/68aca83a-ecf3-11e4-8666-a1d756d0218e_story.html">Baltimore</a> that came after the fatal shooting of Freddie Gray, <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2015/06/16/us/rachel-dolezal/">Rachel Dolezal</a> stepping down as the Spokane Washington NAACP president, and the tragic shootings in <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/06/17/white-gunman-sought-in-shooting-at-historic-charleston-african-ame-church/">Charleston, South Carolina</a>, public discussions have primarily focused on issues surrounding individual responsibility and mental illness.</p>
<p>I read these conversations with disappointment and frustration. </p>
<p>The dominant approach to understanding racial inequality in the US today is “color-blind racism.” This is the belief that racial inequality can be attributed only to issues considered to be <a href="http://www.miller3group.com/Articles/What_Does_It_Really_Mean.pdf">“race-neutral”</a>. In other words, because racial discrimination is now illegal, everyone is born with an <a href="http://ann.sagepub.com/content/634/1/190.full.pdf">equal opportunity</a> to achieve the “American Dream,” no matter their race.</p>
<p>In comparison to the overt and legal racism prior to the Civil Rights movement, this “new” transformed type of racism is seemingly invisible, making meaningful societal discussions near impossible, and in turn <a href="https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781442220546/Racism-without-Racists-Color-Blind-Racism-and-the-Persistence-of-Racial-Inequality-in-America-Fourth-Edition">perpetuating</a> racial inequality, which then expresses itself, as we have seen, in these recent incidents. </p>
<h2>Conversations with students</h2>
<p>What about classrooms? Are adequate conversations around race taking place in that space? And how can scholars shape some of the discussions?</p>
<p>A clear example of “color-blind racism” unexpectedly arose my first year as an assistant professor of sociology at Birmingham-Southern College (BSC) in Birmingham, Alabama.</p>
<p>Being a “Yankee,” I was warned in advance that my students at BSC would be more politically and socially conservative than what I was used to (coming from the University of New Hampshire).</p>
<p>However, midway into my first semester, I found that the majority of my students were able to critically engage in potentially controversial topics such as LGBT rights, health care reform and the legalization of marijuana. We also discussed the class inequality between them as middle- or upper-class students living within the gated “hilltop” campus and the surrounding lower social class neighborhood immediately outside of the campus gates.</p>
<p>The real challenge arose when it came to discussing race in the classroom.</p>
<p>I struggled to get my students to address the “elephant in the room” – that the majority of the surrounding lower social class neighborhood comprised racial minorities, whereas the majority of my students and BSC professors, including myself, benefited from “<a href="http://ed-share.educ.msu.edu/scan/ead/renn/mcintosh.pdf">white privilege</a>,” the often unacknowledged advantages with which whites are born, based solely on the color of their skin. </p>
<h2>Challenges of talking about race</h2>
<p>I had incorrectly assumed that teaching in Birmingham, Alabama, with its rich social and <a href="http://www.arcadiapublishing.com/9781467110679/Civil-Rights-in-Birmingham">cultural history</a> of the Civil Rights movement and racial heterogeneity, would make discussing racial inequality one of the most engaging and meaningful discussions in the course.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/86139/original/image-20150623-19411-c8xuuz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/86139/original/image-20150623-19411-c8xuuz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=478&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/86139/original/image-20150623-19411-c8xuuz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=478&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/86139/original/image-20150623-19411-c8xuuz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=478&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/86139/original/image-20150623-19411-c8xuuz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=601&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/86139/original/image-20150623-19411-c8xuuz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=601&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/86139/original/image-20150623-19411-c8xuuz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=601&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">How can students discuss race in classrooms?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/claremontcollegesdigitallibrary/5097239229/in/photolist-8LqFCZ-cEJChm-cEJrdJ-9sPbkW-4aadNf-nR3LCj-nEMQQK-nELLhN-22UAA8-ni3Aga-6hRRXf-cEHtUN-cEJLoJ-9wrdaK-bxHR3Q-9GNHEB-cEHqS1-9wucEC-9wrd9Z-cEJH2A-MdEE2-aM4MWP-qWSLKX-9GRAoW-9P6yte-nzfebX-k63mSD-k64FHd-9wuMSm-cEJ1Zs-8ETDVC-9PPW9U-82MUon-65BrWg-8phpkD-9wrd8D-cEJDC3-9Puh2K-6s7wWN-8ETDSC-noiki2-63trkz-65BWrb-7d9fg1-8aDAXc-ds1Rsy-cEHT61-nNXqJW-kyPYG-9PNMWA">Claremont Colleges Digital LIbrary</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>My students refused to discuss race beyond a superficial level.</p>
<p>I found the majority of my students, primarily from the South, have been “socialized” to not discuss race because “race doesn’t matter” and we are (or should be) a “color-blind” society.</p>
<p>This was illustrated by student responses such as “there is only one race: human” and “only racists see race” when asked in class whether race still matters. The responses were consistently given by students across my four classes. </p>
<p>Conversations with several of my faculty colleagues across disciplines also revealed that this was a common theme.</p>
<p>What I learned was that in order to get students to more effectively discuss issues of race, I needed to first address one of the most dangerous <a href="https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781442220546/Racism-without-Racists-Color-Blind-Racism-and-the-Persistence-of-Racial-Inequality-in-America-Fourth-Edition">social myths</a> perpetuating <a href="http://ann.sagepub.com/content/634/1/190.full.pdf">racial inequality</a> in today’s society — that we are a “color-blind” society.</p>
<h2>How to teach race</h2>
<p>I have modified my lesson on race to begin, not end, with a discussion of “color-blind racism.” What I have found to be most critical to this discussion is challenging my students to apply their <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-sociological-imagination-9780195133738?cc=us&lang=en&">“sociological imaginations,” </a> which can enable them to look at underlying social issues behind some recent news events. </p>
<p>As good sociologists-in-training, my students are asked to consider the larger social structural concerns (eg, poverty, institutional racism, the criminal justice system) instead of focusing on individuals (eg, Baltimore police officers, Rachael Dolezal, Dylann Roof).</p>
<p>My experiences in the classroom are by no means an isolated incident. Research consistently indicates this “color-blind” ideology <a href="http://thenewpress.com/books/new-jim-crow">permeates</a> education, politics, the criminal justice system, the media, etc. </p>
<p>This “color-blind racism” is as dangerous as, if not more dangerous than, the overt racism during <a href="http://thenewpress.com/books/new-jim-crow">Jim Crow</a>. It is for the most part invisible and easily overlooked in public discussions on social issues and therefore very effectively perpetuates racial inequality. </p>
<p>If the majority of my college students believe it is wrong to even “see” race, how can they be expected to meaningfully discuss larger issues of institutional racism and inequality? How can we as a society expect more meaningful social discussions and solutions? </p>
<p>As scholars, we need to emphasize to our students that race is a real thing, with real consequences. As long as we as a society continue avoiding “seeing” or meaningfully discussing race, we will continue to have Baltimore riots and Charleston shootings.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/43739/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Meghan L Mills has received funding from the National Science Foundation.</span></em></p>Do academics need to change the way they teach race? What is the impact of students having been socialized to believe that “race doesn’t matter”?Meghan L Mills, Assistant Professor of Sociology, Birmingham-Southern College Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/421582015-06-02T10:11:41Z2015-06-02T10:11:41ZFeet on campus, heart at home: first-generation college students struggle with divided identities<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/83426/original/image-20150529-15221-tnrh3k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">First generation students: Divided lives?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/schoeband/5418245734/in/photolist-9fMVFU-brk3Fg-5LDsRZ-8Mjbpv-ac1Rk-r3mhd6-dRsLkh-6osH5m-d1kV2Q-6TPYLc-x4vaU-5jPpU-4LMtJZ-4LMrUR-4LMq3i-4LMvx4-aoctd7-aobGxh-rAMjhT-2jYDxZ-sVekii-ehjzN3-8MAazW-stmMay-6xcF5U-d1kUQN-ceZV6N-6mgdUL-aGKgjr-bgwmbV-tcqcxS-phGjyf-aohs2g-ry7V7e-51uNy4-SXGTG-51z23U-fZAaA7-ebum2b-51z1EY-6mc3xp-51uMvp-51uN5K-nEDFzs-6mgcNd-6mgdsY-6mgcE7-6mc4qe-6G5UEi-5nVuV4">Andreina Schoeberlein</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>First-generation (FG) college students, or students whose parents have not earned a four-year degree, face unique psychological challenges. </p>
<p>Although perhaps supportive of higher education, their parents and family members may view their entry into college as <a href="http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.296.7903&rep=rep1&type=pdf">a break in the family system</a> rather than a continuation of their schooling. </p>
<p>In families, role assignments about work, family, religion and community are passed down through the generations creating <a href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/1084908">“intergenerational continuity.”</a> When a family member disrupts this system by choosing to attend college, he or she experiences a shift in identity, leading to a sense of loss. Not prepared for this loss, many first-generation students may come to develop <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03634520410001682401">two different identities</a> – one for home and another for college.</p>
<p>As a former first-generation college student who is now an associate professor of education, I have lived this double life. My desire to help other first-generation students resulted in <a href="http://www.aabri.com/manuscripts/131657.pdf">research</a> that provides insights into the lived experiences of first-generation students at <a href="http://www.wheelock.edu">Wheelock College</a>, a small college in Boston, Massachusetts, that has a high percentage of first-generation students. In 2010, 52% of our incoming undergraduates were first-generation college students. </p>
<p>Nationally, of the 7.3 million undergraduates attending four-year public and private colleges and universities, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/12/education/edlife/first-generation-students-unite.html?_r=0">about 20% are first-generation</a> students. About 50% of all FG college students in the US are <a href="http://www.heri.ucla.edu/PDFs/pubs/TFS/Special/Monographs/FirstInMyFamily.pdf">low-income.</a> These students are also more likely to be a member of a racial or ethnic minority group.</p>
<h2>Why do they decide to go to college?</h2>
<p>Most first-generation students decide to apply to college to meet the requirements of their preferred profession. But unlike students whose parents have earned a degree, they also often see college as a way to <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22390227">“bring honor to their families.”</a> </p>
<p>In fact, studies show that a vast majority of first-generation college students go to college in order to help their families: <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22390227">69% of FG college students</a> say they want to help their families, compared to 39% of students whose parents have earned a degree. This desire also extends to the community, with 61% of FG college students wanting to give back to their communities compared to 43% of their non-first-generation peers.</p>
<p>And while their families often view them as their “savior,” “delegate,” or a way out of poverty and less desirable living conditions, many first-generation students struggle with what has been described as <a href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/1084908">“breakaway guilt.”</a></p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/83429/original/image-20150529-15238-1y85t3j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/83429/original/image-20150529-15238-1y85t3j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/83429/original/image-20150529-15238-1y85t3j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/83429/original/image-20150529-15238-1y85t3j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/83429/original/image-20150529-15238-1y85t3j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/83429/original/image-20150529-15238-1y85t3j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/83429/original/image-20150529-15238-1y85t3j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">First-generation students are torn between family and college expectations.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/evaekeblad/8408332720/in/photolist-dP1UnN-bdQzAx-7EQ5eF-8yoyTq-rX6Cbn-7F9xrr-8ZEFpp-6QB5ex-2ywExb-2ysjh6-8tnkVc-5EqqRN-5EqqFG-5EqqyY-5Eqqq1-4R6MU-66rjbK-3brGg2-4PwrxY-amX1NL-b9Ri9x-b9RcFt-b9ReQK-b9RbBc-b9Rjca-b9Regk-b9Rgyc-b9RgUB-b9RhmM-b9Rg8g-5uwJg5-b9RaFZ-b9Rfur-b9Rduv-ma354i-mmhkVd-mmhkcE-2Gf1s9-6U2Ti5-7vUm3h-387xxz-33hMdu-47B9v9-6J9fDZ-d4wQbf-4DdTnu-5njsyh-st8JiD-6sXTNr-6CNfBR">Eva the Weaver</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Their decision to pursue higher education comes with the price of leaving their families behind. </p>
<p>They may feel they’re abandoning parents or siblings who depend on them. And families too may have conflicted feelings: first-generation college students’ desire for education and upward mobility may be viewed as a rejection of their past.</p>
<p>Perceived as different at home and different at school, first-generation college students often feel like they don’t belong to either place. </p>
<p>The challenge of higher education is to recognize the psychological impact that first-generation status has on its students and to provide help.</p>
<h2>First-generation students lack resources</h2>
<p>Not all first-generation college students are the same, but many experience difficulty within four distinct domains: 1) professional, 2) financial, 3) psychological and 4) academic. </p>
<p>Most of all, they need professional mentoring. They are the ones most likely to work at the mall during the summer rather than in a professional internship. They can’t afford to work for free, and their parents do not have professional networks. </p>
<p>Often, first-generation students apply only to a single college and do that without help. They can’t afford multiple application fees and they are unsure of how to determine a good fit, as their parents have not taken them on the college tour. </p>
<p>Many FG students fill out the financial aid forms themselves. As one FG college student <a href="http://www.aabri.com/manuscripts/131657.pdf">explained</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“They put all these numbers down and expect you to know what each one means. My mother doesn’t know and she expects me to find out and then tell her how it all works.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>FG students <a href="http://www.aabri.com/manuscripts/131657.pdf">worry</a> about the families they leave behind and try to figure out how to support them. </p>
<p>One first-generation student managed to enroll in college but was still worried about her mother’s lack of support. Miles away from home on a college campus for the first time, she divided her time each semester between paying her parents’ bills online and completing her assignments. Her parents didn’t own a computer or know how to use one. </p>
<h1>Stigma of being a first-generation college student</h1>
<p>Colleges need to recognize that FG students do not easily come forward to seek help. </p>
<p>Even though there are many successful former FG role models, such as First Lady <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/administration/first-lady-michelle-obama">Michelle Obama</a>, US Supreme Court Justice <a href="http://www.biography.com/people/sonia-sotomayor-453906">Sonia Sotomayor</a> and US Senator from Massachusetts <a href="http://www.warren.senate.gov/">Elizabeth Warren</a>, there is considerable stigma associated with FG status. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/83431/original/image-20150529-15250-1r5o4p2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/83431/original/image-20150529-15250-1r5o4p2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=335&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/83431/original/image-20150529-15250-1r5o4p2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=335&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/83431/original/image-20150529-15250-1r5o4p2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=335&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/83431/original/image-20150529-15250-1r5o4p2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=421&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/83431/original/image-20150529-15250-1r5o4p2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=421&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/83431/original/image-20150529-15250-1r5o4p2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=421&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Stigma forces some students to be invisible.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/javigvidal/2263809049/in/photolist-4s3Byv-5Y1QAj-5XWzyr-5Y1Qzu-5Y1QBs-5XWzJF-5XWzEZ-5XWzG2-5XWzCP-5XWzGZ-3UaNPk-5GykFi-7D4RjQ-28q9Se-7D11QM-k9s3s8-4Av1BN-f2F2ub-9LV9Qi-FbFoA-5StXrP-9ep4oD-89JVvk-5Ds6jh-8ovzZM-bLFw12-aR89BZ-5UefjG-f31vim-5Z2EGu-7HwJZs-bLFvXV-7KEpFC-5F8bAK-5xLZ9Y-ze5z1-f2LfPM-eaoccb-bxHR3Q-9wrdaK-Hqrg5-9wucEC-9wrd9Z-eaoGWY-f2Lfuv-f31uMd-f2LfwM-8ovzVn-f31uYU-nPnKMx">Javier Garcia</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>As a result, some FG college students may choose to remain invisible. Once they identify, their academic ability, achievement and performance may be <a href="http://www.aabri.com/manuscripts/131657.pdf">underestimated</a> by others. Their background is viewed as a deficit rather than a strength. And they are unnecessarily pitied by others, especially if low-income.</p>
<p>In extreme cases, other students and faculty may question their right to be on campus. Low-income, first-generation college students may arrive to college with fewer resources and more academic needs, making them <a href="http://www.hacu.net/images/hacu/OPAI/H3ERC/2012_papers/Reyes%20nora%20-%20rev%20of%201st%20gen%20latino%20college%20students%20-%202012.pdf">targets for discrimination</a>. </p>
<p>In a recent <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/12/education/edlife/first-generation-students-unite.html">New York Times video</a> on FG students at Ivy League colleges, a FG college student at Brown University who was born in Colombia told faculty that she was from New Jersey to avoid having to reveal that she was a first-generation college student.</p>
<p>But, there is another side to the story as well. </p>
<p>There are FG college students who view their status as a source of strength. It becomes their single most important motivator to earning their degree. These students are driven and determined. They can perform academically in ways that are equal to or even better than students whose parents have earned a degree.</p>
<p>These students too may benefit from a FG support group to help alleviate the internal pressure they place on themselves to succeed. </p>
<h2>How colleges can help FG students</h2>
<p>First-generation college students need customized attention and support that differs from students whose parents have earned a degree. They need to feel like they belong at their college or university and deserve to be there.</p>
<p>Higher education, with its unique culture, language and history, can be difficult for first-generation college students to understand. Students whose parents have attended college benefit from their parents’ experiences. </p>
<p>They come through the door understanding what a syllabus is, why the requirement for liberal arts courses exists and how to establish relationships with faculty. They can call their parents to ask for help on a paper or to ask questions about a citation method. They can discuss a classic novel they have both read. </p>
<p>This FG research has raised awareness on the Wheelock campus that has led to positive change. In 2014,the college applied for a <a href="http://www2.ed.gov/programs/fitw/index.html">First In the World federal grant</a> to help implement a new FG program. Though we were not awarded a grant in the first round of competition, we will continue to seek funding.</p>
<p>Colleges and universities have the ability to redesign their institutional cultures, teaching practices and academic support services to be more inclusive of first-generation college students.</p>
<p>For instance, they can offer required courses in a variety of different formats (hybrid, on-line, face-to-face) and timings (between semesters, during summers) to help FG students reduce degree completion time and save money. </p>
<p>They can recruit former FG faculty members to advise and mentor FG students. A FG web page for FG students and families can be created that features success stories, user-friendly financial aid as well as scholarship information, and links to other opportunities. </p>
<p>With the right support from institutions of higher education, FG students can earn their degree, reinvent themselves and reposition their families in positive ways for generations to come.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/42158/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Linda Banks-Santilli received funding from The Gordon Marshall Fellowship at Wheelock College in 2010. This fellowship is designed to promote faculty scholarship and research.</span></em></p>First-generation college students may suffer from a guilt of abandoning their families. They also carry huge responsibilities and expectations. How can colleges help them be successful?Linda Banks-Santilli, Associate Professor of Education, Wheelock CollegeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/399042015-04-23T09:58:23Z2015-04-23T09:58:23ZBan on affirmative action in medicine will hurt all<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/78986/original/image-20150422-1918-29yxbd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A racially diverse medical workforce leads to better quality of care.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/cat.mhtml?lang=en&language=en&ref_site=photo&search_source=search_form&version=llv1&anyorall=all&safesearch=1&use_local_boost=1&search_tracking_id=N9kJvb0zkULOw8e_FuhPbg&searchterm=doctors%20%20black&show_color_wheel=1&orient=&commercial_ok=&media_type=images&search_cat=&searchtermx=&photographer_name=&people_gender=&people_age=&people_ethnicity=&people_number=&color=&page=1&inline=151335629">Physician image via www.shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>With widely <a href="http://www.ahrq.gov/research/findings/nhqrdr/nhqrdr11/qrdr11.html">documented health disparities</a>, the US is facing a real crisis when it comes to the health of its racial and ethnic minorities. </p>
<p>Studies have shown that minority patients <a href="http://bhpr.hrsa.gov/healthworkforce/reports/diversityreviewevidence.pdf">receive better care</a> when physicians are from a similar racial or ethnic background. Medical schools have always <a href="http://escholarship.org/uc/item/0qt8d0j8?query=affirmative%20action;hitNum=1#page-9">defended affirmative action policies</a>, based on this compelling need for racial diversity.</p>
<p>However, with <a href="http://www.ncsl.org/research/education/affirmative-action-state-action.aspx">eight states</a> banning affirmative action, via ballot initiatives and other measures, a new trend is emerging across the nation which will have long-term consequences on racial and ethnic diversity in higher education. </p>
<p>More than that, it will have serious consequences on health care efforts as it hurts the ability to have more racially and ethnically diverse physicians that could better address the health disparities in the US. </p>
<p>A research project I led shows how these statewide bans have led to a drop in the already underrepresented students of color at medical schools. This research is a follow up to my earlier one showing an overall decline in the percentage of minority students coming to graduate schools, which also impacts the pipeline to medical schools. </p>
<h2>Impact of affirmative action bans</h2>
<p>In our <a href="http://muse.jhu.edu/login?auth=0&type=summary&url=/journals/journal_of_higher_education/v086/86.2.garces.html">study of medical school enrollments</a>, we examined the impact of bans in six states: California, Washington, Michigan, Nebraska, Florida, and Texas (the <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2014/07/16/appeals-court-upholds-u-texas-affirmative-action-policy">ban in Texas is no longer in place</a>). </p>
<p>We don’t include bans in the states of Arizona, New Hampshire and Oklahoma, as they had been enacted only recently.</p>
<p>The bans were implemented either through voter initiatives, or executive orders, or court cases, as was the <a href="http://civilrightsproject.ucla.edu/research/college-access/affirmative-action/the-hopwood-decision-in-texas-as-an-attack-on-latino-access-to-selective-higher-education-programs/chapa-hopwood-decision-97.pdf">case in Texas</a>, known more famously as the Hopwood decision, in which Texas colleges
and universities were prohibited from taking race into consideration during admissions.</p>
<p>We analyzed data from 19 years – 1993-2011, allowing us to cover four years before the implementation of the first ban in Texas and three years since the most recent ban in Nebraska.</p>
<p>While these laws apply to public institutions in the states, in our analysis we looked at the potential impact on private schools as well. </p>
<p>We did this considering it was possible that students would choose to enroll at private schools instead of public ones in states with bans or at medical schools in states that still allowed for the consideration of race as a factor in admissions. </p>
<p>We found that following these bans, underrepresented students of color at public medical schools dropped by about 3.2 percentage points.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/78973/original/image-20150422-1837-4u2frt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/78973/original/image-20150422-1837-4u2frt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/78973/original/image-20150422-1837-4u2frt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/78973/original/image-20150422-1837-4u2frt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/78973/original/image-20150422-1837-4u2frt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/78973/original/image-20150422-1837-4u2frt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/78973/original/image-20150422-1837-4u2frt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Physicians develop more competence in environments of racial and ethnic diversity.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/cat.mhtml?lang=en&language=en&ref_site=photo&search_source=search_form&version=llv1&anyorall=all&safesearch=1&use_local_boost=1&search_tracking_id=vbHi_Dl7EwHJwpkeIL782Q&searchterm=doctor%20black&show_color_wheel=1&orient=&commercial_ok=&media_type=images&search_cat=&searchtermx=&photographer_name=&people_gender=&people_age=&people_ethnicity=&people_number=&color=&page=1&inline=102138118">Doctor image via www.shutterstock.com</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>So, if you took a four-year average across the states, as we did, the percentage of students of color who matriculated at public medical schools was about 18.5%. Our findings, showing a a 3.2 percentage-point decline, meant that this had dropped to about 15.3% during the period we looked at.</p>
<p>In other words, before bans on affirmative action, for every 100 students matriculated in medical schools in states with bans, there were 18 students of color, whereas after the ban, for every 100 students matriculated, about 15 were students of color.</p>
<p>You might think that this is not a very large difference. But in my view, it’s a very important decline that seriously hurts efforts in the field of medicine to become more racially and ethnically diverse.</p>
<p>I believe such a decline has negative consequences for the ability of medicine to address health disparities, improve quality of care, provide better treatment and to have healthier populations. </p>
<h2>Decline in diversity of graduate schools</h2>
<p>My previous research too showed a decline in the racial/ethnic diversity in <a href="http://cue.usc.edu/racial%20diversity.pdf">graduate</a> education and across different <a href="http://aer.sagepub.com/content/50/2/251.full.pdf+html?ijkey=Bzu6u6tV6z2xc&keytype=ref&siteid=spaer">fields of study</a>, including engineering, natural sciences, social sciences and humanities. These bans have also led to <a href="http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/abs/10.1162/REST_a_00170#.VSXFQTvF-Os">declines in racial/ethnic diversity at selective colleges</a> that often form the pipeline to medical schools. </p>
<p>States with affirmative action bans host 35% of the nation’s research-ranked public medical schools and 29% of primary-care ranked public medical schools. Given this substantial proportion of medical schools, the action in these six states have national repercussions. </p>
<p>We also need to consider that despite gains over the last few decades, historically underrepresented students of color, like Africans Americans, Latinos, and Native Americans, are already underrepresented in medical schools, relative to their proportion of the US population. </p>
<p>While about 17% of the US population is Latino and 13% is African-American, these groups <a href="https://www.aamc.org/download/321540/data/factstable31.pdf">made up only 4% and 6%</a>, respectively, of the total US medical school enrollment in 2014. </p>
<p>All this has consequences for physician competence and health care. There is <a href="http://www.pubfacts.com/detail/25719675/Dimensions-of-Diversity-and-Perception-of-Having-Learned-From-Individuals-From-Different-Backgrounds">a strong association between racial diversity</a> of medical school students and their ability to handle cultural differences, attitudes towards access to care and plans to serve communities that are under-served. </p>
<p>For these reasons, a racially diverse medical workforce improves access and quality of care and in turn, health outcomes.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/39904/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Liliana M. Garces received funding for this study from the W.E. Upjohn Institute Early Career Grant in 2012. </span></em></p>Ban on affirmative action across eight states has led to a drop in minority students at medical schools.Liliana M. Garces, Assistant Professor of Education , Penn StateLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.