Module 2: Understanding race & Racism
   Part 3: Socialization in the formation of identity

In this module, we will use the California Newsreel/PBS series "Race: The Power of an Illusion" to explore ideas about race and its social construction and implications. The three-part series was originally produced in 2003, but is still relevant. Additional

Suggested Goals:
1. To become familiar with the social construction of race.
2. To dispel myths about race and its biological roots.
3. To understand the long-term effects of race in society.
4. To consider the impacts of racial ideas on identity, socialization, and classroom practice.
Note: *Questions are from the Independent Television Services Community Connections Project found at https://dev-distributeddesign.pantheon.berkeley.edu/sites/default/files/2018-10/RACE-ITVSGuide-Updated.pdf

&1: Power of an illusion

​Race: The Power of an Illusion was originally produced by California Newsreel in 2003. The ideas and discussions in the three-part series are still relevant to race and racism today. This part of the module will require access to the series. Two possible methods of free access are the following:


Access:
Race: The Power of an Illusion @ InterVarsity
https://mem.intervarsity.org/resources/race-power-illusion-documentary
or
Race: The Power of an Illusion @ Facing History and Ourselves
(This will require signing up for a free account and is not affiliated with TeacherCollaborate.com)
https://www.facinghistory.org/books-borrowing/race-power-illusion

This part of Module 2 will be set up in the following format:
Pre-viewing questions*
Viewing
Post-viewing questions and reflection*

*Questions are from the itvs Community Connections Project found at
https://dev-distributeddesign.pantheon.berkeley.edu/sites/default/files/2018-10/RACE-ITVSGuide-Updated.pdf

Race: The Power of an Illusion - Part 1: The Difference Between Us

The first part of the series will look at racial differences and the attempts to define these differences using biology. While there is not a genetic or biological basis for differences, these beliefs persist in society and are reflected in policy and interactions.

Pre-viewing Questions*:
  • How would you define race? What does it mean to you? 
  • How many races do you think there are? What are they? How do you decide which race someone belongs to?
  • Look around the room or around your community. Who do you think is likely to be most similar to you, biologically or genetically? Why?
  • Where do your ideas about race come from? What are the sources of your information?

Watch:
Race: The Power of an Illusion - Part 1: The Difference Between Us

Additional information relating to The Difference Between Us is available at the link below. Explore these updated clips and commentary to gain insight into the episode. You can use the link below and then click on “Episode One” and “Expert Connections” to dig deeper.

Watch:
Race: The Power of an Illusion - Videos
https://www.racepowerofanillusion.org/clips/

Additional resources are also available from the online companion to Race: The Power of an Illusion. You can browse and bookmark these resources for later use.

Explore:
Race: The Power of an Illusion - Resources
https://www.racepowerofanillusion.org/resources/

Post-viewing Questions and Reflection*:
  • What is the difference between a biological and a social view of race? Why is this an important distinction?
  • At the beginning of the film, the students are asked to predict whom they will be most like when they compare their DNA samples. How did the results compare with your expectations? Did you share the students’ surprise? If so, why?
  • Anthropologist Alan Goodman says that “to understand why the idea of race is a biological myth requires a major paradigm shift.” Do you agree? Did the film present anything that shifted your thinking in a major way? If so, what? Is it difficult to make this shift? Why?
  • Should doctors and other health professionals take biological race into account when diagnosing and treating illness? Why? 
  • Can you think of a situation where thinking about race as biological might be misleading or have a negative effect? How would considering social race be different? 
  • Towards the end of this episode, the students are asked if they would trade their skin color. Would you trade your skin color? How do you think your life would be different if you looked like someone of a different race? 
  • Turn-of-the-century scientists like Frederick Hoffman drew scientific conclusions based on what they believed to be true. How are scientists today influenced by their beliefs or their social context? 
  • For many people, race is an important part of their identity. How do the following two comments from the film affect the way you think of yourself: 
    • “There’s as much or more diversity and genetic difference within any racial group as there is between people of different racial groups.” - Pilar Ossorio, microbiologist 
    • “Every single one of us is a mongrel.” - student 
  • Athletics is one arena where talking about ideas of inborn racial differences remains common. Why do you think some populations or groups seem to dominate certain sports but not others? What does it mean that the groups that dominate those sports have changed over time?  

Race: The Power of an Illusion - Part 2: The Story We Tell

Pre-viewing Questions*:
  • How long do you think the idea of race has been around? Where did it come from?
  • Do you think Africans were enslaved in the Americas because they were deemed inferior, or were they deemed inferior because they were enslaved?

Watch:
Race: The Power of an Illusion - Part 2: The Story We Tell

Additional information relating to The Difference Between Us is available at the link below. Explore these updated clips and commentary to gain insight into the episode. You can use the link below and then click on “Episode Two” and “Expert Connections” to dig deeper.

Watch:
Race: The Power of an Illusion - Videos
https://www.racepowerofanillusion.org/clips/

Post-viewing Questions and Reflection*:
  • What is the significance of the episode’s title, “The Story We Tell”? What function has that story played in the U.S.? What are the stories about race that you tell? What are the stories you have heard? Did the film change the way you think about those stories? If so, how? 
  • Organizers of the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair put on display people whom they defined as “other.” Although few would do this today, many still see others as distinctly different from themselves. In your community, who is seen as "different"? What characterizes those who are defined as different? 
  • In the film, historian James Horton points out that colonial white Americans invented the story that "there's something different about 'those' people" in order to rationalize believing in the contradictory ideas of equality and slavery at the same time. Likewise, historian Reginald Horsman shows how the explanation continued to be used to resolve other dilemmas: “This successful republic is not destroying Indians just for the love of it, they’re not enslaving Blacks because they are selfish, they’re not overrunning Mexican lands because they are avaricious. This is part of some great inevitability… of the way races are constituted.” What stories of difference are used to mask or cover up oppression today? Why do we need to tell ourselves these kinds of stories? 
  • How did expanding democracy and giving opportunities to more white men intersect with American society becoming increasingly "race based"? How did racism benefit white men? Are these practices still the case today? Is there an inevitable trade-off where one group gains privilege at the expense of another or can reversing racial inequality benefit all people, including white people who have traditionally benefited from racism? What might that look like? 
  • Historian Matthew P. Guterl observes, "Most Americans believed that race was one of the most important parts of national life; that race mattered because it guaranteed this country a [glorious] future in the history of the world." While few would admit it today, do you think the definition of progress is still tied to being white? Can you think of historical or current instances in which those who are not defined as white are blamed for American weakness or problems? 
  • How was the notion of Manifest Destiny shaped by beliefs about race? What is the relationship of Manifest Destiny to current foreign policies? 
  • Compare current responses to racial inequity - e.g., calls for reparations or affirmative action - with the response of those who believed in the "White Man’s Burden.” Which solutions reinforce biological notions of race and/or white superiority? Which acknowledges the social construct of race without reinforcing those myths? Is it possible to address racial inequities without reinforcing biological notions of race? If so, how?

Race: The Power of an Illusion - Part 3: The House We Live In

Pre-viewing Questions*:
  • Does race affect your life? Why or why not? If so, in what ways?
  • Forty years ago, the Civil Rights Act declared that forced racial segregation was illegal. In light of this, why do you think some neighborhoods, schools and workplaces are still segregated?
  • What stereotypes have you heard or seen about different racial groups? Where do they come from?
  • Do you think people today should be held accountable for past discrimination? Why or why not?
  • Define “racial preferences.” List a couple of current examples. Do the preferences you see in practice today tend to most benefit whites, Blacks, or others?

Watch:
Race: The Power of an Illusion - Part 3: The House We Live In

Additional information relating to The Difference Between Us is available at the link below. Explore these updated clips and commentary to gain insight into the episode. You can use the link below and then click on “Episode Thrree” and “Expert Connections” to dig deeper.

Watch:
Race: The Power of an Illusion - Videos
https://www.racepowerofanillusion.org/clips/

Post-viewing Questions and Reflection*:
  • The film shows how government policies have created unfair advantages for whites in the past, resulting in a substantial wealth gap between whites and nonwhites. What examples of disparity exist in your community today? Will the wealth gap go away if we ignore race? 
  • In the early part of this century, Asian immigrants were not eligible for citizenship, no matter how long they lived in the U.S. What is the legacy of those laws in terms of how Asian Americans are viewed today? What role does race play in current U.S. policy on immigration and granting of citizenship? How is our idea of citizenship still tied to race? 
  • Commenting on the idea that the U.S. is a melting pot, sociologist Eduardo Bonilla-Silva says, “That melting pot never included people of color. Blacks, Chinese, Puerto Ricans, etc. could not melt into the pot.” Think about the phrase “melting pot”—what does it imply? If this does not appropriately describe the U.S., what phrase would aptly describe the relationship between its various peoples? 
  • Central to the concept of the American Dream is the notion that anyone who works hard enough will be rewarded—that anyone can “pull themselves up by their bootstraps.” How has this been made more difficult for people not defined as white? What is the long-term impact of that denial? What difference does access to financial resources make in terms of your life opportunities?
  • Cartoonist Bill Griffith comments on the all-white suburb where he grew up: “It certainly doesn’t promote a feeling of a wider world to live in a place where there are only people who look like you.” Do you agree? What does your neighborhood, workplace or school look like? Should geographical integration be a goal of public policy? Why or why not? 
  • Psychologist Beverly Daniel Tatum summarizes the impact of institutionalized racial policies like FHA loan practices: “To the child of that parent, it looks like, ‘My father worked hard, bought a house, passed his wealth on to me, made it possible for me to go to school....How come your father didn’t do that?’” How would you answer the child of that privileged parent? How would you explain the situation to the child of the parent who was disadvantaged by government policies? 
  • Supreme Court Justice Henry Blackmun said, “To get beyond racism we must first take account of race. There is no other way.” Do you agree? Contrast Blackmun’s statement with people who strive to be “colorblind” and judge people by the “content of their character rather than the color of their skin.” Who benefits if we adopt a colorblind approach to society? How is colorblindness different from equality? 
  • Given that race isn’t biological, should we get rid of racial categories? Why might racial classifications still be useful? If we stop tracking racial information, how will we tell if disparities still exist? 
  • How would you respond to Beverly Daniel Tatum’s closing questions in the film: 
    • What can I influence?
    • How am I making this a more equitable environment?
    • Who is included in this picture and who isn’t; who has had opportunities in my environment and who hasn’t?
    • What can I do about that?

There are three online companions that could be beneficial in exploring this series. As noted previously, the pre-viewing and post-viewing/reflection questions came from the companion resource developed by Independent Television Services. The links to the three companion resources are provided below.

Resources:
Independent Television Services Community Connections Project Companion Guide
https://dev-distributeddesign.pantheon.berkeley.edu/sites/default/files/2018-10/RACE-ITVSGuide-Updated.pdf
race-itvsguide-updated.pdf
File Size: 366 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File
Race: The Power of an Illusion Website
https://www.racepowerofanillusion.org/

PBS Companion Guide
https://www.pbs.org/race/001_WhatIsRace/001_00-home.htm

Reflection:
  • How did the series (Race: The Power of an Illusion) contribute to or change your thinking?
  • How will your changes in thinking impact your practice and your interactions outside of the classroom?
  • What do you want to learn more about? Where could you start to find more information?

The next part of this module will continue to explore race and racism through the use of several sources that focus on slavery and systemic racism.