Understanding Race

What is racial profiling? Provide examples of how law enforcement, government officials and/or
ordinary citizens use racial profiling in the aftermath of 9/11. (review Arizona case). How might
the contact hypothesis remedy profiling?

Racial profiling refers to the an authoritys action based on race or ethnicity instead of behavior.
An example of this is the over excessive shooting of African Americans weve been hearing
about lately. The police officers were much more aggressive towards the African Americans just
for fact that they were African Americans. In the aftermath of 9/11 law enforcement, government
officials, and citizens resented muslims. Even though most muslims were not for terrorism, they
still received prejudice treatment. The contact hypothesis refers to the interracial contact between
each other causing the reduction of the idea of prejudice and abandoning old stereotypes. This
works if the interracial contact is cooperative and not competitive.

Discuss various ethnocentric practices historically used by those in power that have contributed
to prejudicial attitudes towards racial and minority groups.

During the rule of the Nazis, Jews and the disabled were discriminated against. In fact, hitler
hated Jews and the disabled so much that he ordered the genocide of them. The United States is
often called the melting pot. This is referring to the great mix of race. Especially in populated
places like Los Angeles, we see people from many backgrounds. For a time, people have always
said that immigrated people are taking jobs from the Americans.

What is the social construction of race? Provide a symbolic interactionist perspective. How can
this concept (social construction of race) be applied to Americans from multiple racial
backgrounds?

The social construction of race refers to the distinction based on race. Each society chooses
which physical traits are more important than others. For example, in the United States, we
notice skin color. In another country, they might notice hair color or eye color. From a symbolic
interactionist perspective, social construction plays a role in how we interact we each other. In
the U.S., we may notice a persons skin color and may interact differently with that person. In
the U.S. we notice only a handful of skin colors. We tend to lump people into the categories of
Black, White, and Asian with other races ignored.

Define the term model minority. Discuss which minority group is perceived as living up to that
image. Discuss advantages and disadvantages of being a model minority.

Model minority refers to the minority in which all other minorities look up to. They are the
ideal minority because although they face prejudice and discrimination, they still succeeded.
Asian Americans are perceived to be the model minority. The reason for this is because Asians
place education, hard work, and money as a high regard. An advantage of being a model
minority is that there actually is a high chance of being successful. Being a successful model
minority shows that there is hope for other minorities. A disadvantage of the model minority is
that because Asian Americans is such a large category, there are in fact many that are not
successful.