Dear White People

Being a Black Face in a White Space

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwJhmqLU0so

Not Fitting In

Reggie: My man, how come you never come to BSU?

Lionel Higgins: I listen to Mumford and Sons and watch Robert Altman movies . Do you really think I'm black enough for the Union?

Smoothe: Yo! I *love* Robert Altman! Motherfucker goes *in*!



"Lionel please, you're only technically black" 

Sam: "Girls like me..."
Greg: "Have to pick a side? I'm sick of your tragic mulatto bull."
Sam: "You can't say mulatto" 

Space, Race, & Stereotypes

Hester Wheeler:

• Do we really see the experiences of minority people?
• When we don’t see the real experiences, we question the inability to assimilate/ accommodate
• Why is it so easy for white students in higher education to turn a blind eye?

Stephen Henderson:

• Idea of "Safe Space"
• We should be safe with each other, not safe from each other

Dear White People: 

Gabe: So, Sam, how would you feel if someone started a "Dear Black People"?

Sam White: No need. Mass media from Fox News to reality TV on VH1 makes it clear what white people think of us.

Linguistic Intergroup Bias:

• What behaviors are described when talking about an out group? 
• What do we hear on the news? 

Segregation on College Campuses

Social Identity Theory & Self-Categorization Theory

Dear White People: Students protest the randomization of campus housing
- People want to be around other people who look like them, have common experiences as them, and   share similar goals for the future

Tatianna: 

• Wants to join a multicultural sorority for even more support and sense of family
• Says a sorority is a place to uplift one another and motivate one another
• Celebrate each other’s successes and take pride in culture

Accommodating Speech To Fit In Or Stand Out

Communication Accommodation Theory

Oofta: “ jazz-age term for bojango-types who blacked it up for white audiences; modulates blackness up or down depending on what he wants from them”

Nose job: “smooth their black edges and try to blend in; worst fear is that they blackness will cause a bust or draw attention so they use it to self-deprecate”.

One Hundred: "a person who keeps in 100% real, or 100% black, uncensored."