At our denominations General Assembly, I had the privilege of attending a talk by Alicia Jackson, professor of history at Covenant College entitled, “In His Image? How Racial and Ethnic Stereotypes Shape Our View of God’s Creation.” I highly recommend it [Note: it’s not currently available online, but she also presented similar material here].
Jackson highlighted several stereotypes that have governed how white Americans view African Americans. Entering this lecture, I thought of myself as having made good progress on the issue of race. I admit to my shame that this lecture helped me see how often I viewed African-American men through the stereotype of the violent black man. I realized this was unjust, and I’m thankful for this lecture because it has helped me begin to view African-American men more justly. I am thankful especially for the African-American men and women in my denomination who have helped me think through these matters in ways I would not have done without them.
These stereotypes have real world effects. Joan Williams describes a famous study of racial discrimination:
My favorite study of racism in the white-collar context is the “Greg”/”Jamal” study. The study sent out identical resumes, some with white-sounding names, some with African-American-sounding names. The study found that Jamal had to have 8 additional years of experience to get the same number of job callbacks as Greg; the higher the quality of the resume, the stronger the racial bias became. (Joan C. Williams, White Working Class: Overcoming Class Cluelessness in America [Boston: Harvard Business Review Press, 2017], 61).
What is interesting is that Williams describes a similar study with with applicants who indicated a working class background versus a background from what she calls the “professional managerial elites.” For example, “the lower-class applicant was listed as enjoying pick-up soccer and country music and volunteered as a mentor for fellow first-generation college students” (46). What were the results? “The employers overwhelmingly favored the higher-class man: over 16% of his resumes resulted in a callback. Only 1% of [the working class] resumes did so . . .” (ibid.). Continue reading “Stereotypes and the White Working Class”