2. Ferber’s argument that celebrating ______________ helps to assure White people that racism
is no longer an issue.
a. Black athletes
b. Black artists
c. Hispanic athletes
d. Black teachers
3. Historically, White society has reduced Black men to their muscles and
a. fear
b. intellect
c. genitals
d. height
4. Black men have been defined by years of White supremacy as
a. inherently violent
b. beast-like
c. hypersexual
d. all of these choices are correct
5. Stereotypes of Black men and women were previously attributed to biology but now are
attributed to
a. Black culture
b. psychology
c. social conditions
d. educational attainment
6. White supremacy portrays ________ as a problem of a deficient Black culture
a. crime
b. inequality
c. wealth
d. equality
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7. One concern with the role of Black men and sports is that they are
a. assumed to be athletic with little consideration for other abilities
b. are often still controlled and dominated by White men
c. reinforces stereotypes of “animal” behavior
d. all of these choices are correct
Essay and Discussion Questions:
1. Describe the negative imagery associated with Black males within a White supremacist
system. How are these reinforced in modern times?
2. What is the linkage that Ferber discusses regarding the relationship between sports and
society?
3. In the past, what were the negative stereotypes of Black males attributed to? What are they
attributed to in modern times?
4. How does Ferber argue that the success of Black males in the sports arena is not indicative of
less racism but a reiteration of long held stereotyping?
5. How is the “bad boy” image of certain athletes a way of continuing racism against Black
males? Give examples.
Internet Sites and Questions for Further Discussion:
Read the following article on the topic of professional sport racism expanding to media
coverage. Do you see this as being a different form of racism than what is perpetrated within the
51. “Sustainable Food and Privilege: Why is Green Always White (and Male and Upper
Class)” Janani Balasubramanian
Food justice, Janani Balasubramanian argues, is fundamentally a race and class issue, and food
activists are not speaking about it as such. The emphasis on local food economy fails to
recognize the importance of United States support of agriculture in other parts of the world.
Activists of color who do admirable work in their communities are often ignored by White
activist writers and film makers. Thus we do not hear the ‘variety of voices’ that needs to be
heard if universal food reform is to be achieved.
Multiple Choice Questions:
1. According to Balasubramanian, the major voices in food activism are not talking
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about______________ as often as they should:
a. vegetarianism
b. buying local
c. the meat-packing industry
d. race and class
2. According to Balasubramanian, food reform requires:
a. a return to the family farm
b. White men to be more involved
c. a diversity of voices
d. that we stop buying foreign produce
3. We should not be too hasty to reject globalization, according to Balasubramania, because:
a. the U.S. make a lot of money from foreign trade
b. people in other countries depend on our purchase of their food
c. return to local consumption is impossible
d. agribusiness in the U.S. will fail without it.
4. The face of farming is changing and _______________ will continue to grow in number as
stewards of sustainable agriculture.
a. White male small-scale farmers
b. Latinos
c. agribusinesses
d. women and people of color
5. Balasubramania charges that the voices of people of color, like ______________ who do
brilliant food justice work in their communities are seldom heard.
a. Bryant Terry and Winona La Duke
b. Joel Salatin and Alice Waters
c. Eric Schlosser and Peter Singer
d. Alice Waters and Michael Pollan
6. Balasubramania claims that many White male food activists situate the current state of
American food consumption in a _____________ paradigm.
a. anti-racist
b. pro-globalization
c. patriarchal
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d. broadly diverse and inclusive
Essay and Discussion Questions:
1. Whose voices are left out of the works by prominent food activists, according to
Balasubramania?
2. Why should we not be too hasty to reject globalization, according to Balasubramania?
3. How is the food reform movement ‘predicated on a shaky foundation’ according to
Balasubramania?
4. Discuss what the author means by the ‘patriarchal paradigm’ used by many food activists in
their understanding of American consumption.
Internet Sites and Questions for Further Discussion:
52. “There’s No Business Like the Nail Business,” Miliann Kang
Kang takes a double pronged approach to her article, examining both why the beauty industry,
specifically related to manicures and pedicures, has shifted from something done within the
home to something performed professionally. She also examines the prevalence of Korean
women within this industry. Kang claims the expansion of the industry is the factor of these two
events coming together: women looking to reinforce their femininity as part of an overall
“commercialization of intimate life” that appeal to emotions and bodies in a form of escapism.
With the increase of immigrants, largely female and Asian, who perform the work, the prices are
kept low enough and the availability of services have done nothing but increase the popularity of
this industry.
Multiple Choice Questions:
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1. Kang’s study examines the significant number of ________ involved in the American beauty
industry?
a. Korean women
b. Japanese women
c. Korean men
d. Taiwanese women
2. Representation of Asian success in the American beauty industry reinforces what stereotype?
a. forever foreigner
b. model minority
c. hated minority
d. none of these choices are correct
3. Hochschild describes the reason more women pay for manicures rather than doing it
themselves as an example of the “__________ of intimate life”.
a. expansion
b. publicization
c. disregard
d. commercialization
4. By assigning market values to the human body, new forms of work are created and named
_______ by Kang
a. body labor
b. market work
c. intimate work
d. none of these choices are correct
5. According to findings in 2004, the nail salon revenue in the United States was about
a. $80 Million
b. $183 Million
c. $679 Million
d. $6 Billion
6. In general, ________ cater to a more racially and ethnically diverse clientele, while _______
often focus on a single race or ethnicity
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a. Hair salons, nail salons
b. Day spas, nail salons
c. Nail salons, hair salons
d. Hair salons, day spas
7. The willingness of customers to regularly invest in nail and beauty services is highest in
a. Large urban areas
b. Rural areas
c. Suburban areas
d. There is no difference by area
Essay and Discussion Questions
1. What does purpose does Kang argue that manicure services provide for women in the present
day?
2. What is the positive and negative impact on Asian Americas associated with their success in
the nail industry?
3. What are other examples provided by Kang of the commercialization of human feelings?
How do these relate to our changing society?
4. Why have beauty services increased even amidst growing economic pressures on people?
5. How have the nail and beauty industries been affected by the shifting role of women and
femininity in American society?
6. What technological changes have had an effect on the nail industry? What are the positive
and negative impacts of these developments?
7. What is the role race and ethnicity have played in the beauty industry? How does it impact
some types of services, but not others?
Internet Sites and Questions for Further Discussion:
53. “Gender, Race, and Urban Policing: The Experience of African American Youths,”
Rod K. Brunson and Jody Miller
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Brunson and Miller turn their focus to the experiences of young Black women in the inner city,
as opposed to the focus usually placed on young Black men. In general, young women face
more criminal justice contacts for minor infractions compared to young men, but also punitive
treatment than young White women experience. Research shows that urban communities with
poverty and racial segregation are more often the target of police misconduct, aggressive
strategies, and under-responsive policing, which builds a sense of resentment and cynicism to the
legal system. Brunson and Miller surveyed and interviewed a total of 35 young African
American women and 40 young African American men with regard to their experience with law
enforcement. Males overall reported more harassment when not participating in any delinquent
behavior, while women were more often stopped and questioned for minor curfew infractions.
Physical violence was more prevalent with young men than young women.
Multiple Choice Questions:
1. According to Brunson and Miller, young Black women are often mistreated by police as
a. minor offenders
b. victims
c. minor offenders and victims
d. none of these choices are correct
2. Areas with high levels of poverty and minority racial segregation are subject to all but which
of the following policing strategies:
a. police misconduct
b. technological surveillance
c. drug and gang suppression efforts
d. under-responsive policing
3. Which of the following groups are theorized to have the least favorable opinion of police
officers?
a. adolescent White males
b. adolescent Black males
c. adult White males
d. adult Black males
4. In Brunson and Miller’s study, ______ young men and ______ young women reported
experiencing police harassment
a. 37/33
b. 19/24
c. 33/16
d. 16/33
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5. What was the most common complaint about the experience young Black women had with
the police?
a. being stopped for curfew violations
b. antagonistic language
c. invasive physical searches
d. excessive force
Essay and Discussion Questions:
1. What are the negative consequences of aggressive policing strategies in impoverished and
segregated communities?
2. How does the idea of “chivalry” apply to policing and female suspects? Is it always present?
3. How did the young people who participated in Brunson and Miller’s study describe their
neighborhoods? How is this consistently with scholarly research on impoverished areas?
4.What are the reasons postulated by Brunson and Miller as to why police were less responsive
to complaints from young Black women?
5. What are theories to explain why young Black men and young Black women react differently
to police suspicion?
Internet Sites and Questions for Further Discussion
While the following article was confirmed to actually be a suicide, examine this and locate
articles on related cases. Do you believe other situations were truly suicide? And if they were,
54. “The Color of Justice,” Michelle Alexander
Michelle Alexander examines the racial disparities in our criminal justice system, finding that
“rates and patterns of drug crime do not explain” the fact that “although the majority of illegal
drug users and dealers nationwide are White, three-fourths of all people imprisoned for drug
offenses are Black or Latino.” Alexander identifies two stages in a structural process that results
in the unjust disparities she finds in the system of “racialized social control” that passes itself off
as criminal justice.
Multiple Choice Questions:
1. The majority of drug users and dealers nationwide are:
a. in prison
b. Black
c. Latino
d. White
2. The majority of people in prison for drug offenses are:
a. Black and Latino
b. White
c. Asian
d. women
3. _________________ students use crack cocaine at eight times the rate of _____________
students,
a. Black/White
b. Latino/White
c. White/Black
d. Black/Latino
4. According to Alexander, patterns of drug crime do not explain:
a. why people use drugs.
b. why some groups use more drugs than others.
c. drug addiction.
d. glaring racial disparities in the criminal justice system.
5. What is responsible for the ‘prison boom’ according to Alexander?
a. convictions for violent crime
b. convictions for theft
c. convictions for drug offences
d. convictions for failure to pay child support
6. Alexander finds that despite the popular belief that _______________ is on the rise, it is
actually at historically low levels and NOT responsible for the ‘prison boom.’
a. theft
b. violent crime
c. drug use
d. drug conviction
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1. What is the “simple design” that Alexander believes is responsible for “one of the most
extraordinary systems of racialized social control the world has ever seen”?
2. How might the two case studies identified by Alexander at the beginning of her article
inform our understanding of how the War on Drugs is racialized?
3. Who most often commits drug offenses? Who is most often convicted of drug offenses?
Discuss how you think this disparity occurs.
Internet Sites and Questions for Further Discussion:
American Civil Liberties Union: Position Paper
55. “Rape, Racism and the Law” Jennifer Wriggins
Wriggins argues that the legal system’s treatment of rape has furthered racism and has denied the
reality of women’s sexual subordination. She illustrates how the history of rape in the U.S. has
focused on the rape of White women by Black men, ignoring both White men as rapists and
Black women as victims of rape.
Multiple Choice Questions:
1. The history of rape in the US has focused on the rape of:
a. White women by White men
b. Black women by White men
c. Black women by Black men
d. White women by Black men
2. During the slavery period, the rape of Black women by White or Black men was:
a. legal
b. illegal
c. subject to the death penalty
d. infrequent and illegal
3. After the Civil War, allegations of rape involving Black offenders and White victims were
treated with heightened virulence. One of the ways in which this heightened virulence
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manifested was through _______________, which peaked near the end of the 19th century.
a. special doctrinal rules
b. lynching
c. common-law barriers
d. statutory penalties
4. Between 1882 and 1946 at least 4715 persons were lynched, about _______________of
whom were Black.
a. 25%
b. 50%
c. 75%
d. 95%
5. Common stereotypes of Black male sexuality include:
a. that Black male sexuality is wanton and bestial
b. that Black men are wild
c. that Black men are the criminal rapists of White women
d. all of these answers are correct
6. Many Whites accepted _______________ as an appropriate punishment for a Black man
accused of raping a White woman.
a. lynching
b. corporal punishment
c. imprisonment
d. steep fines
7. Courts applied “special doctrinal rules” to Black defendants accused of the rape or attempted
rape of White women. The “social conditions and customs founded upon racial differences”
which the jury was to consider:
a. included the assumption that Black men always and only want to rape White women
b. included that a White woman would never consent to sex with a Black man
c. were not applied where both persons were of color
d. all of these answers are correct
8. The criminal justice system continues to take the rape of Black women less seriously than the
rape of White women.
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a. true
b. false
c. true, but only when the accused rapist is White
d. true, but only when the accused rapist is Black
9. Based on data from national surveys of rape victims, the profile of the most frequent rape
victim is:
a. a young woman
b. divorced or separated
c. Black and poverty stricken
d. all of these answers are correct
10. The rape of Black women by White men during slavery was commonplace and was used as a
crucial weapon of White supremacy. White men had what has been referred to as
_________________ Black women.
a. special doctrinal rules for
b. institutionalized access to
c. legal lynching access
d. statutory penalties against
Essay and Discussion Questions:
1. Discuss the chronology of the offender/victim relationship and rape since slavery.
2. Wriggins states that ‘allegations of rape involving Black offenders and White victims were
treated with heightened virulence” after the Civil War. How so?
3. What is meant by “legal lynching?”
4. Courts applied special doctrinal rules to Black defendants accused of the rape or attempted
rape of White women. What were these rules and why are they significant?
5. The outcomes of the disparate treatment of Black men by the legal system during slavery still
manifest themselves today. How so?
6. The most common racial combination for rape is Black offender and White victim. Using
examples from the essay, please respond to this statement. Be sure to indicate whether you
believe it is true or false.
7. Wriggins writes “from slavery to the present day, the legal system has consistently treated
the rape of White women by Black men with more harshness than any other kind of rape…”
In what ways is this selective focus significant?
8. After the Civil War, Black women were vulnerable to rape in several ways that White
women were not. How so?
9. The criminal justice system continues to take the rape of Black women less seriously than the
rape of White women. Explain the research that exists on judges, White jurors, Black jurors,
and the police.
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Internet Sites and Questions for Further Study:
African American Women and Violence: Gender, Race and Class in the News
1. According to Meyers, “[n]ews coverage of violence against African American women during
Freaknik blamed them for the own victimization and minimized the seriousness of the
1. What is Katie Roiphe’s claim?
2. How does the author, Paula Kamen, respond to Roiphe’s “findings?”
56. “Interpreting and Experiencing Anti-Queer Violence: Race, Class and gender
Differences Among LGBT Hate Crime Victims,” Doug Meyer
Doug Meyer uses an intersectional approach and a qualitative methodology to explore how
victims of violence in the LBGT community experience victimization differently according to
race, class gender and sexuality. Meyer finds that multiple intersecting oppressed statuses make
the identification of hate crime more complicated for all but middle and upper class White gay
men. Those statutes may then serve primarily the interests of those White men, not the interests
of lesbian and bisexual women, and particularly not LGBT people of color.
Multiple Choice Questions:
1. The degree to which queer people are willing to determine that violence is based on their
sexuality varies by:
a. the severity of the crime
b. degrees of homophobia in the community
c. intersections in the race, class, gender and sexuality of the victim
d. how likely the victim thinks the violence will reoccur
2. _________________ makes possible some forms of homophobic violence and
_______________ makes possible some forms of racial violence, according to Meyer.
a. racism/homophobia
b. hate/misunderstanding
c. prejudice/discrimination
d. sexism/racism
3. Lesbian women of color often confront violence in which their perpetrators do not use
_________________ insults.
a. gender specific
b. racial
c. any
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d. homophobic
4. According to Meyer, attempts to punish gender nonconformity could be perceived not only
as attempts to enforce gender conformity but also as attempts to restrict:
a. heterosexuality
b. women’s liberation
c. homosexuality
d. racism
5. In his study, Meyer found that queer people of color were ____________________ likely
than White gay men to express uncertainty as to the cause of their violent experiences:
a. less
b. just as
c. 10 times more
d. twice as
6. White gay men almost always determined that interracial violence was based on their:
a. race
b. sexuality
c. gender
d. class
Essay and Discussion Questions:
1. Why does Meyer conclude that hate crime statutes may favor the interests of White gay men?
2. Why are LBGT people of color less likely to identify homophobia as the cause of an attack?
3. How does the use of an intersectional approach help Meyer to see dimensions of hate crime
4. Why are gay White men almost always determined that interracial violence against them is
based on their sexuality, not their race? Why is this determination more difficult for LGBT
people of color?
Internet Sites and Questions for Further Study:
The Leadership Conference
