Week 5 Reading Journal (Tatum Ch. 4 _ 5)
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Kaylien Tran
Why Are All The Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?
Beverly Daniel Tatum
Week 5 Reading Journal (Tatum Ch. 4 & 5)
For Chapter 4 (Identity Development in Adolescence “Why are all the Black kids sitting together in the cafeteria?”
):
Summary: The chapter starts off with Tatum wondering why black kids sitting together at the cafeteria are questioned by others, yet white kids sitting together is not. She feels that the more kids grow into teenagers to adults, the more they get exposed to the clustering of certain races due to puberty and exposure to self-identity. According to James Marcia, they described four identity search processes: diffuse, foreclosed, moratorium, and achieved. It is less likely to explore all these domains at once and they don’t just actively explore one aspect of it. Tatum feels that the questioning of one’s identity and race is influenced by external factors such as other people’s perceptions of them. She notices her son, David, reacts to things such as him being tall for his age due to constant exposure to it, meaning that many people would point it out
when conversing with him. Tatum questions if her son would deal with all these experiences that
convey a racial message later on in his life because race was not yet salient for society.
Tatum feels that William Cross’s theory is useful for understanding what’s happening with not only David but also the black students mentioned earlier in the cafeteria. Cross and Cross state that “racial, ethnic, and cultural identity overlap at the level of lived experience
” to the point that there's little reason to discuss them separately. They also mention that stereotypes, omissions, and distortions reinforce White superiority while other races get the short end of the stick. Due to this, Black children may look up to dominant groups as role models and normalized beauty standards in comparison to their own race. David and other children similar to him become aware of their REC identity due to changing environmental cues, thus causing them to develop an understanding of their REC-group membership. In addition, events at some point during a young person’s life force them to be aware of the impact of racism. Observed by Jean Phinney and Steve Tarver, there was a study conducted on Black and White eighth graders from a junior
high school. They found the beginning of the search process for identity amongst the students, to which ⅓ of the students thought about the effects of ethnicity on their future and there was a more active search among Black students than White students.
Referenced as the ‘birthday party effect’ by Tatum herself, she noticed that birthday parties are often a reflection of the community’s diversity. She explains that at puberty, these parties tend to
become less and less racially diverse in comparison to how it was when they were younger. Black women started feeling that they were in a devalued position at some point due to being undesired by White men and such. Though, not just being undesired, they can be sexualized as
well, which young Black girls might experience at a very young age seeing these sexualized images of Black women. There are many stereotypes that Black people cannot run away from and are constantly confronted with it. Black men also faced a devalued status to which, the most
Kaylien Tran
known image of a Black man is with his hands cuffed behind his back. The women get sexualized, meanwhile, the men get criminalized.
Tatum next shows an example of how the White friend just doesn’t understand the concept of subtle racism that was shown through the teacher to the Black student when the teacher uses “you people.” It ignores and belittles the feelings of the Black student, though, in the eyes of the White student, she thinks she is making the situation better. She doesn’t understand the significance of this racial message, meanwhile, the girls at the “Black table” do. In order to cope with the ignorance of others and in response to such an environmental stressor, racism, and racial grouping is created thus leading to the reason why there are certain races that sit at a certain table.
Academic achievement is not one of the common stereotypes for Black teenagers. Based on statistics, most of them and their families express the desire for them/their children to go on to college or other postsecondary education, yet these children’s academic performance lags behind. Tatum states that academic opportunity and excellence are too often correlated with being white and this plays a role academic behavior of Black adolescents, especially in hypersegregated schools. Though these Black students don’t feel that academic success is correlated with being White, there are definitely disadvantages such as fewer opportunities to participate in higher-level courses, meanwhile, White students are able to. Even on rare occasions to which the Black students are granted the high-reaching educational opportunity, they feel the need to decline it due to their fear of being separated from other Black students. Others also feel that being Black is going to be their entire identity that gets recognized first before other factors such as education or sports, no matter how much they try to de-emphasize it. Since some students feel like their race is determined by how others view and treat them, they may distance themselves from their peers and try to fit in with others. They feel the need to
do this to be successful in school, thus leading to being snubbed by students of the same race or receiving unnecessary comments from their White peers. Tatum also explains in great detail about Terri’s situation regarding her White “boyfriend”, calling her racial slurs and degrading her and her White “friend’s” indirect racial comments. This led to her being a very depressed child in
the end, regardless of having supportive parents.
If people were exposed more to African American academic achievements, they would know there is a long history of Black intellectual achievement. One prime example is Barack Obama’s presidency which leads to the “Obama effect.” This increased homework completion and teachers saw many positive changes during Obama’s campaign. It comes to show the importance of visible and diverse role models such as Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, and Fredrick Douglass. Though, back then it was hard for students to learn about African American history because there was less exposure to it. This led to many Black students being unable to go to college, and identify their true worth and historical importance overall.
As years pass by, there was a calling for a solution to change the “cafeteria table” standards or stereotyped way of thinking when it comes to students in school. The Massachusetts middle school participated in a voluntary desegregation program (METCO). This led to the creation of a
Kaylien Tran
program called Student Efficacy Training that allowed students to meet each day as a group with staff members. This granted the students the opportunity to talk about homework, social issues, and racism. The results turned out to be drastic in a positive sense. Students became more engaged and understanding of each other. They stopped old habits such as yelling at each other, and fighting, and they even started creating new habits that led to academic success such as improvement of grades, studying, completing homework, and much more.
Claude Steele mentions a “stereotype threat” which can impact academic performance and increase hesitance in a certain situation. It’s similar to performance anxiety. Take for example when students are taking a test, they are required to check a box indicating their racial group, which leads them to feel that their score may be affected due to their race. As noted in the text, the Black students taking the test under the stereotype threat worked much harder than usual, rereading questions, checking their answers over, and much more. There were numerous kinds of research and studies regarding these ideas and topics, to which many had tried to find solutions to form a positive impact on academic performance without the fear applied based on race. Same with gender too. Even Lisa Sorich Blackwell, Kali, Trzesniewski, and Carol Dweck created an opportunity for seventh graders to discuss an article about how intelligence is developed. This led to students having higher academic behavior and motivation, in addition to girls who were vulnerable to gender stereotypes about math performance, who did equal or better than the boys in math. All in all, these studies lead to the main focus, which is to encourage and inspire students to obtain a view of intelligence by creating learning environments.
Significant Takeaways:
It surprised me how much influence the world can have on someone after constant exposure to it. Regarding David’s experience, as he grew up he felt the need to assume that he already acknowledged that he is tall for his age because so many people around him had mentioned it when he was a kid. I wonder if this could have a positive or negative influence on children as they grow up. Adults may just say things unconsciously without putting much thought into it, but they don’t understand that children may interpret them in a different way than what they meant overall. As Tatum mentioned earlier, people identify themselves based on how the world views them. David may bring in different factors such as his
height, gender, genetics, and much more even though the adult might not have taken such topics or ideas into account. Overall, this stuck with me because I’ve started to realize that children are so heavily influenced and focused based on the people around them, so little details that are pointed out such as height can shape them to grow up a certain way with a fixed
mindset.
What truly stuck out to me was the thoughts of one Black woman when she saw herself pursuing white guys throughout high school. The earlier chapters explained that the normalized “beauty standards” were to have lighter skin, hair, and straight hair. The young woman states that since there were no Black boys in her class, she had little choice and would feel angry if those same White boys that she tried to pursue were to date her White friends. I feel like rejection itself is painful to think about, but to realize that the addition of race, color, and beauty standards is what formed the reasoning is shocking to hear as well. With such factors coming
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Kaylien Tran
into play with this situation, I can’t imagine how unsatisfied, angry, and disappointed one would feel after seeing the same boy date a White girl instead, preferring one race and appearance over the other. If I were to be in the same scenario, I would have a surge of the same exact emotions the young woman from the Philadelphia suburbs experienced as well. It truly stuck to me throughout this chapter how her White friends would even date the guy that the Black student liked as well and how he possibly rejected her due to her race.
According to Tatum, she states, “one young woman declined to participate in a gifted program in
her school because she knew it would separate her from the other Black students in the school.”
This situation definitely stuck with me because it is so normalized that Black students aren’t known to be ‘academically successful’ or ‘gifted’ that it has led this student to throw away her rare chances of success. I definitely respect that student for choosing such a decision even though this opportunity could’ve led to something much greater for her. She wanted to be one with her own race rather than be put in the spotlight meanwhile everyone else is left in the dark. I felt extremely surprised reading this part and how passionate one could be regarding her own race and community enough and be selfless.
Questions: 1.
Could it be that since the kids are of the same race, they have more in common with each other than their interactions with other races?
2.
Why are elementary school students more likely to be inclusive of people of different races?
3.
Is it because these students don’t fully understand the concept of race or is it just how they act?
4.
How does identity development take place in a life of a young Black child?
5.
How did the Crosses come up with such a theory?
6.
Will these Black women attempt to fit into the beauty standards due to experiencing such
heartbreaking experiences?
7.
Why do people tend to prefer to have a relationship with the same race as theirs?
8.
If Black people get stereotyped by famous images of women being sexualized and men being criminalized, how is it different for White people?
9.
Why were Black women being sexualized if they were sought as undesirable by White men (taking for example the White male student)?
10. Why are White students unlikely to respond in supportive ways or are unprepared to do so when being faced with a situation regarding racism?
11. For the people of the same race who sit together, is it because they’ve come to understand each other easier than when sitting/conversing with a student of another race (or a less oppressed student)?
12. Can there be wealthy Black students who have the same opportunities regarding higher-
level courses and programs as White people do?
13. Why do people feel that academic success isn’t based on race, social standing, and economic status?
14. Is it because they are in denial or want to prove others wrong and eventually flaunt their success?
Kaylien Tran
15. Even though schools now include all races, why is race still such a big factor regarding academic success?
16. Why are sports related to race as well even though they can be inclusive to all races?
17. What are Terri’s current thoughts regarding race now, despite her numerous encounters with racism from her peers in school?
18. Racism is still prevalent to this day at certain schools, why haven’t they created a similar program to the one at the Massachusetts middle school?
Kaylien Tran
For Chapter 5 (Racial Identity in Adulthood “Still a work in progress…”
):
Summary: Tatum explains her experiences in her odyssey to becoming an adult. She didn’t sit at the Black table due to the lack of diversity in her high school and she chose a much more racially diverse college over the one her parent’s once attended and suggested to her. She felt a
positive influence throughout the whole experience, to which she thrived socially and academically. She was able to be in touch with her own race, formed and maintained her own friendships, stopped doing routine things that were known as “normalized” (such as her straightening her hair), and was granted new opportunities. She has also noticed a change in her behavior in certain scenarios that would’ve been completely different if she were to be back in high school. Tatum definitely noticed this growth process easily, especially when it comes to the topic of the REC-identity development process, she is able to hit a certain stage where she has finally appreciated and is set on what her identity is. Tatum’s positive experiences don’t end
there, she goes off to attend the University of Michigan and became part of an extensive network of Black graduate students, while also having White friends as well. She noticed that throughout her adulthood, she had a racially mixed group of friends, and became an intelligent, inclusive role model for her children. Tatum acknowledges that she is still a work in progress in response to new racial incidents in her or her children’s lives. Tatum explains that not everyone has positive opportunities like she did, to which some Black students and other students of color obtain lots of stress due to being exposed to a predominantly White campus. Tatum reveals that she interviewed a student who changed from a White college to a historically Black one. This is because of the insults and backlash she received from the White students there and her and her boyfriend were wrongfully accused of an act. In addition, she and her roommate eventually became primary targets of racial harassment. This is only one part of the stressful experiences that many Black students have to face, especially in a predominantly White school, though it can happen to any college regardless of how much diversity there is.
Tatum soon explains that Malcolm X rejected the Nation’s teachings in favor of the more racially
inclusive message of orthodox Islam. His response to this empowerment was considered to be extremely enthusiastic. The fight to promote African American unity and family values only grew from then on, to which Tatum even joined in at some point as well. She also explains the situation with Reverend Ronald Bell attending the march with his father, the significance of Black churches, and much more. Adding on to the black churches, it played a positive role in both community development and psychological and social support, that other churches or places don’t really have.
Tatum then explains that people of color are isolated and feel alienated and that the opportunities to connect with people of color is very small. She says that White people are unaware of the things they say or might do or how stressful such situations can be to people of color. All in all, Tatum ends off with her experience by giving a speech to an organization committed to social justice. She ends off the chapter with inspiring words, trying to get the audience to put themselves in the shoes of people of different races and such in the end.
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Significant Takeaways:
Right off the bat, I already feel like the start of this chapter is a great way to hook the reader in. When Tatum talked about her personal experiences in high school and college, the decisions she made, and the results of everything, I felt like I, as a reader, was able to connect and get to know Tatum much more rather than just acknowledging her as a very
wise author and psychologist. She didn’t repeat the same things she has said for the past four chapters, but rather, connected her previous concepts to her own life experiences and showed how she grew as a person to admire and acknowledge her own race and beauty. This stuck with me because I felt like this can be very inspiring to the audience, more so a younger audience, because it gives them hope and a sense of opportunity in their life.
What surprised me was Tatum’s acknowledgment and realization of herself. She states, “I like to think that I both perceive and transcend race but I am still a work in progress. I know that from time to time I have revisited this process of development in response to new racial incidents in my life or in the lives of my children.” I feel like we, as readers, view her as an intelligent role model who acknowledges all the concepts of race and how it affects us in our daily lives, more specifically targeted toward Black people. Even so, she knows that even with her writing the book and studying such a topic for years throughout college and her career, she still has room for growth and improvement which represents her humbleness and neutrality throughout the book! This stuck out to me because this seems to boost her credibility and make her seem very down-to-earth overall. Questions: 1.
Would Tatum have changed anything about her decisions or behavior back when she was in high school?
2.
How would Tatum’s experiences be different if she were to attend the same college her parents attended?
3.
Why did Tatum want to be at a more racially diverse school?
4.
Was this her high school’s lack of diversity that led to this?
5.
Did Tatum want to become more exposed to her own culture and be comfortable in her own skin?
6.
How does one know they are at the final stage of the REC-identity development process?
7.
Has Tatum hit the final stage of this process yet or was she still going through it at that time?
8.
Does being in a predominantly White college mean that a person of color is more likely to be targeted as a victim of racially motivated actions?
9.
How did the female student that faced tons of racism and stereotypes deal with everything before moving to a more diverse college?
10. Did she feel like she related to her Black roommate more because they were one of the few Black people that attended the college?
11. How can these race-based marches and churches make a difference in society?