Research
The failure to accurately tell the stories of African American achievements and the crucial contributions made by African Americans to the building of America is a substantial factor in sterotypoing, prejudice, intolerance, and racism, and enables the spread and effectiveness of white supremacy propaganda.
Racial identity can affect the self-esteem of a child while they are developing and as a whole. Swanson, Cunningham, Youngblood II and Spencer discussed the fact that children that were taught at a young age about their racial identity were less likely to feel a difference between their personal and group identity …
Recent data gathered by the University of San Bernardino’s, Center for The Study of Hate and Extremism (CSHE), report Hate Crimes Rise 9% in 2018 to Decade High of 2,009 in 30 U.S. Cities, 2019 Also Up, hate crimes in thirty of America’s largest cities rose nine percent in 2018 to a decade high of 2,009. Last year marked the exorbitant rise since 2015 and 5th successive increase in hate crimes. 70%, or 21 police departments, reported increases, with just under half (47%), or 14 agencies, hitting or tying decade highs. 2018 was the only year this decade the cities exceeded 2,000. 18 cities data from partial year 2019 also shows an overall increase. If the forthcoming FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) 2018 hate crime totals replicate this 9% rise, it will be the fourth consecutive increase and the highest total since the FBI’s 2001 record. While CSHE abstains from making such a specific forecast, 2018 will likely show another national increase. CSHE’s last multi-city study deviated about one percent from subsequent FBI findings and matched overall FBI national trends for four of the last five years, 2013 to 2017.
The threat from right-wing terrorists in the United States of America of particular concern are government extremists who are anti-government and white supremacists, such as militia groups and the sovereign citizens who show interest in conspiring and planning attacks against government, religious, racial, and political targets in the U.S
Hate crimes have increased nationally in the recent years after bottoming in 2014, with CSHE/WVU analysis of police database and Federal Bureau of Investigation representing the biggest projection in politically conflictual time durations in October 2008, November 2016, August 2017, and fall 2018. African Americans have consistently been the top target 4 for hate crime, but in shrinking proportions. Recent social surveys mirror these findings, showing an increase in social distancing and fear, as well as less tolerance for certain other outgroups.
Even as big commercial manifestos struggle with prejudiced content, hatemongers have increasingly switched to crumbled free speech, code converted and inclination-based platforms, and messaging services, where animosity speech is more abundant. Like hate crimes, activity on those platforms’ spikes around catalytic events. Anti-Semitic and anti-Black virtual hate speech had the most sustained digital increase, even as white supremacist and neo-Nazi presence at large rallies plummeted, amidst a post Charlottesville breakdown of more organized extremist groups and their leaders, and the closing of an election cycle. The Internet has helped in enabling not only newly shambled extremists in maintaining a public presence, it also offers organizationally not officially attached loners and extremists with a tool to assemble, radicalize, and broadcast not only fanaticism, but disturbingly, lone actions of mass violence that reference prior attacks. Social media has also been adapted for use as a weapon., not only by domestic and foreign extremists, but also by state actors like Russia seeking to “sow discord” and launch conspiracy theories amongst the electorate to advance prejudice and political division
It is crucial that there are interventions and programs designed to increase communication among racial groups and subsequently change the deep¬ seated attitudes that has led white individuals to commit horrific, racially motivated crimes.
Getting rid of important African American stories or forgetting to include African history causes there to be intolerance and stereotypical racism towards the African American student. According to Green, we gain insight and direction from other people around us and that stereotypes are “cognitive structures that contain the perceivers knowledge, beliefs, and expectations about the human group,” (Green, N.D.).
Movies and other sources have allowed African American students and people to be seen in a light unlike what they are, allowing stereotypical ideas to be formed about the African women, students, and families, so educating people about inaccurate stereotypes can help to alleviate some of the misconceptions that are formed by other racial groups.
By meeting the cultural and academic needs of all students through the emphasis of the importance of all races and cultures, the attitudes of students toward themselves and toward other cultures would likely be improved. ME has been touted as one of the planned activities that could bring about attitudinal change (Banks, 1991). Jackson (1944), Fisher (1965), Hayes and Conklin (1953), Leslie and Leslie (1972), Litcher and Johnson (1969), Shirley (1988) Trager and Yarrow (1952), and Yawkey (1973) found that students developed positive racial attitudes after exposure to ME.
These results show that the curricular intervention dimension of ME was more effective in reducing students’ negative racial attitudes. The curricular intervention dimension of ME might have been more effective in reducing the students’ racial attitudes because the students saw the multicultural curriculum as an integral part of their curriculum and not as an additional activity that is not part of the curriculum.
These results show that ME is effective in bringing about positive racial attitudes in students in urban and suburban areas, with only slight differences in effect. ME might have been more effective in reducing racial attitudes in urban areas because urban areas have a more diverse population than suburbs. Students in urban areas, therefore, having been exposed to a variety of cultures, were more willing to accept the differences and recognize the similarities among the various ethnic groups.
Students in the suburbs, on the other hand, tended to live in homogeneous neighborhoods with minimal contact with different ethnic groups. However, the fact that the ES of the studies done in urban areas was only slightly greater than the ES of the suburban studies could be the result of the increase in the minority population in suburbs. As the suburbs become more diverse, the residents become more exposed to, and accepting of, different cultures.
This meta-analysis shows that ME brings about positive change in racial attitude across all age groups and grade levels. However, ME was more effective among older students. It is important, therefore, for ME interventions to be started early and continued through all the grade levels. This consistency will increase the effect of ME and ensure that students see ME as an ongoing learning experience.
ME was also found to be most effective in urban areas and moderately effective in suburban areas. Since urban areas, and increasingly, more suburban areas, have the highest concentration of various ethnic groups, and thus are likely to have more racially motivated rivalries, this finding could be interpreted as good news because ME could be considered a tool that could be used to improve communication among the various cultures.
Improvement in communication is especially important since current census reports indicate that the minority population in general, and specifically that of school-age children (NCES, 2008; Snyder et al., 1998), is increasing and will continue to increase, especially in urban and suburban areas.
Since most of the studies used in this meta-analysis were conducted before the 1990s, and only two of the studies were conducted in the 1990s, implications for practice in the 21st century should be cognizant of the current needs and practices in education necessary for preparing our children for the global world they will inherit.
According to Okoye-Johnson (2011), Afrocentricity does not advocate the degrading of other cultures; however, it requires people of African descent to reach within to draw strength from their African ancestry. Afrocentric curriculum, therefore, should emphasize the culture and heritage of African Americans as the foundation to new learning. Ladson-Billings (1994) identified successful characteristics of culturally relevant teaching that are effective for African American students as follows:
Dwayne Wong (Omowale), “When you disenfranchise an entire group, this sends an overt and direct message of disrespect and lack of appreciation. We are consciously or without conscious portraying this sentiment to a very specific population of the United States, we are breeding racist children through our teachings.”
There is undisputed consensus that as a nation we have reached a crucial point in which we must find a way to increase communication among racial groups and teach tolerance, appreciation and understanding of each other’s differences, in order to change the deep seated hatred and attitudes of those who commit racial motivated crimes, and to move towards a more just and equitable society. We have the intellectual ability, the interest of the majority and the desire to move beyond our oppressive past and into the future with hope based on a more unified, humane and compassionate future.
Decades old research on attitudes has shown that by meeting the cultural and academic needs of all students through the emphasis of the importance of all races and cultures, the attitudes of students toward themselves and toward other cultures would likely be improved. ME (Multi-Cultural Education) has been touted as one of the planned activities that could bring about attitudinal change (Banks, 1992). Jackson (1944), Fisher (1965), Hayes and Conklin (1953), Leslie and Leslie (1972), Litcher and Johnson (1969), Shirley (1989) Trager and Yarrow (1952), and Yawkey (1973) found that students developed positive racial attitudes after exposure to ME.
These results show that the curricular intervention dimension of ME was more effective in reducing students’ negative racial attitudes. The curricular intervention dimension of ME might have been more effective in reducing the students’ racial attitudes because the students saw the multicultural curriculum as an integral part of their curriculum and not as an additional activity that is not part of the curriculum.
These results show that ME is effective in bringing about positive racial attitudes in students in urban and suburban areas, with only slight differences in effect. ME might have been more effective in reducing racial attitudes in urban areas because urban areas have a more diverse population than suburbs. Students in urban areas, therefore, having been exposed to a variety of cultures, were more willing to accept the differences and recognize the similarities among the various ethnic groups. Students in the suburbs, on the other hand, tended to live in homogeneous neighborhoods with minimal contact with different ethnic groups. However, the fact that the ES of the studies done in urban areas was only slightly greater than the ES of the suburban studies could be the result of the increase in the minority population in suburbs. As the suburbs become more diverse, the residents become more exposed to, and accepting of, different cultures.
This meta-analysis shows that ME brings about positive change in racial attitude across all age groups and grade levels. However, ME was more effective among older students. It is important, therefore, for ME interventions to be started early and continued through all the grade levels. This consistency will increase the effect of ME and ensure that students see ME as an ongoing learning experience.
The conclusion of the study is that meta-analysis shows that ME brings about positive change in racial attitude across all age groups and grade levels. However, ME was more effective among older students. It is important, therefore, for ME interventions to be started early and continued through all the grade levels. This consistency will increase the effect of ME and ensure that students see ME as an ongoing learning experience.
Colon (1984), George Bancroft and other early chroniclers of the nation’s history explicitly used religious beliefs and moral judgments to guide their narratives. They defined the enslavement of blacks, the disfranchisement of women, and the conquest of Mexicans and Native Americans as the white man’s “manifest destiny.” As such, early 19th-century historians excused social injustice and crafted a narrow white male nationalist history of the United States.
In 2011, Okoye-Johnson reported that in this continuously fluid educational environment, it is imperative that schools turn out citizens who are quite capable of surviving and succeeding despite the changes and demands they encounter daily by ensuring that the curriculum is one that would lead to the success-psychological and academics of all students irrespective of cultural differences. Policy makers and practitioners, therefore, should endeavor to use all available and proven resources and programs, such as ME, that will improve not only racial attitudes but also the academic achievement of all students, thereby bridging and ultimately eliminating the achievement gap between student subgroups.
Source
Okoye-Johnson, O. (2011). Does multicultural education improve students’ racial attitudes? Implications for closing the achievement gap. Journal of Black Studies, 42(8), 1252-1274. Published by Sage Publications, Inc. Accessed: 29-07-2019 23:25 UTC.
Colon, A. K. (1984). Critical issues in Black studies: A selective analysis. The Journal of Negro Education, 53(3), 268-277. Retrieved from http://pzacad.pitzer.edu/~hfairchi/pdf/Blacks/Colon-CriticalIssuesBS.pdf
