Democracy and Inequality: Challenges and Possible Solutions

Rationale

For many reasons, the social studies classroom has now become the ideal setting for discussions about these topics with the student population. Through the lens of historical thinking and analysis of sources and current events, social studies teachers are being encouraged to include race and equity in the United States as parts of the everyday routine. As mentioned previously, my students have little to no prior knowledge of United States history. Therefore, it is not apparent to them that the “white vs. black/brown” dichotomy is one that is tightly woven into the fabric of the United States. Of course, they begin to make observations that certain stereotypes exist for different groups of people, but they are unaware as to why their American teachers and peers seem so intently focused on the idea of tolerance. To complicate matters, their countries of origin are frequently far more homogenous than those in the US. Most originate from places with an immigrant demographic between 0.2 and 4% of the total population.⁴ This means that, despite having moved to a nation composed of 13.7% non-US born individuals, they have no awareness of the ongoing struggle for equality that has existed here for centuries.

In both daily life and the media, my students are exposed to stereotypes about different groups of people. More recently, the COVID-19 pandemic has directly led to a rise in anti-Asian and sinophobic media content over the past two years.⁵ Furthermore, hate crimes towards Asians increased by 150% in 2020. For anyone who works in the education field, it is common knowledge that middle schoolers live on apps such as Facebook, Instagram, SnapChat, and Tik Tok, etc. Many times this results in a misunderstanding for students as to what is harmless parody and what is racism and/or prejudice. A study by Croucher et al.,⁶ an inquiry group from Massey University’s Department of Communications in New Zealand, concluded that, “…the more a social media user believes their most used daily social media is fair, accurate, presents the facts, and is concerned about the public (social media believe), the more likely that user is to believe Chinese pose a realistic and symbolic threat to America.” Indeed, it is easy to see how an impressionable 13-year-old could mistake posts discussing people eating bats and #Kungflu as being factual. 

According to a 2021 podcast on the effects of the pandemic on people of Asian descent,⁷ “People perceived to be ‘Chinese’ or ‘Asian’ have been associated with the coronavirus and consequently are suffering from discrimination, unfair treatment, and racism; including, in some cases, physical attacks”. This has been a catalyst for widespread misinformation, generalization, and even hysteria in my classroom regarding “Chinese food”, culture, behaviors, and beliefs. For this reason, it seemed necessary to create a unit that will focus on the history of Asian-Americans as a minority group in the United States.

Politically, it has been common since the passage of the Civil Rights Act for candidates to utilize a minority group in order to create coalitions that will allow them to secure votes. Nixon’s “Southern Strategy''⁸ encoded his speeches with language that capitalized on the economic insecurities of white voters, labeling blacks as a threat to their prosperity. The GOP has continued to utilize this method since, expanding their rhetoric to include many other immigrant populations. During his campaign for the 2016 election, Trump alluded to the “threat” posed by east and southeast Asian immigrants, saying, “Our jobs are being stolen...like candy from a baby”.⁹ Although the prejudice here is not overt, the implication to his audience is that Asians should be regarded as a danger to hard-working Americans like themselves.

Created for use in my social studies classroom, the unit will also include a short lesson on the concept of bias and the ways in which bias can impact how we view and treat those unlike ourselves in a society. This starting point is rooted in sociological theory, and intended to become a frame of reference later in the unit when we begin to discuss how racial bias factors into policy creation that subsequently disadvantages minority groups.

In a study that utilized this assessment, Raj Ghoshal et al., professors of sociology at Goucher College,¹⁰ found that, “those taught about unconscious prejudice as an intellectual abstraction may regard it as other peoples’ problem or as a figment of sociologists’ imaginations”. In short, students need to understand how their own bias, although it may be unconscious, affect how they categorize information. While students may not initially see the connection between unconscious bias and minority rights, this activity provides an opportunity to discuss which adjectives they collocate with which groups and why.