Racism Learned at an Early Age Through Racial Scripting
Racism at an Early Age
by
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The pre-exposure phase is defined as the early period in the child’s life before he/she experiences an African-American. The white child, as do all other children, come into the world with a tabala rasa (i.e. a blank slate) regarding black people. It is during this pre-exposure phase the child receives racial scripts from parents, the television, relatives and friends.
During this phase of pre-exposure, pro- racist or anti-racist attitudes are transmitted to the child. As such these early attitudes and behaviors are not based upon direct experiences with blacks, but from primarily from racial lessons. These lessons determine how white perceptions of African-Americans are learned mainly from parents, relatives, friends, teachers and the media.
The majority of the white participants reported that they had little or no contact with black people until they entered elementary school. Approximately 70 percent of the participants reported they grew up in racially isolated neighborhoods and did not have much opportunity to interact with members of other races. In fact, in many cases, they were forbidden to interact with black children as we shall see in the following story.
Recurring Themes of Racial Isolation
Recurring themes reflecting racial isolation of whites is not uncommon in literary novels. Margaret Halsey’s (1946) “Color Blind: A White Woman Looks at the Negro” states:
p.90
There were no Negroes in the rather remote suburban neighborhood where I grew up and none in the grammar school I attended….as a child I never saw Negroes except in the streets and stores and public utilities. I do not remember being instructed in any particular way of thinking or feeling about them. As I recall it nobody ever talked about them at all” (p. 3).
In many cities, suburban areas and rural communities, racial isolation is paramount. Many families literally strive to keep their white children separated from black children. The consequences of this racial isolation exact a heavy toll on the children. Some of the common themes of racial isolation and its effects are presented in the following vignettes:
· I had no exposure to African-Americans until I was ten years old. I lived in a neighborhood that consisted of all whites. I constantly found myself confused about what to think of "colored" folks.
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About the Book
Racism Learned at an Early Age Through Racial Scripting
This book is about the process by which white children acquire racist attitudes. More specifically, it is a book about what white parents, relatives, media, schools and religious organizations teach children about African Americans.
The main thesis of the book is racist attitudes are taught (and learned) at an early age through a process known as ”racial scripting”. A Racial script is a series of programmed stereotypes and myths about a racial or ethnic group other than one's own.
After a racial script is learned, it can then be activated upon the appearance of race-specific stimuli in the environment. Racial scripts guide the mind's eye in deciding what to perceive and what not to perceive. They work backstage, but may be activated and "pop into consciousness." Scripts determine "see this and not that", that is, scripts determine not only what we will notice, but what we do not notice. An activated racial script dominates awareness.
The scripts may be positive and influence accurate perceptions; they may be negative and pre-dispose one to false perceptions; they may be neutral and dispose one to unbiased perceptions or they may be mixed and influence ambivalent perceptions. A racial script results from an early identification process by the immature child in which he/she adopts the parents' (the primary group) behaviors (scripts) and align his/her behavior with the realities of the home situation.
The family is the basic institution through which children learn the fundamentals of life and parents are the primary agents of socialization. They define the child’s world. They teach the “three R’s (reading, writing and arithmetic). But, in addition to teaching children “the three R’s” there is also another instructional system taught to young children called the fourth “R” or RACISM.
About the Author
A retired Washington University professor, Robert L. Williams in 1973 coined the term “Ebonics” which came into use as controversy grew around the linguistic status of Black language. He has been a steadfast critic of racial and cultural inequities in standardized IQ testing of African American schoolchildren.
Developer of the Black Intelligence Test of Cultural Homogeneity he published more than 60 professional articles and two books including Ebonics: theTrue Language of Black Folks and The Collective Black Mind: Toward an Afrocentric Theory of the Black Personality.
Dr. Williams has been a guest on several national television programs relating to IQ testing, including CBS's "IQ Myth" with Dan Rather, Prime Time Saturday Night, The Phil Donohue Show and The Montel Williams Show. Most recently he appeared on Black Entertainment Television (BET) and NBC News to discuss the controversial topic "EBONICS".. His works were, also, used for one of the "Good Times" TV programs.
Dr. Williams has been employed as Staff Psychologist, Arkansas State Hospital (Little Rock, Arkansas); Chief Psychologist, VA Hospital (St. Louis, Missouri) Director of a Hospital Improvement Project (Spokane, Washington) and Consultant for the National Institute of Mental Health (San Francisco, California). From 1970 -1992 he was employed as Full Professor of Psychology and African and African –American Studies at Washington University. He developed the Black Studies at Washington University and served as its first Director. He retired from Washington University and is now Professor Emeritus. Dr. Williams returned to the academy (2001-2004) as The Distinguished Visiting Professor of Black Studies at the University of Missouri-Columbia and served as the University’s Interim Director of Black Studies for the academic year 2002-2003.
Robert L. Williams earned a BA degree (cum laude and Distinction in Field) from Philander Smith College (Little Rock, Arkansas); M.Ed. from Wayne State University (Detroit, Michigan); Ph.D. in 1961 from Washington University (St. Louis, Missouri) with a major in Clinical Psychology.