This presents the issue of tokenism and stereotype threat.
Tokenism as defined by Merriam-Webster Dictionary, is “the practice of doing
something (such as hiring a person who belongs to a minority group) only to
prevent criticism and give the appearance that people are being treated fairly”
(Merriam-Webster). If one person from a group is represented, then everything
is okay. Today tokenism floods the media and popular culture. Most would
recognize this as “that one black guy in the movie.” In every movie or
television show every group of friends has that one single non-white friend;
Raj Koothrappali from “The Big Bang Theory”, Cleveland
Brown from “Family Guy”, Jacob Black from “The Twilight Saga.” The Comedy Central series South Park even has a character satirically named "Token Black", the one African American child in South Park. In environments
like Wittenberg, that have limited numbers of ethnically diverse students,
members of these misrepresented groups are viewed as tokens and tokenized
individuals like Devyn “stand out compared to dominant group members” and as a
result “feel that their performance is under constant scrutiny” (Stroshine et.
al. 346), explaining his attitude toward his professor. Stereotype threat, the
“risk of confirming, as self-characteristic, a negative stereotype about one's
group” (ReducingStereotypeThreat.org), comes into play because tokenized
individuals are polarized and “differences between the token and dominant group
members are exaggerated and commonalities minimized.”(Stroshine 346) With these
differences being highlighted, cross-racial interaction is discouraged. This
in-turn leads to the stereotypical treatment of both minority and majority
groups. Due to the strength of today’s stereotypes caused by media outlets,
groups unknowingly stereotype each other. Having little understanding of ethnic
groups other than one’s own as a result of tokenism, individuals have no choice
but to view different groups based on their stereotypical portrayals in the
media, which often times is the only exposure to a different ethnic group
available to some individuals.
Through Devyn’s eyes, neither his white peers nor professors value him in the same respect as the average white student. White freshman Matt describes a contrary view of diversity at Wittenberg to Devyn’s. He feels as though “black and white students get along pretty well”, a view most likely influenced by tokenism at Wittenberg. Since representation exists, though limited, Matt sees the treatment of black students as “fair” (Merriam-Webster). Both of these students are attending Wittenberg, both playing basketball, seeing the same sights, same interactions amongst students, yet offer opposite views on the issue of diversity. This opposition in opinion occurs because “students of color [are] more sensitive to different forms of prejudice and discrimination” and “white students [are] less likely to perceive nuances.” Matt notably has many non-white friends and by my observations, spends a bulk of his time with black students. This could also provide an explanation for his perception of diversity differing from his teammate’s. Experts state that white students’ views on diversity are “positively tied to having non-white friends.” Opposing opinions over diversity like Matt and Devyn’s can also be explained by the existence of implicit racism and its subtle nuances, those that are more difficult for white students to recognize. During a lecture, Dean Young told me and my peers that racism and bigotry in America are just a prevalent as they were years ago, they have merely taken a new form, from explicit to implicit. When you think of racism the average American will probably imagine images of the KKK riding horse-back through a southern town spewing hate-speech to the world, or a white person calling a black man a nigger, a Hispanic man a spic, or ignorantly calling an Arabian man a Punjab, very obvious and explicit acts of racism. Dean Young confirms that this form of prejudice has become far less common and in many parts of America, non-existent, yet racism still prevails today because it hides behind the façade of implicitness. Rather than overtly expressing stereotypical views, the racist of today will follow a hooded young black man through his neighborhood expectant of criminal acts, ignoring the urges of police to leave him alone, or assume that an Asian American student has a 4.3 GPA merely on the basis that she is Asian. I myself have experience implicit racism at Wittenberg. While walking on a path towards the library I was walking towards a white student who was walking towards me. The path was wide enough for at least three people to walk side by side. As me and my peer walked closer towards one another, he decided to walk four feet off the path into the snow, and past me. As I walked away I looked back to see him immediately return to the path and out of the snow once we had passed each other. Maybe he just had an aversion to people in general? Being more sensitive to such nuances, I could only assume that he did this because he assumed I was just another thug from the streets. I could have been wrong, but that’s the problem with implicit racism, it is incredibly ambiguous and almost unidentifiable to an outside party. |
Scene from parody movie, Not Another Teen Movie, in which the "Token Black Guy" is introduced.
Token Black (far right)
|