Viewing Sheet
watch the movie:The House We Live in – Race: The Power of an Illusion
http://www.pbs.org/race/000_About/002_04-about-03-01.htm
answer each question
1. Who was allowed to become a naturalized citizen before 1954 and who wasn’t? What rights and privileges do citizens have that non-citizens don’t have? What were the consequences for those denied citizenship?
2. How did European “ethnics” become white? What changes made this possible?
3. How did federal housing policies institutionalize segregation and wealth disparities?
4. Why do property values go down when a neighborhood changes from white to nonwhite? Who plays a role in this?
5. What happens to measures of racial disparities in places like education and welfare
rates when groups of similar income AND wealth are compared?
Discussion Questions
In the early part of this century, Asian immigrants were not eligible for citizenship, no matter how long they lived in the U.S. What is the legacy of those laws in terms of how
Asian Americans are viewed today? What role does race play in current U.S. policy on immigration and granting of citizenship? How is our idea of citizenship still tied to race?
Commenting on the idea that the U.S. is a melting pot, sociologist Eduardo Bonilla-Silva says, “That melting pot never included people of color. Blacks, Chinese, Puerto Ricans, etc. could not melt into the pot.” Think about the phrase “melting pot”—what does it imply? If this does not appropriately describe the U.S., what metaphor would you use to describe the U.S.?
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