MEDIA EDUCATION FOUNDATION

MEDIA EDUCATION

FOUNDATION STUDY GUIDE

Tim Wise on White Privilege

Racism, White Denial & the Costs of Inequality

Study Guide by Jason Young

CONTENTS

Note to Educators

Program Overview

Pre-viewing Questions

Introduction Key Points Question for Discussion & Writing Assignment

The Erasure of Politics & Culture Key Points Questions for Discussion & Writing Assignments

White Denial Key Points Questions for Discussion & Writing Assignments

Unburdened by Race Key Points Questions for Discussion & Writing Assignments

The Creation of Whiteness Key Points Questions for Discussion & Writing Assignments

Privilege & Pathology Key Points Questions for Discussion & Writing Assignments

Guilt & Responsibility Key Points Question for Discussion & Writing Assignment

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NOTE TO EDUCATORS

This study guide is designed to help you and your students engage and manage the information presented in this video. Given that it can be difficult to teach visual content ? and difficult for students to recall detailed information from videos after viewing them ? the intention here is to give you a tool to help your students slow down and deepen their thinking about the specific issues this video addresses. With this in mind, we've structured the guide so that you have the option of focusing in depth on one section of the video at a time. We've also set it up to help you stay close to the video's main line of argument as it unfolds. The structure of the guide therefore mirrors the structure of the video, moving through each of the video's sections with a series of key summary points, discussion questions, and assignments specific to that section.

Key Points provide a concise and comprehensive summary of each section of the video. They are designed to make it easier for you and your students to recall the details of the video during class discussions, and as a reference point for students as they work on assignments.

Questions for Discussion & Writing encourage students to reflect critically on the video during class discussions, and guide their written reactions before and after these discussions. These questions can therefore be used in different ways: as guideposts for class discussion, as a framework for smaller group discussion and presentations, or as self-standing, in-class writing assignments (i.e. as prompts for "freewriting" or in-class reaction papers in which students are asked to write spontaneously and informally while the video is fresh in their mind).

Assignments encourage students to engage the video in more depth ? by conducting research, working on individual and group projects, putting together presentations, and composing formal essays. These assignments are designed to challenge students to show command of the material presented in the video, to think critically and independently about this material from a number of different perspectives, and to develop and defend their own point of view on the issues at stake.

PROGRAM OVERVIEW

In this lecture, Tim Wise, the author of White Like Me: Reflections on Race from a Privileged Son, offers a deeply personal take on whiteness, white privilege, and racism in America. Wise explains how white privilege damages not only people of color, but white people as well, in the process providing an accessible, and powerful, introduction to the social construction of racial identities.

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PRE-VIEWING QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION & WRITING

1) What is race? What were the messages you heard growing up about your race? Other races? Do you think these messages about race are based on physical characteristics and differences assigned at birth or are filtered through cultural beliefs and learned? Explain.

2) Do you believe the United States is a racist society? Why or why not? How would you define racism, anyway? Is it a societal and institutional phenomenon, or a personal, individual mindset? Perhaps both?

3) What is privilege? How can it be applied to race in the U.S.? Who has it? Who does not? How can people with privilege affect society in ways people without privilege cannot?

4) Name some examples where white people receive certain advantages ? either unconsciously or consciously ? that people of color do not receive. Are these examples of white privilege institutional or interpersonal?

5) What are some of the costs of racism for white people? Why should white people work to address white privilege? And most importantly, how can all people work collectively to address issues of race and privilege?

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INTRODUCTION

Key Points

? Tim Wise doesn't claim to be an expert on race, and credits people of color with much of what he knows about racism, but he does believe that his white skin gives him an advantage when it comes to talking about white privilege.

? He hopes one day a person of color will be able to give his same lecture and be taken as seriously as he expects to be taken.

Question for Discussion & Writing

Do you believe a person of color could come to your campus or community and give a lecture on white privilege? Why or why not?

Assignment

Keep a record of the proclaimed "experts" you read, see, or hear from this semester ? whether it's another lecturer on campus, a pundit on a cable news channel, or the author of your textbook, etc. Research the person's credentials, and then answer the following questions:

o Who decided I should listen to this person? o What makes this person a proclaimed expert on this topic? o What other perspective(s) should I hear from on this topic? o When it comes to selecting experts, does there seem to be a bias toward academic

credentials?

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