1. Loury & McIntosh
HMXP 102
Dr. Fike

2. Vocabulary neophyte (69) irreducible (70) passing (70)
intractable (70)
dashiki (70)
Uncle Tom (71)
ostracism (72)
bona fide(s) (72)
farrow (73)
white privilege (75)
perquisite (78)
meritocracy (78)
palliate (79)

3. Group Work on Loury
Four groups, 5-7 minutes:  Each group takes one page of text (pages 70-73).
Come up with main points, vocabulary words (above), and key quotations. What do you find interesting, important, or controversial?
Report your findings to the class.

4. Page 70
Does your own experience support Loury's main point?  What IS his main point?  Can you locate it?
What fallacy do you find in column 2? (There is another fallacy on page 72, left col., top par. See also the fallacy in the headnote on page 75.)

5. POINT
As we have seen before, knowledge is a social construct.

6. Page 71
Do you agree that "the self is inevitably shaped by the objective world, and by other selves" (71, left)? 
What different view does The Secret offer?
What does it mean to live "'life with integrity'" (qtd. on 71, top right)?

7. Page 72
Is the dissonance between self-image and social identity/persona (72, left) more than a racial phenomenon?  Isn't it everybody's story?  (See 73, top right.)
Still, doesn’t race add an important dimension to self-image vs. persona?
What is Loury’s critique of racism’s impact on identity?

8. Page 73
What is “mythic authentic blackness” (73)? Is it the same thing as being "genuinely black" (72) or enacting "racial authenticity" (71)?
Can you think of examples from your own experience in South Carolina?
What definition of the human condition does Loury advance on 73?  Do you agree or disagree? Consider also his references to “spirit” and “Spirit” on pages 73 and 74. How does his definition critique the notion that “our collective experience of racism constitutes an adequate basis for any person’s self-definition” (72-73)?

9. POINT
Loury’s definition suggests that selfhood should arise from the spirit that is within us, not be imposed on us from outside.
In other words, selfhood is more about essence than about cultural construct.

10. Transition
We will switch now to McIntosh’s “White Privilege.”

11. Privilege
McIntosh asserts that men and whites have certain privileges that women and persons of color do not have. 
Do you agree with this statement?  Why or why not?
Here is another way to ask the question: What are your experiences of male or white privilege? 
Can you illustrate some of the 50 things that McIntosh lists?

12. Meritocracy 
Does this word characterize your experience of America or not?  OR is the truth somewhere in between the presence and the absence of meritocracy?  Does anything in your life illustrate "unearned race advantage and conferred dominance" (79)?  How about unearned advantages in other areas?  Is meritocracy really a "myth," as McIntosh claims on page 79?

13. Types of Racism
McIntosh distinguishes between racism as "individual acts of meanness" and racism as "invisible systems conferring unsought racial dominance" (79). 
Have you had experiences with either of these? 
Do you think that there are other kinds of racism? 
How about the kind of racism that characterizes thoughts but does not always manifest outwardly?

14. Final Questions IN YOUR NOTEBOOK, WRITE AN ANSWER TO ONE OF THE
FOLLOWING QUESTIONS:
Having now discussed Loury and McIntosh, do you understand yourself differently? If so, how? If not, why not?
What is one thing that you have learned from today’s class?
Another thing to consider: What was your first experience of racism? How did you first become aware of racial differences between people and of their implications?
END