So…What Do You See?

This is an interesting cartoon that demonstrates socialization and the concept of society is viewed through glasses. This cartoon shows how people of color, specifically African American men are prejudged based on what they look like and their actions. If you look closely, this African American man is just holding an iPhone, drinking from a Coca Cola bottle and carrying a regular green backpack. However, in today’s society, the dominant narrative of African American men is that they carry guns in their hands, sell drugs, and drink alcohol or beer. The book “Is Everyone Really Equal” by Sensoy and DiAngelo, explains that socialization is the process of learning the meanings and practices that enable us to make sense of and behave appropriately in that culture. This cartoon is a prime example of how we can think of our culture as a pair of glasses that we wear all the time. In this case, “White Vision Glasses”. “The two significant parts are the frames and the lenses. The frames are the “big picture”, norms that everyone in that culture is taught from birth. The lenses constitute the individual perspective (Sensoy&DiAngelo, 21). Whether through schooling, media or family, we are socialized to view and look at African Americans males in deficit perspectives centered around stereotypical ideas and views.

Sensoy,O & DiAngelo, R. (2012). Chapter 2: Socialization. In “Is Everyone Really Equal? An Introduction to Key Concepts in Social Justice Education”. Teachers College Press.