SIT Happens! (Social Identity Theory)

In a perfect house you have a mother, father, son and daughter. The son is the oldest of the siblings by 5 years. If you are the daughter, how do you know where you fit into the family equation? Who is on top in the pecking order and who is considered the bottom?

It is easy in this scenario to understand that within the dynamics of a home, there will be a pecking order which generally starts from oldest to the youngest. In US society and many social scenes around the world, men are perceived as being the breadwinner and as such, whatever the breadwinner says goes. In old biblical syntax, the house is the man’s castle and all others are there to serve or aide him. (Eph 5:22-24)

But why? Why is it the case that the role men play is that of able leader and head of household when in fact, they may not have the abilities to lead a household? Why is it the case that men are handed the keys to businesses and head a majority of board rooms when in fact, they may not have the abilities to lead a business? The answer is simple, because somebody said so.

People rise to the occasion of what is expected of them and people plant expectations inside of people. Many men lead their households because they are expected to do so much like a prison guard keeps prisoners in their cell because they are expected to. It is their job.

In 1971 Professor Phil Zimbardo conducted a social experiment that subsequently became known as “the Experiment”.   In the experiment, Zimbardo recruited 24 people and sequestered them on the Stanford University campus in a mock prison. Through random coin toss selection the group was divided evenly with half given the job of “prisoners” and the others given the job of being the “jailers”.   Though he intended the experiment to last for two weeks, Zimbardo called it quits after only 6 days.

On a 40^th Year Anniversary Stanford Alumni follow up report, Romesh Ratnesar interviewed Professor Zimbardo as well as other individuals who participated in the experiment.   During the interview, the professor reported that he initially set out to observe how individuals act in a relatively powerless situation. He was more interested in the behavior of the prisoners and not that of the guards. He further indicated that he really did not have a high expectation of the experiment and did not expect to write extensively on the results. (Ratnesar 2011)

“After the end of the first day, I said, "There's nothing here. Nothing's happening." The guards had this antiauthority mentality. They felt awkward in their uniforms. They didn't get into the guard mentality until the prisoners started to revolt. Throughout the experiment, there was this conspiracy of denial—everyone involved was in effect denying that this was an experiment and agreeing that this is a prison run by psychologists.

There was zero time for reflection. We had to feed the prisoners three meals a day, deal with the prisoner breakdowns, deal with their parents, run a parole board. By the third day I was sleeping in my office. I had become the superintendent of the Stanford county jail. That was who I was: I'm not the researcher at all. Even my posture changes—when I walk through the prison yard, I'm walking with my hands behind my back, which I never in my life do, the way generals walk when they're inspecting troops.”

Given that the prisoners and the guards each had a perceived job to perform, so did the professor fall into his new role as he subscribed to his own job of “the warden”. He admittedly became a willing participant even though he initially set out to be a spectator.

Around the US there were a few prison break attempts and riots that were highly publicized right after the results of the study were published and Mr. Zimbardo was called to appear before two government investigative sub committees to discuss his expertise on the nature of prisons. As a result of his experiment, the professor became an immediate “expert” in prisons and correctional facilities. He also reported that as a result of the experiment he became more aware of the central role of power in our lives as well as the power that he held as a teacher. He also intentionally did things to minimize the negative use of power in the classroom as well as encouraged students to challenge him. Additionally, he felt that his participation and reflection on the experiment made him a better person. (ibid)

As participants of the experiment and even professor Zimbardo himself dove into the daily goings on of the prison, they fell into the storyline and did not readily perceive that what they were getting involved in was an experiment gone awry. As she recounts, it wasn’t until Jr. researcher Christina Maslach laid fresh eyes upon the experiment that a new perspective was presented and a red flag was thrown up.

“At first Phil [Zimbardo] didn't seem different. I didn't see any change in him until I actually went down to the basement and saw the prison. I met one guard who seemed nice and sweet and charming, and then I saw him in the yard later and I thought, "Oh my God, what happened here?" I saw the prisoners being marched to go down to the men's room. I was getting sick to my stomach, physically ill. I said, "I can't watch this." But no one else was having the same problem.

Phil came after me and said, "What's the matter with you?" That's when I had this feeling like, "I don't know you. How can you not see this?" It felt like we were standing on two different cliffs across a chasm. If we had not been dating before then, if he were just another faculty member and this happened, I might have said, "I'm sorry, I'm out of here" and just left. But because this was someone I was growing to like a lot, I thought that I had to figure this out. So I kept at it. I fought back, and ended up having a huge argument with him. I don't think we've ever had an argument quite like that since then.”

Shortly after that confrontation with Phil, the experiment was ended.

In an interview with the participant who was identified as “the most abusive guard”, Dave Eshelman, he indicated that when he became a prison guard he had a particular mission in mind about how he would do his job. He patterned his brand of justice based on the movie character portrayed by Strother Martin in the movie Cool Hand Luke. [ibid]

He recounted to Ratnesar, “What came over me was not an accident. It was planned. I set out with a definite plan in mind, to try to force the action, force something to happen, so that the researchers would have something to work with. After all, what could they possibly learn from guys sitting around like it was a country club? So I consciously created this persona. I was in all kinds of drama productions in high school and college. It was something I was very familiar with: to take on another personality before you step out on the stage. I was kind of running my own experiment in there, by saying, "How far can I push these things and how much abuse will these people take before they say, 'knock it off?'" But the other guards didn't stop me. They seemed to join in. They were taking my lead. Not a single guard said, "I don't think we should do this."

The fact that I ramped up the intimidation and the mental abuse without any real sense as to whether I was hurting anybody? I definitely regret that. But in the long run, no one suffered any lasting damage. When the Abu Ghraib scandal broke, my first reaction was, this is so familiar to me. I knew exactly what was going on. I could picture myself in the middle of that and watching it spin out of control. When you have little or no supervision as to what you're doing, and no one steps in and says, "Hey, you can't do this"—things just keep escalating. You think, how can we top what we did yesterday? How do we do something even more outrageous? I felt a deep sense of familiarity with that whole situation.”

His recollection of who he became during the experiment and the subsequent real life parody of the experiment known as Abu Ghraib indicates one of the hidden personality traits of human beings; Our capacity to conform, whether it be intentional or unintentional.

Conformity as defined by Grison, Heatherton, and Gazzaniga is when an individual alters their own behaviors and opinions to match those of other people or to match other people’s expectations.

At this point, it would be an easy target to dissect what occurred at Abu Ghraib and talk about how disgusting people are and how authority or lack of authority creates problems. That is easy as there are volumes of research on the matter. But lets take a quick gloss-over of the boogieman before we dive even deeper into the core issue: Social Identity Theory.

Where did Osama Bin Laden come from?

On September 11, 2001, Osama Bin Laden and al-Qaida became worldwide names when airplanes were hijacked and flown into the Twin Towers of New York, the Pentagon, and a failed attempt at an unknown target when the fourth plane was crashed into a Pennsylvania field as crew and passengers tried to regain control of the plane.

I venture to say that most Americans had never heard of Osama Bin Laden or al-Qaida before this incident. It should be noted that Bin Laden has butterfly scale ties with the Central Intelligence Agency stemming from the Soviet Union’s campaign into Afghanistan in 1979. Yes, they worked together.

“In 1979, Soviet troops invaded Afghanistan; soon afterward, Azzam and bin Laden traveled to Peshawar, a Pakistani city on the border with Afghanistan, to join the resistance. They did not become fighters themselves, but they used their extensive connections to win financial and moral support for the Mujahideen (the Afghan rebels). They also encouraged young men to come from all over the Middle East to be a part of the Afghan jihad. Their organization, called the Maktab al-Khidamat (MAK) served as a global recruitment network–it had offices in places as far away as Brooklyn and Tucson, Arizona–and provided the migrant soldiers, known as “Afghan Arabs,” with training and supplies. Most important, it showed bin Laden and his associates that it was possible to put pan-Islamism into practice.

OSAMA BIN LADEN: BUILDING AL-QAIDA

In 1988, bin Laden created a new group, called al-Qaida (“the base”) that would focus on symbolic acts of terrorism instead of military campaigns. After the Soviets withdrew from Afghanistan in 1989, bin Laden returned to Saudi Arabia to step up fundraising for this new and more complicated mission. However, the comparatively pro-Western Saudi royal family feared that bin Laden’s fiery pan-Islamist rhetoric might cause trouble in the kingdom, and so they tried to keep him as quiet as they could. They took away his passport and spurned his offer to send “Afghan Arabs” to guard the border after Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990. Then, adding insult to injury, they sought help from the “infidel” U.S. instead. Furious about being snubbed, bin Laden vowed that it was al-Qaida, and not the Americans, who would one day prove to be “master of this world.” (History.com 2009)

So it seems that the enemy of my enemy was my friend, until they weren’t.

The videos of the Towers collapsing and subsequent reporting of the al-Qaida attack on US soil presented a devastating “they are now on our land” boogieman scenario but also imprinted on the minds of white Christian Americans that all Muslims and Islam were the enemies. Muslims have been law abiding and peaceful neighbors in this country since before it was called “The United States” and as of late a large swath of Muslims in the US identify themselves as white. (PEW 2018). The war on terror was thus born and the response from the United States was swift and immediate as we sent Marines, Airmen, soldiers, and naval aircraft around the world to find “terrorist”, namely, Muslims. After the 9/11 attack, US military branches saw a dramatic uptick in recruiting as tens of thousands of young men posse’d up to “go get ‘em”.  (Lush 2011) And upon returning to civilian life, many are now dealing with all the stress created by the training they received on how to kill people, namely black targets, and they never even got to pull the trigger. Accept that one Seal Chris Kyle. He killed a lot of them.

In the Taylor and Francis Group report “Preventing Prisoner Abuse: Leadership Lessons of Abu Ghraib” researcher Paul Bartone indicated one of the primary reasons that military police abused their captives was due to what Kegan described as Stage 3 thinking. (Bartone 2010)

Kegan (1994) developed a comprehensive theory of psychological development that spans cognitive, moral, and social domains of experience and describes how individuals construct their worldviews over a lifetime. In Kegan’s theory, which is supported by multiple studies, most young adults define themselves largely based on input from the people and organizations/programs/policies surrounding them. Kegan called this the “third-order of consciousness,” or Stage 3. At Stage 3, people tend to conform to the norms of the group and bow to social pressure. This is similar to Kohlberg’s (1981) “conventional” stage of moral judgment, also elaborated by Rest and colleagues (Rest, Narvaez, Bebeau, & Thoma, 1999). Kegan’s model implies that most soldiers, like other young adults, are functioning at the Stage 3 developmental level, making them rather more susceptible to group influences, for good or ill. In fact, recent studies on Army officers and cadets suggest this developmental framework applies very closely within the military (Forsythe, Snook, Lewis, & Bartone, 2002). In a 4-year longitudinal study of psychological development at West Point, most cadets were found to be at Stage 3, or in transition to Stage 3, and there was fairly low incidence of Stage 4 (autonomous) functioning, the level at which one recognizes the legitimacy and worth of different approaches to understanding the world (Bartone, Snook, Forsythe, Lewis, & Bullis, 2007). A similar study found the same pattern among civilian college students (Lewis et al., 2005). Thus, it appears that most young adults are functioning at a Stage 3 (conformist) psychological level, at least in the American cultural context. At this level, similar to Kohlberg’s conventional level, the individual is heavily influenced by the surrounding social environment. From this perspective, individuals operating at a Stage 3 level would have great difficulty behaving in ways that run counter to the dominant trends within their immediate social group or surroundings. This is true because the entire self-concept of the Stage 3 person is based upon conforming to perceived social expectations. Evidence from several studies (Kegan, 1994) indicates that over half of all adults are functioning at no higher than a Stage 3 level. This could help to explain how human rights violations and prisoner abuse can persist and spread under certain social conditions, especially in younger age groups where social conformity is the norm. (ibid)

Unfortunately this has been the routine case in the United States, white male members of US society immediately mob up and begin searching for people who look like Muslims in order to lash out and enact a self-subscribed form of retribution. The first victim was an Indian immigrant Sikh named Balbir Singh Sodhi who owned a gas station in Mesa, Az. He was gunned down at work by an individual who claimed he wanted to “go out and shoot some towel heads”. (Basu 2016)

My friend S.V. Khalsa, who is a white American, is a Naturopathic MD who lives in the Phoenix area. She along with her immediate family members are Sikh and have close ties to the Sikh community of Phoenix. When I asked her about the shooting she said that she and her family were devastated by the loss of their friend.

Reports of incidents in the immediate aftermath of 9/11 and concerns that hate crimes would rise prompted the founding of the Sikh Coalition, which has grown into the largest Sikh advocacy and civil rights organization in America. In the first month (30 days) after 9/11, the group documented more than 300 cases of violence and discrimination against Sikhs in America. (ibid)

Additionally, Moni Basu reported that the monotheistic religion has more than 25 million followers worldwide and about 500,000 in the United States. Yet a majority of Americans -- 60% -- admitted in a 2015 survey that they knew nothing at all about Sikhs.

Lawyer and activist Valarie Kaur says the threat of violence seems to have become mainstreamed. She used to talk about living in the "shadow of 9/11." Then the shadow turned out to be long, and what seemed temporary became permanent. (ibid)

As a law abiding “black” American who was born in the Grand Strand Hospital in Myrtle Beach, SC, I know exactly what Valarie Kaur means. This country is always standing on the razors edge of bigotry and 911 tipped over white conservative Americans, in particular white males, and it appears that there will be a long “redress” before they return to the center.

Though the incident in Mesa was the first retribution, it wasn’t the last. In 2013 the Sikh community was erroneously targeted when white supremacist Wade Michael Page went on a shooting spree at a Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wisconsin. He gunned down one woman and 5 men. All of them were wearing turbans.

Before 911 the same behavior was demonstrated when on April 15, 1995 Army veteran and far right wing champion Timothy McVeigh along with his co-conspirators Terry Nichols and Michael Fortier, detonated a truck full of explosives outside of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, OK. The explosion was so extreme and forceful that it nearly demolished an eight-story 1 block long steel and brick building, killed 168 people including 19 children who were less than 6 years old, and injured over 650 others. It also affected countless others who were in the vicinity and though they did not get hit by the shock blast or shrapnel, they heard it. The explosion destroyed or damaged more than 300 buildings in the vicinity. Rescue efforts lasted for 2 weeks and the event became known as the worst “domestic” terrorist attack in modern US history. Not even the mass shooting on the night of Sunday, October 2, 2017 when another white male gunman Stephen Paddock opened fire with his AR-15 on concert revelers in Las Vegas and killed 58 people and injured over 800 can replace the stomach revolting McVeigh bombing.

On the heels of the Vegas shooting did you immediately think that a terrorist, namely some brown Muslim, was the perpetrator of the attack? Why did you think that? Why didn’t you think that? How did you feel when you learned that it was a white male that perpetrated the shooting? I would like you to know that the black community often lets out a collective, albeit silent, sigh of relief when we see that it is not one of us that commits such heinous attacks against the “white community” because we know that en masse we will be rounded up for no reason other than because we are not considered “American”. Unless of course you are Meghan Markle. We can drop the “African-American” act, look past her blackness, and consider her American. She is an American Princess.

In the CNN report “Why officials, media wait to declare bombing suspect” it was noted that “In the hours after the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, law enforcement officials were searching for a dark-skinned Middle Eastern man in connection to the attack that killed 168 people, including 19 children.

Meanwhile, Timothy McVeigh, the real bomber, was getting away.

Following the 1996 bombing at the Atlanta Olympics, investigators and the media initially focused on a local security guard named Richard Jewell.

The real terrorist, Eric Robert Rudolph, who later admitted to planting the pipe bomb that killed two and injured 111 others, remained free until he was caught in 2003.

And even in 2011 in Norway, when a bomb went off outside the prime minister's office, killing eight people, followed by the shooting deaths of 69 people at a Labour Party youth camp, police immediately started looking for Muslims or radical Islamists.

Days later, Anders Behring Breivik, a white Norwegian, was arrested. He claimed the attacks were necessary to protect Norway from multiculturalism.

In each case, the initial rush to judgment by law enforcement and the media may have distracted officials from the real perpetrator and caused unnecessary harm to individuals and ethnic groups who had nothing to do with the attacks. (Bhattacharya, 2013)

After the Las Vegas shooting, Joseph Lombardo who is a sheriff in Las Vegas, commented that he could not “get into the mind of a psychopath”. (Zapotosky, Barrett, & Berman, M., 2017) With his own public statement, the sheriff pulled Paddock out of the group and identified him as an individual when he appropriately qualified Stephen Paddock, as a singular “psychopath” vis-à-vis, a lone wolf.

If it is socially promoted and acceptable to consider that Timothy McVeigh, Ted J. Kaczynski, Dylan Roof, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, Duane Roger Morrison, Matthew Murray, Bruco Eastwood, James Holmes, Karl Pierson, Noah Harpman, Robert Lewis Dear, Scott Ostrem, and countless other white male mass killers were “lone wolves” and do not represent the majority of white males in America, then why is it the case that “a”(singular) bombing suspect is immediately tied to Islam (group) and suddenly all of Islam and every Muslim is the enemy? How come when a white male commits a horrendous crime, other white males don’t posse up and go find the first white male that they run across to lynch them up to show a public example of “you can’t do that to us”? How can a group of US soldiers stationed at Abu Ghraib commit heinous acts against their prisoners?

Lets consider the Social Identity Theory. Social Identity Theory (SIT; Tajfel, 1978; Tajfel & Turner, 1979) begins with the premise that individuals define their own identities with regard to social groups and that such identifications work to protect and bolster self-identity. The creation of group identities involves both the categorization of one’s “in-group” with regard to an “out-group” and the tendency to view one’s own group with a positive bias vis-à-vis the out-group. The result is an identification with a collective, depersonalized identity based on group membership and imbued with positive aspects (e.g., Turner, Hogg, Oakes, Reicher, & Wetherell, 1987). (Researchgate.net)

As a “black” American male who has been forced to learn about white America as a part of school assimilation and desegregation, I inextricably understand that the KKK does not represent a vast majority of white Americans, yet, I am not treated with the same accord of mutual understanding as I walk the streets of Asheville.

I have guarded an active duty US President, a Secretary of State, several Ambassadors, and countless members of my community. I am a 4.9, 4.9 US Marine and am stellar. I’ve been awarded 7 ribbons and 4 medals and numerous commendations and recommendations. I am generally the top in whichever field of employ that I have chosen since leaving active duty service. Yet, I am a black male, therefore, I must be a criminal.

Although it would be easy for me to cry racism, let's explore an alternate possibility. Perhaps the behavior is more attributable to Social Identity Theory than racism unless SIT is inherently a form or divided partition of racism.

The new, though antiquated, white hot war of Us (the white nationalist/conservative/xenophobs) against Them (those who do not look like us) is mind numbing and perplexing. As Marvin Gaye sang, this situation Makes Me Wanna Holler, The Way They Do My Life. (Gaye, “Inner City Blues”)

We must also turn the light back on ourselves if we are going to shine the light in our neighbor’s eye otherwise we are hypocrits and have learned nothing. Members of the black community also have issues with racism. Yes, within black communities, a persons color complexion plays a roll as well. Take Maury Osbourne for instance. In the black community I am considered “light skinned” but deeper within the community I am considered “red bone” and even deeper “yellow”. Furthermore, I speak “proper” which is ghetto vernacular for “you sound white when you talk!”

The plight of racial prejudice amongst black people is documented in the first properly published constitution of Haiti in 1805.

“During the early years of independence, Haiti’s cohesion, autonomy, and finances remained precarious. The new ‘black republic’ was diplomatically and economically isolated and faced a continuing threat of foreign intervention. France did not recognize Haitian independence and sought to establish a protectorate over its former colony. The plantation system—the engine of the Haitian economy—lay in ruins after years of warfare. Despite the egalitarianism of the new revolutionary regime, Haitian society remained hierarchical, with deep disparities in wealth between the mixed-race mulatto freedmen and newly emancipated blacks. Following the departure of most of the French Creoles, the mulatto minority took their place as the new elite within Haitian society. Rural laborers resisted efforts by mulatto landowners to rebuild sugar plantations, preferring instead to work the land independently. (Kastle, K.)

If we were to put into context the social landscape of 1805 Haiti in modern day people, Wyclef Jean is black, Barack Obama is mulatto (white mother, black father), Michelle Obama is not. Colin Kaepernick is mulatto, Jesse Jackson is not. Meghan Markle is mulatto, Maury Osbourne is not. Halle Barre is mixed, Sam Jackson is not. Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is mixed, Chris Rock is not. Nina Simone is not. Olivia Munn (Chinese mother, caucasian father). There are numerous blacks who are “passé blanc”. (Bates 2014) They “pass for white” and subsequently exile themselves from the black community to curry favor and the good life from within the white community. Who really wants to be identified as black in America if it can be hidden? How many white families would you suppose are in Asheville who are directly related to Cherokee or other Indian tribes but conceal it so that they are not considered “savages”?

In 1805 Haiti Barack Obama would be shown favor within the society because his skin color is high yellow whereas Jesse Jackson would be considered a rabbel rouser when he spoke up because his tone is darker. In 2008 Jesse Jackson had to apologize to democratic candidate Barack Obama for calling him the “N” word? His comment reflected the very problem that the Constitution of Haiti tried to address in 1805. Jesse Jackson was caught on a hot mic indicating that Barack Obama, the mulatto, was talking down to “black people” and telling them how to behave. (Harnden 2008) Racism, it’s often not what you say but how you say it.

In 2018 not much has changed with this view although we are striving towards unity as evidenced by the Million Man March in 1995. (Workneh) The irony of that march is that it was envisioned and organized by one of the most famous American Muslims, Minister Louis Farrakhan, and when you look at the pictures from the event, there may have been more people in attendance than at Trumps inauguration.
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In addition to declaring all mankind as equal before the Supreme Being, in a further attempt to dissuade racism, the founders of Haiti declared in article 1 beginning in section 12 of the 1805 Constitution:

12. No whiteman of whatever nation he may be, shall put his foot on this territory with the title of master or proprietor, neither shall he in future acquire any property therein.
13. The preceding article cannot in the smallest degree affect white woman who have been naturalized Haytians by Government, nor does it extend to children already born, or that may be born of the said women. The Germans and Polanders naturalized by government are also comprized (sic) in the dispositions of the present article.
14. All acception (sic) of colour among the children of one and the same family, of whom the chief magistrate is the father, being necessarily to cease, the Haytians shall hence forward be known only by the generic appellation of Blacks.

In other words, skin tone aside, a Haitian is a Haitian is a Haitian and every Haitian is black.

When light skinned people are brought up in the US society, they are considered more favorable within and without the black community because of their skin tone as opposed to darker complected people. This anomaly is demonstrated in Dr. Kenneth and Mamie Clarks “the doll” test experiment.

In the 1940s, psychologists Kenneth and Mamie Clark designed and conducted a series of experiments known colloquially as “the doll tests” to study the psychological effects of segregation on African-American children.

The doctors used four dolls, identical except for color, to test children’s racial perceptions. Their subjects, children between the ages of three to seven, were asked to identify both the race of the dolls and which color doll they prefer. A majority of the children preferred the white doll and assigned positive characteristics to it. The Clarks concluded that “prejudice, discrimination, and segregation” created a feeling of inferiority among African-American children and damaged their self-esteem.

….In a particularly memorable episode while Dr. Clark was conducting experiments in rural Arkansas, he asked a black child which doll was most like him. The child responded by smiling and pointing to the brown doll: "That's a nigger. I'm a nigger." Dr. Clark described this experience "as disturbing, or more disturbing, than the children in Massachusetts who would refuse to answer the question or who would cry and run out of the room." (NAACP)

This experiment has been duplicated and can be viewed on Youtube. (doll test 2016)

As you have watched television lately, do you think all those “puffy head” hair styled black women are there by accident? Have you noticed that the complexion of a majority of the black people you observe on television are “light skinned” and the overwhelming majority of “experts” that you watch on documentaries or educational programs are “white”? Conformity prevents you from noticing.

Social Identity Theory is a social construct that describes how people develop an “us” against “them” mentality. It is derived from our brain’s innate desire to categorize things around us to expedite our decision making processes; however, it is flawed because most people, by nature or nurture, do not develop past Stage 3 into Stage 4 as described by Kegan. Why do I have to be African American when it takes less energy and typing to call me American? Have I not earned it? By a twist of DNA and dumb luck, I was born in America and you cannot change that. I did not come here on a boat or a plane yet every day I have to prove I am an American.

Why am I relegated to be “African”? As far as anyone knows, my family is directly descended from Sweden and we were never in Africa.  But my skin tone “suggests” that I am African yet a white persons skin tone in this country suggest they are “American” until you have a conversation with them and they exclaim, I thought we were Scottish but I took a DNA test and had to trade in my kilt for Liederhosen. (Every DNA test will reveal that everyone has roots in Africa so technically, every American is African American!) A white African who immigrates to this country will immediately drop “African-American” once confronted in the general population and will either claim Afrikaans or American but not African American.

Why is it that when Raven Symoné tells Oprah Winfrey that “I am American and not African American” does the world erupt and blow up the internet? (Complex News 2014) I understand exactly what she means.  People’s obtuse knee-jerk retorts ignore the fact that Raven is a free thinking human being that walks in her shoes on a daily basis and has her own thoughts and interactions with other humans. She is now in the “them” category as far as “black” people are concerned. Critics even gave her a new “hashtag”, #newblack. Her comment in no way, shape, or form “dissed” her African heritage, rather, she chooses to have her own identity and who are we to judge her?

Abu Ghraib was terrible and a tragic demonstration of what happens when a small group of people do an extraordinarily bad thing. Those court martialed soldiers were not a representation of the US military nor are they representative of the vast majority of Americans. A vast majority of service members that were at Abu did not know about the harsh treatment dolled out to the prisoners at the hands of a select few nor would they have ever participated in such behavior. When a strong Stage 4 soldier found out, just like Maslach, he blew the whistle. (Bartone 2010)

Tim McVeigh, the school shootings, and the Vegas shooting were horrific events, but was not representative of the thinking of typical white American males. They are outliers and not representative of what defines America.

Racism is a behavior and no matter what test you give someone, it will not matter, someone can think about their bigotry just as someone can think about killing the president. They have the right to be wrong. But just because they think it, does not mean they will partake in it. How many useless thoughts do you have during the day? Trillions. In a court of law, you are not held accountable for what you think, you can only be held accountable for your actions. Though what you think may certainly be questioned once you open your mouth or perform a visible action. You cannot patent an idea, you can only patent a designed product that you have produced on paper or manufactured. In other words actions speak louder than words.

The psychology in your life class is designed to help us learn and observe the practical applications of psychology in our daily lives, and as I utilize this class as a tool to sus out my own mistaken, missed takes, perhaps you’ll join me and look inward towards your own predispositions as well. I’m an American, my diplomatic passport reads “American”, and that is a colorless person.

Prior to this paper, I perceived that many people were racist, prejudice, or hateful. I now see that although those adjectives describe those people, their behavior has another level. They are demonstrating the social identity theory.

Citations:
Ratnesar, R. (2011, August). The Menace Within. Retrieved from https://alumni.stanford.edu/get/page/magazine/article/?article_id=40741

History.com Staff. (2009). Osama bin Laden. Retrieved from https://www.history.com/topics/osama-bin-laden

PEW. Muslims in America: Immigrants and those born in U.S. see life differently in many ways. (2018, April 17). Retrieved July 4, 2018, from http://www.pewforum.org/essay/muslims-in-america-immigrants-and-those-born-in-u-s-see-life-differently-in-many-ways/
Lush, T. (2011, September 04). 9/11 inspired many young Americans to enlist in military. Retrieved from https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/9-11-inspired-many-young-americans-to-enlist-in-military/
Bartone T., Paul. Preventing Prisoner Abuse: Leadership Lessons of Abu Ghraib. Routledge, Taylor& Francis Group, 2010.

Basu, M. (2016, September 15). After 9/11, turbans made Sikhs targets. Retrieved from https://www.cnn.com/2016/09/15/us/sikh-hate-crime-victims/index.html
Bhattacharya, S. (2013, April 16). Why officials, media wait to declare bombing suspect - CNNPolitics. Retrieved from https://www.cnn.com/2013/04/16/politics/bombing-rush-suspect/index.html

McLeod, S. (1970, January 01). Saul McLeod. Retrieved from https://www.simplypsychology.org/social-identity-theory.html

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