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lgarten's review
4.0
I read The Diversity Paradox for my Sociology class on Race and Ethnicity.
This book reads more like a research study since it is, and Lee and Bean discuss whether Obama's election means the United States is entering an era where skin color doesn't matter. This assumption or hope is very naive because it doesn't take into account the systematic nature of racism nor the fact that "color-blindness" would fail to help ethnoracial minorities through policymaking. Instead, Lee and Bean argue that the United States is leaving behind a White- non-White racial divide and moving towards a Black- non-Black divide. Although Blacks are a part of the longest minority to ever live in the United States, Latinos have now surpassed them in regards to population size. Still, Whites, Asians, Latinos, and multi-ethnic people look down upon Blacks as harmful to their goal in becoming true "Americans" - meaning White people.
Lee and Bean present a lot of quantitative data with statistics from the 1990 and 2010 census, and I found the constant review of data to be a bit much. I more enjoyed the in-depth interviews with multiracial and multiethnic couples who explored their minority identity in a majority White society. Many interesting trends were noted, like multiracial children of a mother of color and a White father are more likely to identify as White because of their Anglo-sounding last name. However, Black multi-racials are almost always identifying as Black because of society's entrenched notion that someone who "looks Black" is Black despite having an Asian or White parent. This phenomenon is also due to the "One Drop" rule from the 20th century where having "one drop of black blood" determined a person to be Black.
All in all, a great eye-opening book, especially important to read while the call goes out for people who identify as white to become anti-racist and not just a passive bystander. Reading the interviews of intermarried couples were my favorite part.
This book reads more like a research study since it is, and Lee and Bean discuss whether Obama's election means the United States is entering an era where skin color doesn't matter. This assumption or hope is very naive because it doesn't take into account the systematic nature of racism nor the fact that "color-blindness" would fail to help ethnoracial minorities through policymaking. Instead, Lee and Bean argue that the United States is leaving behind a White- non-White racial divide and moving towards a Black- non-Black divide. Although Blacks are a part of the longest minority to ever live in the United States, Latinos have now surpassed them in regards to population size. Still, Whites, Asians, Latinos, and multi-ethnic people look down upon Blacks as harmful to their goal in becoming true "Americans" - meaning White people.
Lee and Bean present a lot of quantitative data with statistics from the 1990 and 2010 census, and I found the constant review of data to be a bit much. I more enjoyed the in-depth interviews with multiracial and multiethnic couples who explored their minority identity in a majority White society. Many interesting trends were noted, like multiracial children of a mother of color and a White father are more likely to identify as White because of their Anglo-sounding last name. However, Black multi-racials are almost always identifying as Black because of society's entrenched notion that someone who "looks Black" is Black despite having an Asian or White parent. This phenomenon is also due to the "One Drop" rule from the 20th century where having "one drop of black blood" determined a person to be Black.
All in all, a great eye-opening book, especially important to read while the call goes out for people who identify as white to become anti-racist and not just a passive bystander. Reading the interviews of intermarried couples were my favorite part.
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