Feagin - The Continuing Significance of Race

Much literature on contemporary U.S. racial relations tends to view black middle-class life as
substantially free of traditional discrimination. However, racial discrimination as a continuing and
major problem for middle-class blacks has been ignored as analysts have turned to the various
problems of the “underclass.” For example, Wilson has argued that the major problem of the 1964
Civil Rights Act is its failure to meet the problems of the black underclass.

In his study of anti-black discrimination Feagin documents substantial barriers facing middle-class
black Americans today; suggesting the importance of the individual's and the group's accumulated
discriminatory experiences for understanding the character and impact of modem racial
discrimination.

Feagin defines discrimination as actions or practices carried out by members of dominant racial or
ethnic groups that have a differential and negative impact on members of subordinate racial and
ethnic groups. In his research, he focuses on three important aspects of discrimination:
1. The variation in sites of discrimination;

2. The range of discriminatory actions; and

3. The range of responses by blacks to discrimination.

To examine discrimination, he draws primarily on 37 in-depth interviews from larger study of 135
middle-class black Americans in several key cities. He used snowball sampling from these multiple
starting points to maximise diversity. The subsample of 37 middle-class blacks reporting public
discrimination is fairly representative of the demographic character of the larger sample. For the
purpose of the research, he has broadly defined “middle class” as those holding a white-collar job,
college students preparing for white-collar jobs, and owners of successful businesses.

He explains the prejudice and discrimination against middle-class blacks ranges across the following
continuum of actions:

1. avoidance actions,

2. rejection actions,

3. verbal attacks,

4. physical threats and harassment by white police officers; and

5. physical threats and attacks by other whites.

Similarly, he expressed the coping strategies of middle-class blacks with discrimination ranging from

1. careful situation assessment,

2. withdrawal,

3. resigned acceptance,

4. verbal confrontation;

5. physical confrontation; or

6. court suit.

The terms of oppression are profoundly shaped at the site of the oppression, and by the way in
which oppressors and oppressed continuously have to renegotiate, reconstruct, and re-establish
their relative positions in respect to benefits and power. Similarly, white mistreatment of black
Americans today frequently encounters new coping strategies by blacks in the ongoing process of
reconstructing patterns of racial interaction.

Feagin has found a spatial dimension to discrimination. The probability of experiencing racial
hostility varies from the most private to the most public sites. The sites of racial discrimination range
from relatively protected home sites, to less protected workplace and educational sites, to the even
less protected public places. There is a strong relationship between type of discrimination and site,
with rejection/ poor-service discrimination being most common in public accommodations and
verbal or physical threat discrimination by white citizens or police officers most likely in the street.

The reactions of these middle-class blacks reflect the site and type of discrimination. The most
common black responses to racial hostility in the street are withdrawal or a verbal reply. In many
avoidance situations or attack situations, a verbal response is difficult because of the danger or the
fleeting character of the hostility. In the case of police harassment, the response is limited by the
danger, and resigned acceptance or mild verbal protests are likely responses. Rejection or poor
service in public accommodations provides an opportunity to fight back verbally — the most
common responses to public accommodations discrimination are verbal counterattacks or resigned
acceptance.

As we move away from public accommodations settings to the usually less protected street sites,
racial hostility can become more fleeting and severer, and thus black responses are often restricted.
The most serious form of street discrimination is violence. Often the reasonable black response to
street discrimination is withdrawal, resigned acceptance, or a quick verbal retort. At the other end of
the street continuum is nonverbal harassment such as the "hate stare.” In between the hate stare
and violence are many other hostile actions. Most happen so fast that withdrawal, resigned
acceptance, or an immediate verbal retort are the reasonable responses.

However, one advantage that middle-class blacks have over poorer blacks is the use of the resources
of middle-class occupations. The displaying of middle-class symbols may provide some protection
against discrimination in public places.

Feagin cites incidents from his interviews which reflect the nature and forms of modern racial
discrimination. From rejection in the form of poor service by restaurant personnel, differential
treatment at a general store, inescapable racial stereotyping and stigmatising against blacks, to
everyday racial hostility and harassment.

He concludes after examining the sites of discrimination, the types of discriminatory acts, and the
responses of the victims and have found the colour stigma still to be very important in the public
lives of affluent black Americans. The 1964 Civil Rights Act guarantees that black Americans are
"entitled to the full and equal enjoyment of the goods, services, facilities, privileges, advantages, and
accommodations" in public accommodations. Yet the interviews indicate that deprivation and
discrimination in public accommodations persist. Middle-class black Americans remain vulnerable
targets in public places and are subjected to prejudice-generated aggression in public places.
Nonetheless, black women and men face an unusually broad range of discrimination on the street
and in public accommodations.

The interviews highlight two significant aspects of the discrimination faced by black Americans in
public places and elsewhere:

(1) the cumulative character of an individual's experiences with discrimination; and

(2) the group's accumulated historical experiences as perceived by the individual.

Particular instances of discrimination may seem minor to outside white observers when considered
in isolation. But when blatant acts of avoidance, verbal harassment, and physical attack combine
with subtle and covert slights, and these accumulate over lifetimes, the impact on a black person is
far more than the sum of the individual instances.

Indeed, despite of decades of civil rights legislation, black Americans have yet to attain the full
promise of the American dream.