Perspectives: Legacy of Racism in American Culture

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    The Bible and Race in American Christian cultures
    (Wichita State University, 2021-11-09) Thelle, Rannfrid Lasine
    The Christian Bible has been a factor in American culture and society since European colonists brought it here 500 years ago. Political and religious leaders, academics, and cultural figures have applied biblical texts and Christian interpretative traditions to their political and social agendas. With a mindset that had long taken the supremacy of Christianity as a given, some influential early Americans developed biblical and theological justifications for subjugating Indigenous populations and taking their land. The same thinking found a rationale for the enslavement of Africans and the continued violence against their descendants. Elaborate readings of biblical texts combined with early modern theories of racial origins formalized systems of racial identities that fundamentally privileged White people. This talk illustrates connections between historical practices and present inequalities, and poses the question of how we, as a university, ought to respond.
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    "Jim Crow" in the business world
    (Wichita State University, 2021-12-03) Weems, Robert E.
    Many people associate "Jim Crow" racial segregation with the discriminatory treatment of African Americans in the realms of public accommodations, education and housing. However, this phenomenon also manifested itself in the realm of business. This presentation will discuss how the birth, growth and disappearance of black-owned insurance companies represents a useful case study of how "separate and unequal" operated in the business world.
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    Who can become an American? U.S. immigration policy, racism and civil rights
    (Wichita State University, 2021-12-03) Ballout, Laila
    U.S. immigration laws define which peoples of the world should be admitted to the United States and who should be barred or limited from living, working, or becoming citizens. These laws have consistently reflected the ideas about race and ethnicity held by the policy makers who create them. This talk will examine a few major examples of the legacies of racism in U.S. immigration law, including Asian exclusion, quota systems, the impact of the civil rights movement of the 1960s, and the ways that race is still a factor in the "colorblind" U.S. immigration policies that took shape after 1965.
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    Labor economies in the forces of insurrection
    (Wichita State University, 2021-12-16) Koeber, Charles, 1967-
    This presentation will address the context of work (labor) and its influences on the January 6, 2021 Capitol insurrection. It examines the types of jobs in which insurrectionists were employed and also reviews types of right-wing political activism that took place within mass- and social media and within communities and political rallies. Several, if not many, insurrectionists learned the skills necessary to carry out a military style attack while working in their vocation. However, perhaps more importantly was the work done away from their jobs, as would-be insurrectionists devoted much time and money to consuming, producing, and transferring media and social media content, much of which was not factual. This resulted in the formation and spread of radical right-wing political and racial ideologies that motivated the insurrectionists.