Practice reading the following dialogue in pairs, working at your pronunciation and expression. Learn it by heart and perform it with a partner in front of the class

- Jeremy, can you give me an example of a markedly prejudiced person?

- Sure. A Civil War hero, General Nathan Bedford Forrest.

- The Ku Klux Klan founder?

- Exactly.

- What was his purpose when starting up the club – to sow more seeds of intolerance in America?

- Far from that, Cathy. Rather to exert a healthy influence on the community as a whole.

- How? By killing every other Afro-American? Did he really intend to free us of prejudice that way?

- We all have faults, you know.

-How would you qualify the usefulness of the club then?

- Why should I, Cathy? I don’t belong to it.

- Don’t get grudgy, Jeremy. Your example helped, but I need more.

- What for?

- An essay on racial prejudice in all its forms.

- Be human, Cathy. I’m busy. Find another scapegoat.

- It won’t take long. Just a couple of questions. Please?

- Why don’t you draw on your on experiences?

- Because I have none.

- Oh? No prejudiced thinking?

- Not a crump. I’m free of prejudice and have ever been.

- Then, I’m afraid you have some disorder of thinking. In a community like ours prejudice is innate, it’s part of the package you get, when you are born.

- How’s that?

- Well, in a multicultural corporation called the United States of America everyone has prejudiced attitudes and sooner or later is bound to reveal prejudiced thinking.

- I wonder. And what are the sources which prejudice springs from?

- We pick it up on the way and so early that it becomes deep-rooted before we are mature enough to realize what its origin has actually been.

- But what evokes it?

- I think it’s transmitted from one person to another in the form of a mixture of false and correct generalizations – stereotypes.

- Do you think education might eliminate prejudice?

- Hardly. I’ve heard that education reduces prejudice, but I don’t believe it. People just learn to behave more effectively, while prejudice remains intact. No one is able to give it up.

-Even you?

- And you and the Joneses.

-Wow! That’s a great idea for the conclusion of my paper! Thanks.

- Not another one!

Listen to the story and pick up factual information to disprove Jeremy’s arguments in the dialogue above for the spread of prejudiced thinking in the USA.

Compare the facts you have picked up from the story above and develop a dialogue between Cathy and her other friend Michael who is less prejudiced than Jeremy, basing his answers on the facts from the story.

8. Read the text “Arrangement in Black and White” and answer the question below.

The woman crossed the crowded room, caught hold of her host’s arm and took him along with her.

“Now I’ve got you!” she said. “Now you can’t get away!”

“Why, hello,” said her host. “Well. How are you?”

“Gh, I’m fine,” she said. “Simply fine. Listen, I want to meet Walter Williams. Honestly I just can’t be indifferent to that man. Gh, when he sings! Well, I said to my husband, «It’s a good thing for you Walter Williams is colored,” I said, «or you’d have good reason to be jealous.” I’d really love to meet him. I’d like to tell him I’ve heard him sing. Will you be an angel and introduce me to him?

“Why, certainly,” said her host. «I thought you’d met him already. The party’s for him as a matter of fact. But where is he?”

“He’s over there by the bookcase,” she said. “Let’s wait till those people finish talking to him. Well, I think you’re simply wonderful, having him meet all these white people, and all. Does he appreciate your kindness?”

“Why should he?” said her host.

“I think it’s really awfully nice of you,” she said. “I do. I don’t see why it isn’t perfectly all right to meet colored people. I haven’t any feeling at all about it. My husband - oh, he’s just the other way. Well, you know he comes from Virginia and you know how they are there.”

“Did he come tonight?” said her host.

“No, he couldn’t”, she said. «I’m a regular grass widow tonight. He was so tired out, he couldn’t move. Isn’t it a shame?”

“Ah,” said her host.

“Wait till I tell him I met Walter Williams,” she said. “He’ll just about die. Oh, we have a lot of arguments about colored people. I often get angry talking to him. But I must admit Burton is much broader-minded than lots of these Southerners. He’s really awfully fond of colored people. Well, he says himself, he wouldn’t have white servants. He says he hasn’t got a word to say against colored people as long as they keep their place. He’s always doing things for them - giving them clothes and I don’t know what. The only thing he says is, he wouldn’t sit down to table with one for a million dollars. “Oh,” I say to him, “you make me sick, talking like that.” I'm just terrible to him. Aren't I terrible?”

“Oh, no, no, no,” said her host. No, no.

“Now this Walter Williams,” she said. “I think a man like that’s a real artist, I do, and I don't mind his color. I honestly think if a person’s an artist, nobody should try to avoid meeting him. We should value such people. That’s just what I say to Burton. Don’t you think I’m right?”

“Yes,” said her host. “Oh, yes.”

“Why, I'd really be glad to have a man like Walter Williams come to my house and sing for us, some time,” she said. “Of course, I couldn’t risk it because of Burton. But I wouldn’t have any feeling about it at all. Oh, can’t he sing! Come on, let’s go over and talk to him. Listen, what shall I do when I’m introduced? Shall I shake hands? Or what?”

“Why, do whatever you want to,”said her host.

“I guess maybe I’d better,” she said. “I wouldn’t for the world have him think I had any feeling. I think I’d better shake hands, just the way I would with anybody else.”

They reached the tall young Negro, standing by the bookcase. The host performed introductions; the Negro bowed.

“How do you do?” he said.

The woman held out her hand at arm’s length and held it so for all the world to see, until the Negro took it, shook it, and gave it back to her.

“Oh, how do you do, Mr. Williams,” she said. “I’ve just been saying I’ve enjoyed your singing so much. I’ve been to your concerts. Oh, I do enjoy it!”

She spoke very loudly and clearly, like one speaking to a deaf man.

“I’m so glad,” he said.

“Well, what are you doing now?” she said. “Are you still keeping up your singing? Why don’t you have another concert, some time?”

“I’m having one the sixteenth of this month, it’s been announced,” he said.

“Well, I’ll be there,” she said. “I’ll be there, if I possibly can. Oh, who’s that girl in white? I’ve seen her some where.”

“That’s Katherine Burke,” said her host.

“Good Heavens,” she said, “is that Katherine Burke? Why, she looks quite different off the stage. I thought she was much better-looking. I had no idea she was so dark. Why, she looks almost like - oh, I think she's a wonderful actress, don’t you, Mr. Williams?”

“Yes, I do,” he said.

“Oh, I do, too,” she said. “Just wonderful. Well, we must give someone else a chance to talk to you. Now, don’t forget, Mr. Williams, I’m going to be at that concert if I possibly can. Don’t you forget.”

“I don’t,” he said. “Thank you so much.”

The host took her arm and piloted her into the next room. “Oh, my dear”, she said. “I nearly died! Honestly, I give you my word. Did you hear that terrible break I made? I was just going to say Katherine Burke looked almost like a nigger. I just caught myself in time. Oh, do you think he noticed?”

“I don’t believe so,” said her host.

“Well, thank God,” she said, “because I wouldn’t have hurt him for anything. Why, he’s awfully nice. Nice manners and everything. I felt as natural as I would with anybody. But honestly, I could hardly keep a straight face. I kept thinking of Burton. Oh, wait till I tell Burton I called him “Mister”!”

 

Answer the following questions:

1. Who was Walter Williams? Why was the party given for him?

2. What kind of man was Burton, the lady’s husband? What part of the USA did he come from? How can you characterize the man?

3. Why did the lady say that her husband was “much broader-minded than lots of these Southerners”? What did she mean by it?

4. Why did the lady hold out her hand for all the world to see? What did she want to demonstrate?

5. What did she mean by saying she made a break when talking about Katherine Burke?

6. Why is the story called “Arrangement in Black and White”?

 

Make up and present a mini-lecture based on the following text. After delivering your lecture ask two or three questions to provoke exchange of opinions about its most debatable propositions.

The Danger of Stereotypes

 

Questions have often arisen as to whether the existence and use of stereotypes represent an unmitigated evil, or whether they have a function which at least in some circumstances justifies their existence. It is argued that we must have generalizations in formulating our attitudes toward groups, that we cannot dispense with certain general ideas which facilitate dealing with individuals. Perhaps the most pertinent statement that can be made is that stereotypes may be inevitable, but they are always dangerous. It may be impossible to prevent people from generalizing on the basis of a few outstanding characteristics, real or imaginary, but this tendency can at least be reduced if people are made aware of the error involved. The problem is not restricted to the case of stereotypes; in all our thinking there is the same danger of generalizing on the basis of evidence which may be insufficient or actually nonexistent. The best attack against this type of thinking may lie in education which induces caution in arguing from one specific case to another, or from the single case to the group as a whole.

Another problem relates to the existence and use of favorable stereotypes. Should they also be condemned, and if possible eliminated from our thinking? If Americans, for example, have a picture of the French or the British which is essentially friendly and even flattering, and if they are ready to treat an individual Frenchman of Englishman in a friendly manner because of the existence of such a stereotype, should anything be done to change such a view? Should it be pointed out that many individual Englishmen and Frenchmen do not conform to the favorable picture, and that treating them in accordance with it is unjustified? This is a real problem, and the answer to it is not simple. It might be argued that if we tried to eliminate this kind of thinking, we would be contributing to unfriendliness in international relations rather than to the friendliness which we are trying to develop.

The writer knows of no research pertinent to this aspect of the problem and can only express his own opinion, which is that thinking in stereotypes is dangerous in itself, no matter in what context it occurs. If favorable stereotypes are left undisturbed, a type of thinking which is dangerous for all human relations is allowed to continue. We cannot overemphasize the importance of developing an attitude toward individuals and groups which is based upon the actual evidence obtainable, and not on the “pictures in our heads,” no matter whether those pictures are favorable or unfavorable. In the long run, our educational attack must be against all forms of stereotyped thinking.

The study by Rewnkel-Brunswik and her colleagues indicated that those subjects who reacted unfavorably to minority groups were, on the whole, those who reacted in terms of stereotypes. They were the ones who said, “The Jews are …”, “The English are…,” etc. The very willingness to speak in such general terms on the basis of unverified and frequently unverifiable assumptions is to be regarded as suspect.

The purpose in obtaining more such material from many more sources is not to show which groups are liked and which disliked. It has a much more direct and important educational bearing. It should be combined with knowledge and understanding of the actual behavior of the people concerned. The juxtaposition of data on actual behavior and data on stereotypes will reveal the weakness and limitations of the latter, and should therefore contribute to an understanding based upon more complete and reliable information.