For class we will be viewing the film “When the Bough Breaks” that elaborates on internalized racism and its effects on the body.
YOUR TASK:Ā Please watch thisĀ video OR you can choose to read the author’s article HERE. (Or you may select to do both). Ā After viewing (or reading), please leave your brief comment on the material below.
According to the āArticle Levels of Racism: A Theoretic Framework and a Gardenerās Taleā by Camara Phyllis Jones, MD, MPH, PhD, many scientists either adjust for race or restrict their studies to one racial group. I agree to that point, which is very much visible in our communities. Each ethnic group have a doctorās office serving their own community, but given the nature of being a doctor, this is should not limit that doctor to server other communities, also they ignore to investigate the real cause of the medical issue in the patient and are limited to medical cases only concerned with that particular community.
I agree that racial classification has a profound impact on our daily life, weather it is getting medical treatment, job opportunities, or social status. This article was published on August 2000 and it stated a goal of Department of Health and Human Servicesā Initiative to Eliminate Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health by the Year 2010, but till this day, despite president Obamaās efforts for health care reform, racism is very much evident on three levels of Institutionalized racism, personally mediated, and internalized.
The story of growing flowers in different soils really highlights the point how environment can make the difference between flourishing or demise.
There are a few branches on the reading one may relate. The biggest one that stands out for me is Government. Hence this is the organization responsible to allocate financial funding based on census information, for the most part. The reading itself says that the government is like a gardener, it choses the infamous 5 W’s to give preference to a determined group. A problem increases when the government stops being concern about equity. In my opinion, the government has never been concern about humans being equal. In some decades they have played a really good role pretending they care. At the end of the day, our society is a business and they only care about what type of benefit they can get.
The three types of racism mentioned were, Institutionalized Racism, Personalized Racism, and Internalized Racism. Internalized Racism was referred to as feeling helplessness and self devaluation. I think Internalized Racism is an active thing in the education system amongst pre-teens. I think many pre-teen’s face this this kind of Racism when they are in school because that is the ideal place they would face the most social interaction. Perhaps, a student may be treated one day due to their color and may feel a disconnect and insecurity within themselves. From my experience, I was susceptible in my pre teens. I let the opinions of others effect my view of life. Placing Racism into account really can take a toll on a child’s conscious especially at a young age.
Without a doubt, having these feelings would make anyone feel stressed out and lonely. When I think of this type of racism, I think of people living in poverty. Some are institutionalized based of their social status. Some are even told they would never mount up to anything. Its unfortunate how people of color face degrading situations which at one point leave them to be naive and thoughtless due to the influence of others.
The Gardenerās Tale by Camara Phyllis Jones is THE BEST way to demonstrate racism. Through that tale she shows how racism starts, adapts, and evolves. The tale even shows how self racism starts.The tale is straightforward, it is simple, and It is easy to understand. No major words, no giant research. Just a simple tale.
The Gardenerās Tale by Camara Phyllis Jones is THE BEST way to demonstrate racism. Through that tale she shows how racism starts, adapts, and evolves. The tale even shows how self racism starts.The tale is straightforward, it is simple, and It is easy to understand. No major words, no giant research. Just a simple tale.
I really like the example of the gardenerās tale to describe the three different types of racism many people deal with. I agree with Dr. Camara Phyllis Jones about having to address racism, because ignoring racism, and being in denial will not fix the real issues many people have to face everyday. Unfortunately a lot of people do racist thing with out even being aware of it. I saw a documentary about how children pick up on racial differences in our society, and how children in this generation prefer a white doll to a black doll because they see it as better. I like how she addressed institutionalized racism, and how the people in positions of power have a responsibility to do what they can to help address and to fix these issues so people are not forgotten.
This video is very helpful to truly understand racism and its different layers. According to Camara P. Jones, there are three levels of racism:institutionalized, personally mediator and internalized racism. All of them are very dangerous because they all can affect a person’s health and well-being but in my opinion, I think institutionalized racism is the most powerful. Based on the garden’s tale, I can see that the base for racism is in the institutionalized level which is formed by the laws and society. If we want to end racism, we need to start by treating everyone equally and with respect.
Camara P. Jones breaks down “The Gardenerās Tale” allowing it to be better understood. She discusses three different types of racism which includes institutionalized racism, personalized racism, and internalized racism. She use the example with the flowers symbolizing internalized racism by addressing the pink flowers and the gardener symbolizing the personalized racism. However, she shows the way to go is by addressing the institutionalized racism by mixing up the soil containing not just the pink but also the red flowers. She also use the statement that in our current society, the gardener is our government and our government is in control on mixing up the soil and allowing one seed to flourish just as much as the other set of seeds.
I completely agree with Jones 3 levels of racism and sad to say i see all 3 of these levels acted out on almost a daily bases especially internalized racism and institutionalized racism. I also think racism today is when people or society have assumed guilt towards one race and assumed innocents towards another race for example people see a headline that says cops shots black kid and very often in my experience people ask the question “well, what did the boy do?” however when its a white boy who is shot by a cop its more of a “why did the cop do that type of attitude. It was interesting to hear Jones explain how these thing come into play in world.
In the article” level of racism” Dr Jones pointed out some great ideas about racism. the gardener tale has changed my mind regarding racism, this tale was the perfect example of these types of racism that still exist in today society, however people don’t recognize them. the level of racism was easy to convey.
After viewing the video, I learned about the 3 types of racism, I came to agree with the author that Institutionalized racism has really been the real problem, I really liked how she used the story of the garden to show growing flowers in good and bad soil, I think this example made it all clear to me to understand the 3 types of racism. I feel that Institutionalized racism still alive in our government today, it may not be visible as it was in the past, but still part of the system. I believe too, to fix the issue of racism, addressing Institutionalized racism meaning taking care of it at government level by changing that ābad soilā and give the good soil would help change things around at all other levels.
This article focuses on how race-associated differences and treatments affect individuals. For example, Scientist either adjusts for race or restricts their studies to one race group which limits the extent of the study and knowledge. When doctors use race to treat patients it limits efforts at primary prevention. The race put down on a health form is the same race noted by police officers, judges, clerks, and this racial classification has an effect on daily life. The three levels of racism according to the author are: institutionalized, personally meditated, and internalized. Institutionalized racism is defined as having different access to the goods, opportunities, and services of society by race. Personally mediated racism is prejudice and discrimination. Internalized racism would be acceptance by the stigmatized race of the negative message of their own abilities and worth. For example, in the Gardeners Tale, one flower pot was being given new rich soil while the other pot had old soil, and this led the new soil pot to grow better flowers than the old soil pot. That would be institutionalized racism. The gardener also favored the new soil over the old one by placing their favorite red colored flowers in the new soil to grow and pink ones they didnāt really care about was put in the old soil. This would be personally mediated racism. If there was a bee, according to the article, that was trying to pollinate the pink weak flowers and the pink flower did not want its own pink pollen and wanted the strong red one instead, that would be internalized racism. I fully agree on the authors view on racism and its effects. Life is as good as you make it but some have an unfair advantage over others, and so the disadvantaged ones are almost always left behind and it is hard to break that cycle.
In the article āLevels of Racism: A Theoretic Framework and a Gardenerās Taleā the author talks about three important types of racism. The author describes institutionalized, personally mediator and internalized racism. Personality mediated racism means different actions toward race. They have a preference on a particular race. Personality mediated could be found when we see a homeless person begging. People in society doubt the homeless people would use the money for good, but instead for drugs or possibly the person is lazy to work or look for work. Society judges the homeless people without knowing their situation or actually why they are begging. The author compared racism with gardenerās preference. This describes it perfectly how our society is running. Treatment given to others is not equal, as the case of the flowers. Pink flowers didnāt grow strong and beautiful because of the environment and not because something is not right with them. Any type of flower in the same environment with poor soil couldnāt grow strong and beautiful not even the red flowers. The one to change the environment is the gardener, with people the change needs to be done by the power of the people and the government. All flowers must be taken care equally regardless if it is pink or red flower. Just like racism needs to be taken care of and everyone need to treat each other equally.
(I read the article)
Racism is alive and finding ways to become harder to identify instantly. This article spoke of 3 levels of racism: Institutional, personally mediated and internalized. it used an analogy of growing plants to represent the inherent obstacles faced when inequality and injustice are prevalent, and how hard it might be for one plant to grow if all/more of the resources are given to the plants starting off with more privilege.
I can see how a system might form to allow discrimination to become “the norm”. If a racist person (personally mediated racism) wants to impede certain people’s advancement, he/she may use his/her power to create rules or policies (institutionalized racism) that might seem non-discriminatory if not looked at closely. After time, the people suffering from these forms of racism may believe there is nothing that can be done and that they are worth less than others (internalized).
A sad concept, to real. I also believe education is the key to breaking barriers and overcoming that which keeps one down.
In “Levels of Racism: A Theoretic Framework and a Gardener’s Tale” by Camara Phyllis Jones. The author has presented a general outline of the understanding of racism by three levels: personally mediated, institutionalized, and internalized racism. The institutionalized racism is normative. It is defined as a difference of access to the services, opportunities and goods of the society. It is also manifested in both the conditions; power as well as material conditions. Personally mediated racism is known as the discrimination and prejudice about the motives, and abilities of others, which is based on their race. The internalized racism is the one, which is defined as not believing in themselves, and not in others. It is displayed as an acceptance of “whiteness”; self-devaluation; helplessness and resignation, and hopelessness. The proposed framework is helpful in creating a new hypothesis on the fundamental sources of the discrimination/difference, which are based on race in the health outcomes. It is also very useful in designing practical interventions to eliminate all those differences. Moreover, she has also demonstrated an allegory of a gardener, who has two boxes of flower; poor and rich soil, pink and red flowers. She has used this allegory to portray the connection between three levels of the racism. She has tried to guide us about the intervention, which can mitigate the effects of racism/ prejudice on health. This article is also considered as a tool for taking a start of a nationwide discussion on racism.
I watched the video and it seems very interesting how Camara P. Jones explain Racism and how Racism has different categories, Institutional Racism, Personalized Racism and Internalized Racism. I never put my thought into the fact that police brutality impact on our health, well I agree that police brutality is a huge example of racism as well, because excessive use of force, are widely reported and have disproportionate impact on people of color; Teacher devaluation, it happens a lot in our day by day life, teachers will usually underestimate studentās ability to complete a certain task. As a general though racism occurred in all races, itās not only with black people, but white and Latinos. Once Institutional Racism is solve, the others levels of Racism will be resolve by themselves and that we have to mention Racism, we have to admit first that racism is present, so we can make a commitment in order to arrange that problem.
Great point raised about teachers– there is even evidence on teacher-bullying! Thanks for this insight š
In “Levels of Racism: A Theoretic Framework and a Gardenerās Tale” this reading gave me more knowledge and understanding of racism. In the video and article they broke down racism in 3 different levels. Institutionalized, personally mediated, and internalized. These levels are helpful for health outcomes in race, critical thinking, and new solutions. In the video she also discusses that race is based on socioeconomic, culture and genes. After watching this video and reading this article i am very anxious to watch the movie in class.
Thanks Adam. The remaining films will continue to touch upon this topic– hope you enjoy!
This video helped me have more of an insight of the different levels of racism that exist. Prior to seeing this video and having this health psychology class I never realized there was a connection between racism and an individuals health. The 3 levels of racism are institutionalized, personally mediator and internalized racism. In my opinion I feel these 3 levels are equally dangerous because each one in one way or another affects an individuals health. I look forward to learning more about these various topics and sharing what I have learned with others.
Glad to read that you are enjoying the course so far! And I am pleased to hear that you will be sharing this new information with others š
According to the article āLevels of Racism: A theoretic Framework and Gardenerās Tale, author Camera Phyllis Jones presents an outlines of racism in terms of three defined levels. She shows how these levels of racism are articulated, qualified, and preserved through the metaphor of a garden and its gardener with two flower boxes, rich and poor soil and red and pink flowers. This metaphor shows the connection between the three levels of racism. The three levels are institutionalized racism which is differential access to the goods, services and opportunities of society by race, personally mediated racism which is differential assumption and discrimination by individuals towards others and the last one is internalized racism which is acceptance by members of the stigmatized races of negative messages about their own abilities and intrinsic worth.
The three levels of racism presented by Camara Phyllis Jones definitely explains and define how Institutional, personal mediated, and internalized racism framework is surfaces. In my opinion, internalized racism is the worst of them all since, it causes a lot of stress on minorities that are the most vulnerable to experiencing racism on more frequent basis. In addition to that, this causes people to be at a disadvantage for job opportunity, and a large amount of negative stigmas.
āLevels of Racism: A Theoretic Framework and a Gardenerās Taleā paints a vivid picture of racism and how it operates in society. I’ve always thought of racism as a single concept, not realizing the break down of the three levels. I like the metaphor that was used, which depicts the perpetual cycle that occurs.
Camara P. Jones MD, MPH, PHD is the director of research at the Centers for Disease Control (CDC ) department of social determinacy of health within adults and community health at the division of chronic health division. She likes to use stories to address and illustrate the effects of racisms and inequality.
The first story she relates, illustrates how many people of color still prefer going to white doctors and white lawyers. She recalls her own parents even believing that the āwhite manās ice was colder that the colored store owner. ā I do recall that related research was done that showed black children preferred playing with white dolls over colored dolls.
Her second story is about a farmer who prefers red flowers over pink flowers which leads the farmer to year after year plant the red seeds in the more fertile soil and the pink seeds in the less fertile, more course and rocky part of the garden. Predictably, year after year and generation after generation the red flowers out preform the pink flowers. This only re-enforces the farmerās belief regarding the superiority of the red over the pink.
Dr. Camara uses this story to address three levels of racism. A) Institutional Racism ā Which is a lack of accessibility to good, education and health care related to someoneās race.
B) Personal mediation / assumption of race. This addresses what most people assume when they hear the word racism. An example would be a person of color being followed or watched more closely by a store clerk. Or a physician disrespecting the degree of knowledge or responsibility of a colored patient understands or takes regarding their health status.
C) Acceptance – when the stereotype belief is reinforcement over and over again till its believed as a truth by the person itās being perpetuated against.
As a director of the CDC Dr. Camara wants heath care professionals and public health providers to address racism and be knowledgeable of how it can affect ones health. As a health care provider in the community, I can reiterate what my nursing colleague said in the class regarding her surprise and bewilderment that this topic was omitted in our nursing education. In nursing school, this subject was almost never addressed. In the Nursing bachelorette course we did have a class on cultural sensitivity, but that primarily address the different foods and attitudes towards health and sickness of different cultures.
It did not address the detrimental effects of racism on health.
Thankfully we are edging closer to understanding the importance of social determinacy and its effects on health. Dr. Camara believed that of the three levels of racisms, addressing institutional racism is the most important. In the story of the pink and red flowers this can be done by eliminating the segregation of good and rocky soil and equality distributing the rich soil so that all seeds have an equally opportunity to flourish and grow. Within time this can eliminate the accepted feelings or inequity as the pink flowers will see themselves growing and developing (they might even outgrow the red flowers, as they survived for so many generations under the course soil. Once given the chance they can outgrow the privileged.)
While change does not happen overnight, if we succeed in eliminating institutional racism this will lead to a more self-determination and less inequality and disparages between the races. Which can lead to improvement in heath, wealth, education and social economic status. The clerk who was conditioned to be more vigilant when a person of color enters, will stop having such believe.
Excellent response Sam! Your thoughtfulness is reflected here. Glad that you are making meaning of the material presented.
In āLevels of Racism: A Theoretic Framework and a Gardenerās Taleā explains about racism. It explained about the institutionalized, personally mediated and internalized. Nowadays is important to know about these things since there is racism in most places. These three aspects of racism can help create better plans to bring solutions to our community. I feel like I learned something new ļ
I really love the The Gardeners Tale, it really makes you understand the 3 levels of racism. This is the type of story that should be taught to us at a young age. The more you here it the better you understand it and hopefully the less you take part in racism. The internalized racism brings up a question for me. When a group of young black guys are hanging around and they all call each other the “n” word over and over is that internalized racism? I had a situation on the train the other day, an african american man in his 4o’s started to have a seizure on the train and I ran over to help him and asked other to help me and only 2 other young women came to help. He was a big guy and we needed to get him down to the floor so we could keep him safe. As I was treating the guy other African american guys on the train where saying to me ” awe forget that “N” he’s probably high, throw him out on the platform. I was in awe of how poorly the community acted and how much people did not want to help and I couldn’t help but think, how much was racism, and stereotyping. The good news is he was safe and I stayed with him till the EMT’s got to there.