Racial and Ethnic Identities and Social Change

Part one: To prepare for this Discussion: Advocating for Social Change

• Identify a racial or ethnic issue that is of interest to you or even a passion for you and for which you might advocate.
• Think about what strategies that you might use to best advocate for your issue.
• Craft one main talking point that you would use to advocate for your issue. For instance, the Black Lives Matter movement’s platform includes equality for everyone.

With these thoughts in mind:

Post a description of the racial or ethnic issue for which you might advocate and explain why this issue is important to you. Explain how you would advocate for your issue, including the strategies you might use to advocate for it. Be specific. Also, articulate one main talking point that you might use to advocate for your cause.

Part two: To prepare for this Discussion: The Progress of Social Change for Equality

• Review the reading: Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream.”
• Consider whether you think that progress has been made toward realizing Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream, specifically social change as represented by greater racial and ethnic equality.
• Review the following concepts and issues covered in this course: constructionism, social class, covering, passing, privilege, stigma, objectification, oppositional identity, aversive racism, and assimilation.
• Select two of these issues or concepts, and consider how they support or challenge your position about the realization of Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream.

With these thoughts in mind:

Post the progress that you believe has been made toward realizing Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream for racial and ethnic equality. Describe the two concepts or issues that you chose and explain how each either has contributed to or detracted from social change, specifically in the form of racial and ethnic equality.