Summary Of At The Root Of Identity By Claude M. Steele

In An Introduction: At the Root of Identity, from Whistling Vivaldi and Other Clues to How Stereotypes Affect Us, Claude M. Steele argues that there is stereotyping and stereotype threat and how they differ. From personal to skeptical, bias occurs subconsciously according to Steele. First, Steele describes a personal stereotypical threat. This threat was not realized by Steele until his teenage years. From being discriminated at the pool because of his skin color, to not being hired at thirteen because he was black, growing up in Chicago was difficult for Steele. Second, a different perspective was introduced. A black man was regarded as a threat and treated as such. Just because of the color of his skin, individuals treated him different.
With how politically charged the United States has seemed to be since the time before the inauguration of the now elected President, this was a very deep read. At first, I was uncomfortable with what I was reading. Not uncomfortable in the sense that I did not want to, but it felt wrong to me. Living a life of stereotyping someone because of something they have absolutely no control over seems abhorrent to me and completely unacceptable. One is not less intelligent because they can’t do math, this person may be stronger in another background. Another isn’t more of a threat than another because of their skin color. If anything, as of recently in the world, anything is possible from anyone. Humans as a whole have issues across the board. Most are good, but you get your flavors of bad across all races. I agree with a lot of what was stated. Where I slightly disagreed was the scenario of judging one’s talent of miniature golf based on skin color. To me, if I was told that I was being graded, I would do worse for the essence of not passing whatever was being graded. This does not mean that I would fail because I was afraid of not being an athlete as quoted by Steele. Some of the scenarios were gray to me. Once passed the comfort level of reading a hot topic, the words started to flow like water. Grasping every word that was being said. Really understanding what has happened and what can happen when