LEGL 4500/6500 - Employment Law

Dawn D. Bennett-Alexander, Esq.

Terry College of Business

Many of us remember chanting, "Sticks and stones may break my bones but names will never hut me," as children. When our playmates or peers called us names that offended, many would chant those words over and over again to shield themselves from those negative names and labels.

Labeling theorists have helped us to realize that labeling, a systematic form of name-calling, can and does indeed hurt us, especially when it is done by an individual or group in power. When those who have been called names like disadvantaged, minority, deviant, culturally deprived, economically deprived, coming from a broken home, at risk, disabled, and the list goes on, accept the definition of the label for themselves, the label becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. That is, the person or group becomes what they have been labeled. They have been hurt, and the message received has been internalized, thereby having a negative impact on their self-esteem. The negative connotation on the label has become inherent in the individual and/or group. For example, there have been studies showing that when the expectation is for children to fail in a particular situation, the classroom or the school, it usually comes true. In essence, what we see revealed is, "You don’t expect much therefore you don’t get much."

Let us look at one term, "minority," which is widely used in this country to designate groups of people. While there are several meanings of the work the first meaning in most dictionaries the lesser part, less than, and the second is a racial, religious, or political group that differs from the larger group. When the word minority is used to refer to people of color, the connotation for many is a negative "less than," which fuels a sense of second-class citizenship.

Many African Americans trying to avoid the use of "minority" in their own writings and when speaking of the larger group, use "people of color." Some labeling theorists also indicate that when a society uses labels that define another segment of people in a negative or demeaning way, the labels reveal more about the society applying it than about he act or person so labeled. Labeling is controlling. The oppressor continues to label to keep control over the oppressed.

At this point many readers are asking the question, What is the real problem? With so many African American communities bursting at the seams with a myriad of social problems, i.e. drugs, Black-on-Black crime, high teen-age pregnancy rates, children having children, the growing number of single female headed households, homelessness, unemployment and underemployment, and numerous indices related to education, equal access, equity, illiteracy, and the high dropout rate, why should anyone care about being called a name?

The big deal is that a disproportionate number of African Americans are struggling with their feelings of self-worth and self-esteem. They are locked in a world of hopelessness and substandard living. Yes, many are considered economically poor, but for many of us who are 40 and older and were called Colored/Negro back then in the segregated society, can attest to the fact that there is more to being poor than merely economics. Families, might have been economically poor, but were rich when it came to providing high expectation, a can-do spirit and positive support for their children and extended members of the family.

The Colored/Negro church was also the mainstay for its people. The church provided the place where its people could be positive and in control. During the week they were weighted down by the problems of their times, but on Sunday they were the special at church. Of course, in that segregated society, adults and many of the children knew what the reality was, but the key factor was hope and faith in the future.

As an educator, I am aware of the proliferation of reports that focus on addressing the numerous of problems of our educational institutions, especially our public schools in meeting the needs of all students.

To accomplish the goals of the reformers, we must address the issue of self-esteem and powerlessness at the same time. We must also come to grips with the name-calling and labeling issue. It is clear that labeling sends negative messages that provide avenues for society to continue the oppression and discrimination of African Americans. If we are going to make a real difference in our blighted communities through educational and other reforms, we must begin by helping many of our African American individuals change their concepts of their self-worth and of their surroundings.

We African Americans who seem to be surviving and thriving within the system and the larger community must work together to assure that we convey a message of the inclusiveness in our communities. We must also work together to put an end to the name-calling within our own community. Oh yes, names that divide us like "Oreo cookie" and "acting white."

There is a real opportunity for us to show we are our brothers’ and sisters’ keepers. African Americans must define themselves. We have to use the strength of our past and declare who we are, but more importantly, we must show that we are proud to be African American/Black Americans.

Black Issues in Higher Education, 12/1992