CAPS #3- Megan Merrill

              According to the United States 2000 census, 75.1% of respondents considered themselves white and nothing else. The stigma that comes part of the “dominant culture” of being white comes not only come from being the prevalent ethnic group in the United States, but originates from a history of dominance. White culture became the foundation of this country’s social norm from its origination of European based ideas, values, and beliefs. Pre- and Post-Civil War life in the south was ruled by white supremacist as the dominant group, and African American culture belonging to the non-dominant group. Decades later, the Civil Rights movement lead by activists, such as Martin Luther King Jr and Malcom X, paved the way for blacks in America to be viewed as equals and positioned African Americans as belonging to the dominant group leading into the 21^st Century. While this way of thinking is a norm to a majority of today’s society, there are some white-Americans that still view blacks in non-dominant context through stereotypes and century-old labels.

A recent event I would like to focus on that gives an ideal example of labels given by dominant to non-dominant groups is the incident involving Chef and Entrepreneur, Paula Deena, allegedly calling the African-American wait staff at a restaurant she had recently dined at as “slaves”. According a Huffington Post article, this was not the first time the Southern born Dean had used explicit and anti-Semitic language when references the African-American race. It says that there have been multiple allegations by Dean’s employee stating the N word had been used many time when referencing the staff. In a Yahoo! Article published online, they quote Dean on the use of the N-word:

 “That's just not a word that we use as time has gone on. Things have changed since the '60s in the south. And my children and my brother object to that word being used in any cruel or mean behavior. As well as I do.”

This form of language she used labels the African-American culture as a non-dominant group in today’s society. However, she tries to defend herself by stating that the word is not the norm anymore in today’s society. This is an excellent example of how the power of a labels has important, and strong impact on the relationships between the language that we use, and the ways groups are perceived because of it. Certain language can help define a culture in either a positive or negative way. Through these definition, labels and stereotypes that are difficult to get rid of become placed on these said groups.  Because of the effect labels have on cultures and the way they communicate within their groups, we must be aware of the stigma that follows the label. Either positive or negative, labels define a group’s social positioning into the future. By defining one’s social position, they will placed in either a dominant or non-dominant group in society.

Tepper, R. (2013, 06 19). Paula deen racist comments, use of n-word allegedly caught on video [updated] . Huffington Post Online. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/19/paula-deen-racist-comments-n-word-caught-on-video_n_3467287.html

Lauble, E. (2006). Emotional reactions to non-dominant cultures. Yahoo! Voices, Retrieved from http://voices.yahoo.com/emotional-reactions-non-dominant-cultures-116662.html

Engel, P. (2013, 06 19). Southern cooking star paula deen caught in racism scandal. Retrieved from http://finance.yahoo.com/news/paula-deen-allegedly-admits-being-191049668.html