| Scenario |
Short Description |
Stereotypes |
Racial Identity |
| 1 |
John, an 8-year-old boy, lives with his alcoholic single mother. |
Substance abuse, absentee father |
White |
| 2 |
Vangie dropped out of school, had a kid at 14, three more
by the age of 18, and now collects welfare. Her boyfriend
has been arrested for assault. Her sister is being beaten by her boyfriend. Vangie just "beat the fool out of" (2001, p. 13)
her son, Otis, for misbehaving at school. |
Dropping out of school, teenage pregnancies, violence, child abuse, absentee father, irresponsibility |
African American |
| 3 |
Oprah, who is 32 and has five children, leaves her daughter,
Opie, in the care of Opie's "senile" (2005, p. 14) irresponsibility,
grandmother and unemployed uncle. |
Unemployment, violence, absentee father |
African American |
| 4 |
Neomi left school after 6th grade, married at 16, then had
five kids in eleven years. Neither she nor her husband, who
works sporadically, is familiar with the term "encyclopedia."
Neomi doesn't speak English. |
Dropping out of school, teenage pregnancy, illiteracy (Note: "Encyclopedia translated into Spanish is "encyclopedia.") |
Latina/o |
| 5 |
An unnamed white mother with a 10-year-old daughter,
Eileen, has been arrested four times in the past two years
for drug possession and prostitution, but is usually bailed out by "one of her various pimps or boyfriends" (2005, p. 17). She's a drug addict and isn't sure who Eileen's father is. |
Prostitution and promiscuity, substance abuse, absentee father |
White |
| 6 |
Ramón, a 25-year-old drug dealer and gang leader, cares
for his nephew, Juan, whose father was killed by a rival gang. Juan's mother is in jail for gang-related activities. Ramón
can't go to a parent-teacher conference because he's hiding
from police. |
Drug dealing, gang affiliation, violence, crime |
Latina/o |
| 7 |
SueAnn has been divorced twice. She's 33 and a high school
dropout. Her older daughter is pregnant. (SueAnn had this daughter in high school.) Her third husband is unemployed and does not want to take care of the kids. He was just
arrested for driving while intoxicated. |
Dropping out of school, teenage pregnancy, unemployment, unemployment, irresponsibility, substance abuse, crime |
White |
CONTENTS