Vincent Ye
Professor Dougherty
FYSM CRM
October 19, 2013
The students from Skin Deep can be taken as a perfect example of the five developmental stages defined by Beverly Tatum regarding the issue of racism prevalent across the country and in academic institutions specifically. Their mingling and day to day interactional experience is a perfect example of Pre-encounter, Encounter and Emersion because as much as they like being around they have to face the facts in a hard way. Although a very few reach the stage of Internalization-Commitment because of the changing behavior and awareness regarding the issue of racism being raised by white students in different universities. However, it is quite evident that they move between these stages depending on the conditions and environment they are faced with. Tatum (34) states that the students are adapting to “what is means to be a group targeted by racism.” They feel the discrimination and segregation in one way or the other and most of them feel like that. But the reality is that they have been exposed to these problems differently.
The character of Dane (Texas A & M) perfectly fits in the more than one developmental stages explained by Tatum. Though the severity in his condition cannot be compared with the usual cases but there is a strong affiliation and connection present with the race which implies the fact that his personality is mostly developed by the stages of pre-encounter, encounter and emersion. As per the video, “We really had to pull together. I cannot bridge between the two worlds… I am definitely gonna be with my people because they have always been there for me. I could not have interracial friendships”. There is a strong feeling to overcome the barriers and be a part of the overall group yet there are psychological barriers which are there in the first place because of lack of interaction between the two groups.
