Short Answer/Short Essay Questions:

Vision, Privilege, and the Limits of Tolerance – Cris Cullinan

1. Read the Cullinan article (see link on class web page) and answer the questions below.

2. Print this sheet and use the spaces allotted to answer the questions. No typing! The answers must be hand written by you.

Due: Note due date in course schedule.

Note: This reading, like the McIntosh article, forms the foundation for our future discussions on learning environments and diverse communities. Therefore, please read the article carefully and keep in mind that your responses must be a reflection (not simply an opinion) of your understanding of the material assigned for reading. As such, you need to refer to the article to support your position.

The assignment includes several questions. These are short answer/short essay questions and I expect detailed and in depth answers.

Short Answer/Short Essay Questions:

1. Comment on the author's words, "We want to believe that our intelligence and our effort alone are responsible for what we achieve, as if life were a monopoly game where we all start out with the same amount of money, and we all have to take our chances with the rolls of the dice".

2. Early in the article, Cullinan takes us on a tour of her neighborhood. (a) What was the view from the top of the hill and (b) how did it relate to the house of privilege?

3. The Presumption of Innocence: Cullinan notes that "I know that I have dominant culture privilege because I get the presumption of innocence. When something goes wrong around me, people do not look to me first, or even second, as a probable cause of the problem".

When considering this statement, explain the following in your own words and provide examples from the reading to support the author's statements.

(a) "The presumption of innocence can also be given me even when it appears I have done something wrong".

(b) "It is easy to consider the painful and embarrassing, even dangerous, experiences of others as "isolated incidents" or as things that happened to them because they did something wrong".

(c) "While those operating in a 'house of privilege' receive the presumption of innocence, those not privileged in the dominant culture are seen as guilty until proven innocent and as suspicious or 'difficult' if they complain or contest this treatment". This is the phenomenon that Cullinan refers to as "guilt by association".

4. The Presumption of Worthiness: Cullinan defines this presumption by noting that "I am worthy, deserving and good enough to receive attention, services, respect, and the benefit of the doubt".

(a) What are the examples Cullinan sites of "clear evidence that this presumption is not regularly applied to most people of color in the United States, even if they are members of the upper middle class"?

(b) What is the problem with viewing these behaviors (not giving people of color the presumption of worthiness) by people in the dominant culture as "isolated incidents"?

(c) When taken to its extreme, what is the the opposite of the presumption of worthiness (you may quote Cullinan here) and what are three examples from our past history that support these negative assumptions (list Cullinan's examples here)?

(d) Describe, in your own words, the problem with the proposition that "those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it"?

(e) Outline, in your own words, the two reasons that the author gives as to why "they should not just get over it"?

5. The Presumption of Competence: Cullinan notes that "In all of the jobs I have ever had, I was always treated as if I was competent, and then given the autonomy, encouragement and feedback to prove it. In nearly all of the experiences I ever had or continue to have as a student, I walk in and I am given the presumption of competence."

(a) What are the three examples Cullinan provides where people were presumed incompetent until they can prove otherwise.

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(b) Explain what changed for bell hooks when she went from a segregated to an integrated classroom and why did this change happen?

6. Why do university faculty and staff of non-privileged groups (people of color, gay or lesbian, people with disabilities) often do double- and triple- duty when it comes to their jobs?

7. Why do students from non-dominant groups often seek to spend at least some time everyday with others like themselves.

8. Look at the two lists about when people felt they really mattered and when they felt marginalized or did not matter. (a) Briefly list one time when you felt you really mattered and why (pick the reason/s from Cullinan's list). (b) Also, can you think of a time when you felt marginalized? If so, explain why (again, pick the reason/s from Cullinan's list). If you have never felt marginalized, reflect on why this might be in terms of Cullinan's list.

9. What does Cullinan mean by the statement: "If you are a person from a non-dominant group, you cannot so easily walk off the front lines. It is where you live"? In addition, list the three examples she provides of being able to walk off the front lines just because she is a "white, heterosexual female...well-educated, upper-middle-class babyboomer who is currently able-bodied".

10. Cullinan notes that "...I believe that if we do not make an effort to understand how the larger culture honors some and not others, gives some and not others the benefit of the doubt, accepts some at face value while asking others to prove their worth, then we are operating in ignorance of some very powerful forces, and that is dangerous for all of us". Keeping this statement in mind, describe, in your own words, Cullinan's six recommendations for becoming an effective ally for social justice where everyone receives the presumptions of innocence, worthiness, and competence.