Sociology

Society is more intellectual as children in that colors are not known or recognized until taught later during childhood.  Once the color schemes are learned, they are never forgotten.  The colors of black and white cause the most conflict later in life.  Some children do not have the benefit of attending a culturally diverse educational institution, and therefore, they grow up living very sheltered and socially inept lives.  Helms attempted to explain the process in which a white person overcomes viewing society through the narrowed lens.  The Helms White Racial Identity Development (HWRID) theory was tested during an interview with a sixty year old white woman named Jean.  Jean asked that her real name not be used in order to protect her privacy. 
   
The first issue tested in HWRID theory pertained to contact.  This topic focuses on the interviewees disregard or lack of understanding of racism.  Jean seemed to have an outdated view of what racism is by stating that, Racism is where they try to keep whites and colored people separate (personal communication, March 12, 2010).  Some individuals may lack experience in dealing with minorities and even profess to be color-blind (Sue, 2006).  Jean worked for 40 years at the same furniture company and claims to have treated everyone the same.  She indicated that minorities were permitted to begin shopping in the store in 1968.  She further added, and the colored people were so nice and clean (personal communication, March 12, 2010).  Jean was not questioned about what her expectations of the minority had been as it appeared her conceptions of minorities had been negative.  Some white people rarely see themselves as being biased, superior, or prejudiced.
     
The second issue is disintegration.  This view deals with the conflict discovered in relation to racial dilemmas.  Jean was not questioned in this area as her answers in the previous area seemed to answer them fully.  Individuals in this phase view themselves on a higher rung on the social ladder with regard to race.  Eventually, a distinct conflict arises as one struggles to remain loyal to their race while pretending to be a humanitarian (Sue, 2006).
   
Reintegration is a regression stage in which ones group loyalty and societal influence take over and create an intolerance of minorities.  This third stage supports the white supremacist belief by blaming minorities for their problems and downfalls.  When asked how she feels the minorities have fared since the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, Jean states, well, they wanted equality so we gave it to them.  Now that they have it, they are ruining it for the rest of us.  The schools had to lower the test standards because, they cant keep up and most of their men are in jail and their women keep popping babies out like peas and my tax money pays for their welfare.  I dont think they know how to live like civilized human beings.  They always have their hand out and act like I owe them something because their relatives were slaves.  I didnt own them so I dont owe them a thing (personal communication, March 12, 2010).  It was more than obvious which side of the fence Jean was on.
   
The pseudo-independence phase is brought on by extreme guilt.  During this phase, a white person attempts to understand his or her own being racially, culturally, and sexually (Sue, 2006).  One may try to find similarities with minorities or try to better understand a minority intellectually.  This intellectual exercise only exists with Jean when she donates clothing and canned goods to the local mission for homeless people.  Jean believes that she is helping the
minorities by giving away material items or items needed for survival, while maintaining that she donates these items through her church.
   
In the fifth phase, immersion and emersion, a white individual begins to question what being white actually means.  An inner search for racial understanding and truth begins as well.  Jean did not seem to be at this level as of yet, and it is doubtful that she will make any effort to find any answers.  This phase aids a white person in finding comfort by letting go of the biased and prejudiced beliefs held for so long.  She bases this belief on a biblical reference where God separated all the races at the Tower of Babel.  Jean says, God made us all different for a reason, and if we tamper with that then we will surely go to hell (personal communication, March 12, 2010). 
   
The autonomy issue is the final theory dealt with in HWRID model.  This final area addresses the white individuals ability to view society through a non-racist eye.  The white individual accepts who and what they are outwardly, but he or she is no longer fearful or riddled with feelings of guilt with regard to racism.  The individual faces society determined to rise above any white superiority theory as the theory is now viewed as flawed and unsupported by their own value system.
   
Jean is certainly an interesting individual, but she is also a very troubled individual.  She moves about society as though she were still living in the 1950s.  Her views are now outdated and her belief system is in the minority.  More white individuals should test their own beliefs against Helms White Racial Identity Development model, because they would be surprised to find what lies in the subconscious.  This model asserts and proves that it is very possible to overcome any theories based on race alone, and it proves that no one race is better or superior over another.