SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL: 21st Century Literature Teaching from the Philippines and

the World

Student’s Name: Grade/Section:

_____________________________________ ________________________________
Teacher: Date Submitted:
_____________________________________ ________________________________

I. LEARNING SKILLS

A. Most Essential Learning Competency: Writing a close analysis and critical

interpretation of literary texts, applying a reading approach, and doing an adaptation
of these, require from the learner the ability to: a.) Identify representatives from Asia,
North America, Europe, Latin America, and Africa.

B. Objective/s:
1. Familiarize with racism as a specific reading approach,
2. Use racism as a literary criticism theory to closely analyze and critically interpret
a reading selection; and
3. Write a critical reading paper of the story using racism as a literary theory.

II. INTRODUCTORY CONCEPT

A. INTRODUCTION

A very basic way of thinking about literary theory is that these ideas act as different
lenses critics used to view and talk about art, literature, and even culture. These different
lenses allow critics to consider works of art based on certain assumptions within that
school of theory. The different lenses also allow critics to focus on particular aspects of a
work they consider important.

B. CRITICAL RACE THEORY (CRT)

An abstract and informational mode that examines the appearance of race and racism
across central cultural modes of expression. This approach tries to understand how
victims of general racism are affected by cultural perceptions of race and how they can
represent themselves to counter prejudice. This also attempts to meet the beliefs and
practices that enable racism to persist while also challenging these practices to seek
freedom from general racism.

WHY USE THIS APPROACH?

1. It (broadly) stresses the importance of examining and attempting to understand the

socio-cultural forces that shape how we and others perceive, experience, and respond
to racism.

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 2. It attempts to demonstrate not only how racism continues to be a persistent component
throughout the dominant society, but also why this insistent racism problematically
denies individuals many of the constitutional freedoms they are otherwise promised in
the United States’ governing documents.
3. Advocates attend to the various components that shape individual identity, it offers a
way for scholars to understand how race interacts with other identities like gender and
class.
4. Does not only draw attention to and address the concerns of individual affected by
racism, but also those who perpetrate and are seemingly unaffected by racial
prejudice.

BASIC TENETS (PRINCIPLES) OF CRITICAL RACE THEORY

1. ORDINARINESS. Racism is difficult to address or cure because it is not

acknowledged. Color-blind, or “formal,” understanding of equality, expressed in rules
that insist only on treatment that is the same across the board, can thus remedy only
the most obvious forms of discrimination.
2. INTEREST CONVERGENCE (material determinism) stipulates that black people
achieve civil rights victories only when white and black interests come together.
3. SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION THESIS holds that race and races are products of social
thought and relations. Not objective, inherent, or fixed, they correspond to no biological
or genetic reality; rather, races are categories that society invents, manipulates, or
retires when suitable.
Example: The infamous Dred Scott v. Sandford case whereby the U.S. Supreme Court
declared that "Negroes," whether free or enslaved, were not citizens.
4. DIFFERENTIAL RACIALIZATION. The process by which groups of people are
racialized in conflicting ways at different times to serve the needs and interests of
Whiteness.
Example: When society have had little use for blacks but much need for Mexican or
Japanese agricultural workers.
5. INTERSECTIONALITY AND ANTIESSENTIALISM. No person has a single, easily
stated, specific identity. Everyone has potentially conflicting overlapping identities,
loyalties, and allegiances.
Example: An African American activist may be male or female, gay or straight.
6. UNIQUE VOICE OF COLOR. Because of different histories and experiences with
oppression, black, American Indian, Asian, and Latino writers and thinkers can
communicate to their white counterparts matters that the whites are unlikely to know.
Minority status, in other words, brings with it a presumed competence to speak about
race and racism.

Source: https://literariness.org/2018/08/20/critical-race-theory/

III. ACTIVITIES
A. PRACTICE TASK

PRACTICE TASK 1: DETERMINE THE TENETS

Direction: Determine the basic tenets of CRT Theory and identify keywords to support
your answer. Write your responses on the space provided below.

RO_Senior HS_21st Century Literature_Q2_LP2 2

 1. I hate a wasted journey—I am African.”\
Silence. Silenced transmission of
Pressurized good breeding. Voice, when it came,
Lipstick coated, long gold-rolled
Cigarette-holder pipped. Caught I was foully.
“HOW DARK?”…I had not misheard…” ARE YOU LIGHT”
OR VERY DARK?” Button B, Button A. * Stench
- Excerpt from Telephone Conversation (W. Soyinka)
Basic Tenet : ______________________________________________
Keywords : ______________________________________________

2. A white woman stands bereft and empty

A black boy hacked into a murderous lesson
recalled in me forever
like a lurch of earth on the edge of sleep
etched into my visions
food for dragonfish that learn
to live upon whatever they must eat
fused images beneath my pain
- Excerpt from Afterimages (A. Lorde)
Basic Tenet : ______________________________________________
Keywords : ______________________________________________

PRACTICE TASK 2: KEY INFORMATION

Direction: Below is an article by US Inquirer about a Tech CEO that unprovoked racist tirade
at the Fil-Am family last July 08, 2020. Read and understand the article and identify information
that leads to the discussion of racism.

TECH CEO GOES ON UNPROVOKED RACIST TIRADE AT FIL-AM FAMILY

SAN FRANCISCO — A San Francisco

tech CEO was identified as the man who is seen
in a viral video hurling racist slurs at a Filipino
American family celebrating a birthday in a
restaurant in Carmel Valley, California on July 4.
Michael Lofthouse, CEO of San Francisco cloud
computing firm Solid8, can be seen in a video
originally posted on Instagram by Jordan Liz
Chan.
She told KION they were just singing
Happy Birthday to her “tita” (aunt), Maria Orosa, at the Bernardus Lodge and Spa’s Lucia
Restaurant, when Lofthouse started yelling racist slurs at them. “F— you Asians,” “Go back to
whatever f—— Asian country you’re from” and “You don’t belong here.”
The video starts with the woman asking Lofthouse sitting one table over to repeat what
he had just said to them. He stares at the camera for a few seconds, then extends his middle
finger and says, “This is what I say.” “Trump’s gonna f— you,” followed by “You f—— need to
leave! You f—— Asian piece of s—!”

RO_Senior HS_21st Century Literature_Q2_LP2 3

 A woman server immediately intervened, yelling at him “No, you do not talk to our
guests like that. Get out of here. These are our valued customers.” The video Chat posted
unleashed an uproar against Lofthouse on the internet, with many praising the woman server
for her intervention.
Several news sites identified Lofthouse as the man in the video. He has deleted all his
social media accounts and issued an apology to a local TV station.
“My behavior in the video is appalling,” he told San Francisco’s KGO-TV in a statement.
“This was a moment where I lost control and made incredibly hurtful and divisive comments.
“He’s just saving face. I think he meant what he said and what he did,” Raymond Orosa,
who was at the restaurant celebration, told KGO-TV. “I don’t believe his words because his
actions speak louder than the words he’s saying.”
The incident is just one in the rising tide of Asian bigotry for which critics blame
conservative Republican officials who blame China for the coronavirus pandemic. President
Donald Trump has repeatedly used the terms “kung flu,” and “China virus” verbally and on
Twitter.

Source: https://usa.inquirer.net/56639/tech-ceo-yells-unprovoked-racist-tirade-at-fil-am-family

Key Word/Sentence/Phrase How does it lead to a discussion of racism?

1.

2.

3.

PRACTICE TASK 3: COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS

Direction: Based on the article in Practice Task 2, answer the following questions.

1. If you are in the actual scenario of the situation, how will you react about the baseless
accusation that had been thrown to the FIL-AM family?
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
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2. How is Racism as a literary theory applied in the situation?

_________________________________________________________________________
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RO_Senior HS_21st Century Literature_Q2_LP2 4

IV. ASSESSMENT
Direction: Guided by the picture below, write a three to five-paragraph essay of your
critical analysis using the CRT approach. Your essay will be rated using the following
rubric:

RUBRIC FOR SCORING

Introduction and Conclusion 10

Main Points and Contents 10
Organization 5
Style 5
Mechanics 5
TOTAL 35 pts.

V. REFLECTION/COMMENTS/SUGGESTIONS

What did you learn from this lesson?

______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________

What part of the lesson did you find difficult to understand?

______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________

VI. REFERENCES
• 2http://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2016/09/28/494881057/hear-
something-say-something-navigating-the-world-of-racial-awkwardness
• https://genius.com/Michael-jackson-they-dont-care-about-us-lyrics
• https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/subject_specific_writing/writing_in_literature/literary_t
heory_and_schools_of_criticism/critical_race_theory.html
• https://literariness.org/2018/08/20/critical-race-theory/
• 2shorturl.at/mnU15
• 1shorturl.at/besKS
• https://usa.inquirer.net/56639/tech-ceo-yells-unprovoked-racist-tirade-at-fil-am-
family

RO_Senior HS_21st Century Literature_Q2_LP2 5


Quality Assured by:
Cleofe D. Ariola, EPS l
Janet F. Palle, Tlll, Sor NHS
Cheenee H. Bual, TIII, Cabasan NHS
VII. ANSWER KEY
PRACTICE TASK 1: DETERMINE THE TENETS
1. How dark?... – unique voice of color
2. A white woman…a black boy… - social construction
PRACTICE TASK 2: KEY INFORMATION
Answer may vary.
Possible answers.
Key Word/Sentence/Phrase
1. F— you Asians,” “Go back to whatever
f—— Asian country you’re from” and
“You don’t belong here
2. Asian bigotry for which critics blame
conservative Republican officials who
blame China for the coronavirus
pandemic.
3. President Donald Trump has
repeatedly used the terms “kung flu,” and
“China virus” verbally and on Twitter.
PRACTICE TASK 3: COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS
Answer may vary
RO_Senior HS_21st Century Literature_Q2_LP2
Prepared by:
MARIAN H. FRESADO, T1
Buenavista National High School
Sorsogon City
How does it lead to a discussion of
Racism?
Social Construction – showing Asian bigotry
by swearing and cursing Asian based on his
own belief that they do not belong to that
country.
Intersectionality and Antiessentialism –
Generalizing that all Chinese individuals are
contracted with coronavirus and that people
may be infected if they were to talk with
them.
Ordinariness – The president shows
discrimination of the country by calling
China, “China virus and kung flu” which
affects the people perspective about
Chinese and Asian people in general.
6