Black Power's Gonna Get You Sucka: Right-Wing Paranoia and the Rhetoric of Modern Racism
This is for me and mine - because I'm going to need to go back to this time and time again. I can find it easily here - my
blog is like a bookmark :-)
(I don't care much about the political rhetoric, but I do care about the data that Wise provides in example after example)
Showing posts with label privilege. Show all posts
Showing posts with label privilege. Show all posts
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Reading Racism Right to Left: Reflections on a Powerful Word and Its Applications
Reading Racism Right to Left: Reflections on a Powerful Word and Its Applications
Read this.
Worth it.
Long.
Critical thinking is necessary.
Open mind is a must.
Own it.
Change yourself.
Commit.
Ice cream sundaes just arrived in our home (Thank you Mr. Silly Pants!)- nothing like a little sweet creaminess to add to the reading experience.
Read this.
Worth it.
Long.
Critical thinking is necessary.
Open mind is a must.
Own it.
Change yourself.
Commit.
Ice cream sundaes just arrived in our home (Thank you Mr. Silly Pants!)- nothing like a little sweet creaminess to add to the reading experience.
Monday, April 26, 2010
Why Time Wise Rocks My World...and why understanding white privilege matters
Imagine: Protest, Insurgency and the Workings of White Privilege
By Tim Wise
April 20, 2010
Let’s play a game, shall we? The name of the game is called “Imagine.” The way it’s played is simple: we’ll envision recent happenings in the news, but then change them up a bit. Instead of envisioning white people as the main actors in the scenes we’ll conjure—the ones who are driving the action—we’ll envision black folks or other people of color instead. The object of the game is to imagine the public reaction to the events or incidents, if the main actors were of color, rather than white. Whoever gains the most insight into the workings of race in America, at the end of the game, wins.
So let’s begin.
Imagine that hundreds of black protesters were to descend upon Washington DC and Northern Virginia, just a few miles from the Capitol and White House, armed with AK-47s, assorted handguns, and ammunition. And imagine that some of these protesters—the black protesters--spoke of the need for political revolution, and possibly even armed conflict in the event that laws they didn’t like were enforced by the government? Would these protesters--these black protesters with guns--be seen as brave defenders of the Second Amendment, or would they be viewed by most whites as a danger to the republic? What if they were Arab-Americans? Because, after all, that's what happened recently when white gun enthusiasts descended upon the nation's capital, arms in hand, and verbally announced their readiness to make war on the country's political leaders if the need arose.
Imagine that white members of Congress, while walking to work, were surrounded by thousands of angry black people, one of whom proceeded to spit on one of those congressmen for not voting the way the black demonstrators desired. Would the protesters be seen as merely patriotic Americans voicing their opinions, or as an angry, potentially violent, and even insurrectionary mob? After all, this is what white Tea Party protesters did recently in Washington.
Imagine that a black rap artist were to say, in reference to a white politician and presidential candidate: "He's a piece of shit and I told him to suck on my machine gun." And what would happen to any prominent liberal commentator who then, when asked about that statement, replied that the rapper was a friend and that he (the commentator) would not disavow or even criticize him for his remarks. Because that’s what rocker Ted Nugent said in 2007 about Barack Obama, and that's how Sean Hannity responded to Nugent's remarks when he was asked about them.
Imagine that a prominent mainstream black political commentator had long employed an overt bigot as Executive Director of his organization, and that this bigot regularly participated in black separatist conferences, and once assaulted a white person while calling them by a racial slur. When that prominent black commentator and his sister--who also works for the organization--defended the bigot as a good guy who was misunderstood and “going through a tough time in his life” would anyone accept their excuse-making? Would that commentator still have a place on a mainstream network? Because that’s what happened in the real world, when Pat Buchanan employed as Executive Director of his group, America's Cause, a blatant racist who did all these things, or at least their white equivalents: attending white separatist conferences and attacking a black woman while calling her the n-word.
Imagine that a black radio host were to suggest that the only way to get promoted in the administration of a white president is by “hating black people,” or that a prominent white person had only endorsed a white presidential candidate as an act of racial bonding, or blamed a white president for a fight on a school bus in which a black kid was jumped by two white kids, or said that he wouldn’t want to kill all conservatives, but rather, would like to leave just enough--“living fossils” as he called them--“so we will never forget what these people stood for.” After all, these are things that Rush Limbaugh has said, about Barack Obama’s administration, Colin Powell’s endorsement of Barack Obama, a fight on a school bus in Belleville, Illinois in which two black kids beat up a white kid, and about liberals, generally.*
Imagine that a black pastor, formerly a member of the U.S. military, were to declare, as part of his opposition to a white president’s policies, that he was ready to “suit up, get my gun, go to Washington, and do what they trained me to do.” This is, after all, what Pastor Stan Craig said recently at a Tea Party rally in Greenville, South Carolina.
Imagine a black radio talk show host gleefully predicting a revolution by people of color if the government continues to be dominated by the rich white men who have been “destroying” the country, or if said radio personality were to call Christians or Jews non-humans, or say that when it came to conservatives, the best solution would be to “hang ‘em high.” And what would happen to any congressional representative who praised that commentator for “speaking common sense” and likened his hate talk to “American values?” After all, those are among the things said by radio host and best-selling author Michael Savage, predicting white revolution in the face of multiculturalism, or said by Savage about Muslims and liberals, respectively. And it was Congressman Culbertson, from Texas, who praised Savage in that way, despite his hateful rhetoric.
Imagine a black political commentator suggesting that the only thing the guy who flew his plane into the Austin, Texas IRS building did wrong was not blowing up Fox News instead. This is, after all, what Anne Coulter said about Tim McVeigh, when she noted that his only mistake was not blowing up the New York Times.
Imagine that a popular black liberal website posted comments about the daughter of a white president, calling her “typical redneck trash,” or a “whore” whose mother entertains her by “making monkey sounds.” After all that’s comparable to what conservatives posted about Malia Obama on freerepublic.com last year, when they referred to her as “ghetto trash.”
Imagine that black protesters at a large political rally were walking around with signs calling for the lynching of their congressional enemies. Because that’s what white conservatives did last year, in reference to Democratic party leaders in Congress.
In other words, imagine that even one-third of the anger and vitriol currently being hurled at President Obama, by folks who are almost exclusively white, were being aimed, instead, at a white president, by people of color. How many whites viewing the anger, the hatred, the contempt for that white president would then wax eloquent about free speech, and the glories of democracy? And how many would be calling for further crackdowns on thuggish behavior, and investigations into the radical agendas of those same people of color?
To ask any of these questions is to answer them. Protest is only seen as fundamentally American when those who have long had the luxury of seeing themselves as prototypically American engage in it. When the dangerous and dark “other” does so, however, it isn’t viewed as normal or natural, let alone patriotic. Which is why Rush Limbaugh could say, this past week, that the Tea Parties are the first time since the Civil War that ordinary, common Americans stood up for their rights: a statement that erases the normalcy and “American-ness” of blacks in the civil rights struggle, not to mention women in the fight for suffrage and equality, working people in the fight for better working conditions, and LGBT folks as they struggle to be treated as full and equal human beings.
And this, my friends, is what white privilege is all about. The ability to threaten others, to engage in violent and incendiary rhetoric without consequence, to be viewed as patriotic and normal no matter what you do, and never to be feared and despised as people of color would be, if they tried to get away with half the shit we do, on a daily basis.
Game Over.
By Tim Wise
April 20, 2010
Let’s play a game, shall we? The name of the game is called “Imagine.” The way it’s played is simple: we’ll envision recent happenings in the news, but then change them up a bit. Instead of envisioning white people as the main actors in the scenes we’ll conjure—the ones who are driving the action—we’ll envision black folks or other people of color instead. The object of the game is to imagine the public reaction to the events or incidents, if the main actors were of color, rather than white. Whoever gains the most insight into the workings of race in America, at the end of the game, wins.
So let’s begin.
Imagine that hundreds of black protesters were to descend upon Washington DC and Northern Virginia, just a few miles from the Capitol and White House, armed with AK-47s, assorted handguns, and ammunition. And imagine that some of these protesters—the black protesters--spoke of the need for political revolution, and possibly even armed conflict in the event that laws they didn’t like were enforced by the government? Would these protesters--these black protesters with guns--be seen as brave defenders of the Second Amendment, or would they be viewed by most whites as a danger to the republic? What if they were Arab-Americans? Because, after all, that's what happened recently when white gun enthusiasts descended upon the nation's capital, arms in hand, and verbally announced their readiness to make war on the country's political leaders if the need arose.
Imagine that white members of Congress, while walking to work, were surrounded by thousands of angry black people, one of whom proceeded to spit on one of those congressmen for not voting the way the black demonstrators desired. Would the protesters be seen as merely patriotic Americans voicing their opinions, or as an angry, potentially violent, and even insurrectionary mob? After all, this is what white Tea Party protesters did recently in Washington.
Imagine that a black rap artist were to say, in reference to a white politician and presidential candidate: "He's a piece of shit and I told him to suck on my machine gun." And what would happen to any prominent liberal commentator who then, when asked about that statement, replied that the rapper was a friend and that he (the commentator) would not disavow or even criticize him for his remarks. Because that’s what rocker Ted Nugent said in 2007 about Barack Obama, and that's how Sean Hannity responded to Nugent's remarks when he was asked about them.
Imagine that a prominent mainstream black political commentator had long employed an overt bigot as Executive Director of his organization, and that this bigot regularly participated in black separatist conferences, and once assaulted a white person while calling them by a racial slur. When that prominent black commentator and his sister--who also works for the organization--defended the bigot as a good guy who was misunderstood and “going through a tough time in his life” would anyone accept their excuse-making? Would that commentator still have a place on a mainstream network? Because that’s what happened in the real world, when Pat Buchanan employed as Executive Director of his group, America's Cause, a blatant racist who did all these things, or at least their white equivalents: attending white separatist conferences and attacking a black woman while calling her the n-word.
Imagine that a black radio host were to suggest that the only way to get promoted in the administration of a white president is by “hating black people,” or that a prominent white person had only endorsed a white presidential candidate as an act of racial bonding, or blamed a white president for a fight on a school bus in which a black kid was jumped by two white kids, or said that he wouldn’t want to kill all conservatives, but rather, would like to leave just enough--“living fossils” as he called them--“so we will never forget what these people stood for.” After all, these are things that Rush Limbaugh has said, about Barack Obama’s administration, Colin Powell’s endorsement of Barack Obama, a fight on a school bus in Belleville, Illinois in which two black kids beat up a white kid, and about liberals, generally.*
Imagine that a black pastor, formerly a member of the U.S. military, were to declare, as part of his opposition to a white president’s policies, that he was ready to “suit up, get my gun, go to Washington, and do what they trained me to do.” This is, after all, what Pastor Stan Craig said recently at a Tea Party rally in Greenville, South Carolina.
Imagine a black radio talk show host gleefully predicting a revolution by people of color if the government continues to be dominated by the rich white men who have been “destroying” the country, or if said radio personality were to call Christians or Jews non-humans, or say that when it came to conservatives, the best solution would be to “hang ‘em high.” And what would happen to any congressional representative who praised that commentator for “speaking common sense” and likened his hate talk to “American values?” After all, those are among the things said by radio host and best-selling author Michael Savage, predicting white revolution in the face of multiculturalism, or said by Savage about Muslims and liberals, respectively. And it was Congressman Culbertson, from Texas, who praised Savage in that way, despite his hateful rhetoric.
Imagine a black political commentator suggesting that the only thing the guy who flew his plane into the Austin, Texas IRS building did wrong was not blowing up Fox News instead. This is, after all, what Anne Coulter said about Tim McVeigh, when she noted that his only mistake was not blowing up the New York Times.
Imagine that a popular black liberal website posted comments about the daughter of a white president, calling her “typical redneck trash,” or a “whore” whose mother entertains her by “making monkey sounds.” After all that’s comparable to what conservatives posted about Malia Obama on freerepublic.com last year, when they referred to her as “ghetto trash.”
Imagine that black protesters at a large political rally were walking around with signs calling for the lynching of their congressional enemies. Because that’s what white conservatives did last year, in reference to Democratic party leaders in Congress.
In other words, imagine that even one-third of the anger and vitriol currently being hurled at President Obama, by folks who are almost exclusively white, were being aimed, instead, at a white president, by people of color. How many whites viewing the anger, the hatred, the contempt for that white president would then wax eloquent about free speech, and the glories of democracy? And how many would be calling for further crackdowns on thuggish behavior, and investigations into the radical agendas of those same people of color?
To ask any of these questions is to answer them. Protest is only seen as fundamentally American when those who have long had the luxury of seeing themselves as prototypically American engage in it. When the dangerous and dark “other” does so, however, it isn’t viewed as normal or natural, let alone patriotic. Which is why Rush Limbaugh could say, this past week, that the Tea Parties are the first time since the Civil War that ordinary, common Americans stood up for their rights: a statement that erases the normalcy and “American-ness” of blacks in the civil rights struggle, not to mention women in the fight for suffrage and equality, working people in the fight for better working conditions, and LGBT folks as they struggle to be treated as full and equal human beings.
And this, my friends, is what white privilege is all about. The ability to threaten others, to engage in violent and incendiary rhetoric without consequence, to be viewed as patriotic and normal no matter what you do, and never to be feared and despised as people of color would be, if they tried to get away with half the shit we do, on a daily basis.
Game Over.
Monday, April 5, 2010
Why Immersion?
Examining, critically, my whiteness and white identity.
Examining issues related to privilege and particularly my white privilege.
Externalizing my sense of entitlement that is connected to my own white privilege (not to mention class, but working to know the difference). ETA: by externalizing I mean moving the dynamic from an internal space to a place of overt knowing and responsibility.
Constructing a self identity that is more wholey integrated : "I know that I did not personally participate in the horror of slavery. But I know that because I am White, I continue to benefit from a racist system that stems from the slavery era." (Immersion and Emersion in Helm's White Racial Identity stages).
And, finally, acting with determination and insight to NOT be involved in activities that perpetuate racial oppression.
Examining issues related to privilege and particularly my white privilege.
Externalizing my sense of entitlement that is connected to my own white privilege (not to mention class, but working to know the difference). ETA: by externalizing I mean moving the dynamic from an internal space to a place of overt knowing and responsibility.
Constructing a self identity that is more wholey integrated : "I know that I did not personally participate in the horror of slavery. But I know that because I am White, I continue to benefit from a racist system that stems from the slavery era." (Immersion and Emersion in Helm's White Racial Identity stages).
And, finally, acting with determination and insight to NOT be involved in activities that perpetuate racial oppression.
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Speaking into the Silence
In the 2 full days since the newspaper story broke, there has been an eerie and disturbing silence in our district. NOT A WORD from our administration, from other staff members, or anyone. Nothing. The silence has been difficult for me. Speaking into the silence tonight was necessary. I went solo on this. I am reminded how the 50 students of color at my high school feel like they're "going solo" nearly every time they walk into the school, my classroom, the gym, the art room, the parking lot.
I pressed the send button and sent this letter district wide - to every working person in my district:.
Please leave a comment if you have resources I've missed. Or, add a comment with your own interpretation of events. I'm especially interested in learning how to be a good ally - feel free to add your own nudge. And, thanks for reading.
Dear Colleagues,
I'm reaching out to my colleagues in the district to encourage thoughtful and introspective consideration of the highly charged recent discussions of racial tensions in our school district.
In some instances, I have felt concerned that our community often recognizes only the most extreme and blatant actions as actually constituting "racism", excuses offenders as 'young ignorant kids', denies the problems that people of color present as their lived reality, and blames minority communities for the "problem." .
Some of you know that I have been working diligently during the past 3 years to become a better ally in our school community and our community at large.
I've taken several classes, participate in a number of online forums, read and continue to read about ways to resist racism, and dedicated myself to being an anti-racist parent.
I've scoured some of my favorite resources and included links to those I find accessible/readable/friendly/pertinent to the myriad of discussions happening in public and private spaces in
our schools, homes, and communities.
Here are some sources - I promise I've tried to keep them readable, brief, and powerful. I know we don't have enormous amounts of time on our hands to delve into resources. But, we must.
I hope my efforts help move our students and our own lives into spaces of increasing understanding, compassion, and dialogue. I hope that if you have resources you would like to share that you will add to this conversation with information to continue our community learning. I look forward to hearing from you.
Here it is!
This is an all time classic by Peggy McIntosh. It is an excellent exercise you can do in 15 minutes. Do it. Please.
http://curlykidz.files.wordpress.com/2009/10/unpackingtheknapsack.pdf
My friend wrote this great piece on how to be an ally. Her piece focuses on why it is important for white majority people to understand our privilege and more deeply recognize the unearned benefits of our whiteness. The end of her article includes other awesome resources for self-reflection and processing.
http://loveisntenough.com/2009/12/30/how-to-be-an-anti-racist-ally/
This link references the program "NIOT" (Not in Our Town) which has become a national movement to combat bullying and racism in schools. I know there are many programs - this is one that has available resources for the classroom and community.
http://www.pbs.org/niot/get_involved/edu_resources.html
Discussion of NOIT with some video clips of parents and kids: http://loveisntenough.com/2010/02/24/what-to-do-when-your-child-is-being-bullied/#more-1347
For those of you who are visual learners - a 3 minute discussion about how to talk about racism.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0Ti-gkJiXc&feature=player_embedded
This is an interview with one of my heroes, Beverly Daniel Tatum. She has written many books about race in America. I highly recommend Why Are All The Blacks Kids Sitting Together in The Cafeteria and Can We Talk about Race. I wrote a 'book review' for a local class (Racial Healing) on Can We Talk About Race - feel free to ask for it.
http://www.pbs.org/race/000_About/002_04-background-03-04.htm
Read anything and everything by Tim Wise. I particularly recommend White Like Me
http://www.timwise.org/ or his blog http://www.redroom.com/blog/tim-wise
for brief pieces.
I pressed the send button and sent this letter district wide - to every working person in my district:.
Please leave a comment if you have resources I've missed. Or, add a comment with your own interpretation of events. I'm especially interested in learning how to be a good ally - feel free to add your own nudge. And, thanks for reading.
Dear Colleagues,
I'm reaching out to my colleagues in the district to encourage thoughtful and introspective consideration of the highly charged recent discussions of racial tensions in our school district.
In some instances, I have felt concerned that our community often recognizes only the most extreme and blatant actions as actually constituting "racism", excuses offenders as 'young ignorant kids', denies the problems that people of color present as their lived reality, and blames minority communities for the "problem." .
Some of you know that I have been working diligently during the past 3 years to become a better ally in our school community and our community at large.
I've taken several classes, participate in a number of online forums, read and continue to read about ways to resist racism, and dedicated myself to being an anti-racist parent.
I've scoured some of my favorite resources and included links to those I find accessible/readable/friendly/pertinent to the myriad of discussions happening in public and private spaces in
our schools, homes, and communities.
Here are some sources - I promise I've tried to keep them readable, brief, and powerful. I know we don't have enormous amounts of time on our hands to delve into resources. But, we must.
I hope my efforts help move our students and our own lives into spaces of increasing understanding, compassion, and dialogue. I hope that if you have resources you would like to share that you will add to this conversation with information to continue our community learning. I look forward to hearing from you.
Here it is!
This is an all time classic by Peggy McIntosh. It is an excellent exercise you can do in 15 minutes. Do it. Please.
http://curlykidz.files.wordpress.com/2009/10/unpackingtheknapsack.pdf
My friend wrote this great piece on how to be an ally. Her piece focuses on why it is important for white majority people to understand our privilege and more deeply recognize the unearned benefits of our whiteness. The end of her article includes other awesome resources for self-reflection and processing.
http://loveisntenough.com/2009/12/30/how-to-be-an-anti-racist-ally/
This link references the program "NIOT" (Not in Our Town) which has become a national movement to combat bullying and racism in schools. I know there are many programs - this is one that has available resources for the classroom and community.
http://www.pbs.org/niot/get_involved/edu_resources.html
Discussion of NOIT with some video clips of parents and kids: http://loveisntenough.com/2010/02/24/what-to-do-when-your-child-is-being-bullied/#more-1347
For those of you who are visual learners - a 3 minute discussion about how to talk about racism.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0Ti-gkJiXc&feature=player_embedded
This is an interview with one of my heroes, Beverly Daniel Tatum. She has written many books about race in America. I highly recommend Why Are All The Blacks Kids Sitting Together in The Cafeteria and Can We Talk about Race. I wrote a 'book review' for a local class (Racial Healing) on Can We Talk About Race - feel free to ask for it.
http://www.pbs.org/race/000_About/002_04-background-03-04.htm
Read anything and everything by Tim Wise. I particularly recommend White Like Me
http://www.timwise.org/ or his blog http://www.redroom.com/blog/tim-wise
for brief pieces.
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
The Case against Camo
just puttin' this out there: http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/education/local_schools/article_4346caa4-36d1-11df-9f92-001cc4c03286.html
I'm buckling in - tomorrow is going to be a bumpy ride in the HS!
More comments from me on this when I've actually been in the building and have a better sense of what's going on in response to this print. And for the record - the comments are really tough to take. My heart goes out to the kids who are the victims; the kids who brought their stories to the administration, the teachers, and school services. It's not a new story.
It's going to take a mighty effort to be an effective ally. Their efforts (and rights!) to be at the HS without disruptions to their education and without harrassment is a huge concern to me. I'm very concerned that my students of color will be threatened, bullied, and coerced into silence. Once again.
Listen Up:
Wearing camo doesn't make you a racist. And, racists are wearing camo as a symbol of their hate group identity. The gang, "Hicks" (they've also identified themselves as CK or "Coon Killers"), have established the camo as a signal/sign of their gang membership.
Said another way:
If you wear camo it does not mean you are a racist. And, racists do wear camo.
Let's not argue about whether wearing camo makes you a "Hick." Let's admit that "Hicks" wear camo. This is a compelling case against camo. The symbol is intimidating to students. Some students feel threatened by camo apparel.
Support your friends, classmates, colleagues, neighbors, and community members - KEEP YOUR CAMO IN YOUR CLOSET!
We need to stop admiring the problem and get to work!
I'm buckling in - tomorrow is going to be a bumpy ride in the HS!
More comments from me on this when I've actually been in the building and have a better sense of what's going on in response to this print. And for the record - the comments are really tough to take. My heart goes out to the kids who are the victims; the kids who brought their stories to the administration, the teachers, and school services. It's not a new story.
It's going to take a mighty effort to be an effective ally. Their efforts (and rights!) to be at the HS without disruptions to their education and without harrassment is a huge concern to me. I'm very concerned that my students of color will be threatened, bullied, and coerced into silence. Once again.
Wearing camo doesn't make you a racist. And, racists are wearing camo as a symbol of their hate group identity. The gang, "Hicks" (they've also identified themselves as CK or "Coon Killers"), have established the camo as a signal/sign of their gang membership.
Said another way:
If you wear camo it does not mean you are a racist. And, racists do wear camo.
Let's not argue about whether wearing camo makes you a "Hick." Let's admit that "Hicks" wear camo. This is a compelling case against camo. The symbol is intimidating to students. Some students feel threatened by camo apparel.
Support your friends, classmates, colleagues, neighbors, and community members - KEEP YOUR CAMO IN YOUR CLOSET!
We need to stop admiring the problem and get to work!
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Expansion and Immersion
I haven't blogged much about 'stuff'. Honestly, I've been preoccupied with my working situation. I'm getting closer to clarity about HOW to do what I need to do. But, there are 2 things on the horizon that are pretty exciting.
First, Mr. Silly Pants is attending a conference this week that is totally floating his boat. I expect to hear a lot of juicy details about health care in the US (it isn't a medical specialty conference - it's a medical admin conference). Mr. Silly Pants might be getting his butt kicked by long days of what he calls "heady stuff." I just have to point out that the pastsix two conferences he has attended he spent the mornings in sessions and afternoons hanging out at Universal Studios or DisneyLand or Dr. Seuss World or HarryPotterLand...whatever. I know he brought his son a Tigger and a Winnie the Pooh from 2 separate trips. I think this trip we might get a convention center note pad. *grin*
Second, April 1 marks the start of my cultural immersion exercise. I'll be joined by a fabulous friend, mom of the wonder twins, and neighbor in the city of Chicago. (Her blog is private, otherwise I'd link you all to it). I think I will ask her to guest post some of her experiences on my blog for public reading. I expect her experience in the city is going to be much different in some ways than my experience here in my University town. I also expect that some of what we both experience will have common themes and threads in that we are both majority culture women. We're gonna have our butts kicked too. I'm so ready for the challenge.
I've got a lot of ideas. And, I'm going to face a lot of challenges actually immersing in minority culture in this community in which I live that has minority population that is small (statistics to come later).
I'm wondering if anyone would like to join us? Here is the idea (and it is yours to construct):
Immersion was levied as a challenge on a video that I saw while participating in the class, Racial Healing. A group of PoC leaders posed the challenge to totally LIVE/SUPPORT/IMMERSE in minority culture for a month as a way to gain a sense, however small, of the realities of the prevelance of majority culture. Immersion, for me, isn't about learning about minority culture experience. No. I think the best we (as in majority folks) can do is gain a deeper understanding of our whiteness. So, the thought is to read/eat/shop/sing/play/view....LIVE.....as completely embedded in minority culture as possible. So, for example, the only music I will be listening to is music by PoC. And, I'll only read media by PoC. And, I'll do my best to shop with PoC and buy/patronize businesses owned by PoC. You get the picture, right? That sums it up. Care to join?
Or, comment?
First, Mr. Silly Pants is attending a conference this week that is totally floating his boat. I expect to hear a lot of juicy details about health care in the US (it isn't a medical specialty conference - it's a medical admin conference). Mr. Silly Pants might be getting his butt kicked by long days of what he calls "heady stuff." I just have to point out that the past
Second, April 1 marks the start of my cultural immersion exercise. I'll be joined by a fabulous friend, mom of the wonder twins, and neighbor in the city of Chicago. (Her blog is private, otherwise I'd link you all to it). I think I will ask her to guest post some of her experiences on my blog for public reading. I expect her experience in the city is going to be much different in some ways than my experience here in my University town. I also expect that some of what we both experience will have common themes and threads in that we are both majority culture women. We're gonna have our butts kicked too. I'm so ready for the challenge.
I've got a lot of ideas. And, I'm going to face a lot of challenges actually immersing in minority culture in this community in which I live that has minority population that is small (statistics to come later).
I'm wondering if anyone would like to join us? Here is the idea (and it is yours to construct):
Immersion was levied as a challenge on a video that I saw while participating in the class, Racial Healing. A group of PoC leaders posed the challenge to totally LIVE/SUPPORT/IMMERSE in minority culture for a month as a way to gain a sense, however small, of the realities of the prevelance of majority culture. Immersion, for me, isn't about learning about minority culture experience. No. I think the best we (as in majority folks) can do is gain a deeper understanding of our whiteness. So, the thought is to read/eat/shop/sing/play/view....LIVE.....as completely embedded in minority culture as possible. So, for example, the only music I will be listening to is music by PoC. And, I'll only read media by PoC. And, I'll do my best to shop with PoC and buy/patronize businesses owned by PoC. You get the picture, right? That sums it up. Care to join?
Or, comment?
*Blueberry's focused attention on his big brother at an early Sunday morning soccer game*
Monday, November 2, 2009
The Heaviness of Having
I have had enough life experience, enough travel experience, enough intimate experience to understand how deeply privileged my life is. Although I grew up in the home of a single mom who struggled (and I remember needing to contribute my newspaper route earnings to keep the heat on), I am also well aware that my family had a net - a net mom never activated, but a net that kept our dreams intact and our family expectations high. I also remember being at the grocery store with my mom one evening when I had babies who were small and mom's company was a treat. I was complaining about something or other - perhaps student loans - perhaps the slow pace of moving from student life to professional life - but it was some sort of 'complaint' a daughter might share with her mom. I was complaining as I was mindlessly loading my grocery cart with milk, ice cream, cream cheese, bagels, bread, good coffee (never Folger's for me), brown rice, tofu, fresh fruit and vegetables....My mom stopped me. She said, "look at what you are doing." I looked into my cart. I remembered eating oatmeal for dinner with her. I remembered the many many times she bounced checks for groceries, or insisted that EVEN if we couldn't afford standing rib roast for the holiday we were having it! I swallowed and looked at her. Mom. Sage. Straight Talker. Hard Worker. Victor.
DAMN I MISS HER. She'd tire of my intellectualizing about this - but she'd also kick my butt into action instead of all the head talk.
The heaviness of having is haunting me. And, it's stretching me. I have commited my life to recognizing and acting on my privilege. The privilege of my color. The privilege of my class. I've been married twice - both times to doctors. My husband is the son of a Lutheran pastor. Both of us have had the privilege of upward mobility. Our color, his gender, our education all add to our privilege. I get this. I wear it every single day. I live it every single day.
Have you seen this? http://www.globalrichlist.com/
Are you suprised? I am - even when I put in my income from being a public school teacher (notoriously underpaid - plug for fairer pay for public school teachers!).
Heavy with Having - I'm thinking about access to clean water today. I'm thinking about food today. I'm thinking about access to medicine today. Here, there, and everywhere.
Monday, August 3, 2009
I cried - and I'm not talkin' a happy cry
Our visit to the Olympic Peninsula was perfect, except for the day I cried. And then I cried again, when telling Songbird about the event that made me cry. And I'm not talking about a happy cry - I'm talking a downright disappointed, terrified, horrified, heartbreaking cry.
Our happy little family of 3 turned to leave the beach at Fort Flagler and found a large, ugly, Chevy SUV had parked next to our little Ford Focus rental car. The truck was "parked" and occupied by 2 white 20-something men; men just sitting there looking out at the ocean, and perhaps at our family. As I was lacing up my shoes, I watched as Mr. Silly Pants walked a wide circle around the truck, Blueberry held tightly in him arms. Something was not right with the way my man was looking at the truck and gripping his son. As I walked around the big truck to get to our car, where Blueberry had been lovingly tucked into his car seat, I saw what was wrong about the scene: the truck was covered in racist decals. Every inch of display space was filled. Here are three examples: there was a huge confederate flag with the words "Fear This." There was a neo-nazi symbol of a skull gripping a rose in its mouth. There was a saying something like, "If you can't pony up, keep your p**** a** in the truck." This was HATE ON DISPLAY.
I carefully walked over to my son in his car seat, kissed his sweet and perfect little head, climbed in the car, looked at Mr. Silly Pants, nodded for him to move (and move fast), and then started to cry. To witness hatred so vitriolic and so public was more than I could manage. This was my first close encounter with white supremacists since Blueberry was entrusted to our care and I was broken by the reality of hate.
But there was shame for me too. The shame came from a deep place. Shame for my white privilege. Shame for my economic status. Shame for allowing racist utterances in my presence from friends and family. Shame for the racist acts and thoughts of my past - and for the future of every insidious act or thought of racism that I don't intercept quickly enough. But mostly, I felt the shame of this realization.......During my lifetime such hate on display would have horrified me. I would have seen the truck and been disgusted by the plethora of visible signs of hatred. I would have thought the men to be jerks, pricks, idiots, stupid, and dangerous. The day on Flagler Beach was different. I was terrified. I was terrified for my son; for his life, for his well being, for his safety, for his future. Suddenly, "grow-him-up-good and send-him-off ready" was obviously NOT going to be enough for my little brown boy. And I cried as these emotions all melted together in a heavy veil of terror and a deep deep sadness. What had been a reality I saw from a certain comfortable distance, now had become personal. And, thus, the shame. (It took THIS to get me here? Why the hell didn't I get this before? What kind of anti-racist am I?).
I love my son. I love every little sweet lovable darling adorable part of his whole person. Black is beautiful. He's all of that and more.
Our happy little family of 3 turned to leave the beach at Fort Flagler and found a large, ugly, Chevy SUV had parked next to our little Ford Focus rental car. The truck was "parked" and occupied by 2 white 20-something men; men just sitting there looking out at the ocean, and perhaps at our family. As I was lacing up my shoes, I watched as Mr. Silly Pants walked a wide circle around the truck, Blueberry held tightly in him arms. Something was not right with the way my man was looking at the truck and gripping his son. As I walked around the big truck to get to our car, where Blueberry had been lovingly tucked into his car seat, I saw what was wrong about the scene: the truck was covered in racist decals. Every inch of display space was filled. Here are three examples: there was a huge confederate flag with the words "Fear This." There was a neo-nazi symbol of a skull gripping a rose in its mouth. There was a saying something like, "If you can't pony up, keep your p**** a** in the truck." This was HATE ON DISPLAY.
I carefully walked over to my son in his car seat, kissed his sweet and perfect little head, climbed in the car, looked at Mr. Silly Pants, nodded for him to move (and move fast), and then started to cry. To witness hatred so vitriolic and so public was more than I could manage. This was my first close encounter with white supremacists since Blueberry was entrusted to our care and I was broken by the reality of hate.
But there was shame for me too. The shame came from a deep place. Shame for my white privilege. Shame for my economic status. Shame for allowing racist utterances in my presence from friends and family. Shame for the racist acts and thoughts of my past - and for the future of every insidious act or thought of racism that I don't intercept quickly enough. But mostly, I felt the shame of this realization.......During my lifetime such hate on display would have horrified me. I would have seen the truck and been disgusted by the plethora of visible signs of hatred. I would have thought the men to be jerks, pricks, idiots, stupid, and dangerous. The day on Flagler Beach was different. I was terrified. I was terrified for my son; for his life, for his well being, for his safety, for his future. Suddenly, "grow-him-up-good and send-him-off ready" was obviously NOT going to be enough for my little brown boy. And I cried as these emotions all melted together in a heavy veil of terror and a deep deep sadness. What had been a reality I saw from a certain comfortable distance, now had become personal. And, thus, the shame. (It took THIS to get me here? Why the hell didn't I get this before? What kind of anti-racist am I?).
I love my son. I love every little sweet lovable darling adorable part of his whole person. Black is beautiful. He's all of that and more.
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Nelson Mandela and Culturally Relevant Teaching
I learned on NPR this morning that Nelson Mandela is celebrating his 91st birthday. I heard this as I was driving to the last ession of my class, "racism in education." Interestingly, I have been working on creating more culturally relevant curriculum for my students - particularly for my students of color - as a direct result of some materials I have been exposed to in this class. My kids of color need more curriculum that makes their people's contribution to our history more meaningful in both local and global contexts. Typically, the education and action that moves me to make progress on my commitment to anti-racist parenting, helps move my commitment to anti-racist teaching. Had I heard about Nelson Mandela's birthday in a prior time in my life, I would have been interested and attentive. Indeed, I do teach a unit about Gandhi to my freshman that engages the non-violent strategies of Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King, and Gandhi. So, yes, I know Mandela's importance and significance, but I would not have thought, "how do I make this relevant (more relevant, importantly, to my students of color) to my work and my parenting?" Frankly, if I am honest, I don't care that much that my white students "get into" Nelson Mandela. I want my black students to really really be proud of this amazing black man and to feel a deeper sense of belonging to the stories we tell in history. I can't force that feeling, but it is the magic of culturally relevant teaching.
If you haven't heard about the new collection of Mandela's favorite African Folktales, produced by Alfre Woodard, check this out: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=106677819 I can't wait to hear the whole CD. And, if you want to know how to honor Mr. Mandela's life long work, check out this youtube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PU0fYaP_Ngc One NYC campaign involves giving 67 minutes of your time to service, in honor of Mandela's 67 years as an activist. Here is the website: http://mandeladay.com/participate/
If you are wondering what I mean by cultural relevance, Tami, on her blog "What Tami Said," delivers an eye popping comment for me, a history teacher, on her young nephew's experience with his history. She explains;
In the spring, my nephew's class at his predominantly white school studied the people, places and cultures of Europe and the Americas. And he says that he noticed this study included very little about the contributions of people of African descent. In the history of America, his ancestors were slaves and, it seems, nothing else. I am proud that my nephew had the presence of mind to recognize this inequity and ask his teacher whether some information about black Americans and the role of Africa in the building of the United States might be forthcoming. I am enraged, however, to know the answer he received from his teacher. The class wouldn't be covering information about black and African peoples, because "The school system doesn't want any trouble."
WTF?
This classroom exploration and celebration of the rich history of Europe and the brave European men who "discovered, "conquered and colonized America (to the exclusion of any acknowlegdment of the history and contributions of anyone else--particularly people of color) left my nephew feeling rootless and unsure of his place in his own country. After all, to discuss his people is merely to invite "trouble"...Last week, the town where my nephew lives (and I live with my husband and stepson) was named among the top 10 places to raise a family by a major magazine. This isn't the first time our city has earned this tag, and like always, one of the things to be praised is the great school system. Interesting how "greatness" can be relative, depending on who your children are.
Full post here: http://whattamisaid.blogspot.com/2009/07/not-from-nowhere.html
For those of us with children of color who are white parents, think about the issues of culturally relevancy for our children. We want it, don't we? (Rhetorical question, folks). We are in a very strong position as part of the dominant culture to really ally and advocate for new materials (indeed, for a multicultural democracy) in our children's schools.
You've got my ear. I've got work to do, blog readers, I 've got work to do!
If you haven't heard about the new collection of Mandela's favorite African Folktales, produced by Alfre Woodard, check this out: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=106677819 I can't wait to hear the whole CD. And, if you want to know how to honor Mr. Mandela's life long work, check out this youtube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PU0fYaP_Ngc One NYC campaign involves giving 67 minutes of your time to service, in honor of Mandela's 67 years as an activist. Here is the website: http://mandeladay.com/participate/
If you are wondering what I mean by cultural relevance, Tami, on her blog "What Tami Said," delivers an eye popping comment for me, a history teacher, on her young nephew's experience with his history. She explains;
In the spring, my nephew's class at his predominantly white school studied the people, places and cultures of Europe and the Americas. And he says that he noticed this study included very little about the contributions of people of African descent. In the history of America, his ancestors were slaves and, it seems, nothing else. I am proud that my nephew had the presence of mind to recognize this inequity and ask his teacher whether some information about black Americans and the role of Africa in the building of the United States might be forthcoming. I am enraged, however, to know the answer he received from his teacher. The class wouldn't be covering information about black and African peoples, because "The school system doesn't want any trouble."
WTF?
This classroom exploration and celebration of the rich history of Europe and the brave European men who "discovered, "conquered and colonized America (to the exclusion of any acknowlegdment of the history and contributions of anyone else--particularly people of color) left my nephew feeling rootless and unsure of his place in his own country. After all, to discuss his people is merely to invite "trouble"...Last week, the town where my nephew lives (and I live with my husband and stepson) was named among the top 10 places to raise a family by a major magazine. This isn't the first time our city has earned this tag, and like always, one of the things to be praised is the great school system. Interesting how "greatness" can be relative, depending on who your children are.
Full post here: http://whattamisaid.blogspot.com/2009/07/not-from-nowhere.html
For those of us with children of color who are white parents, think about the issues of culturally relevancy for our children. We want it, don't we? (Rhetorical question, folks). We are in a very strong position as part of the dominant culture to really ally and advocate for new materials (indeed, for a multicultural democracy) in our children's schools.
You've got my ear. I've got work to do, blog readers, I 've got work to do!
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Racism in Education - Study Up
I've been prepping myself for a class I am taking next week through my school district. I teach for a medium sized district; a district with only one high school and one middle school. We are a sister district to the more urban and large school where my kids attend - the difference of 4 highschools with double the population per school and many many more students of color. But things are changing in my district and our little-ness is starting to erode. With change comes new challenges, and we are feeling the challenge of dealing with a more diverse student population; both for class and race.
The district I teach in has a hugely homogeneous staff. All of our school principals and vp's are white. In our high school there is one teacher of color. Support staff? Almost all white. We recently hired a diversity director who is a great guy, qualified, and a black man. I fear for his success, as it must be incredibly difficult to be the sole voice for kids of color in our district. He's got a helluva job.
This is a lot of detail to say that our district is hosting a seminar for teachers taught by a UW-Milwaukee professor titled, "Racism in Education." I wish we had a reading list. None so far. But that doesn't stop me from tirelessly working on the issue at hand. I'm super lucky that Blueberry's fairy godmother is a professor herself, a former director of diversity at one of the professional schools at UW-Madison, and a sociologist, anthropologist, and soon to be licensed social worker. Do you think I can learn something from her? *grin* So, she's been sliding some reading my way, tossing a few links my direction, and suggesting some future texts for my consideration. In addition, the summer has provided us with some super time to enjoy each other's company in the presence of adorable Blueberry while we talk and share stories about 'the raising of him." Her theoretical expertise, my on the ground experience = hopefulness.
Did I mention Songbird is working for Boys and Girls Club this summer. She's running the local art and drama program for them. It's kicking her butt and she's loving it. Throw her daily experience into the mix of discussion we've got it goin' on here! Whoo hoo! Seriously, we are talking up a storm around here. I love it.
Here are some recent reads/watches:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAljja0vi2M (interesting set of videos on privilege)
Anything and everything by Beverly Daniel Tatum. You don't know her work? Try this for an excellent introduction to her point of view: http://www.pbs.org/race/000_About/002_04-background-03-04.htm
Then, read "Why Are All The Black Kids Sitting Together In The Cafeteria?"
By the way, the entire PBS series: "Race - The Power of Illusion" is worth excavating. I use this website to teach a unit on race in my cultural anthropology class that I teach to freshman. It's tough work to get first year students to understand how race has NO biological basis - but this site helps. Some of the clips are awesome. I especially love "Island of RedHeads" which explains human diversity in a super fun way.
Anti-Racist Parent is a daily practice, and Racialiscious has been provoking lately.
That's all for now...more later :-)
The district I teach in has a hugely homogeneous staff. All of our school principals and vp's are white. In our high school there is one teacher of color. Support staff? Almost all white. We recently hired a diversity director who is a great guy, qualified, and a black man. I fear for his success, as it must be incredibly difficult to be the sole voice for kids of color in our district. He's got a helluva job.
This is a lot of detail to say that our district is hosting a seminar for teachers taught by a UW-Milwaukee professor titled, "Racism in Education." I wish we had a reading list. None so far. But that doesn't stop me from tirelessly working on the issue at hand. I'm super lucky that Blueberry's fairy godmother is a professor herself, a former director of diversity at one of the professional schools at UW-Madison, and a sociologist, anthropologist, and soon to be licensed social worker. Do you think I can learn something from her? *grin* So, she's been sliding some reading my way, tossing a few links my direction, and suggesting some future texts for my consideration. In addition, the summer has provided us with some super time to enjoy each other's company in the presence of adorable Blueberry while we talk and share stories about 'the raising of him." Her theoretical expertise, my on the ground experience = hopefulness.
Did I mention Songbird is working for Boys and Girls Club this summer. She's running the local art and drama program for them. It's kicking her butt and she's loving it. Throw her daily experience into the mix of discussion we've got it goin' on here! Whoo hoo! Seriously, we are talking up a storm around here. I love it.
Here are some recent reads/watches:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAljja0vi2M (interesting set of videos on privilege)
Anything and everything by Beverly Daniel Tatum. You don't know her work? Try this for an excellent introduction to her point of view: http://www.pbs.org/race/000_About/002_04-background-03-04.htm
Then, read "Why Are All The Black Kids Sitting Together In The Cafeteria?"
By the way, the entire PBS series: "Race - The Power of Illusion" is worth excavating. I use this website to teach a unit on race in my cultural anthropology class that I teach to freshman. It's tough work to get first year students to understand how race has NO biological basis - but this site helps. Some of the clips are awesome. I especially love "Island of RedHeads" which explains human diversity in a super fun way.
Anti-Racist Parent is a daily practice, and Racialiscious has been provoking lately.
That's all for now...more later :-)
Friday, July 3, 2009
Social Awkwardness - Race Again?
I've had the opportunity to have some adult time this week - and by adult time I mean social time designed to bring coworkers together outside of the workplace. Typically, I'm more of a hang out with my friends kind of woman - I'm not a social butterfly - although I have been told I'm rather like a chameleon and can hold my own in a number of social settings. True enough.
Lately I have found these social settings to be ripe with exchanges that make me uncomfortable and that require me to use some of the skills I have been developing as an anti-racist woman/parent/teacher. Recently I was in a conversation with a man who is deeply involved with a well known charity organization. I was hoping to glean some information from him
regarding local (Catholic) worship communities with families of color. His response really astounded me and set off my whistles and bells. It was something like, "Let's set aside race, I mean, that's what we're all supposed to do, right? (ME: NO! COLORBLIND THINKING STINKS) Think about where you want him to grow up, with families like your own, families that think like you, feel about things like you do, families that are like you . (ME: THAT DOESN'T DESCRIBE HOW I WANT HIM TO GROW UP AT ALL!) I don't think any church would be threatened by your family. (ME:WHAT? I WASN'T THINKING ABOUT FAMILIES I WAS THINKING ABOUT MY SON'S FEELINGS!) You ought to think of sending him to a Catholic school where they don't have to lock lockers and where it is safe every day .(ME: I'M A PUBLIC SCHOOL TEACHER!) We had two boys at our church and school who were black and they did great;they felt so comfortable (ME: HOW DO YOU KNOW?) and none of us ever saw them as black (ME:TOKEN) , and we never think of their color (ME: THE ONLY COLOR YOU NEVER THINK OF IS YOUR OWN, THAT'S CALLED PRIVILEGE).
End rant. But really, I was so astounded by this conversation. It was so full full full of so much of the stuff that reminds me I have so much work to do to speak out to fellow white people in ways that get us all a little closer together. Gads - what a stinker that was. Reflecting, when Mr. Silly Pants and I made our way home, we were on the same page - we had the same experience in the conversation, we had similar thoughts. We've made progress as a "unit" -as a couple and as a family- and that was sweet.
Lately I have found these social settings to be ripe with exchanges that make me uncomfortable and that require me to use some of the skills I have been developing as an anti-racist woman/parent/teacher. Recently I was in a conversation with a man who is deeply involved with a well known charity organization. I was hoping to glean some information from him
regarding local (Catholic) worship communities with families of color. His response really astounded me and set off my whistles and bells. It was something like, "Let's set aside race, I mean, that's what we're all supposed to do, right? (ME: NO! COLORBLIND THINKING STINKS) End rant. But really, I was so astounded by this conversation. It was so full full full of so much of the stuff that reminds me I have so much work to do to speak out to fellow white people in ways that get us all a little closer together. Gads - what a stinker that was. Reflecting, when Mr. Silly Pants and I made our way home, we were on the same page - we had the same experience in the conversation, we had similar thoughts. We've made progress as a "unit" -as a couple and as a family- and that was sweet.
Sunday, May 3, 2009
Becoming an Anti-Racist Parent; A Case Study
So here's my reality. Being an anti-racist parent takes practice. I'm working at it, and it is work. I'm often not aware of all of the ways my white skin and accompanying privilege and power works against my personal practice of being an anti-racist.
Here is an example of the places and ways I practice. I'm calling it a case study and really hoping if you visit my blog you'll leave a comment conveying your understanding of the "simple" comment/observation made today.
Scene: Soccer tournament in Rockford, Illinois
Me: Sitting on a bleacher in earshot of some fathers, but not in conversation with them.
Dad 1: "Did you see the game before this?"
Dads 2 and 3: "Not really."
Dad 1: "The Red Team played the White Team, a mostly Hispanic team, and it was a vicious game."
Me: Silent, but all of my radar is whirring and I am thinking about what's wrong with the comment, and what I might say if I were part of the conversation and/or sitting close enough to offer an observation/point of view.
What's wrong with this comment? I asked that at our family dinner table. We had a robust conversation. There was a lot of dialogue about "intention" and the outright question, "was it a racist comment?" What do you think?
Here's where I am in my thinking:
1.White is normalized in the comment. The Red Team is a team that can be assumed to be mostly white. This is what being invoked as the "norm" means. There is no need to identify race for the Red Team. Race doesn't exist for white players as it is established as the "norm."
2. The White Team is "othered;" race is the identifier when mentioning the White Team.
3. Hispanic is problematic as an identifier as it means primarily people from Mexico. Ummmm..not sure how the speaker could know this from merely a visual or identifying through spanish language or appearance.
4. There is a connection, potentially, between Hispanic and vicious. (The game was very physical on both sides, but the speaker made that opaque in his comment).
I'm working on this - what do you think?
Here is an example of the places and ways I practice. I'm calling it a case study and really hoping if you visit my blog you'll leave a comment conveying your understanding of the "simple" comment/observation made today.
Scene: Soccer tournament in Rockford, Illinois
Me: Sitting on a bleacher in earshot of some fathers, but not in conversation with them.
Dad 1: "Did you see the game before this?"
Dads 2 and 3: "Not really."
Dad 1: "The Red Team played the White Team, a mostly Hispanic team, and it was a vicious game."
Me: Silent, but all of my radar is whirring and I am thinking about what's wrong with the comment, and what I might say if I were part of the conversation and/or sitting close enough to offer an observation/point of view.
What's wrong with this comment? I asked that at our family dinner table. We had a robust conversation. There was a lot of dialogue about "intention" and the outright question, "was it a racist comment?" What do you think?
Here's where I am in my thinking:
1.White is normalized in the comment. The Red Team is a team that can be assumed to be mostly white. This is what being invoked as the "norm" means. There is no need to identify race for the Red Team. Race doesn't exist for white players as it is established as the "norm."
2. The White Team is "othered;" race is the identifier when mentioning the White Team.
3. Hispanic is problematic as an identifier as it means primarily people from Mexico. Ummmm..not sure how the speaker could know this from merely a visual or identifying through spanish language or appearance.
4. There is a connection, potentially, between Hispanic and vicious. (The game was very physical on both sides, but the speaker made that opaque in his comment).
I'm working on this - what do you think?
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
About Whiteness
This is a great blog and today was a perfect post for me: http://www.womanist-musings.com/2009/04/some-white-people.html
Take the time to read it, and don't overlook the comments. Privilege is written all over and in this refelction. Once again I find kernels of deeper understanding for myself both as an individual white woman AND as a member of a group (the normative white). I need these reads that are honest, alert, and courageous. Honest inquiry requires particular attention to POC and their experience and perspectives. This blog rocks.
Take the time to read it, and don't overlook the comments. Privilege is written all over and in this refelction. Once again I find kernels of deeper understanding for myself both as an individual white woman AND as a member of a group (the normative white). I need these reads that are honest, alert, and courageous. Honest inquiry requires particular attention to POC and their experience and perspectives. This blog rocks.
Monday, April 20, 2009
The Country's Hallways
Somewhere in the country a high school staff e-mail arrived with the following alert: "Please be aware there are some racial tensions between students today. Be visible in the hallways during passing time and let us know immediately of any student conflicts." What would you do with this information as a staff person, a parent, a community member?
Tomorrow I am attending an all day training titled, "How to Create Inclusive Organizations." I have a responsibility to my family and to my work place to improve the places we learn, the places we live, and the places we play. I'm going to start building some expertise so that I can be an effective leader. I want to make a difference - I need a good tool belt for this job. I'm excited about formally starting this journey - building a resume as an anti-racist parent and anti-racist teacher is important to me.
Friday, March 20, 2009
Why Colorblind...Isn't
You might want to read this article in Science Daily about efforts to avoid talking about race and how they backfire. Interesting stuff - colorblindness is bunk in my book. I struggle when people say to me, "There's only one race, the human race!" and proceed to tell me they "don't see color." Talk about awkard: "oh yes you do" "oh no I don't" "you do" "I don't". Tactful discussion eludes me.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Maybe you were born with it
Let's talk about unintended consequences....OR....You Aren’t Bad for Having Privilege
The truth is, I don’t have any control over the privilege I was given. I was born white, female, into a middle class family with college education, home ownership, and Catholic sensibilities as a part of my family heritage. I didn't get to choose this family of my birth. I'm not bad for being born with it, and at the same time I MUST realize what this means when I live with all of the benefits of my privilege but PRETEND that I'm not privileged. Confused? Yeah, this is work. Let me say it simply: I'm not bad for having privilege, but not being able to give up my privilege (as in, stop being white) is not a ‘get out of jail free’ card for any bad behaviour or for reliquishing responsibility for both personal awareness and action.
Finding a balance between accepting my privilege and fighting against it is not easy. I struggle with it on a daily basis. I've been working in these posts to talk a little more clearly about this really complex topic. I am working on my own understanding and of privilege and working to understand what insititutional privilege is and how it benefits and normalizes white experience.
Here's the challenge: privilege is perpetuated in part by the silence of people when one of their own group does something racist -whether subtle, covert, or overt. This can be an inappropriate joke, or someone admitting that they committed a crime against a non-privileged person. It can be an assumption about a person, a dismissal of a person's opinion or simply ignoring a person. Don't do it. Don't think it. Don't say it. And work your stuff - and don't give up. Fix it.
While it’s a good thing for me to be engaging in this, I remind myself that I cannot expect to be praised or rewarded for my efforts; oppression may be a new experience for me, but it’s something people of color live with every day of their lives.
The truth is, I don’t have any control over the privilege I was given. I was born white, female, into a middle class family with college education, home ownership, and Catholic sensibilities as a part of my family heritage. I didn't get to choose this family of my birth. I'm not bad for being born with it, and at the same time I MUST realize what this means when I live with all of the benefits of my privilege but PRETEND that I'm not privileged. Confused? Yeah, this is work. Let me say it simply: I'm not bad for having privilege, but not being able to give up my privilege (as in, stop being white) is not a ‘get out of jail free’ card for any bad behaviour or for reliquishing responsibility for both personal awareness and action.
Finding a balance between accepting my privilege and fighting against it is not easy. I struggle with it on a daily basis. I've been working in these posts to talk a little more clearly about this really complex topic. I am working on my own understanding and of privilege and working to understand what insititutional privilege is and how it benefits and normalizes white experience.
Here's the challenge: privilege is perpetuated in part by the silence of people when one of their own group does something racist -whether subtle, covert, or overt. This can be an inappropriate joke, or someone admitting that they committed a crime against a non-privileged person. It can be an assumption about a person, a dismissal of a person's opinion or simply ignoring a person. Don't do it. Don't think it. Don't say it. And work your stuff - and don't give up. Fix it.
While it’s a good thing for me to be engaging in this, I remind myself that I cannot expect to be praised or rewarded for my efforts; oppression may be a new experience for me, but it’s something people of color live with every day of their lives.
Thursday, March 5, 2009
More on Class and Race and What is the Middle Class?
It doesn't take much mental work to recognize we are all impacted by both class and race. I enjoy digging into this topic - because we struggle in our lives to make sense of class and race. In fact, class is often as difficult to discuss as race. How many times have you heard someone claim a middle class identity with earnings that far exceed the middle class? The middle class is somewhat ambiguous - and there isn't a clear agreement on income levels. I've got some Census numbers from 2006 that give an idea of middle class in real numbers: Median income among all U.S. households in 2006 was $48,201. The middle 20 percent ranged from about $38,000 to $60,000; and the middle 60 percent—the "Baucus middle class" named after a Senator which measures the middle and eliminates the bottom 20% and the top 20%—stretched from about $20,000 to $97,000.
In a very good piece in the Huffington Post, Abby Ferber discusses class and race and their intersection. She criticizes calling Michelle Obama a middle class woman (even if she does wear JCrew - check out the outfit prices in her article). On the topic of race and class Ferber states, "Even in the face of legal and political gains, there is no evidence to suggest that the racial economic divide is decreasing. And the reality is that during economic downturns, minority communities suffer first and worst. Economic gains made by people of color are generally only very recent gains, and thus most tenuous and vulnerable. They are much less likely to have inherited wealth from previous generations to soften the blow during a crisis." She points to the following statistics to undersocer her arguement:
·The racial gap in median family incomes gap narrowed only slightly over the past 50 years ·Black households are twice as likely as whites to have a negative net worth or none at all
·Less than 10% of whites but almost ¼ of all Black and Latino households live in poverty
·The unemployment rate for blacks remains twice that of whites, unchanged since the early 1970s
·From 1970 to 2007 the gap between home ownership rates for whites and blacks actually grew, and is now being compounded by the current foreclosure crisis.
You want more? Take a look at these charts to hammer down our troubling economic disparities.
Don't get me started on the Wage Gap. I'm tempted, but I'll hold off today in favor of ....reading my book.
In a very good piece in the Huffington Post, Abby Ferber discusses class and race and their intersection. She criticizes calling Michelle Obama a middle class woman (even if she does wear JCrew - check out the outfit prices in her article). On the topic of race and class Ferber states, "Even in the face of legal and political gains, there is no evidence to suggest that the racial economic divide is decreasing. And the reality is that during economic downturns, minority communities suffer first and worst. Economic gains made by people of color are generally only very recent gains, and thus most tenuous and vulnerable. They are much less likely to have inherited wealth from previous generations to soften the blow during a crisis." She points to the following statistics to undersocer her arguement:
·The racial gap in median family incomes gap narrowed only slightly over the past 50 years ·Black households are twice as likely as whites to have a negative net worth or none at all
·Less than 10% of whites but almost ¼ of all Black and Latino households live in poverty
·The unemployment rate for blacks remains twice that of whites, unchanged since the early 1970s
·From 1970 to 2007 the gap between home ownership rates for whites and blacks actually grew, and is now being compounded by the current foreclosure crisis.
You want more? Take a look at these charts to hammer down our troubling economic disparities.
Don't get me started on the Wage Gap. I'm tempted, but I'll hold off today in favor of ....reading my book.
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Class and Race
I had some wonderful family time with my dad in Ohio. We were in Cleveland, and I enjoyed the urban influence of the city of my birth. We broke up one day with some time at a book store, and another we spent at the zoo's rainforest building. My radar was working overtime - aware that in this Ohio community there were many people of color making up the fabric of daily life. Let me be honest, where I live there is diversity, but it is a mostly white and affluent community. The story of many black americans in our city is that they have relocated from difficult circumstances in nearby Chicago. This looks like the following: the book store in Cleveland had both staff and patrons of color. In my WI neighborhood Barnes and Noble I do not often see either staff or patrons of color. So, my radar is working and I'm working out what this means for my "place" and the place of my family, my family of color.
But, I really started this post to respond to Clare's concerns about class. She raises a good point - and points to class as a concerning "ism" in the discussion. Class and race do intersect. In fact, I am certain that there are mutual influences of class, race, and gender on individual lives. There is a preponderance of evidence that suggests, however, that class does not trump race. There is a very active dialogue "out there" about this very topic. One resource that is worth considering is this piece on "Racialiscious." The author states: "Class and race and two different things which encompass a wide range of experiences and scenarios. They build upon each other. Just like there is no one universal race experience, there is no one universal class experience on any side of the divide. Being upper-class and black is still different from being upper class and white. Being lower-class and white is a different experience from being black and working poor." It's a great piece. Really great. And it's not long - you might want to check it out. The comments are similarly interesting.
Finally, after you do your own investigation, check out this youtube lecture by Tim Wise. He is one of the country's leading anti racist lecturers, and he's a white man. (If he was a black man his comments would be considered to be "whining and complaining" and THAT'S a whole 'nother topic!!) Anyway, I think Tim Wise is worth an hour of your time while you're doing something that allows you to listen. He talks about class and race in a way that really makes sense. Plus, hes' straight forward and intense. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_UJlNRODZHA
But, I really started this post to respond to Clare's concerns about class. She raises a good point - and points to class as a concerning "ism" in the discussion. Class and race do intersect. In fact, I am certain that there are mutual influences of class, race, and gender on individual lives. There is a preponderance of evidence that suggests, however, that class does not trump race. There is a very active dialogue "out there" about this very topic. One resource that is worth considering is this piece on "Racialiscious." The author states: "Class and race and two different things which encompass a wide range of experiences and scenarios. They build upon each other. Just like there is no one universal race experience, there is no one universal class experience on any side of the divide. Being upper-class and black is still different from being upper class and white. Being lower-class and white is a different experience from being black and working poor." It's a great piece. Really great. And it's not long - you might want to check it out. The comments are similarly interesting.
Finally, after you do your own investigation, check out this youtube lecture by Tim Wise. He is one of the country's leading anti racist lecturers, and he's a white man. (If he was a black man his comments would be considered to be "whining and complaining" and THAT'S a whole 'nother topic!!) Anyway, I think Tim Wise is worth an hour of your time while you're doing something that allows you to listen. He talks about class and race in a way that really makes sense. Plus, hes' straight forward and intense. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_UJlNRODZHA
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Not Going to Be Quiet about Privilege
Sometimes I wonder how much I want to tackle the big stuff here. I enjoy posting pics of Blueberry and sharing stories about the big kids, too. But I'm a thinker. I am wrapped pretty tightly even though I often have a calm and easy demeanor. My intimate friends would tell you I'm pretty wired about the things I care about. I can't make happy over shopping, cooking, cleaning, or a new hair cut. Thus, when I'm not in the grip of managing the day to day events of our busy family I'm exercising my intellect. Recently I have been working on the notion of privilege - specifically, white privilege. Today my work was complicated as I'm over half way through my reading of A Thousand Hills. I cannot fathom how we (and I do mean WE) have continued to burrow into our privilege and ignored events as gruesome and obvious as the genocide was in Rwanda. Dang.
Understanding the idea of privilege is key to discussions of racism, sexism, classism, agism, and any other ism you can identify. My focus is primarily racism, but I think I get to my understanding from a grounding in feminism. I'm a white woman, so this makes sense in terms of my own growth.
The "go to" resource on privilege is Peggy McIntosh's "White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack" . I read it for the first time about 20 years ago. I've read it over 20 times. I use it when I teach - I have my freshman HS students read this. They're ready, believe me. Recently, I've been having a deep look into my knapsack. And, I've been trying to dig deeper into understanding the idea of privilege. I've got some resources I've been using to help me get it. If you haven't read McIntosh...READ IT!
I've decided to work at blogging about privilege. I don't want to write a term paper in one entry, so I'm going to do this piece by piece and label the posts "privilege" for easy access. This is for me, for my husband, and for my kids. It is so important to me that we work together in our commitment to be an anti-racist family. I'm not recreating the wheel here folks - a lot of my thoughts aren't original (very few are, in fact). I'll be citing the works of others and providing links to excellent and accessible resources. I'm hoping to allow other people to help me learn. You are welcome to learn along with me.
I want to start with a very clear articulation of Privilege provided by brown_betty:
Privilege is not: About you. Privilege is not your fault. Privilege is not anything you've done, or thought, or said. It may have allowed you to do, or think, or say things, but it's not those things, and it's not because of those things. Privilege is not about taking advantage, or cheating, although privilege may make this easier. Privilege is not negated. I can't balance my white privilege against my female disadvantage and come out neutral. Privilege is not something you can be exempt from by having had a difficult life. Privilege is not inherently bad. It really isn't.
Privilege is: About how society accommodates you. It's about advantages you have that you think are normal. It's about you being normal, and others being the deviation from normal. It's about fate dealing from the bottom of the deck on your behalf.
That's enough for now, even though I'm still in the thick of thinking as I write.
Understanding the idea of privilege is key to discussions of racism, sexism, classism, agism, and any other ism you can identify. My focus is primarily racism, but I think I get to my understanding from a grounding in feminism. I'm a white woman, so this makes sense in terms of my own growth.
The "go to" resource on privilege is Peggy McIntosh's "White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack" . I read it for the first time about 20 years ago. I've read it over 20 times. I use it when I teach - I have my freshman HS students read this. They're ready, believe me. Recently, I've been having a deep look into my knapsack. And, I've been trying to dig deeper into understanding the idea of privilege. I've got some resources I've been using to help me get it. If you haven't read McIntosh...READ IT!
I've decided to work at blogging about privilege. I don't want to write a term paper in one entry, so I'm going to do this piece by piece and label the posts "privilege" for easy access. This is for me, for my husband, and for my kids. It is so important to me that we work together in our commitment to be an anti-racist family. I'm not recreating the wheel here folks - a lot of my thoughts aren't original (very few are, in fact). I'll be citing the works of others and providing links to excellent and accessible resources. I'm hoping to allow other people to help me learn. You are welcome to learn along with me.
I want to start with a very clear articulation of Privilege provided by brown_betty:
Privilege is not: About you. Privilege is not your fault. Privilege is not anything you've done, or thought, or said. It may have allowed you to do, or think, or say things, but it's not those things, and it's not because of those things. Privilege is not about taking advantage, or cheating, although privilege may make this easier. Privilege is not negated. I can't balance my white privilege against my female disadvantage and come out neutral. Privilege is not something you can be exempt from by having had a difficult life. Privilege is not inherently bad. It really isn't.
Privilege is: About how society accommodates you. It's about advantages you have that you think are normal. It's about you being normal, and others being the deviation from normal. It's about fate dealing from the bottom of the deck on your behalf.
That's enough for now, even though I'm still in the thick of thinking as I write.
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