05-19-2021, 11:17 AM
I guess what I find so dangerous about tackling these subjects in the lower levels of the education system is that I see so many adults struggle to properly understand them, or apply them to anything that resembles a healthy dialogue. Many of these adults I'm speaking of are actually collge students or recent grads, who have taken some form of these courses at the highest levels of education. Seeing and knowing this makes me question how we can expect children to somehow fare better.
I'd also so like to know, since we're really getting into a detailed history of this country, if any time is spent on exploring what "white" actually means. Because I think that's incredibly important if you're exploring many of these subjects. I don't think you can use an all-encompassing term based soley on skin color for each and every one of these issues. Their role in in slavery being the biggest example. And I think when discussing "priivilege" it would be benefinicial to examine the differing degrees depending on the example.
Here's just a few things I would hope he get discussed:
1.) Some white people owned slaves.
This is very important. I see so many people get this wrong (see the first paragraph and me talking about college students/grads). I often hear "Your ancestors..." (black perspectice) or "Our ancestors..." (white perspective) Saying white people owned slaves is akin to saying Asians bombed Pearl Harbor. While factually true, not at all detailed and lacking context.
Are students aware when discussing slavery that only a small percentage of white people owned slaves, that some white people fought to free the slaves, and the overwhelming majority of white people immigrated here afterwards? Do they understand the differences in Italian immigrants, Irish, German, Jewish, Russian, ect?
Are students made aware that white people have been enslaved? Are they aware that Africans owned slaves? Are they aware that the African Slave Trade made it's way to a number of different places and America was only a small portion of a much larger scale?
*Note: None of this is meant to deflect from that the idea that slavery was wrong, or that we shouldn't examine it's stain on this country. But too many people (white and black) somehow manage to screw so much of this up. Again, if adults can't properly understand and digest everything that surrounds this issue then how can we expect children to?
2.) There are differing degrees of "white privilege" or "generational wealth" or things of the sort.
The path to success and the ease of it is entirely different depending on when your family immigrated here. This point is very much similar to point #1. You can't just use "white" and stick it in front of something and pretend it's universal for each everything that falls under the topic.
Ex: A Russian immigrant, whose family arrived in the US in the 1970's or the 1980's has enitirely different degree of generational wealth than a "white person" whose family came here on the Mayflower.
3.) Do you examine how Asians are able to flourish in a society that is systemically racist, and/or without having white privilege?
This seems like it could be important, no? Many first generation Asians (Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, Indian) have managed to thrive in a society that has been built with institutional bias. Why is that? Is it "white privilege" or is it "black disfranchisment or exclusion"
This portion may be the most controversial, but I think it's important if we're really looking to solve this problems. I also think it's disingenous to pretend to delve into race issues in this country without accounting for each and every race. I struggle with the constant Black-White narrative that dominates much of these conversations.
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As I'm writing this I'm not realizing I'm rambling (I often do that). Hopefully I've made some sense here.
I just think hyperfocusing on "black" or "white" can lead to some serious problems. Of course one my read that and come to conclusion that it's just me not wanting to address or account for our past, my "fragility" if you will. But I don't think I'm necessarily wrong either.
We're seeing this play out a much larger scale. IMHO race relations have never been worse in my lifetime. It seems as our society has focused more and more on these things the worse things have gotten. I could better support this if I saw a means to an end or improvement. But are things getting better? Are these conversations helping or hurting?
PS Please don't think I'm ignoring things like being followed in the store or being pulled over, or things of the sort or that because of this I have no understanding of the concept of priviege. We can talk about those things too if you like, I didn't want to write a thesis and only brought up the examples I did to question how much are we discussing everything that surround these issues.
I'd also so like to know, since we're really getting into a detailed history of this country, if any time is spent on exploring what "white" actually means. Because I think that's incredibly important if you're exploring many of these subjects. I don't think you can use an all-encompassing term based soley on skin color for each and every one of these issues. Their role in in slavery being the biggest example. And I think when discussing "priivilege" it would be benefinicial to examine the differing degrees depending on the example.
Here's just a few things I would hope he get discussed:
1.) Some white people owned slaves.
This is very important. I see so many people get this wrong (see the first paragraph and me talking about college students/grads). I often hear "Your ancestors..." (black perspectice) or "Our ancestors..." (white perspective) Saying white people owned slaves is akin to saying Asians bombed Pearl Harbor. While factually true, not at all detailed and lacking context.
Are students aware when discussing slavery that only a small percentage of white people owned slaves, that some white people fought to free the slaves, and the overwhelming majority of white people immigrated here afterwards? Do they understand the differences in Italian immigrants, Irish, German, Jewish, Russian, ect?
Are students made aware that white people have been enslaved? Are they aware that Africans owned slaves? Are they aware that the African Slave Trade made it's way to a number of different places and America was only a small portion of a much larger scale?
*Note: None of this is meant to deflect from that the idea that slavery was wrong, or that we shouldn't examine it's stain on this country. But too many people (white and black) somehow manage to screw so much of this up. Again, if adults can't properly understand and digest everything that surrounds this issue then how can we expect children to?
2.) There are differing degrees of "white privilege" or "generational wealth" or things of the sort.
The path to success and the ease of it is entirely different depending on when your family immigrated here. This point is very much similar to point #1. You can't just use "white" and stick it in front of something and pretend it's universal for each everything that falls under the topic.
Ex: A Russian immigrant, whose family arrived in the US in the 1970's or the 1980's has enitirely different degree of generational wealth than a "white person" whose family came here on the Mayflower.
3.) Do you examine how Asians are able to flourish in a society that is systemically racist, and/or without having white privilege?
This seems like it could be important, no? Many first generation Asians (Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, Indian) have managed to thrive in a society that has been built with institutional bias. Why is that? Is it "white privilege" or is it "black disfranchisment or exclusion"
This portion may be the most controversial, but I think it's important if we're really looking to solve this problems. I also think it's disingenous to pretend to delve into race issues in this country without accounting for each and every race. I struggle with the constant Black-White narrative that dominates much of these conversations.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
As I'm writing this I'm not realizing I'm rambling (I often do that). Hopefully I've made some sense here.
I just think hyperfocusing on "black" or "white" can lead to some serious problems. Of course one my read that and come to conclusion that it's just me not wanting to address or account for our past, my "fragility" if you will. But I don't think I'm necessarily wrong either.
We're seeing this play out a much larger scale. IMHO race relations have never been worse in my lifetime. It seems as our society has focused more and more on these things the worse things have gotten. I could better support this if I saw a means to an end or improvement. But are things getting better? Are these conversations helping or hurting?
PS Please don't think I'm ignoring things like being followed in the store or being pulled over, or things of the sort or that because of this I have no understanding of the concept of priviege. We can talk about those things too if you like, I didn't want to write a thesis and only brought up the examples I did to question how much are we discussing everything that surround these issues.
