Last weeks readings provided an opportunity for me to reevaluate the meaning of being a minority; how it is not only on the forefront of my mind, but how it is always the first thing someone thinks of when they meet me for the first time. Is he black? Is he Hispanic? Is he mixed?
As I experience Mason and the Northern Virginia Region what I am most cognizant of is the extreme diversity in this area. My origins are from Baltimore and my family is from South Carolina. Not necessarily two diverse areas during my up bringing. I find myself examining how this community if forcing me to grow as a person and how my kids will view their country and the world different than I did at the same age.
The readings touched upon the fact of how media and teachers play major roles in forming opinions in the young minds that are watching and participating in the classrooms. The racist outrage that happened after 9/11 testified to the fact on how "the establishment" can make you believe anything! The media wants everyone to believe that all black men are drug dealers, killers and in general deviant. The media is showing us a lazy and will only pick one person of color at a time to represent the good in us, Tiger Woods, Michael Jordan, James Earl Jones, Bill Cosby. They will not admit that the oppression in which the black community has endured is greater than one or two generations to recover. We were still lynching in the United States in the 1950's and 1960's.
Our teachers are being placed in positions in the inner cities in that they are not teaching, they are forcing data to kids so that they can passed state mandated tests. This isn't learning or teaching critical thinking. This is what our youth need, they need teachers like we had in the 70's and 80's that would force you to write more creative papers and force discussions in classrooms that sparked debates. My wife is a teacher and my brother is a principle and they don't speak about the difficulty of the students as much as they say what they are being forced to do in regards to the "tests" is not teaching.
When reviewing the chapters in this weeks readings it was clear that the fight for equality is long from being won! As a man of color I forget sometimes that I am in the fight with women, but especially women of color. The readings reminded me that affirmative action has benefited white woman far more that it has benefited men and women of color. This brings about discussions earlier in the semester when we were spoke of what black men feel in higher education and how we always have to answer the question "were we let in because of affirmative action?" Well the fact of the matter is that the same student looking at me should be looking at the number of white females that were admitted to that university. The minute number of black males at these large majority institutions should not be in question, the question should be "why are there not more black male on campus?"
The readings also pointed out the low numbers of women faculty and faculty of color in general. Chapter 21 Women of Color in Academe: Living with Multiple Marginality by Caroline Sotello Viernes Turner stated that .05% of full-time faculty members are women of color. How can we infuse a discussion of change in higher education when the person(s) directing the classes are white (men and women)?
Sunday, April 10, 2011
This is the opposite of white privalege...
Well as you all know by now I am an African American male living in 21st century America. Ask yourself if you are white do these things happen to you?
1. You son receiving a letter from school stating that he can participate in a "special program" for minority males when he attends high school next year (Fairfax County Schools). He is carrying a A+ average and is in the National Junior Honor Society.
2. When you were a teenager and you first got your license how many time were you pulled over because you and your friends were driving in a car together? No traffic violations, just a routine stop!
3. When you walk into a store, how many store clerks follow you around?
4. When you and your friends are walking down the street, how many white women switch their pockets books to the other arm or duck into a store?
5. When you are at a restaurant and if you have a complaint about your service how gracious is the manager to you?
6. When you here of a rape of a women, how many of you think that is a black man raping a white women?
7. When you think of a person on welfare, what pops to your mind?
8. When you think of a person living in the Hamptons, who comes to your mind?
9. When a person is mentioned as a CEO of a company, you automatically think what?
10. When you go to the store to write a check, how often do they have to call your information in?
These are just a few things that I came up with after reading the article White Privelege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack by Peggy McIntosh. I hope that we again learn from such writings and dialogue to understand that there is a whole world out there that if you are white you have no idea exist. Again I don't expect you to ever understand, I just want you to join the fight to change the way we interact, TRULY INTERACT. Open discussion and digestion of another person views as truth, not just complaining. The Census of 2010 statistics show the White America grew at a much slower rate since 2000 than any other population 5.7%; compared to the Asian population grew 43%, Hispanic or Latino grew 43% and the African American community grew only 12%.
http://2010.census.gov/2010census/data
Some other questions to ask yourself:
1. When you walk into a meeting, do you count how many other people of your race are participating?
2. When you apply for a job, do you investigate to see how many people of your race are already employed because you know that they are not hiring a inordinate amount of Black Men in most situations!
3. When you walk into class do you think if I speak up will they think that I am the angry oppressed person just trying to be difficult?
4. Don't you always think no matter what you say you are going to be alright?
1. You son receiving a letter from school stating that he can participate in a "special program" for minority males when he attends high school next year (Fairfax County Schools). He is carrying a A+ average and is in the National Junior Honor Society.
2. When you were a teenager and you first got your license how many time were you pulled over because you and your friends were driving in a car together? No traffic violations, just a routine stop!
3. When you walk into a store, how many store clerks follow you around?
4. When you and your friends are walking down the street, how many white women switch their pockets books to the other arm or duck into a store?
5. When you are at a restaurant and if you have a complaint about your service how gracious is the manager to you?
6. When you here of a rape of a women, how many of you think that is a black man raping a white women?
7. When you think of a person on welfare, what pops to your mind?
8. When you think of a person living in the Hamptons, who comes to your mind?
9. When a person is mentioned as a CEO of a company, you automatically think what?
10. When you go to the store to write a check, how often do they have to call your information in?
These are just a few things that I came up with after reading the article White Privelege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack by Peggy McIntosh. I hope that we again learn from such writings and dialogue to understand that there is a whole world out there that if you are white you have no idea exist. Again I don't expect you to ever understand, I just want you to join the fight to change the way we interact, TRULY INTERACT. Open discussion and digestion of another person views as truth, not just complaining. The Census of 2010 statistics show the White America grew at a much slower rate since 2000 than any other population 5.7%; compared to the Asian population grew 43%, Hispanic or Latino grew 43% and the African American community grew only 12%.
http://2010.census.gov/2010census/data
Some other questions to ask yourself:
1. When you walk into a meeting, do you count how many other people of your race are participating?
2. When you apply for a job, do you investigate to see how many people of your race are already employed because you know that they are not hiring a inordinate amount of Black Men in most situations!
3. When you walk into class do you think if I speak up will they think that I am the angry oppressed person just trying to be difficult?
4. Don't you always think no matter what you say you are going to be alright?
Class as a discussion within the LGBTQ Community
The dialogue that was present as I visited the Class Consciousness: Intersections of Class and LGBTQ Identity was mostly about class and didn't really dive into the connection between class and the LGBTQ community. However some points did come out as the discussion went on that I was not fully aware of:
* The media portrays most LGBTQ persons as white, upper middle class males
* Because of "class" the people that are part of the media do not participate fully in the criticism due to their status
* How people that identify as transgender sometimes are forced to change jobs and are alienated due to the change and in some cases when they are able to go back to work, they are starting at the beginning in some cases. This struck me as egregious and that what a person identifies as should not change the fact that they have a job to do and was hired to do a job. If they are able to continue in the same function then they should not be forced out of work.
* The facilitator asked the group if they could identify a spokesperson for the LGBTQ community. What seemed like an eternity silence fell upon the group! No names were really mentioned. Does this mean there should be a spokesperson? If so, could that person speak for all within the LGBTQ community or just speak in general to raise some of the concerns within the group? Would that be fair to that person?
*The number of youth that are homeless was mentioned to be about 1.6 million and of that number 20-40% identify themselves as LGBTQ. That number is higher that the percentage of population that identifies as LGBTQ. The discussion went on to talk about how these homeless youth are not being allowed into shelters because they identify as LGBTQ and the shelters are giving reasons like HIV/AIDS, they don't want the problems that come with the community and the possible assaults that may occur.
The discussion grew to really speak upon the issue of class and what privileges are associated with the upper class. The government protection they receive in the courts, at tax time, health care and in society in general!
* The media portrays most LGBTQ persons as white, upper middle class males
* Because of "class" the people that are part of the media do not participate fully in the criticism due to their status
* How people that identify as transgender sometimes are forced to change jobs and are alienated due to the change and in some cases when they are able to go back to work, they are starting at the beginning in some cases. This struck me as egregious and that what a person identifies as should not change the fact that they have a job to do and was hired to do a job. If they are able to continue in the same function then they should not be forced out of work.
* The facilitator asked the group if they could identify a spokesperson for the LGBTQ community. What seemed like an eternity silence fell upon the group! No names were really mentioned. Does this mean there should be a spokesperson? If so, could that person speak for all within the LGBTQ community or just speak in general to raise some of the concerns within the group? Would that be fair to that person?
*The number of youth that are homeless was mentioned to be about 1.6 million and of that number 20-40% identify themselves as LGBTQ. That number is higher that the percentage of population that identifies as LGBTQ. The discussion went on to talk about how these homeless youth are not being allowed into shelters because they identify as LGBTQ and the shelters are giving reasons like HIV/AIDS, they don't want the problems that come with the community and the possible assaults that may occur.
The discussion grew to really speak upon the issue of class and what privileges are associated with the upper class. The government protection they receive in the courts, at tax time, health care and in society in general!
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