Tuesday, March 6, 2007
Actively Antiracist
One of the conversations that I believe is at the core of fulfilling the intentions of this class is the one from the Defining Racism article about moving the opposite way on the moving walkway and how this can be done. This article calls many of the alarming acts and consequences of racism to our attention, and it is a good reminder to be conscious of these situations. It goes a step further to suggest that the only way for white people in this society to avoid racism and promote change is to be "actively antiracist". It goes on to explain that racism is bigger than individual prejudice acts and that it is also due to the fact that all of us are born into and inherit an entire political and social system that is racist. How can we change that? What are some steps that we can take to be "actively antiracist"? What are some steps that we can take to go a step further and actually promote CHANGE? If all white people are benefiting from the White Privilege, how can we change that? Although we have mentioned some suggestions before, I think that this makes for a great discussion and it is a really great thing to focus on, especially among future teachers that are working towards change in communities in which many of the inhabitants are getting the brunt of the racist system.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
It is hard to foresee a world that is entirely anti-racist. It is sad to say, but I think that no matter the actions we take there will always be some form of prejudice and racism out there. What we can do as future teachers is inform the students about the different situations in the world. We can not force any of our opinions on them, but we can show them some things that they would not get to see or know otherwise. It is true that when we were born we inherited all the ideals of the people that came before us. We are influenced by our parents, which can be both good and bad. And this is something that we want to keep in mind when we are dealing with children. The children we teach have parents that might have a different opinion about something then you do, and that in turn might affect how the student reacts and comments on certain issues. The best thing we can do as future teachers is to inform the students, and hope that they make the best decisions.
Promoting change is not the problem. It is going through with change that this country needs to accomplish. I don't think there is any clear way to get rid of "White Privilege" completely, especially in our lifetimes. If we tried it would be near impossible. It is hard to change the opinions of citizens who grew up and continue to live by what they have been taught as a kid. Since these ideals run deep into childhood, what we can do is teach students about racism and tries to get them to look past stereotypes and things they have heard from society and their parents. Hopefully by the time they are old they will pass their ideals onto their children and by each generation, racism will become more of a thing of the past. It may take a long time but one little step at a time will hopefully make this country become anti-racist. We have come a long way since the Civil War; however we still need to go further.
Do I believe that we can have a purely prejudice society? No, not at all. We cannot control invidual thought and a single person can be educated and wise enough to see that people of diverse backgrounds are just as capable human beings as your average middle class white person but people as a group can be quite stupid. As long as we have an image of minorities spewed by the media we will be stuck in that frame of thought. Sadly it is that view that attracts viewers so nobody is in a big rush to display positive views of people of diverse backgrounds. We can try to influence our students to be free thinking free feeling inviduals to the best of our abilities but we are one person in the thousands that will affect their lives.
I agree that it is hard as one person to try to change everyones mind about the way they think. It is true that we learn things from so many people in our lifetime that it might be hard to reach out to everyone we have ever met. But I do think as teachers that we can try to get our students to think more freely and on their own. I am not saying that this will be easy because realistically(sp?) it is going to be hard. But even though it is going to be hard to try to get our students to think for themselves and move away from these stereotypes, if we don't try then it's like giving in. And I dont think giving in is the answer. It's worth the fight even if we are not able to influence as many people as we would like to. If we can at least get some then we are at least making some kind of a difference.
Post a Comment