Ever since the first time I read Tatum’s article, I felt enlightened. I often ask my students what they feel they have achieved from just being white (I teach a course very much focused on Diversity in America), and at first they answer nothing, but then with a little prodding they are able to come up with a few things. It’s interesting to see the change in people after being placed in a circumstance where they benefitted from something quite simply because of their whiteness. As Tatum alludes to though, it is not enough to recognize it, which is only the beginning. The next and most meaningful step is to begin to challenge those who support racism.
However, Tatum mentions that although not all whites are actively racist, it is the fact that “white privilege means that Whites have greater access to the societal institutions in need of transformation” (Tatum, 129). It then becomes a question of human character. Are the majority of people good enough people to give up some of their power in hopes of allowing this transformation to even begin? Or does it become impossible to even change the circumstances when so many people tend to have “color-blind racism,” or just convincing themselves that everything is okay now and the big issues were a long time ago.
When thinking about the article “Smells Like Racism,” it is interesting and horrible all at once that minorities feel they have to become “American” until they are out of the public eye. The fact that they are asked to “melt” into the culture that is American is contradictive to the constitution in general. A minority is not free to be anything other than what those in power really want them to be, whether that is a spoken of reality or not.
All of these articles reminded me of a television program that ABC ran a few years ago where people were set up to be confronted by uncomfortable situations to see if they would stand up to the situation, or ignore it. Many of the episodes focused on race and how different people react to watching others be actively racist in public—did they become active, passive, or someone who interrupts it? If you’re interested, I attached the link to check it out. http://abcnews.go.com/WhatWouldYouDo/story?id=6551048&page=1
Jess Bird
I think it's great that you are bringing up the issue of white privilege on a high school level. It seems to represent a change, at least in part, that we are educating people on these issues at a younger age. Numerous studies have actually shown that students who are exposed to issues of diversity in the classroom develop a more balanced perspective of the world, so why not begin at the high school or even elementary level. Also, thanks for the great example from ABC News! It seems very reminiscent of the studies that Bonilla-Silva references.
ReplyDelete