Race. Huge cultural studies topic. And for good reason. We have big problems with race. We have big issues with difference. There has been something stewing in my mind regarding race for a while and now that I have it into words, I'm ready to share it. We have had many class sessions where we talk about race--whether we talk about it thed whole time, or just a little bit. Why? Do we think by talking about it, it will go away? I don't see myself as a racist person. I try to see everyone as just a person. But here's the trouble. Every time I leave a discussion about race, I notice EVERY person of a different race that I walk by. I've heard progress was good once, but I think we went to far, and is that what has happened here? Do we talk about it so much, that we are just creating more racism? We focus on the differences between "us and them". If we talked to our kids so much about race, they would notice the difference more than if we just left them alone and let them be.
Tell me your thoughts because I'm curious if I'm the only one.
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5 comments:
You are not the only one. I too have felt that way sometimes lately. Then to top it off I feel guilty for realizing the difference. I really do think kids are better off not hearing about differences. Let them notice then try to explain that it's only different colored skin. Cell for cell everything else is the same.
I agree with both of you. My son is five and has a black girl in his karate class. He has never said anything about her being different. The bottom line is every kid in the class has differences and the fact that she is black doesn't stand out to him.
I hear what you're saying, Courtney, and I have to admit I have mixed feelings. Your comments definitely are worth thinking about. But I'm not entirely sure that our society is ready to presume color-blindness. What do you think of the Attorney General's recent remarks (I'm linking to a brief column about them that offers a few comments)?
I agree completely! I told the story in class about serving a table with four white people and one black person and how he was last to order, and then I felt like a racist. Ridiculous. I would've much rather just seen the table as a table and treated it as such.
This is why I prefer the America is a "melting pot" metaphor as opposed to that of a "salad bowl". When we continually point out differences and tiptoe around we're just over-correcting. Let's just mold together as one, bringing distinct flavors to this country and blending them together as one. One might argue that then "minorities will just have to bend to majorities.." but the Anglo-Saxon white person majority is steadily becoming a minority. By the year 2040 (? Could be wrong on the date) us "white folk" will be the new minority.
But no more tip-toeing.
I agree! I feel that I do notice more and more after we talk about race in class. I feel that it will never go away if we keep talking about it. How we raise our children to racism is whats going to be the differnece maker in the future. If racism is to be forgotten then the past must be forgotten. Until that day racism will linger throughout society.
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