Affiong Enyenihi
Professor Stamant
LDR 102
29 April 2019
My beautiful question asks “can we have an open discussion about race in America in which minority opinion is genuinely valued?” Firstly, a beautiful question is a question that is ambitious yet actionable (Berger 1). It asks something and offers a solution. It not philosophical or pondering. There is an answer to this question. My question is brought about by how polarizing discussion about race tends to become. Non-minorities tends to feel attacked or interject themselves when it would be most appreciated if they attempted to really listen. Racists themselves won’t admit to being racist because they feel as if the word is a slur as opposed to an accurate description for their beliefs. In fact, racism is discussed as though it is belonging to specific type of person as opposed to an act people can and do engage in daily. It is viewed as a bullying tactic instead of a system of oppression. People don’t understand the difference between prejudice and racism, which first and foremost needs to be addressed. Prejudice is judgement based on stereotypes of a group. Racism is a system that allows a racial group to maintain power. Hence why reverse racism does not exist and people color can be oppressed as they are the racial group in power. This can be actionable, through intensive work on understanding race at a deeper sense than someone “being mean.” I believe we can start a deeper, more introspective discussions on race if we took the focus away from being how to avoid racism and instead delve into what racism actually looks like and can be. When there discussions of racism in a classroom, words such as equity and equally can and should be broken down. White fragility should never be prioritized over people of color’s generational trauma. In Professor Paul’s session, we learned that many educators often have had little preparation for working in culturally diverse classrooms (Ragoonaden 37). Two of the six characteristics of a culturally responsive educator can be applied in this as well. Through sociocultural consciousness, recognizing that there are multiple ways of perceiving reality and that these ways are influenced by one’s location in the social order also known as recognizing one’s privilege (Ragoonaden 37). Also using commitment and skills to act as agents of change, by seeing themselves as both responsible for and capable of bringing about educational change that will make schools more responsive to all students (Ragoonaden 37). If a topic seems to be heavy emotional labor for black students, then the teacher should intervene instead of the black students carrying the conversation. Black people should not be solely responsible for This ties in with the session with Professor Sessions, in which, we learned about Rev. James Cone’s theology, to make the gospel relevant to the life and struggles of American blacks and to help black people learn to love themselves, which was met with backlash as well as disregard. I think there is something to be said for the very swift dismissal of quite present race relation issues. It starts with self evaluation, which should have been the response, they should have wondered what would cause him to write this before dismissing it as untrue. Simple things such as learning to listen to minorities when they say something is racist or angling focus away from alleviating white guilt to how instead this harms people of color can already be the start of a movement towards solution.
Citations
Berger, Warren. A More Beautiful Question: The Power of Inquiry to Spark Breakthrough
Ideas. New York: Bloomsbury, 2014.
Cherkowski, Sabre and Ragoonaden, Karen. Leadership for Diversity: Intercultural Communication Competence as Professional Development, Teacher Learning and Professional Development 1, no. 1
May 2016: 33-43.
