White Privilege

I hate trying to spell privilege.

SO, as you might expect, I have a lot of thoughts on this subject, some conflicting. I'll try to present them with some semblance of organization.

First of all, if you're one of those people who says, "I'm so tired of all this talk about race and diversity and stuff, can't we just get along and move on?" STOP IT. Yes, a lot of fluffy "We Are The World" bullcrap seems to permeate our lives (I love Stevie Wonder, but sometimes such things seem like a Disney Left-Liberal version of multiculturalism that is devoid of authenticity). Yes, it is uncomfortable and weird, but believe me, having been married for 10 years now, the better you are at dealing with uncomfortable parts of relationships, the happier you will be. What we should always be doing when talking about racism is being very honest, polite as we can be, and having a lot of tolerance and sense of humor about things. Dr. Ortega gets pretty serious and severe sometimes, but I always lighten up about whatever it is because she's never far away from laughing and clicking smiley-face emoticons. It's all good.

I sometimes react negatively to the word white. I think it is okay to use as I commonly refer to African-Americans as Black people - it is an accepted colloquialism, non-derogatory, though technically inaccurate as people typically have beige to brown skin, not white to black. As we learned during the first class meeting, it is not uncommon for European-American people to believe they have no culture. We're just "white," right? But, if one has no culture, then how does one begin to appreciate other cultures? I am American, as are many "Mexicans" who were here before America became the United States. Part of what is special about the term "American" is that it can transcend culture and represent a nationality that embraces and accepts the differences we all have. If anything, I'd say my culture is a mixture of American farmer/homesteaders and middle-class white-collar, with a good dose of hippy, intellectual, and Oregonian thrown in there. But, as long as we're being multi-cultural, I think we should change how we use the word white - not because white people are persecuted by the word, but because it is a blank, uninformed perspective that uses a skin-tone to conveniently reference an entire group which may include many different nationalities. True, that skin-tone still means something (ie white privilege), but this is something that is never talked about, and I like filling in blank spaces.

At the same time, it is very true that people with darker skin have been persecuted for a long long time in many different places. I remember a couple of Mexican dishwashers I worked with and enjoyed a jovial working-relationship with when I was a line cook and Pastry Chef at the Eugene Country Club. The lighter skinned brother referred to his older brother who was much more darkly complected as "nigger", and he did so jokingly like it was a cool thing. Ignorance leads to people treating things lightly that should be serious because of the stark realities that surround the issue. The truth is, white privilege extends beyond European-descendants who first began colonizing and subjugating any indigenous population they could get their hands on. Technically Europeans created this tendency throughout so many places to discriminate against darker skinned peoples, but it is important to understand that some element of racism is rooted in our brains' need to order the world based on easy superficial categorizations and that it isn't just "whites" that do it.

However, I believe European-Americans bear whatever responsibility is left today for correcting this flaw in local, national, and even global culture. I say this because African-Americans obviously bear the burdens that being black brings in this country. It is sad to me when white men who are ignorant of history complain that they can't get jobs or free money or whatnot because minorities already receive such privilege through affirmative action. To an ignorant mind, fair is whatever gets me what I want. The fact is that to an adult black man, racism was an obvious, institutionalized event in their parents'time and most likely every relative he's ever had was descended from a person who not only had nothing, but were treated like cattle for their entire lives - (what did your grandparents have to offer you?) We're a very young country - this shit just happened. That white man who is complaining most likely has very little work to do to take advantage of the privilege afforded him - if he dresses up nice, cops won't stop him and ask for proof of citizenship, randomly search or harass him, or assume he's incapable for any reason unless he's actively drooling or showing other signs of potential difference from the norm. I don't believe in fighting fire with fire however, so if a Kid Rock lookin' guy gets in my face about affirmative action, I'm most likely going to turn the conversation towards letting him vent/discuss the life-long frustrations that are causing him to blame other people for his own run of bad luck instead of picking himself up by the bootstraps and working hard to take advantage of every little opportunity out there in the finest tradition of America.

It doesn't bother me that the founding fathers were European-American men because I judge people, including historical figures, by the content of their character, not by the color of their skin, just as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. taught. In my classroom, I'd proudly hang pictures of the founding fathers and point out that the Republic they created has led the world (until recently?) towards an exciting blossoming of the expression of universal human rights (though perhaps colonial capitalism has outweighed the good with harm - a different debate). I would point to the pictures of Dr. King, Rosa Parks, Cornel West, Sojourner Truth (coolest name ever) and Douglas Adams and talk about how their words and ideas have inspired me even more than those of the founding fathers because these people are more contemporary and just as much of intellectual giants. I won't have room on my wall to hang a picture of an inspiring intellectual exemplar from every race, culture, and subgroup the world will ever know, and that is okay. If anyone asks why Ella Fitzgerald and Micheal Jordan are not honored on my wall, we can have a conversation about the stereotypes of black performers and athletes and how Mr. Bunker wants something different for his young black students than having to pick between hip-hop/athletics or being an outsider in a media-generated culture. (Damn, now I have to make sure and go out and get all these photos before I have my own classroom next year! Who has the time to be culturally informed and responsive!!)

Finally, I wanted to add a point about what it means to think these things versus put them into practice in the classroom. Okay, two points.

First, overcoming racism DOES NOT MEAN treating everyone exactly the same. Doing that IS racism for two reasons. A) we all have secret hidden reactions to people different than us that we have to actively try to overcome - as Howard Zinn said so well, "You can't be neutral on a moving train." B) not honoring the unique places people come from, {for instance the special need that African-American boys have to be encouraged to embrace their academic nature, as research has shown most choose early-on whether to follow the prominent cultural paradigms pushed by the media or not), is a sure-fire way to perpetuate the status-quo. We've all seen this in the form of wanting to give accommodations to our students with special needs, but it is very important to take it a step further and try to internalize the Philosophy.

Second, as European-Americans we must work steadily to be more informed and comfortable about/with minority cultures. On the one hand we must be able to invite every student into our own personal academic culture and doing so in a way that speaks to them as individuals. A unique, nuanced example of this would be the senior in my Integrated Math class who is black and keeps accusing me of being pedantic - he's making the assumption that sounding smart is somehow being ostentatious, and yet he himself loves using the word "pedantic" as often as possible. So I'm going to challenge him one of these days when the opportunity arises to remind him that being precise and intellectual doesn't necessarily make one pedantic, but can make one outstanding - versus not trying to change his mind because I'm afraid of putting a student who is black in their place when it comes to academia. On the other hand, we must also be able to shamelessly inquire into and experience the different cultures that surround us. Doing otherwise makes us live the "divided life" that Parker Palmer warns us so sternly about in his book "The Courage To Teach." Every wall we put up between our students and ourselves is visible to them even if we do it unconsciously, and no wall is as potentially "hot-button" as resistance to racial and cultural expression.

For good primers on race relations, I highly recommend the movies: "The Great Debaters" and "Bowling For Columbine", the books: "A People's History of the United States" by Howard Zinn and "The Autobiography of Malcolm X" by Alex Haley. Lots of other stuff is out there though, and Anchorage has so many free cultural festivals and events it is almost overwhelming. Heck, I learn a lot about Pacific Islander culture just by hanging out at Hula Hands Restaurant on a busy day!

Thank you for engaging in this conversation with me. Hopefully I don't sound too white and pedantic. :) :) :) jk.