Since the beginning of this semester, I have come to some realizations about myself and about race in general. To me, race has never been an important part of my identity. In class when we discussed how white people have the privilege to choose whether or not they identify themselves with their group, and I realized I was one of those people that chose not to. I had never thought about it in this way. Because most of us consider the word “race” to mean the color of one’s skin, there is no way to escape it, but my being a part of the majority, however, that does not affect me as much, apparently. We discussed how members of minorities are judged by individuals in their race. The example we used in class was when people are interviewed on the news. Personally, if someone on the news sounds ignorant or looks a mess, I, personally, do not say “They’re making ______ people look bad.” I am more apt to identify them with what region of the country they are from. If a white or black person [I’m using these two since they make up most of the population in our area] was on the local news and sounded ignorant or looked crazy, I would think “They’re making Southerners look bad.” I identify myself more as a Southerner than I do as a white person, and I suppose that is part of my “white privilege.”
Another realization I have come to about myself, however, is that I do not notice my race until I am the minority in an unfamiliar setting. I am from right outside of Memphis, but I spend a lot of time in the city. As everyone is aware, Memphis is a city with a long history of racial tension, a lot of which is not resolved and is still very much alive. Some of the places I go, I am one of the few if not the only white person. It is not until I am in places I am not completely comfortable that I am hyper-aware of my whiteness. Some people in this city do not appreciate THAT white girl at the club or THAT white girl with her group of black friends. While I like to believe that people of our generation are moving past racism, I know that is certainly not the case from past experience and the experiences of others. I am hesitant to go some places because I do not want to put myself in a potentially threatening position; even though my friends say how they will be with me the whole time, they won’t let anything happen to me, everything will be fine, etc. it is unfair for me to put them in the position to have to stand up for me if a situation arises. Race, unfortunately, affects where I can and can not go comfortably and safely in this city.
Going back to my original point of my only being aware of my race in places I’m not completely comfortable or in unfamiliar places—in places I am comfortable and familiar I am not as aware of my race. My sister and I are the only white people in the dance group I am in, and most of the places we dance we are the only white people. I do not notice this as readily, though, because the setting is different.
On to more realizations. . .
While discussing the subject matter of this class with a few of my friends who agreed that race does not exist, we had an interesting conversation about when exactly children realize that there are differences between people. I worked at an all black preschool in North Memphis last year and the three and four year olds there were aware of the differences between white people and black people. My first day of work one of the little girls came up to me and said “You’re hair’s white like you!” Another time, a little girl came to me with her palms up and said “Look! I’m white like you!” These kids are taught about Martin Luther King Jr. and the Civil Rights Movement at the preschool level. My friend I was having the conversation with, teaches second grade at a school in Boston, MA. Her kids were just learning about MLK Jr. at that the second grade level. When the other teacher in her classroom was teaching about the prejudice and racism black people faced just because of the color of their skin, she said she saw that switch flip inside her kids’ minds and they began to look around and realize they were different from one another. While I am not saying we should ignore the history of our country and stop teaching about the struggle African Americans have faced for centuries, I think it would be interesting to know what would happen if in a compossible world where we didn’t teach children about our “differences.” Would there still be racism? Holding all influence from parents and the outside world [if that is even possible to imagine], would the children in our compossible world ever think to discriminate against someone who did not look like them?
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I found Caralee's blog very interesting especially the last thought about the children of our society. I was personally very confused about race growing up especially when I was about 4yrs old, as I was neither white nor black though all my friends were so where do I fit in? I always wondered why I was so different. As, in India everyone was my same race so racial differences were never an issue in my life while I lived there. Children always say the obvious and truthfully things but they have heard racist remarks somewhere before inorder to think about race at all so I think its an interesting point that Caralee says to teach children about American History later on in their development that when they are so young- it could make a little difference in the thoughts of children regarding race.
ReplyDeleteThe beginning of Caralee's post was a realization that I came to as well. We discussed the differences between identifying with one's race and the "white advantage" of individual representation rather than identifying a single person's actions to the race. This was something I had not thought about, but can easily be seen. Like Caralee said, in area where there is more discomfort or racial tension such as Memphis, the differentiation become even greater for both races. To not educate the youth of these differences and the history that has occurred would deprive them of their heritage. As Fanon in his "Racism and Culture" states the American culture has been shaped by the transformation of the way blacks and whites live together. In that, the children should be proud of their heritage. That being said, I understand the origin of your initial idea and feel that teachers could present the material in a different manner that would help to create unity, instead of identifying differences.
ReplyDeleteFirst off, good post.
ReplyDeleteI really just want to respond to the last point you brought up in your post. You asked the question "would the children in our compossible world ever think to discriminate against someone who did not look like them?" My simple answer is yes. I understand and agree that race is a socially constructed phenomenon, and I believe that children learn racism from their parents, but I also believe that there is something innate in humankind that causes us to recognize differences between people, and then to create hierarchies of people based on those differences. If it weren't the color of people's skin, it would be something else that people would discriminate against.
I once again firmly agree with Kara. Children learn of race and racism from what they are taught, but our minds were meant to recognize the differences inherent in us all.
ReplyDeleteAnd I also remember having a very different experience growing up. My heritage was something that was drilled into me from day one (of course since I am actually a foreigner, that probably would make things different, right?). I remember noticing the differences quite early and wanting to conform to the white culture around me when I arrived in the States. But eventually I realized I didn't have to. As far as I understood (and still understand), everyone is on even footing since race is not the only thing to judge someone on.
I would like to respond to the last part of the post in which you mentioned learning about race in school or during one's childhood years. I think that the most important piece in this process is exposure and that without it people of different races will always be weird to children and that this will lead to similar feelings growing up. I think that whether it is on TV or in person, children just need to see the other races in order to feel comfortable around them and to treat them as equal. Obviously, it would be best for all kids to have a playmate of a different race. We all know that this is impossible, but if positive ideas about race are ingrained from a young age, I think there can still be hope for a less racist society.
ReplyDelete