Iridescently

http://tabularasae.tumblr.com/post/10498525392

“God, but life is loneliness, despite all the opiates, despite the shrill tinsel gaiety of “parties” with no purpose, despite the false grinning faces we all wear. And when at last you find someone to whom you feel you can pour out your soul, you stop in shock at the words you utter—they are so…

(Source: half-mute)

T R: “Individual black people/people of color often describe moments where...

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iridescentling:

“Individual black people/people of color often describe moments where they challenge racist speech at meetings or in other formal settings only to witness a majority of folks rush to comfort the racist individual they have challenged, as though that person is the victim and the person who raised…

My main beef with Teach For America up to this point was its treatment of race issues. The ‘p’ word never came up until after Institute (our 5 weeks of training) despite multiple ‘Diversity’ training sessions. Although never explicitly stated, it was apparent to me and other CMs of color that the reason why we never discussed the sociopolitical context for the state of modern US education was so that our white peers would not be made to feel uncomfortable. We are all united under one mission, to eliminate educational inequity, but we were actively discouraged from talking about why education as an institution was unequal—and racist—in the first place. Putting the cart before the horse, much?

When we finally broached the issue, it was at our partner Graduate School program. Even then, the conversation obviously centered around those who were still coming to terms with the concept itself. We were mere three weeks away from stepping into a classroom with a students of color majority, and yet there were people still completely dismissing every tangible piece of evidence given toward systemic racism. 

Unlike TFA, I believe in my peers’ abilities to tackle this necessarily uncomfortable conversation head-on. Unfortunately, it was too little too late. Tuesday we start.

Iris! Did you find they were more willing to confront other issues of inequality? (ie sexism or heterosexism) I’m just curious.

I’ve noticed in my experiences as a cinema studies student that my (all white) profs are always pretty eager to tackle feminism in cinema, and some have even discussed gender or queer issues and cinema, even if that week’s topic is not specifically related to feminist/queer film theory… but race + cinema seems to get its own class and then we never talk about it again. Which is weird to me; only one of my film profs has been a woman and I would be surprised to find out they were ALL queer so it’s not like they just didn’t want to talk about an oppression they don’t experience.

There were barely any mentions of gender or queer oppression. Granted, race came up the most because it’s the primary predictor of whether or not you succeed in the American education system. Hence, the classroom I will be going into is 98% black, and it looks the same for most of my peers in the Greater Philadelphia region. Surprisingly (or not), in all our ‘Diversity’ sessions the words “oppression,” “marginalization,” “privilege” never came up. It was more like a corporate sensitivity training where we learn to hold hands and say Kumbaya because we need to remind ourselves we’re human beings, not just our race. When race plays such a phenomenal historical and societal role in education and yet our education reform leaders shy away from even broaching the topic, issues like queer identity and misogyny in the classroom get easily overlooked.

(Source: fuckyeahradicalquotes)

T R: “Individual black people/people of color often describe moments where...

“Individual black people/people of color often describe moments where they challenge racist speech at meetings or in other formal settings only to witness a majority of folks rush to comfort the racist individual they have challenged, as though that person is the victim and the person who raised…

My main beef with Teach For America up to this point was its treatment of race issues. The ‘p’ word never came up until after Institute (our 5 weeks of training) despite multiple ‘Diversity’ training sessions. Although never explicitly stated, it was apparent to me and other CMs of color that the reason why we never discussed the sociopolitical context for the state of modern US education was so that our white peers would not be made to feel uncomfortable. We are all united under one mission, to eliminate educational inequity, but we were actively discouraged from talking about why education as an institution was unequal—and racist—in the first place. Putting the cart before the horse, much?

When we finally broached the issue, it was at our partner Graduate School program. Even then, the conversation obviously centered around those who were still coming to terms with the concept itself. We were mere three weeks away from stepping into a classroom with a students of color majority, and yet there were people still completely dismissing every tangible piece of evidence given toward systemic racism. 

Unlike TFA, I believe in my peers’ abilities to tackle this necessarily uncomfortable conversation head-on. Unfortunately, it was too little too late. Tuesday we start.

(Source: fuckyeahradicalquotes)