Return-Path: <nifl-povracelit@literacy.nifl.gov> Received: from literacy (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by literacy.nifl.gov (8.10.2/8.10.2) with SMTP id e8SIR3928352; Thu, 28 Sep 2000 14:27:03 -0400 (EDT) Date: Thu, 28 Sep 2000 14:27:03 -0400 (EDT) Message-Id: <DBBA01AD8061D311857A00A0C9854E4A4E2BAD@sbctc.ctc.edu> Errors-To: listowner@literacy.nifl.gov Reply-To: nifl-povracelit@literacy.nifl.gov Originator: nifl-povracelit@literacy.nifl.gov Sender: nifl-povracelit@literacy.nifl.gov Precedence: bulk From: Michael Tate <mtate@sbctc.ctc.edu> To: Multiple recipients of list <nifl-povracelit@literacy.nifl.gov> Subject: [NIFL-POVRACELIT:54] Introduction X-Listprocessor-Version: 6.0c -- ListProcessor by Anastasios Kotsikonas Content-Type: multipart/alternative; X-Mailer: Internet Mail Service (5.5.2448.0) Status: O Content-Length: 7208 Lines: 125 This message is in MIME format. Since your mail reader does not understand this format, some or all of this message may not be legible. ------_=_NextPart_001_01C0297A.3B7ADFD2 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" MY name is Michael Tate. I am so happy this list exists. I am currently a state adult education program administrator in Washington State working on leveling the playing field for people of color and people with disabilities. I also am responsible for our state's learner leadership initiative. My entire working career has been devoted to helping to undo the pernicious effects of poverty and racism, as well as other "isms". My phenotype is White; my genotype is White and American Indian; and culturally I'm predominantly Japanese. It's sort of like living a 50s race encounter novel. My maternal great-grandmother, a Wild Potato clan Cherokee grew up a slave on a SC plantation. My maternal grandmother worked on the same plantation in a kind of "ward" status that was typical for emancipated slaves. She got food and housing for her labor. She married an indentured servant from England and they began to sharecrop on the plantation. I'm not clear how they got out of sharecropping, and could moved off the plantation, but I know the mixed marriage didn't set well with the owner. My mother grew up free, light enough to pass, in a prole household supported by truck farming and odd jobs that my grandfather did. She married my father who went into the military to climb out of the underclass. We were stationed in Japan during the Korean War. While my father was fighting in Korea, my mother took notes for the doctors in Japan who were assigned to autopsy the causalities. She worked 20-hour days, and so I was raised by some Japanese people who served as house staff. I learned Japanese before English, and Japanese culture too. I've made it to middle class, the first one to go to college, the first one who can admit his real background. I want to clarify that while prejudice is universal, racism is prejudice supported by power, so only a dominant group can be racist. The Japanese treatment of Koreans in Japan is racist, because the Japanese have the power to enforce their prejudices. The Thai treatment of ethnic Chinese in Thailand is racist. But neither the Japanese nor the Thais can be racists here in the US, since they do not have control of the government or other power institutions. I think one change we can make in our classroom is to help prole students understand and appreciate prole values. What proles hear everywhere is that their values are worthless. They're not. We should also help them understand how their heritage contributes to how they make decisions. Again, they hear continually that they make bad decisions, but in the prole context given their situation. ------_=_NextPart_001_01C0297A.3B7ADFD2 Content-Type: text/html; charset="iso-8859-1" <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> <META content="MSHTML 5.00.2314.1000" name=GENERATOR></HEAD> <BODY> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN class=460254716-28092000>MY name is Michael Tate. I am so happy this list exists. I am currently a state adult education program administrator in Washington State working on leveling the playing field for people of color and people with disabilities. I also am responsible for our state's learner leadership initiative. </SPAN></FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN class=460254716-28092000></SPAN></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN class=460254716-28092000>My entire working career has been devoted to helping to undo the pernicious effects of poverty and racism, as well as other "isms". My phenotype is White; my genotype is White and American Indian; and culturally I'm predominantly Japanese. It's sort of like living a 50s race encounter novel. My maternal great-grandmother, a Wild Potato clan Cherokee grew up a slave on a SC plantation. My maternal grandmother worked on the same plantation in a kind of "ward" status that was typical for emancipated slaves. She got food and housing for her labor. She married an indentured servant from England and they began to sharecrop on the plantation. I'm not clear how they got out of sharecropping, and could moved off the plantation, but I know the mixed marriage didn't set well with the owner. </SPAN></FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN class=460254716-28092000></SPAN></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN class=460254716-28092000>My mother grew up free, light enough to pass, in a prole household supported by truck farming and odd jobs that my grandfather did. She married my father who went into the military to climb out of the underclass. We were stationed in Japan during the Korean War. While my father was fighting in Korea, my mother took notes for the doctors in Japan who were assigned to autopsy the causalities. She worked 20-hour days, and so I was raised by some Japanese people who served as house staff. I learned Japanese before English, and Japanese culture too. </SPAN></FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN class=460254716-28092000></SPAN></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN class=460254716-28092000>I've made it to middle class, the first one to go to college, the first one who can admit his real background. </SPAN></FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN class=460254716-28092000></SPAN></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN class=460254716-28092000>I want to clarify that while prejudice is universal, racism is prejudice supported by power, so only a dominant group can be racist. The Japanese treatment of Koreans in Japan is racist, because the Japanese have the power to enforce their prejudices. The Thai treatment of ethnic Chinese in Thailand is racist. But neither the Japanese nor the Thais can be racists here in the US, since they do not have control of the government or other power institutions.</SPAN></FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN class=460254716-28092000></SPAN></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN class=460254716-28092000>I think one change we can make in our classroom is to help prole students understand and appreciate prole values. What proles hear everywhere is that their values are worthless. They're not.</SPAN></FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN class=460254716-28092000></SPAN></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN class=460254716-28092000>We should also help them understand how their heritage contributes to how they make decisions. Again, they hear continually that they make bad decisions, but in the prole context given their situation.</SPAN></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML> ------_=_NextPart_001_01C0297A.3B7ADFD2--
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