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 e965r4909272; Fri, 6 Oct 2000 01:53:04 -0400 (EDT) Date: Fri, 6 Oct 2000 01:53:04 -0400 (EDT) Message-Id: <LAW2-F259W5k1Ed28kI0000c851@hotmail.com> 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: "Eileen Eckert" <eileeneckert@hotmail.com> To: Multiple recipients of list <nifl-povracelit@literacy.nifl.gov> Subject: [NIFL-POVRACELIT:160] Re: questions about defining when we are X-Listprocessor-Version: 6.0c -- ListProcessor by Anastasios Kotsikonas Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed Status: O Content-Length: 9159 Lines: 184 Kate, It sounds like you were truly in a no-win situation, and since there was no way you could please anyone else, all you could do was do what you thought best. (Really, that's all any of us can ever do, that's why our own reflection on these issues is so important). But go a step further. You were discriminated against on the basis of your ethnicity or skin color. Imagine that this discrimination affected not only your work environment, but what education and employment opportunities you had, where you could live, where you could eat, what forms of transportation were available, whether you could open a bank account and how much you'd be charged to do so, whether you could establish credit, who you could date and marry, whether you could vote (and who you had to choose from in an election). Do you think you might come not only to resent but to actively hate the people who circumscribed your life in every way? Might you see the other "affected" people as your only allies? Might you come to distrust anyone who looked like a member of the group that discriminated against you? Now imagine this discrimination continued for generation after generation. That is racism. Even after your great-great-great-granchildren had won some changes and gained some freedoms, might they not still retain some distrust and prejudice against those whose forebears had oppressed them so long and who still held a large measure of power? Might they sometimes lash out against members of the dominant group, whether the particular person they lashed out at "deserved" it or not? Would that be racist, or would it be an intergenerational, learned response to racism? Prejudice as a response to racism is just as hurtful to those who encounter it as racism itself-- on an individual level. But it's not the same thing. Freire does a very good job of explaining how racism and other forms of oppression dehumanize everyone, both the oppressors (and their descendants) and the oppressed. Please don't take my response as unsympathetic. I'm glad you related a story about where your questions are coming from. Many people would have generalized from the experience you had that "they" (all African Americans) are just as bad as or worse than white bigots. I think using real-life stories of experiences is probably a good way to open discussion with our literacy learners. How can we facilitate such discussions so that they lead to positive change? Or how can we help our students learn to facilitate such discussions so that the teacher (who is often white) does not have a lock on power in the classroom and it can be open to different perspectives? Eileen >From: "Kate Gladstone & Andrew S. Haber" <kate@global2000.net> >Reply-To: nifl-povracelit@nifl.gov >To: Multiple recipients of list <nifl-povracelit@literacy.nifl.gov> >Subject: [NIFL-POVRACELIT:151] Re: questions about defining when we are >Date: Thu, 5 Oct 2000 18:04:03 -0400 (EDT) > >Andres writes: > > > Kate: > > > > You need to reflect on your own position. > >I have - for most of my adult life - and I continue doing so. > > > I don't want you to satisfy me. You > > need to satisfy yourself.... > >I *have* satisfied myself on this matter. However, this does not mean that >I >don't value suggestions/guidance from others. > For instance, I still wonder how I should have dealt with two events >that happened a few years ago. > >/1/ >A few years ago, I held a job as a school librarian in a school where about >90% of the students and faculty defined themselves as "African-American" - >the other 10% included me. > The school's decor included a large (12-foot-long, 3-feet-high) banner >consisting of the words "Africans Are The Race Of Geniuses." Since the >school principal had made the banner, I found it difficult to say anything >about this, but did - eventually - ask her over lunch (early in >African-American History Month) "Dr. B____, could you please tell me >something about this banner?" (trying to broach the subject gently). > She replied, as I recall, that she felt it was "inappropriate and >racist >for a person from another [non-African-American] background to question an >African-American self-esteem-building visual aid applicable to individuals >of our [African-American] background." > I said nothing to this, not knowing how to respond: how could/should I >best have responded? > >/2/ >African-American History Month at this school regularly closed with a >celebration during which (among other activities) students and faculty >joined in choral singing of songs relating to the African-American >experience (e.g., "Lift Every Voice and Sing," "We Shall Overcome," etc. > During preparations for this event, I received a call from the event >co-ordinator asking to see me privately. When I arrived in her office, she >told me that this year the planning-committee for the event (which she >headed) had raised some concerns about the appropriateness of having >non-African-American faculty actively involved with the event, e.g., taking >part in singing the songs which characterized the event, preparing >decorations for the event (a responsibility which typically had fallen, in >past years, to the school librarian), etc. > "Some of us have come to feel that having the involvement of another >group dilutes the integrity and uniqueness of our struggle. It may be >inappropriate. In the interest of showing respect for our feelings, would >you consider making the sacrifice of not taking any active rôle in the >event? I'll be asking this of other affected staff-members, not just you - >you're simply the first person on my list to call, because you are our >newest teacher." > "Well, what kind of co-operation do you feel you need?" >The event-coordinator suggested allowing someone else to do the decorations >for the event (she named a teacher who had served as assistant to the >previous school librarian), as well as not joining in the choral singing or >other group activities at the event. > I promised to ask (and did ask) the other teacher to handle the >decorations, then asked: "But wouldn't it look disrespectful to show up and >remain silent while others sang about victory and freedom?" > The event-coordinator said: "I'll have to think about that - I'll talk >to the rest of the committee, get a consensus, and call you later." > Later, I did indeed receive another phone-message asking me to meet >with >the event-coordinator. She told me that the planning-committee had decided >it might be best for the "affected teachers" to each take a day off from >school on that particular day: since showing up and not participating >would, >the committee-members felt, indeed look as bad as "inappropriately" >participating. "But we realize this has to be your decision, of course. We >are leaving it up to the individual teacher in each case." > I decided (as did many of the other "affected' teachers) to take the >day >off: a few other "affected" folks showed up but didn't sing, and two or >three showed up and sang, regardless. > EACH of the "affected" teachers got a nasty message from the >event-coordinator afterwards: > - the ones who showed up and participated got a message that their >"inappropriate" behavior showed no regard for the committee's consensus or >for the sensitivities of those legitimately taking part in the event - > - the ones who showed up and didn't participate got a message that >this >behavior (of "looking on as a spectator") lacked respect or sensitivity for >those participating - > - and the ones who stayed home got a message that their "withdrawal" >had >suggested, to those attending, that they lacked a proper interest in the >struggle for freedom, and/or a proper interest in matters and events >meaningful to the students and faculty as a whole. > >Andres and all: > in your views - >/1/ what action(s) (by me, and/or by any other "affected" teacher) would >you >hav considered morally correct, respectful, and proper > (before, during, and/or after the event)? >/2/ if you do not regard the "damned-if-you-do-and-damned-if-you-don't" >action(s) described above as "racist," how exactly do you regard such >action(s)? - what name would you give such action(s)? > > >Yours for better letters, >Kate Gladstone - Handwriting Repair >kate@global2000.net, kate@WriteMe.com >http://www.global2000.net/handwritingrepair >325 South Manning Boulevard >Albany, NY 12208-1731 >518/482-6763 *or* (for toll-free dialing in the USA/Canada) >ENTER ACCESS CODE 04 at my new 800 number, 800/394-9482 (800/EX-HW-ITAlic), >access code 04 > (remember: > EX for EXcellent, HW for HandWriting, ITA for ITAlic ... then, access >code 04) >AND REMEMBER ... you can order books through my site! (Amazon.com link - I >get a 5% - 15% commission on each book sold) > > > > > _________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com. Share information about yourself, create your own public profile at http://profiles.msn.com.
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