Making an impact
Alrighty, it’s been long enough since I updated this blog so here goes.
Today in my Intercultural Communications class, I got back my response paper on White Privilege or “Whiteness” from a class discussion we had a while back about the subject and whether or not it exists. In the class discussion, we took a quiz full of questions that sounded very much like it was aimed at white people. It asked whether or not we’d experience certain things and felt certain privileges over someone else. Most of it was BS. I made that quite clear in my response paper. They asked if I turned on the TV, whether or not I could see members of my race widely represented. Now, I am white and I can turn on the TV to see other white people, but every time I see a goofy white person in a sitcom acting completely incoherent, which happens nowadays with every sitcom you find, I feel as though I should be offended by this material. And yet I’m not.
So I wrote the whole essay in that manner and I get this remark back from the teacher:
“James,
You seem very defensive about White Privilege and I fear that you have missed the point. Your thoughts are based on opinion and are oppressive to the students of color in the room who experience our “White Privilege” in a very real way. Cite Sources.”
I usually wind up making an impact on every teacher I have, but I never thought I’d come across as a racist. Especially since I added this part in at the end of the essay:
“Sure, the problem of racism still exists. I know this because I’ve seen it in action. Several times, in fact. But countering it by passing around a loaded questionnaire that only asks for yes or no without any additional information is not the way to go about measuring it.”
Oddly enough, today, in a completely unrelated event, we had a presentation of Chapter 6 of the textbook, during which the class was segregated by colored pieces of paper that were handed out at the entrance. Those with pink papers sat in their seats and were offered two pieces of candy of their choice. Those with green papers (aka me and a handful of others) were sent to the back of the room without a desk and were tossed a single Hershey kiss. As if it were no surprise, the group presentation was about segregation and how certain people get unfair privileges over others because of their race or other things.
In a nutshell, I wrote an essay about how little certain “white privileges” are actually considered privileges and I got forced today into little privileges exercise that doesn’t have much relevance in the United States of America, but I’m supposed to act like it’s a huge problem. Look, if anyone somehow misunderstands me from writing this and thinks I’m a racist, let me spell it out for you: I am not a racist. I hate racism and I hate the fact that some of my relatives are racist, but I am not a racist. I despise racism.
And that’s all I have to say about that. If anyone’s interested, I will be watching “Oprah Winfrey Presents Their Eyes Were Watching God” tonight.
Today in my Intercultural Communications class, I got back my response paper on White Privilege or “Whiteness” from a class discussion we had a while back about the subject and whether or not it exists. In the class discussion, we took a quiz full of questions that sounded very much like it was aimed at white people. It asked whether or not we’d experience certain things and felt certain privileges over someone else. Most of it was BS. I made that quite clear in my response paper. They asked if I turned on the TV, whether or not I could see members of my race widely represented. Now, I am white and I can turn on the TV to see other white people, but every time I see a goofy white person in a sitcom acting completely incoherent, which happens nowadays with every sitcom you find, I feel as though I should be offended by this material. And yet I’m not.
So I wrote the whole essay in that manner and I get this remark back from the teacher:
“James,
You seem very defensive about White Privilege and I fear that you have missed the point. Your thoughts are based on opinion and are oppressive to the students of color in the room who experience our “White Privilege” in a very real way. Cite Sources.”
I usually wind up making an impact on every teacher I have, but I never thought I’d come across as a racist. Especially since I added this part in at the end of the essay:
“Sure, the problem of racism still exists. I know this because I’ve seen it in action. Several times, in fact. But countering it by passing around a loaded questionnaire that only asks for yes or no without any additional information is not the way to go about measuring it.”
Oddly enough, today, in a completely unrelated event, we had a presentation of Chapter 6 of the textbook, during which the class was segregated by colored pieces of paper that were handed out at the entrance. Those with pink papers sat in their seats and were offered two pieces of candy of their choice. Those with green papers (aka me and a handful of others) were sent to the back of the room without a desk and were tossed a single Hershey kiss. As if it were no surprise, the group presentation was about segregation and how certain people get unfair privileges over others because of their race or other things.
In a nutshell, I wrote an essay about how little certain “white privileges” are actually considered privileges and I got forced today into little privileges exercise that doesn’t have much relevance in the United States of America, but I’m supposed to act like it’s a huge problem. Look, if anyone somehow misunderstands me from writing this and thinks I’m a racist, let me spell it out for you: I am not a racist. I hate racism and I hate the fact that some of my relatives are racist, but I am not a racist. I despise racism.
And that’s all I have to say about that. If anyone’s interested, I will be watching “Oprah Winfrey Presents Their Eyes Were Watching God” tonight.
posted by Jaimetud at 4:45 PM
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