Sunday, March 22, 2009

Are some Anti-Racism, Anti-Oppression programs really another form of racism?

I have long thought so, and a recent news story reminded me of a lively blog discussion that touched on this. The blog discussion (here and here)concerned the definition of cultural racism used by a public school system:
Cultural Racism:Those aspects of society that overtly and covertly attribute value and normality to white people and Whiteness, and devalue, stereotype, and label people of color as “other”, different, less than, or render them invisible. Examples of these norms include defining white skin tones as nude or flesh colored, having a future time orientation, emphasizing individualism as opposed to a more collective ideology, defining one form of English as standard, and identifying only Whites as great writers or composers.


Cut to the news story that reminded me of these discussions: First Lady Michelle Obama Reflects on Talking 'Like a White Girl' . I was particularly struck by this exchange between Ms. Obama and a grade school student:"And when one student asked her, "How did you get to where you are now?" she credited, in part, her command of the language.
"I remember there were kids around my [Chicago] neighborhood who would say, 'Ooh, you talk funny. You talk like a white girl.' I heard that growing up my whole life. I was like, 'I don't even know what that means but I am still getting my A.'"


In other words, she got where she is by "...having a future time orientation, emphasizing individualism as opposed to a more collective ideology, defining one form of English as standard,..." What if Barack and Michelle had grown up with more enlightened teachers who knew that defining one form of English as standard was racist, and encouraged them to keep it real with ebonics? What if Michelle had been told to conform to a more collective ideology with her peers, rather than adopting the white ambition for individual A's? What if they had been told that "a future time orientation"- things like punctuality and delayed gratification- were white concepts, and it was racist to expect it of them? While they are both so talented they'd have succeeded at something, there's no way in hell she'd have been a corporate executive, and he the President of the United States. How many minority children have been kept from being all that they can be anti-racism programs, using modern definitions of "racism", that result in the child being totally unprepared for real life after leaving the public schools? And isn't any program that results in real harm to minority children racist, regardless of intent?

6 comments:

Chalicechick said...

(((How many minority children have been kept from being all that they can be anti-racism programs, using modern definitions of "racism", that result in the child being totally unprepared for real life after leaving the public schools?)))

My impression is not very many and that most of these programs are talked about in theory a lot more than they are implemented.

I hope this impression is correct.

CC

Joel Monka said...

I hope you're correct, too- but some of these programs have been around for years, so I have my fears. I'm much less worried about the churches, businesses, and colleges that implement such programs- when they get too silly, like the "brown bag" incident, they get properly ridiculed... but a grade school is another matter.

David Throop said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
David Throop said...

I read this contretemps at Shetterly's Its All One Thing. At first I thought it was a bunch of white UUs all calling each other racist. Then finally the truth dawned:

"It's not a bunch of white UUs! It's a bunch of white Science Fiction writers calling each other racist! Relief! Hooray!"

Stentor said...

I think an important question is *why* talking standard English, etc. allowed Michelle Obama to get ahead. It's not because standard (white) English is inherently superior to black English, but because standard English is valued by most of the people and institutions in the larger society -- that is, the whole society is "culturally racist." So you're right that a program that tried to combat cultural racism by naively wishing away those evaluations within its own walls may be counterproductive and thus racist. But that's not the only way to do it. It would be much more effective to simultaneously expose and validate the arbitrariness of culturally racist standards while giving kids the tools to make their way in a culturally racist society (i.e. "There's nothing inherently wrong with saying 'ax' and 'y'all,' but if you want to get a job you'll probably do better if you're comfortable saying 'ask' and 'you'"). That way they can navigate the world as it exists without having to take that world as natural or unquestionable. (nb: I have no idea how often these kind of programs actually do things the right way, do them the wrong way, or fail to do anything but post vision documents on the Web.)

Joel Monka said...

It's not just a matter of kowtowing to the culturaly racist society at large- I deny that it *IS* racist teach "Standard" English. Standard English is taught in over 160 countries; it is the official language of Aviation, (if a Thai airplane is approaching a Greek airport, they communicate in English) it is the de facto language of science and industry. In all the Earth, there is only one nation in which anyone would consider "ax" for ask to be correct. If a black industrialist from Ethiopia would correct a white distributor from Serbia for saying "ax", why is it suddenly racist for a teacher in the US to correct a student who says "ax"?