Institutional
racism has had a tremendous impact on America’s minority population since the
Europeans first set foot on American soil. It’s really difficult to compare the
struggles of whites under institutional racism with the struggle that
minorities have had to endure under institutional racism because there is really very little to compare. Whites have enjoyed many of the privileges that minority
leaders throughout history have fought tooth and nail to receive. Rather than
compare, I simply want to share how I feel institutional racism has had a negative
effect that has on the people it largely favors.
Institutional racism has negatively
impacted some whites, primarily poor whites that come from working class backgrounds
or live in rural areas, by placing unrealistic expectations on them and by
marginalizing the challenges many of them face. Many of these whites are born
with similar disadvantages as minority citizens—poor education and housing,
limited access to opportunities, etc. On
a more personal level, sometimes I feel that there is an unwanted pressure on
me—that because I’m white, I ‘m expected to act or think a certain way, or that
things should come easy for me. I don’t feel that way, but at the same time I
do understand that my skin color has allowed me to not be denied certain
opportunities that others from other ethnicities have been denied.
It is very sad that we still having school systems, teachers, principal, etc. that promote racism in ther school. This kind of activity negatively impacted any kind of students from any kind of culture. Certaintly white people suffer from imagine racism in some way too but at least they are in their contry. Think about the rest of the minorities that suffre the racism that you mentioned plus the feeling of homeless becuse one they are here they don't belong anywhere....
ReplyDeleteEric-Thanks for sharing. I agree with your point about placing unrealistic expectations and marginalizing the challenges many working class people face today. It's up to us to break these perceptions while being careful to not overgeneralize and assume anything about anyone. Tough chapter!
ReplyDeleteMiriam- The reality of humanity is scary in some places for sure. It's such a shame that the people you mentioned are leaders of children! What an example to set for our future...The flip side is that we can be conscious of these realities while practicing wisdom to educate others respectfully
in addition to doing our best to accept differences as they are and embrace them!
Eric - this was a tough question to take on. I myself felt like I would be working way too hard trying not to offend myself or my readers in answering. I appreciate that you were able to articulate the issues about the differing classes and locales of white privilege and also express some personal feelings about what it means to be grouped by skin. Braver than me and well done!
ReplyDeleteIt will be helpful for me to be reminded of what folks in my classroom, be them grown of adult, may perceive about me based on their thoughts about my skin color, which in itself is complex to others. If it is assumed that I've always had it easy, that's going to be wrong; as well, if folks assume I've had a more difficult life than they have, that's also going to be wrong.
It's just going to be important for us to remember that the "helpful" classifications of people go both ways, both in favor of and against both us as teachers and our students.