Race
Back when I was a little Firstie at MHC I signed up to be on the mailing lists for tons of clubs, one of them called "Debunking Whiteness," which is basically a club trying to make white people more aware of racial problems. Now I never actually went to a meeting (or a meeting for any of the other clubs for that matter . . . God, I was lazy), but no matter how much I try, I can't seem to get off of these mailing lists, so I still get all the shit about their meeting times. But there was one e-mail that caught (I almost just spelled that cought . . . my English is dying) my attention. A girl was collecting people's opinions on how other students and teachers are racist in the classroom. She posted some of them onto the club's blog, under : http://antiracismmhc.blogspot.com/
The post is called : "don't do stupid shit like this" 101
Now some of this stuff is, in my opinion, actually pretty racist and result of stupid white people being totally ignorant about the world. The first point, for example, is definitely racist. Just because you're "different," doesn't mean that you know everything about all the people who happen to be different with you. German teachers do that to me here, actually, with my Americannness and it always annoys the living shit out of me. And there's no question that the "exotic" comment is super racist . .. crazy Jojo (our school's president).
However, I do think that some of these problems do arise from "people of color" not understanding white culture very well. Like the "Where are you from?" problem that a lot of non-white people tend to run into (well, except for black people [and yes, I do say black people, because not all black people living/studying in America are American, and therefore cannot be called "African-American"], because black people "all come from Africa" . . . there are, of course, no "ethnically mixed" black people out there *rolls eyes*). What a lot of people don't understand is that white people do this TO EACH OTHER too. I've been asked by tons of white people "what I am" before. And while I'm sure there are some white people who are asking it to be rude and mean, the vast majority don't really mean anything bad by it. White people are just fascinated by the idea of having a traditional culture. It's why things like St. Patrick's Day and being "Irish" are so cool for white people, because it's a link to a traditional culture.
The language/accent thing is another perfect example. While I wasn't there for the incident and don't really know what the girl's attitude was, the idea of putting subtitles on something that is technically in your native language is not a totally foreign concept in the majority of the world. In China, for example, they always have subtitles, even though everything is technically spoken in Mandarin Chinese. In Germany, too, they put subtitles on when Austrians are speaking, just because their accents are funny. It's not about being stupid and ignorant of other cultures, it's about what you're used to and what you aren't. And watching a movie about another culture when they're speaking in a dialect/accent that this person doesn't understand is not going to help her. It takes time to get used to an accent, especially if you've never heard it before. By making her watch it without subtitles it's only going to keep her from learning about Jamaica and that helps no one.
Wow, I talked about this for a lot long than I wanted to, lol. I guess my basic point is that racism and race problems aren't just a "black and white" issue (in both senses of the meaning). There are also a lot of shades of gray. And these problems are probably never going to fully go away. No matter how much you learn about other cultures there are always going to be areas of the world that you're less familiar with than others. It's just a fact of life. You can either bitch and moan about it to the extent that you alienate the "ignorant" people around you, or be patient and try to help the people around you understand your culture, no matter what that is.
The post is called : "don't do stupid shit like this" 101
- Do not single out the only person of color (domestic or international) in the room and use her as a "representative" of a culture, race or country. This is racist.
- Just because we have an enormous international population on campus, do not conflate this with racial, or socio-economic “diversity.”
- Don't "pull a JoJo" (I saw this with my own eyes) in which you respond to a student's mentioning of her background with, "Oh, wow! How EXOTIC!" Bad word.
- Don't treat non-European people and societies as homogeneous monoliths
- Don't exoticize different countries, cultures and races (like the Hampshire hippie Indo-phile in my South Asian Studies class did). I'm not even comfortable repeating the spectacularly “Orientalist” and racist comment she made.
- Don't ask someone where someone is from in order to essentially find out why they're not white, or why they have a name that is "unpronounceable" to you.
- One girl complained in a seminar that the film we watched should have had subtitles, basically arguing that it would have been more "effective" if it catered to people who speak English with the mainstream US accent and outlook that she has. The film was about the Jamaican national debt.
- Faculty don't give a white person kudos for repeating a point a student of color just made.
- White students, don't conclude that race doesn't matter, just because it doesn't matter to you.
Now some of this stuff is, in my opinion, actually pretty racist and result of stupid white people being totally ignorant about the world. The first point, for example, is definitely racist. Just because you're "different," doesn't mean that you know everything about all the people who happen to be different with you. German teachers do that to me here, actually, with my Americannness and it always annoys the living shit out of me. And there's no question that the "exotic" comment is super racist . .. crazy Jojo (our school's president).
However, I do think that some of these problems do arise from "people of color" not understanding white culture very well. Like the "Where are you from?" problem that a lot of non-white people tend to run into (well, except for black people [and yes, I do say black people, because not all black people living/studying in America are American, and therefore cannot be called "African-American"], because black people "all come from Africa" . . . there are, of course, no "ethnically mixed" black people out there *rolls eyes*). What a lot of people don't understand is that white people do this TO EACH OTHER too. I've been asked by tons of white people "what I am" before. And while I'm sure there are some white people who are asking it to be rude and mean, the vast majority don't really mean anything bad by it. White people are just fascinated by the idea of having a traditional culture. It's why things like St. Patrick's Day and being "Irish" are so cool for white people, because it's a link to a traditional culture.
The language/accent thing is another perfect example. While I wasn't there for the incident and don't really know what the girl's attitude was, the idea of putting subtitles on something that is technically in your native language is not a totally foreign concept in the majority of the world. In China, for example, they always have subtitles, even though everything is technically spoken in Mandarin Chinese. In Germany, too, they put subtitles on when Austrians are speaking, just because their accents are funny. It's not about being stupid and ignorant of other cultures, it's about what you're used to and what you aren't. And watching a movie about another culture when they're speaking in a dialect/accent that this person doesn't understand is not going to help her. It takes time to get used to an accent, especially if you've never heard it before. By making her watch it without subtitles it's only going to keep her from learning about Jamaica and that helps no one.
Wow, I talked about this for a lot long than I wanted to, lol. I guess my basic point is that racism and race problems aren't just a "black and white" issue (in both senses of the meaning). There are also a lot of shades of gray. And these problems are probably never going to fully go away. No matter how much you learn about other cultures there are always going to be areas of the world that you're less familiar with than others. It's just a fact of life. You can either bitch and moan about it to the extent that you alienate the "ignorant" people around you, or be patient and try to help the people around you understand your culture, no matter what that is.