The above are pictures of the Wal-mart logo (left), and our new president of the United States as of November 4th, Barack Obama (right). They will be explained in the progression of the following story:
So the other night I was in the irreplaceable, superior, hot spot we all know and love as Wal-Mart. As I was waiting in the check-out line, I overheard my soon-to-be cashier ask the customers ( a couple) in front of me if they voted. The woman, about 65 years old, said yes. Then the cashier asked if they thought the outcome (or the results) was good. In other words, (whether the cashier intended it or not), that's basically another, more sly way of asking who they voted for. The woman again piped up and said "No [the outcome was not good]". Without any further prompting from the cashier, she added on "We don't need no colored people as our president". At this point, I had a sort of "Oh no she didn't" reaction in my head. I went from an outsider, accidentally overhearing a casual conversation, to an outraged citizen that could not help but get involved. And I did. Well, it was partly thanks to her. This woman, after saying that, after the cashier said nothing in response, looked over at me who yes, had a gaping jaw still stunned at her words. She said "Sorry", but I knew they were merely words. She may have been sorry for hurting me in whatever way she did, but I knew she was not sorry for what she had said and meant. She still stood by it proudly and I could tell. Also, I felt like if I had been African-American, she would not have even been sorry for offending me. (She didn't even check before she said it! Ahhhh. So careless.) Not wanting to say "it's okay" in response to her "sorry", since it very much was not okay, I instead asked her a question. I asked "what makes you think that?" She didn't hear me the first time, so I asked again. She tripped over her words, stumbled, hesitated, said "ummm..errr...uh...well..." for about a minute. She finally stuttered out something about how "us southern states" ...and about the way things have been. So basically..she had absolutely no good reason.
I was about to give her a piece of my mind, and tell her that people of a different skin tone are no less competent than anyone else. Before I could respond to her answer (or lack thereof) to what made her say that, she changed the subject. "And he's muslim too", she said. "No he's not", I responded. "What's your source?". She went on to say that he has a muslim background and once you're in a muslim family, it's really hard to get out of it. I told her that he professes the Christian faith and attends a Christian church. She then went on to bring up his controversial pastor, (Jeremiah Wright-p.s. is she not doing the exact same thing he was?) and said that when someone goes to a church for 20 years, it means something...She also said that she's read Revelation and it "doesn't look good for him". Wow. I again said "He's not Muslim", and then she followed up with "Oh, I take it you're a Muslim then". I told her no, I am a Christian, and the last thing she said to me was "Oh me too. I'm a Baptist". Priceless. I could (and should) have gone "WWJD" or crazy rapidfire Bible verse on her, but I didn't. I was too shocked to even think. So she got away.
I was so flabbergasted, I could hardly check out my groceries. I mean, I knew there were still racist people in America around there somewhere. I had seen the confederate flags on trucks or in yards, I heard stories about people yelling things at crosswalks and in places. I believed that racist people still existed. I had no idea though, that they are so close to us, so in our midst, and that they are to empty when it comes to reasons to be racist.
Here's the thing, too. I'm not African American. I'm not a democrat. I didn't even vote for Obama! But oh my goodness, I would stand up for any of those people in the blink of an eye. I am an American, and these things are exactly what people fought and died for-the civil rights, equality. I felt so passionate and enthralled to proudly defend African Americans, because I have first-handedly seen their talented achievements, and brilliant successes. I have seen them prove to me daily that they are just as "good", or "bad" as any other race. There is so much that I didn't say that I wanted to. I should have gone back to her first comment about "colored people as president". I should have used her own claimed faith to contradict her prejudices. I wanted to tell her that I am ashamed to call her an American, and if she has ever felt inferior as a woman, she is projecting that exact same mindless, meaningless feeling on someone else now. I wanted to deny her the right to ever vote again. But you know what stopped me? This feeling, a thought in the back of my head, telling me to respect her. I didn't know this woman, she was my elder...and I told myself not to make a scene, not to embarrass myself. But I so wish I had. There are a lot of things I regret about that instance, things I thought of later that I didn't say....but I am glad that I spoke up somehow. I am also glad that I asked her questions. Perhaps I was not harsh enough with her, and some people I know would ask me why I didn't bluntly say "you're wrong!". I do believe though that if someone is asked why they believe something (Socratic method?), they are really tested to prove the strength and legitimacy of that belief right then and there. And often, it is more effective for a person to be shown their wrongness through their lack of ability to answer a question, than to be yelled at by someone of an opposite viewpoint. We are a lot kinder to ourselves as teachers with uncomfortable lessons than to others.
Okay, so not to get too terribly sidetracked here, I have since this experience, opened my eyes to the prevalence of racism that still exists today. It really is unbelievable, and unacceptable. But at the same time, I bet that woman was taught that by her parents, and it was a learned behavior. I assume this since she had no reason to believe the things she did. It scares me to think I might have children in my classes with parents or grandparents like that. After all, that woman was an elementary student one day. What could a teacher have done to intercede her corrupted thinking, that perhaps could have changed her entire outlook even to this day? I want to teach my students that racism is pointless and empty, without just saying it in words. I think I have a pretty good idea of how I will prove it to them without them even realizing it in advance. That's my favorite kind of learning, because the students can't help it. They couldn't prevent it if they wanted to.
There was an experiment conducted by a teacher named Jane Elliot, that I learned about it in psychology class. This woman taught all-white 3rd and 4th graders (I think it could work up to 5th grade). It was 1968 and she was struggling with how to teach them the lesson of racial equality. Elliot decided to do it like this: by separating the class based on their eye color. She divided them into blue eyes and brown eyes (the students with a color besides those two watched from the sidelines). She informed the class that the blue eyed children were smarter, more hardworking, and more successful than the brown eyed children. She said that the brown eyed students were lazy and unintelligent. For a couple of days, she denied the brown eyed children recess privileges, or access to the same water fountain as the blue eyed children. The brown eyed children even had to wear a ribbon to identify them (like the Holocaust & Jewish star). In class, Elliot would call on the blue eyed students more, and affirm them for their good work while rarely acknowledging the brown eyed students. Blue eyed children's grades sky-rockedted while the best of students with brown eyes dropped dramatically in achievement. The blue eyed children became more cocky and acted superior. A couple of days later, after the roles had been absorbed, Elliot told the class that she accidentally got it wrong and really the blue eyes were lesser and the brown eyes were superior. The kids bought it, the roles switched, and this way all the children got to understand how both positions felt. After a couple more days of this, she explained with the students the underlying purpose. The students totally soaked it up and "got it" completely. Even in a time when their parents would have been completely prejudiced against African-Americans, because of this simple experiment, these students were brave enough to believe in equality and to know exactly why! Elliot's activity really was transformative; the children from her class are interviewed today and say they were forever changed by that.
Here is a website with more information on here. Click here.
I'm not even sure if that would be legal for me to do in the public school system today, but let me tell you...I might be tempted to do it anyway! Or to modify a version of my own and try it. This humongous life lesson really is elementary. It needs to be taught in the first few years of education. Otherwise, it will cripple a person's thinking for their entire life. I feel like as a teacher, I am partly responsible for spreading truth against such harsh and painful lies. It is my job to stand up for truth, for the sake of people like the woman in Wal-Mart, for the minorities that are judged, and for any unjust situation in the whole world. Teaching is so not about me. It is so much bigger than the words on a page, and I am only beginning to realize all that it entails. Buckle your seatbelts, ladies & gents! Yikes & Wahoo!
No comments:
Post a Comment