Dear Diary,
I made friends today!! In my performing arts class we are starting a play, Pandora. Mrs. Wallace* divided us up into groups and gave us parts. I'm 'Greek Chorus.' Its kinda like the narrator except I get to rhyme! I love rhyming. The girl who plays Pandora and the girl who plays Hope talked to me today. They started telling me a little about the other kids in our class. Like most of the girls in our class, these girls were Latino. They asked me if I speak Spanish. I told them no. They were curious about what I was. I don't blame them. Its hard to tell with my background. But they didn't seem to care that I was many types of different things. They seemed to like me. There were other kids who were like me too. In this class room, no one ever seemed to see me as weird, just different. But didn't hate me for that difference. There were African Americans and even other Asians too. At my old school, I was the only Asian. One thing i noticed was not one white kid tried to be my friend. Because there are none. I noticed the cultural majority seemed to be more outgoing. Every where I looked, there were Latinos. There are only two other Asians aside from me. Yen* and Kevin*. Both are so quiet that sometimes I wonder if they speak English. I felt so guilty because I felt like I was judging them. Turns out they did speak English.
This reminds me of a movie I saw once called 'The Color of Friendship.' I grew up around many white people. I was either accepted everywhere or no where. Depending....but today I felt white. Not because I was secluded because my new friends are so nice to me but because I thought all Asians would be the same. And all the Latinos and African Americans. But they're not. They are all different. The color of friendship is about the friendship between an African American who lives a nice life in Washington D. C. and a white girl from racist South Africa. They learned alot. So did I. I learned that my new school is a fun and colorful coloring book!
Signed,
Me!
I realized our house is on fire (in the words of Johnson). Just like the white girl in Africa who didn't see what was happening in her own country, Americans don't see what is happening. I walked into a school with a 5% white population (provided by Info works) and was shocked to see the minority being the majority. In a society governed by white privilege, continual segregation is not a good pathway to take. Johnson said in just a few years the majority will be the minority race. Seeing my assigned school....I must agree, I believe it!
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That last part was suppose to be italicized
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you feel comfortable in the class that you're in. It sounds like your class, and play, are going to be very fun.
ReplyDeleteYour connections to the movie, "The Color of Friendship" and to Johnson are good connections to make. In the movie, the south americans had complete intolerance of African Americans. They're house was burning to a crisp. The United States was like that at one point, now our House is on Fire, and I do believe that this fire can be put out. It will take many many generations, but I do believe it can be accomplished as long as people raise an awareness of the situation. This situation is privilege verses oppression. People who are minorities tend to not be privileged while whites tend to be the privileged.
This can be related to Delpit's "5 Aspects of Power," especially number 5 which says that "Those with power are frequently less aware of--or least willing to acknowledge--it's existence. Those with less power are often most aware of it's existence." However, that will hold true until people follow through with Johnson's idea of giving knowledge to those who are ignorant to the privilege vs. oppression issue.
Sometimes being the only African American in the class makes me feel like an outsider. I have learn to be free of bias. During my service placement I met another student from Brown University and she was a white South African. Some of the children in the classroom were confused, she has to tell them that South African have both white and black just as America.
ReplyDeleteSometimes being different is not bad, it is a way of educating people about your culture. The "Color of Friendship" is a good example. I sure the Senator was not expecting to see a white student nor was the student was expecting a black family, at the end of the movie they worked out their differences and learn from each other.
According to Johnson our house is still on fire. People are still being judged. by the color of their skin. Our schools are now segregated by economic and social status. Low income families have no choice but to send their children to school with little funding, and most parents have to do two jobs just to make ends meet. Most teachers do take the time to learn about the home life or cultural background of their students. This is a powerful tool that can help a child succeed. Teacher forget that they are the power broker, they can teach their students to succeed within the culture of power.
Connecting this to Johnson was a great idea! I also think your connection to the movie was great! The movie is a great example of privilege, and also a great connection to "our house is on fire". Many of the people who have privilege are very unaware of it. This makes me think of Lisa Delpit's aspect of power.
ReplyDeleteI think that maybe you should talk to Kevin* and Yen*. Maybe they do not talk because people do not talk to them. I do not think wondering about their backgrounds is judging them, I think you are trying to learn about them and thats what a good teacher should do!!!