Don’t be so sure you’re right
Elaine Duffy,
Shakopee, MN
Thank you for the broad scope of views presented. All learning is good
I’m finally learning, I am powerful.
Alexandra Rosas,
Milwaukee, WI.
After a lifetime of wishing I could be accepted and trying to be anything except who I AM, to fit in, I am finding, my strength is in my uniqueness. #culturalworkout
Not wanting to deny my roots
Laura,
Red bank, NJ.
Let me just start by saying that racial forms are the death of me. I keep clicking back and forth between non Hispanic white and Latin American. Here’s the thing. My mom and her family are from Puerto Rico. The language and culture are very important to her but here is the thing- she doesn’t look Puerto Rican or at least stereotypically Puerto Rican. She has brown straight hair, European features and light skin. And then my dad is white. But here I am. I look white. I have white privilege and I’m certainly not going to deny that. I tell people I am half Puerto Rican and they look at me puzzled and say “really I didn’t know that” or that must be where you get your curls from!” (Even though my hair comes from my European side).
I was raised very removed from the culture. I am currently learning Spanish but I was not taught at an early age. I really wish I knew more about Puerto Rican culture but I simply don’t, I think mainly because I was raised in a white community with a white father. But nevertheless being half Puerto Rican is very important to me and my identity. I want to learn more about my Latin roots but I don’t want to be accused of cultural appropriation. So hear I am caught in a limbo between Puerto Rican and white. It makes me so sad that society keeps telling me I can’t be both.
I’m a recovering racist, still learning.
Marnie Singer,
Fremont, CA.
I used to think I wasn’t racist; but when I joined Transcendence Gospel Choir and was accepted and loved, I realized how much I still had to learn, how much I still had to UN-learn.
All white childhood, now I’m learning.
Laura Haney,
Fordland, MO
Growing up in rural MO there were no black people. I never heard a racist remark growing up, I never heard anything on the subject, period, not at home and certainly not at school. When I was a kid, (I’m 53 now) there was a black family that lived in town, briefly, Grandpa had them out to our farm, the two old men visited and I played with the kids. At the time I didn’t know how huge that was, I didn’t know that the rest of the community frowned on us, I didn’t know I was doing anything more than just playing with some kids. I remained just that naive throughout most of my life, only in the last few years have I begun to pay attention, to educate myself. Since George Floyd’s murder I have actively sought knowledge and understanding, I am learning.
My child’s not your Learning Experience.
Beth Curren,
Bethesda, MD
We are a bi-racial family and have experienced the comments of others since the day we brought our child home from the hospital. Most comments and questions have been kind, or at least well-intentioned; many others have not: people have been rude, intrusive, scornful, misinformed and self-righteous. Often the hardest moments have been when other adults have insistently questioned us, in front of our child (and often in front of their own), and clearly want to know very personal information. When we’ve tried to deflect their comments, they often say they are just curious or their children are curious, or they are trying to teach their children to be inclusive. We get it; we really do. But standing in a check-out line is not an invitation for questions and comments, especially since the only reason we are being asked, is because the composition of our family is different from theirs. Sometimes we just want to get through the produce section or the cereal aisle without this unwanted attention. And so when people persisted, often self-righteously, in plying us with questions and comments, I learned to say, “My child’s not your Learning Experience.”
Awareness: ONLY the FIRST BIG step
Yzolde Chepokas,
Eden Prairie, MN.
Going through this process of learning about race, racism, culture, multiculturalism, diversity, and so on, I have come to the conclusion that being aware of the world outside of my own world is only the beginning of this journey of supporting social justice. As this change occurs within myself it gets projected toward my environment. So many things I just didn’t know.
I am richer, because of learning.
Robin Sluzas,
Chicago, IL
I am a senior citizen. As a new college junior, I took a History of Radicalism class at the University of Illinois at Chicago not having any idea what to expect. From the moment I read Felix’s pre-Revolutionary War, Petition for Freedom, submitted to the Massachusetts General Court on January 6, 1773 requesting that slavery be abolished, my re-learning of US history began. I learned that the communication of enslaved persons’ radical abolitionist movement during the Revolutionary War era, through the US Civil War to secondary abolitionist groups, those groups who joined enslaved African Americans in the communication for emancipation to the rest of the world, was a crucial component in the abolishment of slavery in the US. Communication from all parties took many forms including but not limited to physical, artistic, written and spoken word expression. These forms of communication from enslaved and free black persons were a radical statement for human rights that places them at the vanguard of the abolitionist movement. I am richer for knowing this.
Loving another human without judgement.
Philip Harding,
Chesterfield, MO.
Let’s build communities that are strong. Let’s have dialogues. Let’s become each other, let there be empathy, learning and understanding. Break down walls, build up culture. Create. Communities where we educate our children, eat well, and build lasting bonds. Let’s make our communities racially diverse. As long as we segregate ourselves, we will have problem after problem.
Learning and living are not schooling.
Laura Reeder,
Boston, MA.
I teach teachers. I am a teacher. I am exhausted by the confusion that we perpetuate about who deserves to learn and who needs to be schooled.
Contrived for power, superiority, riches – dehumanizing.
Carol Wenger,
New Holland, PA.
As a white woman, I’ve been learning, relating, and waking up to an understanding that I’ve been complacent in my ignorance of white privilege. I seek transformation in repentance,forgiveness, and relationship building. My current questions are: what else don’t I know? What else should I do? Is forgiveness possible? Is healing and wholeness possible? How can I be part of the healing rather than part of the problem?
Child of deaf mother, hearing world.
Heather,
Fishers, IN
If you have never heard about deaf culture, please go and read about it. Growing up the oldest child of a deaf mom, I never remembered learning sign. I didn’t know we were different. I didn’t know I was loud! I still don’t know when I am being loud. I love my mom. I am so glad that I had the ability to have the experience of another culture growing up.
Race doesn’t determine my capability
Shanelle Smith,
Richmond, CA.
Aspen X
Sometimes I feel that at school, students that are non black just assume that I’m not doing as well as them or that I automatically don’t understand the material we are learning. I have also been excluded from being in groups with the “super studious” kids in my class, but I’m just as capable as doing the work as they are.
Just an average, boring white guy.
Bradley Hogan,
College Park, MD.
I’m learning to recognize privilege and want to do what I can to even the playing field
White ally to marginalized, still learning
Chelsea Gay,
Nashville, TN.
This is a good project.
Ignorance breeds isolation, learning creates community
Reva Friedman,
Overland Park, KS.
We live in our comfy, constrained, psychic silos. My mission as a teacher educator is to create opportunities for my students break down those walls and create open, safe learning communities where all are welcomed and all are celebrated.
