And Black folks wonder why us well intentioned White folks are so confused and clueless.
I went to a African American History month seminar at work. It was very hard to keep the smirk off my face as one panel member in particular kept insisting we shouldn’t stereotype, and then telling us “the Truth about African Americans.” Her own stereotypes were much more narrow than my own are.
Exactly. What good could this possibly accomplish??
It seems to me that in general black people would do well to distrust the police. YMMV. Considering that every black person I know has gotten a DWB, regardless of their economic class, level of education, or what have you; considering the number of innocent black people who have been killed by police brutality. Not to sound histrionic-- it just makes sense to distrust an institution that doesn’t seem to have your interests at heart. I’m not, of course, saying that there aren’t good police officers; just that as an edifice the police have an extremely poor track record of protecting the civil rights of black people.
I certainly don’t disagree that it could be inappropriate.
I guess you and I have pretty drastically different outlooks on life. I would not take this kind of bullshit and open racism (anti-white racism - because that’s what you’re describing, plain and simple.) I would go straight to the principal, tell her to fuck herself, and then quit.
I’d rather be shoveling dog shit than working for schools like the ones you’ve described.
I don’t work there…I’m a completely not paid volunteer who goes to this school once a week on my own time.
I put up with it because I love the kids and I love what I do there. It doesn’t bother me to chalk up some of the parent’s reactions to me to mistrust and I move right along.
ETA: I have a full time job that I work at 5 days a week that has nothing to do with education or kids.
Why is it the principal’s fault that the parents in the community aren’t trusting of Aries?
I assume this principal OKed the Michael Vick stunt, which makes her an idiot in my book.
Just for info, since I have no idea if he knew about it or not…but the principal is a male and he was not present for the program.
In fact I have found him to be very distant from most of the activities and not very interested in anything going on at the school.
Hence, why it’s so important to me for my kids to have good role models, recognize their potential, etc. I feel like a lot of the staff at the school are just there for the paycheck.
While I’m sure there are plenty of real instances of “DWB”, part of me believes a good portion of them are all in the driver’s mind.
I’m as white as white can be and I’ve been pulled over twice for perceived traffic violations that definitely seemed like little more than an excuse for the cop to get a closer look at me. Once when I was going 57-59 in a 55 zone and once when I turned left out of a parking lot without stopping at the exit first (which is apparently illegal, even if there is no traffic coming in either direction).
I also got followed around constantly at the mall when I was a teenager.
I think it’s not “DWB”, it’s that a lot of people that have authority are complete ass holes.
Oh, god, kids like this just break your heart, don’t they? Don’t let the naysayers at the school or in this thread keep you from working with these children. Maybe you can’t save the ones that need saving, but at least you can give them one more kind, together adult who cares about them.
Just checking in to say wiki has a neat concise history on Lift every Voice and how it became what it is
I agree with the lager point made here. I just want to point out that in my 9 y.o.'s class room & from what I saw at his school at Halloween, ~90% outwardly white, Clinton Portis, Jason Campbell, T.O. , Randy/Santana Moss & Brady were the predominant heroes in that rough order for the boys … & I get that this isn’t a reflection on Ares kids, that the point was Black History Month - but just pointing out that kids don’t segregate sports heroes on racial lines if left to their own devices.
On Vick I really was at first ambivalent - he was the number 1 selling jersey the year before and I can see a little kid in the South wanting to still support him and hoping he’ll come back. I do not know the socio-economic back ground of these AA Inner city kids - but I am assuming many, many of them have relatives incarcerated for things worse than what Vick did … but I was swayed by arguments in this thread that the adults needed to Intervene and that he was an inappropriate hero to be celebrated as part of black history. I agree with it - but I did not see it as all that shocking at first blush. To be clear though - I get it and agree.
Praising Harriet Tubman, great. Making whitey the bad guy not great. Some people feel the best way to build themselves up is to knock others down.
It hardly helps matters them…if the kids are taught that white people are bad, they’ll have a harder time in life. People like the OP won’t be trusted—she gets the cold shoulder already. Luckily she doesn’t give into prejudices so easily but others would figure, ‘Ah, hell with it.’
One lesson all kids need to learn is who their friends are, and it isn’t as obvious as the skin color.
So it’s a “white thing” to be angry when lawbreaking animal abusing sadists are put in prison?
:dubious:
I guess you are out of touch.
I wonder if you’d write off Madam C.J. Walker as just some lady who sold hair goo.
Contemporary blacks to be proud of? Where were the Maya Angelous, James Van Der Zees, Robert Johnsons, Duke Ellingtons, Thurgood Marshalls, Condoleeza Rices, Colin Powells?
Today’s children need to be reminded that degree of fame isn’t always indicative of influence and success in one’s career and life. There are so many different reasons to admire people for their accomplishments. Oprah Winfrey is not only exceptionally successful at what she does, but, like Angelou, rose out of an impoverished existence to inspire many people with their particular talents and passions. Johnson and Ellington inspired countless contemporary musicians their influence is still strongly felt in music today. Van Der Zee was a gifted artist in a milieu where not many notable African Americans excelled. Thurgood Marshall, the first African American Justice of the Supreme Court, was also important for his contributions to civil rights law and criminal procedure (impacting not only generations of African Americans to follow, but all American citizens). Rice and Powell (and Obama perhaps), whether you agree with their politics, are the few blacks who have achieved successful, respected, and influential careers in politics (a traditionally white male dominated arena).
It’s not really hard to find people to admire and many reasons to admire them. Rising above meager conditions against all odds, pursuing a dream, embracing and sharing your talent or vision, working hard, contributing back to society and trying to make the world a better place in whatever way you can… that’s what makes people admirable.
As to Michael Vick, I think it’s fair to see he flushed a promising career down the toilet. Too bad, but not a whole lot to admire there.
ETA: However, Michael Vick is still young. Maybe once out of prison, he can reinvent himself and give the kids something truly to admire.
Fixed. :smack:
This too, made me almost cry. Aries28 you are a golden hero in my book.
Wow, I’ve never heard of it, and I’m on the Dope a lot, and I spent 4th and 5th grade in SE Georgia, in the late 70s.
Exactly. Jail, sports, heros, etc. all have a slightly different meaning in different cultures. I’m not African American, didn’t grow up African American, and have never been a part of an African American community. In short, next to having read a few books and what I see on TV, I know shit all about African American culture.
Every day here I am in a situation a thousand times wierder than the one you described. The other night I went to a party for visiting teachers from another school. At these parties, it’s common to invite young female students to even out the gender balance and help with things like serving drinks, etc. This is absolutely normal and nobody thinks a thing of it. Makes me wicked uncomfortable to be around all these 15 year olds dressed like prosititutes serving beer and dancing with their teachers… Another example- these watches that have Osama Bin Laden on one side and Beverly Hills 90210 on the other are pretty popular. I regularly get guys walking up to me trying to sell them to me. I’m like “Can’t you see that guy is not our friend!!!”. Especially weird considering “How horrible all Arabs are” is a pretty common topic of conversation. Or there is the women’s day holiday coming up, where for the most part women spend all day cooking for men, and may get the privledge of marching in the hot sun in front of the male important people if they are rich enough to afford special fabric for their outfits. I’ve been assigned five cakes to bake. I guess that’s par for the course, because here if it is your holiday (birthday, religious holiday, etc.) you are the one expected to give gifts.
Is this stuff inexplicable to me? Yes. Does it make me uncomfortable? All the time. However, I have a few options. One is to deal with the weirdness and figure this is all part and parcel of stepping outside of my comfort zone (and yes, from your post this school definitly seems far outside of your comfort zone.) and try to be as respectful as I can, or I could hang around dwelling on how weird it is and figuring out how I can change this stuff.
Every culture has it’s things that it needs to change. However, we arn’t the ones to change it, and “positive change” doesn’t mean “changing to closer resemble our culture”. People do the things they do for a reason, even if that reason makes no sense to you. I think you are doing an awesome thing working at this school, and I think it’s best if you focus on your work than looking at ways to get worked up about something you admit that you don’t understand.
Could the Michel Vick costume be as simple as this:
Kid has to pick a famous figure and make a costume. Oops, forgot to tell parents until the night before. But wait, we’ve got a football uniform from last season. Now … who can think of a famous black football player? Quick, the play is starting!
If you’ve got kids you’ve probably done some weird stuff like that. So, it dosen’t have to be a case of parents of children admiring Michel Vick, just takes normal everyday half-assedness. The great thing about picking comtemporary figures is that the costumes are so much easier to put together.