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I open my mouth and take a huge bite of a Farmer’s Burger from the Brick House in Housatonic. Crispy bacon, and fried egg, and beef, (aka all things delicious) this burger is my go to meal every time I eat at the Brick House. Now I am NOT a vegetarian. The thought of fully giving up meat is almost comical. However, as much as I love greasy, crispy bacon, and juicy hamburgers, I love our beautiful planet more.
If cows were their own country, they would be the third biggest greenhouse gas emitter in the world. Cows are ruminants. This means that their stomachs digest food by fermenting it. This produces methane which is released into the atmosphere when cows burp. In short, cows are ruining the environment, and we are helping them to do it. Now cows and other livestock have to be fed something. Usually they are fed corn, soybean meal and other grains which use a lot of fertilizers, fuel, pesticides and land. The fertilizers are made with a greenhouse gas called nitrous oxide, a gas that is way more potent than carbon dioxide. The land is taken from cutting down trees. Huge forests like the Amazon are really suffering. The Amazon Rainforest is a huge carbon sink, this means that carbon put into the air is absorbed by the forest and the forest also cools global temperatures down. However, rates of deforestation have been rising. Unless stopped, deforestation could turn the rainforest into a desert and more than 50 billion tons of carbon would be released into the atmosphere in 30 to 50 years. Now stop to think about that. In 50 years the global population will be an estimated 10 billion. That means every person in the world is producing about 5 tons of carbon per year. That’s approximately 27 pounds of carbon, per person, per DAY. That is an insane amount and if we don’t reduce this amount of carbon, it will only worsen the climate problem. Those 27 pounds of carbon are in part from all the meat we eat. Places like Germany have very meat heavy diets, yet the U.S. eats 40-50% more per person. We have large portions with restaurants advertising amounts of meat that are unhealthy for one person to consume. Humans need protein, but we don’t need to get it all from meat. There are a lot of ways that we can get the protein we need without eating beef. Quinoa, mushrooms, cottage cheese, chickpeas, and lentils are all meat replacements. If you are looking for a meat substitute that tastes more like meat, Quorn, Soyrizo, seitan, jackfruit, and Beyond Meat are all pretty good choices that mimic the taste of meat. You would think that changing your diet is a small thing, and that it won’t change much, but it really does. At the current rate we are eating meat, scientists think that meat production will have doubled by 2050, bringing it to about 1.2 trillion pounds per year. For that much meat we will need to cut down more trees to make more space for all the animals. Scientists also estimate that by 2050, much of our carbon budget will be used just to feed everyone. Researchers predict that if Earth’s biggest meat eaters limit their consumption to the equivalent of 1.5 hamburgers a week, the planet could support 10 million people without turning any more forests into farm lands. Eating too much meat can also lead to heart disease, and obesity so it’s better for human health if we cut back on our meat intake. We can also work to support local, organic, farmers with grass fed cows. This also helps the local economy, as well as helping out a farmer close to you. Another possible solution is that farmers make their cows more “climate friendly.” They would do this by changing their cows diets. Including ingredients such as seaweed in their feed could help reduce cows’ methane emissions by almost 50%. Earth is an awesome place to live, and I want my grandkids to be able to experience it. I love the blue skies, the trees, grass, living in a place that has four distinct seasons, the sun, the rain, the beach, the lakes. I love our planet. And so, along with anyone else out there who wants our grandkids to have a shot at experiencing the outdoors, I am going to be limiting my meat consumption. My family and I are going to be pulling our vegetarian cookbook off the shelf more, and when we buy meat, it will be from North Plain farm, 5 minutes down the road from our house. We are going to make a difference. For the past two months in ELA, the eighth grade has been learning about how to be anti-racist. We have watched videos from the New York times, taken implicit bias tests, read This Book is Anti-Rascist, and Stamped. We have read interviews, written responses and discussed vocabulary. This unit has changed how I think about my whiteness, and shown me how I have so many different experiences as a member of the dominant culture, then I would if I was a different race. I have learned from this unit that I have to speak out, and if we want to end racism, we have to work together. This is my essay on our unit.
The video “A Conversation With Black Women on Race” struck me as a perfect video to do my final project on. This video from the New York Times really stood out to me throughout our anti racism unit. In the video, several Black women were being interviewed on the intersectionality of being a Black woman. They explained what it was like to feel attacked from multiple sides of their identities. Each woman shared her experiences, and many of them had a similar underlying thread of the feeling that the world is not always kind to them. One part of the video that really stood out to me was when the woman in the orange shirt was talking. She was sharing an experience she had when she had been marginalized. One day when she was at a hotel she was staying at, two uniformed security guards came into the hotel and started asking her questions. “Are you staying in this hotel, what room?” etc. By doing this, the security guard was making, and acting on, the assumption that a Black woman could not possibly be staying at a nice hotel. The woman became very upset. Why was she being targeted? She was a paying guest, and was there for a justice conference, but was being treated like a criminal. Like she didn’t belong. It wasn’t until a white colleague was brought in that they were able to get an official response from the hotel. The idea that because the woman was Black, she couldn’t be staying in the hotel is a ridiculous assumption based on bias. Another part of the video that stood out to me was when one woman was talking about how her father shaded in all of the characters in her books as a toddler, so they had brown skin. To me this is sad. It’s sweet that the dad wants his little girl to grow up having a media representation of people who look like her, but why should he have to do that? Almost every fairy tale princess is white. Why is that? Why is there one race that is superior to others? Little boys and girls should have diverse role models. There was another woman in the video who was talking about how if she had a daughter she would tell her that she was intelligent and beautiful all the time, because she feels like in the media we don’t hear that enough. It’s unfair that the media only represents one group of people when in the world, there are so many more types of beauty than the beauty standards we have today. One other part of the video that stood out to me was when the woman was talking about her chorus concert. The chorus was mostly white girls, and for the play they were doing they got beautiful curled hair. However, The Black girls in the play got a lumpy blob sort of hair style. The woman from the video said that she had confronted the costumer and she had said “Oh well your hair can’t do that.” She had never even bothered to ask. In this situation, the woman from the video had no agency. She had no choice but to do what the costume designer said, even though that style wasn’t as pretty as the other girls. As a performer, I understand the need to feel like you look good. It’s not fair to the Black girls in the play that they had to feel othered. Like they were different and ugly. I thought that the video A Conversation with Black Women on Race was a very thought provoking video. It made me realize how different my life is because of my skin color. I would encourage others to watch this video. I realize that I will never fully understand, but I hope through the media, and interviews I can better educate myself on how to be anti-racist. The interview with Danelle from the book Tell me Who you are, also stood out to me when I was looking for an interview to write about. Danelle is a multiracial woman who is a part of the Dine, Navajo tribe. Growing up she felt different from the others on her reservation. Navajo was the one part of her race she was sure about as a kid, and even then, others on her reservation would try to delegitimize her identity. She explains in her interview how now she has come to realize that being Black and Navajo is a beautiful thing, but getting there was difficult with so many people trying to tell her who she was. The vocabulary word internalized racism seemed like a perfect word to connect to Danelle’s story. In the interview Danelle talks about how even though she spent her whole life on the reservation people would look at her with uncertainty and tell her “You don’t look like a Navajo.” Even though in her eyes, Danelle is just Navajo, people were questioning her identity because of how her skin looked. Danelle is African American, but she didn’t find that out until later in her life. People on the reservation would hold their arms up to hers and say “Wow you’re much darker than me” like it was a bad thing. These microaggressions made Danelle doubt herself. Asking pointed questions, and making comments such as these made Danelle feel like she wasn’t one whole race. They made her feel like because she was half of something, she wasn’t good enough. When people make hurtful comments about race like that, those are examples of overt racism. The kids weren’t trying to hide that they thought darker skin was bad. Danelle says that she didn’t feel like she had a place to fit. There were other mixed race kids on the reservation but their skin was much lighter than hers and wasn’t a noticeable difference. She also says “I felt ostracized from everyone else. Being left out because of your skin color makes me sad. Danelle is a Navajo. She was born and raised on the reservation just like the other kids. Just because she is one thing doesn’t mean she can’t be something else. Danelle says now that she has accepted and learned to love her ethnicity. She says “The melanin in your body is just as beautiful as the curls in your hair.” She also says that she’s proud to be able to speak Navajo. However growing up she should have been accepted too. She shouldn’t only feel welcome now, now that she has a label for the different parts of her ethnicity. This interview made me feel uncomfortable and sad. It’s saddening that Danelle, as a child, felt excluded because she was part of another race along with Navajo. I’m glad that she came to the conclusion that she is beautiful as an adult, but I don’t think that she should have had to wait until an adult to find that beauty. It’s unfortunate that Danelle’s tribe weren’t more welcoming to her, even though their acts may have been through implicit bias rather than them consciously thinking about race. To be anti-racist means to be kind. To be patient. To listen. To like Black people and Brown people and white people, and to not like other Black people and Brown people and white people. It means to see past the color of people’s skin, and like or dislike people based on their personality. To enjoy peoples’ company regardless of their race. To not like people because you are trying to fill a quota of diverse people, but keeping your mind open and finding people whose company you enjoy. Assimilationist is someone who is trying to change you to make you better. They think that certain races aren’t good enough so they say things like “If you straighten your hair then you would fit in better.” Or other things that suggest that if people give up who they are and try to be more like the dominant culture then they’ll be better. They usually believe that they are doing good and genuinely helping. Segregationists believe that people of different races shouldn’t hang out with each other, go to school together, or shop at the same stores. They believe that we should be separated based on our race. The race with which I identify is white. I am a European American. My mom is from the US, my dad from England. I was born in England and moved to the US when I was less than a year old. All of our ancestors are European. Before this unit I didn’t think about my race. Pretty much ever. I realize that that is a privilege that unfortunately not everyone can share. I know that there are people who have a constant consciousness of their race. For a lot of people this is not a voluntary consciousness, it’s something that is forced upon them by our upside down society. I think that since this unit, I have become more aware of the fact that I have this privilege as a white person. I now realize that being white has a complicated history. There were and are some white people who did some really crappy stuff. I’m not proud to be white, but I’m hoping that in my life I will be able to do enough to prove that I’m not a horrible person. I have become more aware of the fact that being white can be whatever I make it, and I need to use it to help people who maybe don’t have as much agency as I do. This unit was meaningful to me because it taught me a lot about myself, and a lot about how different my life would be if I looked different. Race has never been a problem for me. I am part of the dominant culture because I am white. I really am glad that I got to learn about all the people who go through so much because of their race or ethnicity. It really humbled me and showed me how little I know, and how different my life experiences would have been if I was different. It was really good that we learned a lot of the terms from TBIAR. I feel like as our culture progresses and more people start talking about their experiences with race, or gender, or sexuality, we need to have the vocabulary to understand and contribute to those conversations I feel this unit came at a really good time, especially because middle school is when everyone is figuring themselves out. This unit also made me think a lot about racism. We are taught that racists are white men in white robes. Period end of story. This unit made me think about my own implicit bias, and the implicit biases of our American culture in general. My goal is that some time soon I will be able to take any of those Harvard implicit bias tests and say that I have no preference. I think that this unit should absolutely be offered to next year’s eighth graders. It is a really important unit and I hope they get as much out of it as I did. Throughout the unit, The New York Times Project Implicit videos really stuck with me. The Project Implicit team of experts speak about implicit bias and how biases can be formed. Implicit bias can be simply described as a subconscious bias that you may have against someone or something without even completely realizing it. This video series and concept made me question my biases and if I am a racist. I quickly figured out that everyone has implicit biases and that implicit bias is not the same as racism. As expert Calvin Lai said in the video “the word racist is a highly loaded term here in American society.” In the video the Project Implicit crew went into more depth about how implicit biases can be formed.
Dolly Chugh, an expert on bias from New York University said that biases “can be based off of media, news, conversation, education.” Chugh also compared implicit bias “to a fog” that we are all constantly breathing in; Chugh said “that fog leads to associations that lead to biases.” These biases can be based off of race, gender, religion, sex, or just based off of popular stereotypes portrayed in the media. An example of a stereotype is that Black dads are not present in their children’s lives. As we learn in Ronnie B.’s story from Tell Me Who You Are, black dads are actually the most involved. The idea that Black dads are absent in their children’s lives is a crazy stereotype with no basis that is over-represented in television and media. Ronnie also shared that his father is in prison for just loosely fitting the profile of stealing a cellphone. The witness even said that the thief may have been White. Ronnie’s father was most likely seen as a suspect because of the stereotype that Black men are violent criminals. This stereotype most likely caused an implicit bias among the police officers that caused them to pursue Ronnie’s father as a suspect. After hearing Ronnie’s story with the previous knowledge of implicit bias from the NY Times series, I felt upset with the police and culture in America. The part of Ronnie’s story that saddens me the most is that Ronnie has an excellent father, and he does not get to be with him because his father is in prison for loosely fitting a profile. It is absurd to me that there is a stereotype of Black dads not being present in their children’s lives while the police are actively putting those same fathers in prison for being Black. African Americans are incarcerated at five times the rate of White people in the United States. It is completely unfair to put people in prison and then claim they are bad fathers because they cannot be present due to being placed in prisons unjustly. As I learned more about race, I also learned about racism. I learned about racism’s negative effect on society. This made me wonder what the opposite of racism was. I soon learned that the opposite of racism is anti-racism. Being an anti-racist does not just mean not being racist. Being an anti-racist means to not only not be racist, but to also actively combat racism through protest and activism as well as trying to use your resources to help fight for equality. An example of anti-racism is the NAACP(National Association for the Advancement of Colored People). The NAACP’s mission is to “secure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights in order to eliminate race-based discrimination and ensure the health and well-being of all persons.” Racism cannot be completely destroyed by our actions due to racism being part of a greater system that has been used in the U.S. forever, but we can do everything in our power to work towards complete equality. After watching the video from Hyphen-Nation about Bakari really made me realize even more ways that African Americans are treated. Bakari says that he is in the car with a white female driving, and they get pulled over and the police go straight to his window and did not even ask the driver for anything. They asked for his ID to see if he had any warrants or if there is anything to make him look bad. He stated that people approach him in unfair ways because of his skin color and coming back from seeing his family in Iran.
The police were being very stereotypical and judged him off of his looks and where he has family from, even though he was born in the United States and is an American citizen. They were asking him questions that made him feel uncomfortable and he was confused why they were asking these things because of his race. The police officer was being unfair. The police officer was an assimilationist. The police officer should not have just walked up to his window and started talking to him just because he was in a car and had no proof of anything he's ever done wrong. And this shows racial inequalities and the fact that the police officer was found incorrect and it was honestly embarrassing for the police because he was just very stereotypical. If the police officer was an assimilationist, that does not mean that they are a bad person. I think it means that they made poor decisions and unfair judgements Which is why this video stuck with me. I hate to see how the world is unfair and why people have to say unneeded things to people with such negative feelings. This could have been a microaggression to Bakari, and made him feel like he wasn't good enough to be in the United States even though he is a wealthy good working american citizen. This unit was meaningful to me because it showed me how people around the world treat people of color differently than they would from a white person. Which is very hard to look at and realized that this is what our world has turned into. It has also shown me that there are ways a number of people can change, But. There are also some people who don't believe in change, and people who will stay the same because their beliefs are different than others and that because they have a different colored skin that they are better than others which is not true and if people are going to believe that then this world is going to get more messed up. In my opinion I believe that this should be offered next year so kids who haven't got any understanding of racism and how other people around the world of color are being treated, and how hurtful this can mean to people of color who get treated with disrespect like they are different from us just because the color of their skin which does not identify a person. People need to learn and be educated about this. The interview TMWYA: Lita stuck out to me. It sticks out because I haven’t really witnessed pure racism, but the fact that college students host no black girl parties astonishes me. It's amazing- and not in a good way- how much power the dominant culture has. I feel as though people forget to put themselves in the shoes of the minority. Lita’s boyfriend Jay, as she described, has been marginalized on multiple occasions as well, so much so as to the point where he gets excited when a white person talks to him, because they usually marginalize him. They do this because of common stereotypes. To put someone in a stereotype is to put someone in a category based on common or personal observations. Think of the common phrase ‘Don’t judge a book by its cover’. The amount of privilege that the dominant culture has is too much, and a sum of them think that it's alright to put themselves above others. Everyone should have equal power and an equal amount of choice as to what happens around them. There is no scientific evidence that proves that the minority has less power. A common mistake made by anyone is making a microaggression. A microaggression is when you make a hurtful statement that you may not know that you are making. Sometimes these are powered by common stereotypes, although sometimes they are completely by mistake. I believe that people (whether they know they are doing it or not) should be informed about why the said statement is wrong.
Reflections by Ella In Wendy’s Hyphen-Nation video, Wendy, a woman with Chinese roots, tells the viewer about how in her middle school, there was one other Chinese boy in her grade. People would often say things such as “oh, they’re going to get married someday” most likely as a joke. Of course, Wendy didn’t find it very amusing. “And, it was someone playing a joke, but I remember feeling like, I have this huge set of friends, and they’re all great and everything, but there's always going to be that one thing that sets me apart, and that’s the way I look, and it’s my culture.” She realized that although she is an American, and although she has all these friends, she will never be treated exactly like them, and the only reason for that being her appearance. “ The feeling- the feeling of being not a hundred percent American, it’s sad, y’know, because I am. Born and raised here. So, why should I feel that way? But it’s literally because of the way I look.” In Sierra’s video, Sierra describes how when she was in college she did an international internship program, which meant there were lots of different people from different places who were also there. Sometimes they would all get together to meet one another and be able to talk. One time, she was talking to a couple of girls who were from Poland and when she told them she was American, they immediately said, “no you’re not”. They then pointed to some girls who were tall, blonde, and from California and said, “those girls are American.” “And I was just like- my heart sunk, because I’ve never had anyone try to hurt my feelings in that way, but also to try and deny my identity so to my face. Being an American is something that I love and I incredibly value, and to have someone try to take that away from me was just like- it was jarring.” Though Wendy and Sierra’s experiences may seem rather different, they both have things in common. Such as how they both faced cases of stereotyping. A common, oversimplified view or image of something, someone, etc. Wendy because people thought of her and the other boy getting together simply because they shared the same ethnicity, and Sierra because the group of girls decided that she couldn’t possibly be American because her skin was too dark to fit into their social construction, their idea created by society, made of Hollywood exports, which shaped their views of what an American is. They also both faced microaggressions, a comment that may or may not have had bad intentions, but is subtly racist. The girls from Poland probably didn’t realize that their quick conclusion was harmful, and as stated before, the people in Wendy’s middle school were simply joking about her and the boy. However, this doesn’t change the fact that these jokes were built up on no other factor than their race, a socially constructed term that is used to divide people into groups based on nothing more than their physical qualities. The things that made me most interested in these two videos would have to be how blatantly Sierra was denied the fact that she was American, and how clear Wendy made it that she feels like, because of her race, she will never entirely fit in amongst her friends. Despite how sad and angry I am because things like these happen, and will likely continue to happen even into the future, I can’t say I can relate to these stories. I’ve never had anyone tell me that I’m not something just because of the way I look, and I’ve never had anyone target me because of my race. I’ve also never really thought about how American exports affect how other countries view us, such as the movies and advertisements that were made here. I think it’s very important to have this unit in 8th grade, and I think that it should definitely be taught to next year’s 8th graders as well because it’s an important topic and showcases a real problem in our world which is very much still going on today, and will likely continue to go on, which is why it’s important to learn about it. So we can know the problem when we see it, and stop it once we do. *I am not Black. I do not know what it is like to be a Black man in America. This is my interpretation of the experiences the Black men shared.* In the video “A Conversation About Growing-Up Black” a handful of young Black men shared their views of race, experiences with racism, and who they are/want to be. In the video “A Conversation About Race with White People” a handful of White people shared their views on what they think race means and what their race means to them. The views of race are drastically different in the two videos. (n)Race. By definition: Each of the major groupings into which humankind is considered to be divided on the basis of physical characteristics or shared ancestry. R-A-C-E. Four very simple letters making one very complex word. In the video “A Conversation About Race with White People” they asked people what race meant to them. The first woman said race was not something she talked about and it made her uncomfortable. Another man said he didn’t want to offend anyone if he talked about it. “Talking about race is especially hard for White people because we don’t want to see the racism we may be holding on to,” explained the last woman. Overall none of the people in this video thought about their race on a daily basis. The White people in this video have the privilege not to think about their race. “As a Black man, we literally don’t feel free. We don’t know what freedom is.” Said Shaquell, a 22-year-old Black man. As White people, we do have the privilege to know what freedom feels like. Twenty-five-year-old Marvin shared a story about how he has experienced people’s implicit biases. He explained how he got to the point that he started counting how many times a woman would grab her purse when she walked by him. This microaggression showed her implicit bias. She reacted like he was a criminal that was going to steal her purse. The stereotype of a Black man is that he is dangerous and is in a gang. Marvin was once told by his teacher that he should take off his wrist band because it looked gang-affiliated. Another man, Bisa, explained that he always walked tall with his head up and tried to be as articulate as possible. He did this so he would not fit the typical Black stereotype. He doesn’t want people to preserve him as dangerous. At the end of the video “A Conversation About Growing Up Black,” the boys explain what they would like to tell other people. This part of the video stuck out to me the most. One of the boys, Maddox, said that he wanted to tell people that he “wasn’t going to hurt them or do anything bad.” Maddox is only ten-years-old and he is already worried that people will be scared of him because he is Black. When I was ten, I was worried if my shirt matched my pants. Another part of the video that stuck out to me was when Jumoke asked “How can I not be afraid (of cops) when I feel like I’m being hunted when I feel like I’m there to fill a quota?” We are told that we can always trust the cops and they are there to protect us. For many Black people, this is not the case. This unit was very educational for me. There is currently a lot of talk about race, implicit biases, and privilege. It is very helpful to know not only the definition of a word but the importance of it. I now feel I can have conversations about race, ethnicity, or sexual orientation without feeling uncomfortable or afraid that I will use the wrong vocabulary. I think they should offer this unit next year. Teaching kids about these things will help them be more accepting and empathetic. It may also help them become more comfortable talking about this subject. I would like to learn more about trans people and less common parts of the LGBTQ+ community. The term anti-racist can have a different meaning for different people. What anti-racist means to me is that you are not only against racism but actively trying to end it. “Actively” trying to end it can be posting on social media or going to protests. Sending letters to state/government officials is another way you can actively try and end racism. Doing little things such as correcting someone if they used a derogatory term or pointing out that something is racist. Before you do any of this, you should try and find your own implicit bias and try to correct them. The race I identify with is White. I do not think about my race very often; I have the privilege not to. My race helps me in ways I never think about. It helps me have a chance at a good education. It allows me to be able to call the police if I need to without being scared. Being White is an advantage I didn’t realize I had until I looked at the experiences of people who aren’t White. I live in a predominantly White town. Because of this, I have not witnessed a lot of racism or police brutality. This unit opened my eyes to all of these different experiences. By Megan In the video titled “A Conversation About Growing up Black”, it features several young Black boys of different ages and backgrounds. They talk about how they’ve been singled out and treated differently by people around them because of their race. Some examples include a teacher telling their Black student to take off their sweatband from their wrist because “..it looks gang affiliated.” There’s a similar theme in the “Tell Me Who You Are” interview book by Winona Guo and Priya Vulchi about a Black man named Ronnie. In his interview, he tells the story about how his father was arrested for a crime that he didn’t commit but since he is Black, he was still punished for the crime. These two interviews show that due to someone being a POC, they will be judged and treated unfairly by society. I believe that in the video “A Conversation About Growing up Black”, they were marginalized because of their race. All of the boys in the video are Black and because of that, they have been treated as if they are lesser than their white peers. These boys feel as though they need to take certain precautions and take actions that non-POC would never have to think about doing. With Ronnie’s case, I think his dad was shown prejudice because he is Black. When Ronnie’s father was arrested, the reason was because he fit the description of a light-skinned male that stole a cellphone. The witness even said that the robber could have been White but his dad was still arrested and charged. I believe this happened because of the systemic racism that is built into the justice system and the stereotype that Black people are more likely to commit crime. This proves that white people have privilege over Black people and POC because our society was built to benefit white people which is not only terrible, but is a very hard thing to stop/reverse. I believe the first step to try and end racism is to begin with being anti-racist. There is a significant difference when it comes to being “not racist” and anti-racist. Being not racist basically means that someone doesn’t do or say anything racist/they don’t have prejudice against POC. This simply is not enough because if people like this turn a blind eye to racism, it will continue. We need people to be anti-racist so that they can fight against racism and educate others on how to help which eventually will end racism. For example, when a white person says that they’re not racist, that may sound good, but in reality they are wasting their privilege. When I say this I mean white people have white privilege and because of that, it’s easier for them to voice their opinion and be heard by others. This is relevant because if white people would fight against racism, more people may listen to what they’re saying and join them. It’s also relevant because it helps POC whose voices may not be heard or taken into consideration. Most people don’t know what an assimilationist or a segregationist is or what the difference is between them. They are similar in the way where they believe that POC are oppressed because they have done something wrong. The difference is that an assimilationist thinks that these minorities can change for the better to become equal whereas a segregationist believes that POC cannot change and will never be equal to white people. An example of an assimilationist is if a person believes the stereotype that Black people are lazy but believes that if they change, that they can be equal to others. A segregationist would believe the stereotype but they would think that Black people couldn’t change or ever be equal. Both views are racist and wrong and I believe it’s important that people see why. After seeing the video and reading the interview I was upset, angry and I still am. It’s extremely sad that POC are mistreated and judged all because of their skin color, something they are born with and can’t change. It makes me that much more motivated to fight against racism and educate people about it. With me being white, I have never had to experience what these people deal with everyday and some people don’t even know it’s still happening or they just turn a blind eye to it. I think it’s extremely important that people wake up and acknowledge that racism is still a thing, or else we will never be able to end it. Everyone is equal but we CANNOT say ‘all lives matter’ until Black lives and all other oppressed groups are seen as equal.
Vocabulary Definitions: Marginalized: “To be on the outside of the imaginary box of the dominant culture and treated as if you are insignificant and inferior. Marginalization is the purposeful dis-empowerment of folks that denies access to resources and power.” Race: “A socially constructed term that divides folks up based on their skin color and physical characteristics; it is not based on scientific fact and is not grounded in genetics.” Prejudice: “Preconceived opinion that is not based on reason or actual experience” By Ava The following essay is a reflection on an Anti-Racism unit in gr. 8, with Ms. Galdos-Shapiro. Her students allowed us to publish their work and share their ideas. We are grateful and appreciate the opportunity to learn from them.
The two videos that I watched were Growing up Black and Conversations with White People About Race. In the first video, they asked Black people about what struggles and encounters have had with racists or cops that have stereotyped them. They also asked the Black people what they were doing at that time. For example, some of the black people were saying that they felt they had to cross the street so they wouldn’t scare someone. The other video I watched was a conversation with white people about race. Most everyone said that it was a hard topic to talk about because they didn’t want to offend anyone. During the interview, they were asked questions about race and if they thought that they themselves are racist. Many people also talked a lot about being in the dominant group and what their life is like. Throughout these two videos, there were three words that the people specifically mentioned and repeatedly talked about: race, stereotypes, and privilege. In the second video, which included talking to white people about race, they were talking a lot about privilege and race. The people in the video were talking about how since they are white and privileged, they do not have to worry about being marginalized and being in a situation where they are stereotyped because of their skin color. One person brought up the point that there were times when they have heard someone make a joke about someone’s race and they didn’t know what to do because they felt trapped. They were too scared to confront the person, but they knew it was wrong. In the first video, Growing up Black, in one of the stories, a young Black man talked about how he felt marginalized from his white classmates. One young Black man told New York Times that there have been many times when a school security guard pulled the young Black man to the side simply because he was Black. The officer would say it was just an emergency check even though all the other white students walked by without getting searched. In the video Growing up Black they interview Jumoke. Jumoke is a young black man that was a victim of racism and he talked about our society and how others talk about cops, and what they really are like. Jumoke: “My parents taught me, oh you know, ‘Cops are your friends, you’re supposed to, you know they’re here to protect you.’ But all I’m seeing is the opposite. So how can I not be afraid when I feel like I’m being hunted? When I feel like I’m there to fill a quota?” It is really interesting because this is very real. When I was younger I was told by my parents and peers that the police are there to protect you from danger, but how am I supposed to feel a sense of protection if cops are out here shooting people because of various stereotypes and base their decisions off of race? It also makes me wonder what would happen if I was in one of these situations where I was getting racially profiled by a cop. I think that there needs to be a change in the way cops are trained. I know that not all cops are bad, but what is happening now can’t continue to happen. Mothers of Black children have to be in fear and have to hope that their children do the right thing when they are encountered with a cop. They have to pray that the cop doesn’t pull the trigger on their innocent child simply because they are Black. I think this unit was helpful because it helped me understand race even more. I also think now is a great time to talk about race because of everything that happened this past summer, but also because of everything that has been happening for centuries. One thing that I really liked about this unit is the vocab because I think it really helped me understand what the words meant and how to use them. In addition, it helps me feel more comfortable talking about these topics because I now know the proper terminology that should be used. I also like our discussions because they helped me stay engaged on the topic and it was interesting to see all of the different opinions on the topics we had. I learned a lot about microaggressions and what is used to make up one because some of them surprised me. I have heard people say the examples of microaggressions and I did nothing about it because, at the time, I didn’t know it was a microaggression. I think this should be a unit next year but I would change one part of it. One thing that I would change is the reflection part. I would have one every other week instead of every week so we get more discussions and more to talk about our opinions and what we think. It would also benefit us to be able to connect ideas together and see the bigger picture. Besides that one little thing, I would not change it. The race that I identify with is South Asian. However, to understand race, we need to find out first what race is. Race is a socially constructed term that divides people based on their skin color and physical characteristics; it is not based on scientific fact and is not grounded in genetics. My family originates from South Asia, specifically Gujarat, India. To be honest, there are most times where I forget my race because it is not on my mind all of the time. It is just a small aspect about me and I don’t really think deeply about my race unless there is a religious event. It is then that I start to become more aware of my race and where I come from. I realize that my race is a big thing in today’s society because people judge me and make stereotypes based on my race, but I am lucky enough to the point where I feel safe and not always judged based on my race. In general, I still don’t really think about my race, but when I am in ELA or doing these assignments, it helps me more to think about my race and where I come from. It helps me think about my race more because the work asks questions that make you think hard about your race, but not in a bad way. It helps you engage your mind and make you really think about yourself. My participation in it has made me think more about what my racial identity is and how I am affected by it, but also how others are affected by it. Sometimes, I wonder what my life would be like if I was a different race. What is an anti-racist? To me, an anti-racist is a person that is against racism and against segregation. Being anti-racist also means that you do not believe that there is something wrong with people of color or a minority but there is something wrong with the way people perceive people of color and stereotype them. I can be anti-racist by being who I am and accepting people from all different genders, races, ethnicities, etc. These will help you be an anti-racist because you are not bullying someone or calling out someone based on who they are and what they look like. I feel that all anti-racists are doing a good thing by breaking the stereotypes of people of color. They are showing everybody that they are not the same person as someone else that is the same race. The stereotypes are so strong for some races that it is hard to break them, even for an anti-racist, because people are getting blinded by what their race’s stereotype is. This prevents them from taking time to actually talk to them. A prime example of stereotypes blinding people is with cops and the news. Cops usually stereotype Black people because of the color and think that they're dangerous. It has gotten so bad that they think they’re dangerous from every movement they do. Then, if a Black person gets shot, the news doesn’t say an innocent Black man was shot. They bring out and include a potentially bad thing about them and include that in their story so it makes it look like the Black person was the bad guy. This is how the stereotypes got so strong. “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” MLK August 28, 1963. Hopefully, one day with the help of anti-racists, Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream will come true. By Manav |
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