Printer-friendly versionSilence.
It can be one of the most difficult obstacles to overcome during a discussion of racism. This time the silence in the room follows a difficult question.
Perhaps my students don’t feel like talking. Maybe they didn’t do their reading of Walter Dean Myers’ Monster. Or, maybe they just don’t see it.
So the silence sits, like a glacier, filling up the room. It’s the silence of white privilege.
Privilege (in a discussion of bias or prejudice) means not having to confront the bias directly or regularly. It leads students to think that race only matters when talking about the “other,” non-white races. Acknowledging that the privilege exists and that not everyone comes from that same experience is a critical first step to having honest discussions of race.
And that’s where literature helps.
Modern young adult literature is an excellent vehicle for facilitating these discussions. Many of these novels are written from engaging perspectives. The best young adult literature can act as a window allowing the reader to look into another person’s experience and fictional life.
The protagonist of Monster, Steve Harmon, is a 16-year-old African-American boy on trial for felony murder. Myers crafts the story as a screenplay and a diary (both written by the protagonist). The unusual format grabs the attention of my students who are so familiar with crime procedurals on television, but the honest subject matter is what causes the class discussion to freeze.
The moment that inspires silence on this particular day comes from a conversation between Steve and his lawyer, Ms. O’Brien. She’s just offered Steve her view of their case, saying, “Half of those jurors, no matter what they said… believed you were guilty the moment they laid eyes on you. You’re young, you’re black, and you’re on trial. What else do they need to know?”
I ask my students, “Have any of you ever witnessed or encountered prejudice like this? And if you haven’t seen it, does that mean it’s not real?”
My predominantly white students don’t quite know how to respond. Students in the minority may not feel comfortable responding.
I pivot from race to the one element they do share: age.
“Has anyone ever seen a store manager or salesperson look or treat someone differently because they’re a teenager?”
Heads begin to nod; students look up, more comfortably meeting my gaze.
“Anyone want to share what they’ve seen?”
Slowly the glacier begins to crack.
A couple of hands go up, and they begin to talk to each other about the curfew at the local mall, encounters with a clerk at a local hangout and “getting the eye” from different salespeople.
Sharing these experiences gives them a moment of empathy for the protagonist. When the discussion turns back to racism (both in Monster and in life), it becomes just a little easier to discuss that white privilege exists and not everyone’s experience with race is identical.
Elliott is a high school English teacher in Texas.
Comments
Peter, Your post calls to
Peter,
Your post calls to mind what Anatole France had to say about prejudice: “He prided himself on being a man without prejudice, and this itself is a very great prejudice.” I chose this as the epigraph for my novel THE FOG MACHINE, which was written for adults but is showing itself to resonate with middle and high school students hungry for history told through relationships. I invite you to check out my website (www.SusanFollett.com) and would be very pleased to talk with you about any way my work might help achieve your goals for your students. Best, Susan
Please provide examples of
Please provide examples of what you call 'White Privilege.' I don't recall experiencing it. I know my two sons who could never qualify for special programs for minorities, or special scholarships for minorities, never experienced white privilege.
Please enlighten me what facts you have that make you feel you have to teach white privilege to your students.
This is a serious question. I want to understand.
Robert, Take a look at this
Robert,
Take a look at this short article we published that explains to teachers what white privilege is -- it's often called invisible privilege, because it's something that's so matter-of-fact it can be taken for granted.
http://www.tolerance.org/activity/racism-and-white-privilege
Here are some examples of
Here are some examples of your white privilege...
You have probably never been called racial slurs.
If you get a good job or get into school, no one will assume that you are unqualified and only there because of affirmative action programs.
The police won't stop you because you look like you don't belong in a certain neighborhood.
You see plenty of people who look like you in positions of power. Your boys grow up believing that if they work hard they can be anything they want.
Your boys get to watch tv shows and movies featuring main characters who look like them.
You are not on the radar screen of organized hate groups.
No one will act surprised that your boys have a father who isn't in jail.
The list goes on and on... does this help?
And in no way am I trying to minimize the fact that there is also socioeconomic privilege. There is. But not benefiting from one form of privilege does not erase the fact that you might benefit from another.
Example: Black men benefit from male privilege. They don't have to worry too much about becoming victims of sexual assault and rape in the same way that women might.
Peggy McIntosh's work on
Peggy McIntosh's work on white privilege is very good to use with high school students. They can "update" the examples as they apply to either themselves, history, literature or other curriculum they are studying.
And then, don't stop there. Take a look at heterosexual privilege.
Thanks for the explanation.
Thanks for the explanation. When whites hear white privledge it may be the first time they have been put in a "racial" category. Not very comfortable!
Debbie - white guidance counselor with 2 white sons
"White privilege" when
"White privilege" when unpacked is the opportunities that were opened to you and your family because you were in fact "white". Access to schooling and public library use is documented as a that privileges the people of color had to have legislated to participate in. The ability to vote . If your ancestor did in fact immigrate from a part of the world that fell out of popularity they could shorten their name removing ethnic identifyers example: 'stein, 'sky, Mac or Mc. People of color were unable to drop their skin color in order to include themselves. Seperate but Equal was never seriously attempted, it was just a way to protect the provision for "Just us" for those who were white. During WWII people of Asian heritage were rounded up and loss their financial footing in this country. This money made those "Americans" rich who recieved those products. Black soliders came home to "JIM CROW" no jobs, no housing and "NEED NOT APPLY signsThey built their current finanaical nest egg on the loss of these Americans. When there was no quotas , they only hired WHITE, then whne they made quota's they called foul and now no more affirmative action to try and fix 200 years of exclusion for Blacks. read Peggy McIntosh's research. Everybody white benefits from the lack of exclusion of diversity in this country. People don't clutch their pocketbooks when you a white man gets on theelevator (unless you look quite threatening, they do to a Black man in a Brooks Borthers suit. There are too many slights and put downs in the day of a black person to list and just as many perks for a white person. Think about it if you are sincrer.
This topic I think is far too
This topic I think is far too silenced and not brought to the attention of whites. Many whites get defensive about this saying they "did not know" or "did not realize it". I am white by birth and have advocated on behalf of Hispanic/Latinos and also shared with Blacks as well. Until I came to the realization that "it's not about me" that it's about others and making sure others are included and given fair treatment, I was in the dark. I see white privilege all around me and try to explain it to my white colleagues, but they seem to think that I am against my own race! Ms. Conja Wright you explained this concept very well and in real terms that whites (and others) need to hear! Thank you for sharing your thoughts-for it is in dialogue that we all come together and in struggling together that we all grow and learn from one another. God bless!
In my high school experience,
In my high school experience, we read many books about racism, Civil Rights, and inequities in America (Toni Morrison, Sandra Cisneros, Zora Neale Hurston, Mildred D Taylor). However, I think that in our sheltered existences, it was impossible for us to truly relate to the books and really they probably ended up doing as much harm as good. Never having seen poverty or interacted with people from radically different backgrounds than my own, I was not able to grasp the concepts we superficially discussed in class, even though I had several wonderful English teachers. They also gave me the impression that racism was an issue in the past, in the South... not in my world. I think a lot of the high school curriculum is rather alienating for high schoolers, so this just fit in with the rest of that "when does anyone really use Bronsted-Lowry acids and bases" mindset. I think that connecting racism and deep societal inequities with ageism and other sorts of--I hesitate to say--less harmful injustices in teenagers lives detracts from what these books are really saying about us and our society. We have systemic problems, such as the fact that my school received so much more money due to sky high property values compared to those in low-income communities a short drive away, that I had health insurance and could have every ailment nipped in the bud while others had to wait until it was an emergency to be treated at the emergency room. Just because I would never consciously judge someone based the color of their skin does not mean I am not racist.
I believe one effective way to combat this problem is through EXPERIENCE. Bring students to other parts of town, find a group of students from a high school in a different neighborhood to discuss political issues with, introduce students to service-learning and show them that not everyone's experience in America is like their own, but they are all valuable experiences and each person's life has value. It is often a difficult idea for the privileged students to grasp, that there is more to life than high test scores, being soccer captain, Spanish club president, and winning the math decathlon--but it is so important and something I wished I had learned in high school rather than after college. Without real experiences to connect the readings to, I believe many privileged students leave high school with a sense of entitlement and false sense that as long as they always say the politically correct thing, they are in the right and don't really need to worry about social injustices.
I greatly appreciate this
I greatly appreciate this article and the responses to it.
I also wonder if anyone has suggestions as to all the books that might be good to use in high school.
My son's high school is mostly white, which a small white-power group. The largest minority is Hispanic, perhaps 30%. There are 7 black students, out of 1300. COULD WE STOP USING BOOKS THAT MAKE THE CLASS TURN AND STARE AT MY SON WHENEVER A BLACK CHARACTER IS MENTIONED. Surely there are other books as good as Monster that can be used for the same purpose, but which features white privilege with regard to Hispanics?
Thank you.