When you are explaining the "Encounter" phases of William Cross's Racial Identity Development Theory.
Showing posts with label Identity. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Identity. Show all posts
Saturday, February 11, 2017
Sunday, August 16, 2015
Emily Style
Emily Style says teachers need to avoid the "color blind" trap, "There are still American educators who pride themselves on being color-blind, thinking that ignoring accidental differences or race or gender or religion or class creates the best classroom climate. Promoting such partial seeing is highly problematic for the creation of curriculum which will serve all students adequately."
Claude Steele and Joshua Aronson - How Racial Identity Affects Performance
Steele
and Aronson explain the concept of “stereotype threat” and how a teacher’s low
academic expectations for students of color is often born out when students
believe that the work they are doing in the classroom will confirm a negative
stereotype about them. The chapter goes on to suggest that teachers can
counter the pervasive negative images by creating classrooms where students
are inundated with the images and achievements of people who look like them.
When we model "self-talk," we “teach
students to reconsider the nature of intelligence.”
Teachers can not allow stereotypes get in the way of
teaching kids. We need to know our
students so we can help them grow and implement techniques that put them on a
rigorous educational path.
Beverly Daniels Tatum - Cultivating the Trust of Black Parents and How Racial Identity Affects Performance
Beverly Daniels Tatum
says we need to “put our values on our wall." Putting up posters and having books with people of color or
multiracial or both go a long way to showing care and understanding of
differences so a child will feel comfortable in the classroom.
We need to locate ourselves for students and parents by honestly and openly carrying “ . . . the weight of the history of interracial relations” and acknowledging the possibility that our judgment may be biased (naming the elephant in the room).
Research has shown that how you think about your race (in developing your racial identity) impacts your perspective on your ability to be successful in school and in life. Also, students of color are more likely to be engaged in the exploration of their racial identity than their white counterparts. In addition, teachers are going through their own stages of RCID and, therefore, need to be cognizant of how that affects their learning and teaching pedagogy, as well as how they respond to students of color who are trying to cope with issues encountered in their own RCID process. The potential disconnect is obvious. It’s even a bit scary; in terms of the potentially crucial role they play in helping a student achieve.
We need to locate ourselves for students and parents by honestly and openly carrying “ . . . the weight of the history of interracial relations” and acknowledging the possibility that our judgment may be biased (naming the elephant in the room).
Research has shown that how you think about your race (in developing your racial identity) impacts your perspective on your ability to be successful in school and in life. Also, students of color are more likely to be engaged in the exploration of their racial identity than their white counterparts. In addition, teachers are going through their own stages of RCID and, therefore, need to be cognizant of how that affects their learning and teaching pedagogy, as well as how they respond to students of color who are trying to cope with issues encountered in their own RCID process. The potential disconnect is obvious. It’s even a bit scary; in terms of the potentially crucial role they play in helping a student achieve.
Tuesday, June 16, 2015
Rachel Dolezal
Perspectives:
http://www.democracynow.org/
Why Rachel Dolezal's story is one of deception, and trans folks, coming out as trans is about truth.
http://www.upworthy.com/a-black-trans-woman-explains-changing-gender-vs-changing-race?c=ufb1
When the story of Rachel Dolezal (the white NAACP chapter president who has been masquerading as a black woman) went viral, the Internet exploded with countless memes and even more think pieces.
Rachel Dolezal and the surprisingly common practice of ‘racial shifting’
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2015/06/15/what-rachel-dolezal-has-in-common-with-half-a-million-americans/ (watch both videos in succession)
In fact, between 2000 and 2010 (the nation’s two most recent Census counts) the share of people who identified themselves as part Native American grew by a whopping 39 percent in a single decade, nearly four times faster than the nation's population as a whole. That’s nearly 650,000 people who were multi-racial in 2012 who did not consider themselves thus in 2000. Racial shifting is real.
And just to be clear, we aren't talking about a Native American baby boom or surge in people who identified as being of multiracial heritage because of changes made to Census forms. The latter happened for the first time in 2000, not 2010.
The vast majority of this change – according to U.S. Census staff and population experts around the country – happened as a result of shifting racial identification among adults. We're talking about 644,986 people who, for the most part, described themselves as white on the 2000 Census and then described themselves as white and Native American in 2010.
Rachel Dolezal a lesson in how racism works
http://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2015/06/13/rachel-dolezal-story-lesson-how-racism-works/J8R27qgq2YfDRUuOVhpYGI/story.html?event=event25
But that’s not how racial identity and racism work. The racial categories inherent to institutional racism are the product of law and social custom, but they are not randomly generated or freely chosen. They are informed by and inscribed in our legislative history, and they are violently policed by civilians and stewards of the state such that white people benefit at nonwhites’ expense.
These benefits are manifold. White households have far more wealth than black and Hispanic households, as economic class privilege has been generated, passed down, and protected through slavery, Jim Crow, and continued discrimination in housing, banking, and the labor market. Whites are presumed innocent and nonthreatening, and are allowed to assemble freely and move through all sorts of public spaces without being labeled deviants or “thugs.” Racial identity is always linked to privilege.
So the problem is not simply that Dolezal lied. Her choice to give up whiteness was a privilege enabled by a racial logic that allows for the possibility of a light-skinned black person, as centuries of racist legislation mandated that “one drop” of nonwhite blood resulted in racial categorization in the lower status group. This same enduring racial logic categorically denies the possibility of a brown-skinned white person, and it does so in order to restrict and protect whiteness as exclusive, “pure,” and the basis for full citizenship and respect.
About Rachel Dolezal the Undercover Sista and Performing Blackness
http://www.awesomelyluvvie.com/2015/06/about-rachel-dolezal-blackness.html
What's Wrong with Cultural Appropriation?
http://everydayfeminism.com/2015/06/cultural-appropriation-wrong/
1. It Trivializes Violent Historical Oppression
2. It Lets People Show Love for the Culture, But Remain Prejudiced Against Its People
3. It Makes Things ‘Cool’ for White People – But ‘Too Ethnic’ for People of Color
4. It Lets Privileged People Profit from Oppressed People’s Labor
5. It Lets Some People Get Rewarded for Things the Creators Never Got Credit For
6. It Spreads Mass Lies About Marginalized Cultures
7. It Perpetuates Racist Stereotypes
8. White People Can Freely Do What People of Color Were Actively Punished for Doing
9. It Prioritizes the Feelings of Privileged People Over Justice for Marginalized People
The Truth About Rachel Dolezal That You Won't See on T.V.
http://mic.com/articles/120784/rachel-dolezal-interview-matt-lauer
http://www.democracynow.org/
Why Rachel Dolezal's story is one of deception, and trans folks, coming out as trans is about truth.
http://www.upworthy.com/a-black-trans-woman-explains-changing-gender-vs-changing-race?c=ufb1
When the story of Rachel Dolezal (the white NAACP chapter president who has been masquerading as a black woman) went viral, the Internet exploded with countless memes and even more think pieces.
Rachel Dolezal and the surprisingly common practice of ‘racial shifting’
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2015/06/15/what-rachel-dolezal-has-in-common-with-half-a-million-americans/ (watch both videos in succession)
In fact, between 2000 and 2010 (the nation’s two most recent Census counts) the share of people who identified themselves as part Native American grew by a whopping 39 percent in a single decade, nearly four times faster than the nation's population as a whole. That’s nearly 650,000 people who were multi-racial in 2012 who did not consider themselves thus in 2000. Racial shifting is real.
And just to be clear, we aren't talking about a Native American baby boom or surge in people who identified as being of multiracial heritage because of changes made to Census forms. The latter happened for the first time in 2000, not 2010.
The vast majority of this change – according to U.S. Census staff and population experts around the country – happened as a result of shifting racial identification among adults. We're talking about 644,986 people who, for the most part, described themselves as white on the 2000 Census and then described themselves as white and Native American in 2010.
Rachel Dolezal a lesson in how racism works
http://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2015/06/13/rachel-dolezal-story-lesson-how-racism-works/J8R27qgq2YfDRUuOVhpYGI/story.html?event=event25
But that’s not how racial identity and racism work. The racial categories inherent to institutional racism are the product of law and social custom, but they are not randomly generated or freely chosen. They are informed by and inscribed in our legislative history, and they are violently policed by civilians and stewards of the state such that white people benefit at nonwhites’ expense.
These benefits are manifold. White households have far more wealth than black and Hispanic households, as economic class privilege has been generated, passed down, and protected through slavery, Jim Crow, and continued discrimination in housing, banking, and the labor market. Whites are presumed innocent and nonthreatening, and are allowed to assemble freely and move through all sorts of public spaces without being labeled deviants or “thugs.” Racial identity is always linked to privilege.
So the problem is not simply that Dolezal lied. Her choice to give up whiteness was a privilege enabled by a racial logic that allows for the possibility of a light-skinned black person, as centuries of racist legislation mandated that “one drop” of nonwhite blood resulted in racial categorization in the lower status group. This same enduring racial logic categorically denies the possibility of a brown-skinned white person, and it does so in order to restrict and protect whiteness as exclusive, “pure,” and the basis for full citizenship and respect.
About Rachel Dolezal the Undercover Sista and Performing Blackness
http://www.awesomelyluvvie.com/2015/06/about-rachel-dolezal-blackness.html
I was more amused than anything until I kept
finding out about all the lies that Rachel has piled up over the years
to make this fantasy work. She’s told people her father is a Black man,
even taking Fake Black Daddy to some event. She’s reported that she’s
been a victim of several hate crimes, even going as far as placing this
in her bio. She says she has a Black son but he is actually her adopted
brother from her real WHITE parents. At best, she’s a pathological liar
and at worst, she might be suffering from delusions of grandeur, which
means she might need to be on meds because isn’t that one of many
symptoms of schizophrenia? Except she actually isn’t because her brother Ezra said she told him not to blow her cover. Rachel ain’t curling all the way over, like many of her weaves.
What's Wrong with Cultural Appropriation?
http://everydayfeminism.com/2015/06/cultural-appropriation-wrong/
In short: Cultural appropriation is when somebody adopts aspects of a culture that’s not their own.
But that’s only the most basic definition.
A deeper understanding of cultural appropriation also refers to a particular power dynamic in which members of a dominant culture take elements from a culture of people who have been systematically oppressed by that dominant group.
That’s why cultural appropriation is not the same as cultural exchange, when people share mutually with each other – because cultural exchange lacks that systemic power dynamic.
It’s also not the same as assimilation,
when marginalized people adopt elements of the dominant culture in
order to survive conditions that make life more of a struggle if they
don’t.
Some say, for instance, that non-Western
people who wear jeans and Indigenous people who speak English are taking
from dominant cultures, too.
But marginalized groups don’t have the
power to decide if they’d prefer to stick with their customs or try on
the dominant culture’s traditions just for fun.
When the last living survivors of massacred Indigenous tribes are fighting to save their language before it dies when they do, and Native students are suspended for speaking in their own Indigenous languages, mirroring the abusive US boarding schools
that tried to wipe out Native American cultures up until the 1980s,
it’s clear that not every person who speaks English does so by choice.
In other words, context matters.
Which means it’s not about saying that you, as an individual, are a bad person if you appropriate someone else’s culture.
It’s a complicated issue that includes our histories, our current state of affairs, and our future, as we act to eliminate oppression, instead of perpetuating it.
So if you’re still baffled about why people would get upset about this issue, consider the following contexts.
1. It Trivializes Violent Historical Oppression
2. It Lets People Show Love for the Culture, But Remain Prejudiced Against Its People
3. It Makes Things ‘Cool’ for White People – But ‘Too Ethnic’ for People of Color
4. It Lets Privileged People Profit from Oppressed People’s Labor
5. It Lets Some People Get Rewarded for Things the Creators Never Got Credit For
6. It Spreads Mass Lies About Marginalized Cultures
7. It Perpetuates Racist Stereotypes
8. White People Can Freely Do What People of Color Were Actively Punished for Doing
9. It Prioritizes the Feelings of Privileged People Over Justice for Marginalized People
The Truth About Rachel Dolezal That You Won't See on T.V.
http://mic.com/articles/120784/rachel-dolezal-interview-matt-lauer
While Dolezal said her story raises the
question of what it means to be "human," her philosophical statement
misses the point that not all human beings are treated equally in a
society that privileges some because of the color of their skin. Dolezal
is fighting to humanize her journey so that the public can better
understand her move from whiteness to aspirational blackness, but her
notion of what it means to strive towards a shared humanity just
obscures the particularities of black peoples' lived experiences in this
country as they continue to fight to be seen as worthy of being alive
in the first place.
For all of the discourse on race and
"transracialism" seemingly spurred by Dolezal, there is comparatively
little focus on the material effects of racism in actual black people's
lives right now. Dolezal might receive attention because she is a white
woman identifying as a black woman fighting for black issues, but that
won't prevent black people from being twice as likely as white people to be killed by police when unarmed, disproportionately imprisoned, overwhelmingly impacted by income equality, affected by health disparities and beset by unemployment.
Cultural Appropriation vs. Cultural Exchange
Cultural Appropriation vs. Cultural Exchange
More examples of cultural appropriation:
Monday, May 4, 2015
Don't Believe in White Privilege?
White privilege is an important understanding needed for the race/racism conversation. Here are some updated resources.
Ben Affleck was “embarrassed” to discover that he had slave-owning ancestors. “The very thought left a bad taste in (his) mouth.”
http://www.legalgenealogist.com/blog/2015/04/25/dear-ben/
So welcome to the club, Ben.
Now pull up a chair and let’s talk about what we do about this.
Because what we don’t do … what we can never do … is deny the reality of the past.
Because when we try to deny the reality of the past, we are in effect writing out of our history the lives of those who were enslaved.
And they deserve better.
Tell
me: Are you a white person who's felt uncomfortable with the term
"white privilege"? Does a more nuanced approach help you see your own
privilege more clearly?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/gina-crosleycorcoran/explaining-white-privilege-to-a-broke-white-person_b_5269255.html
So when that feminist told me I had "white privilege," I told her that my white skin didn't do shit to prevent me from experiencing poverty. Then, like any good, educated feminist would, she directed me to Peggy McIntosh's now-famous 1988 piece "White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack."
Citizenship: Simply being born in this country affords you certain privileges that non-citizens will never access.
Class: Being born into a financially stable family can help guarantee your health, happiness, safety, education, intelligence, and future opportunities.
Sexual orientation: If you were born straight, every state in this country affords you privileges that non-straight folks have to fight the Supreme Court for.
Sex: If you were born male, you can assume that you can walk through a parking garage without worrying that you'll be raped and then have to deal with a defense attorney blaming it on what you were wearing.
Ability: If you were born able-bodied, you probably don't have to plan your life around handicap access, braille, or other special needs.
Gender identity: If you were born cisgender (that is, your gender identity matches the sex you were assigned at birth), you don't have to worry that using the restroom or locker room will invoke public outrage.
As you can see, belonging to one or more category of privilege, especially being a straight, white, middle-class, able-bodied male, can be like winning a lottery you didn't even know you were playing. But this is not to imply that any form of privilege is exactly the same as another, or that people lacking in one area of privilege understand what it's like to be lacking in other areas. Race discrimination is not equal to sex discrimination and so forth.
And listen: Recognizing privilege doesn't mean suffering guilt or shame for your lot in life. Nobody's saying that straight, white, middle-class, able-bodied males are all a bunch of assholes who don't work hard for what they have. Recognizing privilege simply means being aware that some people have to work much harder just to experience the things you take for granted (if they ever can experience them at all).
I know now that I am privileged in many ways. I am privileged as a natural-born white citizen. I am privileged as a cisgender woman. I am privileged as an able-bodied person. I am privileged that my first language is also our national language, and that I was born with an intellect and ambition that pulled me out of the poverty that I was otherwise destined for. I was privileged to be able to marry my way "up" by partnering with a privileged, middle-class, educated male who fully expected me to earn a college degree.
There are a million ways I experience privilege, and some that I certainly don't. But thankfully, intersectionality allows us to examine these varying dimensions and degrees of discrimination while raising awareness of the results of multiple systems of oppression at work.
“This is not new,” Obama said. “It’s been going on for decades. And without making any excuses for criminal activities that take place in these communities, what we also know is that if you have impoverished communities that have been stripped away of opportunity, where children are born into abject poverty; they’ve got parents, often, because of substance abuse problems or incarceration or lack of education themselves, who can’t do right by their kids.”
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/04/28/the-most-honest-15-minutes-of-obama-s-presidency.html?source=DailyBeast&utm_campaign=trueAnthem:+Trending+Content&utm_content=55403c1204d301408c000001&utm_medium=trueAnthem&utm_source=facebook&via=FB_Page
>:<:>:<:>:<:>:<:>:<:>:<:>:<:>:<:>:<
Ben Affleck was “embarrassed” to discover that he had slave-owning ancestors. “The very thought left a bad taste in (his) mouth.”
http://www.legalgenealogist.com/blog/2015/04/25/dear-ben/
So welcome to the club, Ben.
Now pull up a chair and let’s talk about what we do about this.
Because what we don’t do … what we can never do … is deny the reality of the past.
Because when we try to deny the reality of the past, we are in effect writing out of our history the lives of those who were enslaved.
And they deserve better.
>:<:>:<:>:<:>:<:>:<:>:<:>:<:>:<:>:<
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/gina-crosleycorcoran/explaining-white-privilege-to-a-broke-white-person_b_5269255.html
So when that feminist told me I had "white privilege," I told her that my white skin didn't do shit to prevent me from experiencing poverty. Then, like any good, educated feminist would, she directed me to Peggy McIntosh's now-famous 1988 piece "White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack."
Citizenship: Simply being born in this country affords you certain privileges that non-citizens will never access.
Class: Being born into a financially stable family can help guarantee your health, happiness, safety, education, intelligence, and future opportunities.
Sexual orientation: If you were born straight, every state in this country affords you privileges that non-straight folks have to fight the Supreme Court for.
Sex: If you were born male, you can assume that you can walk through a parking garage without worrying that you'll be raped and then have to deal with a defense attorney blaming it on what you were wearing.
Ability: If you were born able-bodied, you probably don't have to plan your life around handicap access, braille, or other special needs.
Gender identity: If you were born cisgender (that is, your gender identity matches the sex you were assigned at birth), you don't have to worry that using the restroom or locker room will invoke public outrage.
As you can see, belonging to one or more category of privilege, especially being a straight, white, middle-class, able-bodied male, can be like winning a lottery you didn't even know you were playing. But this is not to imply that any form of privilege is exactly the same as another, or that people lacking in one area of privilege understand what it's like to be lacking in other areas. Race discrimination is not equal to sex discrimination and so forth.
And listen: Recognizing privilege doesn't mean suffering guilt or shame for your lot in life. Nobody's saying that straight, white, middle-class, able-bodied males are all a bunch of assholes who don't work hard for what they have. Recognizing privilege simply means being aware that some people have to work much harder just to experience the things you take for granted (if they ever can experience them at all).
I know now that I am privileged in many ways. I am privileged as a natural-born white citizen. I am privileged as a cisgender woman. I am privileged as an able-bodied person. I am privileged that my first language is also our national language, and that I was born with an intellect and ambition that pulled me out of the poverty that I was otherwise destined for. I was privileged to be able to marry my way "up" by partnering with a privileged, middle-class, educated male who fully expected me to earn a college degree.
There are a million ways I experience privilege, and some that I certainly don't. But thankfully, intersectionality allows us to examine these varying dimensions and degrees of discrimination while raising awareness of the results of multiple systems of oppression at work.
>:<:>:<:>:<:>:<:>:<:>:<:>:<:>:<:>:<
“This is not new,” Obama said. “It’s been going on for decades. And without making any excuses for criminal activities that take place in these communities, what we also know is that if you have impoverished communities that have been stripped away of opportunity, where children are born into abject poverty; they’ve got parents, often, because of substance abuse problems or incarceration or lack of education themselves, who can’t do right by their kids.”
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/04/28/the-most-honest-15-minutes-of-obama-s-presidency.html?source=DailyBeast&utm_campaign=trueAnthem:+Trending+Content&utm_content=55403c1204d301408c000001&utm_medium=trueAnthem&utm_source=facebook&via=FB_Page
Sunday, June 1, 2014
Ethnic Identity
Great article about the importance of racial and ethnic identity:
http://www.education.com/reference/article/ethnic-identity-and-academic-achievement/
Excerpts: During adolescence, individuals begin to construct a general sense of their identity, or their personal definitions of who they are, what is important to them, and appropriate ways to think and behave. During this period, youth also differentiate their various social identities, the self-constructed definitions of who they are in relation to the social groups to which they belong. A sense of ethnic identity becomes salient for many ethnic minority adolescents as they explore the significance of their ethnic group membership in defining who they are (Spencer & Markstrom-Adams, 1990; Phinney, 1990). Ethnic identity has multiple components, including individuals' views of the importance of their ethnic group to their self-definitions, the meanings they attach to their ethnic group, and their thinking about how their ethnic group affects their position in society. Thus, ethnic identities are descriptive (e.g., “I am a Mexican American”; “I am an African American”), affective (“I feel positively about being an African American”; “I think others regard my ethnic group positively”), as well as prescriptive (“I know how Chinese Americans act”; “I know how African Americans act”). Adolescents' understandings of the meanings of their social identities influence their adaptations and responses within domains in which those identities are salient. Because race and ethnicity often are salient in the domain of education, adolescents' ethnic identities may be particularly relevant in shaping how youth interpret and respond to their social and classroom contexts at school.
Relative to younger children, adolescents have more highly developed cognitive abilities related to understanding themselves and their experiences in more complex, abstract, and indirect ways, and this period also involves intensification of particular social-cognitive attributes, e.g., heightened awareness of how they are viewed by others. Thus, they become more cognizant of the relevance of race and ethnicity in society and have a higher likelihood of perceiving experiences in terms of race and ethnicity (Spencer, Dupree, & Hartmann, 1997).
Academic engagement requires linking one's personal identity to the roles of student and learner (Garcia & Pintrich, 1994), showing sustained curiosity and interest in class, and displaying intense efforts in learning tasks (Connell, Spencer, & Aber, 1994; Skinner & Belmont, 1993). Adolescents' academic engagement has been linked to social identities that are made salient in the academic domain (Garcia & Pintrich, 1994). The academic domain is one in which race often is salient for many ethnic minority adolescents. For instance, entry into secondary schools is associated with increased racial cleavage, social comparison, and heightened salience of racial and ethnic stereotypes (Fisher, Wallace, & Fenton, 2000). Thus, it is likely that minority adolescents' levels of academic engagement are influenced, in part, by their ethnic identity beliefs. Theory and research suggests that ethnic identity may serve as a risk factor for lower academic motivation and achievement as well as promote academic motivation and achievement. The risk and promotion approaches are described below.
Also, there is growing evidence that having a strong, positive sense of ethnic identity may protect minority adolescents from the negative psychological and academic impacts of perceiving ethnic group barriers or experiencing interpersonal discrimination based on their ethnic group. For instance, in a 2006 study, Sellers and colleagues found that Black youth having an ethnic identity characterized by feelings of strong group connection and group pride showed more positive psychological well being when experiencing racial discrimination compared to those adolescents with less strong feelings of connection to and positive attitudes about their ethnic group. Wong and colleagues in their 2003 study found that African American adolescents who held a strong connection to and pride in being Blacks were protected from the negative impact on academic attitudes and performance of experiencing racial discrimination at school relative to those with less of a strong, positive connection with their ethnic group.
Thus, school practitioners must receive training about the development of youth from multicultural backgrounds. This training should not only acknowledge the unique risks associated with membership in ethnic minority groups in the United States but also consider how youths' ethnic identities can serve as cultural assets in relation to their achievement and how to use this information to create inclusive classroom contexts for all students. Without such training, it is likely that teaching approaches and practices will be based on popular views of common sense approaches not supported by empirical research. Additionally teachers should be mindful of endorsing their own ethnic identity beliefs in the class contexts they create.
SPECIFIC ETHNIC IDENTITIES
Asian
American Identity Development
Sunday, April 27, 2014
Tuesday, February 4, 2014
Wednesday, November 27, 2013
Excellent Blog on Privilege
On being an ally and being called out on your privilege Privilege – within any given community, whether formal or ad hoc, social or professional, members will express varying levels of privilege. Some people will be playing the game on easy mode, others will be struggling with subtle and overtly oppressive societal and institutional structures. If you are a person of privilege who recognizes the reality of this imbalance and strives to make your community a more accessible and welcoming place to those who aren’t as privileged, you might identify yourself as an ally.
You are Wrong -
Being an ally is not something you are, it’s something you do. “Ally” is not an identity, it is a set of behaviors that help acknowledge and promote underprivileged members of your community. But you have privileges that they do not and not all of your words and actions will fall under the banner of “being an ally”. Even if you consider yourself well-versed in your understanding of oppression and privilege, you will, eventually do or say something that reveals your privilege and is offensive, insensitive, or callous, if not outright cruel. The whole point of privilege is that it’s largely invisible to those who have it — including you. If you have colleagues that respect you, if people in the broader community value the work you do, if you are recognized as an important voice, people will call you out on your privilege. How you respond to that criticism makes the difference between self-identifying as an ally, and actually being an ally.
Read on here
http://www.southernfriedscience.com/?p=16054
You are Wrong -
Being an ally is not something you are, it’s something you do. “Ally” is not an identity, it is a set of behaviors that help acknowledge and promote underprivileged members of your community. But you have privileges that they do not and not all of your words and actions will fall under the banner of “being an ally”. Even if you consider yourself well-versed in your understanding of oppression and privilege, you will, eventually do or say something that reveals your privilege and is offensive, insensitive, or callous, if not outright cruel. The whole point of privilege is that it’s largely invisible to those who have it — including you. If you have colleagues that respect you, if people in the broader community value the work you do, if you are recognized as an important voice, people will call you out on your privilege. How you respond to that criticism makes the difference between self-identifying as an ally, and actually being an ally.
Read on here
http://www.southernfriedscience.com/?p=16054
Wednesday, July 31, 2013
Male Privilege
Male Privilege: http://michaelurbina.com/101-everyday-ways-for-men-to-be-allies-to-women/
Click the link wot see the expanded examples of these 10 ways to be an ally.
1. Recognize your privileges, especially your male privilege (and white privilege if applicable).
2. Make a daily effort to acknowledge and then challenge your male privilege.
3. Recognize that your male privilege (among other privileges) may in fact blind you to others’ experiences.
4. Wall posters and iPhone wallpapers of semi-nude girls…Really? Take em down if you got em.
5. Stop catcalling.
6. Be conscious of where your eyes wander as a woman walks by. Change that behavior.
7. Stop assuming that random girls like you just because they smile at you and make eye contact.
8. Be aware of how you flirt with a woman.
9. Walk on the other side of the street when a woman is walking towards you at night.
10. If you’re going to be chivalrous (on dates) or in everyday life, do it for everyone out of kindness, not just for women or people you think aren’t capable of doing things themselves.
11. Treat women at your workplace with genuine respect, especially in male-dominated professions.
12. Enjoy popular culture with many grains of salt.
13. Be comfortable with being uncomfortable.
14. Listen.
15. Monitor your use of words.
16. Never force your opinions on other people.
17. Be conscious of your words and the effects it could have on others.
18. Be pro-choice.
19. Let yourself cry and be emotional.
20. Ask for consent, always.
21. Read websites like Feministing, Colorlines, Jezebel, etc. for your news sources.
22. Take a Women’s Studies class.
23. Acknowledge the lived experiences of women and LGBT-identified people.
24. Support same-sex marriage. Given.
25. Pick up a feminist book from your local bookstore to start off.
26. Get involved with school programs and events.
27. Support non-profit organizations and pro-feminist groups.
28. Journal daily and reflect on your behaviors, thoughts, ideas, etc.
29. Challenge everyday sexism in your life.
30. Don’t just talk the talk. Walk your talk.
31. Stop telling her you’re “different than other guys.” Don’t speak. Do.
32. Call out your friends on oppressive behaviors, jokes, or comments.
33. Challenge other men to do the same.
34. Reflect on how you were raised as a boy.
35. Strengthen your relationships with other men.
36. Take paternity leave if you’re a father.
37. Support musicians and artists that do not degrade women in their music and lyrics.
38. Put yourself in situations for self-growth through activism.
39. Redefine your masculinity in a pro-feminist way.
40. Never seek recognition or affirmation.
41. Recognize that you contribute to women’s oppression by NOT acting.
42. Claim the feminist label.
43. Blogs. Online Communities. Find spaces to dialogue with other like-minded feminist men.
44. Don’t be the hero, savior, or knight in shining armor.
45. Attend a women’s rights protest.
46. Strengthen the relationships with the women in your life.
47. Work with your partner or spouse on how to mutually share responsibilities.
48. Men aren’t the only ones who have orgasms. Remember that!!!
49. Don’t judge women by their choice of clothing.
50. Watch Miss Representation and Tough Guise.
51. Make time out of your day to call your mother and catch up with her.
52. Learn about your own familial roots and culture.
53. Treat all women equally. Race, class, or any other identity category should never dictate your treatment.
54. Catch yourself whenever you slip.
55. Seek out online blogs and magazines that talk about current events and race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, religion, etc.
56. Think about issues and your own life from an intersectional lens.
57. Don’t dwell on the past, but don’t forget where you came from.
58. Support other people who advocate for gender equality.
59. Respect “her” culture.
60. Don’t assume she will take your last name if you both agree to marry.
61. Respect confidentiality.
62. Be willing to listen and know when to refer people to other resources.
63. Defy traditional male stereotypes.
64. Use your male privilege to advance feminist discussions in male-dominated spaces.
65. Recognize that we don’t define what being an ally entails. Women have that job.
66. Never give up.
67. Combat rape culture in your social circle, workplaces, or school.
68. Hold other men accountable.
69. Be an active bystander. If you witness harassment, do something about it.
70. Learn and use appropriate vocabulary.
71. Advocate for more inclusive policies, rules, or procedures in your school or workplace.
72. Speak as if a woman is always listening.
73. Be aware of your heterosexual privilege.
74. Celebrate milestones and victories with women and the LGBT communities.
75. Be proud to be an ally.
76. Seek out children’s books for your kids that challenge traditional gender roles.
77. Be able to laugh at yourself.
78. Challenge entitlement.
79. Recognize that this movement is much larger than yourself.
80. Make your space feminist!
81. Make a Twitter account.
82. Familiarize yourself with this book. You’ll thank me later.
83. This might go without saying, but be conscious of other social problems and issues! All oppression is connected. 84. Cook with your girlfriend, partner, or spouse.
85. Support and vote for political candidates who advocate policies beneficial to women, LGBT people, and other marginalized groups of people.
86. Join the Feminist Network Project and stay connected to thousands of feminists worldwide.
87. Support feminist media. 88. Embrace the haters. You can learn a lot from them.
89. Don’t fall for websites or causes that claim men are oppressed (by feminism). One example is A Voice For Men.
90. Travel to unfamiliar places.
91. Ask questions (but not too many)!
92. Start a blog!
93. Buy your books at local, independent bookstores.
94. Showcase your feminist pride! (If you’re comfortable)
95. Seek out role models and pick their brains.
96. Respect women’s spaces for dialogue.
97. Appearances should never matter. Promote self-love and healthy body images!
98. Turn magazines that promote sexism and unhealthy body image backwards at your local supermarkets and newsstands.
99. Be careful not to burn out. 100. Develop your own methods of self-care.
101. Please suggest further additions and edits to this list.
Click the link wot see the expanded examples of these 10 ways to be an ally.
1. Recognize your privileges, especially your male privilege (and white privilege if applicable).
2. Make a daily effort to acknowledge and then challenge your male privilege.
3. Recognize that your male privilege (among other privileges) may in fact blind you to others’ experiences.
4. Wall posters and iPhone wallpapers of semi-nude girls…Really? Take em down if you got em.
5. Stop catcalling.
6. Be conscious of where your eyes wander as a woman walks by. Change that behavior.
7. Stop assuming that random girls like you just because they smile at you and make eye contact.
8. Be aware of how you flirt with a woman.
9. Walk on the other side of the street when a woman is walking towards you at night.
10. If you’re going to be chivalrous (on dates) or in everyday life, do it for everyone out of kindness, not just for women or people you think aren’t capable of doing things themselves.
11. Treat women at your workplace with genuine respect, especially in male-dominated professions.
12. Enjoy popular culture with many grains of salt.
13. Be comfortable with being uncomfortable.
14. Listen.
15. Monitor your use of words.
16. Never force your opinions on other people.
17. Be conscious of your words and the effects it could have on others.
18. Be pro-choice.
19. Let yourself cry and be emotional.
20. Ask for consent, always.
21. Read websites like Feministing, Colorlines, Jezebel, etc. for your news sources.
22. Take a Women’s Studies class.
23. Acknowledge the lived experiences of women and LGBT-identified people.
24. Support same-sex marriage. Given.
25. Pick up a feminist book from your local bookstore to start off.
26. Get involved with school programs and events.
27. Support non-profit organizations and pro-feminist groups.
28. Journal daily and reflect on your behaviors, thoughts, ideas, etc.
29. Challenge everyday sexism in your life.
30. Don’t just talk the talk. Walk your talk.
31. Stop telling her you’re “different than other guys.” Don’t speak. Do.
32. Call out your friends on oppressive behaviors, jokes, or comments.
33. Challenge other men to do the same.
34. Reflect on how you were raised as a boy.
35. Strengthen your relationships with other men.
36. Take paternity leave if you’re a father.
37. Support musicians and artists that do not degrade women in their music and lyrics.
38. Put yourself in situations for self-growth through activism.
39. Redefine your masculinity in a pro-feminist way.
40. Never seek recognition or affirmation.
41. Recognize that you contribute to women’s oppression by NOT acting.
42. Claim the feminist label.
43. Blogs. Online Communities. Find spaces to dialogue with other like-minded feminist men.
44. Don’t be the hero, savior, or knight in shining armor.
45. Attend a women’s rights protest.
46. Strengthen the relationships with the women in your life.
47. Work with your partner or spouse on how to mutually share responsibilities.
48. Men aren’t the only ones who have orgasms. Remember that!!!
49. Don’t judge women by their choice of clothing.
50. Watch Miss Representation and Tough Guise.
51. Make time out of your day to call your mother and catch up with her.
52. Learn about your own familial roots and culture.
53. Treat all women equally. Race, class, or any other identity category should never dictate your treatment.
54. Catch yourself whenever you slip.
55. Seek out online blogs and magazines that talk about current events and race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, religion, etc.
56. Think about issues and your own life from an intersectional lens.
57. Don’t dwell on the past, but don’t forget where you came from.
58. Support other people who advocate for gender equality.
59. Respect “her” culture.
60. Don’t assume she will take your last name if you both agree to marry.
61. Respect confidentiality.
62. Be willing to listen and know when to refer people to other resources.
63. Defy traditional male stereotypes.
64. Use your male privilege to advance feminist discussions in male-dominated spaces.
65. Recognize that we don’t define what being an ally entails. Women have that job.
66. Never give up.
67. Combat rape culture in your social circle, workplaces, or school.
68. Hold other men accountable.
69. Be an active bystander. If you witness harassment, do something about it.
70. Learn and use appropriate vocabulary.
71. Advocate for more inclusive policies, rules, or procedures in your school or workplace.
72. Speak as if a woman is always listening.
73. Be aware of your heterosexual privilege.
74. Celebrate milestones and victories with women and the LGBT communities.
75. Be proud to be an ally.
76. Seek out children’s books for your kids that challenge traditional gender roles.
77. Be able to laugh at yourself.
80. Make your space feminist!
81. Make a Twitter account.
82. Familiarize yourself with this book. You’ll thank me later.
83. This might go without saying, but be conscious of other social problems and issues! All oppression is connected. 84. Cook with your girlfriend, partner, or spouse.
85. Support and vote for political candidates who advocate policies beneficial to women, LGBT people, and other marginalized groups of people.
86. Join the Feminist Network Project and stay connected to thousands of feminists worldwide.
87. Support feminist media. 88. Embrace the haters. You can learn a lot from them.
89. Don’t fall for websites or causes that claim men are oppressed (by feminism). One example is A Voice For Men.
90. Travel to unfamiliar places.
91. Ask questions (but not too many)!
92. Start a blog!
93. Buy your books at local, independent bookstores.
94. Showcase your feminist pride! (If you’re comfortable)
95. Seek out role models and pick their brains.
96. Respect women’s spaces for dialogue.
97. Appearances should never matter. Promote self-love and healthy body images!
98. Turn magazines that promote sexism and unhealthy body image backwards at your local supermarkets and newsstands.
99. Be careful not to burn out. 100. Develop your own methods of self-care.
101. Please suggest further additions and edits to this list.
Wednesday, February 27, 2013
The Micro-Aggressions / Microaggressions Project
The Micro-Aggressions / Microaggressions Project http://www.microaggressions.com/about/
Click on "see posts by TAG" - here are posts about race http://www.microaggressions.com/context/race/
This blog seeks to provide a visual representation of the everyday of “microaggressions.” Each event, observation and experience posted is not necessarily particularly striking in and of themselves. Often, they are never meant to hurt – acts done with little conscious awareness of their meanings and effects. Instead, their slow accumulation during a childhood and over a lifetime is in part what defines a marginalized experience, making explanation and communication with someone who does not share this identity particularly difficult. Social others are microaggressed hourly, daily, weekly, monthly.
This project is NOT about showing how ignorant people can be in order to simply dismiss their ignorance. Instead, it is about showing how these comments create and enforce uncomfortable, violent and unsafe realities onto peoples’ workplace, home, school, childhood/adolescence/adulthood, and public transportation/space environments.
The term “microaggressions” was originally coined to speak particularly to racialized experiences.
Click on "see posts by TAG" - here are posts about race http://www.microaggressions.com/context/race/
This blog seeks to provide a visual representation of the everyday of “microaggressions.” Each event, observation and experience posted is not necessarily particularly striking in and of themselves. Often, they are never meant to hurt – acts done with little conscious awareness of their meanings and effects. Instead, their slow accumulation during a childhood and over a lifetime is in part what defines a marginalized experience, making explanation and communication with someone who does not share this identity particularly difficult. Social others are microaggressed hourly, daily, weekly, monthly.
This project is NOT about showing how ignorant people can be in order to simply dismiss their ignorance. Instead, it is about showing how these comments create and enforce uncomfortable, violent and unsafe realities onto peoples’ workplace, home, school, childhood/adolescence/adulthood, and public transportation/space environments.
The term “microaggressions” was originally coined to speak particularly to racialized experiences.
“Racial microaggressions are brief and commonplace daily verbal, behavioral, or environmental indignities, whether intentional or unintentional, that communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative racial slights and insults toward people of color.” – Racial Microaggressions in Everyday LifeThis blog, however, is a space to extend this concept to different socially constructed identities that embody privilege in different ways – sexuality, class, religion, education level, to name a few – in hopes of making visible the ways in which social difference is produced and policed in everyday lives through comments of people around you.
Sunday, November 11, 2012
Thursday, November 8, 2012
Self-Image, Costume, and Family Tapistry Activities
Beauty is Skin Deep: http://www.tolerance.org/activity/beauty-skin-deep Students reflect on the ways in which they have experienced or
participated in bias based on physical size and appearance, and the ways
in which expectations about body image and appearance in our society
affect us. They learn about media literacy and examine media images for
"attractiveness messages" that consciously and unconsciously impact our
attitudes and behavior toward others. Students conclude the lesson by
exploring ways to get beyond appearance as a dominant force in their
social lives.
Costumes: http://www.tolerance.org/search/apachesolr_search/Racial%20representation%20on%20TV
Understanding Prejudice Through Self-Portraits: http://www.tolerance.org/search/apachesolr_search/Understanding%20Prejudice%20through%20paper%20plates%20portrait
Memories: http://www.tolerance.org/activity/memories-can-have-are To begin the lesson, I ask the students what a memory is. We start a Can-Have-Are chart for memories. For example, memories can make you happy, have a special feeling and are different for everyone. After a short discussion, I present each item from my bag and tell about the memory it holds for me. I then introduce the book and read it aloud.
Family Tapestries: http://www.tolerance.org/activity/family-tapestry The overall goal of these lessons is to help students recognize and accept differences among each other and within the larger community and how their own unique family contributes to a richer society. As they begin to understand themselves more thoroughly, learning opportunities likely will open up to explore their own biases and prejudices. The series consists of the following four lessons.
The
overall goal of these lessons is to help students recognize and accept
differences among each other and within the larger community and how
their own unique family contributes to a richer society. As they begin
to understand themselves more thoroughly, learning opportunities likely
will open up to explore their own biases and prejudices. The series
consists of the following four lessons.
Costumes: http://www.tolerance.org/search/apachesolr_search/Racial%20representation%20on%20TV
Understanding Prejudice Through Self-Portraits: http://www.tolerance.org/search/apachesolr_search/Understanding%20Prejudice%20through%20paper%20plates%20portrait
Memories: http://www.tolerance.org/activity/memories-can-have-are To begin the lesson, I ask the students what a memory is. We start a Can-Have-Are chart for memories. For example, memories can make you happy, have a special feeling and are different for everyone. After a short discussion, I present each item from my bag and tell about the memory it holds for me. I then introduce the book and read it aloud.
Family Tapestries: http://www.tolerance.org/activity/family-tapestry The overall goal of these lessons is to help students recognize and accept differences among each other and within the larger community and how their own unique family contributes to a richer society. As they begin to understand themselves more thoroughly, learning opportunities likely will open up to explore their own biases and prejudices. The series consists of the following four lessons.
Friday, September 7, 2012
Evolution vs. Creationism
Interesting article and argument on how the belief in Creationism holds back science literacy. "Denial of evolution is unique to the United States," Nye begins in a
YouTube video posted on Thursday. The video quickly picked up steam
over the weekend and as of Monday morning had been viewed more than
1,100,000 times. http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2012/08/27/bill-nye-slams-creationism/?hpt=hp_c3
The Truth with Hasan Minhaj - Sikh Temple Shooting
Hasan Minhaj has great posts and video on his site. He uses comedy to explain issues of racism, etc. Definite PREVIEW before sharing with kids.
http://www.youtube.com/user/goatfacecomedy
http://www.youtube.com/user/goatfacecomedy
Wednesday, July 4, 2012
Saturday, May 19, 2012
The Voice of Hawai'i
Pidgin: The Voice of Hawai‘i http://pidginthevoiceofhawaii.com/
This movie profiles the language of Hawai’i’s working people in its rise from plantation jargon to a source of island identity, pride, and controversy. Born on sugar plantations and spoken by more than half of Hawai‘i’s population, Pidgin captures multi-ethnic Hawai‘i’s heart and soul. Once again under attack by educators and bloggers, will Pidgin survive?
This movie profiles the language of Hawai’i’s working people in its rise from plantation jargon to a source of island identity, pride, and controversy. Born on sugar plantations and spoken by more than half of Hawai‘i’s population, Pidgin captures multi-ethnic Hawai‘i’s heart and soul. Once again under attack by educators and bloggers, will Pidgin survive?
Friday, February 24, 2012
These photographs are terrific and really challenge our thinking of what it "normal."
In our relationships it’s not too uncommon to borrow a t-shirt, some socks or a warm hat from a lover… but what about entirely switching outfits? This entertaining and thought provoking series by Canadian photographer Hana Pesut does just that, encouraging couples to completely exchange their clothing with each other. The resulting diptychs are sometimes funny, while also having the effect of making one re-analyze both their views on fashion and on sexual identity.
In our relationships it’s not too uncommon to borrow a t-shirt, some socks or a warm hat from a lover… but what about entirely switching outfits? This entertaining and thought provoking series by Canadian photographer Hana Pesut does just that, encouraging couples to completely exchange their clothing with each other. The resulting diptychs are sometimes funny, while also having the effect of making one re-analyze both their views on fashion and on sexual identity.
Monday, January 30, 2012
Internalized Racism
How does skin color play itself out within the African American community? Here is a good video to follow up either "Girl Like Me" or the Clark experiment with white and black dolls.
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