Rant of Rage: People Can't be Racist Against Whites

[OkToBeTakei]

The school acknowledges that race is a factor in some admissions, which is why the case is so controversial. So it is not entirely in the girl's head. However, it appears that she was not a stellar student. So it is not like a straight-A student was denied a spot that was given instead to a mediocre student of another race... more like she is a mediocre student and has no lack of privilege that might be to blame, while another student who is also mediocre has mitigating factors. I listened to a looooong discussion of this on NPR while in traffic.

As for anecdata, I find it helpful in some cases. If someone had said that white people never have negative experiences related to race, then the anecdata presented here would be useful. And I would have some anecdata of my own on that topic. But the issue, as far as I can tell, is more that white people do not suffer vast, institutional lack of privilege based on race.

I love these discussions because honestly, this is where the internet ROCKS. You rarely can have these discussions in person.

Well you can. But people begin to back away from you with that WTF look :shock:

I was honestly tempted to say the other day when somebody asked me 'How you doing?' (a normal greeting in my demographic which the correct answer to is also to say 'How you doing?' then walk on by) To say, well actually I am well, privileged as are you. Let me tell you about it. Because it is very important. But of course I did not. It would be great to do it though.

[justlurking]

The school acknowledges that race is a factor in some admissions, which is why the case is so controversial. So it is not entirely in the girl's head. However, it appears that she was not a stellar student. So it is not like a straight-A student was denied a spot that was given instead to a mediocre student of another race... more like she is a mediocre student and has no lack of privilege that might be to blame, while another student who is also mediocre has mitigating factors. I listened to a looooong discussion of this on NPR while in traffic.

As for anecdata, I find it helpful in some cases. If someone had said that white people never have negative experiences related to race, then the anecdata presented here would be useful. And I would have some anecdata of my own on that topic. But the issue, as far as I can tell, is more that white people do not suffer vast, institutional lack of privilege based on race.

I love these discussions because honestly, this is where the internet ROCKS. You rarely can have these discussions in person.

Oh, I'm not doubting that race may have been a factor in some admissions. My problem with the story is the apparent scapegoating of minorities and POC as to why this chick was not granted admission. If she's so concerned about people with lower grades and fewer activities being admitted over her shouldn't she be just as equally upset by the number of white students who fit that criteria and were admitted over her? I'm sure she wouldn't give a damn about the "unfairness" of admissions if she was the one admitted over a better performing minority/POC (which does happen, despite apparent belief that minorities are somehow, automatically, not as qualified as whites). If she were truly sincere about her protest about the "unfairness" of admissions, shouldn't she be just as upset that there are white students who are admitted over other "more qualified" whites and POC?

It's interesting that there are so many factors that are/can be considered when it comes to whether a person is offered admission to a particular college, yet this woman chooses to focus on race (something that's so easy to scapegoat). Not to overuse Tim Wise, but I believe I posted a snippet of one of his articles on here before that addressed the same issue when another woman tried to sue the University of Michigan over the very same issue. Here's what he said about it:

Likewise, the ongoing backlash against affirmative action, by those who seem to believe that opportunity would truly be equal in the absence of these presumably unjust efforts to ensure access to jobs and higher education for persons of color. We are to believe that things were just fine before affirmative action, and that were such efforts abolished now, we could return to this utopic state of affairs: to hell with the persistent evidence that people of color continue to face discrimination in employment, housing, education and all other institutional settings in the U.S.

So if the University of Michigan gives applicants of color twenty points on a 150-point admission scale, so as to promote racial diversity and balance out the disadvantages to which such students are often subjected in their K-12 schooling experience, that is seen as unfair racial preference. But when the same school gives out 16 points to kids from the lily-white Upper Peninsula, or four points for children of overwhelmingly white alumni, or ten points for students who went to the state’s “top†schools (who will be mostly white to be sure), or 8 points for those who took a full slate of Advanced Placement classes in high schools (which classes are far less available in schools serving students of color), this is seen as perfectly fair, and not at all racially preferential.

What’s more, the whites who received all those bonus points due to their racial and class position will not be thought of by anyone as having received unearned advantages, in spite of the almost entirely ascriptive nature of the categories into which they fell that qualified them for such bonuses. No matter their “qualifications,†it will be taken for granted that any white student at a college or University belongs there.

This is why Jennifer Gratz, the lead plaintiff in the successful “reverse discrimination†suit against Michigan’s undergraduate affirmative action policy, found it a supreme injustice that a few dozen black, Latino and American Indian students were admitted ahead of her, despite having lower SATs and grades; but she thought nothing of the fact that more than 1400 other white students also were admitted ahead of her and her co-plaintiffs, despite having lower scores and grades. “Lesser qualified†whites are acceptable, while “lesser qualified†people of color must be eliminated from their unearned perches of opportunity. This is the kind of racist logic that people like Gratz, who now heads up the state’s anti-affirmative action initiative with the financial backing of Ward Connerly, find acceptable. http://www.timwise.org/2004/04/white-whine-reflections-on-the-brain-rotting-properties-of-privilege/

[JesusFightClub]

Well you can. But people begin to back away from you with that WTF look :shock:

I was honestly tempted to say the other day when somebody asked me 'How you doing?' (a normal greeting in my demographic which the correct answer to is also to say 'How you doing?' then walk on by) To say, well actually I am well, privileged as are you. Let me tell you about it. Because it is very important. But of course I did not. It would be great to do it though.

D'ye no just get "Awright pal?" and say "Awright, yersel?" back? ;)

[OkToBeTakei]

West Coast. So funny though the whole rhetorical manner thing. You will so get it. 'How yoo dooin' ' as you walk by..'How yoooo doin' With nobody actually giving a shit if you are dooin or awright. OR Hiya. followed by Hiya. God forbid you actually tell anybody how you are. Mind you..if somebody looks like they might engage, you can always use the 'Gettin' colder' with a dismissive nod. :lol:

[MyNameIsJonas]

So, I was asked to put together a reading list, so I thought I'd just post it here instead of sending it out individually. Again, because I'm black , that's largely the focus of my reading, but I do try to branch out, so if you have any suggestions, please chime in!

First, I' d reccomend any autobiography or collection of letters/essays you can find. Malcolm X and Angela Davis are my favorites but I'd also suggest writings by Booker T Washington and DuBois. I like one better than the other. Also, anything you can get your hands on about the Black Panther Party, Nation of Islam, or Black Nationalism, I'd suggest reading. Some of it is a little wacky but it's a good starting point when learning about the Black American reaction to w hit e s u pr emacy. I mostly like the Panthers so I stick to them when reading about anything post-Jim Crow. Some other good books on history are:

Rethinking Columbus: The Next 500 Years, by B. Bigelow and B. Peterson

Critical Race Theory: An Introduction, by R. Delgado and J. Stefancic

United States Government: Democracy in Action,by R. C. Remy

A People’s History of the United States: 1492 to Present, by H. Zinn

Color Lines: “Does Anti-War Have to Be Anti-Racist Too?†(2003), by E. Martinez

From Jim Crow to Civil Rights: The Supreme Court and the Struggle for Racial Equality by Michael J. Klarman

Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, and the Civil Rights Struggle of the 1950s and 1960s: A Brief History with Documents (Bedford Series in History & Culture) by David Howard-Pitney

Women in the Civil Rights Movement: Trailblazers and Torchbearers, 1941-1965

For post- Jim Crow, modern-day reading I'd suggest:

Whitewashing Race: The Myth of a Color-Blind Society by Michael K Brown

White Like Me: Reflections on Race from a Privileged Son by Tim Wise

Racism without Racists: Color-Blind Racism and the Persistence of Racial Inequality in America by Eduardo Bonilla-Silva

Black Rednecks and White Liberals by Thomas Sowell (I'm not really into this one as much because I'm not a fan of Sowell at all but it's worth a read at least once)

The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander and Cornell West (I love this one)

Unequal Childhoods: Class, Race, and Family Life by Annette Lareau , Other People's Children: Cultural Conflict in the Classroom by Lisa D. Delpit , The Shame of the Nation: The Restoration of Apartheid Schooling in America by Jonathan Kozol, and The Mis-Education of the Negro by Carter Godwin Woodson (for those of you who may be teachers/community leaders, etc for children of color)

When Affirmative Action Was White: An Untold History of Racial Inequality in Twentieth-Century America by Ira Katznelson

Color and Money: How Rich White Kids Are Winning the War over College Affirmative Action by Peter G. Schmidt

Affirmative Action: Racial Preference in Black and White (Positions: Education, Politics, and Culture) by Tim Wise

And then, my favorite subject, black feminism! You probably know the famous ones, Sojurner Truth, Shirley Chisholm, etc. bell hooks is the truth and the light. A bit dated, but she puts to words so many things that I could never say. I've referenced a lot of her work for different papers.

Ain't I a Woman: Black Women and Feminism

Talking Back: Thinking Feminist, Thinking Black

Bone Black: Memories of Girlhood

Reel To Real: Race, Sex, and Class at the Movies

Feminism Is for Everybody: Passionate Politics

We Real Cool: Black Men and Masculinity (because the flipside of black feminism is black masculinity. Any reading into the Black Panther movement shows this, too. It was especially difficult from black feminists at the time because they were not accepted amongst any white feminist movements, but the black civil rights movement was seen as a man's struggle, and women were expected to walk behind. It was pretty abusive at times.)

Sister Citizen: Shame, Stereotypes, and Black Women in America by Melissa Harris-Perry (this is my recent favorite, hands-down)

Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness, and the Politics of Empowerment and From Black Power to Hip Hop: Racism, Nationalism, and Feminism by Patricia Hill Collins

Sisters in the Struggle: African-American Women in the Civil Rights and Black Power Movements by Bettye Collier Thomas

And there are sooo any more but I'll stop now. :lol: I'd suggest just grabbing something off the list and then reading anything related to that.

[gardenvarietycitizen]

Thanks for this, MyNameIsJonas.

I'm terribly read (in English anyway) but I'll second "A People's History of the United States" by Zinn (I've read that one!) generally too because of the emphasis it puts on group movements. Far too often history books are written as if there is some random hero, who is obviously made of BETTER stuff than you are, who stands up, alone, miraculously, on a single day as a single man (and yeah, usually a man, though not always) and does something courageous and changes history all on his lonesome.

Whereas, Zinn shines a light on the people who were BEHIND the hero - the hero is still a hero, but never alone. There's always a bunch of people working on the ground, doing gruntwork, setting the stage, and planning in concert with the front person, to get the movement or the revolution or the action or whatever it is, to succeed. There's power in movements and everyone can have a role, if we work together. Usually the hero was hated by the mainstream for belonging to dangerous movements and being involved in "unpatriotic" activities, at the time things were actually happening.

Meaning... you too CAN do something. The hate you get is NORMAL. People laughing at your movement is how it always is. So don't give up. Realize history is written in hindsight by the winners.

I definitely am looking forward to "The New Jim Crow" if only my husband will hurry up and finish it...

[JesusFightClub]

West Coast. So funny though the whole rhetorical manner thing. You will so get it. 'How yoo dooin' ' as you walk by..'How yoooo doin' With nobody actually giving a shit if you are dooin or awright. OR Hiya. followed by Hiya. God forbid you actually tell anybody how you are. Mind you..if somebody looks like they might engage, you can always use the 'Gettin' colder' with a dismissive nod. :lol:

Hehehehe, yeah! Or if you get it in a shop you say "Been busy, like?" No matter what the answer is, it should be followed up with a bored sounding "Oh, aye?" :lol:

[Avalondaughter]

Interesting...I wonder if she'll devote as much energy protesting white students who had lower grades and fewer activites who were admitted over her---which I'm sure she will find many examples of she only cared to question.

Colleges have all kinds of preferences. I don't hear white people decrying how unfair it is when legacy students are automatically accepted to a school. Hell, where I went to college the female:male ratio was very skewed. The college was desperate to bring male numbers up. They would accept anyone with a penis. I knew plenty of guys who said my school was their last choice but it was the only college that would take them. This school was supposed to be very selective. I suppose it was - for women.

Nt

[Artemis]

Mods, any chance we can copy and paste this book list to a stickied 'Useful books to read if you want to be a real human' list?

Thanks, Jonas. I'm going to try and read at least five of these.

I know that as a privileged white woman I'm probably going to have some sort of mental 'WTF' going on, because when we are so entrenched in our privilege it's painful to be pulled out of it, but I think I need it. I don't actively discriminate as far as I'm aware, but passive discrimination by shutting your eyes to the issue is just as bad.

These all relate to the USA don't they? If you have anything specifically UK related you could recommend I would be grateful, otherwise I'll start with these and move on from there.

[JesusFightClub]

I also want to say thank you so much, MyNameIsJonas, for the reading list. I will be trying to get as much of those as I can.

The experience of black people and minority ethnic groups may be different in the UK (sorry, I am clumsy on these matters) so I will be looking out resources to find about this.

I was brought up when I was little in places where the only non white folk were a handful of British/Scottish* Asians and people whose parents or grandparents came from China. I never even met a black person until I was 10 and I was amazed and did the stupid "touching hair" thing. In rural Scotland when I was growing up there just were no black people ever.

My dad never met a black person until he was over 10 either and his teacher asked someone who was black to the school to talk about history, I think it was. They were poor rural white Scottish kids and they were stunned. They concentrated less on his talk than "why are your palms like mine, sir?" and "why's your hair like that, sir?" My dad's a bit over 60 and he left school at 14.

You can see these attitudes are quite recent in rural Scotland. (I'm 31.) So I might sound like an utter fanny sometimes. I've got about a million racist attitudes I struggle to get rid of and I need to educate myself more.

*This isn't a racial difference, it's a political one. Some Scots will see their primary identity as British and some Scottish, regardless of race.

[Artemis]

I was brought up when I was little in places where the only non white folk were a handful of British/Scottish* Asians and people whose parents or grandparents came from China.

Replace Scottish with English (rural Somerset), and this is me. I never saw anyone of a different ethnicity until I was nine or so, and I became friendly with a Chinese girl who lived in our town. (She went to a different school though: I was at the Catholic convent in Primary.) There were no asian or black families living in our town of approximately 11,000 people when I was growing up. The first time I mixed fully with different ethnicities was at university, and then the POCs I mixed with were either extremely middle class and privileged Indian or Chinese. If they were African, they were mostly Kenyan, Ugandan and Nigerian, rather than Afro-Caribbean.

In my junior school there were no children of ethnicities other than White British. In my secondary school there was one girl of mixed Afro-Caribbean/White ethnicity, one Jamaican girl, and two Muslim girls from Pakistan. In 1000 pupils.

In the village I have ended up living in there is one Kenyan family, maybe three or four Asian Indian families, and the same number of Polish or Latvian families. One reason I sent my girls to school in Bristol, was to have them mix with children of different ethnicities.

Under the circumstances a lack of awareness of racism when I was growing up is comprehensible, although not excusable, I suppose.

[Kaylee]

I also wanted to say thanks for the book list, MyNameIsJonas, and for the links you posted earlier in the thread.

I grew up with some really screwed up views on race and am still working to educate myself and try to find ways to raise my son differently and I appreciate any help or resources for doing that. I read a few of the books on your list (A People's History, Ain't I a Woman, White Like Me) when I was in college and some of them were very helpful in getting me to question my own prejudices and some of the beliefs I had picked up, and will be looking for some of the others on the list to add to my reading.

[Alana Rickman]

The school acknowledges that race is a factor in some admissions, which is why the case is so controversial. So it is not entirely in the girl's head. However, it appears that she was not a stellar student. So it is not like a straight-A student was denied a spot that was given instead to a mediocre student of another race... more like she is a mediocre student and has no lack of privilege that might be to blame, while another student who is also mediocre has mitigating factors. I listened to a looooong discussion of this on NPR while in traffic.

As for anecdata, I find it helpful in some cases. If someone had said that white people never have negative experiences related to race, then the anecdata presented here would be useful. And I would have some anecdata of my own on that topic. But the issue, as far as I can tell, is more that white people do not suffer vast, institutional lack of privilege based on race.

I love these discussions because honestly, this is where the internet ROCKS. You rarely can have these discussions in person.

I can't imagine the Court would have taken this case unless Scalia et al. were itching to overturn Grutter. There are five members of the Grutter Court who are still around: Scalia, Thomas, Ginsburg, Kennedy, and Breyer. Of those five, three of them were in the dissent in Grutter and voted to do away with affirmative action in university admissions. So if they all vote the same way this time, and Roberts and Alito join them, well that's that.

As for this Fisher woman--I got all I needed to know about her from a quote she gave the New York Times. She told them, "If I'd gone to UT, I probably would have gotten a better job offer." First of all, way to badmouth your school AND your job in one fell swoop. (And it's not like she went to Bumfuck U anyway; she went to Louisiana State, for crying out loud). Second of all, is ANYTHING that happens to you your fault, or are you just perpetually a tragic victim of circumstance?

[2xx1xy1JD]

Colleges have all kinds of preferences. I don't hear white people decrying how unfair it is when legacy students are automatically accepted to a school. Hell, where I went to college the female:male ratio was very skewed. The college was desperate to bring male numbers up. They would accept anyone with a penis. I knew plenty of guys who said my school was their last choice but it was the only college that would take them. This school was supposed to be very selective. I suppose it was - for women.

Nt

How do schools get away with having legacy preferences? If a school is private, does anything go?

Honestly, if you are the child of a university graduate, you are by definition privileged. That fact alone makes you far more likely to go to university yourself. Children of alumni are the last people who need to be given preference.

[emmiedahl]

How do schools get away with having legacy preferences? If a school is private, does anything go?

Honestly, if you are the child of a university graduate, you are by definition privileged. That fact alone makes you far more likely to go to university yourself. Children of alumni are the last people who need to be given preference.

Even state schools give preference to the children of alumni. It was a question in my medical school applications.

[shesinsane]

This article isn't new, but new to me. It's a great way to explain white privilege without using the word privilege - imagine life as a video game, and you choose the level of difficulty. "Straight white male" is the easiest setting.

whatever.scalzi.com/2012/05/15/straight-white-male-the-lowest-difficulty-setting-there-is/

[Terrie]

The girl bringing the Sp. Ct. case reminds me of this cartoon:

[2xx1xy1JD]

Even state schools give preference to the children of alumni. It was a question in my medical school applications.

How is that justified? Is it just a way to grab donations from alumni?

I'm glad that the practice hasn't come to Canadian schools. If you already had an advantage by being the child of a university graduate, and you still can't meet the regular admission standards, then you don't belong in the program.

ETA: Found a great article on why MIT does NOT have legacy admissions, and I agree with every word. IMO, it drags the school down. Employers know that each MIT grad deserved to be there. With other schools, you don't know if the student was brilliant, or if they just come from a long line of rich and educated folks.

[clicker dies]

Not sure if this has been brought up yet, but I'm just here to remind everyone that all this US racism is happening on soil that was wrenched from the original inhabitants (who are not considered white... some don't even call themselves American). They were also by and large forced to lose their names, languages, and cultures and assimilate to a new culture, suffer forced sterilizations - which happened at least until the 1970s - and mass murders and vilification, else be given (lol) relatively tiny plots of land to waste away on. Racism is still happening to the Natives/First Nations/Indians too but I don't think they've (we've... I wasn't able to grow up knowing that part of my heritage so it's a bit grey for me) been included here yet.

I could be wrong about that, though.

[luckystone]

How is that justified? Is it just a way to grab donations from alumni?

I'm glad that the practice hasn't come to Canadian schools. If you already had an advantage by being the child of a university graduate, and you still can't meet the regular admission standards, then you don't belong in the program.

ETA: Found a great article on why MIT does NOT have legacy admissions, and I agree with every word. IMO, it drags the school down. Employers know that each MIT grad deserved to be there. With other schools, you don't know if the student was brilliant, or if they just come from a long line of rich and educated folks.

I have not understood why it's relevant if your parents went there either. We don't have that in Australia. Maybe if you're choosing a residential to live in, but you have to be accepted into the uni first and they look at your grades and occasionally other things.

I've always thought it was odd and a bit of a cash-grab or just nepotism.

[gardenvarietycitizen]

This article isn't new, but new to me. It's a great way to explain white privilege without using the word privilege - imagine life as a video game, and you choose the level of difficulty. "Straight white male" is the easiest setting.

whatever.scalzi.com/2012/05/15/straight-white-male-the-lowest-difficulty-setting-there-is/

That's a great analogy. Had to bookmark it for future use!

[Wolfie]

But sometimes they still turn down applicants who have a legacy somewhere- we're still very puzzled at why my brother was turned down from his first choice school, as he was a National Merit Scholar and offered full ride scholarships to big name schools like Boston University, AND my dad had gone to school there. (he ended up going to the rival of his first choice school)

[RachelB]

Thank you, MyNameIsJonas. I want to recognize the time and effort it must have taken you to assemble an Unlearning Racism 101 list, and also the fact that it's not your job to educate other people.

So, I was asked to put together a reading list, so I thought I'd just post it here instead of sending it out individually. Again, because I'm black , that's largely the focus of my reading, but I do try to branch out, so if you have any suggestions, please chime in!

First, I' d reccomend any autobiography or collection of letters/essays you can find. Malcolm X and Angela Davis are my favorites but I'd also suggest writings by Booker T Washington and DuBois. I like one better than the other. Also, anything you can get your hands on about the Black Panther Party, Nation of Islam, or Black Nationalism, I'd suggest reading. Some of it is a little wacky but it's a good starting point when learning about the Black American reaction to w hit e s u pr emacy. I mostly like the Panthers so I stick to them when reading about anything post-Jim Crow. Some other good books on history are:

Rethinking Columbus: The Next 500 Years, by B. Bigelow and B. Peterson

Critical Race Theory: An Introduction, by R. Delgado and J. Stefancic

United States Government: Democracy in Action,by R. C. Remy

A People’s History of the United States: 1492 to Present, by H. Zinn

Color Lines: “Does Anti-War Have to Be Anti-Racist Too?†(2003), by E. Martinez

From Jim Crow to Civil Rights: The Supreme Court and the Struggle for Racial Equality by Michael J. Klarman

Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, and the Civil Rights Struggle of the 1950s and 1960s: A Brief History with Documents (Bedford Series in History & Culture) by David Howard-Pitney

Women in the Civil Rights Movement: Trailblazers and Torchbearers, 1941-1965

For post- Jim Crow, modern-day reading I'd suggest:

Whitewashing Race: The Myth of a Color-Blind Society by Michael K Brown

White Like Me: Reflections on Race from a Privileged Son by Tim Wise

Racism without Racists: Color-Blind Racism and the Persistence of Racial Inequality in America by Eduardo Bonilla-Silva

Black Rednecks and White Liberals by Thomas Sowell (I'm not really into this one as much because I'm not a fan of Sowell at all but it's worth a read at least once)

The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander and Cornell West (I love this one)

Unequal Childhoods: Class, Race, and Family Life by Annette Lareau , Other People's Children: Cultural Conflict in the Classroom by Lisa D. Delpit , The Shame of the Nation: The Restoration of Apartheid Schooling in America by Jonathan Kozol, and The Mis-Education of the Negro by Carter Godwin Woodson (for those of you who may be teachers/community leaders, etc for children of color)

When Affirmative Action Was White: An Untold History of Racial Inequality in Twentieth-Century America by Ira Katznelson

Color and Money: How Rich White Kids Are Winning the War over College Affirmative Action by Peter G. Schmidt

Affirmative Action: Racial Preference in Black and White (Positions: Education, Politics, and Culture) by Tim Wise

And then, my favorite subject, black feminism! You probably know the famous ones, Sojurner Truth, Shirley Chisholm, etc. bell hooks is the truth and the light. A bit dated, but she puts to words so many things that I could never say. I've referenced a lot of her work for different papers.

Ain't I a Woman: Black Women and Feminism

Talking Back: Thinking Feminist, Thinking Black

Bone Black: Memories of Girlhood

Reel To Real: Race, Sex, and Class at the Movies

Feminism Is for Everybody: Passionate Politics

We Real Cool: Black Men and Masculinity (because the flipside of black feminism is black masculinity. Any reading into the Black Panther movement shows this, too. It was especially difficult from black feminists at the time because they were not accepted amongst any white feminist movements, but the black civil rights movement was seen as a man's struggle, and women were expected to walk behind. It was pretty abusive at times.)

Sister Citizen: Shame, Stereotypes, and Black Women in America by Melissa Harris-Perry (this is my recent favorite, hands-down)

Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness, and the Politics of Empowerment and From Black Power to Hip Hop: Racism, Nationalism, and Feminism by Patricia Hill Collins

Sisters in the Struggle: African-American Women in the Civil Rights and Black Power Movements by Bettye Collier Thomas

And there are sooo any more but I'll stop now. :lol: I'd suggest just grabbing something off the list and then reading anything related to that.

[MyNameIsJonas]

Sorry for the late response, everyone. School is kicking butt in a big way (and lately I've been the Queen of Procrastination :oops: )

Raine, I love stories like yours because they give me the warm fuzzies and mostly they remind me that all people have the capacity to change. I'm not sure how old your son is, but reading him some books/letting him watch movies about people from all walks of life would make it easier to have discussions on race when he's older because he'll already know a bit of information. Basic biographies on different people are great, too, and pretty neutral.

And everyone else, thanks. I know that I have no obligation to teach but I always feel like I have to give people a gentle pat in the right direction... :lol: I don't like to tell people to just "look it up".

Clicker Dies, my ancestry is not predominantly Native/Indian/First Nations. I'm not sure if anyone who has been reading has any knowledge on this, but I can only speak to my experience being Black American. I think maybe some people are a bit scared...please chime in! The black experience is not the only experience when it comes to US racism (or racism anywhere else)

Edited for inclusiveness.

[clicker dies]

^ no worries, I wasn't speaking to anyone directly, just reminding people of another aspect of this continent's history :)

But like I said, I've only known my heritage for less than four years, and my Inuit ancestry is not my predominant one either (my mother is biracial but she didn't grow up with tribal ties either). I've never experienced racism because I look and am mostly white. But I guess you could say my maternal family's fate is the result of racism (alcoholism and poverty in their homeland affecting at least 4 generations). I'm still learning.