Reflective Essay On Courageous Conversation About Race

If I were to write a memoir highlighting issues of racial identity in my life, I would talk about my experiences living in rural Iowa, my interactions with my family in Chicago after I moved to Iowa, and the pressure I felt to work hard in order to break stereotypes which affected how I viewed myself as a black person.

The questions that resonated me were “How can I help 2nd grade students talk about race honestly and critically?” and “how can I lean into more conversations about race in the classroom?” because it is a difficult matter that needs to be carefully implemented. I also have similar questions of how can I introduce race in my classroom, and develop non-offensive conversations about race with my students?

Authors Glenn E. Singleton and Curtis Linton in Chapter Five of Courageous Conversations About Race broach the topic of race, by asking the reader to evaluate his or her own consciousness of race. According to the authors, in order to address the achievement gaps between African American students and White students, educators should shift their energy towards focusing on the factors that they have direct control of inside the classroom rather than on the factors that influence this achievement disparity between races outside the classroom.

Throughout history and in literature, Black has always been portrayed as evil, whereas White has represented purity and light. These oversimplified stereotypes of something so abstract as skin color has plagued our culture with prejudice and hatred. Ernest E. Gaines, author of A Lesson Before Dying, tells the story of a young black boy named Jefferson who is set to die for essentially being in the wrong place at the wrong time, and a schoolteacher who is faced with the task of making him a “man”. The novel takes place in Bayonne, Louisiana in the 1940’s, a time when racism prospered. At this time in history people faced extreme prejudice based on the color of their skin. Though slavery had been abolished almost eighty years

Throughout the reading some great points were made. Some of these points were so significant, it changed my perspective. One point that opened my eyes was in the article “Critical Race Theory, Racial Microaggressions,

What is race? How many races are there? What are the genes that separate each race? How many genes are there? What do evolutionists, scientists, or anthropologists have to say about race? And even more importantly, what role does race play in your life? When I was a young boy maybe 6 or 7 years old, I had a friend of a different race who was particularly interested in answering the unsolved mysteries of our world. He explained to me that he was made "some place different than black boys." I took a good look at the both of us and determined that this must be correct. As I grew older, I felt ashamed and embarrassed that I ever believed this. And as I got even older, I started to question whether or not other people were told the same story.

All four pieces were enlightening, but there was one particular piece that really opened my eyes about race and the different reasons that individuals may or may not use the concept to help define who they are. The article by Johnston, Pizzolato and Kanny examined the ways by which individuals may or may not utilize the concept of race to form their sense of identity. It may be self-centered, but I had never really thought that other people might have a different way of thinking of race as part of their identity. I had just assumed that everyone understood race as I understood it; and so that everyone else’s race also was ingrained and played a part of their identity in the way that I believed race played a role in my sense of self. However, as I read the piece and the authors explained the ways by which the participants identified race s playing a role in their identity I was surprised. I

To start off, both of my parents are white Americans. My father’s great grandparents came to america from czechoslovakia in the late 1800’s and same for my mothers German great grandparents. Born and raised in primarily white small towns, my parents are your stereotypical middle class white americans. About 10 years into their relationship when my mom first got pregnant with my oldest brother Dalton (23), they bought a 3 story house that was right outside of a suburban neighborhood on the outskirts of Anoka, Mn. The nearest gas station was about a 8 minute drive, and the nearest restaurant was 10. They had 3 boys together, and took in my oldest cousin Chey when she was 10 because my aunt had passed.

The conversation about race, for American society, traditionally has been thwarted by its tendency to be divisive, as seen in America’s not too distant history. However, the doors for racial discussion have been opened wide, as a result of the case of Rachel Dolezal. The former Spokane NAACP leader, Rachel Dolezal, sparked outcries from American society due to her misrepresentation of her race. Questions have been raised wither race, like Dolezal has tried, can be socially constructed. Mainstream news publishers have released many articles in trying to provide perspective on this question, which personify concepts about race and ethnicity. Respectively, the articles exemplify racial hierarchy, social construction of race, denials of racism, and racialization.

My heart goes out to the twelve police officers that were shot in Dallas, TX due to a rally supporting “black live matter”’. Over the last, these problems have only been growing. I am not supporting either party or saying that either party is more right than the other. At this point, there has to be a lot of critical thinking accomplished by leaders to eradicate the problems at hand. There is never a problem with a peaceful rally but when the rally turns into the shooting of 12 officers, this becomes problematic. This is due to the fact that the population believes they have to take matters into their own hands because leaders have failed to take care of the problem themselves. This problem is not over yet. Leaders must discover the true meaning behind this shooting. If the truth is not discovered and the problem is not dealt with, the problems might have a tendency to grow. This is why leaders must think critically and creatively. Doing so will improve the

Race is a social-constructed terminology where it categorizes people into groups that share certain distinctive physical characteristics such as skin color. However, race and racial identity is unstable, unfixed and constantly shifting, as race, typically, is a signifier of prevalent social conflict and interest. Although, many, particularly anthropologists and sociologists, argue in the aforementioned point of view, some – mainly white population -- believe that racial characteristics are biologically inherited.

Unwittingly or quite knowingly people have built systems of inequalities around race but people have also built identity, friendships, and college mates around it. Nevertheless, several people I recently interviewed never appeared to be certain when race was a good thing or when it was a bad thing to talk about, which in my mind leaves us all struggling with a particularly intimidating question: When should we talk as if race matters?

Schools were desegregated in 1968, when I was in the fifth grade. Even though we were now going to the same school, not much else changed where I lived~ at least from my young perspective. I graduated in 1976, and blacks and whites still lived on opposite sides of Highway 77, the road that dissected my town. Affirmative action where I lived meant that a hiring freeze was on, the sentiment being that if the government thought it could tell us who to hire, then we wouldn’t hire anyone. During the day while at school we were friends, but when we went home it was to our side of town. My house was one of the oddities, in that we had our black friends over to dinner and hang out during the day, although we

In "A Worn Path", a short story by Eudora Welty, the main character, an old colored woman named Phoenix, slowly but surely makes her way down a "worn path" through the woods. Throughout her journey, she runs into many obstacles such as a thorny bush and a hunter. She overcomes these obstacles and continues with her travels. She finally reaches her destination, the doctor’s office, where she gets medicine for her sick grandson back home. Many critics have speculated that this short story represents the love a grandmother shows for her grandson. Others say this story represents life and death, where Phoenix represents an immortal figure. Dennis J. Sykes disagrees with the other critics by saying,

After this week’s reading and videos I learned many new intriguing perspectives about society.  Also, the video taught me a very important lesson about discrimination. I thought the lesson the teacher taught was unique and got her point across extremely well. She really put people in the shoes of the less fortunate that are being discriminated. The readings on the first day I found very interesting because people are the only ones that affect the rapid changes of society. The weeks readings and videos relate to each other because the way society changes now is how discrimination on skin colors started and affected millions of lives that could of even took lives away.