When they got to this one, I heard a lot of confused/uncomfortable murmuring:
What I kept hearing was, “it’s a bunch of white people,” followed by “you can’t write that, that’s racist.” Is it racist simply to point out that they are white? One kid said “writing down that it’s a bunch of white people is just like saying a bunch of black n-----s.”
The students’ confusion came from their surprise at seeing white people protesting for free speech – a freedom they did not realize was ever denied to white people. (This photo actually comes from the student Free Speech Movement in the early ‘60s.) But their discomfort came from being asked to write what they noticed about the photo, and not wanting to state the obvious.
I feel like if I want to understand how my kids think about race, it's important to understand why they were so uncomfortable with that, but I don't.
1 comment:
Sounds like a really interesting lesson. Great images. I think it is important for kids to learn the difference between "Racialism," that is the theory (disproved by science) that Homo Sapiens can be subdivided into discrete categories known as "races" and "Racism," or the idea that these "races" have qualities that are unique, identifiable, and/or shared by all members of this "race." It might be interesting to ask, "Can you be racist and not racialist? Can you be racialist and not racist?" Another to add is the definition of "prejudice" or "stereotype" which is usually what children are really talking about when they say "racist."
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