Do I Have the Full Picture?
As a white, 19-year-old female that went to public schools my whole life…there is no way I have “the full picture”, but that is why I am in this class to gather information and learn about “the full picture”. Luckily, I was educated on Black history and Hispanic history in the past, but one thing that was very overlooked was Native American or indigenous history. We did learn a little about this, but only in American History classes, which you only take in 4th, 7th, and maybe once in high school. I could list names like Cesar Chavez, Dolores Huerta, Rosa Parks, and Martin Luther King jr. but when I think of Native Americans I learned about, sadly none come to mind. All of this, especially “the stories in the margins” from last week, brings me to think of social injustice. These important people, histories, and stories are being completely left out. In addition, I never once heard the phrase “settler colonialism” in my educational history, which is concerning.
My Experience
Throughout my grade school years, I lived in a predominantly white area, therefore, “TEA data shows in 2019-20, 71.91% of teachers in KISD were white while 7.49% were Black and 15.55% were Hispanic” (1). This reminds me of our last module about being in the margins. Students labeled minorities still get mistreated and it shows. I have seen this happen, I remember in school one of my neighbors, Temisan, a black male, was in my algebra class junior year. ANY TIME a student was talking my White female teacher would call out his name, it could have been a girl talking and she would say “Temisan stop distracting her”. It was a very weird and uncomfortable situation because other students noticed this. She would also point out his clothing choices. Whether the teacher meant to pick on him or not, this is an example of Dysconscious Racism. “Dysconscious racism is an uncritical habit of mind that lacks any ethical judgment regarding or critique of systemic racial inequity” (2). Just like in the “Dysconscious racism in Sport” video, people didn’t realize calling a team “Redskins” was offensive; they also chose the name to represent a “savage” or “bloodthirsty” team (3). By calling out Temisan every time, it showed how naive and uneducated my teacher was. It was offensive and wrong to assume that he was an issue in the classroom. “A crucial aspect of social justice education is learning to differentiate between intent and impact” (4). I feel that some educators think they have the full picture, but in reality are falling into misinformation and still acting in old, inappropriate ways.
In conclusion, unfortunately, I feel as if I do not have the full picture since I missed so much of what I could have learned in grade school. I do aspire to receive the full picture though by the time I become a teacher.
References
First off, brava Mallory.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading your blog. You talked about some great points, and I like how you added in your own experience with dysconscious racism. You're right that students don't learn enough about Native Americans or Indigenous people to this day. I feel students should learn more about these two cultures because it will allow them to develop new understanding and respect for a different diversity. We at least recognize them a little more for celebrating "Indigenous Day" on October 10th. This doesn't change much, but we at least show a day of appreciation towards their culture. Everyone's stories should and need to be heard. Not only on a certain day, but in our history classes as well.
Reading about your neighbor Temisan's experience is sad because this continues to happen. I like how you added in the definition of dsysconscious racism, this way the readers who haven't heard of that will get a better understanding of the phrase. After watching "Dysconscious Racism in Sport" I have a better understanding on how inappropriate these team names can be toward Native Americans. This goes to show how uneducated we are about Natives and why we should be learning more about their culture and heritage in classes. Therefore, people who were against the name changing of the "Redskins" to "Washington Football Team" would have had a better understanding into why it was wrong. Luckily, they were able to change the name in 2020. Another example is people dressing up for Halloween in certain costumes they presume to be "funny", yet they show to make fun of certain people and/or ethnicities. Some educators do not have the full picture and yes, continue to follow old ways. We as future educators need to help our students' learning when it comes to History and allow the stories that were left in the margins to be told and heard.
Hello Mallory! Bravo on the blog post and being able to be truly vulnerable with us as well as yourself. At this day and age, and especially when you are younger, not having the full picture is somewhat expected. My mother taught me some while I was growing up, but it was only when I left for college and was on my own that I became aware of the biases that people following every day, consciously or not. As sad as this makes me, it was relevant for me to understand that I did in fact NOT have the full picture and that there was so much more I could be doing. I had similar teachings growing up as well and there is little Native American history that I know. This is wrong, mostly because by not telling all the stories from their own perspective, we are not appropriately serving all the students in our care. These children should be able to see themselves in history and stories, and not as the bad guys or anything else. They should see themselves as people they are proud to be. That is why it is important to have the full picture, especially as an educator.
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