Jan 30th Blog

• I searched for something to demonstrate one of my take aways from the article "Race: Some Teachable - and Uncomfortable - Moments" by Tonentino.   I relate mostly to Jessie.  She is trying to learn about something she did not experience.  She is not trying to be racist.  She is not trying to be inconsiderate.  She is not trying to say she knows how it feels, she is trying to learn; be educated about White Privilege and to show empathy to her friend.  She is not excusing, accepting, or understanding it.  She is learning.  As a person who is just learning about a layer of White Privilege, that I did not know of previously, I feel ignorant and almost afraid to speak of how I feel for fear of being judged and misunderstood, or just saying the wrong thing.  I, like Jessie, do not agree nor am I proud that I live in a White Privileged Society and I am Identified as a White Privileged individual because of the color of my skin.  I feel a lot of education and dialogue needs to open up about it.
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• This quote is how I envision Heidi Tolentino. We, as role models, must act brave even when we are not so as to lead our groups to where they need to get to.
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• "You're Asian, How Could You Fail Math?" by Wayne Au, Benji Chang share relevant information.  I am included in hearing the myth that Asian's are very smart in math and in science.  My stepdaughter, in her private high school experience definitely associated her Asian peers as being super smart in Math and Science; and it seemed to be true, reinforcing this myth.  With that said, she is part Asian as her dad is half Japanese, yet she did not excel in Math and Sciences (she did fine, but she was not the smartest in the class and she had to work hard for her grades.)  She would repeatedly state that fact as well.  
• In the article it is suggested that a way to turn myth about a culture into fact is by inviting families of that culture to share what their culture is like.  It's a way to take a real look, by investigating and accepting what is shared about someone's culture as opposed to making assumptions. I do agree with this suggestion.  I feel that within specific ethnic cultures there will be similarities due to ethnicity; but I also think there are common grounds that people of all races will find seeing that we are all human. Utilizing a Culture Box, having a multicultural arts evening or "week" are some strategies which can be implemented in your classroom or school in which cultures can come together and share and learn about each other to replace myth with fact.
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• Michael J Dumas authored "Against the Dark:  Antiblackness in Education Policy & Disclosure" and my thoughts to form an impressionable opinion that change is necessary.  But, the fundamentals of how that change occurs is complicated.  It's a concept that is very complex.  It is difficult to come up with an analogy to express my thoughts on how do we overcome afro-pessimism and anti-blackness.  Yet, Heidi Tonentino, teaches awareness and gives a platform for her students to learn, become aware, and discuss solutions.  As teachers and parents and role models of society we too need to be like Heidi.  Hopefully, the movement will continue in this direction, more growth of awareness of afro pessimism will begin to spark discussions on solutions.  This pool of youth will grow and grow, and eventually, we will be able to keep anti pessimism in our history books.