Social Issues Blog FNED

Turning Things Upside Down  While reading, "What if we Talked about Monolingual White Children the Way we Talked about Low-Income Children of Color", at first I didn't pick up on the tactic of the article, but as I read on it became very clear. The author even clearly states his intent at the end, which to me felt like a mike drop. I even wrote, "BOOM" on my paper. The author makes a great point- the fact that English improvement programs can be implemented into low-income communities with no problem at first doesn't seem  bad; but when the process is reversed and bilingual programs are implemented into white communities, there is push back. It's as though the expected norm, again, is to have communities of different cultures and races assimilate to the white English way. I feel like one could take this the next step and assume that other races and cultures have to assimilate to the American Way. And as I kept reading this article, I couldn't ...

Before this class I honestly never thought how the Gay Revolution and Liberation was a," symbol of a largely white, male movement that relegated people of color and women to its margins". As ignorant as it is, when I thought about LGBTQ I rarely thought about race and the effects race had on these movements and revolutions.  Only till recently have I actually been challenged to consider the effect race had on these Revolutions. About a month ago, the staff at my school was given an LGBTQ training on acceptance  and district policies. The training was helpful and informative but there was something missing. I didn't notice what was missing until the presenter said a fact about how white families are more excepting than families of other races.  That's what is missing- during this entire presentation - race was left out of the conversation!  Except for when the presenter discussed that it will be easier for white children than for children of different races . Ho...

It is interesting how life works and the timing of events. Just this weekend the concept of detouring was brought to my attention. Then 24 hours later I read the articles: "The unexamined Whiteness of teaching: how White teachers maintain and enact dominant racial ideologies" and "why talk about whiteness", and these articles discuss detouring without explicating naming it as detouring.  Detouring is a new idea that I am still working through and understanding but from what I understand in this current moment, it is when a White person uses tactic to detour from discussing race and racism and therefore maintain their dominance and privilege. Detouring can take many forms and are actively used daily.  When reading "The unexamined Whiteness of teaching: how White teachers maintain and enact dominant racial ideologies" especially, I couldn’t help but think "that’s a detour, that’s a detour, that’s a detour".  The first instanc...

After reading the articles this week and watching the video this week, there were several things on my mine that I wanted to reflect on. These thoughts do not necessarily flow from one idea to the next seamlessly. Here they are: I had no idea the Black Lives Matter movement was created or founded by 3 women!  Using a school environment to help students and facility understand the inequities base on race  Larger system that is not broken  white-on-white crime   To be honest, before reading about Black Likes Matter and it's development, I wasn't aware of its true purpose or foundation. When I read that 3 women started the movement, I became very excited! I think it is refreshing and foreshadowing that 3 women started such a powerful statement. I am very glad I was given the opportunity to read more about Black Lives Matter movement and its true purpose, "Our goal is to support the development of new Black Leaders, as well as create a network where B...