Reply to Tell me about the white Party at glen echo tomorrow night?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I love it when people throw money at a societal issue and think they are having meaningful impact without actually engaging the community they purport to support.

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I’m a former DBCR teacher and this whole thread is intriguing to me. On one hand, I totally get that raising money (and a substantial amount at that) is extremely necessary to keep the school running (the students working only earn about half of what a school-running tuition would cost—the rest needs to be made up through donations, endowments, charity events like this party, etc.).

But, man, the juxtaposition of wealthy (majority white) middle schoolers going to a party called a “white party” (I know... attire... I know...) to raise money for DBCR students (who are of color) is jarring. I mean the DBCR uniform is even black!

What the pp said above really resonated with me while reading though this entire thread. While obviously the school and the students need funding (I mean hey thanks for paying my $38,000/year salary! Also weird that I got paid due in part to middle schoolers attending a party), doing so in ways like this seems... detached? Tone deaf? Alienating? Weird? How many people concerned about this “charity” actually step foot in the school and interact with the students and teachers there? And the few that do (DBCR becomes like a pet project for some wealthy people) can be nauseatingly tone deaf. Examples: A group of young women gigging nervously saying things like, “awww, these students are so CUUUUTE!” (to students’ faces, of course), a wealthy white man literally PATTING A STUDENT ON THE HEAD and saying, “well aren’t you something?”, a white women asked a student giving a tour if he learned how to speak “such proper English! Wow!” at the school, etc.

I think another pp used the word “icky” to describe what this kind of a fundraiser feels like. I tend to agree—it makes the students into a “feel good” project but it does little to teach empathy or—really—just normal social behavior/decency when we’re around people that don’t look like us (or are of the same socioeconomic class). I think that’s an even more important take away than just feeling good about helping “poor kids,” right?

I don’t know. Donate and party if you want, but I do think the other side of this thing is something worth considering. [/quote]

Thank you for posting. +1[/quote]

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