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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous] Rather, it's when lessons about those issues draw a harder ideological edge that parents start having problems. The idea that white Americans should devalue the real achievements that have been made in and by the United States over time. The idea that one is racist by merely existing in the U.S. because of structural racism. The idea that all acts are either racist or anti-racist and there is no in between. The idea that white Americans should walk around with hair shirts as penance for the acts of their predecessors. 
[/quote]

Now, I realize that the messenger can sometimes be clumsy, but that is not at all the message of CRT or of any equity lessons.

It is, however, oftentimes the takeaway by white people who are struggling with the cognitive dissonance these conversations force. You hear this in their complaints that it makes them -- or their children -- feel uncomfortable. They internalize it. They thing, "wait, I'm not a racist! I've never enslaved people! I'm a good person! And here you are, telling me about all these horrible things that black people or people have color have endured, and that makes me feel bad about myself!" They take it as a personal attack.

The brighter people  -- or at least those who keep an open mind -- get past this first reaction/cognitive dissonance and are able to see a different perspective and engage the conversation in good faith -- and begin to understand. But a good number of white people -- who actually usually ARE good people -- shut down. They can't NOT internalize it. Or get past that feeling of being attacked. And to some degree, that's because the beneficiaries of these discussions sometimes DO attack -- hence the "check your privilege" comments when a white person tries to enter the conversation in good faith. Sometimes it's because the person of color has so much pent up frustration that they overreach in this newly reacted "safe space" that they can't suppress some urge to retaliate, thinking the power dynamics have shifted.

At least that's my take. I'm a white man and I remember taking classes of "gender, race and class" back in 1989 at my university. I remember those initial feelings that I was being attacked. But I also had skilled professors who facilitated a dialogue. And everyone came to a better understanding. Not that we solved everything -- but I better understand where people of color come from and am not in the least bit threatened by conversations about equity, even in our schools, assuming the lessons are age-appropriate.

YMMV.[/quote]

It's a mix, I think. Sometimes the messenger is clumsy. Sometimes the listener feels attacked when they aren't. But I think the content is enough of a kludged together mess at times that it's tough to say what the correct message is. I've seen what looked like legitimate critiques dismissed as "signs of discomfort" which is irritating. In popular culture, anti-racism was framed in such a way that it was non-falsifiable. Any criticism was merely a sign that the critic had internalized racism. [/quote]

See, personally I think the over-the-top reactionary response in the Fox News echo chamber has done a lot more to poison the dialogue. They want to shut the entire conversation down. The difference is who is acting in good faith. The people who screech loudest in objection often are usually the biggest offenders of bad-faith. [/quote]

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