Reply to Help me Edit: Response to Brookings Report

Forum Index » DC Public and Public Charter Schools

Reply to "Help me Edit: Response to Brookings Report"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=jsteele][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][b]i think what a lot of people are missing here is the mindset that you are either making an anti-racist decision, or you are making a racist decision. [/b]

Often, what white people consider to be the default or obvious choice is one that supports a racist, segregated country. It doesn't mean you are a member of the KKK, but it is still true. THAT is what the author is trying to get at, but bc it is a Brookings piece she can't be more obvious about driving home that conclusion.

[/quote]

Great point.  I think a lot of folks are getting defensive (Jeff included) because they see this as a black or white issue--either the report says we're segregationists/racists, or we're not.  Really, this should be seen collectively as shades of grey--many decisions made by white families in American perpetuate systemic racism to some degree.  But increased awareness will hopefully lead some folks to be more thoughtful about their role in the system and how their individual behaviors can help to dismantle it (e.g., housing decisions, lottery rankings).[/quote]

The poster that you say is making a "Great point" is making exactly the type of binary determination that you think is wrong ("you are either making an anti-racist decision, or you are making a racist decision"). My "defensiveness" is primarily due to my frustration that a complex issue is being over-simplified. There are a considerable number of shades of grey. [b]Making this an either/or proposition ignores all of those. [/b]Many factors contribute to school choices. It is lazy to decide than any decision other than the one that you support is racist.
[/quote]

PP here.  I guess I didn't write clearly enough.  I'm saying exactly this--it's not an either/or issue.  We, collectively, as highly educated (mostly white, although I myself am not) Americans with choices when it comes to schools--are all complicit in a system that isn't of our own making, but which we participate in and perpetuate.  It is like implicit bias--by virtue of being raised in this country, with America's original sin of racism at its very core--we're all influenced by it, whether we are aware or not.  So it doesn't make sense to categorize people as "racists" or not, because most people are not blatant racists these days.  But the absence of overt racism doesn't mean that systemic racism is absent.  As a social scientist, there are many studies that suggest that our decision-making and behaviors are still influenced by beliefs about race.  For example, there are the studies of physicians and how patient race affects clinical care.  Many of these people will consider themselves good white people, liberal in politics and policy, but not so when it comes to school and housing choices.  I have neighbors and colleagues that fit this description.

I'm reminded of MLK's quote about the "white moderate."  I hope that this report and other research like it will invite some introspection, even if the methods here are imperfect.[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics