Talking About Race and Racism in the Classroom
(Adapted from Talking Race in the Classroom by Jane Bolgatz, Teachers College Press, 2005)
Classroom conversations about race and racism can be difficult. Often teachers and students—sometimes apologetically, sometimes angrily, but mostly unselfconsciously—avoid the topics altogether. When they do take place, conversations frequently remain superficial or simplistic. Yet if we hope to address the problems that arise as a result of what playwright Anna Deavere Smith (1993) calls “our struggle to be together in our differences,” we need to be able to talk meaningfully about race and racism.
Talking about race and racism takes courage. Courage, as Winston Churchill exhorted, “is what it takes to stand up and speak. Courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.” Good conversations, however, are not simply a matter of speaking and listening. One must view racial issues through a critical lens that attends to current and institutional aspects of racism. Students must understand that various forms of racism have developed historically and that they can contest these practices.
In this article, I delineate some definitions I find helpful to share with students, and then I offer some suggestions about how to prepare for and engage in discussions with students.
Definitions
The concepts of race and racism are socially constructed and therefore amorphous and changing. Here, I give definitions that can be useful for discussion.
Race
Scientists actually cannot define the broad racial categories we often relate to attributes such as skin color, facial features, hair color and texture, and other physical aspects of human beings. Yet despite the scientific repudiation of race as a category, we still describe and classify others according to how we perceive them racially (as well as in terms of our perceived notions of gender, class, nationality, and so on): “that Black guy,” “the Asian lady.” The ways we identify ourselves and are identified by others affect everything from mortgage rates to blind dates. Hence, although our physical differences may be biologically insignificant, race profoundly affects people’s lives and life chances.
Racism
Genocide, lynching, and other violent acts, as well as in institutionalized discrimination and individual prejudice are all manifestations of racism. The weapons and wounds of racial bias sometimes are blatant, but they also can be harder to trace. It is very important to help students learn the difference between five different aspects of racism: prejudice, discrimination, internalized oppression, White privilege, and institutionalized oppression.
Prejudice is the generalized judgments, attitudes, thoughts and feelings we make or have about others without sufficient evidence to substantiate the opinions. “Asians are good at math.” “Blacks are good at basketball.” Well, some are and many aren’t. Prejudice is like air; we can’t help but breathe it in. We learned to be prejudiced from people who loved and raised us.
Internalized oppression is when we unconsciously believe stereotypes about a group to which we belong. Just because someone is a person of color does not mean that she or he is exempt from breathing the “air” of White superiority that circulates in the culture. Internalized oppression, like prejudice, can be combated through reflection and education.
Discriminationinvolves actions based on prejudice. Discrimination can deny opportunity or stop people from being seen and treated as individuals. An employer choosing a particular candidate, a new parent choosing a pre-school, or teenager choosing with whom to talk at a party each might discriminate based on race.
White privilege is the system of advantages that Whites get just by being White. For example, as a White person—particularly as a middle class, middle aged, female White—I am not likely to be followed around in a store by a security guard. White students often assume that they do not have a race or ethnicity; the freedom to ignore their race is also a White privilege.
Institutionalized Oppression is the systematic and systemic discrimination against people perceived to be in a certain group. In my classroom, I might discriminate against a student of a particular race. If over and over again in society people of that race are given fewer educational resources and less experienced teachers, denied access to certain jobs or decent health care, made to pay higher interest rates when they buy a car or a house, or are discriminated against in the laws of the land, it is institutionalized oppression.
It should be noted that race does not float in a vacuum. The intersections of oppressions are powerful and have been reinforced historically. Racism and classism are particularly connected. Foregrounding race oversimplifies the question of how we should talk with students about power and oppression. Nonetheless, focusing on one aspect of oppression can give us a starting point from which we might begin to explore myriad parallel and intersecting questions about equity.
Similarly, focusing on race relations in the United States severely limits the scope of our understanding. Race and racial oppression are global phenomena that have specific implications depending on one’s location.
Cultivating Classroom Conversations
Teachers have to pay attention to the mix of numerous ingredients: curriculum plans, students’ individual academic and social needs, and unpredictable group dynamics.
While there is no recipe for creating a successful class discussion, it is possible to prepare for and cultivate conversations that—despite and because of the disagreement involved— provide opportunities for students to critically examine race and racism. Teachers must prepare for conversations about race and racism, and our success depends on our willingness to persist in the process.
Reflect
Preparing to talk about race and racism entails significant and ongoing self-reflection. How do you identify yourself and what does that identity mean to you? Where do you struggle when it comes to prejudice and discrimination? In what ways do you internalize the oppression against groups with whom you identify? For many teachers, it can be difficult to face the ways we have learned to be racist (Obidah & Teel, 2001) or to realize how racist the world is. Guilt and anger are important markers. They alert us to the need to find new ways to respond to our own racism and internalized oppression so that we can help our students do the same.
Use Your Own Style
One does not change one’s style or tone when discussing race. If anything, conversations about race and racism demand that we have personal integrity. When we take risks to talk about race and racism, we move into a realm in which we are not necessarily experts. As a result, we have to ask questions and expose our own learning process. We cannot pretend to be something other than what we are, and students appreciate our honesty.
Create a (Relatively) Safe Atmosphere
I do not believe it is possible to create a space where all students feel comfortable all the time. However, we continually need to help students feel trusting and trusted. It can be useful to share with students the assumption that while we are not to blame for the racism in society, we can assume responsibility for working against it.
Get Comfortable with the Incendiary
While we may work to protect students’ feeling of safety in the classroom, broaching conversations about race or racism may take our students or us out of our comfort zones. Conversations that are nice and polite often do not get to the heart of controversial issues. Rather, we should help students get comfortable with the incendiary.
With Concrete and Current Examples
“The first part of getting better is knowing you’re sick.” If they don’t realize it already, students need to learn that racism is a problem. Explicitly and deliberately put issues of race and oppression on the table through readings, assignments and discussion.
Let Students Feel Agency
Students need to learn about anti-racist campaigns and understand how they can contribute to such causes. Activists, and organizations such as Ida B. Wells, Miles Horton, Morris Dees, the NAACP, and even the You Tube Anti-Racism Collaboration provide excellent models of people who have actively fought for racial justice.
Talk about Your Experiences
As teachers, we can share the times when we ourselves noticed or questioned something racial, stood by or contributed to racism, or did something to combat it. Talking about our own racism can make us feel vulnerable. Modeling our vulnerability can help students expose theirs.
Help Students Develop and Use Vocabulary
In general, students are not equipped to discuss many issues of race and racism. Some students overlook White privilege, and many see racism as only existing “back in the day” or only being a matter of personal prejudice. However, we can scaffold ideas by explicitly teaching terms and definitions.
Question, Question, Question
Simply asking questions and reflecting on racial positions goes a long way in opening doors to critical conversations. We can challenge students, for example, when they voice colorblind sentiments. “How do you know we are all the same?” When students talk about stereotypes we can ask where the stereotype came from. “What do you mean?” and “How do you know?” are disarming questions.
Slow the Conversation
Beyond banning a term or telling a student to abandon a line of reasoning, we can slow the conversation and tell students why we think there is a problem. Perhaps more effectively, we can help students investigate what they say. “What does that mean? Where does the phrase come from? Why do you think people are offended by what you are saying?” Finally, we might not assume that there is a problem. “Wait. Is what you are saying offensive? It sounds like it might be.”
Be Attentive to Interpersonal Dynamics.
We are constantly performing for one another. Teachers can be savvy about how students position themselves. We can be conscious that what students choose to say depends on how they anticipate or perceive their peers’ and teachers’ reactions.
Be Patient
As teachers, we need to find out where students are. We need to accept them and not be judgmental, even if they are backtracking or silent. Because of the power of racism in society, they might not learn quickly. Talking about race and racism is a long-term process.
To find out more information or to share your stories about talking about race and racism in your classroom, please visit talkingrace.org
