5/8 - Class Recap

These are all of my grandparents, parents, and siblings together! To the best of my knowledge, this is the only time this ever happened in my life (as my British grandparents rarely visited at the same time). Photo taken in 2009, I think.

Dear class,

Today we continued with our work with racial autobiographies in class! Here's what happened in class today:

Learning Targets Addressed:
I can communicate effectively, both verbally and in writing.
I can explain the process of change and continuity in a society, place, or region.

Soundtrack: "We Belong Together" by Mariah Carey. Selected for today because of our conversation together in class about our racial autobiographies. Lyrics here.

AGENDA 5/8/18:
Check In/Review Agreements
What Can I Do Today?
Racial Autobiography Work
Seminar

Homework: Read the blog! Make sure you have everything turned in, especially your Where I'm From poem and Racial Autobiography!
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Check In/Review Agreements: Here are the Courageous Conversations Agreements. We will always review this at the beginning of class, as it sets the foundation for how we want class to approach the issues we are studying. We also asked what students were up to outside of class since the last time we checked in.

What Can I Do Today?: We also asked students if there was anything they wanted to add to the "What Can I Do Today?" poster up at the front of the room, in terms of actions outside of class. We also noted that the list is live on the blog here on the upper right corner, with links!

Racial Autobiographies: Last class was devoted to sharing our racial autobiographies in what we call "affinity groups" where students selected where they felt like they identified most with, in the hopes of having some commonality in the discussion. Here is the assignment for students who want an electronic copy or who missed class:

Google Drive - Racial Autobiography Assignment

We shared the racial autobiographies and developed a list in the affinity groups about top issues that the group felt like they were facing.

The idea here was to continue to talk about the issues students identified in affinity groups, and to do some research on the historical context for how those issues came about. To that end, I passed out this guide to help:

Google Drive - Affinity Group Issue Research Guide

Basically, we wanted students to understand the history behind some of what they are experiencing. I used the term "microaggression" as an example here.

After identifying some historical context, we then wanted students to find a current event relating to the top 3 issues their group identified.

Seminar: After we had a bit more time in affinity groups, we came together as whole class, where the main focus was listening to the experiences of other groups. The historical research combined with current events was helpful in guiding this conversation, which we will continue next class. Here are my (Mr. Fritz's) notes from this conversation, making sure to keep names anonymous.

Seminar Conversation DSJ 5/8/18

Latinx:
Language - not speaking Spanish and feeling disconnected
Religion - importance of Catholicism, or not following through on religion

Black:
Religion - questioning herself "am I a Christian because of colonization?"

Mixed:
"To be mixed is to not fit in"
The only thing in we all have in common is being White
Religion when moving cultures --> Shinto to Christian
Not going to church - uncomfortable due to forced conversions

Black:
"Levels of race" --> too black, not black enough

Asian:
"super Indian" here in the US --> but too American in India
Not possible to be both

White:
"White trash" stereotypes of social status

Black:
Immigrants, picking up accents and cultural tones, being seen as "loud" when switching cultures

Mixed:
We do not feel we are one or the other --> never "enough"
"I am getting whiter and how I am being treated is different"
Based off of appearence
Society makes you try to choose - pushed to one side
Being blamed for Cultural Appropriation, when it is not.

--- (Switch pilots in Seminar - notes that follow do not have races attached)

How do you feel about "whitewashed"?
--> Hanging out with White people, talked differently

Think of a class within race

White students get uncomfortable talking about race - why?

"I don't like stereotypes about being White"

Learning about what White people have done, feeling ashamed. A lot of White people ARE racist.

Being seen as "basic"

Uncomfortable because of conversation, or because people of color are here?
- "not hard, but... blank slate when it comes to race and having to think about it"

What are the reasons why the "n" word is allowed?
-- being ignorant - "black people have said it's okay to be used"
-- Parents talking about it with children - "didn't your parents teach you not to?"

Experience being uncomfortable with White side when Mixed
--> "I am fully a part of both cultures"

What race do you think of yourself? --> "It depends on where I was"

"We grew to love our blackness, instead of being born with that love"
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Thank you all for your participation, as always! We will continue this next class!