Skip to main content

Picture This


I read with interest this week of Starbuck's corporate attempt to initiate much needed conversations about race by having some of it's baristas write "Race Together" on cups of coffee sold.  While I applaud the intent of the idea, there is so much that is off base about this idea that it's hard to know just where to begin.  let me try by saying that these discussions must be lead and facilitated carefully because while well intended, they can easily do more harm than good.  I realize there are many baristas out there with advanced degrees, is the coffee line the best place to have these conversations?  Are most people "on the run" and ready to begin their day?  Would another time and place be better?  I'm still wondering because at least the intention to have a dialogue is there.  Is there also another intention?  Given the corporate attack on public education these days, I'm a bit skeptical of the motivation...with good reason.  Is the conversation that's needed really about race, or is it about much more?  Race, as a scientific concept is soo last century; actually it's soo 19th century, isn't it?
Even though the concept of race is a bogus idea, a social construct, it continues to inform and impact how we think and what we do.
Some of my friends took me to task a bit because, as employees of large corporations, they can easily point to how those institutions have educated people.  But to have a life changing dialogues about race and ethnicity, it takes knowledge of historical perspective as well as the biology.  Many teachers today are fighting to reinstitute the historical perspective part.  One of the casualties of the current obsession with standardized tests is that the time and resources needed to teach the deep history required gets pushed aside.
In a similar vein, I recently read a piece where a cartoonist was asked to lighten the skin of some of her characters in a soon to be published graphic novel.  Is this racist, she asked?  Maybe the intention is to make the character bi-racial?  Maybe not.  It reminded me of the evolution of an old comic book character called Chop-Chop.  While collecting media images for a teaching unit on racial images and attitudes, I did some research on this character from the Military themed comic series Blackhawk.  Chop-Chop started out as the quintessential stereotype of a "Chinaman." From the huge buck teeth to the long braid to the exaggerated ears, he was a buffoon type sidekick of the first order.  Over time, the series acquired a new publisher and his image changed dramatically.  Note the picture here:
This is what I mean by historical perspective.  The racism in our culture, like every other one, is ingrained in so many ways, it would be crucial to have well-informed people lead discussions.  I guess the alternative is not having any conversation at all.  A real conundrum.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

To a Tee

 I'm a sucker for a good t-shirt.  They are the foundational garment of my life.  My day starts with selecting a t-shirt and it ends with sleeping in one.  Once thought of as under garments, t-shirts are now original art and no doubt, a billion dollar business.   You can get a t-shirt with anybody's picture displayed.  You can commemorate an event, a birthday, a death, even a specular play in any sport.  Family reunions usually have a commemorative t-shirt.  Also, any organization that solicits your support in the form of a donation is likely to offer you a t-shirt. Where once I only had the basic white t-shirt, my drawers are filled with all manner of colorful choices.  Some recognize major events in my life, some, spectacular performances or plays I have witnessed, and some unforgettable places I have been.   I say I'm a sucker for a good t-shirt because I have taken the bait on what I perceived as a must-have only to be disappointed. ...

Illusory

What does it take to enrage you?  That moment when your words fly on pure emotion because enough is enough.  Is it a driver that cuts you off at high speed?  What about being an eyewitness to blatant racism or on the receiving end of some obvious injustice? I know some people who never express rage.  I admire them but know full well I am not capable of such distance from that which would bring about such a strong response. Another senseless shooting and 7 people die at the hands of a mentally ill gun owner.  The father of the 20 year old college student lets it fly and somehow millions feel a new sense of relief.  He calls the politicians bastards who do nothing, he wears his pain in public.  The news media responds but we all know that nothing is going to change.  We are the gun country.  We are the place where anybody, anytime, can be cut down just for being there when somebody else snaps. Usually the perpetrators are delusional. ...

Mr. Greene v. Mr. Brown

I want to tell you about something. Something I've carried inside myself for a number of years now. Perhaps if I were a different kind of person I wouldn't need to talk about it. I'm not. My need to tell it is stronger than your need to hear it. Because, however, there are a number of teachers and former students of mine who may read these meanderings from time to time, I need to tell this story all the more. About 7 or 8 years ago I was asked if I would allow a university PhD. candidate to observe an English class. At first I decided against it because I was scheduled to have a student teacher placed with me the second half of the semester in question. After some urging, however, at the request of a respected colleague, I agreed. Soon I was committing to extra meetings, signing documents and explaining to the class in question who the young woman who thoughtfully pounded away on a laptop in the rear of the classroom three times a week was. I knew that the topic of ...