Assignment B #1

The High School I work in is an inner city school right here in Providence.  Our population of students is very diverse, and many proudly support the black lives matter movement. 

We have one faculty member however, that is notorious for screaming back at students “all lives matter” whenever they hear them talking about BLM.  I, myself, have heard this individual do this but I have become part of the problem because I haven’t named what they are doing as a problem.  In thinking about this, I never spoke with them about what they were saying because I didn’t know how to explain what was wrong with it; while I knew how to pull this individual aside and have a difficult conversation, I did not know how to explain that what they were saying was wrong in a way they would understand.  Now that I have read this article, the next time I hear them say “all lives matter” to one of our students, I will start by pulling them aside and having them quickly read this.  This article does a great job at associating the BLM saying with something that is applicable and relatable to almost anyone. Specifically, using food to tell the story is powerful because it is a necessity to everyone; we all understand what is meant by a "fair share" and most of us have said "I should get my fair share, too." I will be sure to keep you all posted in this coming week if this comes up and I am able to better equip this individual with a more complete understanding of the movement. 

Until I was in 9^th grade, I went to really white schools.  Race, and all of the implications it has, did not have any meaning in my life or in the lives of anyone that I went to school with or that taught me.  When I was around people of color, if someone were to ask me if I was “colorblind” I would absolutely have said yes; in fact, I likely would have said yes until I graduated from high school. 

Now, this was not because I was trying to be offensive or rude or inconsiderate – no!  At that time, I thought by saying I was colorblind meant that I wasn’t racist.  Essentially, that I was not looking at people of color and treating them negatively because of their skin color.  After lots of DEI training in college and through Teach for America, I learned just how awful saying that you are “colorblind” is.  What it boils down to is that you are telling people of color that you don’t see them or what they have gone through or the struggle they endure every single day.  I really like how this article talks about “color insight – an antidote to colorblindness.”  Every white person needs to confront what they think about race, what their understanding of privilege is, and have an open mind to gain a better appreciation for what people of color go through on the daily.  This article does a great job at explaining what the initial steps are individuals can take to start doing this, and is something that should be used in DEI trainings.