Why Do White People Speak In Class

1803 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Principles of diversity and inclusion

As I have said in class, I come from a very rural, white community. In a town with 80 people and not a single person of color, meeting someone with a different experience than you wasn’t a possibility. However, when I came to the University of Washington, I was blown away by the sheer amount of people and cultures that came together in one campus. Yet, none of that even compares to what I’ve learned just in this quarter alone. Just by being able to sit and listen to our guest speakers and even my classmates, I have learned so much.
I have always thought of myself as an open minded, well-raised person. But, that was when I didn’t have any different opinions questioning my own. Being able to listen to past experiences of our speakers and how they are still dealing with prejudice was, to put it lightly, eye-opening. As a white …show more content…

A classmate came up to me after one of our guest speakers left and asked why I don’t speak in class. I simply stated that I think it is important for white people, who tend to talk the most in any class, to sit back and listen to other people. If you are always the one talking, it is impossible to learn anything new. I witnessed this in an American Ethnic Studies class I took my first quarter here at the UW. My professor asked us to be conscious of how much we talk and how much we listen, and if it isn’t weighted more to the listening side than maybe we should be quite more often. This really resonated with me, so I took it to heart and made it my mission to listen way more than I speak. Peggy McIntosh even states in her article “White Privilege and Male Privilege: A Personal Account of Coming to See Correspondences through Work in Women’s Studies” that she would be “fairly sure of having my voice heard in a group in which I am the only member of my race.” As McIntosh and I are both white women, I recognized much of what she stated in those 46 statements to be

Show More
Related

  • Summary: Separating Myths From Facts By Debra Humphreys

    435 Words  | 1 Pages

    “College campuses are not dominated by widespread racial/ethnic segregation and the racial/ethnic clustering that does occur isn’t impeding intergroup contact.” (578, Hoeffner and Hoeffner). Throughout the essay, the writer continues to provide facts and sources on the information that diversity is not a problem on college campuses. She quotes evidence that states that college students are getting a “variety of positive educational outcomes that result from being educated in a diverse environment.” (578, Hoeffner and Hoeffner).

    Read More

  • Analysis Of White Privilege Unpacking The Invisible Knapsack

    852 Words  | 2 Pages

    Peggy McIntosh wrote this article to identify how her white privilege effects her life. Each statement is written as a privilege that Ms. McIntosh does not need to consider or fear as a white woman. From financial credibility to national heritage, this article makes a valid point regarding the way white people can be arrogant and naïve when the same treatment is not being given to their neighbors, coworkers, and peers. There can be two responses when reading this. The first would be a person of color. They will appreciate the attempt at realization of what white people take for granted. The second would be the reality that smacks the white people in the face when they realize how true all 50 statements are. Once this begins to sink in, many will start to broaden their competence realizing the unfair treatment of the people in this world. Moving down the timeline, we can see how the acknowledgement can mend broken relationships. Owning the reality and doing something to change it can give the people of different races the treatment they deserve (McIntosh,

    Read More

  • Benefits Of African American Co-Culture

    694 Words  | 2 Pages

    As a result, my thinking and perception was shaped and influenced by many of the negative stereotypes of African Americans that has been perpetuated in our society at large (this is where education can be a great liberator of falsehoods and misconceptions). I have come to appreciate Professor Marie’s Intercultural Communication course, for the class has broaden my critical thinking skills and stretched my thinking and understanding. Finally, how do I think this information will be of use to me? True understanding and teamwork will not begin to occur until individuals begin to speak up about address and embrace the controversial topics of race and culture. Setting aside the problem of racism and covering it up by saying that everyone is the same, does not eliminate the issue. Trying to patch up issues around the world dealing with culture and racism only provides a quick, short lasting solution, for when the temporary patch falls away, the problems will have grown twice as big. All it does is temporarily set aside what we know is still there.

    Read More

  • The Code Switch Podcast, Episode 1: Can We Talk About Whiteness?

    1409 Words  | 3 Pages

    A white student from Chenjerai’s class, Will Johnston from Clemson University, is the next speaker to approach the topic. Will explained his point of view from being in a couple of Chenjerai’s classes. He explained how ignorant he was to his white privileges until he was broken down in Chenjerai’s class. Will explains how it took a while to be able for him to talk about the topic in a diplomatic way. Tanner Colby, co-host of “about race podcast” and author of Some of my Best Friends are Black, was the next speaker in the podcast. Colby tells that he thinks people are uncomfortable about talking about whiteness and race. He says that people are unsure of how to talk about the topic which makes conversation hard. Demby and Meraji sum up what they have learned after they talked with everyone about where they stand in the conversation on whiteness. Meraji tells that they learned how difficult it truly is to talk about whiteness especially when people do not have the information they need to have a good conversation about it. Demby goes on to say how white people do not have

    Read More

  • The Cosmopolitan Canopy, W. E. B. Dubois And Elijah Anderson: Book Analysis

    1250 Words  | 3 Pages

    Through the obtainment of a university education, DuBois argues, individuals are able to generate a “union of intelligence of sympathy and cooperation across the color-line” (DuBois 113), thus fostering an environment of civility. As the core of civility and cooperation is a sense of “complete understanding and sympathy” (DuBois 111), the education of individuals from all racial groups in university settings thus reveals the link between civility and education, as universities foster understanding of social differences. The positive impact of shared understanding, coupled with the impact of education on softening interactions across the color-line, illuminates the importance of having an educated city population in maintaining safe, civil relationships within the cities. Anderson further reiterates DuBois’ argument, illuminating how, within interracial interactions under the cosmopolitan canopy, individuals are “continuously encouraged to behave courteously to one another” (Anderson 66). While Anderson highlights the reality that not all individuals under the cosmopolitan canopy may truly be accepting and tolerant of social and racial differences, civil interactions under the canopy

    Read More

  • White Silence, White Solidarity

    364 Words  | 1 Pages

    In the article White Silence, White Solidarity, the author is an Euro-American and an educator of multicultural education. What she thinks of multicultural education is a fiend that she criticizes as skirting around white racism, and celebrating the European ethnic immigrant experience. She thinks that white people of their common whiteness or the privileges gained from white racism and they fear losing material and psychological advantages when they screen out the color of people. She also states that white people learn to talk about race-related issues through several communication strategies. First, they equal racism with individual prejudice and personal ignorance, which allow them to assume every group is racist, and to avoid acknowledging the differences in power and privileges between whites and groups of color.

    Read More

  • The Educational Benefits of White Male Privilege

    848 Words  | 2 Pages

    What is happening in education? White privileged men have taken over our education systems, the economy, and perhaps every other aspect that makes up our society, and are changing everything so that it all goes in their favor. Those in dominant society have the power to make the important decisions that are crucial to education and society in general. Through education, or more realistically, through the lack of education, many have been denied advancement in society. Peggy McIntosh makes it very clear that white men have throughout history had more privilege than anyone else in society and this has certainly been my experience when it comes to education.

    Read More

  • Racial Empathy

    976 Words  | 2 Pages

    Therefore, universities have had to implement new measures that address racial insensitivity expressed by White students. According to Chao et al. (2015), in college campuses, student of color can hear every day racism comments, therefore, to create college campuses with a healthy climate, educators and psychologists must find ways to promote justice attitudes among non-Latino White students and foster racial empathy for targets of racism (p.95). They said: “White empathy refers to White students’ expression of empathy through a deep understanding of their fellow students’ experiences, especially those of racial and ethnic minority students suffering from racism”, (p.95). Educators and counselors must work together in helping students to better understand how to appreciate differences between groups. Chao et al., underlined in their study that to be able to understand individuals’ perceptions toward diversity, researchers have proposed the concept of openness to diversity (OTD), which refers to the appreciation of similarities and differences across cultural groups (p. 96). Open to diversity (OTD) also involves students ' interest to know more and more about unfamiliar cultures without assumptions. They said that “OTD moderates the relationship between White racial identity and White Empathy”, which means that when White students have greater OTD, they may be more likely to understand how minority students experience racism and when White students are less open to diversity, they may also be less willing to consider different perspectives on racial issues (p.

    Read More

  • Essay On Privilege In America

    615 Words  | 2 Pages

    Because I am white, no one wonders if I am associated with terrorists or feels nervous and pulls their belongings closer if I am alone in an elevator with them. Going to school I always had a sense of safety. Having brought white privilege to my conscious awareness, it raised feelings of guilt and shame, because I was ignorant to my oppressiveness for so long. These feelings empowered me to identify various ways in which I can challenge the concept of white privilege in myself and others. On an individual level this can be done by increasing awareness of privilege, reducing feelings of guilt, accepting one’s own role in perpetuating racism. Do not assume that all differences are the same, acknowledge and validate everyone’s experience, avoid assumptions, listen with compassion, and create safety and room for everyone. Additional ways to challenge white privilege consist of exploring resources produced by or about other races, developing relationships with people across racial lines, positioning oneself in a context where they are the numerical minority, and/or exploring the field of whiteness

    Read More

  • Cultural Diversity and Racial Privilege

    572 Words  | 2 Pages

    In Henry Lewis Gates’ article, The Debate Has Been Miscast from the Start, he reveals the advantages to having multiculturalism in the curriculum of America’s schools. He would argue that in order to create true diversity and understanding of cultural differences, the nation must provide its students with a wide array of opportunities to understand other cultures besides their own. Peggy McIntosh takes on a similar situation when she takes into consideration how she was taught diversity in schools as a child. She claims that dominance of the white race is unconsciously supported. She also describes how she did not receive the right kind of education that would teach her how to be aware of racism and how to be aware of her privileges as a white person. McIntosh desires change in the way that students are taught racism and the best way to accomplish this is for schools to incorporate multiculturalism into curriculum. If this is accomplished, future generations have the ability to be aware of cultural differences and they would be less likely to be perpetrators of color blind racism.

    Read More

  • Everything Isn T Racial Profiling By Linda Chavez Summary

    1322 Words  | 3 Pages

    Peggy talks about racism being a part everyday life even though we ignore it. Peggy’s main idea was to inform the readers that whites are taught to ignore the fact that they enjoy social privileges that people of color do not because we live in a society of white dominance. Even though society has come a long way, it still has a longer way to go in improving social profiling. There are many things minorities will never have the opportunity to experience or understand because they are not white. It doesn't matter what we do, how much we work, how much money we have, we’ll never experience white privileges. White people are not stereotyped like other races are. They are also not looked down upon other races. The list of daily effects that McIntosh describe are perfect examples of what minorities will never get to experience. Some of her points are, “ 13. I can speak in public to a powerful male group without putting my face on trial” she also points out that people of minority will not experience never being “ asked to speak for all the people of my social group” (McIntosh 99). No matter how one may try to analyze a situation, white people are privileged bottom line. Some are more privileged than others by way of money or reputation and others by are privileged just by skin

    Read More

  • Reflective Essay: Different Types Of Diversity

    598 Words  | 2 Pages

    When we being the Washington Technology Debate Team four years ago the goal was to create a program to help to foster an environment in which all students can build early and honest relationships across the color line in the debate space. I took great pride in not just being a follower that was content with helping in missions to help beaked down the institutional racism and races rhetoric that justified racism as a necessary for the common good. I wanted to challenge the idea that talking about race – even just acknowledging race – was unacceptable, so we can create a debate space in which was open to all kinds of people

    Read More

  • Annotated Bibliography on Racial Diversity

    1936 Words  | 4 Pages

    This article discusses the different forms of racial diversity contribution to students’ educational and learning experiences and the autonomous positive effects on students who adopt these diversity opportunities. The author demonstrates how the quality of higher education is substantially heightened by diversity-connected efforts. Those efforts improve students learning and experiences by cultivating key behaviors and knowledge and by providing a unique educational context.

    Read More

  • Racial Inequality In Class

    869 Words  | 2 Pages

    Over the last couple of weeks, all of the readings, lectures, discussions and videos have been very informative. A lot of the information in the readings are what people experience daily or witness with their own eyes. The issues going on with class, gender, and race can be upsetting and hard to grasp because the reality of the matter is we live in a very segregated and divided society. Topics in the lecture that stood out were racial inequality and social movement. When it comes to racial inequality, I witnessed a similar situation while in undergraduate school. A professor at my school displayed hidden racial misconduct towards a black female student in a course.

    Read More

  • My Past Present And Future Essay

    714 Words  | 2 Pages

    Now that we have explored my past, present, and future experiences with diversity, it is time to see how they are present within and effect each other. Firstly, let’s look into how my future is present in my past. The most obvious portion of my future that is in my past is my willingness and efforts to love and include everyone and to spread this world view. It took a fellow classmate of mine to demonstrate to my third grade self that we are all human beings and we all deserve to be treated as such. In my future, I aspire to demonstrate this world view to my students and inspire them to treat each other accordingly. This aspiration directly reflects my world view struggles I went through in third grade, for I want to help my students come to

    Read More

More about Why Do White People Speak In Class

Open Document