November 2, 2016 - 11:50
Thinking about the conversation that we had in class today (to be honest I don't want to dwell on this becuase I really really want to talk about the books we're reading, and wish we had more time to do that), I want to uplift the idea that we should embrace being raced, and that a lot of learning happens from being uncomfortable both in and outside of the classroom.
I also do not agree that making people feel uncomfortable because of their race so that they can learn what black students experience everyday in the class room is a productive way to see our 360. I do not think that just because black students feel raced in classrooms can we use that as a marker for how acceptable another person's discomfort is. I wont say that is what was said, but what it was what I heard. And I think that is interesting, especially because I thought we were attempting to distance ourselves from or at least try to complexify the black white binary. And by only seeing east asians south asians by their proximity to whiteness, there was no room to say that there are other ways to be raced in classrooms besides by being black and that it's not the same for a white person to be uncomfortable about a conversation about race as it is when an east asian or south asian is uncomfortable. I don't want to speak for anyone, so there is only so much I can say about that, but I do want to actively complexify the black white binary and analyze race(s) not only compared to whiteness. And I know language limits us and makes those things harder, but I don't think that should be used as an excuse to not try harder.