by now, obama's election to the presidency of the US has filled the pages of trillions of sites and newspapers. it's an interesting time, which in my opinion, will attract some significant changes not only in the US but also around the world.
because i'm totally out of my mind, my recent classes with the political sciences students revolve round this election, obama and the implications. now as you might suppose, it eventually touches upon the sensitive subject of race and racism. it's made me realize even more how radical and uncompromising my students are, and how radical and uncompromising we are as a society, because they pick up these attitude at home and further strengthen them through what the witness on the news, in games, films, among their peers, school, etc.
as far as i can tell, there are four categories:
- those students who have really appropriated hardcore supremacist views
- the greater majority to have no idea what intolerance is (and have never been on the receiving end of such mistreatment), but they repeat what they hear and thus try to somehow show off, attract the class' attention, while hiding their discomfort at having to deal with something that is outside their everyday experiences
- those students who are aware of the situation's awkwardness (students of the same racial, social, religious, national group displaying their stark ethnocentrism) and try to mitigate it
- and those students who don't take sides in public.
it is always a hot debate: various voices resort to the darkest of conspiracy theories that they've heard in some documentary or other, others try to prove they're tolerant. we haven't reached a consensus yet. i try to play down the worst and harshest of them but it's like walking a tight rope: i don't want to alienate or suppress their opinions because in the end, i believe it's better for all these thoughts, no matter how unpalatable, to stay at the surface, to be discussed.
however, today, there was an episode which filled me with introspection, and guilt. we were discussing race, some of my students were rambling on, others were rebutting them when one of them stood up saying "i have a sister who is black and i can't take this discussion".
then he/she left.
i needed a second to understand what she/he had meant. the others didn't realize why their colleague had left but, when the penny finally dropped with me, i ran out to bring he/she back in. distraught, he/she said he/she couldn't, just couldn't because the sister,who was 29 and had been born during Communism, had been victimized by us all her life. my heart sank. i asked the students to come back in, to tell her/his colleagues this, to show them what intolerance is., because no matter how much i try, i can't bring this experience home for them. i can't make them drop this fear of change and fear of the unknown they cling to - some tighter than others.
i don't know, maybe it was poor class management from my part but i honestly believe that student should have come back and expose them, and us as a society, for the ignorants that we are.
maybe i'm a fool for doing this but i still think it's important. we too have many changes to bring to our society if we truly are to escape the unfortunate past that's still haunting us.
take care and have a headache-free weekend!
