In order to do this, it means I need to understand how you're using the terms and what they mean, because you're a living example of someone who is invested in the argument.
If you were THAT interested in knowing the definition of these terms you'd be reading the THOUSANDS UPON THOUSANDS of things written by PoC explaining in their own words why these things hurt. You have a wealth of information available.
You're basically picking a student who looks like they did the reading and you're asking for the notes because it's easier than doing your own work. Just like a jock in an English class who doesn't consider literature that important, just an annoying requirement for them to be able to do what they really want. It's not important enough for you to go read on your own or do the work independently. Instead, you ask for someone's notes.
I could patiently sit down and very politely tell you everything and point you to links and give you citations and write you a thesis complete with footnotes in MLA style. But you still won't get it.
It's easy to pass a test without ever absorbing the material. We both know that. I've written essays on books I didn't even read. Ask me about them now? I couldn't tell you the first time. Even though I regurgitated the words, I didn't digest them. They meant nothing to me. They weren't important to me.
How would you feel if one of your students who never came to lectures, never did the reading came to you and started asking for definitions of things you had gone over FIFTY BAJILLION TIMES in class?
Because that's what's going on here. These words, these terms, these arguments have all been hashed and re-hashed so many times. There are so many resources available. Just google "racism 101" for heavens sake!
Yet you don't even bother doing that much before stopping a discussions of colorblindness to ask the definition of colorblindness. That's like stopping a discussion of particle physics to ask "what's a quark?".
Ergo, the topic must not be worth that much time or effort to you. Ergo, this topic is not that important to you. Ergo, it does not hold that much of your respect.
If you don't want to get into this topic, fine. I'm not keeping a list here, going "well, that person didn't comment and say something nice and anti-racist, guess they're a bigot". Nobody is keeping a list of that.
This has nothing to do with me being a Bad English Major^TM (a title I gladly accept, BTW).
As for acting offended? Yeah, I'm offended on behalf of those who were hurt by the actions of the woman who derailed the WorldCon panel, but I don't care about or even want pats on the back. Never did. I don't care if I get noticed or heard or paid attention to. I never have. I certainly am doing this as a show, and oddly enough? As much as I like/respect you as a person, I don't give a shit what you think my motives are.
What I care about is solving this problem, starting with making sure I'm not adding to it. And that's a big, long, hairy process that I have to undertake, on my own. I cannot ask for help in it, I cannot burden others with my ignorance. I must seek my own materials, I must do my own processing. I must digest, not regurgitate.
You want to explain to your students why using the term "colored" is wrong - start with the fact that you're asking another white person for the definition of "colorblind" instead of reading up on what people of color are telling you it means.
That's like asking a first year med student about brain surgery. I am not an expert, I am not the voice of anti-racism.
Privilege enables your students to use those words, and more importantly, to face no consequences. The bigger problem is that society allows it, not that they're using the wrong word.
The guy who kicked the kids out of the pool used nice words. He called them "African-American" and still assumed they were dangerous. His rhetoric was great, his actions were deeply hurtful.
Language is symptomatic. It is not the end in and of itself, but a gateway to meaning, action, and reality. It is reflective. It is the mirror, not the object. Changing the mirror does not change the object. Saying nicer words is merely skewing the mirror. The object - the racism - persists.
no subject
If you were THAT interested in knowing the definition of these terms you'd be reading the THOUSANDS UPON THOUSANDS of things written by PoC explaining in their own words why these things hurt. You have a wealth of information available.
You're basically picking a student who looks like they did the reading and you're asking for the notes because it's easier than doing your own work. Just like a jock in an English class who doesn't consider literature that important, just an annoying requirement for them to be able to do what they really want. It's not important enough for you to go read on your own or do the work independently. Instead, you ask for someone's notes.
I could patiently sit down and very politely tell you everything and point you to links and give you citations and write you a thesis complete with footnotes in MLA style. But you still won't get it.
It's easy to pass a test without ever absorbing the material. We both know that. I've written essays on books I didn't even read. Ask me about them now? I couldn't tell you the first time. Even though I regurgitated the words, I didn't digest them. They meant nothing to me. They weren't important to me.
How would you feel if one of your students who never came to lectures, never did the reading came to you and started asking for definitions of things you had gone over FIFTY BAJILLION TIMES in class?
Because that's what's going on here. These words, these terms, these arguments have all been hashed and re-hashed so many times. There are so many resources available. Just google "racism 101" for heavens sake!
Yet you don't even bother doing that much before stopping a discussions of colorblindness to ask the definition of colorblindness. That's like stopping a discussion of particle physics to ask "what's a quark?".
Ergo, the topic must not be worth that much time or effort to you. Ergo, this topic is not that important to you. Ergo, it does not hold that much of your respect.
If you don't want to get into this topic, fine. I'm not keeping a list here, going "well, that person didn't comment and say something nice and anti-racist, guess they're a bigot". Nobody is keeping a list of that.
This has nothing to do with me being a Bad English Major^TM (a title I gladly accept, BTW).
As for acting offended? Yeah, I'm offended on behalf of those who were hurt by the actions of the woman who derailed the WorldCon panel, but I don't care about or even want pats on the back. Never did. I don't care if I get noticed or heard or paid attention to. I never have. I certainly am doing this as a show, and oddly enough? As much as I like/respect you as a person, I don't give a shit what you think my motives are.
What I care about is solving this problem, starting with making sure I'm not adding to it. And that's a big, long, hairy process that I have to undertake, on my own. I cannot ask for help in it, I cannot burden others with my ignorance. I must seek my own materials, I must do my own processing. I must digest, not regurgitate.
You want to explain to your students why using the term "colored" is wrong - start with the fact that you're asking another white person for the definition of "colorblind" instead of reading up on what people of color are telling you it means.
That's like asking a first year med student about brain surgery. I am not an expert, I am not the voice of anti-racism.
Privilege enables your students to use those words, and more importantly, to face no consequences. The bigger problem is that society allows it, not that they're using the wrong word.
The guy who kicked the kids out of the pool used nice words. He called them "African-American" and still assumed they were dangerous. His rhetoric was great, his actions were deeply hurtful.
Language is symptomatic. It is not the end in and of itself, but a gateway to meaning, action, and reality. It is reflective. It is the mirror, not the object. Changing the mirror does not change the object. Saying nicer words is merely skewing the mirror. The object - the racism - persists.