The
letter pictured above was sent home with the students of Western Union
Elementary School in North Carolina earlier this year. The letter states that
the students were encouraged to wear "African American attire" or
"animal print clothing with animals native to Africa" in celebration
of a Black History Day event. This suggestion caused uproar among the parents
of the students and, after the story spread rapidly across social media sites,
the entire nation. Luan Ingram, the Chief Communications Officer for the school
district, came forward and stated, "while [the letter] was well-intended,
it was poorly worded." She then added, "We are reminding all of our
principals to be very sensitive in word choices when communicating with parents
concerning different ethnic groups and cultures that make up our world."
While many felt that this
letter was extremely inappropriate and an example of the continuous racism in
our supposed “post-racial” culture, others found the letter to be harmless, believing
our society to be too hypersensitive to innocuous missteps on the road to
racial equality. This debate reminded me significantly of the Making Sense of Race forum I attended here at Rhodes, in
which we discussed whether
the category of race is more of a problem or solution in regards to
contemporary racism and, subsequently, whether the term should be altogether
abandoned. Is the fact that people have to be reminded to “be very sensitive in word
choices” when discussing different ethnic groups a remedy or a drawback in the ongoing fight for equality? Although
many different views and opinions were expressed during the forum, it was
widely agreed upon that the social construct of race should not be abandoned. Even
if well intentioned, it seems a bit of a cop-out to attempt to fix such a
prevalent human problem by simply ignoring its existence. Instead of pretending
that these differences (of skin color, class, etc., etc.) don’t exist, we as a
human race need to learn to embrace these differences rather than judge them.
However, as made obvious by the photo above, this is easier said than
done, simple in theory but not necessarily in practice.
As one man commented, "we should not discourage multicultural
dialogue with an over reaction to a benign gesture. Overt racism is one thing,
but mere cultural ignorance is another." With that being said, should we fault Western Union for their attempt to teach their students about other cultures? Perhaps we should merely criticize their sloppy execution of it. It seems to me that the school did not intend to issue offense to anyone, but succeeded in doing so anyway. Does it matter whether it was intended or not? Finally, did they succeed in supplementing the fight for equality or did they deter it?
I find this letter disgusting, but I am also greatly disgusted by the Chief Communication Officer's response. First, she doesn't at all seem to understand the weight of how problematic "African American attire" is or the association of African American PEOPLE and ANIMALS. The letter implies that if you cannot dress like a PERSON, dress like an ANIMAL. The problem is not more sensitive word choices, in fact it has nothing to do with sensitivity. Sensitivity sounds like we still need to tiptoe when we are talking about race, which is what the Chief Communications Officer did. The huge problem is that these racist ideas and associations are still held by our educators, and that they express their racist ideas in such letters and "celebrations" of Black History Month. They are teaching their students racism when they design a Black History Month activity and essentially ask their students to practice a very racist idea--exoticizing African Americans. I would recommend that they drop the very sensitivity that protects and veils their racist ideas and deeply feel the violence of their crime.
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ReplyDeleteWow. It is really difficult for me to process the amount of ignorance that can go into actually typing this into a letter and proceeding to send it out to parents of children without realizing how completely and totally ridiculous it was. I think this is a very good reflection of how racial issues exist today though. We like to believe that things are so different, that racism is no longer an issue, that we treat each other as equals but deep down we all know that is not true. Racism is still an issue. In situations like this though, I think the main problem is saying or doing things impulsively, without thinking of the potential repercussions or how your words or actions may sound to others. I am not saying that people should necessarily filter what they say or dance around topics. I am a big believer in honesty and being straightforward because I personally do not have time for trying to read between the lines in what people are saying all the time. The reality of the matter is a lot of times, people have no idea what they really mean. Sometimes we speak for the sake of having words leave our mouths. But because of this, we create many easily avoidable issues and misunderstandings that simply stem from a lack of engaging our common sense before our thoughts fly out into the open. While this school issued an apology for the letter, I really do not like how they simply said they were "reminding them to be sensitive in word choices." Obviously, what this principle said was totally not okay, but I think the bigger issue is that this type of mentality still even exists. Even though we abolished slavery and have amended the law, changing the rules isn't going to change the way the players play the game. Enacting and removing certain laws will not change the way people think and the assumptions and stereotypes we make every day. While we have come a long way, we still have an even longer way to go. It really blows my mind that this person not only went so far as to type that out into a letter and send it but the fact that this phrasing was even formed in their head. It's almost a complete oxymoron of the fact that the whole point of the letter was to be informing the parents that it was Black History Month while expressing it in a completely racist way. I do agree in that I don't think this person meant what they said in the way it comes across, but that does not rationalize it or make it any more so acceptable that it happened.
I know I am not the only one, but this letter is incredibly troubling to me. At first, I see the obvious issue of imbedded racism and discrimination against African Americans. I realize that this discriminatory mindset still exists, but rarely do I see it so publicly expressed, especially when it is communicated in such a subconscious way. I truly believe that the person writing this letter meant no harm, but that is the most troubling aspect of the situation for me. As Isabelle stated, the mindset is still there. Not only is it still present, but the way in which the letter was written, I'm not even sure if the mindset is recognized by the faculty writing the letter. This way of thinking about African Americans, how to celebrate Black History Day, comes so naturally that I am led to a more personal and individual concern.
ReplyDeleteBoth in my studies and in my personal life, I am constantly trying to actively refuse to give into discriminatory conversations or actions. However, just because I am hyperaware of racial tension between African Americans and white people in the south, does not mean I am aware of all sorts of discrimination taking place around me. This is a frightening thought. Do I have embedded discriminatory tendencies that I am not even aware of? Will these tendencies be revealed twenty years down the road when my children are writing about the latest civil rights issue? I do not pretend I'm not ignorant on many modern civil rights fronts, but I would like to think that if I was fully educated on the movements taking place now, I would become just as passionate about each. This letter to Western Union Elementary School parents reveals the subliminal tendencies of discrimination and racism, and makes me ask many questions about if this is happening much more - and in many other sectors of civil rights - than we are aware of.
This letting is so ignorant it hurts to read it. However, this does not surprise me that people speak this way. Their ignorance and underlying racism is appalling that it comes from a school full of intellectual colleagues that are teaching about African American history. Its one thing for people to be ignorant about other races but it is another for a school to put out this letter where there is normally a diverse group of faculty and students who attend the school and knowledgeable about certain subjects pertaining to races and cultures. What is shocking to me though is that Chief Communication Officer did not show any way that he was reprimanding the school for this announcement or that they were appalled by what was put out. It not only gives the school a bad reputation but it gives the individual teachers who allowed this to happen. If I were a parent, especially an African American parent I would want a full written out apology from the school. How long will it take for the human race to not be racist any more? When in the future will ignorance diminish? I think it is going to take longer than we like but history has showed up that it is possible for people to do it and I think it is all about learning. If only these teachers from this school would listen to what they were teaching during African American History month then maybe they would be less ignorant as well.
ReplyDeleteThis letter is very shocking, but I am not all that surprised by it. I don’t think that the principal had bad intentions at all, and I certainly don’t think that she meant for this letter to be racist. But the fact that stereotypes and racism were communicated unintentionally is very troubling to me. I think it is much easier to understand the overt racist attitudes of individuals more so than it is to understand the underlying racist thoughts and ideas that we don’t even realize we are having unless we actively interrogate them. We try to pretend that we live in a color blind society but ignoring issues of race does not solve the problem of covert racism it only masks it. I think that talking about race and racial issues is the only way to remedy the situation. If we as a society had a better sense of what it means to be from another race, I don’t think we would have unintentional racist things like this happen. There needs to be a better understanding of what diversity means as well as the implications for continuing to harbor stereotypes about minority populations before we could ever move passed covertly racist ideas such as this letter demonstrates.
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