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- Go to A More Covert, New Age Racism, seen as whining just now, piffle......
beebee, funny thing, she does write, but African American romance novels!
She's a personal friend of Terry Walker and was talked into writing. Unpublished as yet, but improving daily. She has also just begun to paint. I hope to get her work on eBay soon.
Insidious, yes. Much as Talion describes.
posted by
benzinha
on January 13, 2005 at 11:56 PM
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sure, billy, it's like travelling in place. You stay home and visit other
cultures and learn something. Thanks for stopping by. But, there is racism in the Navy, covert, but there, just ask my Mexican son. He looks anglo with blonde hair and blue eyes, but when they read his name tag, things change. He can't even speak Spanish, though he was born in Mexico and I tried to teach him. His dad's genes, the man who never learned English. I'm their translating machine.
posted by
benzinha
on January 13, 2005 at 11:47 PM
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benzinha I don't like to see people get yanked around. sounds like that
school district is all messed up. In the Navy we have lots of ethnic celebrations, especially on deployed ships: African American Day, Pacific Islander Day, Latino Day, etc...makes for good food, good entertainment and a little learning too.
posted by
FreeManWalking
on January 13, 2005 at 11:23 PM
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Benzinha
Holy Moley. What a tale! Racism, sexism, ageism - much of it is oh so subtle these days and all the more insidious. Is this woman a writer like you? She has a story to tell. I do hope that somehow she can rise above this and not dignify these clueless goofs
posted by
beachbelle
on January 13, 2005 at 10:40 PM
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Talion, the vine does wither, doesn't it? We are of like minds.
I heard some wonderful people talking on CSPAN the other night saying that there is an equal opportunity, multi-ethnic mediocrity of leadership in America today and I have to agree. They said that the only leaders are grassroots leaders who are never spoken of in the press nor recognized for their works.
I have hope and keep it alive, because MLK was very 'grassily rooted' in his beginnings and he rose up in spite of everything. Another shall arise and I don't care what color (s)he is, just care that (s)he speaks 'truth' and makes me yearn to follow him(her) and change things again and again.
Gracias for your comment. As for my girlfriend, she is pooped and old and deserves a rest. The school that she teaches in is unworthy of her excellence. The students need her, but they need so much more than just one teacher can give while fighting the good fight.
Only when America finds that she has 'outsourced' all her brain power, as she has none educated here enough to do the jobs, will people rise up and demand the old ways of teaching which made us so great at innovation and implementaton of ideas. We are raising and teaching our students to 'get by' in this new America and it won't be enough to keep up our self-image of now hollow greatness.
Martin would march on Poverty, I think and Education, if he were alive today. I'd be right there next to him.
posted by
benzinha
on January 13, 2005 at 10:31 PM
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ren, teachers do have the toughest job nowadays. Aadministration is no help
but rather a hindrance. The administration at her school is particcularly horrendous. They have had a new principal almost every year for the past five or six years. Each one has failed the test of integrity. The school is our oldest high school and most ethnic and they just want the test scores raised and the kids graduated, whether they teach them anything or not.
Our newer and newer teaching methods are failing miserably and the kids learn less and less and they make more rules and standards, but hobble the teachers more and more. Idiots. They turn out tteachers in the universities who follow standards and have no creativity, or who have the creativity bullied out of them in as quickly as possible.
She has been told to teach reading and writing in her DANCE classes, to raise the standardized test scores. The kids hardly dance and blame her for it. Her knees are finally giving out after decades of tap and jazz and she spends her entire salary on doctors and operations. The kids text message each other covertly all during her classes and learn nothing. When she removes cell phones the parents complain. Then she is truly marginalized, as are the Chicano teachers at the school. When you are treated like a drug using, thieving, incompetent child for six years running, you grow very tired, very tired, no matter what color you are.
Thanks for your input. You know how it is in the schools and we are all disappointed.
posted by
benzinha
on January 13, 2005 at 10:14 PM
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benzinha
The image of a racist nowadays is some inbred, overalls-wearing, toothless, pickup truck driving, Confederate flag waving, smalltown redneck whose best linen has eye holes, but that's not the only way it is. There are racists who wear suits and ties, hold prestigious jobs, their office walls adorned with degrees from fine colleges and universities. They go to church every Sunday and can quote scripture at the drop of a hat. They live in nice neighborhoods, drive expensive cars, and live the American dream, but they're still racist. It's the same as it's always been. Try and point this out and what do we get? Personal attacks and accusations. It's all
our fault. It's a big lame excuse to cover our own inadequacies, blaming white people for our shortcomings. We've all heard it before. This new style of racism is even more insidious because it's so hard to prove. "We" see it exactly as it is. "They" conveniently avert their eyes. MLK's dream is dying on the vine.
posted by
Talion
on January 13, 2005 at 9:51 PM
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Here goes...
A white, middle-class woman from suburbia is going to try to say (without sounding condascending) that your friend should rise above the injustice to carry out her calling as a teacher. If she reaches just one student, then it will all be worth it. After all, isn't that what MLK did? FYI--as a fellow teacher--Teaching is a thankless and humiliating job no matter what color you are. I only hope your friend can find the strength to keep teaching. I would hope that my children would have a teacher like her.
posted by
Renigade
on January 13, 2005 at 9:02 PM
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