Photo credit: Teachers College, Columbia University Facebook Page

Department of Counseling and Clinical Psychology 교수인 Derald Wing Sue의 신간 <Race Talk and the Conspiracy of Silence> 발매에 맞춰 진행된 Book Talk.

들으며 끄적였던 메모 몇 가지.

Q. What average American can do to fight racis?

- "people of color" -> "racial minority"?! ; "people of color"라는 용어에 대한 알레르기를 비판. "말하고 싶지 않아 함 (leads to 'color blinded')"

  * '위안부'는 일본군 중심의 용어이지만, 피해자들이 오히려 "일본군 '위안부'"라는 명칭을 고수함으로써 가해자로서의 일본의 위치를 적극적으로 드러내려는 전략을 사용하는 것과도 일맥상통하는 논리라는 생각. 참고로 국제기구 등에서는 '일본군 성노예'(Japanese Military's "sex slave")로 통용되고 있는 듯.

- Facing 'microaggression' in everyday life <-흥미로운 개념!

- "The true tale of the lion hunt will never be told as long as the hunter tells the story" (African proverb)

- Master narrative of this society.. "We are living in the Post-racial era"(?!)  ..submerges the counter narrative.

- Master narrative is composed of White talk

- The fallacy of.. 'race has nothing to do with it' -> It has everything to do with it! 

Maya Angelou (1928-2014)

"Still I arise"

You may write me down in history

With your bitter, twisted lies,

You may trod me in the very dirt

But still, like dust, I’ll rise.

Does my sassiness upset you?

Why are you beset with gloom?

‘Cause I walk like I’ve got oil wells

Pumping in my living room.

Just like moons and like suns,

With the certainty of tides,

Just like hopes springing high,

Still I’ll rise.

Did you want to see me broken?

Bowed head and lowered eyes?

Shoulders falling down like teardrops,

Weakened by my soulful cries?

Does my haughtiness offend you?

Don’t you take it awful hard

‘Cause I laugh like I’ve got gold mines

Diggin’ in my own backyard.

You may shoot me with your words,

You may cut me with your eyes,

You may kill me with your hatefulness,

But still, like air, I’ll rise.

Does my sexiness upset you?

Does it come as a surprise

That I dance like I’ve got diamonds

At the meeting of my thighs?

Out of the huts of history’s shame

I rise

Up from a past that’s rooted in pain

I rise

I’m a black ocean, leaping and wide,

Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.

Leaving behind nights of terror and fear

I rise

Into a daybreak that’s wondrously clear

I rise

Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,

I am the dream and the hope of the slave.

I rise

I rise

I rise.

- "racial microaggression" (micro-invalidations, micro-insults, and micro-assaults)

- Well intention-ed individuals.. they do less damage??

- Most race talks are unsuccessful..

<Case of a classroom - a race talk>

- White male teachers fear for losing control of the classroom

"Calm down"-> believes that the strong emotions expressed are antagonistic to reason and not a legitimate form of academic expression

- White female students feel blamed.. for being uncareful.. (personalizing blames).. feel unfairly accused

- Content battle : Why always race? Aren't women oppressed too?

- Students of color: experiencing a denial and invalidation of their racial realities...

* "Angry/aggressive feminist", "꼴페미" ..생각나는구나. 훗. Gender has everything to do with it!!

; "White denial" "Conspiracy of silence"

- Being perspicacious / perspicacity

- fear of potential consequences for raising the issue

=> Creating a safe classroom for White students inherently makes it unsafe for students of color..???

Accapadi, M. M. (2007). When White Women Cry: How White Women's Tears Oppress Women of Color. College student affairs journal, 26(2), 208-215.

....Ignorance ISN'T bliss.. GET WISE.

*Good teacher: One who can facilitate the process.. not the content.

<What prevents us from having race talk>

3 external protocols

-Politeness protocol 

-Academic protocol

-Color-blind protocol

4 internal protocols (1-4 levels)

-fear of being perceived as racist.. biased, prejudiced by others

-fear to acknowledge/aware one's own inherited racial bias/prejudice

-White privilege(unearned privilege.. just by virtue of color of the skin)

Gotta acknowledge one's own privilege.. break the Myth of meritocracy..

-"ultimate White privilege is to acknowledge one's own privilege and do nothing about it.."