FNED Post #4: Whiteness

I have been having conversations about race and participating in racially/ethnically based affinity groups since I was in college. I am very grateful for my undergraduate institution's devotion to teaching and exploring social justice and critical race theory, as these concepts inform my work today. 

I try to be very cognizant and reflective on the way that I show up in front of my students, based on my identities. I share with them that I am half-Mexican, and half-White (Scottish-Canadian), and that I sometimes can pass as just White, and this is a tremendous privilege. I hope that when sharing parts of my identities with my students, they can come to see that identity is messy and nuanced, and not always easily definable. 

I think because I have been exposed to thinking about whiteness and identity for several years now, I recognize the necessity that all people reflect on the individual identities that they hold and how they intersect. It is imperative that we are thinking about our own racial identities, even if it's uncomfortable, taboo, or not traditionally-accepted. Whiteness can no longer be accepted as "the norm," or "the default," and white people should not believe that they are void of any culture. This mindset in itself perpetuates the idea of "us vs. them" - "those Hispanic, Black, Latinx, Asian, Indian people have diversity and culture, I don't."

I was recently at a Teach for America conference where our region navigated difficulty surrounding racially-based affinity groups. Due to poor planning and intentionality, the afternoon devolved into a shoddily-facilitated group discussion that ultimately deferred to the preferences of feelings of the white people in the room, who based on previous experiences, expressed that they had discussed these topics ad nauseum and therefore they were repetitive and unnecessary. Many people, myself included, left that day feeling unheard and unsupported by others who claimed to be emotionally and passionately devoted to diversity and equity. 

Nevertheless, this day and all its troubles informed a lot of reflective practice and feedback to turn the next venture in affinity spaces into a better experience for all. Just this weekend, we again participated in race/ethnicity based affinity spaces that went much better for a few reasons: 

 - the POC group was divided into smaller, more-specific categories (bi/multi-racial, Latinx, Black/African-American, and Asian/Pacific Islander), facilitated by those holding those identities, which allowed for an intimate setting with people with more similarly-shared experiences 

- more intentionality was utilized around small-group and whole-group discussion formats 

If anything, this experience reminds me that not everyone is at the same place in their journey of understanding privilege, whiteness, or their own identities, and if there are fumbles in the way, it is imperative to reflect and try again.