I think most people know that racism still exists, but many Caucasians have never experienced or witnessed clear racism. As a Caucasian myself, I have heard people give stereotypes about different groups and experienced being treated differently because of my race, but it was not until I was a student teacher in a rural county that I really witnessed someone I knew voicing that they were superior to a different race. When I was talking how my sister lived in Queens, New York, for a summer and sometimes saw more Korean signs than English, one of the high school students said that his grandpa didn’t fight in the war so that the Asians could all move over here.
Wow! What do you say to that? You can correct his ignorance and tell him World War II was supposedly fought for freedom from oppressive powers.* You can tell him that Asians are people just like he is. You can say that our country is better with more diversity. Yet I wonder how effective a response can be or if arguing with him is just in vain. When someone is raised with certain beliefs, how can you change them? This is really hard for me to comprehend because I was raised with biracial extended family. I don’t understand why he has a problem with Asians. Yet I think we somehow need to understand how racists think so that we change their minds.
In hindsight, I wish I had responded with a perfectly articulated anti-racism message. However, I was in so much shock from hearing this racist remark from a kid I knew, a good student. I think I muttered something about how I didn’t agree, but I’m sure my oratory left something to be desired. What this scenario really did for me was get me thinking. What can we really do to fight racism? I know that education is a good place to start, but often family beliefs are more influential. What children have observed from their parents is powerful. Children trust their parents because of the relationship they have with them.
That is why I believe the best way to fight racism is through interracial relationships. I did not encounter any Asian students when I was student teaching in this rural location, and I wonder if this student would feel the same way if he actually knew an Asian. I was able to break some of my stereotypes and help break others’ when I was a minority in LEAP, a 4-week theological program for high school students connected with Eastern Mennonite Seminary. One of the African American girls I met there told me her mom would never believe that she had a white friend! Programs that allow people to interact with different racial groups are an excellent way to promote interracial relationships.
Getting more diversity into our schools is another way to offer more opportunities for relationships. Many public schools, like Harrisonburg City Schools, have gotten more diverse in the past ten years. However, there are many schools in the cities that appear to be segregated because of where people live and districting. As I was looking at school demographics for teaching jobs in Chicago, one school was 98% Hispanic. Another school was 99% African American. I know that Chicago is a big city, and I know it makes sense for children to go to a school near their home, but I still think that different ethnicities should be more integrated.
What about rural school districts? Sometimes they have a similar situation, such as what I witnessed when I worked in McDowell County, West Virginia. There is a “black” side of town and a “white” side of town. Communication and relationship between the two “sides” is essential to fighting prejudice and racism. In other cases, like in the school where I was a student teacher, whites are the majority and there are a few minorities. At these schools, teachers should integrate multicultural education in the classroom. This can be as simple as choosing pictures with people of different ethnicities, reading books about different cultures, and asking thought-provoking questions.
Relationships are the best way to have accurate views of people different from you. I know that relationships outside of your culture can be challenging, because it can be easier to offend people unintentionally, and sometimes your comfort zone is challenged. However, interracial friendships enrich your life and your perspective and fight racism. Getting to know diverse groups of people opens you to a new world and reminds you of our common humanity.
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