Four fine hours of the Goshen College Anti-racism Workshop led by the wonderful Dr. Regina Shands-Stolzfus opened reminded me, yet again, of the impact of being biracial has on my life and my own perception of the world. Growing up with a white mother and African-American father, I heard about how it "used to be". Sundown towns, red-lining, and forced school integration exploded tensions during my grandparents' generation, spread down through my parents', and has its hooked claws beneath the skin of my own generation--regardless of the color. It shows in the higher numbers of people of color living in poverty, off of government aide, incarcerated, high school drop-outs, and students labeled as "disabled".
During the workshop we ( my education major peers) and I discussed in groups our particular experiences with race in school. Isolation, anger, fear, and confusion bled through each of our stories in forms of witnessed violence. Not belonging to any group because we we're biracial, or came form multicultural backgrounds left us feeling alone and frustrated. Dealing with the adults in our lives saying things about "others" that made us feel uncomfortable soaked into our inner psych and tainted our initial perception of persons who look and act in different ways than from our own. We even forced ourselves to open the dark door inside of us that believes in certain stereotypes related to the social construct that is "race".
It is the acknowledgement that we live in world permeated with racism and prejudice of all stereotypes, and the self-awareness that we as future educators are also tainted, that is crucial to combating racism when we face it in our future careers and personal lives. Saying "I know I have prejudice towards _____ perceived individuals." is necessary in stopping thinking in that direction, as well as keeping it out of our future classrooms.
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