Diversity + Privilege
Mindful of the current political climate, recent terrorist events in New Zealand and Sri Lanka, the recent 20th anniversary of the Macpherson Report (Macpherson report: What was it and what impact did it have?) and the upcoming 65th anniversary of the Brown v. Board of Education (1954), diversity - and appreciation thereof - is especially important to me on both a personal and professional level. Recognizing our diversity, yet highlighting our commonality, is beautifully encapsulated in this quote from Kofi Annan.
One of the most worrying effects is that when speaking about diversity, discrepancies within societies (especially evident at present in the US and in the UK) quickly become part of the conversation. It is fascinating that there are times when “the same basic values” is referenced by those on both the left and the right, but with very different interpretations of what constitutes basic values. Frequently those who represent the majority/the “norm” are often oblivious of the struggle for those in the so called minority (be it gender, race, class, and/or another classification) and for those in the “minority” acts of microaggression and/or experience of racism/racist diatribes on an individual level or as part of a group are frequently part of daily life.
Below are brief summaries/extracts of some interesting articles regarding diversity and/or privilege and these struggles within society:
The Racial Equality Institute’s blog has links to some wonderful posts including a podcast entitled White Affirmative Action (Seeing White, Part 13) [a transcript of the podcast is available at "Seeing White" - White Affirmative Action (Episode 44). This podcast references historical elements, affirmative action and white privilege. This in turn reminds me of the succinct definition of white privilege in Teaching Tolerance’s January 2019 webinar, What is White Privilege?:
ASCD’s April 2019 Educational Leadership is entitled Separate and Still Unequal: Race in America's Schools.
In Confronting Inequity/Lessons from Pre-Brown Teachers Milner identifies the key practices (caring and loving, asset centred, never-let-them-fail, keeping students in the classroom, and engagement with parents, family and community) in place during the pre-Brown era and advocates that by implementing these practices now would enable educators to better support students who are currently underserved.
In How Our Language Feeds Inequity Avelar La Salle and Johnson reference the normalization of failure, language mindfulness (a term which recognizes the interplay between language and belief systems) and how this impacted a student given the pseudonym Precious. The paragraph, “The inevitability assumption (Johnson & Avelar La Salle, 2010) is the belief that some students will succeed and others will not, simply because that is how it has always been. Often, expectations are lower for students in marginalized racial and ethnic groups.” is very telling.
Further details about the landmark ruling may be found in the Brown v. Board of Education (1954) article.
The New York Times’ Race/Related is a weekly newsletter focused on race, identity and culture.
BBC Radio4’s most recent episode of Word of Mouth entitled Jeffrey Boakye on black-related words focusses on language, culture, identity, their correlation and more. It is a wonderfully insightful episode.
In If it is Not for All, it is Not for Us: Reflections on Racism, Nationalism, and Populism in the United States, William Cornell contrasts the leadership styles of Barack Obama and Trump. He states, “The world is witnessing a rise in identity politics unlike anything we have seen since World War II”, and reflects on the various elements - including socially constructed definitions of normality - which lead to racism (including institutional racism) and nationalism unconsciously or otherwise.
(In)Visible Identity describes the experiences of members of the Sikh community in the US. Despite being in the US for more than a century, they remain somewhat invisible.
While Blades’ article Trauma From Slavery Can Actually Be Passed Down Through Your Genes was published May 2016, the contents continue to be relevant. I believe that the most pertinent paragraph is, “In layman's terms, she is researching how serious incidents of trauma (i.e. slavery, holocaust, etc.) and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) can be passed down through generations in shared family genes. Her research has revealed that when people experience trauma, it changes their genes in a very specific and noticeable way, so when those people have children and their genes are passed down to their children, the children also inherit the genes affected by trauma”.
This much shared video, Life of Privilege Explained in a $100 Race, highlights the role of privilege.
The BBC’s April 2019 article Should the colour of plasters match skin tones? reminds one of how commercial interests have focussed on caucasians and that it is only more recently terms such as “nude” or “flesh” have been replaced so as to not simply reflect the skin colour of a certain section of society.
Culture and Identity, my blog post from November 2018, has a list of some resources pertaining to culture and identity which seem most apt to those of us working in international schools and adhere to notions implicit in the IB Learner Profile attribute of being open minded.
I live and work in a culturally diverse country which has its own stratification in place due to a variety of cultural/historical elements. In brief, the Malays are 60% of the population. As “Bumiputra”, which translates as “sons of the earth”, they are afforded a great number of privileges. The second largest population, at approximately 30%, is ethnic Chinese who are seen to be the economic powerhouse in Malaysia. Indians, the vast majority of whom are Tamil, constitute the third largest group and reflect approximately 7% of the Malaysian population.
In addition, there is further stratification with guest workers who fall into the two categories of “migrant workers” (i.e. Bangladeshis, Burmese, Indonesians, Filipinos and Nepalis working in service industries such as wait staff in restaurants, cleaning crew members, nannies, security guards, and more) or “expats” (who - regardless of national origin - work in high profile positions in international organizations and elite local establishments).
This notion is explored in Tash Aw’s recently released novel, We, The Survivors. I am part way through the novel and - having lived here in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia for ten years - have seen the day to day elements he shares as the backdrop to the interactions between the main characters. In The Guardian article It used to be that Asia was poor. "Asians are rich" is the new cliche is written, “As part of an ethnic Chinese family, Aw is acutely aware of the way in which recent immigrants from countries such as Bangladesh, Indonesia and Burma are being subjected to “exactly the same kind of social violence” as that suffered by his grandparents. “It really is a question of dark skin. In Malaysia they have all these words for people who are different from us, who are foreign.” Racism, Aw reminds us, “does not revolve around the white person”. And white guilt – “actually very healthy” – is “not the only kind of guilt in the world”.”
Another great quote is:
