Blog (4) 5: Connections on Intersectionality through Crenshaw

    In her Ted Talk, Kimberle Crenshaw explains that there is a framing problem present within our society and it leads to people being recognized by only one aspect of their identity rather than their whole identity itself. Crenshaw goes on to explain how black women in particular have fallen victim to this because people cannot accept both their identities and just take them at face value. She goes on to talk about intersectionality and defines it as the overlapping of multiple social justice problems that add many levels to injustice. Essentially what Crenshaw was saying is by taking into account the multiple intersections of our identities we can suitably address the problem going on.

    I want to point out that when Crenshaw was talking about one of the cases about a black woman trying to find a job at a plant and being shown racial and gender discrimination Crenshaw said “There was no name for this problem and we all know when there’s no name for that problem we can’t see a problem and when you can’t see a problem you pretty much can’t solve it.” This is the same problem of recognizing our privileges that Alan Johnson talked about in his book “Power, Privilege, and Difference”. While Johnson may have been talking primarily about privilege through his novel he repeatedly says that we have to call our behavior for what it is. We have to recognize that there is a problem within our perspective that creates difficulty in the intersections of our identities. 

It also connects to S.C.W.A.M.P when recognizing the different identities that exist and how certain privileges and challenges come with the intersections of both. By being able to recognize the privileges of our identities of S.C.W.A.A.M.P. as Johnson says we can recognize the difference that those identities have within our society. By doing so we can name the problem for what it is. It is by doing that we can see the problem and work towards solving it.

    Now how can we use this information to help navigate our intersections? How can we start to recognize our blindness to problems so we can properly read the different frames of identities within our society? The article The Intersections in "Intersectionality" provides a thoughtful breakdown of what intersectionality is what the intersections of what an intersection is.

Blog 4 (3.5): Reflection on Kohn's "What to Look for in a Classroom" and Cultural Pedagogy

Kohn and the classroom tour had me reflecting on my own personal classroom experience. I came from a public school system where there was a stark difference between the good and the bad teachers at my school. With those differences came a difference in the environment of which we learned. The classroom walls were barren, the desks in rows facing forward, teachers teaching from their desk front and center in the classroom, and just bored faces across the room. The way Kohn talked about not just the material objects in the classroom but the attributes of the people and students inside the classroom itself. I have seen firsthand the balance of both in my classrooms and how usually the teachers who care about their students are the ones whose classrooms reflect that care. It makes me think about how in my last FNED 101 class we would spend time reflecting about the environment the class we were observing was in because it was an illustration of the kind of education going on within the building. Additionally, for the culturally pedagogy video I went to a mostly white school where the terms of culture were not greatly discussed. While it didn’t seem to be such an apparent issue since most of the kids shared similar cultural backgrounds, many of my friends felt under represented in the ways that our education standards were saying was normal. School is not supposed to make us feel separated because of our differences. It’s supposed to highlight them in their honest and natural form and our diversity to create an improved perspective on our world. It would make me angry when the perspective of the teacher or the education standards would represent their common “norm”. There are so many unique cultures that should be celebrated and embraced within our education so we can learn new perspectives and strive towards a better education and morality. The article How to become a reflective teacher speaks about reflective teaching and talks about it in a way that is similar to the manner Kohn and the video were illustrating. To create a better classroom environment the teacher has to work on enveloping the understanding of her students’ culture.  I think it helps take a closer look at the actions of the teachers themselves and how those actions can reflect the classroom environment. I think a question to leave with is how can we as teachers create the environment that Kohn was describing that helps support students while still reflecting our independent dispositions?

Blog 3: Quotes from Kozol's "Amazing Grace"

In his piece "Amazing Grace", Jonathan Kozol shares his experiences from the conversations he's had with people from Mott Haven, an extremely poor community in South Bronx New York. Through these conversations Kozol learns and explains the oppression and power that have created hard-to-break cycles of poverty within the community, specifically targeting people of color. Three important statements that arose from Kozol’s conversations are:

1. In the context of being asked if the treatment of her community is being used as a dumping ground, one mother said “It used to... The truth is, you get used to the offense. There are trashy things all over. There’s a garbage dump three blocks away. Then all the trucks come through stinking up the air, ... Drivers get their drugs there and their prostitutes.” This quote illustrates how this woman has just become accustomed to the poor treatment of her neighborhood. If this were to happen in the richer white areas of New York this problem would be addressed immediately but since it’s a lower-income, more diverse area they are stuck living in those conditions. They become used to that offense because it’s all they have ever known so they don’t have the burning desire for better.
2. “I don’t know how sick you have to be to qualify for SSI. My girlfriend died from AIDS in March. She never did get SSI. After she died, the checks began to come. Now they keep on coming, Her boyfriend cashes them. She’s dead!” This quote comes from an older woman Kozol talks to who has AIDS and has just lost her welfare and SSI (assistance checks). She can’t get these checks but her dead friend keeps getting them. It illustrates how broken the system is for them to not give the support when the woman was alive and now that she’s dead the money is going to places it shouldn’t. This illustrates the brokenness of the system in place that’s main priority should be assisting people in those cycles of poverty yet cannot even get itself order for it to be fixed.
3. “I believe that we were put here for a purpose but these people in the streets can’t see a purpose. There’s a whole world out there if you know it’s there if you can see it, But they’re in a cage. They cannot see.”- This comes from the son of the woman from the previous quote. In his conversation with Kozol, he speaks about his community and how they struggle to stay away from dangerous lifestyles because it’s all they have ever known. It’s the only way they know how to live their lives and they’re so resistant to change because as the text continues to reinforce this is how they’re surviving so they cannot try to chase loose strings hoping they eventually tie together in a way that leads them to a better life.

To take away from these quotes, how are we supposed to convince people that their is a better opportunity and life out there for them when all they know is a system that continuously fails them. Can we take away their short-sight and help them find a way to find progress and development within their lives. The article Social Security disability system is broken talks more about the problems mentioned with quote two. The essential question Kozol creates for me is how can we change the system to do the job it was created to do and how can we convince people to regain trust in the system?

Blog #2: Connections for Delpit's "The Silenced Dialogue" and Lake Role Play

    The readings of Delpit and Lake heavily connect with the principles that Johnson and S.C.W.A.A.M.P. by providing the basis and essential argument that Delpit and Lake instate within their respective points. S.C.W.A.A.M.P. recognizes the types of privileges and the ways they show up within society and Johnson talks about how in our society we have to accept and acknowledge our privileges and not be afraid to use honest and raw language, no matter how harsh or uncomfortable it may be. Johnson vocalizes that this is the way that we begin to fix the problem that our privilege has caused.

The way that Delpit remarks about the culture of power through her five points that comprise that power. Each revolves around the central idea that the culture of power consists of the privilege people have to create that systematic oppression. Delpit also states how there is sometimes a difference between cultural patterns for different socioeconomic and racial communities. Delpit continuously mentions the need for educators to have an open dialogue so they can accommodate the differences in backgrounds and patterns so the students can be able to learn productively and inclusively. This connects to the point Johnson makes about having that open conversation about the issues surrounding the ignorant nature privilege causes. The way Johnson encourages people to be accountable when acknowledging their spectrum of privilege (S.C.W.A.A.M.P) is the same as when Delpit encourages educators to acknowledge their role in the culture of power so future dialogue of change will not be silenced.

Coincidentally, the Lake role-play helps reflect this manner in a physical example. How the characters of the principal, teacher, and PTO president were resistant to accepting the fact their actions were harmful and ignorant of other people’s cultures is similar to the example Johnson uses when he can’t understand how other groups in society feel. The way Johnson mentions that he can try to feel the same way that they do but he’ll never understand that so he can just take a step back and acknowledge that his S.C.W.A.A.M.P. is the only way he can help understand the situation and provide the basis for change. It parallels how the principal in our role play remained ignorant at first but eventually was better at acknowledging the situation for Wind-Wolf was different due to Wind-Wolf trying to balance his native background in a Westernized system. It was by acknowledging that difference that the dialogue changed and all parties were able to work on the actual issue of accommodating Wind-Wolf’s difference in background and working to create a more comfortable educative area.

I think one point that should be taken into consideration from all these readings is that they’re cannot be a change without acceptance and acknowledgment of differences of privilege. The article Confronting My Privilege to Teach About Privilege offers an additional perspective on how educators begin to acknowledge their privilege for the sake of their students. How are we supposed to continue when our ignorance is creating a culture of power that is silencing the people we are supposed to help?