A boy from New Orleans shows up a week and a half after Hurricane Katrina. Being one of only a handful of white kids at our school, he is a little edgy and approaches another white student cautiously. “I’ve never been at a school with so many Hispanics,” he whispers. “It’s Latino. Only the government uses Hispanic.” “Oh.” “Yeah, and if I were you, I would tell everyone that you’re half-Mexican. It’s what I did. There’s a lot of really light Latinos out there, so people will believe you.” “But I’m not.” …
When we force people to be explicit about the code words and phrases they use to position themselves as better than others – to create hierarchies of value and worth – we force them to face the racist and classist inside them. And when we ask simple questions that get at the meanings of those code words and phrases, we mark ourselves as people who disagree with their view…and that is important work since they wouldn’t have said it in front of us if they didn’t think we had the same perspective as them to begin with.
Out with classism and the systemic dehumanizing of people with language! A person cannot be trash…what could be more harmful than calling someone this?
–Stephanie
That’s sad!
Hi Stephanie! Thanks for sharing this. I’m gonna have my students in my 1st college literacy class read it. It’ll be a good complement to the discussions we’re having around the book the Glass Castle by Jeannete Walls.
–Deborah Sanchez
I often think back, and actually have shared with others, the “what do you mean?” response that you shared with us in class this summer. What a great way to illuminate the “unspoken” implications of speech. Yet what I found to be equally effective was the WAY that you said it…so gentle…and even kind.
It really point out to me that being defensive or accusatory, which I too often can be, simply stops or aggregates the conversation. Yet, approaching the other person with a gentle probe…”what do you mean” can allow an opening for thought or conversation that otherwise would have been closed down.
Whoops..I meant aggravate the conversation…