Social Justice Event

After Attending a dinner put together by the classroom I was doing my service learning project in I knew this was the perfect event to compare to the readings we have completed in class. The dinner was put on by the families of the students in the classroom. It was an oppurtunity for both the students and parents to teach us about there cultures and traditions. The first Reading i though about as i was sitting there was Deplit codes and rules of power. I felt as if this was all new to me how do i sit or eat. Every culture has different rules and codes when it comes to there traditions and now for once in my life I was the one feeling left out and confussed. It made me think about all those times I was in the classroom and I wasnt direct on what I wanted to be done how those children felt who got in toruble when it wasnt done right. It showed me how important it is to be direct and clear when you are giving directions on something because everyone comes from different backgrounds and is expected to do different things. So we have to go in expectiting that they know nothing.

As the night went on I came to realize that I was the only white teacher and person there. Mamy grandparents made racisit comments about me being white. It made me think of the article we read by Johnson when we talked about how people can be so racisits and how pother feeling when they are put down like that. It made me think of all the times I seen white people torching the blacks or other people and it was the worst feeling ever. How could anyone be so mean and hurtful but it is reality now people are so mean they dont care who they hurt they say what they want when they want no matter who there hurting. It made me think of the doll activity I talked about in class how we have to make an enviorment comfortable for all people that are there not jsut what is normal to us. We as teschers need to make sure that materials and things we do in class do not show an form of racism because it is an important topic and it is one that could hurt many people.

As the night was coming to an end i realized how much fun it was to learn about all the childrens cultures and traditions. It was something out of my norm and it made me open to my eyes to the backgrounds where the children in my classroom came from. This experiance made me think of the quote by McIntosh " i was taught to see racism only in individual acts of meanness, not in invisible sytens conferring dominance on my group". It made me see and thin about my while privalage and the backpack we carry just because we are white the more we know the heavier the backpack gets and the more we see how people can be affected by certain things. This event opened my eyes to all we were taught in class this semester and how lucky I am just to be white. So many people face struggles each and every day because of the color of there skin and it is important that we try to stop this because it is somthing that is hurting so many people in society.