![thenoobyorker:
le-kif-kif adds,
tri-delts in west campus going to a “gangsta” themed party. They were “G’d up from the feet up”.
Found something to add here…
“What’s more, because mainstream multiculturalism rarely explores the historical or sociological roots of what some now think of as cultural phenomena, it is also possible for whites to view “the ghetto” as an authentic expression of black culture, rather than understanding it as a geopolitical space occupied by persons whose opportunities have been constricted. To most whites, ghettos are culturally-specific spaces, either to be feared, turned into style, or even romanticized as more “real” than the places from which most of them come. If they had an understanding of how the ghetto became the ghetto–a history of residential segregation, urban “renewal,” which destroyed black homes and neighborhoods, and deindustrialization, beginning in the ’60s–many of the whites who have participated in these kinds of activities might have thought twice about it. If they understood that the ghetto is something that has been done to millions of black people–that indeed it is more an expression of white supremacist culture than anything authentically black–many might recognize that throwing parties celebrating or mocking ghetto life would be hardly different from throwing concentration camp or internment camp parties. But if whites think of the ghetto as an authentic expression of blackness, they’ll be less likely to feel shame while making fun of such a place. Indeed, they may not even view a ghetto party as making fun at all, so much as being a romanticization of a place that both fascinates and terrifies them.”
via
I want to highlight the last sentence because I have a lot of friends who are participating in the Teach for America program and as a result, they’re being sent to low SES communities where blacks and Latin@s are over represented. Some of my friends have been sent to schools that are in the same city as the schools I went to as a child in South Los Angeles. One of the tough things has been reading about how they balance their romanticization and fascination with these low income communities WITH their fear of living and/or working in these same low income communities. Anyway without going into the details let me just state that it’s crazy, and at times insulting, to watch these experiences unfold on Facebook. These are my communities, my home, and you treat it like some cute social experiment in the hope that it becomes a stepping stone for the entrance to some graduate school or law school so that come on, you’ll never have to return. I mean you may have tried but without being aware of how you’re perpetuating centuries of poor educational practices and therefore sustaining the very problem that you aim to fix.
Students at Sycamore School located at West Sycamore Avenue and North Lemon Street, Orange, California, 1925. Also known as “The Barn” or “Mexican School,” now the site of Chapman University’s multi-story parking facility. [Read More]](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m9yuq89gXx1qkr8vco1_500.jpg)
thenoobyorker:
le-kif-kif adds,
tri-delts in west campus going to a “gangsta” themed party. They were “G’d up from the feet up”.
Found something to add here…
“What’s more, because mainstream multiculturalism rarely explores the historical or sociological roots of what some now think of as cultural phenomena, it is also possible for whites to view “the ghetto” as an authentic expression of black culture, rather than understanding it as a geopolitical space occupied by persons whose opportunities have been constricted. To most whites, ghettos are culturally-specific spaces, either to be feared, turned into style, or even romanticized as more “real” than the places from which most of them come. If they had an understanding of how the ghetto became the ghetto–a history of residential segregation, urban “renewal,” which destroyed black homes and neighborhoods, and deindustrialization, beginning in the ’60s–many of the whites who have participated in these kinds of activities might have thought twice about it. If they understood that the ghetto is something that has been done to millions of black people–that indeed it is more an expression of white supremacist culture than anything authentically black–many might recognize that throwing parties celebrating or mocking ghetto life would be hardly different from throwing concentration camp or internment camp parties. But if whites think of the ghetto as an authentic expression of blackness, they’ll be less likely to feel shame while making fun of such a place. Indeed, they may not even view a ghetto party as making fun at all, so much as being a romanticization of a place that both fascinates and terrifies them.”
via
I want to highlight the last sentence because I have a lot of friends who are participating in the Teach for America program and as a result, they’re being sent to low SES communities where blacks and Latin@s are over represented. Some of my friends have been sent to schools that are in the same city as the schools I went to as a child in South Los Angeles. One of the tough things has been reading about how they balance their romanticization and fascination with these low income communities WITH their fear of living and/or working in these same low income communities. Anyway without going into the details let me just state that it’s crazy, and at times insulting, to watch these experiences unfold on Facebook. These are my communities, my home, and you treat it like some cute social experiment in the hope that it becomes a stepping stone for the entrance to some graduate school or law school so that come on, you’ll never have to return. I mean you may have tried but without being aware of how you’re perpetuating centuries of poor educational practices and therefore sustaining the very problem that you aim to fix.
Students at Sycamore School located at West Sycamore Avenue and North Lemon Street, Orange, California, 1925. Also known as “The Barn” or “Mexican School,” now the site of Chapman University’s multi-story parking facility. [Read More]
(via kadalkavithaigal)
