Why we need to talk about race
"It's personal." "No one has ever talked about race in front of me so I think you don't talk about it. Ever." "My parents have only talked about it once in front of me and they were REALLY uncomfortable, so I learned you shouldn't talk about race." Earlier this school year, we asked our students what they know about talking about race. A few representative responses are quoted above. All of our students also agreed that race is confusing and they don't know much about it. We discussed how when something is confusing or we don't know much about it, the way to learn more about it IS to talk about it, even if it is uncomfortable. So, this week was "race week" in our classroom. We started with a drawing activity , challenging students to realize stereotypes and expectations they've internalized without realizing, and continue on to learning about institutionalized racism and learning