“Listening, we get to know and connect with them on a deeper level, knowing that those who act out and are the most troubled are usually the most in trouble and in ned of our support. We see through the trouble to the inner strength, intelligence, and tallent each student possesses.”
(Goodman, 130)

This quote stood out to me because it brought to mind multiple kids I’ve worked with when I was a summer camp counselor and an intern teaching assistant at a middle school. Kids often decide at a young age what their reputation is, or what they believe they’re thought of as. I’ve worked with kids who had already decided that they were less intelligent than others because of what they were going through or what grades they received in school. When I interned twice at a middle school, I was discretely told who to keep my eye on, because they’d often “act out”. I had the opposite problem as a kid, being told that I was my parents’ “good one” and trying to live up to that for so long. My younger brother, on the contrary, had decided at a young age that he was the “bad one”, and stuck with that for many years already. I’ve certainly noticed how these kids who seem to “act out” for attention are typically not getting enough attention from their guardians at home, if at all.

“All focus group participants discussed experiencing various forms of racial microaggressions. Some of the injuries were related to a sense that many White people in the community pretend not to notice race or color and will do or say hurtful things without realizing that they are causing injury.”
(Yull et al. 2014)

I found this particularly interesting, as there does seem to be a sort of myth floating around that pretending to ignore race altogether means one cannot be racist (or say or do anything that could be considered racist.) Continue reading Thinking about “Colorblind Racism” and Microagressions →