Month: March 2021

When it comes to the topic of race and racism, we are presented with multiple different normative narratives which often oppress peoples of colour. Racism is something that can be challenging to discuss, with a main reason being that there exists “an emotional attachment to commonsense opinions that protect (rather than expand) our worldviews” (Sensoy and DiAngelo, 2017, p. 120). In general, people tend to not realize the reality behind their assumptions made towards different races. They come to know certain actions and behaviours as the norm without any hesitation involving how problematic they can truly be. A normative narrative that I found to be evident throughout many stories was that peoples of colour are not treated equally because of their skin colour and there are often false assumptions made about them by the “dominant” white society in which they are grouped together and all seen as possessing the same behaviours. This type of normative narrative has origins from individual behaviour of the past that have led to the formation of certain stereotypes involving the groups as a whole.

i) Normative narratives

In Tadyn’s story she describes a point in time where she overheard assumptions being made regarding her uncle because he was Indigenous. As she chats amongst her classmates she can overhear her teacher talking with other students and soon realizes that they are talking poorly of her uncle. She becomes filled with so many emotions when she begins to analyze the situation thoroughly. People seem to categorize others by their skin colour because they assume they are all the same, as seen when Tadyn overhears the comment from her teacher, “he is just another one of those kids who isn’t going anywhere in life like the rest of them.” Peoples of colour are often collectively grouped and shaped by “having individual behaviours redefined as group norms” (Sensoy and DiAngelo, 2017, p. 135-136). When Tadyn talks about her teacher in reference to her uncle, she mentions that “he had never been his teacher let alone ever had an interaction with him,” I noticed that this exemplified the normative narrative being that the teacher had made assumptions that her uncle was going to fail in life, but was also referring to all Indigenous people not succeeding in general. Within this story, it is clear that the teacher is reproducing this stereotypical idea that all Indigenous people are failures and even though he doesn’t state it directly, he is also insinuating that white people are superior, being that I am assuming he is white and that he is talking to white students.

In Janaya’s story we once again see a time where peoples of colour are not treated fairly due to the generation of false assumptions. She is also faced with a situation where her white teacher does not consider all aspects of the situation and quickly jumps to conclusions. In this class game of bench ball, students are split up into teams and begin to play until Janaya and one of her friends are faced with an interesting comment from their teacher. He laughs and begins talking about the girls not playing at the back and even makes the comment that “they are going to be the last ones standing which just ends the game.” Janaya was confused until she noticed that the girls had a different skin colour than her. The teacher automatically assumed that the girls of colour standing at the back are not doing well in the game because of their race. Janaya mentions that the teacher kept repeating the phrase “everyone should be participating,” as if he was aiming his statement at the girls with a different colour of skin at the back. He seemed to be assuming that the girls were just not trying or were bad at the game because of their skin colour. We later see that the truth was that the girls simply did not understand the game. When Janaya mentioned that “because they were struggling with their English, people found it easier to let them be confused rather than explaining it to them,” she is referring to the white teacher or other white students not doing anything to help them. She is met with the realization that “they don’t get treated the same way as most people in the class.” The students of colour were not being treated fairly by neither the white teacher or the white students “ because they’ve never known what it means to embrace a person of colour as a true equal, with thoughts and feelings that are as valid as their own” (Eddo-Lodge, 2017).

These both relate to my story being that the central idea of mine was that white people see themselves as dominant and begin to make these assumptions about peoples of colour without knowing their full story. I talk about how the white players on my volleyball team were making the assumption that the Punnichy team was bad at the sport because a majority of them were Indigenous, which was before we even got to see them play. In both Tadyn and Janaya’s stories they are the ones watching others reproduce this normative narrative, similar to how I was also the one witnessing other white people using their privilege without thinking about the consequences. We can also see that in Janaya’s story she ends up finding the truth behind the assumptions being made, similarly to how it was revealed to me in the end that the Punnichy team was not bad at the sport and that they were very kind people, despite the comments that my teammates were making. I am able to relate to both these stories in the way that I have also been faced with a comment involving race where I was unsure of how to act, just as I was in my story. I also noticed that all of our stories end by disrupting or wanting to put an end to the form of racism which was present in the story. Even if it was not intended, each of these stories seem to all come back to the thought process that comes with situations like this. We each found ourselves deeply thinking about what was going on at the time, such as when Janaya said “I wasn’t sure what he was trying to get at” when the teacher was commenting on the girls who had a different colour of skin. These stories all display how this normative narrative is produced, being through the sharing of ideas or opinions with others that follow the “norm” of society.

ii) Creating counter-stories: Disrupting normative narratives 

In Noelle’s story we see a different aspect of the topic on race where she explains about a time where a majority of her classmates were peoples of colour. She seemed initially shocked to see this different setting as she walked into her new classroom since she was used to being surrounded by people having the same skin colour as her, that being white, but this time was different. We can still see the separation of the different skin colours in the beginning as the result of the students initially having a choice of where and who to sit with, but once they are split into their groups by the instructor, we see that the groups were random and not based on their race. Noelle ended up in a group with a girl that she noticed had a different colour of skin than her who was wearing a dress and had a long braid in her hair. The other students in Noelle’s group didn’t participate in the group work, leaving Noelle and the girl the opportunity to get to know each other. This experience that Noelle had creates more of a positive outlook on race as seen when she says “she seemed to talk a lot about her family back home which I thought was interesting and she discussed how her culture didn’t compare to ours and how different it was.” Noelle chose to listen and start a conversation with the girl rather than behaving as the “norm” would insist such as making assumptions about her or ignoring her. 

When considering the other three stories compared to this one, we can see that Noelle’s story does not involve any type of intended racial grouping or assumptions, whereas the other three each contained moments where assumptions were being made because of their skin colour. It is clear that within the other three stories, the voices of the peoples of colour were being silenced. They were not even given the opportunity to share their opinions or reflect on what was being said about them, mainly because they were not directly faced with the comments. This was not the case in Noelle’s story because she allowed the girl to share her story before making any comments of assumptions simply based on the colour of her skin. When it comes to the age groups of people involved in the stories, it is significant that Tadyn and Janaya have experiences where their teachers were the ones making the assumptions about the peoples of colour, but in Noelle’s story she was the one going against the norms. With the idea of oppression when it comes to racism, “we have a deep interest in denying those forms of oppression which benefit us” (Sensoy and DiAngelo, 2017, p. 120). This can be seen within Janaya’s story where the teacher just chooses to not help the students understand the game to make it easier for him and in my story, where my teammates make these comments to make them feel better about the outcome of our game. When you compare this to Noelle’s story, we see that she did not oppress the girl with a different skin colour meaning she did not directly choose to benefit herself. She could have easily chosen to not speak to the girl but when she did she ended up with a new friend.

This type of normative narrative is all about the assumptions of white people towards peoples of colour. The topic of race and racism is important to discuss in order to disrupt a variety of normative narratives associated with it. Certain stories may attempt to disrupt these normative narratives by educating people on the topic to allow us to move away from these ideas that are considered “normal.” I chose to reflect on this specific normative narrative being that it is one that I see to be common from my experiences. Within the course text there is the reminder that “putting our effort into protecting rather than expanding our current worldview prevents our intellectual and emotional growth” (Sensoy and DiAngelo, 2017, p. 120). This is a very important idea in my opinion being that we want our society to grow as a whole. There are so many people who refuse to change their behaviour regarding white privilege and racism because they are stuck with ideas of the past and lack proper knowledge when it comes to this topic. In Noelle’s story we can see this effort that she makes in expanding rather than protecting, being that she chose to learn about the girl with a different skin colour rather than to make assumptions about her. She had a quick realization of the diversity that was present in the classroom, but this didn’t bother her. Noelle was able to see past the physical differences of their skin colour and become friends with the girl by getting to know who she truly is, rather than simply judging her based off of the colour of her skin.

References:

Kutas, B. (2021). Writing the Self 2: Diversity on the Court. https://edusites.uregina.ca/briannakutas/2021/02/08/writing-the-self-2-diversity-on-the-court/

Dyck, N. (2021). Where do I sit? https://noelleseportfolio.wordpress.com/2021/02/08/where-do-i-sit/

Eddo-Lodge, R. (2017). Why I’m no longer talking to white people about race. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/may/30/why-im-no-longer-talking-to-white-people-about-race?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other 

Fraser, J. (2021). Self Story #2: The Game of Bench Ball. https://edusites.uregina.ca/janayafraser/2021/02/09/the-game-of-bench-ball/

Martinook, T. (2021). Self-Story Two: An Educators Comment. https://edusites.uregina.ca/tmartinook/2021/02/08/self-story-two-an-educators-comment/

Sensoy, O., & DiAngelo, R. (2017). Understanding the Structural Nature of Oppression Through Racism. In J. A. Banks (Eds.), Is Everyone Really Equal? Second Edition: An Introduction to Key Concepts in Social Justice Education (pp. 119-140). Teachers College Press.

When it comes to gender binary, we are referring to classification using two specific groups, male and female. This idea does not account for all of the other forms of gender expression that exist in society today. There are many people that believe our identities can be sorted into these two categories and consider this to be “normal,” but in reality this is very problematic. By insisting on this gender binary we would be surrounded by ideas of the past that people see to be true, which in turn reproduce stereotypes involving the past traditional ideas of the men and women, along with the exclusion of other forms of gender expression.

In the context of colonialism, we see this hypermasculinity in which the men are portrayed as being the strong warriors and the women are seen as simply the ones who performed the easy tasks of the home because they are weak. There is this imbalance of power where the women and other groups of individuals are oppressed while the men are encouraged to have this aggressive behaviour to show their strength. The men have always been seen as the dominant leaders who hold the most power and now they suppress those who do not act in such a way. With this idea comes the women who have been seen as inferior to the men, leading to adverse effects such as feeling insecure. We must step away from these ideas that are considered “proper” in order to prevent the continuation of this gender binary. 

This topic has an interesting position in my life being that I am a cisgender female, but often find myself interested in activities considered to be directed towards males such as fishing, hunting, quadding, or certain sports. I shouldn’t be expected to step away from activities like this that I enjoy just because it is not considered “normal” by certain people, and neither should anyone else. We are put into these positions where it makes it hard for us to be ourselves because of what society says. These are the stereotypes that show why we must disrupt this binary that has been put into place in order to account for all gender experiences. It is important to disrupt this because it would allow myself and others to be proud of who they are or finally feel confident with who they want to be.

References:

Sensoy, O., & DiAngelo, R. (2017). Understanding the Invisibility of Oppression Through Sexism. In J. A. Banks (Eds.), Is Everyone Really Equal? Second Edition: An Introduction to Key Concepts in Social Justice Education (pp. 102-118). Teachers College Press. 

The heat from the bright summer sun was beating down on my back as I walked into the high school doors for the last day of classes before summer break. I wore grey capris pants and a black sweater with a tank top underneath it, along with my black Birkenstock shoes. I arrive quite early and I do not see very many students walking around, so I slowly walk over to my small locker down the hallway. I set my big, black bag on the floor and open up the zipper to take out my light blue pencil case and my homework folder to prepare for class. I set my things on the floor and stuff my bag into my locker and shut the door. I pick up my things and walk slowly down the hall over to the student lounge to wait for the bell to ring in a couple of minutes.

I walk in and sit down on the couch at the back wall and see students quickly begin to fill the lounge. The room feels hot and soon I can feel the sweat begin to form on my back. I look around and realize many students are wearing shorts and tank tops. A majority of the boys are wearing baggy shorts and muscle shirts, but only a few girls are wearing shorts and barely any are wearing tank tops. The bell rings and as I stand up, my hands feel clammy as they grip my pencil case and folder. I walk back down the hallway over to my locker where I decide to take off my sweater and hang it up nicely on the hook. I grab my big purple binder then gently shut my locker door and cross the hallway into the classroom. I walk over to a desk in the back of the room and set down all of my things to get ready for class. I sit down and as I begin to open my binder, my friend Sharlize sits down beside me. I immediately notice that she is also wearing a tank top and soon we begin talking to each other about how hot it is outside. The desks begin to fill up as all of my classmates make their way into the room and as we wait for our teacher, Mrs. Yanko, we continue to chat.

The room falls silent when Mrs. Yanko walks in and shuts the big blue door behind her. The only sound comes from students taking paper out of their binders, getting ready to begin taking notes. I grab my mechanical pencil out of my pencil case and open up my notebook to a fresh new page. As I begin to write the date on the top right corner, I hear Mrs. Yanko’s heels begin walking to the front of the classroom, but then the noise suddenly stops beside our row of desks. I look over to her and realize that she is looking directly at Sharlize and I. I can see on her face that she is upset and my heart begins to race. She points at us and says “could I please talk to you two in the hallway.” Sharlize and I rise up from our seats and slowly walk over to the door to exit into the hallway. 

As we stand in the hallway, I start to wonder what we did or why she needs to talk to us specifically. The three of us gather around the corner in the hallway and Mrs. Yanko begins to explain to us that we cannot wear the shirts that we are wearing in school. She then asks us if we have something to put on over top of our tank tops. I quickly respond by saying yes and I rush over to my locker where I begin putting my sweater back on. As I shut my locker and begin walking back over to them, I hear Sharlize begin to speak. She explains to Mrs. Yanko that some of the boys in the class were wearing shirts with skinnier straps than ours, but yet us two girls were the only ones being asked to change. I realized that Sharlize was right and that the dress code in the school always seemed to pertain to the girls only. This was a moment where I felt like we were not being treated fairly and I truly realized that we were being gendered.

As I walk into the large elementary school doors, I struggle to keep hold of my ski pants, mittens, and helmet in my tiny hands. My rainbow backpack feels heavy on my back, probably because mom packed it full of snacks and extra mittens in case mine got wet. The cold February wind blew snow in through the doors so I quickly pushed them shut right after my mom walked in. I stomped my big white boots onto the mat and shook off all of the snow that landed in my hair. I look up and mom gives me a big hug and her soft voice says “have a fun day skiing today, I love you.” She lets go and begins walking slowly down the hallway to the left to head to the office to do her work for the day. My eyes get watery as I say goodbye to my mom for the day, but my mood is immediately brightened when I remember how excited I am to go skiing. I walk fast down the hallway to the right to head over to the grade five classroom to meet with my class. 

I step through the tall doorway and see my teacher, along with my fellow classmates all lined up in their snow gear. I head to the back of the line and while I am walking, I see one of my friends handing a white piece of paper to the teacher. I suddenly realize that I forgot to get one of my parents to sign my permission sheet for the ski trip. I set my bag down, along with my snow gear, and I open up the zipper to find my permission form tucked into the side pocket. I rush down the hallway to go find my mom and as I turn the corner, I bump into her and I see that she is holding a white envelope. I hand her my permission form and she pulls a pen out of her back pocket to sign her initials in the bottom right corner of the paper. I take the paper from her and as I am about to return to my classroom, she hands me the envelope and some extra cash. She tells me that the envelope contains a cheque for my ski rentals along with my lift pass and that the cash is for the pizza lunch at the ski lodge. I thank her and run back to my classroom over to the teachers desk where Mr. Billinger sits. I quickly hand him my permission form along with the envelope and then return to my stuff in line. I tuck the extra cash into the small pocket in my backpack and put it on my back.

As we stand in line waiting for the bus, I look around and notice two of my classmates sitting at their desk with a word search and a few highlighters next to them. The girl was wearing a t-shirt and jeans while the boy was wearing a sweater and sweatpants with holes in them. I walk over to them, curious as to why they were not in their winter clothes, and ask them if they gave their permission forms to Mr. Billinger yet. They both begin telling me that they are not coming on the ski trip with the rest of the class. I showed a look of confusion on my face but I did not want to ask why they were not coming. They both fell silent so I said “see you later” and walked away.

When I returned to my spot in line, I noticed my friend, Sharlize, in front of me so I tapped her on her right shoulder and asked her if she knew why the two students were not coming skiing. She coupled her hand next to my ear and whispered to me that they did not have enough money to pay for the trip. I was initially shocked at the fact that this was something that people had to deal with. This made me realize that my family was privileged, but it also made me extremely sad to hear this news. I looked over to them again and thought about how they had to sit in the stuffy classroom all day while I got to ski because of my family’s financial stability.