Writing the Self Analysis: Race and Whiteness
i) Normative Narratives;
Emmas’ story is about making a self-portrait for art class. They had to draw themselves, using colors that were similar to their hair color, skin color, eye color, etc. Everyone was asking to borrow the “skin color marker” until a boy said “You mean the peach marker. Not everyone has light skin color like the peach marker, people can have skin like the brown I pulled out.” We see the world differently than those who experience it first handed. She states “I was in a mainly white classroom so whenever someone asked that question they meant the peach-colored marker” This is pointing out that whiteness is the norm. It is considered to be normal and people who are different skin colors are seen to be different. They are treated like they are not the same as others.
Torri’s story is about self-portraits as well. Same kind of concept just like Emma’s. She was a young girl in grade one sitting next to her friend. They were both working on their self-portraits together and each tackling a part of the appearance like coloring their hair, then shirts, then eyes, and then their skin color. This is when Torri had a big realization about skin colors and how there are different ones. She states “ This is when I first started to notice people looked different from each other; my tiny brain at the age of six and younger, couldn’t truly comprehend that not all people looked the same. It is noticing that there are other skin colors that exist and that there are not just white people in the world.
My story is about playing a game of bench ball with my classmates. We got into the gym and talked to our friends until the teacher began to teach the class. We got divided into two teams. As the game began, my teacher had pointed out that there were people near the back that were not participating. He says “Those girls at the back aren’t playing and are just hiding behind people. They are going to be the last ones standing which just ends the game.” Something had struck me about them that was different than the rest and I was able to identify something. This is when I noticed that they were not white. Not my friends or my skin color, not most of our classes skin color either. I state “I like everyone in my class and saw everyone as equals”. This norm of white people stood out to me. I didn’t see it as something to make fun of, I saw it as a chance to help them and make them feel welcomed in a mainly white class. Relating to Torri and Emma’s stories, we all noticed and were amazed b this realization and diversity of people. We didn’t care that there were people of other skin colors in our class, we liked it.
ii) Counter Stories;
Lovelee’s story begins when she is on her way to school and an unfamiliar face was at her class door to greet everyone. It ended up being a substitute teacher named Ms. Donahue. She went to ask if she could go to the bathroom since she was not feeling great and Ms. Donahue said no but was letting everyone else go to the bathroom. It was until Ms. Donahue called Lovelee “chocolate milk” and that she was blatantly acting differently with her because of her skin color. Lovelee had to spend the rest of the day in the office and continued to get made fun of because a teacher made a very racial comment which should’ve been seen as wrong. This is an example of disrupting the normative narrative. From Lovelee’s perspective, she experiences different situations. This is because instead of white people realizing there are other skin colors, she has already come to know that and is faced with racial and rude comments. By how the teacher reacts when Lovelee says “My name is Lovelee and I politely ask you to never call me that again” is awful too. By sending her to the office Ms. Donahue’s actions go unnoticed and rather influences being racist as she says that in front of the whole class and even at all.
In the article “Why It’s So Hard to Talk to White People About Racism” it talks about racism and how people are so opinionated and one-sided. It states “Yes, white people can have problems and face barriers, but systematic racism won’t be one of them.”(Project, 2017) This goes hand in hand with Lovelee’s Story. Her story is told through the eyes of someone who experienced racism and gets called racial comments. Compared to Torri, Emma, and my story, we all speak from a white person’s perspective. Even after Lovelee expressed that she wants to be called by her actual “The substitute teacher gives the class a whole lecture on how it is important to give teachers respect and uses me as an example as to why people like me cannot have nice things and are the types of people who deserve to be put aside”.(2021) The article also beings to tackle the fact that “We have not had to build tolerance for racial discomfort and thus when racial discomfort arises, whites typically respond as if something is “wrong” and blame the person or event that triggered the discomfort (usually the person of color”(Project 2017). This is how Ms. Donahue reacted when Lovelee expressed her racial discomfort and just wanted to be called by her actual name. I think that this disrupts the normative narrative overall because, in Lovelee’s story, it is coming from a different perspective, someone who is white and understands racial comments after all, she has gone through some of them.
References
Janaya Fraser, By, Says:, F. D., & *, N. (2021, February 09). Self Story #2: The Game Of Bench Ball. Retrieved from https://edusites.uregina.ca/janayafraser/2021/02/09/the-game-of-bench-ball/
Lovelee Cabrera. (2021, February 08). Self Story #2 – The One Who Stood Out. Retrieved from https://edusites.uregina.ca/loveleecabrera/2021/02/06/self-story-2/
Project, T. G. (2017, December 07). Why It’s So Hard to Talk to White People About Racism. Retrieved from https://www.huffpost.com/entry/why-its-so-hard-to-talk-to-white-people-about-racism_b_7183710
Sharp, E. (2021, February 08). Emma Sharp’s Professional Portfolio. Retrieved from https://edusites.uregina.ca/emmasharp/2021/02/08/self-story-2-the-peach-coloured-marker/
Tmh089, Tmh089, & 19, T. B. (2021, February 08). Retrieved from https://edusites.uregina.ca/torrihollstein/2021/02/08/self-portrait/