In watching The Boys of Baraka...I couldn't help but think children are children. They were acting just like every other child I've seen, yet they are in horrible situations and environments giving them the attitudes and baggage we saw in the movie. They don't deserve this. No one does! And it's so easy for people to dismiss them and rule them out for any substantial future. And that makes me sad. I know Zaher said that people of color do not want our pity or our apologies, they want results and equality. I agree I do have a white privilege. I do have an unfair advantage in society, it is one that I did not ask for nor do I intentionally perpetuate...but it is there. And it is a good possibility that when I am a teacher some children of color will recognize that and hold it against me... rightfully so. I might think the same way in their shoes. How can I change this? What can I do to make everyone in the world equal? "As educators, we are all responsible to recognize our privileges and use them to empower our students outside of their forced margins. "
Lastly, the fact that before this class I've never thought of this and how much my housemate knows shows exactly what we were talking about the other day. Those with power aren't aware of it, and those without know it all too true.
Here's another great (and longer) clip... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_UJlNRODZHA
Great video, Aaron! Thanks for sharing. It was great how when he talked about what his family has done he also talked about what other people because of their race or heritage could not do. I loved this: "I am not my own person. I am not merely an individual despite my nation's and my culture's tendency to want to make me into that. I am a product of a system of privilege in combination with hard work, but hard work is pretty much something that characterizes the entire human species. What doesn't characterize the entire human species is access to an opportunity structure which I have had for now going on for 270 odd years."
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