Privilege

After my last blog post, I really got to thinking about what I'd written and realized that I hadn't hit upon a very important point.  I am privileged and I didn't talk about that in my previous post.  I wrote about the times that I had been judged because of the color of my skin and how people have made assumptions about me due to being fair skinned, but I did not talk about how being light has also provided me with a certain amount of privilege.  

Because I look white, I do not get followed when I am shopping in a store, I am not assumed to be "up to something" when I am walking down the street, I blend in.  I can fly under the radar, and as an introvert, that is what I usually do.  Yes, I identify as Karuk (my tribe) but I don't go yelling it from the roof tops or telling every person I meet on the street.  This means that I am assumed to be white and left alone pretty much all the time.  When I have been pulled over by police, it was because I was actually doing something wrong (speeding 😬, and it has been many years now since my last one).  I've never gotten out of a ticket, but at least they are usually polite about giving it to me.  I've never been asked to step out of my vehicle or had my vehicle searched.  I've never had a gun pointed at me when I am digging for my vehicle registration or insurance card.  When I call the police for help, they respond and try to help.  

I am privileged because I can pass as white.  It isn't my preference and I have always wished that I looked more Native so that I wouldn't be doubted or denied my ancestry, but it has also made living in predominantly white cities much easier.  I was never called racial slurs or put down because of having brown skin.  I have always been keenly aware that my skin color is both a blessing and a curse.  In Native communities it is more of a curse because blood quantum and skin color have been forced upon us as the qualifying factors for whether you are Indian or not.  No other race is required to document their blood quantum in order to identify with their racial ancestry.  Outside of Native communities, my skin color has been a blessing because I blend in and look like what has been "normalized" as American.    

Basically, I wanted to correct my previous post by saying that I know that I am prvileged.  I know that my life has been easier because of the color of my skin.  It isn't right, it isn't fair, and it should no longer be acceptable.  It never should have been acceptable for people with light skin to be treated so differently than people with brown skin.  We can't change the past, but we MUST learn from it.  We must teach about it and teach our students what they can do to make our society, our nation, and our world better.  

Learning to Do Better

I decided I wanted to be a teacher when I was 8 years old.  At the time, I had a wonderful teacher who made me feel special, loved, and excited about learning.  I always enjoyed school, but that year I decided that I wanted to grow up and be just like her.  As I got older, I had other teachers who made strong impressions on me and showed me more reasons why I should pursue that profession and what kind of teacher I wanted to be.  I also had teachers who taught me about what I DIDN'T want to be, of course.  

One such teacher, although great in many other ways, discounted my race because I didn't look "Indian enough."  Because I didn't fit into his stereotypical image of what and Indian should look like, there was no way I could be one.  This completely discounted my family history, my upbringing, my culture, and my spirituality.  He wasn't the first or the only one to say such things to me throughout my life, but I at least knew that when I was on the river with my people, there was no doubt, there was no pressure to be anything but myself.  On the river, people knew me, knew my family, and knew I was one of them.  It always felt like home because I just fit.  

Thankfully, I finally did move to the river when I was in my mid-twenties after all of my schooling and some work in the big city in Oregon.  I get to teach kids whose culture I am a part of.  I get to teach kids who both look like me and some who don't.  I get to include our culture in the classroom and I am very fortunate to be in such a place.  

BUT, not all my kids are Native.  Not all my kids have the same kind of background that I do.  Everyday, I am faced with the fact that there is so much more that needs to be done in our community to raise strong, healthy, and productive members of society.  I also realize that my own outlook has been clouded by the fact that I teach mostly Indian kids on and Indian Reservation.  We are so isolated here, that it is even MORE important that I expose my students to the realities of our Nation's problems.  I need to do a better job of teaching about the systemic racism, not only towards Native people, but towards Blacks, Hispanics, Asians, etc.  Without teaching about all races on a regular basis in my classroom, many of my students may grow up to enter a world that they know too little about.  They may grow up to think of those "others" as somehow different or inferior because they don't know enough about them.  

Basically, what I am realizing is that I need to do better.  I have been researching a lot of books lately for talking about race with kids and am looking forward to the conversations I can have with my students this next year.  I have made several Book Rooms with links to some of these books on Youtube and book lists to shop from.  If you are interested in checking any of these out, you can use the links below.

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Bitmoji-Book-Room-to-Facilitate-Conversations-About-Race-and-Racism-5644524

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Strong-African-American-Women-Bitmoji-Book-Room-5648699

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/African-American-Childrens-Stories-Bitmoji-Book-Room-5656864

We are Water Protectors by Carole Lindstrom

Amazing Grace by Mary Hoffman

White Flour by David LaMotte

Soccer Fence by Phil Bildner

Let's Talk About Race by Julius Lester

Shining Star by Paul Yoo

Separate is Never Equal by Duncan Tonatiuh

My Hair is a Garden by Cozbi A. Cabrera

Viola Desmond Won't be Budged! by Jody Nyasha Warner

When I Was Eight by Christy Jordan-Fenton and Margaret Pokiak-Fenton

The Day You Begin by Jacqueline Woodson

I am Not a Number by Dr. Jenny Kay Dupuis and Kathy Kacer

Ruth and the Green Book by Calvin Alexander Ramsey and Gwen Strauss

Something Happened in Our Town by Marianne Celano PhD, Marietta Collins PhD, & Ann Hazzard PhD

Back of the Bus by Aaron Reynolds

I am Rosa Parks by Brad Meltzer

Firebird by Misty Copeland

A Dance Like Starlight by Kristy Dempsey and Floyd Cooper

Lily Brown’s Paintings by Angela Johnson

Just like Josh Gibson by Angela Johnson

The Hula-Hoopin’ Queen by Thelma Lynne Godin

The Youngest Marcher by Cynthia Levinson

The Princess and the Pea by Rachel Isadora

Happy to be Nappy by Bell Hooks

Mixed Me! by Taye Diggs

Full, Full, Full of Love by Trish Cooke

Ruby Bridges: My True Story by Ruby Bridges

Henry’s Freedom Box by Ellen Lavine

Light in the Darkness by Lesa Cline-Ransome

Juneteenth for Mazie by Floyd Cooper

Princess Hair by Sharee Miller

Let the Children March by Monica Clark Robinson

Crown: An Ode to the Fresh Cut by Derrick Barnes

I Am Enough by Grace Byers

The Big Bed by Bunmi Laditan

Grandma’s Purse by Vanessa Brantley-Newton

Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People’s Ears by Verna Aardema

As an Amazon Associate, I may receive compensation for qualifying purchases at no extra cost to you.

Classroom Read Alouds to Facilitate Conversations About Race

Here is a collection of books that will help you facilitate discussions with your children or students around race, discrimination, social injustice, and prejudice.  In order for us to make a change in the way our society has viewed and accepted racism for so long, we need to start teaching our children to recognize it and how to fight against it.  Having open discussions about it is a starting place instead of sweeping it under the rug because the topic makes you feel uncomfortable.  Accepting that horrible things have happened and continue to happen to people due to the color of their skin will help you to see the need for change.  This isn't just a part of our history, it is part of our present.  

Use these books to start a conversation with your children.  They are not stand alone lessons.  Watch and listen to these videos together.  Take time to pause and address questions.  Have an open discussion with your kids afterwards about how these stories relate to what is happening today and what each of us can do to make a change.  If you don't know how to answer a question, be honest.  Grown ups don't always have all the answers, and that is okay.  Do some research and get back to your child.  

Let's teach this next generation to be better.  To be more accepting.  To be less prejudiced.  Let's make our world a better place for people of color because then it will be better for everyone.  

Some of these books have additonal resources in them that you don't get from a Youtube read aloud.  If you are interested in purchasing them, here are the names and links to buy them on Amazon.  I'd also like to encourage you to purchase them from a small and local bookstore if you are able to.

We are Water Protectors by Carole Lindstrom

Amazing Grace by Mary Hoffman

White Flour by David LaMotte

Soccer Fence by Phil Bildner

Let's Talk About Race by Julius Lester

Shining Star by Paul Yoo

Separate is Never Equal by Duncan Tonatiuh

My Hair is a Garden by Cozbi A. Cabrera

Viola Desmond Won't be Budged! by Jody Nyasha Warner

When I Was Eight by Christy Jordan-Fenton and Margaret Pokiak-Fenton

The Day You Begin by Jacqueline Woodson

I am Not a Number by Dr. Jenny Kay Dupuis and Kathy Kacer

Ruth and the Green Book by Calvin Alexander Ramsey and Gwen Strauss

Something Happened in Our Town by Marianne Celano PhD, Marietta Collins PhD, & Ann Hazzard PhD

As an Amazon Associate, I may earn from qualifying purchases.