Part I of this book is clear-cut and interesting to read, I like Tatum’s definition of her terms and the way in which she used them in relation to her argument seperate from how others generally define them. I definitely agreed with the concepts of White Priviledge. As an Afro-Caribbean American women and student I definitely see the difference in terms of perception and representation in the media and in educational standards. I loved the analogy of the conveyor belt example to describe passive and active racism, because many times people see injustice and think that if they are not actively participating then they are not racist as well. When she described prejudice and racism and how she does not use them interchangeably I agreed because everyone is prejudice based on likes and dislikes but racism involves a benefit to some extent and Black people or “mongolian” race have not benefited from it. Though the way she writes is in terms of the Black and White experience, it is not “angry” in the sense that it doesn’t bash other racial groups it merely sheds light on the differences in perception of the same issues.
The other chapters I skimmed were the following two, which discussed the formation of an identity and here she discussed the individual identity formed by onesself and the communal identity. It struck me because in my traditon of islam class yesterday we were having a discussion where the mainly Muslim students felt strongly that in India they were forced in a sense to develop their communal identity only and when they came to America they then developed their individual identities. Then in the American School book the initial chapters discuss the initial creation of the schools were to develop this “communal identity” of the American and the American society. It was interesting to see that even in America where individualism is supposedly stressed and accepted, “communal identities” are initially the first things people look to in both education and social aspects to describe why certain priviledges are granted or rejected instead of on an individual merit based sytem where if you work hard you will succeed regardless of class or race.
Do you think that ethnic or cultural enclaves in classes allow students to work better and learn more? In terms of the White priviledge do you think there is also a “Black priviledge” (black- can mean any “minority group”) and if so how has the creation of this Black priviledge disrupted the race discussion in American society? In terms of education how much of the curriculum you have studied helped you to promote an individualistic sense of being?
