Back To Schools White People Cannot See
As we face a new Back-to-School season under the pall of the recent tragedy in Ferguson, Missouri, there new considerations that can’t be ignored.
Of the many heartfelt, well thought-out, and clearly written responses to the ongoing travesty happening in that town, one of the most insightful was “Dear White People: The Race You Can’t See Is Your Own” that appeared on Blue Nation Review.
Written by author and communications consultant Anat Shenker-Osorio, the post delved into the issue of race and perceptions of race – the starting point for understanding not only what caused events in Ferguson but also what conditions the different ways people have responded to those events.
From a scientific perspective, Shenker-Osorio explained, people “formulate judgments by race. Not only does race constrain our ability to recall and differentiate among faces and constrain empathy for physical pain, it structures our desired responses to public policies.”
These are just the facts of the matter – with one notable exception, as Shenker-Osorio noted: “whites don’t see race … when they’re looking at other whites.”
To illustrate this phenomenon, Shenker-Osorio recalled a focus group she had run in which “we showed different groups an all white image and asked them to discuss it. None of the white folks remarked upon the lack of people of color, but for the African American, Latino and Asian-Pacific Island groups, it was the first thing they said.”
Shenker-Osorio also pointed out how the “oxymoronic” term “majority-minority” is another “clear indicator” of how white people continue to perceive themselves as a “majority” even when statistically they no longer are, in many respects.
Public education, in particular, is now one of those “majority-minority” arenas. As numerous recent reports have recently conveyed, white students are no longer a majority in public schools.
Of course, this seismic demographic change didn’t happen overnight. For years, schools have been becoming more and more populated by higher percentages of non-white children, with many districts having been Back To Schools White People Cannot See: