Fair or Unfair?

There are ten "commandments," three golden "rules," one "magic word" and thirty "articles" all teaching us how to play fair and not be mean.  The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is nothing but a piece of paper with suggestions without a means by which to enforce the concepts of human dignity, freedoms and justice. 

When we are being bullied in the schoolyard, we turn to the teacher or principal, and when we our rights are being violated, we turn to the justice system.  Do you have confidence in our government's judicial structure, our court and legal systems?  There are rules, and when they are broken, there are consequences.  Do you have any issues with the way our system of justice is run?  Is it fair?  Think about both sides: being the accused and being the victim.  Would you feel comfortable standing trial in our country?  What is broken that needs to be fixed?

We rely heavily on judges, juries, evidence, police, lawyers and witnesses to convict the guilty and exonerate the innocent.  If your life depended on  any or all of the above, I wonder if you would feel protected by those 30 articles.

"A good man would prefer to be defeated than to defeat injustice by evil means." - Sallust

Salt and Pepa

While the characters and text of "Recitatif" are attentive to race and other issues of difference, you may be struggling to clearly identify who is "salt" and who is "pepper."  Think about the stereotypes we discussed in class: the physical, social, economical judgments we associate with and place on  black and white people.  Now dissect the story thus far and try to align the stereotypes interwoven by Morrison in her story, with each of the characters.

Who is Roberta Fisk?  Is she a white or black woman?  Why?  What stereotypes are you using to assign her race?  Who is Twyla?  Is she black or white?  Why?  How can you tell?  If you had to make a bet, what would be your final decision?  Back up your reasoning with details from the story and an explanation as to what each "clue" means to you.  Remember, we are tracking these women through various time periods and stages in their lives.  It is important to include an acknowledgement of setting, environment and decade.

"All generalizations are dangerous, even this one." - Alexandre Dumas (1802 - 1870)

Do you want to know the answer? Click Here

AM I PREJUDICED?

Do we always say what we mean? Do we always mean what we say?  Half the time, I'm not even sure people know what they are saying.  We are beings with opinions - some very strong, others unfounded - but where do these opinions, that fuel and drive our actions and behaviors, really come from and do we truly understand why we form them?

A group of Harvard smarty pants's asked this very same question and instead of accepting it as a rhetorical inquiry, turned it into what else, but an experiment.  It is called the IMPLICIT ASSOCIATION TEST and this is how it goes:

People may not always speak their minds or share their opinions for one of two reasons: they are unwilling or unable.  To be unwilling is to not want to share (even though I was taught that "sharing is caring") because of shame, privacy, insecurity etc.  To be unable is to not even be aware of the reasoning behind a thought or assumption or to be "self-deceptive."

The Harvard geeks decided to create an experiment to test whether or not someone is unwilling or unable to reveal his/her deep-seeded inner consciousness, thoughts and feelings.  Nowhere is this more applicable than the issue of stereotyping - what we think and what we believe about another race, gender, sexuality, religion, etc.

If I ask you, "Are you racist?" I doubt you'd answer, "yes."  You probably don't think you favor one race over another, but do you, without even realizing it?  That is the essential question the Implicit Association Test attempts to uncover.

So, take the RACE IAT test. Find out if you are hiding in a closet of closed-mindedness or racial preference that you never even knew you were lost in.  Report your findings.  What do you think about the test?  Are you surprised by your findings?  Let this experiment help you unlock the door to your subconscious and maybe then you can open it and let the world in.

Fyodor Dostoyevsky wrote: "Every man has reminiscences which he would not tell to everyone but only his friends. He has other matters in his mind which he would not reveal even to his friends, but only to himself, and that in secret. But there are other things which a man is afraid to tell even to himself, and every decent man has a number of such things stored away in his mind."

UP THE HILL, DOWN THE HILL ...

... it's a common answer to the typical West Orange question: "Where do you live?"  There are sections of West Orange, as there are demarcations in any town, that are stereotyped as "rich or poor" neighborhoods, "Black, White or Hispanic" neighborhoods, etc.   In a town and school district so diverse, it is ironic how there could be segregation within its borders. Or is there?

Just as the Younger family faces resentment and discrimination when purchasing a house in Clybourne Park, you or someone you know may have experienced first-hand similar tension when moving to a new town or area.  I distinctly remember when I first landed my teaching position at WOHS and told people where I would soon be working.  I was caught off guard by their reactions: "That's a tough school"; "Are you going to be able to handle those kids?"  I almost started buying into that mentality until I walked through those doors and met my first class of freshmen. There is no greater indication of the inaccuracy of those judgments than this simple fact: I have been here for eight years and have no intention of leaving any time soon.  I love where I work and especially who I work for – you.

So why does WOHS get such a bad rap?  Why do some families send their students to Seton Hall Prep, Mount Saint Dominic or Montclair Kimberly Academy?  Why has the demographic of this town changed so drastically from the days of "Mountain High School" where the town consisted of more white faces than brown, yellow or black?  Is there really such a thing as "white flight?"
Think about the situation the Youngers face.  Has our world changed much from that era or is racism and discrimination just more hidden, more sugarcoated as Mr. Lindner projects in his comments? 

I ironically graduated from Verona High School, just down PVW and around the corner.  My parents live literally three minutes away from WOHS.  My graduating class in 1997 consisted of 103 seniors.  And the number of minority students in my grade could be counted on one hand - literally!  I continued this sheltered experience at Villanova, fittingly referred to as "Vanilla-Nova," and look where I ended up: all the way at the other end of the spectrum, and I couldn't be happier.  Some, like Cesar may say it's because I'm "ashy," but I just think it's because I like to view my world in color.  Wouldn't you?


An anonymous comment posted as a response to an explanation of "White Flight" on Wisegeek.com:
                      "I see white America suffering from cultural relativism. Without tradition or religion, people tend to turn to nationalism, racial pride, or something else to keep their pack a cohesive group. So, you'll find many white people today using hate against the "others" to bring themselves together."