Hello Readers! Welcome to my third blog post on the book Why are all the black kids sitting together in the cafeteria? By Dr. Beverly Daniel Tatum. This week's reading was from page one hundred fifty-one to page two hundred twenty. This chunk of pages could be summarized into two main topics, both of which I am going to talk about today. The first part of the reading focused on the divide that starts in elementary school, and works its way up to the workplace cafeteria. The second part, Dr. Tatum discusses what it means to be white. Which to be honest, I never have really thought about.
Dr. Tatum continues her message of Why are all the black kids sitting together in the cafeteria? By working through the years of development to get to where black students would be in their professional lives. An interesting statistic that she used in the book made me think a little.
“...There is considerable evidence that Black students at historically Black colleges and universities achieve higher academic performance, enjoy greater social involvement, and aspire to high occupational goals than their peers do at predominantly White institutions… data from the National Science Foundation, Spelman College, a historically Black college for women, sends more black women on to earn PhDs in the sciences than any other undergraduate institution” (pg 196).
This quote was surprising, not in the sense that it shocked me, but in the sense that I hadn’t even thought of it. It made me question why it is like it is. Though Dr. Tatum quickly answered that question with her excellent writing, as she does for most of my other questions. Black students, and other students of color experience a lot of racist jokes, microaggressions and general exclusions which lead to social issues, which leads to a decline in academic performance.
Being around people of the same ethnicity can help process the everyday stuff that just happens. As a White person, I don’t understand what it is like to be the butt end of a racist joke or comment. “Even in corporate cafeterias, Black men and women are sitting together, and for the same reason. As we have seen, even mature adults sometimes need to connect with someone who looks like them and who shares the same experiences” (pg 179). I have my own experiences, though not with racism, I seek out people who I know will offer me support or have been through a similar experience, to which they can give me some helpful advice. This is one of the main reasons that historically, and presently the Black students and employees sit together.
Cortesy of Goodson
As you can see, with a quick glance there are seperated groups based on ethnicity in the school cafeteria.
This brings me to my next topic of conversation, because, no, I do not know what it is like to be Black, but I do know what it means to be white… Or do I? In Dr. Tatum’s book she cites multiple different authors. For example, Debby Irving, who wrote a memoir called Waking Up White and in the memoir she writes about how she never thought of her ethnicity, or race, until one day she just did.
“‘The way I understood it, race was for other people, brown and black-skinned people, Don’t get me wrong--if you put a census form in my hand, I would know to check ‘white’ or ‘Caucasian.’ It’s more that I thought all those other categories, like Asian, African American, American Indian, and Latino, were the real races. I thought that white was the raceless race--just plain, normal, the one against which all others were measured’” (pg 186).
I feel as if I understand what she is saying. I know that I am white, and that I am Caucasian, though I never thought of myself as “White.” I apologize to my readers, as I don’t quite remember what page this example is on since it was in the first reading that my group did. Anyways, Dr. Tatum cited a source explaining how when a diverse group of people, no matter the age, were given two minutes to put all the characteristics that they would describe themselves as, that people of color would put “Black” or “Hispanic,” “Asian,” ect. Though the White people of the group would very rarely put “White” or “Caucasian” into the characteristics list they made. I feel that this directly relates to Debby Irvings memoir Waking Up White since she, and I, never thought that being White was a characteristic.It is like we are taught from a very young age that being white is what is normal. In history textbooks, majority of the people we learn about are white, and that it was always the white man doing everything for everyone and that is the way it was. And now we are in a weird state of transition to where we ideally should be. I hope that this can start a good converstaion in the comments, as to how you view your race, or if you have every truly thought about it.
This is a very honest post, Emily, which I appreciate. It can be a hard topic to discuss and be honest about. Do you think that we all miss out when we stick to those who are more similar to us? Sort of like filter bubbles, but in life, not on the internet?
ReplyDeleteI never really thought about how many white people don't consider their race as a characteristic. That's definitely something new to me. I guess it is a little bit fascinating how it's sort of a given that people of other ethnicities and races use their race as a characteristic to provide insight into who they are or where they come from. It's kind of like a hidden form of stereotyping, where we learn about other peoples races almost just to throw them into a pool of what we presume they'll be like. This was a very thought-provoking post, well-done!
ReplyDeleteI also am reading this book and found it fascinating as to why black students do better at traditionally black university's. While of coarse there is always a chance that it was coincidental, the data would point to the fact it has to do with the environment. Tatum sums it up as having a better group of individuals to understand each other and I found that to be quite interesting. I also disagreed with what you said at the beginning of your second paragraph. There are jokes that refer to race that white people are the butt end of. However despite these differences in opinion I still really enjoyed your blog!
ReplyDeleteHi Emily,
ReplyDeleteI also found it interesting how White is thought of as the default, and that people (particularly White people) pay more attention to the race of non-white people, as if White is "normal" and therefore anything else is more noteworthy. Do you think that this is a sort of unconscious racism/bias, since not being White is more of a big deal when categorizing people than being White, as if not being White is a negative/abnormal trait?
-Max G
Hi Max,
DeleteI definitely think it is an unconscious bias, though I don't think it makes the person inharently racist. I this it begins because of school, and how we only really learn about Northern European-American heritage. Dr. Tatum regularly talks about how the histroy books are written by White men, explaining the White man's history. Because of this I feel being White seems to be the default since what we learn from the very begining lacks diversity. We only learn about the people of color that had massive impacts on America, like Martin Luther King Jr, Rosa Parks or Harriet Tubman.
I hope this serves as a sufficient response to at least one of your questions.
Emily
Hi Emily,
ReplyDeleteWhile reading I made similar connections to your analysis, and I was very taken back when reading as well. I really like what you said in your conclusion paragraph, and it is good how we are processing forward. White people are very used to being the center of things whether it is advertisements, clothing catering, or anything of the sort, most things aren't designed for people of color and it is a shame that being white is the "normal" thing to be.
I really enjoyed your post this week!
Natalie