Barbelith Underground > Conversation > Racism within the Institution

A while ago I said something about racism 101 being taught in schools and colleges over here. In environmental studies class today I found that the Professor, in an attempt to get some consensus about preferred teaching style gave a little sheet out which had a sort of thought experiment on it. In attempt to exercise the intuition pump, he quite managed to do the most racist thing I’ve seen in class (other contenders being a rant from another student for me to go back to my own country, one administrator responding to my hard work and immaculate grades with something like “isn’t this country great? You didn’t dream about having these kinds of opportunities and doing so well when you lived in your* country did you?).

* italics mine.

Well anyway, the thought experiment was about stewards of a plantation. He said, “you’re all slaves.” Then continued with explaining what was on the sheet. The sheet had four kinds of plantations stewards (which he thought he was) that had to answer to the owner (college administration) and try to get the best out of his slaves (students). Now when he started the whole thing, I was very uncomfortable and thought oh my god, how do I respond? He continued and explained that the steward has to answer to the plantation owner and he wanted to know what kind of steward did we think was best? “What are the potential long term and immediate consequences of this type of stewardship style? (Complaints?)”
Steward 1 was described as “authoritarian, tall, muscular, charismatic, a disciplinarian who gets the job done through threat and intimidation or coercion. He has been known to steal slaves.”
I won’t explain all four but give a general idea. Steward 2 was likeable, took “excellent” (inverted commas mine) care of his slaves, gave them privileges and recreation time with singing and dancing. He got them to do the work through the bond they had and the slaves did their work out of a sense of obligation/friendship.
Steward 3 was a “farmer” who knew everything and was “Extremely knowledgeable” about agriculture, productivity and business but his slaves barely understood him. He didn’t mix with them, wouldn’t “Share the knowledge with the slaves” (a sort of caricature of academics who only speak to their peers and use a lot of jargon that undergraduates or the general public cannot understand. This he more or less said was what he had in mind when I asked him later).
Steward 4 was a “teacher.” ( Due to a copy/pasting mistake he didn’t get the fourth one in and kept trying to remember what it was. I’ve looked around the internet and I think this was his idea and he may have done this before in another class).
The whole time, a lot of the class played along and kept trying to critique the first couple of stewards because “the slaves might die and #1 won’t work in the long run.” (student). ‘But what’s great about this guy is (chuckles) he’s been know to steal more slaves.” (Professor).
He went about how the slaves would “abuse” their privilege if the steward was too nice and at that point I had just heard enough and could not just ignore it whatever the consequences. I held back my anger and said, “Can you see that this is not a good analogy? Can we acknowledge that slavery is horrible and no kind of treatment makes it okay?”
And he argued, “Yeah sure. Nobody here will say slavery is a good thing (laughed a little either here or a bit later).” He continued a little and said, “But some slaves don’t know any better. They’ve never had a different life and some slaves were actually happy being slaves.”
So I said, “That doesn’t make it okay! (more astonished than yelling here). The dominant discourse regarding race was internalised by some slaves who didn’t think they would be able to be anything else and did not know what to make of the master’s “kindness” mixed with aggression and abuse. That doesn’t make it okay nor can you blame them! Malcolm X made a distinction between two kinds of slaves. He said that there was a house negro and a field negro. The house negro loved the master and if the master’s house was burning, he would try to save it and would be upset when the master was sick. The field negro would be in the field resisting and protesting. The field negro would hope the master would die if he got sick…”
Professor: “Oh he would probably set his house on fire if he could.”
Me: “Yes. And I like to think that given the choice, I’d rather be a field negro. (I’m not African American but a person of colour, a product of postcolonial Pakistan). And just because the slaves don’t know any better doesn’t make it okay nor is it an okay example to use.”
The Professor kept insisting that the slaves don’t know any better in his thought experiment. And I just felt that I was not going to convince him and felt really threatened when he kept arguing and almost jumping down my throat. And suddenly one girl finally said that slaves would know better because they would see the master living the easy and would get angry. I’m sorry but that’s just not believable, she finished.
That shut him up and he changed the discussion. It was a relief that he wasn’t particularly mad at me after that and even though I felt that at least someone spoke up, her reaction probably had more to do with believability than with outrage. I looked around and nobody (20 odd people in that class) looked like they were outraged. What was also interesting was that it took a white student to shut him up. He kept talking over me or just not listening as I kept talking. It’s hard enough to not have a voice within institution and society, it is worse that I keep sticking my neck out when it’s any issue regarding race, gender, sexuality, class, religion (I don’t have one incidentally) and nobody acknowledges my positions.
Things like these are rather common in my experience in school, sometimes at work and anywhere really. I keep thinking I want to do something about these kinds of things. The time a student yelled at me and threatened to beat me up because he had enough of my “anti-american” bullshit (mainly talking about American foreign policy and arguing with him when he called Algerians terrorists and defended French colonialism) and told me that he didn’t need people like me in his country and we should go back to our own. Most students came up to me and said that I said a lot of unpleasant things in class and I should take it easy, keep my opinions to myself because people are sensitive about this stuff. I couldn’t believe how nobody went up to him but a whole group of women tried lecturing me. The professor who was on my side (a foreigner as well) was outraged but told me that she couldn’t do anything about it and even though she would go to the Dean, the Dean’s going to keep him on a watch list and that was going to be the end of it. That’s exactly what happened. I go to a community college in Massachusetts in case anyone’s wondering.
I’ve thought of writing to the Dean and talking about all the incidents, especially the ones involving the administrator and the one’s involving faculty without actually giving out names. I want to talk about these concerns and do think the college personnel should be given Racism 101 and there ought to be something I can do about incidents like this without sticking neck out all the time and jeopardising my own future. I am confrontational in class and am constantly arguing against such issues (generally white history, American foreign policy, colonialism, slavery etc) and putting myself in the line of fire in a college largely dominated by white people who just ignore history, ignore privilege etc. It’s difficult when Professors have little tolerance for people like me after I gauge their politics as being very moderate or quite right wing. They do grade my papers and decide what I deserve for class participation. I’m a returning student at the college and have flawless grades. I have found a couple of sympathetic allies in the institution who really don’t know what to do about it without sacrificing my grades. I do believe in confrontation and my moral responsibility but it’s getting harder and harder and I feel that it is unfair for me to not only face this kind of environment but to accept it and not challenge it on any level without compromising my future.
Does Barbelith have any clue what ought to be done in such a situation? My best friend has advised me to wait until I transfer out next year before I talk to the Dean because I don’t have anyone on my side and it’s not like the students are going to be on my side there or anyone when I point out what the administrator said. Should I write the letter? Is there something else I can do? I’m not only concerned about my experiences but the experiences of others. Just because there might be people of colour at the college who are not as bothered by this and may have internalized the dominant discourse regarding race does not mean it ought to be allowed to carry on. Sorry for venting, I did not know how to explain the whole thing without sounding like I’m whining about it.

Krug

20:37 / 12.09.07

thank you all for your support. i really appreciate it.

tryphena: someone already told me about my school. it has 8,000 students if that says anything. i don't have any clue about student bodies in any school.

photographs: i'll speak to a few people but i have a lot of work to do and with little time i cannot start a campaign. i do appreciate your ideas. i'll bring them up when i see a couple of people who i'm hoping will be a little help. but today i did walk away out of a class feeling completely crushed and felt that i could not do anything without compromising my future. all my hard work over the last year or so will go down the drain. it's upsetting enough to not be able to do to school amidst other obligations without having to put up with this. then risking what you work for because no white person sticks up in any single class for any of this. in any class i've had. when they do stand up it's usually to give me "Advice" on shutting up or to tell me that i ought to fuck off back to "my" country. as much as i insist, i have no country.

allmacto: yes. america it is. massachusetts no less. liberal state mate! they're like so liberal that gay people can marry! and a black man is governer! surely that means they're like not homophobic or racist at all.

i hear how liberal mass is because of that.

megatron: the girl who shut up the professor only shut him up not because it was a logical fallacy (i pointed the same thing out by saying that it's aburd for them to not have an imagination and not see that they're being mistreated so badly even if it's all they have ever known) but because he didn't want to listen to me. he kept talking over me or ignoring me. people of colour lack a voice within the institution i think. a friend of mine (also non-white) and her best mate (african american) in grad school had to go through a lot of problems with professors who refused to take their contentions seriously "slavery was so long ago" and "you're not oppressed or marginalised don't tell me you are." (This was in Southern California).

Shark: Mate, this college has a terrible record with "reporting." Students have no fucking power. I asked a few professors and he's been here ages and very well loved. At college, I have a reputation of that annoying student who always has something to say and is a bit too lefty for most. The same professor while saying something encouraging about how landfills, toxic waste dumps are usually around black neighbourhoods used the word "blacks." (encouraging because he was telling the students about it and made an important point.) I seethed and muttered to myself "black. people. professor. not. blacks." it's not going to go down well if i have to correct people every fucking class about one thing or another when i already am looekd on as some pretentious, snooty, "intellectual." again, i'm going to talk to a bunch of people about options and my concerns who are supposed to be "help" and see if that takes me anywhere. i'm not going to pursue it further if i dont even have their support. i really can't take on the college when i know of people in power within the administration and within the faculty who are going to gang up on me.

I'm just too upset right now by what happened today which I'll relate a little further down.

e to the va to the de: haha. about the slave professor, i'm going to have a talk with him about it in his office. i think the important thing here would be to point out to him what was wrong with the whole thing because none of the students really care or are bothered. if there is some silent soul in there who's behind me in their head, is not going to stand up. that hasn't happened yet and i'm not going to hope for that. what i do want to do is speak to people and see if i have any options. i don't really like the idea of hurting other people, threatening their livelihood in spite of their problematic positions. what i do want is for there to be an environment that i feel safe in and don't feel terribly upset by. the student's ignorance and closet racism is not something i can do much about even if i get a peek and am maddened.

but i am getting a little sick of having to give racism 101 to not only students but to fucking professors who already think i'm arrogant and self-righteous. i do feel i'm on very thin ice as it is and quite worried if this will only end up hurting me more.

most professors i've run into, know, spoken to (and i'm generally a lot more involved with professors than your average student) identify as "liberals." there is an idea in the US that if you listen to NPR, despise republicans, vote democrat, are against the war (but rarely if ever against the military itself), care about universal health care and claim to be bothered by "racism", you are a liberal.

which is just self-congratulatory moderate bullshit.

as far as going to the dean goes, i've spoken to one of my professors and i don't think there's much i can do about it. i am going to go to the dean of multiculturalism or something like that tomorrow after class. i'm not very hopeful about anything right now especially after what happened today.

i've had other classes and another experience recently where i'm just very disheartened to find that i have no voice within the institution and will constantly be shut out.

i think people presume serious racism only happens in "red states." the administrator i mentioned in the thread up there is going to be deciding whether i ought to nominated for a 50% off tuition scholarship when i transfer out. she's a dean or assistant dean and is at the top of handling transfers, honors societies and scholarships.

i may already messed up my chances by not acknowledging the "Greatness of this country and the fact it has community colleges." quite ignorant of the fact that community colleges wouldn't really be needed much if we had a fairer "commnunistic" (as someone told me) school system and if there was enough money spent on schools for there to be cheaper state schools that do not charge you an arm and a leg.

Today something that would have driven me to tears if i didn't keep my cool. in my popular culture and society class the professor has a discussion board where we have to participate. he asked a question whether muslims could be viewed as american.

an anonymous poster said...(a mistake i found out. since anonymous postings should not have been allowed).

"I do not think I could ever view muslims as Americans. Even before 9/11. I've always viewed them as pushy and rude. After 9/11 my outlook on them became even worse. I am an Iraq veteran who served 1 year between Kuwait and Iraq. I have had the opportunities to meet many Arabs whom were muslims and over time I lost respect for them. We as Americans seem to have more tolerences for different religions. I have not yet seen many muslims who have been tolerant of other's beliefs. Maybe I have a one sided opinion. I do not believe I could ever see any muslim as American. It doesn't matter what the race or where they are from. There are too many negative images of muslims on tv and off. From my own experience, I have had more negative interactions than good."

she made another post the post stayed there for a few days and the professor didn't do anything about it.

on another thread where there was mention of negative images of arabs in the american media she said...

"I'm not really sure why Americans view Arabs with such regaurd. In my opinion alot of people from the middle east usually appear untrustworthy. I think it how they are brought up. For instance whey you go into a foriegn owned store. They always seem to be staring you down like you are going to steal something. I know many of the times these store owners are from India. However, i've been around alot of middle eastern people and like many hispanic cultures it is not always clear by the looks where someone is from. I guess there is a certain level of predudice."

i then posted...

Nobody seems to be pointing out how offensive, racist and non-constructive your contributions are and I'm not going to indulge in a debate about them because no matter how seriously you take yourself, no one takes you seriously or gives you any credibility because you are anonymous. If you can't sign your name to your opinions (and these are opinions and biases not valid positions which you can defend or prove), you cannot be taken seriously. This is a forum for dialogue, not your internet community for hate speech and prejudices.

Students from the class who were participating defended her and said it was not hate speech and thanking her for her "service." they said it was not racism at all.

So I said

"The military has long been a voluntary occupation in the US. As far his experiences, being in his shoes goes...

Could you explain to me how that is relevant? When did it become okay for anyone to be a racist just because they had a terrible experience(s) with a non-white person? Do you have to be a murderer or a rapist to condemn murderers and rapists too? Let's say my uncle worked in a factory and he worked with a lot of "lazy black people." He had to work harder in a stressful job because of them. So should I avoid condemning him because I have never worked in a factory with "lazy black people"? And oh, whenever a woman commits a crime (which is not as often as men), should we just let her be? Should all the males not saying or do anything because they've never been women?

And why don't you put yourself in the shoes of a person of colour for a change? Then tell me how you feel how having to live with hostility and bigotry. Tell me how it feels when someone's blatant racism is excused by a whole group of others because "oh c'mon, it's not that bad." Its very common not to stand up for racism just because it is never going to affect white people. They can afford to be complacent and ignore it like it is someone's else problem.

/All they want to do is help get people on there feet, and or have a fair voice or even an opinion that matters./

No, they are invaders and occupiers. They were on their feet fine until their country was broken by the invasion. I don't think foreign military presence is ever about "helping people get on there feet." Try to remember why the US went in and what they've done. And no, they're not helping anyone other than oil companies and corporations."

(it was anonymous poster and i made the mistake of presuming it was a man and not a woman. oh there go my prejudices).

I went to The professor's office (the popular culture one who moderates this discussion board for his class) and spoke to him. He thought i was being "shrill." Calling her a bigot and a racist meant i polarised her. he yelled at me and he asserted his power there by arguing with me where i could not argue as i would like but kept saying "i'm very disappointed. you're condemning me. you're yelling at me. while you're letting people say those kinds of things. your only contribution on the board was directed at me for not flaming. and now you're yelling at me for being offended by racism?" he kept defending her and said "you have a loud voice. i know you're passionate but..."

He told me that I have a right to be offended when it's "you pakistanis, you're all...." And it was not that. He kept saying it was her prejudices, it was not bigotry or racism or hate speech. He also said "Racism is not against the law" a couple of times.

He had started the discussion with, "What are you doing here? Why aren't you at a four year school?"

I said, "I'm poor. I intend to finish my two years here and be eligible for scholarhsips and tuitition assistance because of my grades. I have a 4.0 and am only another semester away from finishing up here)."

He said, "good plan."

He said something like not doubting my intelligence but I was still young.

As if I needed his validation and infantalisation at the same time.

He also told me that "this class isn't a sanctuary. we're going to talk about uncomfortable topics and they have to confront them. i have a lot of opinions but i dont tell people get the fuck in line."

i stopped arguing with him when i realised he was yelling and getting louder and i could compete with that. i told him, "you are in a position of power. you are the majority. the majority of class is white. and yet you're telling me that i should not tell people when they're being racist because it polarises them. i understand that my doing so is not going to wake them up and make them a better person but what do you expect me to do when i have to hear all the time? what do you expect me to do when i hear something racist?"

he didn't have answers he said, "you are going to be marginalised. yes i am white and i am the majority. this class is not a sanctuary for you. i can't tell you it is. i do not get involved in the discussion board at all. in class i get more involved and would say something."

I walked out of the office and into his class as i changed subjects and realised that i was threatened especialyl since he mentioned offhand in context to another student and incident that "it's very hard to get rid off me." something about him having tenure and teaching 15 years at the college or something.

And he said after I changed the subject, "I presume you're gay." I said, "Why?" He said, "Oh you were talking about how much homophobia upsets you." I said, "Yes along with misogyny, racism. I don't have to be black to care about black people or gay to care about gay people. Or women for that matter. I can be a feminist without being a woman." And he said, "Oh it's the accent." (I picked up a britishesque english at school in Pakistan from my then-best friend who was british as the rest were trying to pick up American from television. A discussion for another day. Colonial hangover another friend calls it).

you know what the funny thing is? He has a sticker on his office door that says "lgbt safe space."

Basically I sat there holding back rage, holding back tears, knowing that I was powerless and had to "get in line." He created a safe space for the white students but not for me because I presume I was rocking the boat as they say. I am I suppose only allowed to be offended when it's directed straight at me, my ethnicity, my race but I shouldn't be upset when it's black people, women (the wp,em kept calling britney spears a slut in class which of course didn't faze him) or any other oppressed minority for that matter.

I've been going here for a year and it's getting worse. I didn't want to give him the satisfaction of breaking down but I did give him teh satisfaction that he was in charge and all I wanted was to do well and use this stepping stone towards an academic future.

If I was suicidal I would call him "master" in class.

sorry if it's a little incoherent. under "normal" circumstances, i would make a little more effort for coherency and articulation.