addressing racism

Join Teachers.Net

Chatboards

Recent Groups

Reading

MEMBERS

11 Members

+ Join Group

Pinned Posts

ALLAll Teachers

Teachers.Net LIVE CHAT Support group - Tues eve!

Featured Jobs

Full-timeMontessori Teacher

Maple Ridge, British Columbia, Canada

TemporaryTeachers, rural schools

Peace River North School District

Full-timeHead Teacher: 2nd/3rd Grades – Mills College Children’s School

Mills College

Teaching Jobs on Teachers.Net

Featured Job special only $39!

https://teachers.net/jobs

Become a Teachers.Net sponsor!

Reading Teachers Chatboard

addressing racism

by newMSteacher

Sep 4, 2010

I've been reading poems with my 6th grade classes several times a week, and have gotten some comments from my students about certain poems being "racist." Our school and my classes are diverse - about 25% white; 20% african-american; 20% asian; 20% hispanic; and 15% mixed-race, arabic, indian, pacific islander, etc. I'm white, and the students who have objected have been african-american.

The first time it came up was the first week of school when we read Ronald Wallace's "You Can't Write a Poem About McDonald's":

Noon. Hunger the only thing singing in my belly. I walk through the blossoming cherry trees on the library mall, past the young couples coupling, by the crazy fanatic screaming doom and salvation at a sensation-hungry crowd, to the Lake Street McDonald's. It is crowded, the lines long and sluggish. I wait in the greasy air. All around me people are eating— the sizzle of conversation, the salty odor of sweat, the warm flesh pressing out of hip huggers and...See MoreI've been reading poems with my 6th grade classes several times a week, and have gotten some comments from my students about certain poems being "racist." Our school and my classes are diverse - about 25% white; 20% african-american; 20% asian; 20% hispanic; and 15% mixed-race, arabic, indian, pacific islander, etc. I'm white, and the students who have objected have been african-american.

The first time it came up was the first week of school when we read Ronald Wallace's "You Can't Write a Poem About McDonald's":

Noon. Hunger the only thing singing in my belly. I walk through the blossoming cherry trees on the library mall, past the young couples coupling, by the crazy fanatic screaming doom and salvation at a sensation-hungry crowd, to the Lake Street McDonald's. It is crowded, the lines long and sluggish. I wait in the greasy air. All around me people are eating— the sizzle of conversation, the salty odor of sweat, the warm flesh pressing out of hip huggers and halter tops. When I finally reach the cash register, the counter girl is crisp as a pickle, her fingers thin as french fries, her face brown as a bun. Suddenly I understand cannibalism. As I reach for her, she breaks into pieces wrapped neat and packaged for take-out. I'm thinking, how amazing it is to live in this country, how easy it is to be filled. We leave together, her warm aroma close at my side. I walk back through the cherry trees blossoming up into pies, the young couples frying in the hot, oily sun, the crowd eating up the fanatic, singing, my ear, eye, and tongue fat with the wonder of this hungry world.

One boy, an african-american, said he was offended by the line "her face brown as a bun," and several students agreed. It caught me off guard, and we discussed why they felt that way. I said I respected their opinions, but also asked how they could know the author wasn't talking about a tanned, white counter girl? I asked if it would have been racist for the author to describe someone's face as "white as snow," they said no, because comparing someone's face to a bun was insulting.

Then, this past week we read Langston Hughes' "Dream Variations." They didn't know who Langston Hughes was, and before I told them about his background, the same students said this poem was also "racist." When I explained that the author himself was african-american and clarified the context of the time in which he wrote it, they said that it wasn't racist, but still seemed unsure. We took most of the class discussing their concerns and questions.

I don't want to feel like I have to avoid any literature that mentions skin color, but this is my first year at this school (and my first year teaching 6th grade), and if kids go home telling their parents that I'm making them read "racist" poems and stories it could turn into a really difficult situation. How would you deal with this?

Comment

(1)

report post