Uncomfortable? Yes. But it needs to be talked about.
Kyle Spencer, from his NYT article, âAt New York Private Schools, Challenging White Privilege From the Insideâ:
During an exercise called âWho Are You?â Mr. Gay asked students to create their own âidentity cards,â writing down terms they wanted to be associated with, in stark contrast to the other exercise, which focused on unwanted identities. One girl wrote âwhite,â âSoHoâ and âSag Harborâ; another wrote âa very nice person.â Then students paired up, with one responding to the question âWho are you?â The room erupted in noise, with students shouting, âblack,â âwhite,â âstraight,â âlesbian,â âJewish,â âSpanishâ and âsmart.â âEveryone has a card,â Mr. Gay told the students. âItâs called an identity card. Society doesnât value each of these identities equally.â Later he added: âItâs no oneâs fault. But you should be aware of it.â
Iâve been involved in this incredibly important work as long as Iâve been at my school. The obvious reason is that itâs important work and I want to support the school in this endeavor. But also partially because I didnât grow up having these conversations, we didnât talk about whiteness or white privilege comfortably until far beyond college. I want and need this language to be a productive member of society. We started our âRace-Based Affinity Groupsâ this year after many years of conversation and planning, and we held our second meeting yesterday with a similar activity to what is mentioned above. Students left recognizing how much they had in common, but also that each person has something unique about them. And it was affirmed as a positive part of their identity. These conversations are often hard and need to be moderated delicately and with intention, but we need to lean in to the discomfort. Good things will come of it. (btw this is kind of a whoâs who of NYSAIS diversity foundational reading, watching and networking, except that Mariama Richards, Laura Stewart and the rest of the amazing ECFS multicultural teams are absent)
