Rap is So Offensive

A great read on a very accomplished adult’s experience taking the 10th grade standardized math and reading tests.

I feel like this article was written from a well-intentioned place, but we all know “the road to Hell is paved with good intentions.” Marks acknowledges his privileges as a middle-class white man, but I don’t feel that he fully understands white privilege. He makes his concessions and admissions that his “kids are just lucky enough to have parents and a well-funded school system around to push them in the right direction.” He provides a sort of recipe for success, but to whom is he writing? He’s preaching to the choir and only inciting debate in the comments section, which is by far my favorite part of articles like this. If he really wanted to make a difference, he should get out in the community and help these kids get access to these resources. It’s easy to write about how people should pull themselves up by their bootstraps, but really imagine how hard that must be for a child in a non-supportive environment. I’m not saying their parents do not support them as I’m sure many have parents that are working hard just to get their family by. I mean that they are not available to their child(ren) to push them further because they might be out the greater part of the day working.

Even then, post-college and education, a person of color will be overlooked for a job should there be a white applicant. And that a white employee with a bachelor’s will be paid more even if a person of color holds a master’s. This is the result of years of institutionalized racism. When people say we live in a post-racial, colorblind society, they’re probably white. To live in a colorblind society is to be ignorant to the real problems out there. Yes, hard work can take you far, I know this and applaud any and every successful person of color. But this is not an equal world and the opportunities and resources are not evenly distributed.

Disclaimer: I realize I write often about education and white privilege. I am passionate about education and believe that everyone deserves a shot at it. Having been involved in reaching out to under-served communities, it definitely is a soft spot for me. I do not hate white people; I’ve received a few messages like “Why do you hate people so much!?”. What I don’t like is the American society that has been built on institutionalized racism, heteronormative paradigms, and the white privilege these systems breed that most white people are ignorant to. AND that when you call them out on it, they say throw terms out there like “colorblind” and “reverse racism.” Ok, starting another rant, I’ll save that for another post ;]

An article in the Huffington Post about a student at UC Davis who unrelentingly called the chancellor’s office for a meeting and the bizarre turn of events that followed. How shameful of Chancellor Katehi to lie and throw her staff and other under the Unitrans bus to save herself. She sure knows how to keep running away…