We were assigned to watch two videos for this Unit. One of these videos was called " A Class Divided," and "Mirrors of Privilege." In this video a teacher test the innocece of her third grade class by seperating the class by eye color. One day the blue eyed kids or on top of the ladder, and on the second day the brown eyed kids or placed on top of the class. What suprised her the most was the fact that these third graders turned against each other in a matter of 15 minutes. This just shows how easy it is to make someone believe what you want them to. If it only took these children 15 minutes to believe that one eye color was more dominate than the other how long did it take Hitler to convince the Nazi of his beliefs?
The next video, " Mirrors of Privilege," tells of the white privilege and a guilt that seems to be shared by all the people who speak in the video. I don't think that this guilt is a guilt of being white. I feel like it is more of a guilt that is directed towards the helplessness of not doing anything when you know that you should. For example the girl that her teacher kept telling her to say the word french fries as I think it was "flench flies." She knew that what her teacher was doing was wrong but she just couldn't seem to speak up and make it stop. It's not a guilt of their skin color becasue they can't help the color of their skin, but more of wanting to help and not knowing how to or being fearful of what the reactions will be.
Each of these videos are similar in topic but each tells you of a different story.
I agree with your statement that the videos are similar in topic but each tell a different story. I thought it was interesting how you mentioned the "flench flies" and how, even though she knew what the teacher was doing was wrong, she still couldn't find the courage to speak up about it. This saddens me. I hope and expect that now, if such a thing would occur, someone would use their voices to explain how it is wrong. Granted I do not feel as if a teacher would do such a thing today, however I hope the appropriate actions would be taken and someone neighboring the situation would do something about it.
ReplyDeleteTeachers do, unfortunately, still do these things today. I liked the way you talked about "guilt" in the video. Too often people focus on how any discussion of race is intended to make people feel "guilt" or "shame." I don't feel ashamed for being "white" or "female" or any other marker that identifies who I am. I do, however, feel remorse or shame for not acting or stepping up when I should have. When we fail to do so, we ensure that the damaging cycle of racism continues.
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