What Will It Take?

I can't stop thinking about the racist math problems that I posted about the other day. I'm not trying to overdo it with this topic, but it just absolutely floors me that in the year 2012, this kind of ignorance is still widespread enough for things like this to appear in kids' school assignments. So I think it needs to be discussed. A lot.

What's worse is the flimsy justification that the math problems were supposed to coordinate with social studies lessons. That makes me wonder what in the world those kids are learning in their social studies and other classes.

Photo from abcnews.com

Obviously, the larger issue of racism isn't limited to public schools - it's everywhere, still. I just read an article about a racial slur used to describe a customer on a Papa John's receipt. And that was in Manhattan, just last Friday.  So clearly it doesn't matter whether you're in a huge, supposedly cosmopolitan city or in rural Georgia. Ignorance is everywhere.

 I'm writing about this because I know it struck a chord with many people and I'm wondering: why are we still having these conversations today?  Why is it still necessary? When, if ever, are people going to stop making distinctions between people on the basis of race and ethnicity? Insulting them? Judging them? It's ridiculous, and I thought we collectively knew better.


Of course, I don't have the answer to any of these questions. I remember Heidi holding Anna less than two months after she was born, on the night President Obama was elected, and both of us thinking about how the future would be so different for this little girl. We talked about what an enormous step forward it was to have a biracial president. We were happy that Anna would have amazing role models and could truly grow up to be anything she wanted to be.

Election night victory speech, Nov. 2008 (from blackpast.org)

Almost four years later, have we really made as much progress as we'd hoped? The election of President Obama certainly brought out the best in many of us, as a wave of excitement and optimism swept over the country....but it also brought out the worst in many already racist jerks.  And now I'm imagining how it would feel to be a parent whose child brought home assignments about slaves and beatings and picking cotton.

Enraged wouldn't begin to cover it.

As I would expect, there have been a variety of articles expressing outrage about this assignment. It's an almost uniform expression of disgust. But I know there are people out there who think, so what? And worse, there are people who think, good for them for teaching the kids that stuff. It's that sentiment, whether closeted or not, that worries me for our kids' future.

Oct. 2008

I suppose my question to you readers is:  What will it take to truly achieve a change in people's perspectives?  Will it ever happen? The best I can hope for is that by raising our children to be tolerant, non-judgmental people, we will slowly turn the tide of racism and ignorance in this country. But then again, I thought that would happen with my own generation and clearly we're not quite there yet.

What will it take?