Facing the Past, Challenging the Present - Blog Post #7

 Sixth grade. Social studies. I’m watching the teacher as she describes the essential parts of triangular trade in the Atlantic. Normal, boring, stuff. 

“See, Africa traded slaves in return for manufactured goods. And did you know, while most slaves were captured by Europeans, some were sold by their own tribe? “

Why point that out? Hm. It’s hard to imagine the motivations from people in the past. I wonder what it was like. Oh well - it's behind us now. 

Next year. We’re learning about the Civil Rights movement. 

“White students and students of color were separated, and the conditions in the non-white schools were terrible.” 

Oh. I don’t like that. That feels gross - wrong on so many levels. I know more about the awful treatment people of color endured than I ever have before. I look at my best friend, who is a person of color, and we share an uncomfortable look. That stuff would never fly today. Right?

Again, and again, I learn about racism and the treatment of people of color. I’m disgusted, uncomfortable, yet isolated from the effects of it. It doesn’t feel real. I’m convinced nothing happens like that anymore. Then, I learn. I became a high schooler. I read Of Mice and Men and Huckleberry Finn. I thought I knew then, but there was - is - more. I read about police brutality and the mechanisms in our society meant to keep people of color down. To keep them quiet, uneducated, and incarcerated. 

After reading the article for this post, Miles Morales: Spider-Man and Reimagining the Canon, I was left with questions about myself: Why did it take me until the age of 20 to read from the perspective of a person of color experiencing racism? Why did I think I knew all I needed to after discovering the Civil Rights movement? And why……even in this very blog post..….have I been making this about me?

I can shortcut this kind of thinking for students, so that they don’t have to go through the difficult process of waking up their sleeping sense of what is right. Being oblivious is not an option. The past is not disconnected from us, which is a key element that this article touches on. It caught my attention: this connection between classic works (read: white canon) and modern takes on similar themes. It proves what I now know about race - that it’s an enduring problem in both history and the present. 

The idea of connecting Beowulf and Miles Morales is an incredibly tempting one. Grendel is a notorious example of othering people of color and the connection between blackness and villainy, so what better role reversal than that of Mr. Chamberlain? For both students who go through a process of understanding racism and those who already know its effects, I feel there is much to gain from realizing the depth of this recurring issue. 

In addition to this, teaching the patterns in literature, such as black villainy, can be practice for recognizing those patterns in life. A critical analysis of the treatment of people of color through reading opens the door to questioning systems that oppress them in reality. The school-to-prison pipeline, for instance, illustrates the flaws in a government system that pushes those who belong to minority groups to the fringes of society. Or, perhaps, it could illuminate the racism present in assessments that favor white culture, practices, and ideals over those of people of color. 

I feel it’s my responsibility to equip students with these tools of discovery, of survival even, to face the challenges and oppression of life outside of school. We can push back against decades of racism and ignorance, but we all need to identify it to eradicate it. Then, and only then, can we put this in the past.

Miller, C. & Worlds, M. (2019). Miles Morales: Spider-Man and Reimagining the Canon for Racial Justice. National Council of Teachers of English, 43–50. https://library.ncte.org/journals/EJ/issues/v108-4/30049