It comes to no surprise to me that individuals who hold faculty positions in the world of higher education endure the challenges of diversity within their circle of academicians. One would think that at the upper echelon of education, acts of prejudice, racism, and discrimination would be minimized with the amount of literature and knowledge that surrounds these individuals daily. Yet, I find that to be part of the problem. Many people find comfort in intellectualizing the effects of racism and discrimination, but never allow themselves to explore their own behaviors, thoughts, and feelings about this issue. In Chapter 24, Talking About Race, Learning About Racism, Tatum mentioned that students are "often most interested in hearing other people talk about it, afraid to break the taboo themselves." Apparently, this is evident amongst faculty members, as well.
Chapter 21, Women of Color in Academe, highlights the struggles and challenges women of color face in living with multiple marginalities: being a woman, a woman of color, etc. It's mentioned that the literature even ignores the experience of these particular women, whereby most studies focus on women faculty and faculty of color as a separate entity, but few studies examine the experience of faculty women of color. The characteristics of being labeled or treated as a "token" not only describes the experience of some faculty women of color, but any person that is apart of a marginalized group that find themselves in the minority within a larger group. It also struck me that when several women gave their account of the experiences they have had in academia, most question whether or not they were experiencing covert acts of racism and discrimination, or were they just "trippin?" This showed me no matter how educated you are, when something doesn't feel right, we immediately look for validation to ensure that we aren't mislabeling what we are experiencing. Lastly, I was particularly interested in the section that discussed the salience of race over gender. Time and time again, I have stated that I am more aware of my race, than my gender because I feel as though my race is considered more of a hindrance, than my gender. I feel as though when I walk into a room, I am seen as a Black woman first, before I am seen as merely a woman.
Chapter 24 discussed the idea of having these difficult dialogues in the classroom surrounding the sensitive topic of race. Dr. Derald Wing Sue at Teachers College has done research related to this issue and examined the handling of this dialogue by the instructor. Ever since I've worked with Dr. Sue, this specific issue has been of particular interest to me. I was especially enlightened by the ways in which students resist to discuss racism and discrimination in the classroom. As I read this section, I couldn't help but to retort with "Hmmm Hmmm!" I've seen this very resistance unfold before my own eyes as students try their best to deal with the uncomfortableness of discussing racism. In my experience, most students of color have no problems discussing racism as they might feel that the classroom is a safe platform for them to make their points, or the only platform they have. However, I find that White students find it more difficult to discuss race and racism because they are not forced to have this conversation on a daily basis, and there's a fear of exposing their own biases. Furthermore, I am quite familiar with Helm's model of Racial Identity Development and Cross' Black Racial Identity Development. Both are wonderful tools for understanding why some may feel the way they feel regarding their race and others.
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