Jennifer Stewart is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at Grand Valley State University. Her teaching and reseach interests include Race & Ethnicity, Social Problems, and Pedagogy. Dr. Stewart is currently working with a student anti-racism theater group (Act on Racism) who perform skits based on the incidents gathered from the homework assignment described in this paper.
In this paper I describe a critical pedagogy assignment used in an upper-division Race and Ethnicity course. This is the last assignment in the semester and challenges students to engage in acts of resistance against racism and racial inequality encountered in everyday interactions. I developed this project as a response to students' frustrations regarding the eternal and immutable nature of racism in America. Included are examples of student actions as well as suggestions for how to orient discussions to build up to this activity.
The objective of critical pedagogy is to generate in students the desire and ability to ask questions about relationships observed in society (Freire, 1970). Further, critical pedagogy embraces the perspective that education should be a liberating experience, designed to spur students on to seek social and economic justice (Berling, 1999; Freire, 1970). Modern educational contexts, however, are often not conducive to critical pedagogy. Large class sizes, limited class time, and the demanding work and school schedules of contemporary college students all function to hamper learning beyond the “banking model” in which students receive and then regurgitate information without the application of critical thinking skills, or the ability to learn on their own (Freire, 1970; Nieto, 2002).
Traditionally, sociology is viewed as a science of objective observers of social facts such as inequality (i.e., is “value free”). That sociology does not intend to create activists is unpalatable to many sociology students and teacher/scholars. In fact, learning about social problems without developing concrete solutions to those problems risks rendering sociology obsolete.
As not all students of sociology will enter academic workplaces, they need to be given the tools to interpret the world through a sociological lens and to apply critical thinking skills in devising solutions to social problems (Basirico, 1990). The creation and application of sociological solutions implies a deeper understanding of sociological concepts and theories (Basirico, 1990). Students who passionately wish to change conditions discussed in courses need to acquire those skills. I have found ways to help students develop strategies of resistance in the context of a Race and Ethnicity course.
White students have been socialized to believe that we live in a color-blind society or that the denial of the existence of race is the only workable solution with regard to structured racial inequality. Students of color, on the other hand, are all too aware that we do not live in a color-blind society, nor is that the goal of all Americans. In fact, appeals to a color-blind society threaten to negate some of the individuality students of color have cultivated based on race (Dalton, 1995). A big part of the challenge of teaching about racial and ethnic inequality is to get students to understand that while some of the more “obvious” or overt forms of racism have been collectively deemed unacceptable, many more insidious forms of racism and racial inequality remain deeply entrenched in American social interactions and institutions. Once that understanding is achieved, however, it is imperative that students be given tools to deal with their newly acquired awareness of racism and the mechanisms through which modern racism operates.
Increasingly, colleges and universities (following the lead of long-standing sociology programs) are requiring their students to complete “diversity” and/or race and ethnicity courses. Learning about racial oppression can be disheartening to say the least, producing in students a sense of futility with regard to addressing social problems that appear to be such an entrenched part of American history. In fact, students often comment that systems of racial inequality are immutable and somehow inevitable.
Given that racism and racial inequality have persisted for centuries in the United States, a semester is surely not enough time to change such systems of oppression…or is it? In this paper, I describe an assignment that allows students the opportunity to actively confront some aspect of racism and inequality. I developed this assignment specifically to address the frustration voiced by students: they feel powerless to alter what they find to be a reprehensible component of American life. This assignment also provides wide latitude of avenues of action for individual student engagement. Finally, this exercise could be extended to other dimensions of inequality such as gender, sexuality, and social class.
Although, when I initially assigned this activity I worried that the “acts of resistance” would be fairly trivial (e.g., limited to enforcing “political correctness” in speech), the response and range of actions taken by students suggests the potential power and appeal of this assignment. I now instruct students that there is no such thing as a “trivial” act of resistance.
In addition to Richard Schaefer’s (2003) Racial and Ethnic Groups, students are assigned Paula Rothenberg’s (2001) White Privilege: Essential Readings on the Other Side of Racism, as well as Doane and Bonilla-Silva’s (2003) White Out: The Continuing Significance of Racism. Over the course of the semester, we have several discussions oriented around the pieces in these texts. Their acts of resistance often reflect or draw on the concepts, theories, and suggestions for change provided by the authors included in this collection.
Lake State University is located in the Midwest. The student body, as well as the surrounding community, is fairly homogenous with respect to race: 88.5 percent of the student body is identified as white, 4.7 percent African American, 2.4 percent Hispanic, 2.1 percent Asian/Pacific Islander, and .6 percent American Indian. Although segregation in the surrounding region has declined somewhat in recent years, many of the communities from which Lake State University’s students are drawn are “hyper-segregated” (Glaeser and Vigdor, 2001). In fact, many white students relate that there were no students of color in any of the primary and secondary schools they attended.
I use this assignment in an upper-division course titled “Race and Ethnicity”. This course is required for Sociology, Criminal Justice, and Social Work majors. It is also a course that fulfills a general education requirement. Therefore students’ fields of study range from art and business, to nursing and physical therapy.
The assignment is the last in a series of five assignments. Students have 3 options. The first option is open to those who are privileged on the basis of race. Students who consider themselves racially privileged discuss 2 or 3 privileges they were unaware accrued to their racial category/status before taking the class (i.e., not having to think about their racial status in a variety of situations, finding barbers and hairdressers). The second option is open to those who are disadvantaged on the basis of race. Students who choose this option discuss experiences that they believe reflect or were shaped by racial disadvantage (i.e., driving while black or brown, being denied housing, being followed or ignored in stores). I provide these first two options for those who are uncomfortable with the third option that is the focus of this piece.
The third option is a challenge for students to engage in an act of resistance. I try not to restrict the range of responses available to students but some rules are necessary to ensure personal safety and/or liberty. The rules for the act of resistance are as follows: 1) students may not use violence; 2) students should attempt to refrain from using insults and inflammatory language; and 3) students may not violate any laws in the course of completing this assignment. In contemporary society, students tend to perceive racism and/or racial inequality as social problems solved through grand measures and/or policies. The purpose of this assignment is to make students aware that racism and racial inequality can be addressed, in part, through everyday interactions and individual decision-making.
Because confronting racism often invokes fears of acts violence and rejection (Kivel 1996; Tatum 2003), I am very explicit about giving examples of unacceptable and acceptable acts of resistance for the purposes of this assignment. For instance, we have deemed face-to-face confrontation of hate groups such as KKK, white supremacy movements, or Christian Identity as off-limits for this assignment. We do discuss ways that we can safely confront these groups such as writing letters to the editor or to elected officials. These rules are intended to steer students away from endangering themselves or others and often challenge them to think more critically about the everyday places that racism lives.
Similarly, we try to steer ourselves away from insulting language that could escalate a confrontation. As Wildman and Davis (1997) argue, calling someone a “racist” generally results in defensive posturing and a focus on the individual, attitudinal nature of racism rather than on the institutional and social components of racism. For this assignment, emphasis is placed on trying to question the rationale behind prejudicial notions and actions. Students are challenged to focus on the myths and stereotypes prevalent about minority groups in American society and to deconstruct those factors in the formation of prejudicial beliefs and behaviors.
We discuss this assignment about midway through the semester even though it is not due until the last day of class. It is important to give students time to think about the nature of their acts of resistance so some of the fears attached to this option can be allayed and so they are prepared to engage in resistance. Many students respond in their assignments that the first time they had an opportunity to resist, they were caught off guard and failed to act. It is also important to provide ample time for students to complete the assignment as many acts of resistance occur spontaneously (e.g., while waiting in line at a grocery store).
I have used this assignment for two courses per semester, three semesters per year for three years. The percentage of students electing to engage in the third option (the act of resistance) rather than the discussions of privilege and disadvantage have ranged from a low of 60% to a high of 90%. On average 75% of students choose this option.
Critical studies of whiteness have generated a wealth of research on the meaning of whiteness. Whiteness has been defined as “normal”, invisible, unspoken, and the standard by which all other groups are measured (Dyer, 1997; Frankenberg, 1993; Lipsitz, 1995). Tied to the perception that whiteness is the normative state of being, is the idea that racism and racial inequality are phenomena disconnected from whites. In other words, the burden of finding solutions to racism and discrimination is a burden not for whites but for people of color (Lipsitz, 1995; Kivel, 1996; Morrison 1992). In setting the scene for her act of resistance, one white student wrote,
“In white people, talking about discrimination, prejudices, or racism is frowned upon…I think white people can choose whether they want to believe that discrimination exists or not.”
Some white students, therefore, choose as their act of resistance to start and maintain a discussion about racism and racial inequality with their family members or within other network contexts. Though at first I deemed this a relatively “easy” act of resistance, I soon understood my perceptions about the ease of talking about racism with family members were flawed, especially given power relationships between parents and children. For example, one student whose son was in the hospital recounted an event in which her mother refused to buy a magazine requested by her son.
“After we left his room, my mother let me know she had found The Source, but refused to buy it for him. Sounding totally disgusted, she went on to say how she thought the magazine was inappropriate for him to be reading. When I asked her why, she said it was because it was all about black people and their “hip hop” music….I decided this was a great opportunity to confront my mother about her prejudice and discrimination…my mother’s prejudices were not only limiting her, but in this circumstance were also limiting to my son. I took this opportunity to explain that when I was growing up, her beliefs of prejudice and actions of discrimination impacted my view as well, adding that I have chosen to raise my children with a much different view towards minority group members. I want my children to experience a more balanced life; I also want for them to understand the effects prejudice and discrimination have on individuals and on society.” (white female)
Parents and family members are often shocked, angered, and, conversely, sometimes even relieved to hear their children discuss the topic of racism. In general, students are quite anxious about their family’s responses but report a sense of accomplishment and independence in expressing their views about the validity of societal (and parental) beliefs about race and racial inequality.
Additionally, some students have used this assignment to challenge their own comfort boundaries. For example, white students have attended events sponsored by minority student groups on campus that white students have historically avoided. They relate their experiences as the “other” to the experiences of minority students attending a predominately white institution. Additionally, students have attended multi-cultural events taking place in the larger community. These events have included potlatches, a Juneteenth celebration, and a local “Summit on Racism”.
Tatum (2003) and Sleeter (1994) argue that whites employ racial codes to delineate racial boundaries. Incorporated in this code are race-based and biased jokes, behaviors and actions that establish group boundaries, and the direction of conversation to whites only. Another trend in students’ acts of resistance is the dismantling of this racial code. The opportunities to do so often present themselves spontaneously in a variety of “real world” settings. Students have confronted family members, roommates, strangers, and, professors and challenged their use of racial slurs. For example, one student who works as a bank teller addressed the emerging stereotyping of persons of Arab descent (or those mistakenly assumed to be of Arab descent), increasingly prevalent since the events of 2001. A white male customer made the following comment regarding an Indian customer of the bank to the student: “Doesn’t it make you scared to have towel heads coming in here?” The student attempted to confront the in-group boundary establishment by pointing out the erroneous assumption of the white male customer:
“I asked him if he knew that the Indian customer wasn’t Middle Eastern, if that was what he was implying, and that he was from India. I also told him that even if he were Middle Eastern, I still would have no reason to be scared of him...Our Indian customer had overheard this entire conversation and came over to me. He laughed and said ‘I need you to come with me everyplace. No one believes I’m not Middle Eastern and I get treated badly.” (white female)
Another student with a penchant for on-line games described his efforts at rejecting racial codes and racist language even in an “anonymous” setting:
“One player called another player a “nigger” because he thought the other guy was cheating. I typed in that he better stop using racial slurs or I would begin a vote to have him kicked out. He...ignored me. I left that particular game server and went to another server to play.”
After a short period of time, the player who had used the racial slur caught up to the student and demanded an explanation.
“I typed in that yes, he was being racist in the last match I played and that I left because I have a no-racial-insults policy while I am playing on-line. Another player typed in “Right On!” Maybe this was not a life changing act of resistance but it showed about eighty-five on-line players that there are some people out there who find racial slurs and bigotry intolerable.” (white male)
Yet another student chose a more public setting, the student union, for his act of resistance:
“My friend and I shoot a lot of pool. We are there probably 3 or 4 days a week so we know the crowd that hangs out there a lot. There is this one kid, that me and my friends frequently play with…one particular day there happened to be a very large group of African American girls who seemed to be possibly celebrating a birthday party. At several points in time the girls got rather loud and it became very obvious that it was very annoying to our fellow pool-playing partner. After about five or six games, the kid made an extremely racist and offensive remark. After my shot I stopped and informed him that they were doing nothing wrong, they didn’t have to be quiet, and that if he was celebrating a friend’s birthday with all his buddies they would probably be twice as loud as these girls. I then put my cue away and told my friend and the kid who made the remark that I was leaving.” (white male)
Not long after the beginning of the war between the U.S. and Iraq, while riding the campus bus, a student observed an interaction between a white male and an Arab American male. The white male demanded to know whether the Arab American student was a supporter of the Iraqi regime. In her assignment, the student wrote:
“I was shocked that he had asked such a question. My mind started to fill up with some thoughts of anger. Before I even knew it I had turned to the man who had asked the question and asked him why he didn’t ask me that question also. He got very quiet then he said that he didn’t ask me that question because I was an American. So I told him just because someone is Arab it doesn’t...mean that they are either supporter of terrorism or supporters of the Iraqi government. I went on to say that he didn’t know where the student was born so he didn’t know if he was an American or not. I tried to point out to him that it didn’t matter where he was from; the only thing that matters is he is here now.” (African American female)
The student reported that a conversation about ethnic profiling and the war, lasting twenty minutes, occurred after this incident between the students traveling to campus on the bus.
Some students attempt to address an institutional aspect of discrimination. This
trend is much less common than others discussed as students rarely have positions from which to influence institutional components of discrimination. When they do resist institutional discrimination they do so by either drawing attention to an issue or attempting to change that institutional component. For example, one minority student, who held a position of relative influence on campus, tried to point out that the University had neglected the interests of minority students in programming entertainment.
“One student even told me he thought it was really ‘shady the way the African American community was disregarded’. I decided that I had better tell the others that some of the students that we are elected to represent are angry, for racial reasons. I let them know that we had been, in a quiet fashion, accused of racial discrimination. Later some… would say that contrary to my report, they heard nothing but positive reactions…They made no mention of race. I just hope that no one ever asks why Lake State University can only retain seventy percent of its minority freshman yearly. They might not like the answer.” (African American male)
Another student chose to use her responsibility for hiring and firing new employees at her work site as a way to challenge institutional contexts of inequality. She worked at a health and fitness club whose members were exclusively white. We had discussed in class how the tendency to hire family members and friends can, when combined with residential and school segregation, create homogenous work settings as well. During the semester, a position for a new lifeguard opened up. Though in the past she might have selected a lifeguard recommended by a member, this time she selected the most qualified person for the job. The most qualified person was a woman of Asian American descent. Immediately upon being hired, members began to lodge complaints with the student regarding the abilities and competency of the new lifeguard. The student patiently addressed each complaint, defending the right of the woman to work at the club. After two months, the lifeguard had become a very popular and well-liked member of the club staff. In her written assignment, the student reflected on the isolation and sense of “otherness” potentially experienced by the lifeguard and vowed to increase the diversity of the staff at her club.
Because many students work in retail establishments, discussions of racial profiling in retail settings is a prominent topic in classes. White students state that they are often pressured to be hyper-vigilant when minority group members enter. They are often instructed that they must do this to limit theft. One student observed, and reacted to the following incident which she believed to be racial profiling in a retail context:
I watched as a white man walked towards the exit with three little boys trailing behind him, each was pushing a brand new bike out the door. The white woman who is the store greeter just kept doing her business of straightening her flyers, and work area. The man and kids left with no need to display proof of purchase to the greeter, and I went back to watching my kids. A black man soon came to the door pushing a bike as well. I then witnessed the greeter step from behind her little desk and ask the man for proof of purchase. He searched for his receipt, showed it to the greeter, and was on his way. I approached her and began to speak stating that I had noticed that she asked a black man who was pushing a bike for a receipt while not questioning the white man with three bikes for a receipt. ...I went on trying to explain to her that it is common for people not to even notice their racist behavior because of the fact that the society in which we live condones the behavior.” (white female)
Students who address the issue of profiling in retail settings often point out that their own experience contradicts the validity of profiling as a strategy to reduce inventory losses. They have found shoplifting to be equally distributed among all racial and ethnic groups.
During the semester, we examine many components of discrimination. For example, the students watch media reports on instances of racial discrimination in
housing, lending, and sales. They also watch pieces on “linguistic profiling”. These media reports are often based on the results of discrimination tests in which two testers are matched along all dimensions (e.g., gender, age, ability) except race. A final example of the outcome of this assignment can be shown in the form of tests devised by students to detect discriminatory behavior.
“On Saturday nights my friends and I usually go to the same bar around the same time. ...The dress code at this particular establishment is relatively relaxed and in the 6 months or so that I have been going there I have only seen one person get asked to leave because they were wearing something inappropriate. It just so happens that that one person was a black male.” (white male)
The student went on to describe the details of this incident. The black male described was a co-worker of a friend of the student. The man who was denied entry due to his clothing was wearing a “Nike fleece sweat suit”. The students were discussing what had happened on the way back to the car and debated whether they had ever seen a patron at this establishment wearing a sweat suit. The general consensus was that they had. So, the black male and the student writing this assignment traded clothes in the parking lot. The white student, wearing the same sweat suit for which the black male had been denied entry, was allowed into the club fifteen minutes later. He pointed out this discrepancy in race and treatment to the bouncer making the decision and left the club. He and his friends have not returned since. As a class we discussed how this student’s experience illustrates the use of supposedly “neutral” rules to enforce racial discrimination.
Finally, a Mexican American student enlisted the help of a friend to determine whether his suspicions were correct regarding his own experience of discrimination. The student described how he feels he must carry his I.D. at all times. Part of this need, he argues, is due to his age and the fact that he is in a college town where store and bar owners must, by law, be very vigilant about checking I.D. for age tested purchases (i.e., cigarettes and alcohol). His white friends, he states, are subject to the same rule so he is confident that it is being applied fairly. That was not the case, however, when he went to the bank. He decided to test his suspicions.
“We went to our bank in a different neighborhood so the tellers would not know us, and we both went without ID’s and attempted to cash our checks. It was busy inside so we did not get the same teller as I had hoped...I was denied the ability to cash my check and my friend walked out with his money. I vocally pointed out how I was not allowed to cash my check without ID and my friend who was white was allowed to cash his check without ID.” (Mexican American male)
The students went back to their car, picked up their IDs and closed their accounts at that bank.
I would include one final step in this assignment: allow students to share their experiences and acts of resistance with each other. As previously mentioned, I introduce this assignment midway through the semester. I have found that the more we discuss our actions as a class, the greater the likelihood that students will choose the act of resistance for their final homework. Every week I ask if anyone has encountered an opportunity to engage in an act of resistance. Sometimes students are unsure if their acts “count” or were done according to the rules of the assignment. I allow the class to vote on whether certain acts qualify or not as long as they can defend their decision. I also encourage students to essentially ignore me and ask questions of each other. They query fellow students about the level of anxiety they felt before, during, and after their actions.
On the day that the assignment is due, we devote the entire class period to discussing students’ actions. We debate about the types of discrimination or inequality addressed by each act of resistance. We critique our own behavior and discuss whether there are other ways to address the specific instance of racism being examined. We even talk about how nervous we were or what types of responses we anticipated. It is helpful for students to know that many were scared to act; but they were happy with their actions and often the responses to their actions afterwards.
There is one difficulty that teachers may have in instituting this assignment: assessment. Educational institutions demand that students’ work be assessed based on some “objective” criteria. Students are also demanding of the need to be assessed through the assignment of grades. Unfortunately, assessment, particularly in this case, assigns “value” and differentiates among acts of resistance, demanding that some criterion be developed which ranks various student acts (Spademan, 1999). I find this
practice contrary to the goals of critical pedagogy. Therefore, I use this assignment almost as an extra credit assignment. When students are informed that their actions will not be ranked, they are able to act without the constant worry of assessment.
There are long-range implications of this assignment. Resistance can be addictive. After their semester was over, several members of one class protested a billboard campaign sponsored by a local developer. They wrote letters to the advertiser and developer explaining their objections to the advertising campaign. Students also report that they hope for, and have observed occasionally, a “pay it forward” effect. In other words, the students often state that they think their actions can serve as the basis for action for friends, roommates, and siblings, among others. Whites hesitate to act against racism for fear of backlash and loss of privilege (Kivel 1996). Many students counter that they can serve as role models for acts of resistance.
This assignment fulfills the goals of critical pedagogy. It causes students to ask questions regarding observed inequalities: What is the basis for the differential outcomes we observe? Is race a determinant of inequality in specific situations? What can I do to change the inequalities I observe? Furthermore, by maintaining relationships with students after the semesters end, I would argue that the ability and tendency to ask questions about race and racism and to formulate solutions does not end with the assignment of final grades but extends into the future.
In this paper, I have given examples of an assignment that calls on students to resist racism and racial discrimination. This assignment is meant to empower students and address an often-voiced frustration on the part of students who learn about American systems of racial inequality. Clearly acts of resistance could also occur along multiple lines of difference.For example, students could be challenged to address systems of gender-based privileges. The same methods described in this paper could be applied to developing a critical and liberating approach to dismantling gender inequality (as well as inequality based on social class and heterosexist privilege).
It is also a hope that this assignment, when students graduate, will be a reminder of the agency possessed by individuals to create, maintain, alter, and dismantle social inequalities. By providing an initial insight into that agency, graduates may learn to question institutional rules and effects in order to eradicate structures of inequality from positions of relative power.
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