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Webinar Reflections
The webinar organized by the U.S. Ethnic Writers course teachers and students was supporting the Scholar Strike. It included a series of teachings meant as a form of social protest and inspired by Baldwin and Pecks I am not Your Negro book and film. The speakers reflected upon the works relevance in the context of contemporary racism. They considered racial capitalism, criminalization, education, policing, media, and the artists role.
What I Learnt
I was fortunate not to have experienced the negative implications of policing. I did not realize that the force attracts racists who want to exert dominance over others because the police have power over the legitimate use of violence. The lecturers suggested that our society could only combat policing by convincing the law enforcement to accept the historical and structural problems and acknowledge the misconduct they are concealing.
Another thing that I have not experienced first-hand is criminalization. After the lecture, I began looking at racial criminalization as a continuation of slavery. Indeed, incarcerated and detained people produce cheap labor for capitalists. It is especially aggravating that criminalization promises to reduce the crime rates by imprisoning racial minorities and thus promotes racial stereotypes and even self-criminalization. It is devastating that our culture and social structure limit minorities opportunities and, at times, shape their identities in a derogatory way.
Finally, I was lucky to receive a proper education at school, but I did not realize how many people were deprived of that. The teachers in impoverished communities are underpaid and thus unmotivated to invest in their work and students. Moreover, those who cannot afford extracurricular resources are at a disadvantage when taking Standardized Testing. Schools also subtly teach racial stereotypes, which can only be evident for the minorities or those explicitly looking into it.
My Next Steps
I would like to use my knowledge to recognize various ways in which American society reinforces racism. I am going to educate myself about alternatives to capitalism since it is the fundamental reason racism exists. In Baldwin and Pecks (2017) words, we carry our history with us (p. 96). Moreover, I will ensure to support minorities voices in culture to gain multiple perspectives into the lives of different groups of people and to allow them to tell their stories and create accurate representation. Should I report on events involving racial minorities, I will present the audience with facts devoid of stereotypes.
Reference
Baldwin, J., & Peck, R. (2017). I am not your Negro. Vintage.
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