Reply #44: Institutionalized Racism [View All]

[mntleo2]

I have kids of color. One of them was so smart he was in the gifted class as a younger child, but he just got his GED this year ~ as all of them did and all of them were A and B students while in school. I am a single mom, we are poor and I can tell you poor parents want to be there, however we are expected to work those McJobs and 70% of those jobs are off hours. We are not home when our kids are and when they reach the age of 10 or 11, there is nowhere except the Boys and Girls Club for them to go, if there is one close by. Those clubs cannot make a kid stay there, so they are often on their own as preteens and teenagers. This is when the trouble starts for single parents...


It was not until I took a class on institutionalized racism that I understood my kids better, and I raised three kids of color (Mexican and white). I am white, but my lineage did not matter as to who they were expected to be. It is as if the white part of them was not there. Even though it is obvious my kids do not know Spanish (they know: si, no and Valiz Navidad and that is about all, lol), I had teachers and staff speak Spanish to my children (to show off and/or to pointedly show "respect")sometimes they would speak louder to them as if they could not hear. All of my kids are boys and I believe boys are being sorely ignored anyway, but boys of color are especially expected to fail. If they do something wrong, punishment is often more severe than it is with a white kid ~ also boys of color especially are sorely misunderstood and it is assumed they are bad. Even staff and teachers who are of color but not of the same race often treated my kids as if they were aliens.

I got into a conversation with some friends of mine, all mothers of various races, and boy did we all have something to say about cross institutionalized racism ~ though we all agree a school staff person of color is not racist, merely prejudice and there is a difference. However to a kid who does not understand what is going on, and to a teacher/staff person in denial, prejudice of any color, is a toxic mix. It is as if one race does not want to be the "hated race of the week" or something, so they go out of their way to "prove" something by over reacting to kids of color other than their own (IMO).

Nobody mentioned one of the major reasons for dropout rates is racism, but it is alive and well in this country. Mixing racism with poverty is a deadly combination. Blaming low income parents, especially single mothers, who are working their butts off just to put a roof over a kid's head is not the answer. Until we can ALL admit we are racists and then work on it, kids will continue to fail. I say this because I think racism also affects white kids of any class, because they do not understand that they are being treated differently and have more privilege. This causes a great deal of misunderstandings between kids, staff and all of us IMO.

Until we can understand that kids are kids, no matter what color they are, we will have problems not only in education but in the workplace and out on the street.

My 2 cents.