Reconstruction: Change Started by Yourself and its Impact in Spokane, Washington

• In Event: 2322 - Activities and Techniques Poster Session

Abstract

“Reconstruction: change started by yourself” and its impact in Spokane WA State
I have taught “Soc 221: Race and Ethnic Relations” since 2007. One of the many challenges brought about by this course is the fact that I teach it in Spokane, a community with a 90% white population. For many students, simply acknowledging the existence of “white privilege” is difficult. Spokane students often also have a popular, supposedly liberal-minded attitude when thinking of racism: “I don’t see color, only work ethic and motivation”. Thus, students often see racism at the individual level, but not at the institutional level. This fits Eudora Bonilla-Silva’s concept of “color-blind” racism in his book Racism without Racists (2010). The biggest challenge of teaching this course is letting students realize that racism or color-blind racism is embedded in many aspects of our social life, and the idea of “I don’t see color, I just see people” is in fact a norm that lies at the base of our social life. Nonetheless, this norm is really problematic. I want my students to have a chance to use their newly acquired knowledge to change the world in ways that directly affect their life, and to challenge the racialized norm of doing things. So I created a project called “Reconstruction: Change started by yourself”. The idea of this project is mainly inspired by the “Think like a sociologist” section written by Matthew Desmond and Mustafa Emirbayer in “Racial Domination, Racial Progress” (2010).
I am delighted to say that my students did indeed make a difference through this project! I will share how some surveyed principals of the local elementary and middle schools were asked if schools taught diversity and culture at all. A student trained employees at fast food restaurants she managed to treat people equally…… The audience of this presentation will benefit from finding connections between their teaching life and mine. And I will be inspired by their teaching experiences on similar subjects.

Author

• Ping Ping, Spokane Falls Community College