The Role Of Acting White And Education Settings

Prior to beginning my readings on white racial identity, I did not pay much attention to my white race. If someone had asked me to describe my appearance I would have said short blond hair, blue eyes, average stature, etc. One of the last things I would have noted was the color of my skin. Growing up in overwhelmingly white communities, I never thought to use the color of my skin to differentiate myself from others. Over the course of this dialogue I have learned that my white racial identity is one of the most defining aspects of my appearance in this society. There is a certain level of privilege that I am afforded based solely on the color of my skin. According to Peggy McIntosh, “White privilege is like an invisible weightless

The fourth chapter of "Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?”is about the identity development in adolescence. It is said that when black children are growing up, they engage in many of the white culture’s beliefs and values as it is all around them. It is not until a little later where they begin to recognize the impact of racism. This can happen around the early stages of adulthood. It might even happen around the junior high age. Gender also comes into play around this time as well. A black girl wouldn't be acknowledged for her beauty in a white setting as she is not in the society's standard for beautiful. Since the black girls aren’t considered beautiful, they begin to feel devalued. The black youth are beginning

Once a person begins to realize that they are portrayed differently than others, their entire mind set changes. Black citizens decades ago had to deal with day in and day out feeling like

One of Beverly Tatum’s most popular works, Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?, outlines racial identity development and shows us what it means to be Black in today’s society. Tatum uses reasonable examples of her experience both as a parent and as a college professor. She is able to get readers to think in ways that might not be comfortable but are necessary and compelling. Recognizing understanding and embracing

Let 's start from the beginning, I was a high school freshman who had been around the same people my whole life. Some might call it out of the norm for someone of my skin color. Although it was a public school in the suburbs of Houston it was infamous of being the “white school.” The school had just opened and there were only sophomores

I believe Tatum answers the question “Why are all the Black kids sitting together in the cafeteria?” not only through her description of William Cross’s Black racial identity model, but through James Marcia’s four identity statuses and Rosabeth Moss Kanter’s A Tale of O. Tatum follows up the question through Marcia’s four stages that an individual undergoes to discover their identity: diffuse, foreclosed, moratorium, and achieved (Tatum 53). Marcia’s identity statuses can be seen in more detail through Cross’s Model. Cross’s Model begins with a person developing self-awareness of the world’s perception about themselves. Consequently, the individual comes in contact with the preencounter stage. Hence, their instinct is to assimilate by rejecting who they are and accepting what the majority sees as acceptable. At least one event may cause the person to enter the encounter stage, in which they become aware of racism and how it impacts their life.

The education system is notorious for teaching its own agenda, and not necessarily all the facts of a situation. For many years, the education system on all levels has been teaching students what it means to have privilege, and how life would be if they did not. Usually, the white students are the subject of privilege, and the minority student are the subject of life with racism, and without privilege. White privilege has been an underlying lesson to students for generations, and contributes to the power and superiority white people feel over everyone else. When the Michael Brown shooting occurred, it opened up many people’s eyes to the inequalities that are being perpetrated by the very education system meant to teach students how to live

There has been many years of racial stereotypes and wanting to fit into a group. The essays that show this theme are Just Walk on By: Black Men and Public Space by Brent Staples, The Myth of the Latin Woman by Judith Ortiz Cofer, and Shooting an Elephant by George Orwell. Staples shows his audience the struggles he has gone through as a black male. Cofer shows her audience the stereotypes that surround Latin women. Orwell shows his audience the overwhelming desire of being accepted into a group of people. All three of these authors want to be accepted by the larger group of people. Society needs to empathise and be aware of the silence that surrounds these issues. Otherwise it can create depression amongst minority groups.

Blacks kids do not associate education as acting white, but see being educated and being able to speak properly as being white. In ‘You Talk White:’ Being Black and Articulate’, Keith Powell states in, “Being smart, black, young and American had become a liability. People seemed to think I was some kind of walking oxymoron. I was often asked to be more “urban and it never seemed like the right time or place to launch into a diatribe about how I was born in West

Paul Dunbar’s poem, “We Wear the Mask”, has made me ponder about society’s views and opinions over the years. Dunbar’s poem was written during a time where African-Americans were looked down upon. These individuals were treated inadequately, subjugated while being used as slaves, while white Americans acted like their opinion did not matter. After reading this poem, it was shocking to see how African Americans had to put on a “mask” or disguise to cover their emotions and appear mentally strong for surrounding people. After reading all of the stories and being involved in the class deliberations this semester, it truly has been a “eye opener” for me, or anyone else to see how rapidly humanity is to judge someone else, for the color of their

The concept of acting white is a slanderous phrase that disapproving blacks cast on other blacks for adopting certain things that are stereotypically “white”. In majority of situations when you associate someone with acting black it is a negative thing vs someone acting white is a positive. Why is being trashy, ghetto, and having low standards associated with being black? But when talking properly, educated, and having high standards considered to be white? These behaviors that people do are subjective because any race or group can act a certain way it shouldn’t equate that someone is acting a specific race.

Coming from a diverse community to a predominantly all white community has been a slow transition. I’ve experienced situations where sometimes I question my identity and who I really am. I’ve experience microaggressions within my work environment and my internship at the Boys and Girls club in Mckinleyville. Kids are extraordinary, but are a mirror image of their parents or adult figures present in the household. You can see by the way kids talk to peers or adult figures, treat one another, that there’s an unfair thinking being embedded in their cognitive development. This will affect them in how they go about their day, who they chose to interact with, what they allow to happen and the type of

Just as family does, education plays a major role in the shaping and development of your identity throughout your childhood and adolescence, during primary and secondary school. Although completely unaware, the teachers, bullies and friends at school are influencing the decisions made and ultimately are part of the personality that defines who you are. Sandra Laing, although having a coloured appearance, was for a short time allowed to attend an all-white school; because at first, legally Sandra was white. However after many beatings, bullying and downright humiliation, Sandra was expelled from the school, because, as her parents were told, “Sandra does not belong here”. Little did they know this action turned out to define the way Sandra accepted white people into her difficult life. Point being that, no matter how insignificant situations, experiences or environments may seem; the interpretations, memories and influences can last a whole life long. This fact plays out not only in the school yard, but also later in life in work places and in relationships.

The next morning I called home. That fall I would start school at a Historically Black University, as systematically different as I could get from my southern Missouri predominantly white university. I flourished, I was involved in numerous organizations, inducted into a national Greek lettered organization and soon after, elected President of my chapter. I developed essential study habits and found my sense of belonging. If you were to ask me what color my crayon was then; it would be the alluring brown or the rich black crayon in the box. My crayon was as brown as the dirt in mother Africa, and as black as the chains the “white man” used to put me into slavery. Yet, I still had not found my true identity I had merely assimilated to the culture around me. It would not be until I stepped into the working world that my true colors would show.

There are many phrases and terms that can be used to describe ones’ speech, achievement, and actions. Some of these terms can have a negative connotation. One negative descriptor of an African American’s actions is actin’ white. Actin’ white is a term that deems peer pressure that can potentially lead to the destruction of African American success in mainstream America.