"We still have no clue of what being born white means"- Gregg Popovich

I am not gonna lie. I waited until last minute to write the blog this week, not that I don't do the same every week but this time I purposely did. I feel at any second someone will write something about it whats going on and how both of our reading is so related to what happened this week (Good Job Dr. Bogad, perfect reading to educate us before that whole NFL thing).

As Bianca said is her blog, I also believed that I was doing everything I could do avoid racism and end racism. I could even pull "But I date(d) a black guy" off as my argument. Just another reading that blew my mind, and made me realize how little I do and how little I knew. Feeling very thankful.

Raising awareness about privilege using color insight (Armstrong, M. J. & Wildman, S. M.) 

Johnson wrote that denying that privilege exists is a serious barrier to change (pg. 23), and I quote Armstrong &Wildman when saying "failure to examine the privileged status diverts attention from noticing and analyzing the advantages conferred by white privilege and renders any ensuing discussion of racial discrimination incomplete". 

I can't stop thinking about this while watching and reading about the news this past weekend. What the President said couple days ago, how the players react, and even more scary, how a lot of people I know reacted. I still don't get it. Somehow, the only people I see complaining about the NFL players attitude are privilege people, and again "people of color know all too well that society racializes them with race other than White,. Yes, Whites often do not think about race or racial justice, except when they notice people of color" (pg. 66). I still don't understand how people keep focusing in what they are doing instead of why they are doing it. Sorry if I overshare my opinion right now, but showing respect for the country and standing for the national anthem can't be the same thing. It is like one of this super strict ideas (does this sounds like a fanatic religious discussion?!?!), standing is simply an outside gesture of principal (should we go back to values and code of culture of power), and the other involves respecting the actual people in the country. Just to quickly add, Leland Melvin, a former NFL player and NASA astronaut, reminded us in his blog this week that even the national anthem had originally pieces of slavery and fighting for freedom, which at so point was edited. "And because colorblindness has become the new touchstone in race discourse, it is more difficult than ever to recognize discrimination and talk about it" (Wise, 2010). 

"Identifying and understanding whiteness should be an essential component of education in the United States" (pg. 65)

I definitely love the exercises to develop color insight, helping people to recognize that racial status quo exists, noticing race without the fear of being judge for noticing the races around us. This exercise serves to promote and support equality, provide a shared context, helping students and faculties to understand the existence of systemic privilege. Even better, the color insight exercise help people to open up about their privilege and trust their peers to talk about it. With these type exercise we may avoid that defensive reaction that Johnson talked about on the introduction of his book, perhaps we don't need to be stuck, we can be part of the solution if people realize that privilege has to do with everyone.

To finish the post today, I will share with you this video from Gregg Popovich, NBA head coach of San Antonio Spurs. When I think about my role as educator, I obviously see myself as a soccer coach. I am always wondering how can I help or how everything is related to my field. Gregg does a great job talking about some of the issues we read lately and the recent news. Hopefully, we can talk about NFL gestures like we now talk about how John Carlos and Tommie Smith gestures influence and empower human rights (read this article that talks about both gestures and how Norman, the white  Australian who shared the podium with them, deal with the situation)

"We still have no clue of what being born white means" Gregg Popovich