A Learning Opportunity

This article appeals to me because I’m a lifelong fan of the comic artist George Herriman (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Herriman; yes, I know wikipedia is suspect but Herriman’s entry is okay). Herriman’s Krazy Kat comic racial and gender allegories upset and delighted a heck of a lot of people in his time.

May I gently suggest that incidents like these at colleges and universities are learning opportunities rather than opportunities to stage protests and make further divisions along racial lines.

Yes. The image is pretty racist. It traffics in the worse possible iconographic memories of what happened to enslaved Africans in America and beyond.

Sometimes the response that comes to these incidents ignores the truth about the role of bigotry in our lives.

Let me ask this question about that role:

Can we please somehow come to an agreement that we all struggle with xenophobia, bias, and misunderstanding throughout our lives—all of us, regardless of the communities or cultures to which we say we belong? For example: It amazes me sometimes when people say that they are not racist. Of course we’re racist! It’s part of our imprinting all over the world. The very competitive nature of living on this planet in these world economies often engenders bias of many forms (to say nothing of the force of a host of people’s cultural histories). We do and say all sorts of things privately and sometimes publicly that reflect our misunderstanding of or even annoyance with people who seem different than us and there are countless times when we don’t have a clue about the causes or effects of what we do and say. And there are times when our actions are terribly, terribly offensive. But when are we going to learn that its all a process and I’d rather come to understand an speak with someone who has opposing views through adversity and honest sentiment than to walk around like muzzled tigers, hiding and never dealing with our rage, confusion, or ill will. These young students are learning (hopefully) to sort out their subconscious drives and propensities. I think it’s important to recognize their apologies, to insist that the offenders receive some additional training concerning racism, to guide them to the understanding that we all struggle with bigotry sometimes and we are all deeply fallible and must come to terms in an on-going fashion with our biases. They should, of course, also be instructed about the difference between systemic bias and individual bias—the kind perpetuated by governments and social orders and the everyday variety. Public bigotry of the kind seen in that cartoon probably arises from both biases. Coming to terms over time with our subconscious drives and imprinting is one of the hallmarks of maturity and self-actualization in my gentle opinion. Naturally, administrators must be willing to meet with the offended parties and talk to them at length about the institution’s commitment to a safer cultural environment and how they feel about the need to address our racisms. Once they—once we—expose this incident as more of a learning opportunity and less an opportunity for further divisive protest, and once we intervene solidly to heighten the learning and performing the healing, then let us move on as we will surely do any way. I’ve long thought that colleges and universities—and any institution, including businesses—should have a written, flexible, standard protocol that they put into motion that lists intervention approaches for how to deal with bias incidents. It’s so much a part of who we are as human beings but we act so darn scared of being labeled bigots that the only response we have is protest or divisiveness. Even with all the great orientations that schools perform about cultural diversity nothing beats a great response team and intervention protocol. A solid bias protocol (one that can be altered and refined to fit the occasion) helps us to go into action and make these incidents about learning rather than escalations of the very same bigotry that came to the fore in the first place.Do y’all see where I’m coming from here?

Jonathan David Jackson, at 6:45 am EDT on October 8, 2007

Thanks Greg

Thank you, Greg, for the feedback. Also, forgive the italics. I tried to italicize one word and look what happened! For those who couldn’t read it, my points is to urge calm, mutual learning because, more than we can imagine, we all struggle with racism—both systemic and individual—and we all do and say bigoted things, especially privately. I’d rather deal directly and openly with it than hide and cloak it, especially as we work with students. I am living proof that even the most awful nonviolent racist speech acts and visual iconography can be opportunities for learning and growing.

Jonathan David Jackson, at 12:05 pm EDT on October 8, 2007

A Wonderful Cartoon!

Without having seen the actual cartoon, it sounds quite good from its description. It sounds like the cartoon pokes fun at the fact that greek houses with lots of whites are in an arms race to attract blacks. Of course, they are not necessarily interested in blacks as individuals, but rather as commodities to improve the houses’ “diversity.”

A related issue worthy of satire is the fact that black greek houses threaten blacks who consider joining non-black greek houses.

I hope to see many more similar cartoons that satirize sensitive topics that otherwise are pushed below public scrutiny.

ACF, at 2:15 pm EDT on October 8, 2007

Wonderful cartoon?

JDJ,

No, I didn’t see the cartoon, as it seemed not to have been directly linked in the IHE article. I do wish that the cartoon, and other potentially offensive material, be linked directly so that we can comment/criticize the material. Without the direct link, it leaves open potential misunderstanding. We are mostly adults here...

I had no idea that the cartoon was NOT satire. It seemed to poke fun at the greek system, but maybe that is not true.

Anyway, I can’t find the cartoon, but I have found several articles (like the one above) about the cartoon. I also read comments on the kykernel web site and have found many comments from people who saw the cartoon and said that it was satire.

ACF, at 5:10 am EDT on October 9, 2007