Reflection Essay

color to be their support (Chapman 319). Since there is such a need for more teachers for students of color to relate to, one would think that the White teachers would try to cross their own cultural barrier to connect with students of color. However, they instead apply the colorblind approach. In Henfield and Washington’s study, they wanted to explore how white teachers navigate their own diverse classroom. One common theme that was interesting was that white teachers would defend themselves when disciplining students of color. The student would tell the teacher that they are being singled out because of their race. The teachers would defend themselves by saying things such as “ [I’m] certainly treating them the same way as the others, but

It’s the 21st century and racism has learned new ways to disguise it’s self in comparison to when Malcolm X went to school. Reading about how segregation is upheld in the school system, clarified my own experiences of going to my predominantly white high school. I am grateful for the education I received, but for a black girl, it came at a price. Having to hear that your white English teacher is “reclaiming the N word” in their hip-hop literature class and feeling that you can’t do anything about it. Or time and time again, having to be the spokesperson for your race, when you can only speak for yourself. The high school I went to really liked to consider themselves as a “liberal and inclusive” school. However I was still not spared from social phenomenon found in predominantly white schools. I had more on my plate I had to deal with than my white students. Learning to navigate a setting where being white and white culture was a norm was stressful and exhausting. If my high school were as diverse as they claimed to be, I wouldn’t have to feel singled out because of my race. For America to truly become integrated, we need to move pass the idea of tolerance and more into acceptance. White students and teachers tolerated me in their space since I “played by their rules”. By accepting each other’s differences, and learning how to have conversations about race opens up a space for students of color. Until we can do that, the dream of integration will remain a