Summary Of Racism Is Not Isolated By Kate Kenski

The United States is a very diverse nation with people from all over the world. Our nation consists of Caucasian, African American, Chinese, Mexican, and many distinctive ethnicities. However, many people struggle with discrimination and judgment from other people on behalf of their race. For example, researcher Kate Kenski highlights the multiple events of her seven year old daughter when she was harassed by children in her school. They would exclude her from activities in view of color of her skin, and her peers would torment her for her physical appearance. In Kate Kenski's article "Racism is not Isolated," she effectively utilizes her daughter's experience in school to prove that racist events are not isolated occurrences and opportunities

in which our society can step forward to address these issues of racism.

In this case, Kenski illustrates the trials her daughter endured while she attended school.

On one particular day, Kenski claims, “At school last fall, third grade girls disparaged my daughter in the girls’ bathroom at recess over her hair.” In other words, Kenski uses this event as a tool to prove how the issues of racism have been passed down to children. For example, in an ideal school setting, one primary goal is to encourage children to celebrate their diversity and accept one another for their character. However, these girls made an abrupt remark toward Kenski’s daughter, and Kenski wants to teach children that it’s wrong to judge others based on their physical appearance. In comparison, Kenski also elaborates upon another example of harassment: “A girl shouted at my daughter in the play area of a McDonald’s ‘You’re just jealous because I’m white, and you have brown skin!”” As shown, Kenski’s daughter was terrorized for her race. By providing this example of how racism has affected Kenski’s daughter, Kenski is able to connect with her readers on a personal level and explain how racism has played a role throughout her life. This symbolizes that racism is not an occasion of isolated occurrences because Kenski’s daughter has been teased on multiple occasions, and these children are not aware of their misbehavior. Kenski believes that parents and schools should step forward to educate their children on the importance of accepting one another for who they are and to

confront every situation right from the beginning, even if they aren’t the most trivial cases.

In addition, Kenski elaborates upon her intentions of confronting the children that harassed her daughter. Kenski believes that every child deserves freedom and respect wherever they may go, and how a person’s attitude could influence their reputation in the future. For example, “My intention in addressing the incident was never to make judgments about the goodness of the kids' families...I wanted the kids to understand they were in the wrong and be shown how to conduct themselves civilly in the future." By extension, the purpose of Kenski addressing the issues in regards to her daughter is to help other children conduct themselves in a responsible manner. Kenski emphasizes that in order to address these issues of racism in schools, all school officials should notify parents of what has taken place while providing contextual information for what has transpired . There may be moments when parents refuse to believe that their child made a racist comment, but Kenski refers to the idea that when context is used to confront a problem, “Context changes how people understand issues, who is responsible for them, and thus what solutions may be sought.” This will help our society move forward in resolving these issues of racism because we will have a broader perspective on what is influencing children and adults to make racist comments without putting the blame on a particular person.

Moreover, Kenski innovates many ideas in which our community can come to a solution in regards to racism.

For instance, Kenski analyzes the negative effects if the media doesn’t provide contextual information to the public: “Research by Stanford University Professor Shanto Iyengar shows that when people are presented with news stories that discuss issues in terms of isolated or episodic events, they tend to place blame and responsibility on specific individuals rather than to consider that the root of the problem is widespread and may require community level efforts.” As shown, Kenski clarifies that biased information can influence people to show discrimination towards one isolated event. Kenski argues that it is crucial to provide a broader idea on the root of a problem: “Addressing racism starts with awareness on multiple fronts. First, the news media can help by providing contextual information when reporting current events.” This demonstrates a major advance towards a resolution because as the media provides contextual, unbiased information for today’s current events, this will erase the confusion of directing the blame on one individual or conflict. Finally, Kenski suggests that the public evaluates themselves by taking attitude tests which affirms the level of prejudice a person beholds. Kenski claims that all people have a certain level of prejudice within them, and this assessment can be used as a great tool to recognize how biased a person can be, and they can

change their attitudes once the problem is addressed.

All in all, Kate Kenski utilizes her daughter's experience in school to prove that racist events are not isolated occurrences and opportunities in which our society can step forward to address these issues of racism. Kenski’s purpose in publishing this article is to convey to parents, teachers, and children that racism has become a huge issue in our society, and each situation is intertwined within each other. When our society develops a broader perspective on how all racist situations relate to one another, we can support our society and children to view each other in a positive, nonjudgmental way.