The Past in the Present
By Selene Vitela
I lost count of the number of times I have heard the words, “Oh, you go/went to free dumb.” Freedom, popularly referred to as “free dumb”, is the name of the high school I went to in Woodbridge, VA. The phrase “free-dumb” has always been tossed around, even by teachers and administrators from other schools in the same county. My high school received this name due to its low test averages on the AP exams and standardized tests that students took. People in my school seemed to use it in a joking manner, so it never actually bothered me. Well, that was up until my junior year.
I recall a time when my FCCLA team went to Patriot High School, a school that is known for its perfect academic scores and highly driven sports teams. My team was excited to meet up with other FCCLA members in Patriot. As we stepped into the school, we became mesmerized with how nice the newly built school was, and by how big their pool was. However, the moment we turned to look at the other students, we were given faces of confusion and a sort of disgust. I continued to look around at the school and tried to hide how uncomfortable I had become in the span of a couple of seconds. When I entered the classroom, we were all supposed to meet in, a tall blonde girl said to me, “Hey what high school are you from?”
“Freedom,” I replied.
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“Oh, you’re from free-dumb,” the girl said in a mocking tone.
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I was so used to hearing those words in a joking manner and usually from people of color. But, when they came from someone who gave me and my team an unsettling stare, I realized it was not a joke.
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Throughout my whole education, before coming to college, I have attended schools where the majority of students have been minorities. For instance, 93% of the students in my high school were Latino, Black, or Asian. A high amount of diversity made my high school experience fun and overall welcoming, since the majority of us had the same minority status and were accepting of one another’s race or ethnicity. I was always surrounded by people with similar cultures to mine, andI never really had much interaction with white people, apart from one of my elementary school best friends, Mary. I realize that perhaps I initially did not see “white supremacy,” because the only white person I had associated with, my best friend, was so much like my family and friends. Perhaps that was because she also grew up in a predominantly Hispanic neighborhood. Our ideas and personalities were similar, but then again, we were young and were not fully informed about clashes between races.
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As I grew older, the term “white supremacy” became more common to hear in my surroundings. History classes taught information about white supremacy, whether it was implicitly stated or explicitly. For example, my AP U.S. history class discussed Jim Crow, laws that separated blacks from whites in public places. I would hear and see references about it more in my everyday life, especially on social media. On Twitter, there are always videos and studies going viral that aren’t always on the news. The term eventually became tied to colleges during application week. My friends and classmates called UVA a “white” school. Half of them would tease me, saying I was going to end up wearing Sperrys..The other half would comment on how privileged the majority of white students were, often telling me, “You’re going to feel weird and out of place there.” I’d try my best to refute their comments with how prestigious the school is and all of the opportunities it would have to offer me. I would say things like, “It’s 2017, not the 1800s. We’re all equal.”
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Two weeks before I came to UVA, I was lying down and relaxing while watching "How to Get Away with Murder" on Netflix. I was not aware of the situation until my phone blew up with messages from my friends who had already been reading about it on Twitter.
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“Did you hear about what happened at UVA?”
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“UVA is racist.”
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“Isn’t UVA the school you’re going to?”
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“Dude, be careful when you go to UVA.”
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I jolted quickly with confusion, and googled one word, “UVA.” The page was filled with articles with titles involving the words “white supremacists.” The first thing I said was “what the hell?” and was in a shock that did not allow me to believe what was currently happening. I gave myself excuses like the white supremacists being random crazy people who were seeking attention. I tried to contain myself from reading the horror, but I found myself skimming through tons of article pages that had the same story written on them. At that moment, I realized that the chaos my friends were referring to was true, and that it was being associated with the school I was supposed to be calling my second home for the next four years.
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Within the next couple of days, the news spread quickly all over the media and eventually caught on to my siblings, who eventually told my parents. I did not want to tell my parents because, from a Hispanic standpoint, they would have viewed the area as highly dangerous since the rally was against people of color, like ourselves. My parents only watch Spanish news and therefore do not keep up much with the news that happens locally. Once my parents found out, they came to me and told me to be careful and to not be out late, especially by myself. Now, at first, I considered the advice as normal for any parent to be telling their kid who is going to college away from home. But then I realized that my parents were more worried about my safety in a town that had recently been filled with terrorists having immense hate toward people like myself: people of color.
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Eventually, the day before I left for UVA, my parents asked me to have a seat with them. They did not look mad or sad, but instead worried. My dad started off by telling me how proud he was to have another daughter attend a great school. My mom continued by telling me how much she would miss me and would pray to the Virgin Mary every day for my well-being. Their conversation then switched to the subject to how being a Mexican-American and going to college is one of the highest achievements in a Hispanic community, but not necessarily to all of the white people since they see it as a norm. My mother said, “Aunque los inmigrantes construyeron este país, no son respetados como humanos por todas las comunidades gringa. Eso es la verdad y aunque no sea bien, tu no seas iguales que ellos y no llames a todos los gringos egoístas. Igual que a nosotros no nos gusta que nos llamen criminales y drogadictos.”[1]My mother then continued the conversation by saying, ¨ Siempre echale ganas hija. No te intimides por el color de la piel. Te queremos mucho y nos da gusto ver tu esfuerzo.”[2] This conversation remains in the back of my mind every day while I’m at UVA.
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When I first arrived at UVA, I was dreading carrying my belongings up the stairs on the hot day. As my parents and I dragged our legs up the steps in exhaustion from carrying my packaged bags, lit up faces and were swarming through the hallways. I was warmly welcomed by multiple people who are from a variety of countries. Since I live in the International Residential College, I was not insecure about the color of my skin or my ethnicity. I figured that the community there was probably the most welcoming in UVA when it came to racial and ethnic differences. Students and parents were kind and welcoming to both my parents and me even without knowing them. Not all of the parents were minorities, some were white as well, yet all of them were just as kind to my parents and meI. A few of them started conversations with my parents, and even though my mom is only able to say a few basic words in English, they attempted to say words in Spanish as well and would laugh it off when they didn’t say words correctly. After un-the packing, we had burgers and fries in the backyard of Little Morea, a house behind the International Residential College. Loud music was blasting while strangers were dancing around and passing around food. There were even students who spoke to my dad about Mexico, and they managed to get my dad to make some corny jokes that he only happens to make around family. My father knows enough English to get him through a casual conversation, but he chooses not to use it often. When I heard him speaking English I looked at him and raised my eyebrow in surprise while he looked at me and laughed. Overall, my first day at UVA was probably my happiest day at UVA, because iIt was the most welcoming.
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Once the semester officially started, I realized that none of my classes, except for my engagement class, spoke about the rally incident. Making the Invisible Visible, my engagement course, was a discussion driven class of about 70 students who sat in groups of about 5-7 students each. The tables were set up in a wide circle so that the center of the class was empty, and all the tables had full access to look at other tables when they made comments during class. I’d consider it a pretty diverse class in terms of demographics, since there were white, Black, Asian, and Hawaiian students. The class was meant to literally make the invisible visible in terms of mainly racism and micro-aggressions. For what felt like the first month of the semester, we discussed the white supremacist rally and subjects such as UVA’s history that were relevant to it. I feel as if the rally influenced my professors to let us speak negatively about UVA’s history in a way most professors would not like to speak about, since it brings a negative image to the school. My professors taught it in a way that allowed me to feel as if I belong here, as a minority, but also in a way that informed me about the history of UVA’s foundation of white supremacy. I learned that white supremacy has always been around since the beginning, and it has only been slightly covered up by the public nowadays. The message I took from that class was that I am here for a reason, regardless of my race, butt there will continue to always be a gap between people of my color and whites.
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The gap between people of color and whites stands out to me more outside of a classroom. For instance, in my class discussions the professors often said the room was a safe space. When saying that, the minorities in the classroom seemed to speak their minds more when it came to personal opinions, and a majority of the white students would sit and listen, or be on their phones. It seemed like they were scared to speak their mind, or they just never had much to say. I remember one time we were discussing Colin Kaepernick’s kneeling during the national anthe. A white male student was brave and decided to speak his mind by saying, “Kaepernick’s kneel was wrong. He could have called attention in a way that wasn’t disrespectful to Americans.” After this a Black student spoke to back to him and asked him how he would have called as much attention if he was Kaepernick. The male had no response. I then heard clapping in the classroom, but once I looked around, I noted that the majority of students clapping were the minorities, not the white students. Once class ended, as soon as I stepped outside I overheard some of the white students speaking. One of them said something like, “Black people are so dramatic.” One of the other guys replied and said, “I know, I can’t stand them.” Even though we are not 1800s anymore, there’s still hate toward people of color.
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Authors Note
I chose to write about my experiences in high school and my experience with being at UVA now after the white supremacist rally. I felt it was important to put out my minority background since the rally was directing hate towards any race that wasn’t white. Even though I was not directly impacted by the rally, when writing about this topic I realized that it caused me to be more attentive to issues dealing with minorities while being here at UVA. I decided to write about the ridiculous comments I overheard from white students toward black students because I hope it brings attention to people and lets them see that even though education is liberal, people outside of a classroom setting freely let their racism speak. It’s more common than people would think, and just because it is not spoken loudly about does not mean that it is not happening.
While I was writing my essay, I went to my professor, Kate Kostelnik, for guidance. Initially, my paper ended with a positive outlook that I could only wish to happen. She told me to end it with something more personal and from my side of the story even if it was sad. I decided to do so by ending it with the story about my classroom discussion. Then I went to the writing center and received similar advice. I could not think of how to end it so I sat and thought about it for what felt like an eternity. I’ve always had the most trouble with writing the endings for my papers, but this one felt more important for some reason. Maybe it was because I do not like thinking that my school is filled with racism.
I’d like for people of all races to see that we are not in a post racial era and there are racist comments happening every day. Even if we are pursing a further education, racial words still swarm around us. Even prestigious schools, who claim to be open for diversity, are filled with people who are not.
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Privilege and Racism From Two Different Eyes: The Black and the White
Ta-Nehisi Coates and Peggy McIntosh are two respected authors who wrote truthful and distinct works on privilege and racism. In “Letter to My Son,” Coates, an African-American author, speaks on his personal experiences with racism and ties them in with America’s history. He writes in a format that is meant to be directed toward his son, specifically on telling him disappointing truths about how life is when you are a black man in America. In “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack,” Peggy McIntosh, a white female and American feminist, boldly points out how the white race is blindly unaware of everyday racism and privilege because they are taught that racism affects others and not themselves. Both Coates and McIntosh reveal forms of privilege and racism from different standpoints. Coates has conformed with the inequality and unjust treatment that black’s face and ties in history when proving his point. McIntosh openly states that although she has not experienced racism, being a feminist has led her to realize its covered existence. Since she focuses on male privilege, not necessarily on the white race, it has led her to make the connection between privilege and racism.
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Despite Coates and McIntosh experiencing a lack of privilege, they come out with different perspectives on how to, or not, respond to the inequality. Coates has settled with the reality of being treated poorly by the white race because he sees it as a privilege that has been existing since America owned slaves. His hope is for his son to be able to conform with the privilege they lack. On the contrary, McIntosh lacks privilege in a gender aspect but not in a racial one. She proposes an action that can be the potential start to racial systemic change and does not seek conformity with the inequality she faces. McIntosh has an outlook on change being possible because her race has not been held down since the founding of America, like Coates’ has. McIntosh’s lack of privilege has never made her fear for her life in the way that Coates’ has.
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In “A Letter to my Son,” Coates informs his son about America always having had malicious reactions toward black people. Coates reminds his son of stories that reflect the existence of racism within their lives. He tells his son that he writes to him in this year because it is when he saw a list of black men getting killed while performing casual activities, such as browsing a department store. Coates says,“ the police departments of your country have been endowed with the authority to destroy your body. It does not matter if the destruction is the result of an unfortunate overreaction. It does not matter if it originates in a misunderstanding” (4).By“your body,” Coates is telling his son a sad truth that even if he is not committing a crime, he has a much higher chance of getting killed, compared to a white person, because of the color of his skin. This continues to be proven as the statistics on police killings toward black people are being presented in increasing numbers during this time in which his son is alive to witness. Although his son is not clueless about the information he sees, his caring father, Coates, still finds it important to directly state it without sugar-coating the disadvantages he will face due to the color of his skin.
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Coates interpretation of racism, which began in the 1700s, continues to have an effect and can be supported through whites plundering the freedom of blacks even after the 14th amendment has been established. Coates believes the destroyers, predominantly the white race, are “merely men enforcing the whims of our country, correctly interpreting its heritage and legacy. This legacy aspires to the shackling of black bodies” (5). The shackling of black bodies, also referred to as slavery and unjust punishments toward blacks, may be seen as history but in reality, it is continuing to be imposed in different forms. He is correct because the men he calls destroyers are the police officer’s killing innocent black people, and whites who use their color as a source of power in putting down a black body.
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The knowledge of the shackles of the bodies causes a black person’s everyday experiences to become rigorous. The surroundings of a person have always been more conscious to a black mind than to a white’s. Coates feels this way because when he was his son's age, he was concerned with who he would walk with. He recalls, “the manner of our walk, the number of times I smiled, whom or what I smiled at….concerned chiefly with securing the body...fear ruled everything around me, and I knew, as all black people do, that this fear was connected to the world out there, to the unworried boys, to pie and pot roast, to the white fences and green lawns nightly beamed into our television sets” (10). I believe this statement to still be true today because I have a black friend from Chicago who told me that he would not look at anybody when he would walk to school. I recall him once telling me that in predominantly white neighborhoods, he would pull up his pants and try to walk as stiff as he could because he had to put up a fake identity for his safety.
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Coates also feels like there is a very small representation of blacks in media and it disables them from connecting to sources of higher power. Coates explains,“Now, the heirs of slaveholders could never directly acknowledge our beauty or reckon with its power. And so the beauty of the black body was never celebrated in movies, on television shows, or in the textbooks I’d seen as a child” (13). On the contrary, in McIntosh’s article, she writes out a list of twenty-six daily effects of white privilege and states “I can turn on the television or open to the front page of the paper and see people of my race widely represented”("White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack"). McIntosh recognizes that her race holds the majority of representation in the public media that is meant to be influential and informative. Seeing a small portion of people similar to oneself in entertainment and sources of high credibility is another normal everyday occurrence that pushes the black community below the white. Not seeing representation that gives a person confidence and perhaps inspiration to be in that position one day, is blacked out with a white media.
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As an honest father, Coates recognizes that the black race has always been pushed below. He declares, “that was true in 1776. It is true today… the terrible truth is that we cannot will ourselves to an escape on our own” (21) He states that they cannot escape on their own because, in the black race, they themselves do not have the power to overcome inequality bashed at them. In reality, it is incredibly difficult to change the viewpoints and minds of the majority, in this case, the white race. This is psychologically proven because majorities often obtain public compliance because of normative social influence, whereas minorities are more likely to achieve acceptance through consistency and not public compliance. To make this simpler, it would be easier for change to happen if a white person stated the problem needing to be fixed than if the black person did because other white people would listen to the white person more than they would listen to a black person.
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Coates further proves his point by reminding his son of a time when he was younger and a white lady pushed him and he replied saying, “come on!” Coates felt a mix of emotions because as a parent he wanted to react angrily, but as a black man he felt doubts in protecting his son’s black body. He describes a white man coming at him and yelling, “’I can have you arrested!”(25) Normally, a person wouldn’t be able to get arrested for their 4-year-old son yelling “Come on!” when being pushed. But in this situation, Coates states, “in seeking to defend you I was, in fact, endangering you” (25). The fear that arose from the white man's five words were so powerful due to the color of him and his son’s skin. On the opposite side of the race spectrum, McIntosh states she “can arrange to protect my children most of the time from people who might not like them” ("White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack"). Unfortunately, Coates cannot relate to her statement since he feared for himself and his son when a white lady pushed his son. This proves that humanity can be tangled in America if you are black since such as a couple of words that are out of love for his own son, can endanger a black body. A parent’s job is to protect their children, and the black race is not able to do this because of a fear that was meant to be gone hundreds of years ago.
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Peggy McIntosh, a white feminist, also speaks on the lack of privilege she faces, similar to Coates, except she speaks of it from a feminist standpoint toward men. From her experiences, she points out,“I have often noticed men’s unwillingness to grant that they are over-privileged, even though they may grant that women are disadvantaged”("White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack"). When saying this, McIntosh points out that even though men are able to recognize their advantage over women, they do not make any action that will decrease their privilege in order to bring a women’s power to their level. It’s like they are unconsciously used to feeling that power, and it has become a norm throughout their life. Because of this, they do not view their privilege as a bad thing, just as a normal thing. I can see why she makes this claim, since men have been seen as the “superior” gender since way back when women were seen as just housewives. For some reason the superiority continues to exist in professional settings, such as in jobs. For example, it’s been proven that white men are three times more likely than women to get a job interview.
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Through McIntosh’s studies of male privilege, she recognizes a similarity between male privilege and white privilege: both do not acknowledge it. She thinks “whites are carefully taught not to recognize white privilege, as males are taught not to recognize male privilege”("White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack"). A metaphor she uses that describes this is that she sees “white privilege as an invisible package of unearned assets” ("White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack"). The white race has an advantage that has been built into them purely from their skin color over others that has been built into them purely from their skin color.The unearned assets she mentions are not an advantage they have had to work toward. Since it comes granted with their race, it is easy to look over it without acknowledging it.
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Further comparing male privilege and white privilege, McIntosh explains why men are seen as oppressive even though they do not believe themselves to be that way. Similarly, the white race is seen that way, and they also do not believe that word defines them. The reason behind this, McIntosh clarifies, is because schooling gave her no training in seeing myself as an oppressor. Whites are taught to view their lives as neutral and ideal. “So that when we work to benefit others, this is seen as work which allows ‘“them’”to be more like us” ("White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack"). It is true that the education system has taught the white race that they are the “ideal” race and this has caused a division between them and other races. I recall most of my middle school and high school years, my teachers would always state someone’s race if they were not white. If they spoke about a black author, they would feel the need to emphasize that the author was black. Whereas if we spoke about any white American with high authority, their race was not listed in the papers. Perhaps the way in this teaching has caused an unintentional but continual division and disruption within races.
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To wrap up McIntosh’s realization of white privilege being unconscious yet damaging to blacks, she ends with possible solutions to ease down the unequal treatments. She believes that in order to “redesign social systems, we need first to acknowledge their colossal unseen dimensions. The silences and denials surrounding privilege are they key political tool” ("White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack"). In order for the oppressive social hierarchy to change, white’s cannot deny that their dominance exists. Even if embedded in American culture, McIntosh asks for people like herself, primarily a white audience, to become increasingly aware of their privilege in their daily consciousness. She believes that the even if systemic change can take decades, consciousness is a start to the change. To me this sounds silly because I do not believe that bringing consciousness to someone will cause them to create change. McIntosh now acknowledges her white privilege but that has not led her to try to create a change for the whole black race.
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Coates and McIntosh are similar in the sense that they have felt underprivileged in some sort of manner. Coates strongly experiences racism and a lack of equality in his daily life because he is a black man. Despite having faced unjust experiences, he does not express a hatred toward the white race and has come to accept his position as an African American in America. He does not seek out help nor request possible solutions to the skewed treatment of the white race in comparison to the blacks. Instead, he uses the information he has gathered from history and the experiences he has faced to inform and warn his son of challenges that will come to him.
On the other hand, McIntosh’s job is to study male privilege and it has led her to see how male privilege works similar to white privilege. She lists some of the daily activities she is able to go through that a black person typically is not able to experience, some of which apply directly to Coates’ experiences. As a white feminist, she wishes for the males to become aware of their dominance as well as for white people to acknowledge their privilege, even if they are taught not to. On the contrary to Coates, McIntosh seeks change with male dominance and points out way in which racial systemic change can occur. Perhaps she has a hopeful outlook on racial changes because she has not experienced it. Since Coates has lived through the oppression his whole life, it is a norm for him. Even if it is damaging to him, he does not seek help. This shows that America’s hidden oppression does not only physically put down blacks, it has the power to degrade a black man’s mind into settling for a disadvantage that was said to be left behind years ago.
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I believe different forms of privilege are embedded in America, and people oversee them and do not worki on them because they believe the law solves the issues. I feel like people are blinded and do not speak about racial dominance because the 14th amendment states everyone is equal, but the truth is that racism has existed since the beginning of times and continues to flow around today. Similarly, males have been seen as dominant and superior in pretty much all of history, even though there are laws against gender discrimination, it does not erase the male advantage that is still present. Truthfully, I do not side with neither Coates nor McIntosh because I do not think minorities should just settle for their lack of privilege. I also do not believe that pure consciousness will cause a change in our system that has been implemented and functioning since America was built.
Authors Note
I must admit I had a lot of trouble writing this paper. At first, I thought it would be simple and straightforward since the articles were easy to read and understand. I thought writing about their contradictions and comparisons while making a claim would be easy. Before writing this paper, I also thought I had a perfect understanding of both authors viewpoints but I realized I was wrong when I sat and reread their statements to analyze them.
When i was writing this I felt like I agreed with both Coates and McIntosh’s viewpoints because I have witnessed evidence from both. However, I found this difficult to write mainly because I did not side with either one of them. I acknowledged their opinions and experiences but did not feel like their overall outlook was a good one.
When I went to the writing center, I got told I needed to restructure my paper because it did not feel connected. I moved around the paragraphs because initially I had first written all about Coates and then all about McIntosh. I tried my best to combine some of the paragraphs with both of their information since a few of their experiences collided. I’d still say I was surprised at how tricky this paper was for me, and I surprised myself since I thought I already know what the authors were saying prior to writing this paper.
My main issue was not knowing how to get a perfect flow and balance. There were times I did not know how to organize my paragraphs or how to present personal evidence without the paragraph looking choppy. I realize that I have a lot of trouble with that because I want to state a lot of evidence but keep it connected to the two works I used.
Overall, I’d say I’m pretty glad I wrote this paper because it taught me what I have issues with. Even though the writing center’s viewpoint on my paper was different from mine, I hope it didn’t cause me to move too far from my initial thoughts.
[1]“Even though immigrants built this country, they are not respected as human beings by all of the white communities. This is the truth and even though it is not right, you should not backlash them by labeling all white people as selfish. They won´t like it just like we don´´t like being called criminals and drug addicts.”
[2]“Always try your best. Do not be intimidated by the color of someone's skin. Always give your best effort, daughter. We love you a lot and we are proud of your efforts.”
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