Following the Crowd :-(

Today in Intro. to Educational Ministries, a usually great course that challenges the traditional expectations of classroom environment and interactions, a ironically disturbing thing occured.

Topic: Racism
First we reviewed vague statistics about racism and then we watched an hour long video about how racism has been politically and socially constructed (who knew that in the early 1900s only white people could gain citizenship and courts were the ones who decided who was white and non-white). Next we discussed as a class what in the film surprised us.

Good class, right?

Lastly, with 20 minutes left, the professor asked us to get into homogeneous groups to discuss a few related questions.

Does that not make you cringe? We just learned that race is not by skin color but is subjectively constructed and then we're asked to get into groups according to race. Trust me, I made a huff about leaving my black friends to join the circle of white women.

It's not a secret that I struggle with not relating to my skin color. I trace it back to being raised in an inner city black church when my mom was the pastor for a few years. I'm not the only one to have that experience affect me-- my brother's childhood role model was one of the men in the church and my sister was seven when she realized she wasn't black. Apparently, I am still struggling with that idea.

I should have followed Eyesha's advice and stayed where I was.