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Walter Suza| Guest opinion columnist

My mother was the child of my Black grandfather and my grandmother, who had white ancestry. In preschool in rural Tanzania, I was surprised to hear other kids label my mother as mzungu, which is a Kiswahili word for white person. That word did not make sense because my mother was just mama to me.

In my early teen years, I began to realize the impact of the skin color label given to my mother. Other kids with darker skin labeled me soft because the color of my skin was lighter. This saddened me because all I wanted was a chance to play soccer with those kids.

I couldnt understand why I was labeled soft, because I was convinced I played soccer as hard as the other kids. In spite of the effort I put into soccer, I found myself waiting on the sidelines for one of the other kids to get tired so I would be allowed in the game.

When I was 19, I left Tanzania for Zimbabwe, where I faced more surprises about how skin color was used to categorize people. I arrived several years after Zimbabwes independence and witnessed segregation of Black and white neighborhoods, a remnant of racist policies in the former Southern Rhodesia.

I lived in a neighborhood for coloreds (people of mixed race) and attended a predominantly colored school. My Black schoolmates often asked me whether I was colored, which sounded odd to me, because I considered myself a kid just like them.

After my arrival in the United States in 2000, I encountered questions about skin color in college application forms. Questions such as, Are you Black or African American or Are you White made me wonder why they needed to know this on a college application.

I also heard on a regular basis words such as black sheep, black heart, black market, black book, black eye and so on. This made me wonder about the use of black in situations that had a more negative context.

This is how I learned that we live in a world that judges people based on their skin color. It was living in the United States that I was labeled the black guy and experienced the N-word for the first time.

Today, this reality makes me worry about my Black children experiencing discrimination because of the color of their skin.

In 1959, a white man named John Howard Griffin attempted to experience the reality of being Black in America. Black men told me that the only way a white man could hope to understand anything about this reality was to wake up some morning in a black mans skin, writes Griffin in the book Black Like Me.

Griffin took a drug that turned his skin black and found himself facing the grim reality of racism and loss of his privileges when his skin was white including having to deal with death threats.

Griffins experiment confirmed that racism starts with our perception of ones physical features such as skin color followed by unfavorable treatment of the victim.

Unfortunately, a large segment in our country denies that racism exists.

In the book White Like Me, Tim Wise writes: I would not be the white guy who would assume (Black people) were exaggerating, making things up, or fabricating the difficulties of their daily routine.

I agree. It would be wrong to question anyones experience with racism. And if we truly believe in the Declaration of Independence, we must also be willing to address our struggle with racism because it denies others their right to Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.

In addressing the issue of skin color and its contribution to racism, we must also be willing to consider other points of view.

First, although race has been primarily about skin color, at the genetic level, all humans share 99.9 percent of our genetic blueprint DNA.

Second, science also explains that black and white as colors are about absorption or reflection of light. We see an object as white when it reflects almost all light and black when it absorbs most of the light.

Third, if we dont agree with the science, perhaps we might agree with the spiritual principle that All men are created equal.

In other words, all people are shades of black and white.

In his I have a dream speech, Martin Luther King Jr. said, I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.

I hope that America will realize that the skin we wear are gifts from our biological parents. We did not choose our parents. We all carry eternal innocence deep in our souls. That innocence connects us in our humanness.

You are just Black and white like me.

Walter Suza of Ames writes frequently on the intersections of spirituality, anti-racism and social justice. He can be contacted atwsuza2020@gmail.com.

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Walter Suza: We are all just Black and white like me - Ames Tribune

Several weeks ago, Donald Trump threatenedto blockadeNew York, New Jerseyand Connecticut, ostensiblyto protect the rest of the country from the coronavirus pandemic. Trump soon pivoted away from that position.

Most mainstreamobservers and other members of the American news media mocked Trump for his threats and took them (again) as evidence of his ignorance about the Constitution and the rule of law. ButTrump was testing norms and boundaries,with the goal of shattering them later.

Last week, DonaldTrump took the next step in his escalating war against democracy andthe rule of law,commanding his cult membersto"liberate"Michigan, Minnesota and Virginia from the "stay-at-home" public health measures that have been enacted in an effort to slow down the rate of infection and death from the coronavirus pandemic.

Trump's threats against state governors isa violation ofthe presidential oath of office. Legal scholars and other experts have also suggested thatDonald Trump's words of incitementcome close tothe definition of treason in Article III of the Constitution, "Levying war against the United States."

Mary McCord, a former acting assistant attorney general, addressed this in the Washington Post:

President Trump incited insurrection Friday against the duly elected governors of the states of Michigan, Minnesota and Virginia. Just a day after issuingguidancefor re-opening America that clearly deferred decision-making to state officials as it must under our Constitutional order the president undercut his own guidance by calling for criminal acts against the governors for not opening fast enough.

Trump tweeted, "LIBERATE MINNESOTA!" followed immediately by "LIBERATE MICHIGAN!" and then "LIBERATE VIRGINIA, and save your great 2nd Amendment. It is under siege!" This follows Wednesday's demonstration in Michigan, in whicharmed protestorssurrounded the state capitol building in Lansing chanting "Lock her up!" in reference to Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, and "We will not comply," in reference to her extension of the state's coronavirus-related stay-at-home order. Much smaller and less-armed groups had on Thursday protested on the state capitol grounds inRichmond,Va., and outside thegovernor's mansionin St. Paul, Minn.

"Liberate" particularly when it's declared by the chief executive of our republic isn't some sort of cheeky throwaway. Its definition is "to set at liberty," specifically "to free (something, such as a country) from domination by a foreign power." It's an echo of the "Second Amendment remedies" rhetoric of the 2010 midterm election. It's clearly a violation of federalism principles, and it's quite possibly a crime underfederal law. And insurrection or treason against state government is a crime in Virginia, Michigan and Minnesota, as well as most states. Assembling with others to train or practice using firearms or other explosives for use during a civil disorder is also acrimeinmanystates. But the president himself is calling for just that.

Donald Trump's foot soldiers haveobediently followed their Great Leader's commands. By the hundreds, Trump's cult members have descended upon state capitals across the country. Their "protests" are actually staged events paid for and organized by individuals and groups connected to the family of Education Secretary Betsy DeVosand other major right-wing funders.

Nonetheless, these fake "protests" are an effective political tool because the mainstreamnews media, beaten down by the Republicans Party after many years of gaslighting and abuse, treat such dangerous buffoonery as legitimate reflections of the public mood rather than as extensions of the Trump administration'spsychological operations campaign.

At these "rallies" Trump's cultists proudly display symbols of their commitment, such as flags emblazoned with his name and white supremacist symbols ofrebellion and insurrection. Armed right-wing militia groups are also participating in thesestaged anti-"stay-in-place" protests. Many of the protesters have brandished assault rifles and other weapons.

White privilege takes many forms. Nonwhites and Muslims would neverbeallowed to behave in such a threatening manner. If hundreds of camouflage-wearing, heavily armed, black and brown people and/or Muslims (or "socialists," for that matter) gathered in state capitals across the country with the goal of threatening, intimidatingand inciting armed rebellion against state governments, police and other law enforcement agencies would have likely used lethal force.

Tim Wise, who is one of America's leading antiracism activists and scholars, and the author of such bestselling books as "White Like Me,""Dear White America"and "Under the Affluence," has described Donald Trump as a "human opioid" of white privilege, white rageand white racism.

In turn, Trump's supporters are eager drug addicts. They are evidentlywilling to risk their lives to show their love and support for him by attending his human coronavirus petri-dish rallies.

As part of an ongoing series of conversations here at Salon, I recently spoke with Tim Wise about what the coronavirus pandemicrevealsabout the deadly consequences of white privilege and other forms of social inequality in America. Wise also explains how Donald Trump, as a white man (and a Republican),benefits from a level of presumed competence and intelligence not afforded to black and brown people. Moreover, if Donald Trump were notwhitehe would long ago have been impeached and removed from office.

Wise also discusses how Nazis and other fascists and right-wing extremists are taking advantage of the coronavirus crisis to advance their war on America'smultiracial democracy.

You can also listen to my conversation with Tim Wise on my podcast "The Truth Report"or through the player embedded below.

This conversation has been edited for clarity and length.

I took a walk yesterday and I was dutifully following the rule to stay six feet away from other people. I then had a realization: As a black man in America, I am already conditioned to having to obey all the new rules of social distancing forcedby the coronavirus pandemic. When I walk down the street, especially when it is dark outside, very often white people try to avoid me.

People of color have to deal with attributional ambiguity all the time in terms of trying to understand other people's behavior. What was that look? What was that clutching of the purse or the briefcase? Why did they get off the elevator when I got on it?Black and brown people know what it is like to be looked at by white people as carrying some type of contagion. For the most part gay white folks during the height of the HIV/AIDS epidemic being a notable exception white folks are not used to being viewed as potential carriersof something awful.

White folks are not used to people of color moving away from them or looking at them funny. There are now many millions of people in American right now who perhaps for the first time in their lives are having a type of existential crisis.

They have to ask themselves, "If I go outside will I be safe? Can I go drivearound? Can I walk or jog around the neighborhood? Can I go to the store and be safe?" Now, those are alllegitimate questions in the middle of a pandemic.

But of course, the irony is that millions of Americans ask those same questions every day, with or without a virus breathing down their neck. People of color, especially black people, have to wonder, "Can I go for a jog around the neighborhood?" Why that question? Because black and brown people have to deal with the fact that someone in that neighborhood might call the police on them.

Can I just go driving around? Well, not if I'm a person of color because I may become a victim of racial profiling by the police and that can escalate tome being shot and killed or otherwise abused. Women must ask themselves about public space and where they can go safely because of the reality of sexual assault and rape culture.

The coronavirus is an opportunity for people with privilege,and American society as a whole,to broaden their empathy for others.

Will you have a job? Will you have health care? Will it be affordable? Are you going to die? These are the things that lots of people think about all the time. When this crisis is over, many Americans will still be thinking about those questions because of social inequality and how they are living it.

You have described Donald Trump as a "human opioid" of white privilege, racism and anger. Watching Trump's negligent and malicious response to the coronavirus, and the enduring love and support from his cult-like supporters, has proven the wisdom of your observation.If Donald Trump werea black man or a Latino or a woman he would have been removed from office several years ago.

Only white people, especially white men, are allowed to be as incompetent as Donald Trump and still remain in positions of power. Donald Trump and his administration's foot-dragging in response to the coronavirus was intended to keep his poll numbers up. It was intended to not scare the markets. It was intended to put a happy face on things, but all of that obviously delayed much-needed testing. It delayed the rollout of the economic package which just passed. As a practical matter, Trump's incompetence delayed getting money to people who desperately need it. And of course, Trump's incompetence delayed getting the masks, ventilatorsand other equipment that was needed to save lives.

Tens of thousands of white people are going to die because of Donald Trump's incompetence. And much of that incompetence and delay intaking the necessary steps to prepare the country to better deal with the virus was connected to his xenophobia and his racism, with his obsessions with China and the wall along the U.S.-Mexico border as somehow being responsible for the coronavirus pandemic in the United States, or a way of stopping it from coming here.

A good number of those people who are going to die are Trump's voters. It is very obvious that Donald Trump and his administration are willing to kill his own base of supporters in order to try to win re-election in 2020.

Why is there still so much shock and denial among the American people and the mainstream news media about the Trump regime's cruelty and malevolence? For example, Trump and his servants have been denying needed medical equipment to Democrat-controlled cities and other parts of the country. People are dying as a result of that decision. Trump and his inner circle have been profit-seeking and engaging in other corrupt behavior during the pandemic. Trump and his sycophants have consistently put Trump's re-election as being more important than the American people's lives.They want people to go back to work and risk death. None of this should be a surprise, given America's history of violence against nonwhite people. Why the cries of, "This is not who we are!" when in so many ways itis?

That can all be explained by the country's broken educational system. Obviously, most people really don't know the history of the United States. Moreover, they don't even know the most basic contours and realities of the way that this country has actually operated for most of its history.

It's also motivated reasoning. If we start with the premise that most people are decent, then that makes it harder to look into the face of America's ugliness. There is also the question of being implicated in that ugliness and injustice. Denying those facts makes it easier to function.

If you're white, especially, and if you're middle-class or above and you've got health care while other people do not, then you are implicated in an unjust system.

As James Baldwin said, "Once you acknowledge the truth, now you're on the hook."White folks really don't want to be on the hook. So it's easier to deny what all of our senses are telling us. Donald Trump is so bold with his racism and racial resentment that he makes it harder for white people to deny the reality of this country's past and present.

The Age of Trump and the coronavirus is another opportunity for white supremacists and other right-wing extremists and terrorists to engage inevil. The SPLC has documented a 50% growth in the number of so-called "white nationalist" groups in the United States between 2018and 2019. A white supremacist terrorist was plotting to blow up a hospital in Kansas City where coronavirus patients are being treated. Nazis have been caught planning to use the coronavirus as a biological weapon to kill Jews, Muslims, nonwhites, FBI agents and others. The news media haslargely been silent about these happenings.

Sothese Nazis are saying that they're going to go get coronavirus and then give it to Jewish people. Let's imagine for moment that a group of Muslims in this country were caught plotting that they were going to do the same thing to Jewish people or the FBI.

They would all have been rounded up. It would be on the news constantly. If a person of color had threatened to blow up that hospital in Kansas City, it would have been on the news 24/7. By largely ignoring these stories about Nazis and other white supremacists and right-wing extremists, the American news media is allowing these groups to flourish. The coronavirus quarantine is necessary for public safety, but it is also an opportunity for far-right extremists to radicalize more people, especially young people online who are not in school and participating in other activities.

Many of these right-wing extremists are "accelerationists" who want civilization to collapse. They are waiting for society to fall apart. They want America and the West to run out of food. They also want to target the country's infrastructure. The mainstream news media is underreporting and therefore diminishing that very real threat during the coronavirus crisis.

Let's engage in a thought experiment: Ifwhite folks had realized in the 1960s that racism and white supremacy hurts them too, what would America look like today? Specifically, if white Americans had had such an epiphany,how would the country be positioned to respond to the coronavirus pandemic right now?

Many things would be different in the United States and the world. Of course, there would be some people still locked in the cult mentality of racism. They would not change. But in terms of positive changes, there would be a more robust social welfare system than the piecemeal one that exists today with Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. The Great Society was greatly limited by anti-black animus and racism.

The social democracy that the New Deal tried to create would also be broader and more inclusive, and therefore much stronger and more resolute in the present and future. All the federal programs that white people love, such as the GI Bill and FHA and VA home loan programs which basically created the white American middle class, would have been expanded to more fully include black and brown Americans.

The United States would also have a much better and more robust public health care system if white racism and racial resentment had not been used by conservatives and those allied with them to gut the government's infrastructure and the very idea that government can do good in the world.

Especially worth highlighting in this moment of fake right-wing "populism" is how the pain that working-class white people have been experiencing in the last 50 years about their jobs, the economyand their lives more generallywould have been greatly limited in a true multiracial social democracy. There are many positive changes which would have made for a better, more affluent, prosperous, healthyand safe American society, if not for the power of white supremacy.

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Tim Wise on Trump, the coronavirus and the pandemic of ...

One of several signs which hang in Elizabeth Hall, each a response to the white nationalist flyers recently posted and then removed. (Joshua Wineholt / The Signpost) Photo credit: Signpost Archives

The 22nd Annual WSU Diversity Conference was held virtually Oct. 1 and 2. The theme focused on connections and disconnections in society with oppressed populations.

There was an opening keynote presentation by Pepper Glass, an associate sociology professor at WSU, who has published research on many topics such as racial inequality and social movements.

There were several sessions and presentations given by WSU faculty and people who work around Ogden. The closing keynote presentation was from Tim Wise, a public speaker who goes around high school and college campuses to talk about systemic racism and how to dismantle it.

According to the diversity programs website, the events were chosen with intent to explore ways and opportunities where we can align what we say with what we do, and look for the connections or disconnects that allow things to happen.

One of the discussion events, Being a Person of Color in 2020, was presented by JuanCarlos Santisteban and Greg Noel, who are both counselors at the WSU Counseling & Psychological Services Center.

Noel says the focus of the panel discussion was on the social climate of 2020, and then looking at that climate from the lens of Black, Indigenous and people of color.

Participants were encouraged to share their experiences about everything that has happened so far in 2020.

Greg and I both believe that conversing about these things is how we start our healing, and having conversations about this is what helps create understanding, clarity and eventually unity because it brings us all together, Santisteban said.

Participants shared their experiences and then gave advice to one another throughout the discussion.

Other topics in the discussion were engaging with one another, showing up with one another in spaces, discrimination, being your authentic self, being an ally, empathy and learning and growing.

The more we create these spaces where we can have these conversations, thats where were going to gain understanding and were going to start to see each other and see each others hearts, Santisteban said. At the end of the day our hearts all pump the same way.

At the end of the discussion, Santisteban encouraged participants to continue tapping into their courage to continue having these conversations.

This is how were going to heal, understand and create unity by continuing to have these conversations, Santisteban said.

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Starting conversations at the 2020 Diversity Conference - The Signpost

My Prior Experience With Ethnic Studies in CA

Four years ago, I was still a budding student at Cleveland Charter High School in Los Angeles, California. As a graduate of the distinguished CORE magnet program in humanities, I was a proud student of interdisciplinary courses, ranging from ethnic studies, gender and sexuality studies, philosophy, sociology, and more. My high school education was certainly unique for its time, which Im both grateful for and concerned by. If I knew then what I know now, I would have been steadfast to reform my ethnic studies curriculum to be more inclusive of my Jewish identity. In fact, many more minority students may have difficulty reforming theirs, if they arent equipped to shape state proposals for CA Ethnic Studies curriculum as it is being standardized right now.

Not only did my high school education significantly shape my views about the world, but they also informed my relationship with myself, my people, and my culture. As an Israeli-American Jew and Zionist, learning about terms and methods of social justice in academia forced me to dive into the complex history of various minorities in America. Furthermore, with my many identities, it forced me to look inward and question my place within the fabric of America and the world at large. Lets explore some of the controversial experiences I faced that could have been prevented had my education been more transparent and inclusive.

Imposing Whiteness and Downplaying Antisemitism, Past & Present

Hefty readings, lectures, and conversations on the systematic oppression of Black Americans, Native Americans, Asian Americans, Latino Americans, and South Asian/Middle Eastern/Arab/North African (SAMEAN) Americans dominated discourse particularly in my junior years race unit. I cherished learning about it. Curriculum on the gradual integration of Irish, German, Italian, and other Euro-Americans into white society also was part of the program, but this is where my identity was often left between.

Jewish representation was frequently discussed under the lens held to Euro-American integration into the White Anglo-Saxon Protestant majority. It was confined to an Ashkenormative approach, where the diasporic European Jewish (Ashkenazi) history of my dads family was told yet reduced to a story of gradual assimilation and a success of almost no hurdles. The Sephardi Moroccan-Israeli story of my mothers family was simply not discussed, nor was that of any other Jew of color. This was a convenient structure which was encouraged and exacerbated by a retired faculty member who returned to volunteer teaching periodically, declaring that antisemitism is no longer an issue, decades after the Holocaust. If I knew then, what I know now, I would have been able to respond to this teacher with confidence.

Contrary to her bias, we know today in 2020 that nearly 60 percent of Californian students my age and younger have no knowledge that 6,000,000 Jews were murdered at the hands of Nazi Germany (nonetheless, for not being white natives of Europe) directly contributing to the preservation of antisemitic tropes and notions that Jews comprise the peak of the privileged. Im sure that these students were just as ignorant on the diversity of the Jewish people and the genealogical and cultural Levantine ties we share with each other. As ignorance about Jewish people prevails and white supremacists continue to terrorize our Jewish communities at synagogues, rallies, cultural centers, universities, and so forth, our story of continued struggle for acceptance must also be included in ethnic studies and taught to future generations of Americans.

In the same breath, while discounting the lasting role of violent antisemitism, disproportionate antisemitic hate crimes, and institutionalized Jew-hatred via biased education, this faculty member would also vent about Jewish financial success amid the generational trauma and systemic racism against other marginalized minorities. It instinctively felt like a reductionist dichotomy of oppressor and oppressed imposing both whiteness where it was conditionally granted to us and revoked at seconds-notice. This was clearly antisemitism to me, amid due representation for others, but because of that phenomenon of emphasizing justice (without Jews) the very idea of accountability was squarely ignored by this teacher and her colleagues in the classroom.

Erasing the Ethnic Dimension of Jewish Identity

In another significant instance, I can vividly recall one of my ninth grade teachers proclaiming during a sudden discussion of antisemitism that Honey, Jews are not a race. She proceeded, Jews are a religion. I have Jewish friends. At the time, I knew deep inside that were not a separate race, but looking around the room at other speechless Jewish peers, I had a hard time mustering up the courage to explain that we are an ethnic and religious people, similar to Armenian and Hindu Americans. She may have had good intentions, but like a colorblind optimist, this instructor stifled conversation surrounding how to combat the way Jews are treated, and even how we manifest our peoplehood.

While this error was later acknowledged by another teacher in class two years later, one can imagine how stumped Jews like myself felt seeking solidarity, as peers racialized us and simultaneously stripped us of any claim to ethnicity. If you cant name it, you cant shame it and if I had known then what I know now, I could have empowered Jews of my generation to speak for ourselves before an authority figure could distort the narrative.

Overlooking the Antisemitism of Anti-Racist Authors & Speakers

Getting into the particular content of my ethnic studies curriculum, it was not even an afterthought that various authors of assigned readings and book titles had an avid track-record of antisemitism, including anti-Israel expression. So often, we just had no idea until we read the content ourselves. Sparsely was it acknowledged by my teachers that Karl Marx, St. Augustine of Hippo, and F. Scott Fitzgerald authors of Western ideological canons or modern literature expressed antisemitism in their writings.

However, never was it spoken that Alice Walker, African American acclaimed author of our assigned book, The Color Purple, had endorsed antisemitic conspiracy theorists and even propelled her own anti-Jewish poetry. The contribution of this distinguished author to our understanding of the African American experience, including the bitter legacy of slavery is critical. However, Walkers antisemitic conspiracy theories must also be addressed. Her narrow-minded bashing of Israels existence and stripping of Palestinian agency (amid intransigence and bigoted incitement of Palestinian leaders to anti-Jewish violence), affirmed the moral failure of my school programs unquestioning endorsement.

Nor was it shared in classroom activities that some of the civil rights leaders we were taught to glorify and follow had conflated the Jewish people with their deepest enemies. It took some news headlines, years after graduation, for me to understand how these figures felt about people like me. Archbishop Desmond Tutu, one of the most prolific anti-apartheid activists who I campaigned for in a class South African mock election, had uttered support for terrorist organization Hamas to the detriment of Jewish (and Arab) civilian life.

Not a single word of comfort or nuance was provided by my teachers when Tim Wise, author of White Like Me and anti-racist speaker entrepreneur, spoke to my entire program class (an annual program expense) ultimately to invoke his paternal Jewish ancestry, tokenize himself, and virtue-signal about how Israel is (unilaterally) oppressing the Palestinians. Wises support for the B-D-S movement also proved concerning much later than I would realize. BDS is a hate campaign that has established itself globally for the past two decades in tandem with organizations responsible for international Jewish civilian murder, like Hamas and the PFLP, under the false brand of non-violence and social justice.

Likewise, it was completely out of hand for my 12th grade teacher in digital humanities to randomly assert before my class that the worlds only Jewish state composed a lingering form of colonialism and apartheid, during a lecture on Algerian literary reflections of French colonialism and existentialism all while staring me (a proud Israeli-American) dead in the eye and silencing any response. Amid clear historical distinctions between Israeli democracy and South African apartheid, this inappropriate and slanderous comment created a moment of discriminatory intimidation I will never forget.

The connection between my curriculum and the air of anti-Jewish hostility produced on campus was remarkable. Microagressions cut deep over time, undetected or even peddled by non-Jewish peers. However, the antisemitic dogwhistles and even overt antisemitism patched together throughout our studies as an example of what American society has historically been, was often there to see for all. Jewish students shrugged and became desensitized. Our non-Jewish friends took note at our complacency, and likewise, just moved on.

Abusing Intersectionality to Homogenize Diverse Experiences & Alienate

The deliberate and irredeemable criminalization of Israel in each of the aforementioned settings of authoritative education was no less than the criminalization of my identity etched in stone and the minds of my peers. This is just my impressionable high school experience not my college experience at UCLA, where in a friends ethnic studies lecture, the Jewish community was conflated with our white supremacist killers for our majority support of Jewish self-determination. We were lucky to have acted then, urging our Jewish peers to snap out of complacency, organizing more effectively to make a broad-reaching difference with a series of demands to our administration and Title VI cases, of which I have been a proud part of.

Across the board, many instructors in my home state have taken the legal philosophy of intersectionality originally intended to address the nexus of bigotry that people with multiple oppressed identities face and abused the concept to create a politicized discourse of uniformity among different struggles that oppressed communities face. They have homogenized diverse experiences ranging from Native American genocide, to Japanese internment, and the making of Palestinian refugees as a pretense for selectively alienating or excluding entire communities of color that do not fit their paradigm including Mizrahi Jewish refugees and their descendants (like myself). This disparity has been noted by scores of coalitions for comprehensive ethnic studies curriculum, namely JIMENA, the AJC, Amcha Initiative, JCRC, Alliance for Constructive Ethnic Studies, and many more organizations.

This gap includes a lack of education as well on other indigenous MENA minorities, such as Kurds, Copts, Assyrians, Armenians, Imazighen, and more, who, in their homelands, embody oppressed minorities under a non-white (and non-Western), Arab regional hegemony. These facts transcend simplistic formulas of power propelled by an inequitable ethnic studies curriculum, which omits the experiences of minorities in other parts of the world (and in diaspora in CA) for which representation and nuance is so crucial for sustainability.

Taking Action Today For A Better Tomorrow

My experience with California ethnic studies prior to its current mandate (AB-1460) is just a drop in the ocean of what institutional marginalization Jewish minority students have encountered on campuses nationally in the past several years. Its not about what I knew then anymore, its about now.As the California Department of Education (CDE) finalizes its official required ethnic studies curriculum with skewed and problematic sources, modeled for dozens of states to come, its no longer an option to grieve over the past we have to mobilize our community and demand that our voices, histories, contributions, and representation be included for our future.

Sign the petition now to ensure that the Jewish and Israeli-American voice is heard and that no bias or discrimination against our community is included by the CDE.Share the voices of Jewish students with Include Our Voices on Instagram to spread the conversation. Email the CA Dept. of Education to secure our future inclusion in the fabric of America and build relationships with your local school board members. Leave a thank-you messageto the office of CA Governor Newsom for withholding his signature from AB-331s hasty and biased ethnic studies proposal and for ensuring more time and inclusivity.Lastly, share this article to keep this momentum going and educate others to positively shape years to come.

Disclaimer: the views expressed in this blog are the authors own and do not reflect that of his employer, the IAC.

Originally posted here:
If I Knew Then What I Know Now: A Demand for Ethnic Studies Representation - The Times of Israel

on July 27, 2020 at 10:04 am

In light of the civil unrest that is going on in this country, I want to focus on the unique experience of many African immigrants, like myself, who had no prior understanding of the history of racism and the seriousness of the issue in this nation. Many African immigrants have had to face some kind of discrimination to realize the complex nature of race relations in the United States, and to identify themselves as Black. African immigrants, like myself, go through a series of identity crises as we make the shift from being proudly African to a stage where the only way to navigate the system is by embracing blackness from the American point of view and accepting all of the negative consequences that come with it. This strategy requires being extremely cautious while also trying to prove the negative stereotypes wrong. There is a constant struggle not to avoid being judged by the way we look, because we cant escape from being judged any way but to prove that such misconceptions are wrong, and it is exhausting.

Race is a purely social construction, meaning that there is nothing biological or genetic to the social categories that have been created. We know this because the categories and what they mean change over time, and they are different in different places. In Brazil, for instance, they have dozens of racial categories, and sometimes I wish there were intermediate categories in the US, that would take into consideration the diversity of what it is to be Black. Being Black in America, regardless of where you are from, means all of the stress ascribed to race, all of the stereotypes, stigma, and experiences that are related to what it is to be seen as Black by others, including the legacy of racism, even when my ancestors (who were never enslaved nor colonized) never experienced them. Aster Osburn, an Ethiopian immigrant like myself, recently talked about a painful and confusing transition of her identity in a public Facebook post (2020 June 7 https://www.facebook.com/aster.osburn). She says that The raw truth is, I went through a phase where I denied my blackness and uttered the words Im not black, Im Ethiopian A few years of living here quickly taught me that being black was going to be a struggle. It meant now I would have to live a life not celebrating it but defending it. Oh, the identity after identity crisis Ive gone through to tear down my mindset from celebrating blackness to learning its new meaning for my life.

Such encounters might seem petty, but it has a big psychological impact when you have to deal with it daily.

My first encounter with this stigma was while I was still in my proud African phase, before I embraced my blackness. My 4-year-old daughter was told by a neighbor girl that she could not play with her due to her skin color. I didnt take it seriously. I just told my daughter, maybe the little girl has never seen Queen of Sheba, a beautiful African queen who looks like you before. My daughter will never forget what this little girl told her, though. Such encounters might seem petty, but it has a big psychological impact when you have to deal with it daily. I am very glad that other mothers, who do not have Black children, will not have to go through this painful reality and I regret that my children will.

As a Black person, I experience racially insensitive encounters every single day. From being asked at a grocery store recently if I am using an EBT card, simply because I look like people who presumably rely on government welfare, to a coworker who once asked me to hook him up with drugs, for no other reason than an assumption he clearly had about Black people. A woman told my son once that he should be very grateful that he is in the greatest country on earth not in a village in Africa, and that now he could be anything he wants to be. This seems to be a positive, empowering remark, but I know in my heart that it is not going to be easy for my Black son who also struggles with ADHD. One day I will have to sit down with him and deal with the painful and uncomfortable talk about what people who look like him experience, and guide him in how to navigate a system that is not really designed to treat him equally. But he is learning on his own, as well.

In 2017, my son worked on a history fair project focused on historically significant Americans. My son chose Jessie Owens and was very proud to represent the first Black man in the Olympics, who because of extreme racism had to fight against immeasurable odds despite being a highly skilled athlete. At this history fair, I saw the unresponsive and undisturbed reaction of the many parents, grandparents, and teachers when a grandfather of a student was literally parading around in front of my son holding the Confederate flag. I was disgusted and offended by the mans action of proudly holding a symbol that celebrates the enslavement of people who look like my son inside a public school. What made me especially angry was the silence and ignorance of how racially insensitive this was by the school and those in attendance. This might be because most people in my sons school have never experienced racial profiling, systemic racism, mass incarceration, or any other offense, just because of the color of their skin. People who have not had that flag flown to terrorize them, can simply pretend it is just about Southern pride. But it is terrifying to a Black person, because you dont know the intent behind it, only the history of the Confederacy that wanted to continue to enslave and dehumanize Black people.

A few weeks ago, I could not believe my eyes when my coworker (a very devoted LDS man who has served a mission) started wearing a Confederate flag bandana as a mask to work every single day. I was disgusted, but I did not speak up. I thought someone will stand up against this racially insensitive symbol at a time of social unrest like this and report this disturbing and offensive symbol to HR. I also tried to remind myself of the fact that my ancestors were never enslaved, not even colonized. But my new Black identity keeps telling me that it doesnt matter, this is a symbol of oppression that stood for the enslavement of people who look like me and it was painful. Finally, a coworker who had been on vacation, and happens to be an openly gay Mexican American, saw the symbol from far away and it didnt take him one minute to report it. I started asking myself why it somehow had to be another minority, who might have experienced some sort of discrimination, to notice, understand, and stand against racial insensitivity? I think this resonates with what Tim Wise, in White Like Me, has said white privilege is. It involves a lack of understanding of the complicated structural and systemic racism that Blacks experience daily. That privilege kind of covers many peoples eyes.

The irony is, many of my white friends claim to be color blind, which really just makes them blind to the daily life experiences of Black people like me, which is too often full of unconscious racial stereotyping with grave social, economic, and psychological impact.

Last year my mother in-law invited me to her church for a womens training session where a high-profile, respected Logan city police officer was teaching parents about internet safety. I loved most of his message, but I found the officers approach very insensitive, inconsiderate, and completely color blind to the fact that I am Black and the words he was using were disturbingly racist to me. For instance, at one point he was telling the women in the meeting not to be so nice to people who look strange, who maybe have dreadlocks, etc. and then says, dont be afraid of being called racist to protect yourself from strangers. Intentionally or unintentionally, this officer was using a Black persons profile as a symbol of threat to teach these women about safety. I wonder what kinds of perceptions these women will have about dreadlocks who are mostly worn by black men. The women in the meeting were mostly my neighbors and I keep wondering how this session will impact the way they see my own husband, his siblings and my children. What bothered me so much was that this respected officer might be the law enforcement agent whom my children, who perfectly fit into the very profile and symbol of what he labeled as strange, may encounter. Will they not be seen as normal and nonthreatening? I felt certain that just like this (implicitly-biased) police officer, others will definitely view my children as a threat and their actions will not matter at all. And what bothers me most was that these loving, caring and compassionate white mothers did not even bother to question his approach, let alone to confront his racially insensitive description. They were in fact applauding and cheering. I know my mother in-law felt awful, but she didnt speak up at the time. This is one of the moments that I felt that this is not the community where I want to raise my kids.

After the events surrounding the murder of George Floyd by a police officer in Minnesota, I asked my mother-in-law to write about her experiences of raising six (adopted) Ethiopian children after she and her husband raised their six (white) children here in Cache Valley. She remembers that when they first moved here to Utah they werent expecting the prejudices that they faced on a daily basis. As she remembers at the childrens school, Some students would ask them if they could touch their hair. Many students would ask them if they grew up in a jungle in Africa, or if they had ever seen a TV before. They grew up in Addis Ababa, the capitol city of Ethiopia, which is a modern city. These comments were innocent, but hurtful at the same time, she points out. As my children learned to drive and got their drivers licenses, she writes, they began to have more serious problems than hurtful innocent comments at school. Since I am white I didnt even have a clue that I was supposed to talk to them about how to act when you are stopped by the police because it might be dangerous for them because of the color of their skin. None of my white children had ever been pulled over on a regular basis for petty things while they were driving. My Ethiopian family members many times have been tailed for fifteen minutes by police officers before they finally pull them over to say that the light over their license plate is out, just so they can check out their car. (You cant legally pull someone over unless there is something wrong). When they would get home and check the light there would be nothing wrong with it.

She goes on to recall, One experience was for driving too slow, and they were pulled from their car, searched and frisked, put in the back of the police car to wait while the officers called in the drug sniffing dogs to check out their car for possible drugs. Of course the police cars lights were going while they waited for backup to bring the drug dogs, so everyone passing by would look to see what was going on. No drugs were found, and no ticket was issued, but what a devastating dehumanizing experience. I do believe people of color are often profiled because of the color of their skin, none of my white children have ever had any experiences while driving like their Ethiopian siblings have had. These are examples of white privilege, which gives white people immunity from certain kinds of negative experiences. It allows white people to avoid what my mother-in-law sees as the deep and soulful hurt of being dehumanized.

Tim Wise points out that white folks racial fears, resentments, and anxiety are also used to undermine their own wellbeing, making them numb to the pain and experience of others. The irony is, many of my white friends claim to be color blind, which really just makes them blind to the daily life experiences of Black people like me, which is too often full of unconscious racial stereotyping with grave social, economic, and psychological impact. Colorblindness is neglecting the truth of white privilege and keeping matters of racism under the rug, closing ones eyes to the reality of institutional racism and shifting the focus to less urgent issues. I think awareness about how race affects everybody is key. It is important to be color conscious in order to help racial minorities, walk with them in the journey for equality. Instead of color-blindness, we need to work on anti-racism, instead of avoiding discussing race and racism or claiming you are not racist while doing nothing to change a system that unfairly disadvantages people of color.

But I also want to say how being a student of anthropology and sociology has helped me in this painful journey. Where would I be without a sociological imagination and cultural relativism to help me to look at historical and cultural contexts and see the big picture?

Ta-Nehisi-Coates wrote in Between the World and Me, that black boys and girls are always told to work twice as hard, to be twice as good, but to be happy with half as much. In the 1937 essay Ethics of Living Jim Crow, Richard Wright talks about the numerous yes sirs and no sirs in his conversation with white people in his quest to please white folks at all times. I always ask myself why certain words are commonly used by African Americans in their day to day interaction with non-blacks. There are times I get mad at my African husband for overusing these extremely polite and seemingly subordinate words in his interactions with white people. What makes me mad is the fact that whether my husband uses such polite words or not, it is not going to prevent the presumed judgment and implicit biases he will encounter regardless in a racially divided country like the U.S. He still has to work extra hard to prove peoples misconceptions about him. To this day, he takes his (white) parents to the bank if he is making a big transaction just to avoid possible problems. And it always works, but it is infuriating. It is tragic to watch some of these videos of young black boys assaulted by police officers, while they responded to orders in an extremely polite way. It seems to me such kind of Jim Crow wisdom does not guarantee a black person the right to simply live a regular life.

I could go on and on talking about my experience as an African immigrant. But I also want to say how being a student of anthropology and sociology has helped me in this painful journey. Where would I be without a sociological imagination and cultural relativism to help me to look at historical and cultural contexts and see the big picture? But I am not going to lie, it is tiring to justify every petty ignorance and racial insensitivity when you face it on a daily basis and know that your children are more likely to pass through the same painful journey because we definitely have a long way to go to be a post-racial country. I do not want to pass on what Wright calls the Jim Crow wisdom to help my children navigate and survive a racist system. I want them to change the system! I do not want them to waste every single moment of their life trying to strategize their own mechanism to defend their blackness and prove peoples misconceptions wrong. Because I know it is not going to change until we all work together, and especially until white people choose to speak up against racism and racial insensitivity.

As my mother-in-law points out: Of course not all of my Ethiopian childrens experiences here have been negative. Many people have been kind and have helped them, but it would go a long way if white people around them would have the courage to speak up if they see someone doing something racist, and try to stop it. We can all make a difference to help our country change so that everyone is treated equally and fairly. I have hope that the country I love will be able to find the courage to face the things that need to be changed and go forward to make it a better place to live, no matter what color your skin is.

Referenced Sources:

Coates, T. (2015).Between the world and me(First edition.). New York: Spiegel & Grau.

Wise, T. J. (2005).White like me. Brooklyn, NY: Soft Skull Press.

Wright, R. (1993 [1937]) The Ethics of living Jim Crow, An Autobiographic sketch. Harper-perennial Publishers page 1-18.

Recommended resources:

Kendi, I. X. (2019). How to be anantiracist. First Edition. New York: One World.

An Antiracist Reading List curated by Ibram X. Kendi: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/29/books/review/antiracist-reading-list-ibram-x-kendi.html

About the Author:

Trhas Tafere graduated in Spring 2020 from Utah State University with a degree in both anthropology and sociology and was the Anthropology Programs Undergraduate of the Year. She was born in Eritrea and moved to the U.S. from Ethiopia in 2013.

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Featured Guest Column: An African Immigrants Experiences Learning What It Means to be Black in America - Utahstatesman