General Discussion
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An analogy about expectations for my fellow white folks just diving into anti-racism education:
Imagine showing up to a class an hour late. How would you expect the professor to respond to your entrance?
Would you expect them to greet you at the door, tell you how happy they are that you arrived, walk you to your seat and make sure you were seated comfortably? Ask you if you have everything you need, and thank you for showing up? Would you expect them to take time away from the class to do that, and would that even feel appropriate?
OR would you expect them to say, Hi, take a seat. Or perhaps nothing at allmaybe just give you a glance while they get on with the class as you find a place to sit?
And how would you enter that class if you were an hour late?
Would you walk in and announce, Hey, Im here! and then give a big explanation for why you are taking the class and what took you so long to get there, diverting the classs attention and taking away valuable class time?
Would you walk straight up to the professor and say, Sorry Im late, but could you please go over what youve covered in the last hour with me? (Imagine the professors face if you did that, and hold that thought.)
OR would you quickly and quietly sit down, open your book, and do your best to keep up with where the class is now, knowing youre going to have to catch up on the first hours material on your own (maybe borrowing someones notes to help with what youve missed)?
Would the professor be glad that you were in the class? Sure. Better late than never. But would you expect them to express gratitude or happiness that you finally showed up? Of course not.
Now imagine the professors life depends on people like you showing up for class. Imagine that theyve seen countless students arrive late, sit down for a few minutes, decide the desk is too uncomfortable or the subject matter is too hard, then walk out, over and over and over. Would you expect them to feel relieved at your arrival? Would you expect to be met with a warm welcome, or some understandable skepticism?
White folks, we are that late student. Only we are far more than an hour late.
If youre just diving into anti-racism activism and it all feels a bit pricklier or less patient or less welcoming than you expected, this is why. We dont get a cookie for showing up to a place we already should have been. We should not expect an open-armed, warm welcome because weve finally arrived.
We might be embarrassed when we realize how late we are. We might feel like we have some good reasons for it. But lengthy apologies and explanations just waste valuable class time and no one really wants to hear it, no matter how heartfelt or sincere. The class just wants to move on.
Were undoubtedly going to feel a little lost. But if we raise our hands to ask questions about stuff that was covered in the hour we missed, we should expect the response to be a simple Youre going to need to get someones notes on that or That was covered in Chapter 1go back and read it. No one would expect a professor to go over material thats already been covered for the student who showed up an hour into class. And no one should expect them not to find those questions annoying.
Yes, it is good that were here. There's no question about that. But were late to a class thats already in session and thats the dynamic we should expect. The most respectful thing we can do is recognize our lateness, then quickly take a seat, open our books, and listen like someone's life depends on it.
Credit to Annie Reneau via Facebook.