Very interesting. And thanks for the compliment (age grouping). ------ Robert Handy Brazoria County Historical Museum 100 East Cedar Angleton, Texas 77515 (409) 864-1208 museum_bob [log in to unmask] http://www.bchm.org ---------- From: Indigo Nights[SMTP:[log in to unmask]] Sent: Wednesday, August 26, 1998 2:26 PM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: civility or side stepping equity First, let me say that Mr. Handy and I are about the same age. Secondly, let's be clear that the period in question in which he is reported to have taken the class was a period of great civil strife in our nation, and the earliest students probably have their roots in the more militant faction. Thirdly, let me be clear that I have a very internationally diverse family in that each of my three siblings and I married outside of our ethnic makeup, and we hit a number of the Census boxes. Fourth, let me say that I am quoted on page 700 of the Wall Street Journals 98 Almanac for my position on the Census and the need for defining one's racial/ethnic makeup (find it and you'll find my real name ;D). But, with all that said, as an adult, in 1995 or 1996, I took a class called Minorities in America. I learned a lot in there. The ethnic/racial makeup of the group crossed all the defined groups. First off, I took the class as a 40 something white female. I will tell you that the white students in the class (few in number) were extremely appalled/shocked when the other ethnic/racial groups spoke up about their feelings/experiences with Whites. I will tell you that it seemed that a) the students had either been extremely sheltered or had been living on a a River in Egypt and had been in a long state of denial. I actually felt sorry for those student and chastised the professor after class. They were indignant and afraid for their physical safety. You could see that by their facial machinations and the shades of color they changed. They were sitting toward the back of the room and surrounded by people who were very different than they. I didn't think they'd come back to class because they seemed so terrified, but, to their credit, they hung in their and had a genuine consciousness raising. The Latino professor taught us many things. First, he said he was Latino and hated the term Hispanic. He had many prejudices and they were clearly evinced. He did not like White people in the majority and he very much was not in favor of mixed marriages. Needless to say, when it came time for the class to be taught the following semester, he did not teach it again. Whether that was by choice or by school design, I did not know. But there were other, very eye opening things I got from the class. He asked us to aggregate by our majority makeup and then to prepare both a speech and a report on how we wanted to be seen. It was incredibly insightful to have the various groups with cultures other than mine speak of their own personal experiences and how they wished to be perceived. There were differences among the individual groups. The class was an incredible eye opener for me, and I recommend it to others (you probably have something comparable in your own neighborhood). I took the class with the express intention that I would eventually be going into full-time nonprofit work and, as such, it was necessary to try to better understand the needs and perceptions of my entire customer base. I didn't walk away Asian, Latino, Afro-American, or Mixed, but I certainly walked away with a better understanding of the thoughts and belief systems of people different than I. And some part of my quote in the WSJ Almanac is driven by my experiences in that class. The professor wanted the mixed ethnicities to choose. That is to put one culture to the forefront to the denigration of another, and to me, that is very, very wrong. == Indigo Nights [log in to unmask] _________________________________________________________ DO YOU YAHOO!? Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com