Chapters 4-5

            Howard starts chapter 4 with a story. His son’s best friend was killed in the gorge of the Rio Grande River, the next summer his son got a job as a white river raft tour guide. He then relates being a teacher to being a river guide, “a guide must be familiar with the nature and location of these holes and respect their power. On the river of diversity; the holes are a metaphor for the dynamics of White dominance” (pg 70). We can contribute towards the healing process in many different ways; Howard discusses these four; honesty, empathy, advocacy, and action.

            Honesty is a big part of facing any problem, especially racism. We have to start learning to question our previous assumptions, and realize that we are limited because we have culturally conditioned perceptions of truth. “Empathy is a healing response because it allows us as Whites to step outside of dominance, to see our social position in a new light, and connect with the experience of others who see the river of diversity from a different perspective” (pg 77). Relating it back to the river rafting analogy, he says that we can’t really understand what it’s like to be another race, nor can they really understand what it’s like to be white, however we can go on parts of the journey together, we can share a boat, and through that we can see parts of the river through each other’s eyes. As teachers we have to be advocates of our students regardless of what race they are, however particularly students of other races. Howard says that as leaders in the White community we have to take up the responsibility of undoing White ignorance instead of waiting for other racial groups to do it. I feel like this is extremely true, especially considering that as Whites we have been the cause of so much racism, we should be the first ones to try and right the wrongs, which also falls under action. Action is possibly the most important thing in trying to undue all of the racism that has happened over the years. We can talk about trying to change things or being advocates but unless we actually do something about it, it means absolutely nothing. It’s not our fault that we were born White, however this means that we are responsible for how we react to racism and dominance throughout our schools and communities.

            The next chapter is about going from social dominance to social justice. Howard says “In spite of the past, however, it is my conviction that White dominance is neither inevitable nor invincible” (pg 86). White dominance isn’t permanent, it can be changed, we can do something about it, and it doesn't have to be that way. Especially when we do the four things he suggested in the previous chapter. First things first though, we have to look inside ourselves, we can’t dismantle the “legacy” of white dominance without looking into our own personal role in perpetuating justice.

            This for me came as no real surprise, I just had never really thought about it this way. As a Christian I believe we should do all of those things anyways. I believe that God created all children equally and should be treated as such. As a Christian we should be honest, empathetic, advocates, and take action for all the children who need it anyways. That’s what God wants for us to do in order to be good Christians. I always knew he wanted us to do those things, I just never thought about them in the context of children of different races in schools so it was good for me to see it in that light.

            I see this take place in my novice placement quite often. It is a classroom with multiple children from different backgrounds. A majority of their parents don’t speak English to communication with them is somewhat difficult, especially when there is communication between the teacher, the student, and the parent because most of the students don’t speak English very well either. Therefore there are many communication gaps and we as teachers sometimes get frustrated that the students or parents can’t understand. As the teacher we have realize that it’s not our fault they don’t speak English fluently and maybe it’s our fault that we haven’t tried to communicate in more efficient ways. We have to be advocates of the students when this happens because they may have tried to communicate with their parents but they just didn’t understand, and we can’t take it out on the kids. These are just some of the many ways I see this played out in my novice placement.