RACE TOGETHER is an initiative sponsored by Starbucks and USA Today. Simply put, it seeks to stimulate talk about race in America. According to Howard Schultz, Starbucks CEO, it is an “opportunity to begin to re-examine how we can create a more empathetic and inclusive society – one conversation at a time.” So far, so good. Talking about race, especially with people of diverse racial backgrounds, can be productive. And the more we have these conversations over a period of time, the more productive they can be, both intellectually and affectively.
I would suggest that if Starbucks and USA Today are really serious, they pool their resources to promote sustained and meaningful discussions of race in the classroom. Given the right climate, teacher training, and institutional support, the classroom is an ideal laboratory for these types of discussions.
As I mentioned in Part One of this blog, I do something in my college classes called the bean bag. The success of this exercise, in which we open up about race, is not something that simply happens overnight. Rather, meeting with college students over the course of 15 weeks allows us to get to know each other, develop trust in each other, and move outside of our comfort zones. And the bean bag exercise is simply one part of a semester-long discussion on cultural differences and similarities, social inequality, and cultural biases. Consequently, when we talk about race, it becomes less threatening and more seamless, open and honest, and educational.
Often times, Whites and Blacks who participate in this exercise end up saying things that they have never voiced in a racially diverse group. No group is immune to these stories and comments. Typically, Whites, Blacks, Native Americans, Asians, people who identify themselves as multiracial, and others have heard them and told them. Virtually all of these comments are negative. And interestingly, many of the stories about members of another race revolve around sex and hygiene. Why? Because race, sex, and hygiene are things we rarely discuss outside of our inner circle. Simply put, they are taboo. And when we do not broach subjects and discuss them openly and honestly, myths develop.
One of my students by the name of Dana mentioned how the diversity of our class was constantly honored instead of ridiculed. As Dana said, “This allowed us to speak freely and helped to rid us of previous inhibitions. In a class session that I remember vividly (the bean bag exercise), we concerned ourselves with the myths that each of us held about another race. These myths ranged from one man’s belief that all African Americans urinated blue to all White Americans smell like dogs when wet. Now, I know that many of you may find these subjects offensive, but our class found them engaging. Finally, these subjects were being addressed candidly for what they really were, MYTHS.”