Dorothy
My perspectives around racism and those discerning truths, unconscious and conscious biases are systematic and hard-wired from my very ‘westernized’ upbringing. Being first generation Canadian, my South Asian parents wanted to ‘integrate me’ in order to provide, what they seen as a better life. They went out of their way, with only good intentions of what they seen and thought at that time, to make certain I fit in. Throughout two decades, I identified myself as ‘Canadian’ and shied away from other ethnic references. ‘I’m Canadian’, resulted from my upbringing, my environment, and what was learned from early childhood. For example, having a Caucasian name after the character from Wizard of Oz, to having a white nanny, to only be spoken to and speaking in English and never learning Hindi, to wearing westernized clothing and eating westernized foods, having my hair short, being integrated in a community of predominantly Caucasian people and attending Sunday school. As my brothers migrated to Canada several years later, followed by many aunts, uncles and cousins … I felt most racism from my own, as they ridiculed and made fun of me, made references of ‘being a coconut’ and an embarrassment of not knowing where I came from. This topic has provided deeper connections, with further self-awareness in the space of education and relatedness to similar negative and positive impacts I’ve personally encountered.
Theresa
As I worked with my team to discover what impacts the digital learning environment has had on racism, I had to first look at my experience of racism as a white girl growing up in Detroit, and it might not be what you’d expect. Growing up in Detroit allowed me to witness systemic oppression in a way that, I believe, is unique from the experience of those whom the system is endeavoring to oppress. I grew up in a predominantly black area that was deeply impoverished, rife with crime, drugs and human trafficking. It was commonplace to hear and or witness people being shot and killed over disputes. There were drug dealings on veritably every corner and I could not walk to school without being solicited by someone wanting to lure me into the sex trade. However, my experience was incredibly benign compared to the experiences that I witnessed of my African American female contemporaries. My experience was frightening at worst however, as a white girl; somehow I was able to walk past these conditions without getting pulled into any of these experiences. The same cannot be said for the African American girls in my neighborhood. Looking back I think that I was subconsciously aware that the media covered the disappearance of white females exponentially more than African American females. Systemically, as a white girl, my disappearance was much more likely to hit the papers than an African American girl’s disappearance, thus putting pressure on the police to investigate. This media bias, I believe, played a part in affording me the ability to avoid these situations where others, namely African American females maybe could not. Growing up in Detroit placed a splinter in my brain, a rage against unjust exercise of power and authority that that system not only allowed but encouraged through its unwillingness to create equity; its unwillingness to equally protect its inhabitants regardless of race.
Beata
I grew up in Eastern Europe back in the socialist era. Due to homogeneous population we did not see open racism (I am not addressing here the gender inequality, or the socialist era’s anti religion mindset). I am white and was raised in a then considered ‘privileged’ family, as my dad was a doctor, and my mom is a teacher. Their profession and dedication to the local people ‘qualified’ them as the nobility of the village where I lived as a child. I had absolutely no knowledge of what it would be like to grow up being “different,” in any capacity (other than being the kid of a teacher kind of caused a seclusion from other kids, since I was inadvertently considered as a ‘spy’:-)). The luck of birth determines so much of our lives and those of us with opportunity also have responsibility. Not experiencing racism in my childhood, and not being the subject of it, makes me privileged, and I am sure subconsciously I am guilty of discrimination. Xenophobic populism was introduced to Hungarian minds deeply and openly since the current opportunistic right-wing government took office; they are openly discriminating against race, skin color, faith, and origin. An ugly mix of old prejudices re-inflamed by the current war on terror, giving racism a wide new platform in the name of security. This mindset results stories like what happened this week in Budapest, when members of an Egyptian movie shooting cast were insulted and called names because they wore hijabs (Read more on this by Awad, 2018).