I don’t post very often here anymore as I am not closely involved with the horse world anymore. I would if I could, but the horse world is just too expensive for the means of a teacher who is a single mom. The reason why I am posting is that I do feel I’m in a position to help, but I’m not sure how. I have been an English teacher for over fifteen years. I have taught in the inner city in Atlanta, the suburbs of Boston, the rural South, and the foothills of Tucson. This coming year I will be teaching 11th grade English (AP and on-level) at a private Catholic school that only take students that qualify for financial aid. Yes, that is on purpose. The school is located on the southside of Tucson, which is mostly Latinx. 90% of the population is Latinx, 7% Pascqua Yaqui and Tohono O’odum (indigenous local tribes), and 3% black and white.
I am working hard to include BIPOC authors in my American Literature curriculum. There are many short pieces, especially non-fiction, and some longer pieces, especially slave narratives; however, it is hard to find novels from the 19th century from BIPOC. There is Uncle Tom’s Cabin, which is at least in the public domain, so I could use it even if we haven’t bought class sets of the book. The 20th century is much easier. I plan to do a large unit on the Harlem Renaissance. I would like to do at least one 20th- or 21st-century novel by a BIPOC. Do you have any favorites? Suggestions taken.
How then can I also introduce these kids to the horse world? Unfortunately, I have no pull at the barns around Tucson. I’m not sure I could influence a trainer to take on working student. We could do a field trip to a horse show and I could have them do a writing assignment on it. Any other suggestions?
This really sums everything up. No one in their right mind would be mad at you for saying that. And shame on Missy Clark for having to have POC stop their own lives to educate her and not even acknowledging it. I’m not saying get mad at her for her follow-up response but, really, there is no excuse even if you’re in a “horse world bubble.” That bubble exists in the actual world and newspapers and newscasts reach everywhere. No one should actually be or feign being as clueless about systemic racism in the US or anywhere for that matter as was presented in that clap back to Sophie’s statement.
This reminds me of your posts on the racing forum that say (paraphrasing) “How do you know I don’t have racehorses in training? I may have several” and " How do you know I’m not a breeder?" when it is clear that you don’t own or breed racehorses and “How do you know I don’t go to the sales?” when you clearly know nothing about how the sales work.
It is easy for people to know that you aren’t an owner or breeder and that you don’t work in the industry. Your lack of knowledge about racing and breeding and your posts on other COTH forums make this clear. You underestimate people’s intelligence and it does get old.
I’m not surprised that you have racist views. You gave us a glimpse of them on the racing forum (where you also seemed to forget saying something that you had just said.)
What you say is metaphysically true-- no one can know before they learn. But boy-howdy I don’t like the unimpeachability of the big-eyed, “I didn’t know” whine when it comes from a privileged person who was dragged to a position of enlightenment at last. Just what were you doing with all that privilege if not using it to help those born lower on the hierarchy that benefits you, all you well-intentioned, good people?
Yanno, in the bad-old-days of the 19th century when white people genuinely believed that they were superior to those of other races, the richest among those were also taught that they had a responsibility for those who had the misfortune to be less well-bred (and therefore better off) than they. The unchallenged, easy assumption of their natural or God-given superiority is, of course, deeply offensive and, as it turns out founded on no currently credible science. But! I do miss the sense of noblesse oblige that some rich American philanthropists used to feel and the kind of Christianity that (they said at least) spurred them to act.
Our solution to the offenses and real injustices done by such a rigged and bigoted system has been do declare everyone equal. If you were born with advantage, you kept that under wraps. You developed a work ethic so that you could be as credible, not average, but credible. Sure, you were born into a situation that, say, made matriculating at Harvard fathomable in a way that it was not for someone else born to different circumstances. But you sure did want everyone to know that your huge head start didn’t mean you didn’t work hard and were spoiled.
And so we come to this moment were disparity and wealth looks as large as it was in the last quarter of the 19th century; social mobility is becoming ever-less possible;, and if you are born of the wrong demographics, you are likely to receive very different-- even dangerous-- treatment before the law (which apparently never progressed beyond Lambroso and Galton). But that whole historical period of vigorous denial of privilege happened. And now white people can’t figure out what to do. When they are forced to see the truth that their unasked-for and unearned privilege real and impossible to escape, whether or not they know it, sounds like an accusation to be contested. Not only is that too bad, but it’s not even necessary. Using your privilege to good ends is always and option. It always was an option.
That’s kind of you to stand with my hard-ass position on where the burden of enlightenment and change lies. But I do think this is new, new, new to many white people. BTW, I am white. I grew up in ways that gave a taste of what it was like to be “the other guy” who was born a proverbial 75 feet behind the people everyone kindly told me were my equals. To me, it just looked like a matter of necessity and telling the truth to point out the ugliness that came from uncontested privilege when I saw it.
Let me be clear: My “taste” of this problem, though it has was lasting through my childhood and profoundly shaped my awareness and my ethics, does not qualify me to speak on the experience of being black in America. There is a whole other level of literal danger black people are subjected to and taught to know about that was not part of my experience.
But having been that PITA person who speaks up at a dinner party for the people who would never be at that dinner party is familiar to me. I have been doing it for more than 30 years. So I’m a bit impatient with all of the other white adults that are just now getting a clue. I will admit to being unusually unsympathetic to the people now who are just getting it. But you can see that I have been waiting a long time. And I do agree that it’s better late than never. I am hopeful to see what might change this time.
I’ve found that telling people that you find their racist remarks offensive and that they make you uncomfortable is the only way to deal with that sort of situation. If they don’t respect your feelings, leave.
I was raised by parents that didn’t teach me racism, or discrimination against any ethnic group or religion, and it’s true that you have to be taught to be an intolerant person and to hate people that you’ve never met.
In the community where I was raised racist jokes were not OK. That doesn’t mean that there were no racists among us, there probably were, but they knew that their racism was unacceptable to the majority and kept it to themselves when in school and when in other people’s homes.
Therefore I was stunned when, as an adult, I first heard people being openly racist. I have left a gathering for that reason as well. All you can do is to explain that you find their views offensive and appalling, if they don’t get it then leave and choose not to associate with them in the future. Surprisingly there are usually other people present that are offended as well, but they don’t speak up and I’m not sure why, but that’s another reason to speak up. Sometimes people don’t have the courage and need an example.
In my experience, the guilty parties were not as educated, or as thoughtful, or as kind to others, as the people of color and the gay people whom they were disparaging. I point that out to them as well.
Thankfully I again live in an area where racist jokes and ideology aren’t shared in polite company, because it’s considered ignorant, shameful and unacceptable by most people.
We have such a long way to go. People may be silent in their racist beliefs and stereotypes but they’re obviously there, lurking beneath the surface.
If anything is to change it has to begin with parents teaching their children not to hate, and with the purge of racism from our laws, our institutions and our Government.
We had so much hope during the civil rights movement in the 60’s and 70’s and it’s so disappointing that we are no closer to “justice for all” then we were 50 or 60 years ago.:no:
Far from racist, my friend. Very far from racist.
“The problem with making assumptions is that we believe they are the truth. We make an assumption. We misunderstand. We take it personally. Then we react by sending an emotional poison with our word. This creates drama, for nothing”
Never once said anything racist on the racing forum. I will stand by that word.
And for fact; I am an owner. A lot of owners in the racing industry don’t care to get involved in the inner-workings of the industry. They invest their money and stand back and let the professionals handle it. The professionals often prefer this course of action. My stable is a portfolio of sorts. I can walk into any of the sales I so choose and have done so. As a spectator and a buyer; but again my buying is done by people I trust, for me. I let the professionals handle it.
So say I acknowledge it. I did not deny its existence. What does acknowledging something do> I have yet to see anyone provide a plan as to what would be acceptable in modern-day society. Sophie Gochman can complain like the entitled, spoiled teenager that she is. Its great that she acknowledges it; though! But what are each of us going to personally do to change it? What is the industry going to change it within the industry? I am all years and I have yet to see one ounce of constructive conversation here that would provide some insight into how this should be addressed. I am all ears and I have been waiting…
Have any of you wrote to your employers? Taken this upon with your city government? Emailed or called your government officials? Reached out to your African american friends and personally asked what their thoughts are on this subject? how do they personally feel? What they think needs to be changed?
Personally attacking Missy Clark for her point of view is not solving anything.
My post was a theoretical standpoint. Get with it. Perhaps I should have worded it differently. The argument is a valid one which had been had within many circles of many of my friendships. A friend actually brought up that point about having to apologize for being white nowadays. This goes along the lines of far left individuals taking photos of their toddler children holding signs that say “I am sorry I was born privileged, I am sorry I am white, I am sorry”.
Perhaps maybe, just maybe, all of you cannot understand that you refuse to see what you are doing to your own race. The idea that this “movement” is putting in the heads of others.
Your white privilege argument is in-fact putting shame and guilt upon those who are born Caucasian. I find that incredibly cringe-worthy, pathetic, and sad.
For your information my father is African American. My mother is Caucasian. I am considered Black in society.
If it is true (big if) that society considers you to be African American it’s Interesting that you consider yourself white.
As for the rest of your post, your friend’s “felling that they have to apologize for being white nowadays” is pathological and is a personal problem that is uncommon. Movements don’t put ideas in peoples heads, mentally healthy people are capable of thinking for themselves.
No one is taking pictures of toddlers with signs apologizing for their race. That is some paranoid racist fantasy, or a very sick photo shop.
[bolding mine] Couldn’t have said it better. It’s a strange group you run with, snaffle, if this is their take away from what’s happening. But given your posts and your abundant inaccuracies and self-contradictions, I’m not surprised you’re hanging about with a bunch of delusional white conspiracy theorists who feel they are oppressed. What you (and your oppressed white crew) call “shame and guilt” is merely “education and understanding” as seen through the lens of people for whom the present system works very well and who don’t want it to change. As the saying goes, “When you’re accustomed to privilege, equality feels like oppression.”
Too bad, so sad. Time is long past due for a seismic change.
Sorry snaffle, you don’t own or breed racehorses, no matter how many times you try to convince people that you do. That fact has been made clear by you and your own posts. You seem to lose track of what you write from day to day.
Trying to explain your ignorance where racing, breeding and sales are concerned by claiming you just own horses and let others do the work is pitiful.
I can’t recall who the “real” COTHer was, but she admitted to creating the Palm Beach account expressly to be a troll. It all unraveled in the Horse Care subforum.
