Join the Community Sign up for free access to premium content, valuable teaching resources, and much more. Get Free Premium Access
Last week, I offered some suggestions for how to prepare and manage discussions about racism and other difficult topics with students. Inspired by a conversation with Lillian Mina on Facebook this afternoon, I’m following up with a classroom activity with a real-world scenario that involves racism, rather than a fictional situation.
Naturally, there is plenty of room for fictional scenarios and the safety net they provide when we discuss these issues. I plan to share some fictional cases in the coming weeks, in fact. The problem is that those fictional scenarios sometimes feel a bit fake to me. Still, I recognize that they have a purpose. Students can maintain a certain distance when the scenario isn’t real, even though it is based on and likely similar to experiences that students have had, seen, or heard about. A real-world scenario, on the other hand, brings authenticity into the conversation and asks students to consider the real consequences of their discussion and their decisions.
This activity focuses on the scheduled CCCC Convention slated for Kansas City next March and the Update from CCCC on Kansas City, which was sent to CCCC members yesterday. For those not in the know, the Executive Committee of CCCC is searching for the best response to the NAACP travel advisory, warning against travel to and in the state of Missouri. The dilemma focuses on the safety of CCCC members attending the convention, the demands of some members to respect the travel advisory to protect members and protest the conditions that led to the advisory, and the significant financial impact that the association will face if the convention is canceled or relocated.
This situation serves as the backdrop for the activity, but it seems unfair to ask students to choose the best solution. The CCCC Executive Committee is struggling with the decision, and they have been working for weeks even though they have a thorough understanding of the issues at play. Students are unlikely to get beyond a gut-level response in the time devoted to the activity. That kind of superficial decision trivializes the situation and the underlying issues. For that reason, this activity focuses instead on analyzing and revising the Update from CCCC on Kansas City, following these steps:
What I like about this activity is that students must engage with the racism, the potential for violence, and the concerns for safety that the document concentrates on. They cannot ignore the situation that brings the document into being, but they aren’t tasked with solving the problem. Instead, they must develop strategies to discuss racism with compassion, fairness, and honesty—and that’s something that the world needs right now.
Next week, I’ll return with some of those fictional scenarios that I mentioned at the beginning of this post. Until then, if you have suggestions for talking about racism with students or resources to share, please add a comment below.
Credit: Detail from Kansas City by Dean Hochman on Flickr, used under a CC-BY 2.0 license.
You must be a registered user to add a comment. If you've already registered, sign in. Otherwise, register and sign in.