Good News, Less Good News
1/10/10 12:45![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
madrobinsYesterday, when I called home, Avocado told me she'd stayed late for what she called "White People's Club." She had a slightly teasing tone as she said it. She's winding me up.
Um. I repeated the name with that lilt of WTF in my voice.
"Yeah. You know. Like there's clubs for everyone except the white people, so..."
I mildly pointed out that there were clubs for African-American students and Latino students and other minority students precisely because such students face specific challenges in a society where the power has belonged to the white/European folk.
"Mom, I know that. Anyway, I was the only one who showed up aside from the advisors. So we sat around eating Oreos and talking about like, society and being white and stuff." By now I am fairly certain that my leg, as they say, is being tugged on in some fashion. I know my daughter, and however much she's making it sound like Aryan Nation ROTC, I'm pretty sure it's not.
Today she hands me the flyer. "White Club" is "Y-Step: Youth Step toward Addressing Racism," a racial justice training program designed for white-identified youth in the Bay Area, meant as a place to talk about race and identity and learn ways to challenge racism and work with other groups at her school. The good news is that she wanted to be there, and means to go back. My daughter the baby Activist.
The less good news, of course, is that she was the only one who came to the meeting.
Um. I repeated the name with that lilt of WTF in my voice.
"Yeah. You know. Like there's clubs for everyone except the white people, so..."
I mildly pointed out that there were clubs for African-American students and Latino students and other minority students precisely because such students face specific challenges in a society where the power has belonged to the white/European folk.
"Mom, I know that. Anyway, I was the only one who showed up aside from the advisors. So we sat around eating Oreos and talking about like, society and being white and stuff." By now I am fairly certain that my leg, as they say, is being tugged on in some fashion. I know my daughter, and however much she's making it sound like Aryan Nation ROTC, I'm pretty sure it's not.
Today she hands me the flyer. "White Club" is "Y-Step: Youth Step toward Addressing Racism," a racial justice training program designed for white-identified youth in the Bay Area, meant as a place to talk about race and identity and learn ways to challenge racism and work with other groups at her school. The good news is that she wanted to be there, and means to go back. My daughter the baby Activist.
The less good news, of course, is that she was the only one who came to the meeting.