Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Including white families in the celebration of cultures

I'm on the verge of something interesting.  Once a week over the past month, I have been presenting mini-assemblies to my elementary school on cultural diversity.  So far, my content has been fairly standard stuff, introducing students to pictures of my own family, inserting plentiful references to Latino, Asian, and other minority cultures.  Last week, my topic was the presence of American Indian tribes throughout all of North America (prior to the arrival of Europeans on the scene).  But this week, my vision will reach a milestone when I talk about the influence of European culture on the United States.

In all my years in public schooling, both as a child and as a teacher, I don't remember anyone ever introducing European culture within the contemporary context of diversity or cultural contributions to the United States.  "Diversity" has always been understood to reference minority cultures and perspectives.  The reasons are understandable--the language, food, clothing, and skin color of people from other parts of the world "stand out" against the backdrop of our country's white-dominant society.

One of the goals of my assembly series, therefore, (the part that I think is unusual) is to give white students a sense of inclusiveness in the discussion about diversity.  I use the term "white students" instead of "students of European ancestry" because not all white families feel a sense of connectedness to their European roots, primarily because their generational roots in the United States run so deep.  My thesis is that providing white people the space and encouragement to explore and find pride in their heritage helps minorities in the long run by placing cultural celebrations of all types in a context that is neither "us versus them" or somehow "un-American."

The other critical reason that white students need to view their identity in a cultural context is that eventually (when they are older) they need to understand that American society, though pluralistic, multi-racial, and multi-cultural, is decidedly tilted in favor of people of European ancestry--"white people," if you will.  There is such thing as a "privilege" to being white in America that extends across all economic strata.  Such a knowledge places the nagging, persistent challenges facing people of color in a more contextual, non-judgmental light.

Remember by the way, that my audience is elementary school children.  At this age level, celebration and togetherness are my core objectives.  And so in deference to the 40% of Americans who trace at least some ancestry to Britain or Germany, this week we'll have fun talking about the cultural origins of apple pies and hot dogs!

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