Not the Post I Wanted to Write

I was planning on getting around to writing a post this weekend. I was going to write about how I enjoyed going sledding in the Andes and how my first week of school went quite well. But I'm not going to write about that today.

On Thursday I gave a presentation to the class about the American education system. It went well; I held peoples attention and they were interested in the topic. Afterwards about ten students stuck around to talk to me. How long did it take for someone to ask me about racism in the United States? About three minutes. We touched on school segregation and the Delmar divide before another class was coming in and I promised that we could revisit the topic in the future.

I think that there's a solid chance that of the about 100 students in this class, someone will have heard about what happened in Virginia today. I am looking at a very real possibility that I may be asked about it. My answer is not going to be some bullshit about how terrible this one event was, how bad hate and violence are, how we all need to unite and how all white people in the country aren't racist.

My job is to educate students about American culture, and my answer will be an absolute acknowledgement of the racial structures of power and personhood that are an integral part of the country. My answer will be about those who fight to maintain white power and privilege, those who fight to dismantle it in the name of what we are told America is supposed to be, and those who live as though there is no fight at all.

I know people who might just say that we don't know the full story, that it's about politics and free speech, that violence in any case is bad and no side is perfect. Critically, they might directly or indirectly deny that the United States is far, far from having dealt with racism. With the little bit of traveling I've done, the one thing I've learned most is how little I know. But one thing I can tell you: The rest of the world sees us, and they are not in denial.