Assignment B - Taking it All Home!

This week's reading was theTeaching Tolerance article Teaching at the Intersections by Monita K. Bell. In this article, the idea of 'intersectionality' is discussed, and what that means for educators and our students. Various student experiences are discussed throughout the article as a way to make sense of the idea of intersectionality. In my experience, intersectionality has been framed as the threat of discrimination due to one or multiple of your identity markers. In this way, a student in the article, named G.G., is used as an example of the ways in which multiple markers can disadvantage someone beyond just one of their identity markers. Being black and female and queer presents the potential for increased instances of discrimination due to one, multiple, or all of those markers. In order to be effective educators, we must view our students "through an intersectional lens: recognizing that race-, gender- and class-related circumstances are contributing to her achievement issues."


Given the idea of intersectionality and the various threats marginalized identity groups may experience, it is important that we support these groups to the best of our ability. This seems like a humongous task, but there are places to start looking for advice. In a video titled 5 Tips for Being an Ally, Youtuber Franchesca discusses 5 tips she recommends in order to be an ally to marginalized groups. Though these are not the only ways in which we can support minority groups, they are helpful as starting places for those that wish to continue this work.

5 Tips for Being an Ally

1. Understand your privilege.
To me, this is an important first step for an ally. Even among members of a marginalized, some within that group maintain privilege that others may not. As an example, a member of the queer community that is white holds privilege that a POC and queer individual does not. This is true across all identity markers, and some of those markers compound privilege, for better or worse. An important note that Franchesca makes is that because you hold privilege does not mean you have not had hardship in your life. Instead, it means that your hardships have not been caused by one of your identity markers.

2. Listen and do your homework.
The idea behind doing your own homework is one that can be difficult to do at first. One way in which I have seen this play out in my own life is the inclination for white individuals to seek guidance, wisdom and advice from POC. This can create uneven and inequitable power dynamics, in which we seek to use the experiences of POC as a resource to increase our own knowledge. To avoid this, it is important that allies do their homework, researching as much on their own without forcing the marginalized group to do the work for them.

3. Speak up, but not over.
Historically, some voices in society have been given power over others. Whether it is a person 'whitesplaining' or 'mansplaining' to others, it is incredibly important to understand when our voice is adding to a conversation or drowning out the voices of others. We must be allies that speak up for our community the best we can, but not so loud that we change the narrative of a conversation we joined into.

4. You will make mistakes, but apologize when you do.
We have discussed in class that this work can be messy. We will not always say the right things, but we may not know what is right and wrong to say if we do not make these mistakes. By thinking about how what we say may affect others, we can take first steps in making sure that we make mistakes that can be learned from.

5. Remember that ally is a verb.
Finally, the idea that being an ally is a verb is one that truly ties our learning together. We are facing systemic problems of racism and misogyny and homophobia (and on and on and on), and in order to bring change, we must be active in our acts of justice. If those of us with privilege do not do our work to helps those without voice, these problems in society will continue to remain.