For this month’s article, I thought I’d include an email I recently sent to a professor in regards to her problematic class culture. This is an example of a message I wish I had the energy to send to each person who has fucked with me: professors, students, community members and all.

Here’s the email in quotes, and added GIFs for your viewing pleasure.

“Dear Professor XXXXX

As you know, I dropped your class. I think it’s important you know the reasons why I left the class, because these experiences fall into a similar pattern of instances I’ve experienced in the English department, and the university as a whole (not to mention my daily life).

Your last email to me posed a question: “How can we make discussions more engaging?”

Although I am not in your class anymore, the reasons why I dropped answer this question. I don’t think it’s necessarily my responsibility to figure out ways to make class more engaging as a student, and moreover as a student of color at a predominantly white institution, but here are some suggestions nonetheless.

1) Take the time to learn the correct pronunciations of your students’ names

You asked me at least three times within the first two weeks of class how to pronounce my name my name, and each time I told you how, and you proceeded to pronounce my name in a completely different Americanized way.

The unmistakable difference between the pronunciations confused me. I didn’t understand how you seemingly did not notice the difference, even though I frequently said “that’s not what I said,” after you incorrectly said my name. I never introduced myself to you as “tan-vee” and didn’t understand why you couldn’t hear a difference in the way I said my name and you said my name.

Perhaps I would have felt more engaged in discussion if you had given me a base level of respect by saying my name correctly, or at least asking me to repeat my name so you could learn to say it properly.

2) Acknowledge difference

When I included in my discussion post that I felt tired of unrecognizable bible references, and you began class the next day with a passive aggressive “look it up,” I interpreted that response as a signal that you think my unfamiliarity with the bible is a coincidence, like not knowing French, or not knowing ballet: as if my brownness has nothing to do with my frustration and unfamiliarity with a Judeo-Christian dominated canon that your class perpetuated.

Telling a nonwhite non-Christian student to just “look up” bible references completely ignores that obviously this country prioritizes narratives by and about Judeo-Christian followers in such a diverse place.

Also, calling your class “American Literature” and only including 2 authors of color is a serious misrepresentation of America, and the art its citizens create. Multiple times, you communicated the difficulty of travel arrangements, and while I understand that, the reality is that we ended up with a syllabus dominated by the same kinds of people and that values stories written and focused on white Americans.

You continually used the phrase “left out” to describe my feelings about Christianity references and the content of my post, which trivializes and minimalizes the systemic erasure of stories by and about people of color and non-Christian folks. I didn’t just feel “left out.” I felt alienated by your syllabus and by your comments. I felt the toll of the institutional racism in your class.

3) Stop silencing race critical commentary

I sent you a discussion post that centered on race representation (or lack thereof) and you asked me why I didn’t discuss something I “really want to examine,” and something that would enable a “shrewd” essay in the future. You implied that I am not passionate about the topics I discussed and that questioning a class syllabus’s whiteness is not worth probing.

Your tone in the email indicated to me that you didn’t value the content of my post, you don’t seem to value critiques of your syllabus choices based on race. This clear devaluing of this topic did not motivate me to participate in class; after all, you pretty much indicated that what I wanted to discuss was a waste of everyone’s time.

4) Don’t tokenize your students: in this case, your students of color.

During a discussion about the second book when you defended your syllabus choices and explained the difficulty of travel arrangements, you articulated a situation in which you communicated with a black writer, but she wasn’t able to find a ride from the airport. You called me out and said, “Tanvi!” once again, mispronouncing my name, “I should have volunteered you to pick up [black writer’s name] at the airport!”

I don’t know if this was a defensive comment on your part, or you simply didn’t understand what you were saying, but this was hurtful. This instance represents one of the clearest instances of targeted racism I’ve ever experienced in a classroom. It is inappropriate to single out one of your only students of color who has raised questions about your syllabus and volunteer her for a task for which she’s not responsible.

I’m not sure how else to explain the extremely problematic nature of this instance. You may have been trying to “include” me in a class discussion, but I interpreted and experienced you tokenizing me for my brownness and my radical perspective.

I could not bear thinking about spending another day in that class. You humiliated me in front of my peers. Your comments contributed to the trauma of racism that I experience every day. While you seemed unaware, the emotional toll what you said in class overwhelmed me and forced me to leave class in order to recuperate, and eventually, leave your class permanently.

I’m sharing this with you so that you understand the problem that plagues the department, the school, and this whole country. This class is NOT the first class in which I’ve somehow felt tokenized and erased at the same time, not even the only one this semester.

While I don’t want to speak for others, I can say that instances like these affect students and their ability to excel, or even feel motivated in their academic environments. I’m tired of paying thousands of dollars every year to feel victimized and alienated in classrooms.”

The idea of “decolonizing our minds” is included in the writings of the author, feminist and social activist bell hooks. She encourages us to critically examine every thought and action, free ourselves from the coercive ideologies, and overcome the impacts of structural oppression. This column will analyze spaces and times where and when we can pause and make strides in this arduous process, and also highlight figures who are helping us to decolonize ourselves.

The post Decolonize Your Mind: Exhibit “Screw You” appeared first on KRUI Radio.

This month, like every other month, has brought a whole new set of experiences regarding microaggressions, racism, discrimination and tokenism in my life. However, I feel like people have been exceptionally passive lately. The more I converse with the people around me about the necessity of a revolution in the way we think and act, the more I realize that people speak such empty words about activism.

I’m being very vague. Let me provide you with some sobering, concrete examples.

Recently, I started reading a book for a class that CLAIMS to be “postcolonial,” despite assigning 5/6 novels by white women. So I’m reading this book, and the writer starts making really problematic comparisons between animals and people. She literally calls prairie dogs “the untouchables,” and she compares their existence to “fists raised to the sky,” unmistakable black power movement imagery. Before I got to page 100, I had marked ten instances that made included racist/problematic rhetoric.

I went to my professor’s office hours, and I explained to her why I didn’t want to finish the book. She acted very concerned but ended up saying really condescending things like “maybe you’ll get to the point where you can read this book in the future,” as if I wasn’t mature enough to read racist literature.

The most frustrating part of our meeting happened when I expressed frustration about problematic comments made in class that went unchecked, and she told me that she heard them too.

The gif accurately mirrors my reaction to her statement.

This is almost worse, now. You hear the comments. You understand the issues with them. Then, in a classic ignorant-white-person fashion, you decide on silence, passivity, and inaction. GREAT.

She even went as far as saying she didn’t want to be “confrontational” when responding to these ignorant comments.

I understand choosing the methods of communication carefully in order to maximize effectiveness. However, she has sacrificed a safe classroom and prioritized her own methods. Fine. If that’s the decision she has made, I suppose I’ll have to deal with it. But I won’t stay quiet in her class.

A few days later, I was sitting in my class about Renaissance literature, and my teacher insisted on analyzing the minute differences in each printing of Shakespeare’s “King Lear.” I asked my professor if these differences had any meaning, since printing in the 1600s was a process prone to error. He admitted I was right. Victory.

Wrong. A girl sitting behind me said something about how it’s fair to critique the literary canon, but “don’t you read Shakespeare and think that he perfectly sums up the human experience?”

Shakespeare is a white man, and can only discuss his own experiences. He will never know what it’s like to be any other person in the whole world. When I explained this, some white guy shot back “it’s not about ra-”

“It’s not about race, it’s about being human.” I explained to him that the intention of eurocentric, patriarchal discourse is to make people think that the white man’s experience can extend to all; in reality, this ignores the nuance of nonwhite people and other diverse groups. I realized at one point in the “discussion,” I was sitting in the middle of the classroom with people from all corners of the room throwing shit towards me, discounting my words, invalidating my message.

I looked to my professor for affirmation, and he decided to change the fucking subject.

He didn’t even address anything I said, and just moved the fuck on.

His reaction was honestly worse than arguing against anything I had to say, because he gave me the impression that he could not care less. My words meant nothing, and he clearly did not want to waste time responding to me.

So I no longer participate in class.

Since April is Sexual Assault Activism Month, let’s talk about this school’s “activism.”

I’m tired of the “It’s On Us” campaign against sexual assault on college campuses. The empty slogan places the responsibility of prevention on bystander intervention, when most sexual assaults on our campus (and in general) happened in a residence hall or private housing situation, and by an acquaintance. Realistically, bystander intervention is not the most effective way to prevent these assaults.

It’s not on “us,” it’s on rapists and predators to NOT assault people. The university’s approach reflects an avoidance and misunderstanding of the nature of the problem, and they seem to just want students to take care of it themselves.

I’m done with people who knowingly hang out with rapists.

I’m so sick of the people around me choosing inaction.

I’m so frustrated with people who approach me after class to tell me they agreed with me, but didn’t actually speak up in class to support my ideas.

I’m tired of people who claim to understand racism and other forms of discrimination, and don’t speak out when they hear or see acts of prejudice.

DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT, DAMMIT. BE PROACTIVE. MAKE THE CHOICE TO RESIST. 

The idea of “decolonizing our minds” is included in the writings of the author, feminist and social activist bell hooks. She encourages us to critically examine every thought and action, free ourselves from the coercive ideologies, and overcome the impacts of structural oppression. This bimonthly column will analyze spaces and times where and when we can pause and make strides in this arduous process, and also highlight figures who are helping us to decolonize ourselves. 

The post Decolonize Your Mind: Passivity is NOT an Option appeared first on KRUI Radio.

Within three consecutive days this month on campus, I heard some of the most prejudiced bullshit by ignorant, white people that I’ve ever heard.

I can’t say I’m very surprised. Although Iowa City has touted its ranking on many lists as a liberal haven in the Midwest, prejudiced attitudes pervade our society, especially on a college campus with so many people from different parts of the world.

Wednesday, October 7th: While eating my sub-par pizza at Burge, I heard two kids next to me talking about international students, specifically those from China. They both agreed that Chinese students insisted on remaining anti-social and only hanging out with other Chinese students, making them “kinda racist.” I whipped my head around and squinted my eyes as if to say “Seriously?” and that seemed to shut them up.

Firstly, nonwhite people cannot be racist to white people because only the latter group occupies a privileged place in society benefiting from institutional structures. Only white people can be racist.

Watch this short, blunt for more information.

Secondly, people don’t owe you shit! The individuals you’re referring to probably knew that you’re an unfriendly, prejudiced ass-hat with whom spending time would not be enjoyable!

Refer to the graphic below for more information.

These kinds of racist conversations probably happen thousands of times a day all across campus, but the more surprising and in my opinion, important, interactions occur in the classroom.

Thursday, October 8th: One of my classes required that students perform speeches regarding food advertisements’ strategies effectiveness. Because my TA showed examples critiquing the unhealthy nature of fast food and connecting that to weight gain, 75% of my class read speeches that drew a direct connection between unhealthy eating habits and all fat people, and denounced those body types.

This argument relies on a post hoc fallacy, and more importantly, makes certain assumptions about fat people that enforce western beauty standards and through fat-shaming. As someone whose body does not conform to western beauty standards, I sat through 13 speeches that expressed disgust with my body type, and also connected the shape of my body to poor eating habits.

I do not eat fast food. I will mooch a fry from my friends or get a cookie from McDonald’s, but my diet does not consist of regular trips to Burger King, Wendy’s or any other fast food place. I am also healthy, and the fact that all of these people including my teacher correlated my appearance which does not appeal to Eurocentric beauty expectations to my dietary choices pisses me the fuck off.

How dare you police my body and impose your arbitrary, oppressive expectations on me? How dare you judge a person’s life choices based on physical appearances you have been brainwashed to value over other ones? Fat people do not exist to make you feel better or act as a threatening example for you. There is no wrong way to have a body.

My teacher, the only person with authority in the room, failed to say anything. I did not expect her to interrupt a speech to highlight the offensive nature of the topic, but she didn’t say ANYTHING! Not even after the whole unit ended! When I wrote about my frustration in my project feedback, she finally acknowledged how upsetting the content of the speeches may have felt to students in the class and simply said she “wondered how we can do better.”

Passivity seems to be the primary approach that TAs use to deal with difficult issues like these, since the same kind of situation happened in another one of my classes.

Friday, October 9th: The most incredulous example of racism I experienced that week happened in the classroom, again. During a discussion about postcolonial criticism, one white guy in my English class described the mass murder of indigenous people with European diseases as biologically “upgrading the Native Americans.” Another white guy immediately called him on his racist rhetoric, which I appreciated, but I wasn’t satisfied for long. The second white guy proceeded to pride himself on the number of nonwhite authors he has read, but when I asked him which authors he liked, he said the names were too long and confusing, so he “didn’t bother learning them.”

In ten minutes, one white man erased thousands of years of the slaughter of indigenous people and somehow managed to frame it into the idea of American exceptionalism: the idea that this country has no colonial past and was founded on pure intentions. Then, another white man single-handedly disrespected all nonwhite author whose name had an unfamiliar sequence of letters, thereby disregarding the creators of literature which markedly reduces the influences of the texts. How fucking rude.

I impatiently waited for my TA to say something and ask people to choose their words more carefully, acknowledging the problematic discourse. However, he basically coddled the two men and told them mistakes were acceptable and to learn from them. That’s not enough for me.

I understand that a fine line exists between attacking a student and educating someone on their prejudiced ideas, but as an educator, he had a responsibility to figure out his role in those kind of situations and carry it the fuck out. As a woman of color in a predominantly white male class, I do not and cannot have the sole responsibility of being the spokesperson for all people of color and calling out racism, especially in an environment where I am outnumbered.

I met with my TA about my uncomfortable feelings during the discussion section, and told him that if that was how he would deal with slightly difficult interactions between students, I did not want to attend class anymore. He sympathized with my feelings and told me he wished he had been more prepared of what to say at the time. He also expressed apprehension about policing that sort of speech in the classroom, and worried about imposing his political beliefs on his students.

I’m pretty skeptical of that concern, but he does beg the question about how to separate the two. In my mind, the comments those two white guys made conveyed racist ideas and they offended me. They are objectively wrong. Others may not share this idea, so where does that leave us? This is a question that requires the attention of academia immediately.

According to this Guardian article by Rachel Williams, less than 10% of university professors are nonwhite which means that white professors dominate almost all conversations regarding race.

If they cannot distinguish the forcing of their political beliefs from preventing prejudiced comments among their own community, college campuses won’t have this ability either, and nor will college classrooms: a place where students’ minds should stretch and expand and become educated.

Racism and prejudices still exist; that’s pretty much common sense. However, when supposedly educated people with authority allow these attitudes to pervade a setting like a classroom, the problem becomes systematic and arguably state-sanctioned. We must work to decolonize classrooms, where students and teachers should engage in productive, educational conversations. This task lies with academia, and needs their attention now.

The post Decolonize Your Mind: In the Classroom appeared first on KRUI Radio.