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.

However, based on my experiences this past semester, I think we should reevaluate.

Regular readers of this column will recall my TA who felt inconvenienced by my request that he call out racist comments in the classroom. That’s just one example of people around me who choose passivity instead of action.

Last month, I sat through an entire lecture about the Harlem Renaissance for an English class and my professor (who has been published and received awards for her work) did not use the words race, racism, black, or African-American the whole time.

Her lecture erased history. Her decision to use call the Harlem Renaissance “a distinctly American movement” represents an unwillingness to factually describing the time period as a movement to demonstrate black excellence. She intentionally avoided using any words that related to race! She’s complicit in a larger problem that plagues our world: historical revisionism. This issue has become apparent in Texas, Japan, South Korea, and so many other places. In this country, this problem usually happens with nonwhite history, like my English professor propagating lies about black history. So much for progressive.

Several other experiences revealed to me the saddening truth about academia.

I recently turned in a final paper for a class in which I researched and explained how our usage of language always already privileges a male viewpoint, and provided ample support from reliable sources, but I still lost points for “absolutism.” I also cited a scholar’s interpretation of a poem, and wrote that I thought it was flawed and misguided. Then I lost points for claiming that a scholar could make such a mistake.

Because of my status as an undergraduate student, my professor seems to indicate that I am barred from criticizing scholarly work and drawing conclusions that disrupt the status quo. If we claim that certain people’s opinions are inviolable or invulnerable to criticism, how exactly are we supposed to evolve and better the world?

Apparently, we’re not.

The fact that academia is still dominated by older white men displays the unwillingness of people to accept other viewpoints that don’t comply with heteronormative expectations. If people were truly invested in the narratives of people of color, non-heterosexual people, and other groups, then the population of scholars would not be so homogeneous.

This graphic displays the lack of diversity in college faculty. Even in schools where nonwhite students hold the majority, the faculty remains mostly white.

These inequalities extend to gender, too. The graph below displays the imbalance between men and women in various faculty ranks nationwide.

Why do I and so many other marginalized people often feel alone in raising these issues in classrooms and academic spaces?

The idleness and passivity of my peers reflects a deeply-rooted privileged mindset that allows people to watch these injustices happen instead of fight back.

Police kill innocent black children and are not punished, much of congress wants to defund programs for women’s health, white men who terrorize the world still evade the label terrorists, and this dumpster fire of a human being is leading in the polls for president.

That’s why I become so angry when the school I attend and the people in authority take every opportunity to shut down my small acts of resistance. People say college is about learning to change the world, and even in the smallest instances, my attempts were denied. My experiences and those of so many other people of color and marginalized populations demonstrate the clear illusion of progress in academia.

Let’s work together to change that.

Refuse to be content with our society.

Voice your opinions and debate your superiors.

Write provocative papers and ask pressing questions.

Be critical of yourself, your peers, your relationships, and communities.

Work to decolonize your mind in every instance.

Let’s transform academia from a stifling atmosphere into a space that fosters revolutionary thought.

The idea of “decolonizing our minds” comes from 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 monthly 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: Resist Every Day appeared first on KRUI Radio.

Next, was Kembrew McLeod. McLeod read from his just released book, Pranksters, which tracked the role pranksters have played in English and American society since the likes of Jonathan Swift and Benjamin Franklin. He read from his book that he had “no interest in cruelty” and chose only to include pranks that had the aim of enacting some sort of change, whether it was social, cultural, political, or economical. Considering the subject matter, it wasn’t surprising that McLeod’s reading was light, sarcastic, and had the perfect amount of dry wit to keep the audience surprised and laughing. The Q&A session largely revolved around McLeod’s own pranks, which include him dressing up more than once as a robot to get noticed by big politicians.

Prairie Lights Bookstore is now selling copies of Made to Break and Pranksters. McLeod has also provided Prairie Lights with prankster trading cards, giving synopses of some of his favorite pranks featured in his book.

The post Mission Creek: Kembrew McLeod & D. Voy Reading @ Prairie Lights, 4/2/14 appeared first on KRUI Radio.

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