“especially given the widespread rise of “white identity” politics that both far eclipses any other identity politics these days and is focused on making life worse for non-white people,”
I don’t know what world you live in, but it doesn’t appear to be the real world (at least on this one issue, I have seen very sensible posts from you on a wide range of other issues).
I know a lot of people that left my school zone because the school was becoming blacker. I remember a parent at a school board meeting specifically making the claim that redistricting them to the black school would be “punishing the goose that lays the golden eggs”. This is, of course, anecdotal, but White Flight has been a proven thing for decades @bhs1978.
In my neighborhood parents who care, not matter their race, try to get their chid into a magnet school or a private school. The public schools are considered unsafe and concerned parents want a positive learning environment. I don’t think most people want to move. They do though when they are concerned about their child getting beaten up.
My “White” kids are a minority in our school district and their high school.
Earlier this year they did a schoolwide exercise to discover their level of “privilege”.
Some Asian, Hispanic, Black, Indian and Muslim kids-all quite “privileged” economically- stood up to tell tales of woe and discrimination.
What exactly is the point of this?
Also, my kids have been assigned reading each year about the plight of Blacks, Hispanics, Native Americans, Asians… and how they have suffered because of White people.
At some point it’s just too much.
We are probably one of the least affluent families at their school. My kids work hard, and we don’t take vacations.
The reactions here seem to support an untapped perceived victimization that allows alt-right hate groups to foster resentment and channel that into more division.
Many will continue to cry foul and refuse to see the larger, historical context of racism in our country. That’s unfortunate and as a educator makes me fearful for our country’s future.
That a group has taken on a campaign to tap that resentment on our college campuses is very frightening. Why aren’t folks focused on the rise of these hate groups. Southern Poverty Law has documented the rise of these groups. We need to name them for what they are; domestic terrorists.
@lalalander111 I’m confused. Because your family is not wealthy, that means schools should not give an accurate account of history? Are you upset your kids are reading about the nation’s history? How much knowledge on factual things like slavery, Jim Crow, genocide, etc. are “too much” for you? Should your kids not learn about those things? What would you prefer those classes to teach instead.
Also your disregard for the stories of those people is very telling. For some people, those tales of “woe” will stay with them for a lifetime. I consider myself very privileged economically, but I can still recall the time I was physically assaulted because I was talking to a white girl and administration didn’t believe me. I can still tense up when I remember having a drunk guy scream slurs at me in the middle of frat row and watching everyone carry on as if nothing had happened. Money doesn’t make you more comfortable when the police are near, or when you’re being followed around the store.
You don’t get to minimize the experiences of other people just because they have money. Similarly, your struggles and your story should not be minimized just because of your race. Everyone has a story to tell, the important thing is making sure we understand the value in those stories. We all come in with different positionalities, and it’s important to know how that affects how we interact with the world.
@lalalander111
My younger son attended a predominately AfricanAmerica k-8. He is white. I count his experience there as one of the most important life lessons he’s had. Was it easy for him? No, but it forced him to see the world through the lenses of being in a minority. Many questioned our decision to send him there saying we were sacrificing his future. My husband and I felt, and still do that an education is beyond book learning. Education must prepare you for anever changing world. The work of undoing centuries of racism is difficult, messy at best but it must be done.
So an “accurate account of history” which demonizes white Europeans is the new reality?
Lesson learned. If one thinks of oneself as a victim, then it becomes true.
There is no point in arguing…or discussing… the matter.
You have posted no examples of the ways in which white Europeans were demonized in the lesson plans. I’m also not sure why we should pretend the value systems of the colonizers were good. If we want the future generations to treat everyone as equals, we should probably be critical of how our predecessors have failed to do that…
You said: “Also, my kids have been assigned reading each year about the plight of Blacks, Hispanics, Native Americans, Asians… and how they have suffered because of White people.
At some point it’s just too much.”
I simply asked you what you would like the lesson plans to discuss. I’m not sure why stating “slavery happened and was bad”, “genocide happened and was bad”, or “exploitation happened and was bad” are controversial statements. . I’m just asking you which plights shouldn’t be discussed? Which ones are too much?
Should we not discuss the horrors of the transcontinental railroad, slavery, genocide? If you don’t think your kids should learn about those things, I’m just asking you to justify it.
@lalalander111
I work at a MS in a very liberal part of the state and I can assure you no amount of “demonizing white Europeans” is occurring. Our textbooks still overwhelmingly tell the story of white, Anglo Europeans… People of color are still relagated to the margins; an occasional paragraph or vocabulary term.
If, as mentioned above, you object to the mention of any possible negative influence white Americans may have had (Calhoun, Jackson, Internment Camps etc) then I’m not sure how you expect the history of our country should be taught…
It’s reality and pretending it didn’t exist doesn’t make it go away. Our kids are smarter than that. Hell, they’re smarter than most adults.
Let me see if I got this right.
White people leave a neighborhood when minorities come into the neighborhood and this is called white flight which is racist.
White people start moving into a minority neighborhood and this is called gentrification which is racist.
When everything you do is called racist, you become immune to the charge and no longer care.
That’s a drastic oversimplification of both of those concepts…
White Flight is purposefully moving to get away from minorities…which is racist.
Gentrification is more of an economic concept than a racial one, but is more controversial because it can lead to displacement and pricing people out of their residences. There are of course racial components, especially as gentrification can change neighborhood culture/artistic integrity within an area, but that’s less of a tangible harm.
If you don’t care about racism that’s a personal failing on your part…
There’s a very good YouTube video that can help people understand what is usually meant by the concept of ‘privilege’. The video has some flaws - which people point out in the comments- but overall I find it to be very helpful and powerful.
Google on YouTube “life of privilege $100 race”
There are those who go so far as to say that all whites are racists because they are white. What would “caring” look like then? Dyeing yourself black?
I think people tend to move to quality for education. We are white and moved my son to a charter school to get away from the predominantly white middle school he would attend. The charter school was 50%+ Asian. If the charter school was 50%+ hispanic or african-american we would have also moved him if the results were better.
In our affluent area, while the schools tend to perform well on state tests, folks are much more interested in sports and while DS is athletic and very good at sports, we value academics over sports.
Re neighborhoods, my father lived in a rural area where much of the farm land is being developed. Across the road from his home several homes have been built that are now owned by Hispanics that sit outside and play music very loudly, they have large family parties, park cars haphazardly, etc. It is certainly their home and they are within their rights to do so but my white father does not like it and will move soon. It has nothing to do with color though.
I am saying when everything a person does is called racist, the word “racist” loses its meaning. It is like the story of the boy who cried wolf.
It’s ironic the minority is being told he doesn’t understand racism.
“…White Flight is purposefully moving to get away from minorities…which is racist…”
No, I don’t think that’s accurate. Our city is a classic example of White Flight. In the 70s, the factories that provided good jobs began to close. A large new shopping mall was built in what used to be farm land. The downtown withered and then died. Small butchers and grocery stores shuttered, replaced by large modern grocery chains. Old homes were carved up into rentals.
Businesses relocated en masse to more affluent new suburbs in a more central location.
Entire tracts of farmland further & further out in the county were converted into subdivisions and new suburbs grew and grew and grew, as our city was filling up with the working poor and became further distressed.
Families who could afford to move to a better location did. New middle class families were not eager to choose our declining city. There were better options, even within 10 miles.
White Flight is an economic story. Yes, there is a socio-economic & racial component, but large scale changes in economics set the wheels in motion.
@Midwest167
White Flight as I’ve heard it used, has always referred to the deliberate act of moving away from minorities. I could of course be wrong, but I don’t think you can sever the racial aspect of White Flight and simply call it an economic phenomenon. Beyond that, even if economic changes set the wheels in motion, that doesn’t really answer the cases of people being motivated to move out of areas simply because minorities moved in. Otherwise, it’d just be called “Flight”. Kevin Kruse has a book (White Flight: Atlanta and the Making of Modern Conservatism) that talks about White Flight in the context of desegregation/integration of Atlanta’s schools, and how people attempted to move to areas without a large minority presence.
Beyond that, White Flight is then supported by different forms of housing discrimination and redlining that allowed for homeowners, renters, and realtors to attempt to discriminate against African Americans attempting to move into white areas.
There was also a study, which I can’t recall the name of at the moment, that talked about how though people claim to want to live in racially diverse areas, when it comes to actually buying property, white Americans looked for much less diverse areas to live in.
But yeah, there’s probably a good chance that there are different applications of the term. I’ve simply only heard it in a strictly racial context.
You’re making my point for me here. I’m not trying to get YOU to defend anything.