Topic Content
- Preface: We are not trying to speak for the black community but rather are pulling from reputable resources to facilitate discussion.
- 1) Racism as a cultural phenomenon: which originated from the differences in skin color and we experience this in South Asian countries as well. There is a deeply rooted, discriminatory association of darkness with bad or evil and white with fairness. (Malcom X film)
- 2) Racism is deeply rooted in institutions: Generally, there is a notion in the South Asian community that hard work brings success. Therefore, to discuss the structures of institutional racism that black people have faced, discuss a few of the following historical examples such as:
- Jim Crow Laws: For example, Black Americans could not rent white-owned properties in many states. Even printing and circulation of media that argued for social equality of interracial marriage was punishable by crime.
- Redlining: the systematic denial of government services, like health care, and financial services, like banking, insurance, and housing loans, to many Black residents
- The Black Wall Street Massacre: In 1921, mobs of white residents attacked black residents and destroyed thriving black businesses in a community of Tulsa, Oklahoma called “Black Wall Street.” And this massacre was largely omitted from history textbooks.
- The American education system fails to properly educate students about race and black history, so we have to talk about it at home to be more aware of what is happening today.
Questions asked by the Community
During the discussion period, many parents asked their children if they learned about some of these examples of black history in school, and all of them said no.
A question to us: "Did you learn about these events of black history in college?"
They were visibly disappointed by the blatant lack of education on this topic in the school system, and one parent even suggested discussing this issue with PTA (parent-teacher) groups.
A question to us: "Did you learn about these events of black history in college?"
- No, unfortunately we did not, we had to educate ourselves on these topics, drawing from literature written by black authors, the many resources that Black Lives Matter and many black-led organizations have shared, and organizations such as South Asians 4 Black Lives
They were visibly disappointed by the blatant lack of education on this topic in the school system, and one parent even suggested discussing this issue with PTA (parent-teacher) groups.