alycewilson | (Reply)

I laughed out loud at your first line (It kind of reminded me of that joke "if it weren't for my horse, I never would have spent that year in college", or however it goes!) But this was overall a really good story! I don't know if I have any one specific "this was the moment I understood" kind of story where racism is concerned, but through a series of life experiences I've also learned about my own ignorance. It's really important to challenge these kinds of things on an ongoing way and challenge your notions or assumptions. Bless Miss Diaz... I can only imagine that teachers encounter so much crap. But they can also impact students, like being there for Carolina, or even having to sit down and do something really difficult like teach you. But you did the best you could by being moved by that and learning from it, and even though it would be great if people didn't have to have conversations anymore like "ps, that's actually kinda racist, can we try again?" I think what matters is what you do after you learn. My sister was a professor of sociology for a while doing student teaching while working on her PhD and would have to teach or address with students things like race, gender, class, and so on. She would say that it wasn't so much the problem when students didn't know it, but that when they are taught about it or shown, when they are resistant or blow it off or don't learn from it that it's really when it gets shitty.

All we can really do is apologize from the heart, and go forward learned and determined to do better.

Nice piece!