Why pick a privileged wealthy celebrity to talk about underprivileged youth? Just because she is part black, doesn’t mean she can relate to struggles of poor black youth.
https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2019/4/29/radcliffe-vision-and-justice-2019/
I don’t see anything in that article that suggests that Shadidi was there to speak to the experience of “poorish” black children.
How “black” does a person have to be to be able to speak to anything relevant to black people? Are you suggesting that only poor black people can be affected by racism and “inequality in the political realm”?
The conference was about “the intersection of art, race, and justice.” The particular panel Ms. Shahidi was on was entitled "Race, Childhood, and Inequality in the Political Realm.” Why do you assume that a panel about race and childhood is about underprivileged youth? It was clearly about black children. A 19-year-old black college student like Ms. Shahidi has recent experience of being a black child.
Interestingly enough she is also a Native American Chocktaw by birth. So interesting perspective I’m sure. Mom is African and Native American. Dad is Iranian. So perhaps is mostly Persian ethnically but identifies as AA. Anyway an awfully interesting and unique perspective with all of these cultures.
The fact is, in our society, people who look like Ms. Shahidi are read as black, no matter what their actual ancestry is. Kamala Harris is black, even though her mother is Indian. Barack Obama is black, even though his mother was whiter than sour cream. When Ms. Shahidi was a little girl, people who saw her didn’t see her genealogy; they saw a black girl, and treated her accordingly (whatever “accordingly” was, for them).
In what way is being a person of color “privileged?”
I think they are saying someone from wealth, private school educations and wonderful parental stewardship can be privileged regardless of color.
I think he’s saying a rich “sort of” Black actress is privileged and shouldn’t be talking about Black people and their problems. Because she clearly couldn’t have ever been the recipient of racism or hard times.
I bet poor students, black or not, are too busy doing work-study to attend such fluffy events.
Of course, she could have seen multiple kinds of bigotry based on the various parts of he background.
She lives in a bubble, her rare unpleasant experiences just can’t be similar to the harsh existence an average minority kid deals with on daily basis.
Bubble, schmubble. I think you may have little idea what various sorts do endure, regardless of bank account or name recognition, education or profession.
We’re the ones in the bubble, assuming our own limited observations are all there is.
@riversider what is the definition of an “average minority kid?”
I bet you’re wrong. Assuming the event was free or very minimal cost on campus (I haven’t looked), it was probably well attended by poor students if they wanted to go. Those who qualify for work study are those who take advantage of many free things their colleges offer. It’s the wealthy kids who feel those events are often too mundane for them considering they can head to more expensive things elsewhere.
We have plenty of work-study students from our school who come back and share the interesting things they do in college. They recognize the terrific opportunities they have - partially because we tell them before they go to look for them, of course.
@4kids4us Do you consider her an average minority kid?
ps My RA son always encouraged his freshmen to find these events and attend them - any event the school sponsored that interested them. He’d go with them if he could to show kids how easy it is (getting tickets or whatever) as they often don’t know how. For some things they had to get tickets quickly or space would be gone due to the events being popular. Kids would take turns waiting in line allowing them to still work or attend class when needed.
@Riversider There is no check list that determines if someone is “average.” Yara and her family have their experiences and they are valid.
Disclosure: I HATE it when people tell me that my kids are not Latina enough because they are not dark, short,speak with an accent, or grow up in poverty.
Just like there is no one way to be an average white person, minorities have a variety of backgrounds.
People who believe that these kinds of token actions could change our society’s foes are living in a bubble, nontransparent, elite bubble!
I know nothing about her @Riversider but I want to know what you consider an “average” minority kid. You used the phrase so please define it.
No one who is a student or invited speaker at Harvard is likely to be “average” in any sense of the word regarding a more general population.
But that does not necessarily make any such person’s opinion or experiences invalid.