That crazy?

Parent Cafe
1

I am scared. With all the Black Live Matter, harassment of students at Dartmouth library. All the sensitivity and diversity trainings. I am from a multi-racial family. I am afraid that my children will be “educated” that some family members are advantaged / disadvantaged. In our extended family we have every race. Should my dad (white male) feel guilty and check his privilege? How should I navigate it? Tell kids about “re-education” camps in Maoist China? Talk PC language, participate in diversity trainings … scary.

Again, seriously considering Canada or Europe … Do you think America has hope, or would it become nuclear and hopelessly divided in future? As time is going on, it doesn’t get better. 20 years ago race relationship was much better.

2

Every country in the civilized world on the suicide mission. Isn’t it obvious?
We retire soon and planning to live in a village away from it all…no political correctness…very sorry for my kids and grandkids, and talks do not help…

3

Canada may not be much a refuge from the current PC trends:

http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/1833744-university-yoga-class-suspended-due-to-cultural-appropriation-dispute.html

4

Is this post for real?

5

“20 years ago race relationship was much better.”

From whose point of view??? Maybe it looked better because the oppressed group didn’t speak up?? Then we cannot call it “better”.

But I know what you mean. Some political correctness have gone extreme.

6

I grew up in a college town and believe me- the 1960’s and early 1970’s were no great shakes. President Johnson was being burned in effigy night after night on the campus green; you couldn’t buy aspirin at the local drugstore without being accosted by protesters carrying signs; college kids regularly put themselves into body bags and blocked streets pretending to be the war dead (from Viet Nam). A group of protesters tried to burn down the administration building; kids blew up the toilets in the chem lab after Nixon was elected.

I don’t think it was a walk in the park being a member of a minority group back then. I remember the first wave of Viet Nam refugees after the fall of Saigon. Violent protests after schools were desegregated by court order and young kids being escorted to elementary school by Federal Marshalls.

Is this what we are remembering so fondly???

7

@ Youdon’tsay
Yes, my post is for real. I am not happy to see the current developments.

8

I agree with @blossom – 20 years ago was no great time in race relations. Maybe you think that just because there weren’t diversity trainings, things were A-OK. Look, if you don’t think there is any such thing as privilege, tell your kids that. But don’t expect that they won’t be exposed to different ideas. And if you think that Canada and Europe don’t have these types of discussions, you really have not educated yourself. Canada and Europe have different racial/religious makeups and histories than the US does. But they are, in the main, far more politically progressive (Canada has had gay marriage for some time, Canada and Western Europe have universal health care, and have for decades) and have much higher tax rates. But if you’re scared of BLM and talk about privilege, by all means, GO!

9

@ HiToWaMom
When people address each other in the terms of “oppressor” and “oppressed”, revolution is not too far away. I’ve seen military on the streets in my country. I don’t want my children to see it in the US. It is very, very easy to polarize society, especially across the racial lines. It is much easier to start disobedience than to make peace. Yes, it was much better 10 years ago. It was even better 20 years ago, when I came to US.

What for? Woodrow Wilson’s sins? (whatever they are?)

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OK, I missed all of this. I was in the university to study (in the 90s). I wish my children have normal college experience. I am certainly not prepared to pay $50,000 per year to sponsor their once-in-a-lifetime experience of them blowing up the toilets in the chem lab.

11

It is 2015. Do we have to re-live this history?

12

Better for you maybe. Not better for everyone.

13

Seriously, @californiaaa, the US has been polarized across racial lines since its inception! You think talk about diversity and a serious look at the actions of people we thought of as heroes will drive us into a revolution? Our democracy is stronger than that, and if you don’t think it is, I"m not sure what to say. But silencing people who think differently from you is not the answer. You are being very naive, and you should really take a closer look at US history.

14

I am afraid of Balkanization of USA across the racial lines. < Our democracy is stronger than that, and if you don’t think it is, I"m not sure what to say.> Are you sure?

15

Division along racial lines was law for much of the US history! I’m not sure why you think there was some sort of racial ideal 20 years ago that has been destroyed by diversity training and BLM. Teach your kids your values, teach them how to advocate for themselves and be active, involved, voting citizens. I’m not sure going to Canada or Europe will remove you from the problems you see, but only you can make that determination.

16

So confused…

Are you afraid that this “education” will cause your children to resent White males? Or cause conflict? I don’t really see why; many of these movements are to expose problems with institutions and systems and cultures, not specific people. Getting mad at your father won’t do anything to remedy that.

But if you’re scared that your children will actually learn that there are bad things about the world we live in, I don’t see how that’s a bad thing. Knowledge is the first step to taking action against discrimination, cultural norms, and laws that oppress people.

No, and yes? These movements are not to censor majority groups or shame them (though some activists do it anyway); they are to promote change. And it doesn’t hurt people to check their privilege, in the sense of being sensitive to others’ problems, and trying to understand people who are different. Although I don’t like how the phrase has come to mean “Shut up, your opinion doesn’t matter.”

Haha, what? You don’t have to police yourself or your children. But, if offensive language is a part of your everyday vocabulary, then sure, be a little more politically correct. And what’s wrong with diversity training? Seriously, I’ve never been to one; I don’t know what they do.

[quote]
Again, seriously considering Canada or Europe … Do you think America has hope, or would it become nuclear and hopelessly divided in future? As time is going on, it doesn’t get better. 20 years ago race relationship was much better./quote Privilege… I kid, I kid. 20 years ago was more peaceful because people were more inclined to just accept oppression as normal, but I wouldn’t say that the race relations were better. Also, even though a lot of anger and division is what gets highlighted in the news, there is a lot of reconciliation going on behind the scenes too.

But, honestly, I do (kind of) get where you are coming from. My impression of social justice where I go to school is largely one of “social justice warriors.” People are justifiably angry, but students also come across as very exclusive and intolerant of people who challenge what they say. Even though they’re fighting for my rights and safety (I’m Black), I feel alienated from the whole BLM movement, and really any kind of movement for equal rights. The causes are important, though, which is why I make the effort to overcome my discomfort and educate myself.

17

My kids saw the military on the streets- and the National Guard has been patrolling Grand Central Station and other transit hubs since September 12 even before the smell of smoke and acrid decay had cleared. Where do you live in that your kids don’t see security and anti-terrorism efforts right now?

What are you trying to protect your kids from exactly? Ideas that you don’t agree with?

There were exactly three black kids in my elementary school class, and I lived in a progressive, liberal community. We participated in a regional busing program to integrate the schools once I started HS. I can’t imagine what it felt like to be bused into a different community every day, knowing that your purpose in being there was to make the largely white community feel like it was “doing something” by opening its doors to you.

I’ll take the current environment, thank you.

18

@Youdon’tsay
Life is not fair. Never was, never would be. Until recently, USA provided better quality of life than most other countries in the world to its citizens. Look what Hitler and Stalin did to Europe! Look at China, India! Look at life in Africa. Look at the civil wars in Latin America.

In the last century, even oppressed person in the USA had a better life than most people in the world. Look in perspective.

19

Yes, I am afraid of riots. “US has been polarized across racial lines since its inception” - and it ended up with the civil war. I have a genetic memory of civil wars, they are ugly. I would not risk further polarization, it may end up in a bad way.

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20 years ago was 1995. What was wrong with race relations then? People were much friendlier, if I remember it correctly. Clinton was in White House. Good international relations. Better social services for immigrants than they are today. Very easy to get work permit. I (personally) haven’t noticed anything wrong in terms of race relations in 1995.