Melisa: “What Did Your Parents Tell You About Race”

        Parents of students that go to Hartford Magnet Trinity College Academy, a middle school in Hartford, Connecticut complained early this week about a history re-enactment field trip. The field trip took place in Charlton, Massachusetts, at an underground railroad. The exercise was a re-enactment of African American slavery. The students took part in being the slaves; they had to pack into a small dark room re-enacting the slave ships, and run from the “white-masters” who were the white workers. An issue arose of students being African American, students using derogatory terms, and use of racial epithet. Gene Demby, author of “What Did Your Parents Tell You About Race” has a history in cultural blogging, which he won an award for. Demby, in reflection of the events of the Hartford field trip, wrote asking how different people were taught about race in their house holds. He concludes, that a household that is taught about equality and “color-blindness” regarding race, will be less likely to make assumptions based on skin color. 

         I personally believe that the field trip was not all that harmful. Although, I do believe many different factors could have been changed to make the middle school field trip more acceptable for school requirements. I believe that re-enactments do help students understand, and eventually learn at a much quicker rate, but the way this school went about it was a bit over the top. I also agree with the statement Demby makes. I personally come from a household where race was not important based on skin color, but the background and cultural knowledge we can obtain from it. I strongly believe that the way you perceive race is directly influenced by your parents. So to strive for a family that strongly believes in equality should be in everyones best interest. 

http://www.npr.org/blogs/codeswitch/2013/09/21/224527919/what-did-your-parents-tell-you-about-race