So I think I’ll break my non-updating, sickeningly-optimistic streak by blogging about something that has been downright disturbing to me during my stay here. In early February, my school hosted a talk by Myra Brown, a Department of State librarian sent to us from the US Embassy, about Racism in America. Ms. Brown gave an interesting (albeit slightly difficult for my segundos to understand) talk about race and racism in America using the aid of several YouTube and movie clips (including American History X, Crash, and Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner?). At the end, she began to talk a little bit about racism in Europe, particularly the ways in which it has manifested itself in sports. She showed clips from the 2006 World Cup, where North African players were insulted by their own fans as “monkeys” and had bananas thrown at them; where dark-skinned players were called terrorists; and where some fans showed a general lack of tact when referencing particular players. For more on the subject, click here.
My kids had prepared questions to ask her, some of which I was proud of but some of which made me cringe in the direct way in which they were asked (“Why are blacks more poor than whites?”) or in their ignorance (“Are blacks allowed to live in any state they want in the United States?”). Needless to say, political correctness is not valued nearly as much (or at all) here in Spain. Still, Myra fielded their questions graciously and honestly and in the end I think it was good for them to get some exposure to someone who was black who defied all the stereotypes they hold of blacks and immigrants as a general group. My kids, at least, behaved better than one of the kids I tutored, who blatantly told me, “Well, all immigrants come here to rob and steal. All blacks do is rob and steal.” Straight from his family’s mouth, no doubt. Having lived in one of the (historically) most racist places in the United States, I had never ever come across such an ignorant attitude. I was livid.
I was also slightly bothered and slightly worried, though, by my own kids’ responses to my follow up lesson on the controversy between Formula 1 drivers Hamilton and Lewis: http://wheels.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/02/04/racism-hits-formula-one-in-spain/index.html?hp Granted, it’s an editorial published in the NY Times. Granted, we Americans tend to be hypersensitive when it comes to issues of race. Still, I was surprised to find that almost none of my kids thought that the issue between Hamilton and Lewis had anything to do with race. They, along with a good number of teachers, found what occurred on the Barcelona circuit to be inoffensive and exaggerated. I found myself angry at first at Europeans’ attitudes towards and race and racism – how ironic that all the while that they were calling Americans hypocritical they themselves had a problem with festering race relations they didn’t want to confront. Then I began to wonder if they were just being honest and it was I who was being hypersensitive (about this particular situation). I’ve come to the conclusion that it may be a little bit of both. Thoughts?
