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February 15, 2006
"Acting White" Fact Or Fiction
Posted at February 15, 2006 06:53 AM in Race Relations .
This is interesting because, of the numbers of adults I have spoken with regarding this issue, I will either be met with hostility with an in your face response of "That's not true" or, I will hear how unfortunate it is. Truth is, when you talk with some kids they not only know it as true, many keep a watchful eye over their shoulders. Violence, hostility, and name calling is pretty much their reality.
On a personal level, I grew up learning of kids who were murdered, beaten, setup, etc., because of jealousy on some level. One young man I knew did not make it to that all expense paid trip to college. He was killed -- by setup -- one night while attending a graduation party.
By BY RON NETSKY
City Newsweekly
One professor studies the fight between identity and achievement. One student copes with it.
It's such a loaded term. Our first reaction is that it's just a sad case of internal racism, black kids being peer-pressured into performing badly in school. But, like most issues involving race or class, it's more complicated than that.
University of Rochester Professor Signithia Fordham, who has spent a portion of her academic career observing the "burden of 'acting white'," does not want us to blame the kids. Instead, she wants us to see the trap African American kids --- both the ones being taunted and the ones doing the taunting --- are in.
Yes, the idea of "acting white" stems from racism. But Fordham says we have to pay attention to where the racism is coming from. Blaming black students for the black-white achievement gap, she says, is like blaming blacks for being forced to sit at the back of the bus.
If anything, the notion of "acting white" is gaining in popularity ("I feel like it's back to the future," Fordham says). So 20 years after her initial essay on the topic, we've invited Fordham, along with one of her students, to write about it.
Source: City News Weekly
See Also: Who's Acting White?
And here