Sabrina, this reminded me so much of the work Jane Elliot has done on anti-racism. She taught in Iowa I believe, and did an exercise in 1968 she’s become famous for called Blue Eyes, Brown Eyes.
It also reminded me of an exercise my social studies teacher had us do in Junior High. It was in the same vein but with economics as the deciding factor. We lived in a South American country and my group was assigned to be wealthy landowners. The other group were like sharecroppers. The wealthy were allowed to make laws, tax people etc. and there were “turns” in this game where we would pass a law or a tax and the poor then could only react. They had no power. Eventually we passed a HUGE tax. The other group talked about it among themselves and then said “forget it, we quit”.
Our teacher then led the discussion about how disenchantment and revolutions begin. About fairness and being treated equally under the law. I remember asking why the landowners wouldn’t just give some land to each of their tenants, and everyone could be happy? But we had seen how power and greed just breed desire for more of the same. It was very powerful.
How Interesting Patti! I'll look up that Blue eyes, brown eyes study as it sounds very like what we did, and the timing is about right too. Your exercise also sounds very powerful and effective at feeling the emotions and working through the experience. Oh, if only we could have these kinds of lessons periodically and for everyone. Thanks so much for sharing your experience!
Wow, thank heavens you remember this because I don't have the slightest recollection of something so important and belief defying. This was a really important exercise. That teacher was brave!
In high school, I wondered how the two Black girls from Compton, CA and the Latina girls from San Francisco and the southwest felt about attending a school for upper and upper-middle class white girls. They must have felt totally out of place, in a world as different as another planet. Part of curiousity was spurred because I knew very little about Compton, other than crying in fear one night when I was seven at my grandparents' house in Pasadena because I though the burning tires in the streets of Watts were going to reach their home. I only knew that Compton was close to Watts. That's all.
I agree that being shaken up and out of our comfort zone is important. Unfortunately, it doesn't happen to me often enough. Both of my examples come from a fellow writer who's asked me to provide input to a couple of essays. After each one, I've thought, "Boy, am I glad I read that." One was about how his stuttering made him feel when he was a boy. Even though my mother stuttered all her life, I never thought much about it because she didn't seem to mind much or let it affect her. Only after reading that essay, did I realize that the impact must have been far deeper than she let on. Had she been alive, I would have asked her many questions to help me understand her experience.
This fellow writer has skin browner than mine. He's written about some seemingly innocuous comments that people in an airport or airplane have said to him. Seeing it from his perspective makes my face turn red and my stomach turn over. I'd don't think I've made similar remarks but I'm sure I've come close. His words make me a lot more sensitive to the diversity and differences all around me.
It's good to be reminded of our differences and similarities.
Thanks for your comments and also for sharing stories from your experience. There is always so much to learn from other people's stories and experiences! I am indebted to this early teacher for taking the risks that he did to help that small group of us feel in a visceral way how the experiences of others can be so very different to our own. It was a lifelong lesson that I return to over and over (sadly I keep needing to be reminded!)
A colleague and I were talking about DEI and similar initiatives in the US. He was saying it was all too much and people shouldn’t feel guilty about things others have done or events in the past. I was considering this view, which I emphatically do Not share and thinking that it is not a feeling of “guilt” that motivates my own concern for and deep desire for integration and inclusion and fair treatment of marginalized people and groups but rather feelings of “empathy” and “compassion.” It seems like your teacher designed a very effective eye-opening and empathy-building exercise. Hurrah for them!!!! 😎
It too bad that some people have decided that DEI and similar initiatives are 'too much'. Just saying that sentence is so ironic; it makes me wish I had an effective response besides just shaking my head. Thanks for your comments and for maintaining your empathy!
I had a similar experience as an adult when my daughters were in a small private grade school in Oakland, CA in the early '90s and we parents were asked to participate in "diversity training," a phrase we all kind of scoffed at. The approach was to have people stand or cross the room based on questions around race, class and gender and by the end most of us were in tears as we realized alternatively our privilege or lack thereof. I think the only way to create the kind of insights your brilliant teacher who was way ahead of her time can create is through physical participation. I still think about that "training" all the time and it helps keep me centered amidst all the noise.
Thanks for sharing that exercise Lisa. I think I did something like that as an adult at one of my workplaces, or a conference. I think you got at the nub of what is most valuable about those kinds of exercises: you physically participate, your body experiences the emotions, not just your brain. And your body remembers deeply and allows you to recall that emotion. Very powerful stuff.
Wow, thank you for both remembering and describing that exercise in such a vivid way Sabrina. I don’t recall anything like that in my school district, which was also basically white and middle/upper class. Like Andrea, I don’t think I have as many perspective altering experiences as I ideally would. I’ll be thinking about this exercise though for a long time! What a powerful way to send this message. Possibly this same exercise could be run in some groups of adults I can think of!
I'm glad to hear it was understandable to you! It was a tricky topic to write about and I really wanted to focus on the experience of being the learner in that situation. The topic of discrimination never goes away, so remembering how it felt to be at the short end of the stick is always a useful lesson for me.
That's such an astute analysis. Yes, you very much experience what it feels like to suddenly be left out and/or what it's like to realize the favor you thought you might have earned was actually due to life's, or maybe he world's, innate unfairness. Yes, powerful stuff.
This exercise is the same one we just learned about in one of my college classes in a documentary called A Class Divided. It's an interesting exercise for younger students and I think, makes them understand a bit more about the inequalities of how people are treated because of the color of their skin, the religion they chose to practice or not practice, and so on.
Happy to hear it is still out in the world. Thanks for letting me know Susi. And yes, it is so good for us to not only learn it early, but also to be reminded now and again, that life is not uniformly fair.
Oh gosh, Sabrina, this is SUCH a powerful post. I've got goosepimples all over. Thank you for sharing this very important lesson.
I'm ever so behind on my reading - I've been away for two weeks out of the last three, and I'm aching to catch up! This post has proved that your words are ALWAYS worth the wait I have had to impose on them (although you know that I know that already!), and I'm already looking forward to reading the posts of yours that I haven't yet had the chance to read.
Thanks so very much Rebecca, I really appreciate your comments! Getting out of the normal routine makes it so difficult to keep up with reading! Especially with all the good ones on Substack alone, not to mention the news to follow (!), books to read, etc. And to add to the list, I'm really hoping we can find a time to meet for a walk, let's say, in the next 6 months? 😉
YES!!! 😊 In the last few years we've been across the Solent a couple of times a year for work - it would be lovely to grab the opportunity to get together next time!
Sabrina, this reminded me so much of the work Jane Elliot has done on anti-racism. She taught in Iowa I believe, and did an exercise in 1968 she’s become famous for called Blue Eyes, Brown Eyes.
It also reminded me of an exercise my social studies teacher had us do in Junior High. It was in the same vein but with economics as the deciding factor. We lived in a South American country and my group was assigned to be wealthy landowners. The other group were like sharecroppers. The wealthy were allowed to make laws, tax people etc. and there were “turns” in this game where we would pass a law or a tax and the poor then could only react. They had no power. Eventually we passed a HUGE tax. The other group talked about it among themselves and then said “forget it, we quit”.
Our teacher then led the discussion about how disenchantment and revolutions begin. About fairness and being treated equally under the law. I remember asking why the landowners wouldn’t just give some land to each of their tenants, and everyone could be happy? But we had seen how power and greed just breed desire for more of the same. It was very powerful.
How Interesting Patti! I'll look up that Blue eyes, brown eyes study as it sounds very like what we did, and the timing is about right too. Your exercise also sounds very powerful and effective at feeling the emotions and working through the experience. Oh, if only we could have these kinds of lessons periodically and for everyone. Thanks so much for sharing your experience!
Wow, thank heavens you remember this because I don't have the slightest recollection of something so important and belief defying. This was a really important exercise. That teacher was brave!
In high school, I wondered how the two Black girls from Compton, CA and the Latina girls from San Francisco and the southwest felt about attending a school for upper and upper-middle class white girls. They must have felt totally out of place, in a world as different as another planet. Part of curiousity was spurred because I knew very little about Compton, other than crying in fear one night when I was seven at my grandparents' house in Pasadena because I though the burning tires in the streets of Watts were going to reach their home. I only knew that Compton was close to Watts. That's all.
I agree that being shaken up and out of our comfort zone is important. Unfortunately, it doesn't happen to me often enough. Both of my examples come from a fellow writer who's asked me to provide input to a couple of essays. After each one, I've thought, "Boy, am I glad I read that." One was about how his stuttering made him feel when he was a boy. Even though my mother stuttered all her life, I never thought much about it because she didn't seem to mind much or let it affect her. Only after reading that essay, did I realize that the impact must have been far deeper than she let on. Had she been alive, I would have asked her many questions to help me understand her experience.
This fellow writer has skin browner than mine. He's written about some seemingly innocuous comments that people in an airport or airplane have said to him. Seeing it from his perspective makes my face turn red and my stomach turn over. I'd don't think I've made similar remarks but I'm sure I've come close. His words make me a lot more sensitive to the diversity and differences all around me.
It's good to be reminded of our differences and similarities.
Thanks for your comments and also for sharing stories from your experience. There is always so much to learn from other people's stories and experiences! I am indebted to this early teacher for taking the risks that he did to help that small group of us feel in a visceral way how the experiences of others can be so very different to our own. It was a lifelong lesson that I return to over and over (sadly I keep needing to be reminded!)
A colleague and I were talking about DEI and similar initiatives in the US. He was saying it was all too much and people shouldn’t feel guilty about things others have done or events in the past. I was considering this view, which I emphatically do Not share and thinking that it is not a feeling of “guilt” that motivates my own concern for and deep desire for integration and inclusion and fair treatment of marginalized people and groups but rather feelings of “empathy” and “compassion.” It seems like your teacher designed a very effective eye-opening and empathy-building exercise. Hurrah for them!!!! 😎
It too bad that some people have decided that DEI and similar initiatives are 'too much'. Just saying that sentence is so ironic; it makes me wish I had an effective response besides just shaking my head. Thanks for your comments and for maintaining your empathy!
I had a similar experience as an adult when my daughters were in a small private grade school in Oakland, CA in the early '90s and we parents were asked to participate in "diversity training," a phrase we all kind of scoffed at. The approach was to have people stand or cross the room based on questions around race, class and gender and by the end most of us were in tears as we realized alternatively our privilege or lack thereof. I think the only way to create the kind of insights your brilliant teacher who was way ahead of her time can create is through physical participation. I still think about that "training" all the time and it helps keep me centered amidst all the noise.
Thanks for sharing that exercise Lisa. I think I did something like that as an adult at one of my workplaces, or a conference. I think you got at the nub of what is most valuable about those kinds of exercises: you physically participate, your body experiences the emotions, not just your brain. And your body remembers deeply and allows you to recall that emotion. Very powerful stuff.
Wow, thank you for both remembering and describing that exercise in such a vivid way Sabrina. I don’t recall anything like that in my school district, which was also basically white and middle/upper class. Like Andrea, I don’t think I have as many perspective altering experiences as I ideally would. I’ll be thinking about this exercise though for a long time! What a powerful way to send this message. Possibly this same exercise could be run in some groups of adults I can think of!
I'm glad to hear it was understandable to you! It was a tricky topic to write about and I really wanted to focus on the experience of being the learner in that situation. The topic of discrimination never goes away, so remembering how it felt to be at the short end of the stick is always a useful lesson for me.
What a fabulous exercise and what an insightful teacher!
If only the world was filled with such teachers...
Indeed, Prue, indeed.
Beautifully expressed. Thank you
Thanks Carol!
That's such an astute analysis. Yes, you very much experience what it feels like to suddenly be left out and/or what it's like to realize the favor you thought you might have earned was actually due to life's, or maybe he world's, innate unfairness. Yes, powerful stuff.
This exercise is the same one we just learned about in one of my college classes in a documentary called A Class Divided. It's an interesting exercise for younger students and I think, makes them understand a bit more about the inequalities of how people are treated because of the color of their skin, the religion they chose to practice or not practice, and so on.
Happy to hear it is still out in the world. Thanks for letting me know Susi. And yes, it is so good for us to not only learn it early, but also to be reminded now and again, that life is not uniformly fair.
Oh gosh, Sabrina, this is SUCH a powerful post. I've got goosepimples all over. Thank you for sharing this very important lesson.
I'm ever so behind on my reading - I've been away for two weeks out of the last three, and I'm aching to catch up! This post has proved that your words are ALWAYS worth the wait I have had to impose on them (although you know that I know that already!), and I'm already looking forward to reading the posts of yours that I haven't yet had the chance to read.
Awesome work!
Thanks so very much Rebecca, I really appreciate your comments! Getting out of the normal routine makes it so difficult to keep up with reading! Especially with all the good ones on Substack alone, not to mention the news to follow (!), books to read, etc. And to add to the list, I'm really hoping we can find a time to meet for a walk, let's say, in the next 6 months? 😉
YES!!! 😊 In the last few years we've been across the Solent a couple of times a year for work - it would be lovely to grab the opportunity to get together next time!
Let me know if/when your next trip over is. I'm also perfectly capable of ferrying and training towards your direction as well!