“You called me monkey,
but you got mad when I became champion with Galatasaray and the saddest thing
is you called me monkey and forgot that you jumped when my ‘monkey’ brother
scored twice yesterday ... and you call yourself a true fan?”
The above is a response by the renowned football
star Didier Drogha to racist attacks on him and another African footballer in
Turkey during a match between his team, Galatasaray and Fenerbahce, the two
were insulted and were subjected to vile racist chants from fans in the
terraces during the match with some fans throwing bananas at them. Funny enough Fenebahce won that match 2-to-1, and ironically both goals were scored by Pierre Webo, another African who is from Cameroon.
Derman-Sparks &
Edwards define racism as an attitude, action or practice of an individual or
institution, backed by societal power, that undermines human and legal rights
or economic opportunities of people because of specific physical characteristics,
such as skin color. Some racist actions can be hidden while some are so
glaring. While some actions that portray racist inclination might be
deliberate, some are unintentional. Working here in Turkey, I have seen and
experienced all of these. Of particular mention is a situation where a child
asked me “where is your tail?” Shocked, angry but I was calm and decided to
know what informed that question and where the child is speaking from.
Though I used that incident
to teach my class about the evil effects of racism, it took me some times to be
able to get over it and have normal relationships with the child and the family
especially when I discovered that the child got that message from home. She
actually said her parents told her that Africans live on trees and eat bananas like
monkeys.
Racist comments and
racism incidents like the one I mentioned above do have some consequences on
the teacher, the student, the school and even families. It might portray the particular
student as a racist thereby ostracizing him/her in class which will affect
his/her ability to have friends in the class. This can results into the
student having trouble learning and concentrating in class. For the teacher, it
might have effects on his/her work, attitude and expectations in the class which will
consequently affect the atmosphere in the class. Truth is, the academic and
general classroom atmosphere is greatly influenced by the expectations of the
teacher. For the family it can cause a schism between the teacher and some
families thus affecting their relationship. It may result in conflict between
the teacher, the student and the family thus turning the school environment
into an unfriendly one.
Shola-
ReplyDeleteI am sorry that you experienced racism in the classroom that you teach in. It is important to remember that children grow up impacted by many political and economic realities, as well as the contradictions connected to race and racial identity (Derman-Sparks & Edwards, 2010). I can imagine that it was very hard for you to swallow what the child said, but he is learning it at home because this is what his parents teach him. If we want children to thrive in a diverse world, then we must be proactive in helping children to construct a healthy, positive racial identity and respectful attitudes toward people of differing racial identities (Derman-Sparks & Edwards, 2010).
-Melanie
Derman-Sparks, L., & Edwards, J. O. (2010). Anti-bias education for young children and ourselves. Washington, DC: National Association for the Education of Young
Children (NAEYC).
Shola,
ReplyDeleteThat is awful that something like that had to happen to you and in your own classroom. From personal experience I know it is very difficult to swallow your thoughts and try to move above and beyond the incident. Like Melanie mentioned it is unfortunately something that they learn these thoughts and actions from home and these ties can be very strong. For an incident like this, anti-bias education would have to be done in the school as well as for the parents. It is very sad that something like that was even said and taught to these young children. Thanks for sharing.
Stephanie