See Me For Who I Am

FOCUS

See me for who I am

Vol 41, No. 1

On the first day of 1st grade, I walked into class to discover that mine was the only black face in the room. We began the day by introducing ourselves and showing off the self-portraits that we’d made over the summer. I rose cautiously to present my Crayola-colored masterpiece, but before I could even say my name, a boy in my class asked me why my portrait was brown, saying that brown was ugly. I froze. My face grew red, and tears began to fill my eyes. However, what was most painfully disappointing at that moment was not what was said, but what wasn’t. My teacher stood there just as silently as me, then beckoned me to continue. She never addressed the boy or his

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Authors

Endiya Griffin

Endiya Griffin (griffin.endiya@gmail.com) is a high school senior, youth storyteller, and social justice advocate in San Diego, California.

What is 'code-switching'?

Watch Endiya Griffin, at right, and Tatiana Howell discuss the value of code-switching, the practice of alternating between two or more languages or varieties of language in conversation. Watch the video below.

References

Chang, A. (2018, April 4). Living in a poor neighborhood changes everything about your life. Available at www.vox.com/2016/6/6/11852640/cartoon-poor-neighborhoods.

GAO. (2018). K-12 education: Discipline disparities for black students, boys, and students with disabilities. Available at www.gao.gov/products/GAO-18-258.

Geiger, A.W. (2018, August 27). America’s public school teachers are far less racially and ethnically diverse than their students. Available at www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/08/27/americas-public-school-teachers-are-far-less-racially-and-ethnically-diverse-than-their-students.

Graves, D.L., Like, R.C., Kelly, N., & Hohensee, A. (2007). Legislation as intervention: A survey of cultural competence policy in health care. Journal of Health Care Law and Policy, 10(2), 339-361.

Griffin, E. & Howell, T. (2019). Discover the powerful CPU of code-switching. Available at www.youtube.com/watch?v=JtINpW1j-m4.

McFarland, J., Hussar, B., de Brey, C., Snyder, T., Wang, X., Wilkinson-Flicker, S., … & Hinz, S. (2017). The condition of education 2017 (NCES 2017-144). Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics.

NEA. (n.d.). Promoting educators’ cultural competence to better serve culturally diverse students (Policy Brief). Washington, DC: Author.

Orfield, G., Frankenberg, E., Ee, J., & Ayscue, J.B. (2019, May 10). Harming our common future: America’s segregated schools 65 years after Brown. Los Angeles, CA: The Civil Rights Project.

Reardon, S.F. & Owens, A. (2014). 60 years after Brown: Trends and consequences of school segregation. Annual Review of Sociology, 40, 199-218.