Dr. Cornel West

Inspirational. Radical. Progressive. Dr. Cornel West knew what to say and how to say it in relation to the members of the audience. He spoke about internalized White supremacy in relation to the broken K-12 and upper education schooling system, President Obama, and of the rhetoric seen across the country. He began by talking about reflecting about one’s own ideologies. He said all of us have internalized White supremacy because of the systemic oppression of People of Color and the ideologies of Neoliberalism. While he spoke, I thought about how I have internalized White supremacy. Like what I am learning in one of my courses, I thought about how one needs to work hard in order to achieve success – what a capitalist way of thinking. This thinking is only there because it is seen daily in different forms of media and in schooling. In order to make it in to professional basketball, you need to work hard, but people do not talk about having the money to make it big. Similarly, in order to do well in school, you must work hard and study hard to earn good grades, but it is not talked about what hardships students must face in order to progress through their schooling.

Dr. West says that you must fight internalized White supremacy daily – he continues to do it himself – but you not to do it alone, and to be held accountable for. How do teachers fight internalized White supremacy? They must first acknowledge the ideologies that invoke White supremacy and Neoliberalism in schooling. Next, they must change the way they teach to include multiple perspectives that challenge the norm. Educators must be reflective. Dr. West gave the example of the highest form of internalize White supremacy and Neoliberalism – President Barack Obama. He explained how President Obama carried out the form of internalized White supremacy by having the United States drop bombs and kill innocent civilians in the middle east. The ideologies of Neoliberalism were reflected in President Obama, and Dr. West was sure of making that a point. He says that, though we had a Black President, it was only reflective of the ideologies of free-market capitalism. Dr. West continued to say that the racisms was prevalent through President Obama because the next person to be elected was the epitome of internalized White supremacy – Donald Trump.

Dr. West continued to speak about marginalized groups of people – specifically People of Color – in relation to events happening around the world. Let’s focus on the People of Color in the United States in relation to their schooling. What are students being taught and by whom? Students are being taught ideologies that reflect White supremacy and Neoliberalism without taking into consideration the systematic modes of oppression that the students are going through. The teachers are responsible for this – not all teachers teach these ideologies though. Some teachers go against the norm and teach through critical pedagogies. This could be thought of how Buenevista et al. (2019) describes,

“As agents of the state, teachers are responsible for carrying out the agenda of the state in local contexts. Their lessons are designed to promote abstract liberal ideas – equality for all, universalism, and a boot-straps work ethic – all which are not realistic in a society characterized by racial and socioeconomic stratification. In doing so, teachers often emphasize the individual’s role in determining their life chances and de-emphasize the direct role of the state in shaping one’s living conditions and decision-making process or the state’s numerous attempts to destroy one’s agency” (Beunavista, Stovall, Valdez,& Curammeng, 2019, p. 222).

We as educators must move away from being agents of the state to “enemies of the state.”

References:

Buenavista, T., Stovall, D., Valdez, C. & Curammeng, E. (2019) “Ethnic Studies Educators As Enemies of the State and the Fugitive Space of Classrooms. Rethinking Ethnic Studies.