How To Combat Racism In The Post-Obama Era

When I first was told I would have to attend the Tim Wise lecture called “Combatting Racism in the Post-Obama Era”, I was a little concerned. My dad is the Chief of police in the town where I was born, and honestly, I was a little worried that the entire lecture would be completely about the issues between African Americans, and the police force. I was extremely pleased when that issue was only mentioned for about ten minutes of the lecture. I enjoyed most of the lecture, I thought that he was an engaging and entertaining speaker, and used language that was easy to make concepts understandable and relatable to the audience. I enjoyed how he said that every person has a majority group that they are in. This is a great idea to remember because we need to learn how to
One idea that I took away from the Tim Wise lecture and that really resonated with me is that our country is not in a good place. I can tell this due to all of the discourse that we see on the news. However, I have realized that it is easy for me to overlook all of this discourse, or to blame it on someone or something else. I need to work hard to see all issues and to make sure to view them through every lens. The reason I need to expand my view is because not every one of my students will look and act like I do, but that does not mean I should disregard their viewpoint. Instead, I should learn to see through their lens because only if I can do this will I be able to develop really impactful and meaningful relationships, which are the key to being able to produce meaningful learning. The other part of the lecture that really struck me was when he talked about the story with his daughter in the car. His daughter asked him “Why do all of the black people live in this area?” His other daughter said red lining. That is not the part of the story that I want to address, even though it is great that she knows the history of America, and how it affects