Be The Change You Want To See

Although reading “The Silenced Dialogue” by Lisa Delpit seemed to be very difficult I knew from the beginning that it had an excellent message.  I found myself rereading sentences and even paragraphs over and over to understand what was trying to be said.  This may seem annoying but in the end was very worth it.  I was continuously searching for the message that Delpit was trying to get across to her readers and slowly began to understand each and every message.

Even though I slowly began to understand these many messages throughout the article, in the final paragraphs it all seemed to click.  The reason I believe this to be true is because I was able to connect Delpit's article to both Kozol and McIntosh’s articles.  With this connection I gained a better understanding on where Delpit was coming from in her argument on black teachers and white teachers.

When Delpit said, “But both sides do need to be able to listen, and I contend that it is those with the most power, those in the majority, who must take the greater responsibility for initiating the process” (46) my mind wondered to these two previous articles that we read.  The reason being is Kozol's thoughts on how these “rich” individuals live so close to Mott Haven but they still are blind to the many struggles it encounters.  They send everything they do not care for to this poorer section of town and act like they have no more problems when in reality they are just passing their problems to less fortunate individuals rather than opening up, being vulnerable, and doing what they can to help.  Along with in Kozol's article, McIntosh also directs her thoughts to this idea as well.  One small example is men.  Although they know to be true that they are more privileged than women they will not admit it.  They just continue to live their privileged lives and make no effort to stop this advantage.  After all, it isn’t really affecting them.

To me, each of these ideas connects to one another.  The white teachers think that the black teachers have just begun to agree with them, the richer parts of New York send there problems elsewhere and forget about them, and men may believe women are disadvantaged but would never say that they are over privileged.  In each case, the ones in the majority are in the place to speak up.  Without that, nothing will change.  It may be uncomfortable to give in, but in the end change would eventually happen for the better.  People should not just feel as if they need to be “quiet” but should feel comfortable speaking their minds and being the change they wish to see.  After all, the many students and teachers quotes in the article are perfect examples on how they feel.  Even though they may encounter these occurrences, the people on the opposite side can still see their reactions.  They know that something is not right and SHOULD speak up!

Below is an article I found that relates to the idea of white teachers educating black students compared to black teachers educating black students.  It brings up many ideas Delpit did and also many new ideas as well.  

http://www.examiner.com/article/white-female-teachers-and-black-male-students-kunjufu-and-me