"Why Are You Here?" The Lack of Belonging Among African American Students in Predominantly White Spaces (Video)
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- Hi, my name is Dr. Joan Blakey and I am
- associate professor in the School of Social Work at Tulane University.
- I'd like to acknowledge my research partners Emmanuel Ngui, who is
- an associate professor in the Zilber School of Public Health at the
- University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and Gary Williams, who is associate professor
- in the School of Education at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
- We did a study titled, "Why are You Here?" The Lack of Belonging Among
- African-American Students in Predominantly White Spaces,
- and so I'd like to talk with you about our research and what we found-
- that is so important now because of the current
- climate that many students across the nation
- are protesting and really challenging
- these environments to become more inclusive,
- to become more diverse, to become more welcoming and understanding
- of their- of who they are and the the contributions that they bring. And so
- for historical reasons these environments were not created for
- people of color often and or LGBTQ and others who do not
- conform to a dominant demographic which is typically white
- students from middle and upper class families.
- And so really the challenge now is how do we begin to make these environments
- more inclusive and more welcoming. And so
- our research released focuses on a sense of belonging.
- And while our research focuses on African-American students
- only, much of what we will talk about today really does apply to other
- groups of students. And so a sense of belonging is really the
- extent to which students feel personally accepted, respected, included, and
- supported by other environments. That has been
- operationalized, or sense of belonging has been operationalized
- as a need for relatedness. Feeling secure connected to the environment,
- expressing or experiencing one's-
- oneself as capable and worthy of respect. Close relationships with
- groups, social groups, individuals in that environment.
- The quality of those relationships in that environment. The extent to which
- students feel that activities are reflective
- of them and their experiences. The respect and trust that they feel by
- administrators, teachers, and staff. And the level of safety that students
- feel in these environments are all a part of a sense of belonging.
- So there's different components of sense of belonging. Welcoming environment is
- the first one, and that is really that students feel
- that they are important- that they are an important part of this place.
- And that can come in the form of smiles,
- acknowledgement from administrators, teachers and staff, other students.
- That administrators and staff and faculty
- speak to students and over time begin to know students by
- their names. That there's signs and pictures, and things that are
- reflected on the, the walls and things in the environment
- that are reflective of diverse people and of diverse cultures.
- That there's a sense of warmth from people in the building.
- That there's rules and practices that are happening on a daily basis
- in these buildings that convey to the students that this school is better
- because they are there.
- So, mattering is the second sort of sense
- of belonging and mattering is extent to
- which students believe that they are important
- to authority figures. That mattering is about conveying to students that they're
- more than just butts and seats or, you know, numbers. But
- that actually, the school is better the
- school is... would not be the same
- without them.
- Cultural sensitivity is the third component of a sense of belonging. That
- cultural sensitivity is a step beyond cultural awareness and
- that it requires individuals to try to imagine what it
- would be like to be in someone else's shoes. And so cultural
- awareness, or racial awareness, is that there's a recognition that there's two
- African-American students in my class. Cultural sensitivity is
- sort of imagining what it would be like to be those African-American students.
- And being an African-American student in a class
- full of white students. And so it's really trying to put yourself in that
- place. I think that cultural sensitivity also
- is reflective of the experiences that these students have.
- And so students talked about teachers assuming that they had cheated because
- they aced an exam. And so the message is that
- you weren't bright enough to pass this exam on your own in
- your own merit, you had to have cheated, you had to have
- had some help. Comments about their intelligence or
- how articulate they sound, which is the assumption that they're not
- articulate, that people of color can't be articulate.
- That sort of a skimming over of history or the contributions that
- people of color or others have made in history. And so that
- the history is not just reflective of what white
- people have contributed, but all people have contributed. That
- assuming that black students need help, and so we're
- we're, you know, letting students of color know about the tutoring services
- and all the services that are there to support them
- as if, you know, that they would automatically
- need those services. There's talking- students have talked
- about being- having the police called on them because the assumption that
- they they could not have possibly been a student in this environment.
- And so what these are called is microaggressions and what they're known
- as. And so microaggressions are everyday verbal,
- nonverbal, and environmental slights, snubs, insults,
- whether intentional or unintentional, that communicate hostility,
- are derogatory, and negative messages to people of color. These behaviors often
- aren't malicious and- but nonetheless do inflict injury and harm. And so
- oftentimes we focus on intent versus impact. And so the intent
- is that I didn't intend to insult you or to harm you
- but the impact is felt as harm nonetheless. And so we really begin
- to need to disentangle niceness from racism
- and understand that it's possible to be racist
- and nice.
- The fourth component of sense of
- belonging is seeing yourself reflected in that environment. And so that's,
- again, textbooks and the curriculum. That is the plays and extracurricular
- activities that are offered in those environments.
- And so one of the students talked about, you know, a play,
- that, I don't remember the name of the play, but the play
- cast all of the black people as monkeys and as animals in the play,
- whereas white people were sort of throwing food to these,
- to the monkeys. And so what that, you know, represents is that often times
- in the past, people of color have been equated
- with animals and being- been seen as monkeys and those things.
- And so those- again those messages are seen as really
- contributing to this dominant narrative that they are,
- you know, not human. And so really being
- cognizant of those kinds of messages.
- The students talked about- that they remember having
- their classes having a moment of silence when, you know, the Florida mass
- shooting had happened. In many of their classes
- they were, you know, experiencing a moment of silence yet,
- students of color were talking about- that daily,
- black people were being shot by the police and that not once did
- their student- did their classes stop and pause
- to have a moment of silence for
- the African-American students or
- young people who were being shot. And then students talked about
- going through these institutions and never having had
- a person of color or teacher of color and what that must be like. And so seeing
- themselves reflected in the curriculum is really important.
- And so what these things cause is an internal dilemma. And so
- what happens is not only do these African-Americans have to
- sort of, you know, do, perform and do all these things, but what happens is that
- then there's a mental piece that happens with it.
- So we're all oftentimes having to
- understand and interpret it. Did, did we interpret this
- correctly? Did did they really mean what they
- said? Did they- what did they mean by that?
- Were they being racist or not? Should I say something? Should I not say
- something? Am I overreacting? And so there's this internal dilemma and
- this internal component that is happening as a result of us being in
- these environments and experiencing these things.
- That as a result there's psychological consequences that come
- with that. So we're talking about anxiety, depression,
- difficulty sleeping, diminished confidence, anger, and rage that
- oftentimes people of color feel in these things. And so we're talking about,
- again, this intent or an impact that it's
- you know, a minor cut, right. And so
- when you think about that these are- this is happening day in and day out
- all day long, that over time these chronic exposures to these
- microaggressions and become micro-traumas. And so that
- these students are talking about the fact that they're in these spaces
- and they are paying the same amount of tuition and fees and yet they are not
- receiving the same level of education that others
- are receiving. And so in conclusion we're talking about
- students of color that often are facing, fear, frustration, judgment,
- being ostracized because of their race or ethnicity.
- That these institutional educational settings are
- disproportionately targeting black people in terms of campus
- environment or other kinds of negative experiences. That these
- environments are really grappling with whether or not they
- should get rid of symbols of racism, which sends a subliminal message that
- the contributions that these people have made are more important than
- the black students and how the black students feel in these
- spaces. That the lack of black faculty and staff
- also send the message that there's not black people that have reached
- these kinds of- that have the kinds of credentials that are
- necessary to be in these kinds of spaces. And then not seeing themselves
- reflected in the curriculum is- sends a message that black people or
- people of color have not contributed to this country or to the history of
- this society. And so while these
- institutions were formed at a time when black people
- or people of color or other people were not allowed to
- attend these institutions, this is no longer the case. And so much of my work
- is about helping these institutions create places that are more welcoming
- for African-American students where African-Americans do feel a sense of
- belonging that feel that while the institutions were
- not made for them, that they are changing and willing to change to be more
- reflective of their experience. And so that's really what my work is
- about. I am so happy and glad that I had the opportunity to share with you.
- Thank you so much and have a great day.
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