Showing posts with label Segregation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Segregation. Show all posts

Wednesday, December 4, 2013

White Faces in Majority Black Public Schools?

One topic I have not encountered much academic literature on is the experiences of white students in majority black, 'inner-city' schools. I have met a handful of such people (their rarity is proof of how extensive racial segregation is in the US), and they were a mixed bag in their political orientation and class identity, though most came from lower class backgrounds or working-class roots. Some were Jewish secular leftists, or their descendants, who remained in neighborhoods that 'became' black in the Age of White Flight. Others were working-class whites who were "ethnic" at one point, and remained in the city limits and sent their children to inner-city schools. Others I have encountered are from poor families and rough circumstances, but seem to get by or have gotten through inner-city, often under-performing schools.

What I would love to see in some academic analysis is a discussion of how white students in these types of schools experience race, when do they develop a 'racialized' identity as white, and how their perceptions of black children (and blacks in general) are influenced by their deep and extensive firsthand interactions with predominantly people of color. In addition, I would have to gather some demographic and class data pertaining to how white students experience a gendered form of whiteness in "majority-minority" schools. Perhaps I'll start by questioning some white folks I know, though the ideal candidates would be people who are currently having that experience or recent graduates. Although I know some older whites who could be useful, too, though back in the 1970s the inner-city schools in the two large Midwestern cities I am accustomed to were very different.