Engaging in Cross-Racial Dialogue: Does/Can Talk Lead to Action?

Later that same year, I attended the St. Patrick's Day parade in South Boston where, like previous years, I dressed in green, plastered myself with shamrocks and the tri-colors, and lifted a pint to the Irish. Yet, this time, I was ashamed at the racism and bigotry I saw as I watched some of "my people" react viciously to people of Color. It was the same viciousness that would later characterize the busing crisis. I remember standing amidst a group of people who were shouting racial slurs at Black members of a marching band and realizing that I didn't want to be "that kind of Irish." Nor did I want to be "that kind of white person." I decided to leave the parade -- the first decisive step toward the undoing of racism in my personal and professional life.Over 20 years later, I still find myself in contested spaces, undoing racism and defining and redefining myself as white. I am less confused now and have a sense of clarity about what it means to be fully committed to collaboration, coalition-building, and the belief that the educational is political. Therefore, educational institutions are rich sites for those of us who want to cross educational and cultural borders and challenge existing forms of individual and institutional racism. As the director of the Graduate Program in Elementary Education, I am in a position to carve out spaces -- however cramped they might be -- where issues of racism can be intentionally and explicitly addressed and critiqued. I have decision-making powers regarding the development of the program, the course requirements, the hiring and admissions processes, and the framing of the student teaching experience. I have designed a program that challenges the predominantly white middle- and upper-middle-class students I teach to be self-reflective and self-critical about the ways they make meaning of cultural and racial differences, about how societal and educational systems of racism, heterosexism, classism, and sexism operate to advantage some students while marginalizing others, and about how their assumptions inform their teaching practices. I make it clear to my students that educating ourselves about systems of oppression and privilege, and their relationship to education, is not just about attitude change, improving human relations, and being sensitive to children. It is about acknowledging our assumptions of racial superiority, entitlement, and economic advantage in this country, which are sustained at the expense of others. I