Blog Post #1 Austin Walley

            Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks,  and Malcom X all fought for the notion that minorities would one day be seen as equal in the United States of America. This lack of unequal treatment to people based off of their race, ethnicity, religion, and gender has been apparent in the international political scene for as long as the Sun has been setting. In W.E. Burghardt Dub Bois's article, Of The Culture Of White Folk, he made the claims of how white, European men had the pride that they were 'better' than other kinds of people. Remarks by Du Bois in the 1910s like, "But we acknowledge our human frailty while you, claim super-humanity, scoff endlessly at our shortcomings" (Du Bois, 434), make me wonder if this occurs in today's day and age where racial dominance is apparent. I then remembered learning about the schooling system of New York City in my Education 101 class, and I was reminded that this still occurs today.

    Du Bois writes a quote such as, "Perhaps, we as folk of simpler souls and primitive type" (Du Bois, 434), to emphasize how people of different races or ethnic backgrounds look down upon themselves since everyone else does. This is very similar to what I learned about last year in Education 101. As the community of New York City agreed that the children of all different backgrounds should be mingled into elementary schools to give students of all backgrounds a fair chance at a quality education, the white parents were not pleased. As this merge of students was occurring, the white parents started removing their children from the "nice" schools that they used to go to to "nicer" ones to avoid the minority students. In the process, much like the Du Bois quote I mentioned in this paragraph, it must have made the children of color feel down about themselves as they were treated as some sort of inferior being. However, much like Du Bois' article, was the better education really better? Was the white Christian method of doing things really better? As Du Bois states, "Is it better because Europeans are better, nobler, greater, and more gifted than other folk? It is not." (Du Bois, 437), he discusses how the culture of white European folks is not necessarily better, but they have a greater influence over the world.

    The reason I used an example from my Education 101 class of a current day New York City schooling system was to show how ethnic dominance can still control a political landscape. By being part of a powerful alliance, or being a nation with great influence can make for a dominant force in international politics. Is the United States of America always right in foreign affairs? No. However, I am willing to bet that Sri Lanka would not want to stand up to the United States if they had a minor dispute. Du Bois showed how the white Europeans had a dominant sense of power to get what they wanted politically, just as the rich, white parents got what they wanted in my Education 101 example. When it comes to international politics, by reading W.E. Burghardt Dub Bois's article, Of The Culture Of White Folk, I learned how through reputation and power some nations or organizations can get what they want.

    

Comments

  1. Eli WebbSeptember 6, 2021 at 9:43 AM

    This is a very intriguing point Austin on how race still affects the schooling industry even though, racial divide should be behind us, just shows how it really is not close to being figured out. As a kid from Baltimore, this racial divide between private and public schools, and schools in the inner city compared to county are so evident, not just by the educational standards, like standardized testing scores, but also funding for the schools. The county public schools, where the race of students are predominantly white, seem to have more access to school supplies, while my mom teaching in Baltimore city has to donate, or purchase, her own supplies for her kids. It also makes you think about "The White Man's Burden" and how the white race was supposed to "help" the other races in terms of development, yet you look at it factually, and it was merely a ploy to gain more power and resources over the other races.

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    Replies
    1. Austin W.September 12, 2021 at 9:06 AM

      Yes, I thought about including a reference to "The White Man's Burden". I am glad that you were able to realize my intention of writing this blog which was to show how what was happening in one of our readings still occurs today.

      Delete
    2. Austin W.September 12, 2021 at 9:06 AM

      Yes, I thought about including a reference to "The White Man's Burden". I am glad that you were able to realize my intention of writing this blog which was to show how what was happening in one of our readings still occurs today.

      Delete

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