Awakened in America

S1 Ep #3: Education as Indoctrination Continued

Host Z & Host Jess Season 1 Episode 3

Hosts Z and Jess discuss how the wealth gap among races is related to education, opportunities, and beyond.

Speaker 1:

Hey listeners. We are back. This is part two of episode, two education as indoctrination. We hope you enjoy your listening to awaken

Speaker 2:

In America

Speaker 1:

On a journey to create dialogue about diversity

Speaker 2:

And optimism,

Speaker 1:

Right? Yeah. So when I think about, like I mentioned to you, my friends who have been like, I feel like I need to do something, but I don't know what to do. You know? And they've all bought books for their kids and, and racism and they're white, progressive like me. And they think, you know, they don't have a racist bone in their body and stuff like that, but they want to do something. What do you feel like actually, let's take a step back. Cause I think this is an important point to something you've taught me. You know, when we started talking about the podcast and our goals and stuff like that, I thought this is going to be great. People are going to listen to this dialogue and they're really gonna hopefully find some things that they can connect with and takeaways. And they're going to feel like they're connected to this movement, mainly thinking about white people, you know, who like me are kind of trying to figure out what they can do. And then we talked a few weeks into this and you basically were like, that's not enough. And I was like, but I'm giving this all that I have. You know, it's basically my family, my friends, you know, I'm thinking about it so much. Um, eat, sleep, breathing, you know, podcasts, podcasts, and doing everything I can. But you were like, that's not enough. It's not enough for people to just sit and listen to something or read something that doesn't check the box. And it doesn't, you're not rising to the occasion basically is what I took from that. And it was really hard feedback for me to take, because like I said, I felt like I'm giving this everything I have, but I think it's an important point that my white friends, you know, here also, which is, if you want to make a difference, you have to do something about it and take action. And that was kind of what you were telling me. So if I were to ask you, you know, what do you think are things white? People like myself can do to take action? You know, because basically we're seeking approval right now. I think all the, all the way people are going, are we doing the right thing? Are we doing right by people of color? What should we be doing to get their approval? You know, what would you kind of say as it relates to education, I guess today?

Speaker 3:

Um, I would probably say that, um, open your eyes to all people of color in this country first off, um, because I don't want to exclude other races. Um, as I mentioned before, there are many biracial and multiracial people in this country. There are a lot of native Americans that are mixed with Hispanic ancestry. There are a lot of blacks that have mixed with white or other ancestry, whites. I mean, so Indians Asian, I mean, so when we think of people of color, we really need to broaden our understanding of what that is and, and accepting that we also need to look around us and say, is it just impacting one group of people or is this impacting several groups of people? And if it's impacting several groups of people and these people integrate with us, how are we going to make this work for everyone? Um, one of the articles that I was reading about, um, an op ed in a Forbes, um, it was from 2015, but it was talking about the racial wealth gap and it impacts people of color disproportionately. Um, some of the other minorities like Indians Caribbeans, they weren't included because they're just a smaller population, but we need to consider all minorities because education impacts all of us and where we live. Uh, the funding that goes into that is controlled by banks. What the article said was that there is more volatility in the market when we have this huge disproportion and the wealth of a society. So unless we are striving to have a class system in this country, we really need to consider how all these different facets are impacting the wealth and the legacy of this democracy, because it is a legacy of democracy. This is a very new country and the world is constantly looking at us. What kind of, what kind of example are we setting for other countries if we aren't willing to make the changes ourselves in this country?

Speaker 1:

Yeah. And one of the things that I came across when I was reading something podcasts or listening or reading was being onboard with having low income housing in your neighborhood, because that ultimately is giving opportunities and narrowing the wealth gap and the achievement gap, you know, because you can, you know, if you're, if you think you're not racist and you think, you know, you want diversity for your children. And I think there are a lot of white progressives out there, including myself who were like, I want my kids to go to a diverse school. I want to live in an open minded place and you know, all of this and that you need to consider that too. That means accepting and welcoming, right. Things like low income housing. Right.

Speaker 3:

And you know, what other countries like Holland and some other European countries have done that successfully, you know, you have the dominant culture or whatever, living alongside immigrants, refugees, whatever. Right. And they seem to get along. I mean, for the most part, you know, there are probably implicit biases there and racism as well, but it's not, to me, it doesn't seem to be as impactful as in this country because, and I think that's because unlike Germany, which actually has a Holocaust curriculum for secondary education here, we have buried and buried and buried it. Thanks to the what United daughters of the Confederate that, uh, helped create most of the history books that are still using schools today. Thanks to them. We don't have an accurate picture of slavery, right? We don't have an accurate picture of, of, uh, contributions by blacks or other minorities in this countries. Uh, this country immigrants, we don't have an accurate picture of what our society is actually built on. Right. So because of that, we also aren't acknowledging and therefore, how are we supposed to move beyond that? So my takeaway would be, um, there's actually w Kamau bell, um, promoted it first, but it's called donors choose.org. And it's helping to actually fund schools that may be under resourced. And you can choose how you want to donate that's one way, because even as early, as what as, excuse me, as late as 2012, um, Wells Fargo admitted to giving blacks and other minorities, higher interest rates for mortgages, then whites, higher prime subprime mortgages

Speaker 1:

Just based on their ethnicity. Wow.

Speaker 3:

So the racism continues today. It's not 1950 it's today. Um, and because of that, right then we can only afford to live in certain neighborhoods. Why is that? Well that's because a typical white household has 16 times the wealth of a black household 16 times, right. And where does that come from? Well, that comes from job opportunities because typically white people make more, why do they make more black people not have college degrees? We know another sister sick because a white family of median income from a four year degree sees a return of$55,869. Versus if that same black person went to a four year university and came out their return on their investment is 4,100. So what does that mean? How does that translate to education? How does that translate to generational wealth? How does that translate to decreasing the wealth gap, the education gap and reducing this systemic racism. It means that until you address some of these other issues, which continue to suppress people and create poverty and create crime, because you're putting people in places where they don't have a way to support themselves or a way out or way out, because now they have to pay more. After their four year degree, they have less reserves to take care of their family in case of a crisis or something. Uh, they have less money to pass on to the next generation so that that generation can be self sufficient. And self-sustaining all that trickles down. So we need to consider, we need to consider taking action by doing things like speaking to school boards and saying, it's not enough for you to have a diversity inclusion program. Like what are you actually doing to bring the students together and actually have meaningful conversation? What are you doing to bring the parents together to have meaningful conversation? And then how are you enabling more minority children to integrate the school? Because diversity is not just about black people. It is about other people of color, but we, to be careful too, because sometimes universities, private schools will say, Oh yeah, with diverse. They don't want to have one black person in there. Right? They want to have one Hispanic person in there. They may have someone that's Asian, or they may have someone that's, let's say middle Eastern and they will count that as diversity, but in this America that we live, can you really say you're diverse by having one of anything, right? I mean, that's just, it's absurd. And it's also, in my opinion, it's somewhat absurd to think that it's somewhat absurd to think that people are going to uproot their kids from a good school and put them into a bad school. It's not going to happen. Correct. So the only thing that can happen is that you take it more of you take more of the schools that aren't doing well and you shut them down. And then you put more of the kids together. And what that means is there needs to be increased educational funding, but you know, what's happening right now. And I don't want to go down a wormhole, but educational funding also comes from agriculture. How is our agriculture doing in this state that we're in right now? How's our agriculture, because I've been hearing on the news that we're not doing very well, that we're not doing well with our trade relations with other countries and selling our products, overseas, agriculture, fun schools, too, not just property taxes. So our wealth in our education for our children are so intertwined wines. And we really need to consider the politics that are going on that also impact why these schools are the way that they are, why this community is or the way that they are. It all trickles down and we really need to pay my, my advice would be pay attention to everything that's going on. You can't just listen to the good news. You need to listen to all the news and understand how it impacts us as a society because there's more crime when there's more poverty,

Speaker 1:

Right? So it actually affects everyone. And it benefits everyone. If we can work together and come together and integrate the schools, you know, th that's still a thing for my white friends. And I think there's a difference between diversity and inclusion. And that's a big point too, just because your kids go to a diverse school, that's not enough. That's good. But you need to think about the inclusion component to how can make, how can you set the example for your kids? How can you learn from people that are different colors than you and welcome them into your life and your home and your family, you know, and,

Speaker 3:

And how can we use our voices also for those parents that like to be involved in the PTA, you know, that are very community oriented. Why not get in front of your school board? Why not go to those meetings and say, you know what? We want you to consider a diversity curriculum, right? Not just for black history month in February. We want you to consider it for the whole year. If Germany can have a Holocaust curriculum, why can't we have a black history or in whatever you want to call it, diversity inclusion curriculum, and all our secondary schools. Why can't we do that? Why can't we address slavery and the changes that have needed to occur for some time? Why can't we address those in our history books so that kids can start processing that information earlier on, they start to see that, Oh, wow. Slaves were treated that way. Oh, so my ancestors, right. That's crazy. It is, but what can we do now to learn from that? It doesn't happen again,

Speaker 1:

Right? Yeah. And to your point about, you know, things that PTA boards feel passionately about, there are, you know, a lot of things, as it relates to children, allergies, you know, in schools, not free schools, that's been a whole thing that's affected my family. Personally.

Speaker 3:

Every school now has something about it, don't they? Right?

Speaker 1:

Anti-bullying, that's something, every parent, you know, if you've got a heart at all can get behind why can't we make this a priority in the same echelon as those things were good intention, white people trying to do better and make things better. That's something that you can do now, um, to help pave the way for your kids. And you'll learn, you know, yourself too, along the way. And, um, I know we're talking about education, but I feel like if I were still working in an office environment, like I used to, this is a time that you can also raise that within your organization about, you know, instead of sending out an email about black history month or whatever, whatever, if you're lucky, I guess, but, um, you know, what are you actually doing to make your coworkers that are minorities feel included? Um, you know, making sure that you're honoring all the different cultures that are being represented in workplace too, because that's, that's also important, you know, for us as adults, that aren't, um, young school, age children, we are part of this too. And educating the responsibility is on us too, even though, you know, we're adults educate ourselves and learn from people of other colors.

Speaker 3:

Yes. And what, what internships and opportunities can you offer to children, people of color, to be able to come into these organizations and make some of these changes, you know, because the talent, you know, we have a wide talent pool. It's not like talent is only in one race. Right. But what we have is discrimination, even at the HR point. So if her name is ethnic, as we call it or something, or they look at your LinkedIn profile picture, or what have you, and you don't fit well, I don't think that I would really hang out with that person after work. Um, I don't think that the culture, culture, you know, all of that also is systemic and systemic because it's, it's decreasing access is decreasing access. And our ability to basically put funding back into our own communities, a lot of people will say, well, why don't they just put the money back into the community? Like other people do? Or what have you, but look at the numbers again, 55,869 versus 4,800, right? I mean, what, what money are you talking about putting back? So let's, let's broaden our horizon for the talent pool and let's, let's not use our implicit bias right now to eliminate people before we even give them a chance.

Speaker 1:

Right. And my white friends that are involved in recruiting and hiring now is the time to really seize this opportunity to make some changes that are meaningful within your organization. You know, look at some African-American dominant universities for recruiting. Don't just go to the same five schools where, you know, it's more people like you, you know, um, it might be sort of a radical change, but if we don't do it now, I mean, this is the best opportunity we may have in our lifetime to make a difference and make something count within our immediate, our tiny little world, you know?

Speaker 3:

Yes. For lasting change. Yup.

Speaker 1:

So I think that is pretty much everything I wanted to cover. Is there anything else you wanted to cover as it relates to education?

Speaker 3:

No. I think that those are great starting points. I hope that the takeaways didn't get lost in the moment, but basically there are ways to get involved. There are like, again, donors choose that org. There are ways that you can contribute what your voice is powerful. Your writing is powerful. Everybody knows somebody, you may know a superintendent. Uh, you may know a Dean at a university. Why not speak to those people and say, what are you doing to have more diversity? What are you physically doing? Not just writing a memo, but what are you actually doing? Are you having conversations with black communities? And were you having conversations with black universities? What is your talent pool look like? Um, and then for the lower, for the lower grades where you know that there's a school perhaps adjacent to the community you live in, that is not going to have the same resources. Are you considering donating to that school instead of your own school? Perhaps. What about a drive for another school? You know, like those types of simple things are ways that once we started, we can have a trickle down effect in a print on the precedent. Yes. And getting it on the record that yes, we do want a diverse curriculum and we want our kids to know the truth.

Speaker 1:

All right.

Speaker 3:

Well guys, I think that's been a lot to digest in this one episode. I hope that you're still planning to stay with us because we have a lot more content to cover. And the optimistic part that we bring today is it is doable. Change is possible. We've seen that change can occur, but we need a United front. We need to work together and we need to find ways we're very resourceful people, all of us, we need to find ways to make this a priority, not just for ourselves, but just like for the environment. We're thinking about generations ahead so that we can all be proud to say that we're Americans and all experience equality.

Speaker 1:

Yeah. And just one thing I wanted to add too, I think we white people who are good intentioned, white progressives who want to help this inequality. We need to acknowledge, we have to be willing to give something to this cause in order to make things more equal. So think about that and think about what you can do, whether it's monetary or volunteering

Speaker 2:

Relationship building this, isn't going to get better until more white people are willing to accept that in order to make things more equal, they have to give something. Totally agreed. Well, thanks guys for listening. It's been great. And we can wait to talk to you again. Thank you for listening to awakened in America. If you enjoyed today's podcast, be sure to subscribe and leave a review. You can also find us on Instagram at awakened in America, awakened underscore underscore America, and remember be mindful, be grateful. And most of all.