Tension In The Room?

The University of Louisville student newspaper addresses race and privilege on campus. UofL has publicized their diversity mission for several years now, but some students don't believe the administration is doing enough. How far should universities go to promote diversity on campus? What does this discussion mean for Louisville?

ALSTON: A Black Cable Network Won't Broadcast the GOP Convention. Is That 'Reverse Racism'? By Joshua Alston Last Tuesday marked the beginning of this summer's Television Critics Association Press Tour, a biannual confab in which television networks preview their upcoming slates for the country's television critics. First to present was TV One, a four-year-old cable network that caters to African-American viewers, and I doubt anyone went to the presentation in LA's Beverly Hilton expecting any major news to come out of it. Perhaps my news judgment needs tweaking, because I also left the presentation still thinking no major news came out of it.Granted, TV One CEO Johnathan Rodgers announced that the network would be delivering gavel-to-gavel coverage of the Democratic National Convention, and when asked by a journalist, conceded that no coverage would be provided of the Republican convention. But to this perfectly valid question, Rodgers gave what I thought was a sound, logical explanation. TV One, he explained, is not a news outlet, but rather a lifestyle and entertainment network catering to African-Americans, who make up 93% of its audience. The decision to cover the Democratic convention is solely based on the fact that the presumptive nominee is Barack Obama, which makes it of importance to TV One's audience. There's no such significance to the Republican convention, Rodgers said, nor would TV One have covered the Democratic convention had Hillary Clinton emerged the presumptive nominee. A follow-up question came as to whether black Republicans would be offended by the decision. Sheryl Underwood, a comedian who will provide color commentary during the proceedings (and not incidentally, an Obamacan) joked that none of the eight black Republicans would take issue with it.I was naïve enough to think the matter was settled. But then it grew legs. The Associated Press picked it up. CNN did a package on it, in which Variety reporter Bill Triplett suggested that TV One's decision could hamper the Obama campaigns effort to project a post-racial image. James Hibberd, a blogger for The Hollywood Reporter posted an item on it, which in just a couple of days racked up hundreds of comments, many of which alleged naked partisanship and "reverse racism."Let's go through these one at a time: 1.) Is anyone seriously concerned that black Republicans would be affected by this decision? This question is based on the premise that blacks watch TV One exclusively, and black Republicans would never get an opportunity to watch the Republican convention if not for TV One's covering it. There will obviously be plenty of opportunities for anyone who wants to watch either convention to do so. 2.) TV One is not the first television network to take notice of the fact that Obama is particularly melanin-rich. The genius of the Obama campaign is not, as Triplett puts it, that its architects have taken "great pains" to be post-racial. It's that they haven't taken pains at all, being shrewd enough to realize that in a 24-hour news cycle, there would be plenty journalists and bloggers willing to meticulously analyze the effect of Obama's race on the election without them lifting a finger. The fact that TV One has chosen to cover Obama does nothing to change this dynamic. 3.) Let's say TV One's decision was partisan. Who cares? There's no such thing as equal time on cable networks as there is with major networks, and for good reason. Anyone with a television gets the major networks whether they want them or not. TV One is not even available to some cable subscribers in certain parts of the country, so there should be no concern that lopsided coverage will somehow skew the election. Many honest people would admit to never even having heard of TV One prior to this announcement, yet suddenly it's a such a major player that its programmers should be concerned about the Fairness Doctrine.These completely meritless arguments merely obfuscate the sentiment behind them, which is that Barack Obama's candidacy is the historic, once-in-a-lifetime, lightening-in-a-bottle ascendancy of a black Presidential candidate that everyone is allowed to be inordinately interested in—except for black people. Imagine how downright moronic it would sound if, at the press tour, a journalist raised his hand to ask the CEO of Lifetime why its viewers get to watch "The Golden Girls," only to then have to flip all the way over to TV Land if they want to watch "Hogan's Heroes." That person would be ignored in public, then ruthlessly mocked in private. Why is this conversation any more valid? The notion has been floated that black America's rapturous enthusiasm for Obama would elicit a fear response in whites that could deliver their votes to John McCain. Pshaw was my initial reaction, but after witnessing the response from "hard-working white Americans" to TV One's totally sensible business decision, I may have to reevaluate my skepticism.

Helping teachers respect differences: Expo workshops aim at 'cultural competency' By Andy Gammill

Helping teachers respect differencesExpo workshops aim at 'cultural competency'By Andy Gammillandy.gammill@indystar.com When new Spanish-speaking students arrive in Leroy Robinson's class, he asks what country they're from. Other teachers might expect the answer to be Mexico. But by asking, Robinson finds he has students from places like Honduras and Guatemala -- and makes a connection he hopes leads children to be more open to learning. Such steps toward sensitivity and empathy are a cornerstone of new policies and lessons for teachers bridging cultural gaps with students. That "cultural competency" has become more important beyond schools in Marion County -- where 86 percent of teachers are white, compared with fewer than half the students -- to suburbs with growing numbers of black and Latino children. Some educators hope better connections between teachers and kids who lack common roots could help poor students and black and Hispanic children pull up state test scores that lag those of their more affluent white and Asian peers. A series of workshops for educators Friday at Indiana Black Expo will explore how teachers can make those connections. Indiana law requires schools to train teachers in such cultural competency, but there is debate over which approach may be best. The Expo workshops will address that debate directly. The event also includes a speech from controversial author Ruby Payne, a white educator who writes about how teachers can foster understanding with poor students. She will be joined at the event by her chief critic, Jawanza Kunjufu. He is among those who argue that her focus on poverty is misplaced and ignores the unique cultural aspects of the black community. After Brownsburg Schools adopted Payne's book for training, parents of three black students filed complaints with the Indiana Civil Rights Commission, leading to more tension. But such controversy has been rare in Central Indiana schools, most of which have embraced the chance to reach out. Some suggest that teachers who unwittingly disregard -- or even disparage -- a child's cultural upbringing have an impact on that child's learning. "If you want to bring them up to speed and get them to perform better, you're going to have to make a connection with them," said Robinson, a teacher at Fall Creek Valley Middle School in Lawrence Township. "You can always connect, but your chances are better when you understand the cultural makeup of the kids." His classroom efforts, which also include welcoming Muslim students with a traditional Arabic greeting, are among examples of how teachers can use cultural competency skills to help students learn. Education experts say that teachers have a moral obligation to avoid unfair assumptions about students from other cultures. Traditional efforts to raise teacher awareness of other cultures have focused on helping the predominantly white teachers in urban schools understand the backgrounds of black children. But they now focus as much on helping middle-class teachers understand the impacts of poverty, American-born teachers to realize differences in Latin American cultures and teachers of all races to see contrasts in parenting styles. It is essential for every teacher of any race to examine the stereotypes they may hold, and how those affect their classroom interactions, said Khaula Murtadha, an education professor at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis. "With those assumptions that are made about children of different cultural backgrounds, we can see lower grades, we see higher dropout rate," she said. Because teachers build on what children already know, when they understand "a child's cultural background, they scaffold on that child's knowledge." Children begin to tune out when teachers send subtle clues they don't respect a child or seem exasperated by behaviors that a child sees as common among family members, Murtadha said. "The child begins to be quiet, not even trying to engage. Their hand doesn't go up," she said. "You see them just sitting there." Nationally, 35 percent of all students believe no teacher at school cares about them, and studies show that students who feel disconnected from school are more likely to tune out from their lessons and eventually drop out. About 59 percent of poor students and 57 percent of black students in Indiana graduate from high school in four years, compared with 84 percent of more affluent students and 80 percent of white students who do. Students say they can tell when a teacher doesn't understand them or treats them differently. David Anderson, an eighth-grader at the Fall Creek Academy charter school, said he has had teachers who assumed he would cause trouble or be stupid because he is black. Some spoke much more slowly when addressing him than they did with students who weren't black, he said. "Some teachers judge you because your color, that you're going to come off a certain way," he said. "You can just tell by their reaction and the way they act." His principal, Anita Silverman, teaches a course in cultural competency at the University of Indianapolis. Silverman said she often sees teachers who assume that a poor child has a troubled background or refuse to pronounce a child's complicated name and instead shorten it without their permission. Other teachers and schools, she said, are quick to give a black boy a special education label of "emotionally handicapped" when a white boy doing the same things gets the more mild label of "attention deficit disorder." Discussing those topics can be uncomfortable for teachers, Silverman said. "It's a hard topic to bring up," she said. "Teachers are beautiful people, but to admit it is saying we're weak, and we don't want to fail our kids."

Event Photos

All photos are courtesy of Phoenix Photography. To view all of the photos from the event, goto: www.phoenixshots.com, Enter Site, Click "Online Proofs," and select the My World Talks gallery. Thanks

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What an outcome! We're definitely changing the time for the next discussion to 6:30 p.m. At 6:02 p.m. tonight we thought no one would be showing up. To our pleasure, we hosted a full-house! THANK YOU!!! Well, it's really not the end of an event, it's really the beginning of an ongoing conversation. We appreciate everyone's feedback. The committee reviewed the input loosly. However, we want everyone to rest assured that your survey is valuable, and we will make adjustments according to 'your' need. For instance, it appears that many appreciated the opportunity to contribute to the formation of this discussion. However, many would like more 'structure/ guidance.' Though this is something we tried to leave open for our participants to weigh-in on, we realize this is not what the majority is requesting at this time. Therefore, our next discussion will have more structure! Thank you all for the candid feedback. Please continue... So...I have one question; several individuals commented on the survey they did not believe they were challenged to examine their own prejudices. Why is that, and how could we have helped to better implement this?