Jennifer Fremlin describes herself (in an article in the Chronicle of Higher Education that may not require a subscription) as “a white Canadian heathen who finds herself a tenured associate professor of English at a historically black university in the heart of the Bible Belt.”
The story of her experiences in and responses to her school, Alabama State University, and city, Montgomery, are well worth reading if the article does not require a subscription for access. I was particularly struck by two items she presents: a particularly perceptive comment by a student to her; and a comment of hers to another student that, while interesting, was somewhat troubling.
The student’s comment, which provided the title of both Ms. Fremlin’s article and this post, is a telling reminder that skin color equates with neither identity nor ethnicity. (The student then added, “Your kids, thought, they’re white.”)
As for Ms. Fremlin’s troubling comment, she describes “the lessons in sensitivity to race” that the minority (white) students at ASU inevitably learn.
Recently, for example, a white student approached me, upset that some of her classmates did not seem to be extending offers of friendship to her. She said, “They’re judging me by the color of my skin.” I gently tried to explain that she had always been judged on the basis of skin color; it’s only when it is a negative response that she noticed.
An interesting and even valuable lesson, but Ms. Fremlin makes no mention of whether she attempted to share that lesson with the black students, who had no doubt been judged by the color of their skins all their lives only to be inflicting the identical hurt on someone else.
