Page 377 - Mike Ratner CC - WISR Complete Dissertation - v6
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“I think the tension that I was feeling was higher than the rest of the group. And I don’t
know why that is. He made me really uncomfortable with some of his comments. And, I
mean I really understood that it was because there was a difference in generation and with
age and so he grew up in a different time with different socialization than I had. Just his
whole take on race in general ... I was like “wow.” I know that I shared with her that um, I
carried around a lot of white guilt just because … just because. It’s something that I’m
working through. I did like that people were really honest with their thoughts. You know,
I think part of that honestly really came from, taking the time to get into dyads and then
bring it to the big group after getting having the dyad discussions. I think that might have
put people at ease a little more than jumping straight from the film to a large group
discussion.” (P12FW)
“She felt guilty in learning about all of the mistreatment that had been perpetrated by
majority culture; lynching and misrepresentations, the KKK and hiring practices and all of
the things that dehumanized and oppressed any culture. In the one-on-one dialogue piece,
the young lady that I was speaking to, it was wonderful. She was probably fifteen or sixteen
years younger than me. I am a child of the fifties. I have been through that, and I just
allowed her to talk and when she was done I put a couple of questions to her. To see the
light bulb go off for her was great. I said to her ‘you know sweetie, what makes you think
you are so important that you have to carry the weight of an entire race.’ And then when
she turned that around and realized neither should I have to carry that weight. It was a
revelation for her and I was glad because now taking away that burden that she doesn’t
have to bear, the misdeeds of the majority culture she can just bear her own and re work
that. I think that it gives her the freedom to grow more.” (P03FTRM)
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