Tatum Unit

(2.) The impact of racism begins early. Even in our preschool years, we are exposed to misinformation[3] about people different from ourselves. Many of us grew up in neighborhoods where we had limited opportunities to interact with people different from our own families. When I ask my students, “How many of you grew up in neighborhoods where most of the people were from the same racial group as your own?” almost every hand goes up. There is still a great deal of social segregation in our communities. Consequently, most of the early information we receive about “others”—people racially, religiously, or economically different from ourselves—does not come as the result of firsthand experience. The secondhand information we do receive has often been distorted, shaped by cultural stereotypes, and left incomplete.

If we are misinformed about people of different races, could we also be misinformed about our own races? What are some examples of this? Do the people who misinform us do it purposely? I don't see much segragation in communities like Alameda. But I DO see in more in our neighboring communities of Oakland and San Leandro. Why is it that we do not learn about others through firsthand experiences? I think it is because when we meet someone of another race, race isn't really an 'icebreaker'. It isn't really a conversation topic like books, music, or movies. I don't see it as necessarily being a bad thing, but it's just not something that comes up.