Now, you may be wondering what this all has to do with education. Programs like Teach for America have been criticized for their status as mostly white groups going in to urban communities as “saviors.” People I love have participated in this programmed, and I know they have done good work and have good intentions, so I cannot say I support this summation of TFA and similar institutions. I am not here to evaluate their efficacy or even intent. I simply note the lack of popularity for similar programs addressing poor whites.
In order to understand this, I examined myself. My efforts to promote equity in education have been city-centric, specifically the city in which I myself was educated and have lived my whole life. I have resources and connections here that enable me to do effective work. It had never occurred to me to focus elsewhere until briefly whilst reading Hillbilly Elegy and then again now, more soberingly, amidst overwhelming polarization and misinformation and grappling with my own whiteness.
I have been called white trash before. I have even called myself that. In a way, this was to make a joke about myself before anyone else could. This never felt good nor just, but I interpreted those feelings of discomfort as an inevitable cost of being white in a society where whiteness is a privilege. Now that I’ve learned so much more about the complicated dynamics of race, gender, class and more in society, I understand the the necessity of educating all on all sorts of inequalities. The dominant narratives currently implement specific identities to forge social groups, thereby emphasizing our differences. In so doing, we define ourselves and others as distinct. In failing to acknowledge our interdependence, the benefits of one group seem irrelevant to the other. Efforts on behalf of the group in power to promote equality necessarily become acts of charity, and if there is one thing I’ve learned about humans, it is this: we cannot rely on charity alone.
I do not believe this is human nature. In fact, I believe “humanity” defines humans. However, our culture promotes competition, so we perceive others’ successes as threats to our own. Of course people fail to empathize with out-group members. I truly believe the social change we desire begins with emphasizing our identities as humans above all others.
I also believe it requires acknowledge everyone’s personal narratives and plights, which is a very difficult thing to do when an entire swath of people have their lives threatened daily. God damn, that’s hard. But it is necessary because in addition to a society that breeds self-centered independence, we humans have relatively primitive brains when it comes to empathy. Statistics don’t work to hook readers into caring; stories do. It’s easy to wave a hand at a mass of faceless people, but nearly impossible to do this to someone looking directly into your eyes. In order to address larger systemic and historical issues, we must start with individual empathy.