The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression

As I was making my walk-through rounds in my role of principal, I stepped into a class of first graders sitting at the feet of their Arabic language teacher. She was telling them a story and engaging in class Q&A, calling on students who were raising their hands. Each time she posed a question,  most of the eager first graders would enthusiastically wave their hands in the air to answer. Among them was a sweet little boy from and African country.  As I watched, almost every child on the rug was given one or two chances to answer, all except him-even though he repeatedly raised his hand. It was almost as if he were invisible.  I was so upset for this young boy. 

I knew the teacher was kind and would never say that she had any prejudice, but in my years of living in the Middle East, I know that there exists a deep-seated, inherited bias against dark-skinned people. This is described by Chavez (2005) as internalized oppression. Individuals have so deeply and unconsciously absorbed prejudicial attitudes that they are unconscious of their actions. Historically, Arab peoples have held deep oppressive prejudices against people of African descent. In fact, the word for a black-skinned person is "slave". Discrimination is not seen as a social taboo, so conscious and unconscious prejudicial acts are committed with impunity (Al-Khamri, 2018).

The incident I described was a great inequity for the lovely little boy who wanted to participate in the learning and improve his language skills. The inequitable learning situation in which not all children have a chance to participate in the class is one I watch out for diligently. It is demotivating for the student and gives a subtle message to the other students that plants in the back of their heads; Johnny is not worthy of attention because of his ability or skin color. It enrages me for the child's sake. 

As a person in authority in school, I utilize the power I have to strongly address these inequities and make a change. In this case, I was able to kindly draw attention to the teacher's overlooking of the student and provide her with one or two strategies that would guarantee she would not fall into the same patterns through subconscious bias. I asked her not to call on anyone who had his hand raised, but rather use name sticks or tokens that the students had to use to talk to ensure that each student had an equal chance to participate in every lesson.   Thankfully, she was grateful for the insight and enthusiastically embraced the new equity strategy. It is not always that easy.

Keeping ahead of prejudice and oppression takes energy and vigilance to act when we see it. It takes courage and tact to open the eyes of those who are engaging in oppressive behaviors and gently show them the way forward.