2006-07-10 - 3:16 p.m.
Right before I left for my vacation in the States back in June, I taught a weekly class at our American Corner about race relations, history, and culture in America using the movie Crash. I would lecture about the history of American minority groups, give texts pertaining to race, teach important terms (stereotype, prejudice, discrimination, etc.), and lead discussions on the movie. The concept of the complexity of American race and culture is enormously foreign to the students in the class and I had to teach a lot of things that we take for granted that we know.
Some of the younger students in the class caught on to the material quite well, but there’s a group of young men, ages 22-30, who show up to a lot of classes and aren’t exactly swift to catch on. Two such examples, which I attribute more to them being citizens of Turkmenistan than to being ignorant:
Example 1:
Me: [exhibiting the Black History Month posters on the wall] As you can see in the room, there are pictures all around of famous African-Americans who contributed to the civil rights cause. Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, famous authors like Toni Morrison and Maya Angelous, and many others.
Obnoxious Manstudent 1: Why isn’t Michael Jackson’s picture up there?
Me: Michael Jackson?
OMs1: Yeah, Michael Jackson. He is a great man.
Me: Well, he is a very talented singer but didn’t really do anything to advance the civil rights cause. Some might say he’s taken it back the past 10 years or so.
OMs1: We think he’s a great man. I think his picture should be up there.
Example 2, after ending class with a scene featuring Don Cheadle:
Obnoxious Manstudent2: I think that was Arsenio Hall, yes?
Me: Who?
OMs2: That man. That big black man. It was Arsenio Hall, was it not?
Me: No, actually it’s not. It’s Don Cheadle, a famous actor.
OMs2: I think you’re wrong. I know Arsenio Hall well and I’m pretty sure that’s Arsenio Hall.
Me: I’m from America and I can tell you that it is not Arsenio Hall. Arsenio Hall hasn’t done anything in the past 15 years. It’s Don Cheadle. I promise you. I’ve seen many many of his movies.
OMs2: Are you sure? Because I’m pretty sure you’re wrong.
Me: [showing him the DVD box] Do you see Arsenio Hall’s name on there? No, but I do see Don Cheadle’s. Because he’s in the movie.
OMs2: I don’t know…it really did look like Arsenio Hall. Maybe the box is wrong.
