Vanderbilt University professor Michael Eric Dyson said Thursday on ABC’s “The View” that students had to be made uncomfortable so they could overcome the “ignorance” they inherited and learn about race in America.
Dyson said, “Take the Critical Race Theory stuff that is going on here, the genius of the right-wing they know how to package it up and put it down. Nobody knew what Critical Race Theory was a year ago. They ain’t critical. They ain’t run a race. They ain’t got no theory.”
Dyson asked, “So what do white parents want to do in terms of talking about race?”
He continued, “You can’t just ask White brothers and sisters who have been participants in a particular problem of oppression how to relieve it. Ask the people who have been victims of it. And then together — Martin Luther King Jr. said the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slaveowners will together figure out what to do. We have to face some unforgettable truths. The White comfort can not be the predicate for making sure race is not a strategy that can’t be used.”
He added, “Discomfort is a critical tool to make people learn. When I go to class, I’m talking to my White students, my Back students, my Latino students, my Asian across the board. I’m trying to make you uncomfortable enough with the ignorance you have inherited so you can engage in serious thinking about the way the world works.”
Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN
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