The Chronicles of Rafeeat in Elementary School. Part 2

By: Rafeeat Bishi

We're gonna jump to second grade. That year was a trip. To be fair I wasn't an amazingly behaved student, but I was also 8 and there were many times when I received unwarranted reactions from my teacher Mrs. McAllister. There's a day I remember vividly.

Another student (someone who's VERY important, I'm thinking of giving him his own post) got into a fight. This wasn't anything new, as he was known for being a "problem student" (-_-). I actually saw him at ShopRite the other day.

Anyway, me and my friend had faces of shock and were exclaiming like the other kids around us. My friend was also Black btw.

A lunch aide walked up to us and yelled, telling us to stop. I think we were then ordered to go sit down. Our teacher was called down and the lunch aide told her that we were cheering the fighting boys on. Me and my friend were dumbfounded, because we were actually watching the fight from quite a distance. We tried to protest but were told be quiet. We were then given recess detention with the fighting students. My teacher told another teacher that we had been "cheerleaders" during the incident.

Thinking about it makes me sad because why should two little kids be sent inside and isolated for having natural reactions? If you're 8 and see people fighting, you don't think to to tell a teacher or walk away. We were surprised, it was probably the first fight I myself had seen. Why wouldn't we yell in a shocked manner. I remember feeling as if I should blame myself and wondering what I did to be punished. And why were all of the kids in detention Black, when our other classmates were doing the same thing? I don't know if it was a direct result of implicit bias, but something was definitely going on as the lunch aide ONLY came towards us.

This teacher hadn't always been a fan of mine and singled me out for a lot of behavior that other kids exhibited. I remember her being very cold towards me. Jokes on her I was the highest level reader in class.

This is irrelevant but I got mad at her one day and stole her candy lol.

There's a LOT that happened in this second grade classroom I could write a book. But I think I'll leave her for now. And since I mentioned Ms. Stein being white in the previous post, I think I should do the same for this teacher. She was biracial, I remember her telling a story about being Black and White.

The Chronicles of Rafeeat in Elementary School. Part 1

By: Rafeeat Bishi

          Reading and hearing more about experiences in elementary school made me realize how a lot of stuff that happened to me could have been (or was) racially motivated. Here's one

I'm tired of writing about systemic racism cause it's depressing so I'm going to write about me. And my experiences with subtle racism in the education system and how it affected my psyche growing up.

In elementary school I had a teacher that I (thought) I loved until I had other teachers (it was kindergarten). She was this really young white woman. It wasn't until a while later that I realized it was pretty toxic in terms of her teaching methods. She was not very empathetic and rarely exhibited the qualities that typical elementary school teachers should have. She was very impatient and unhelpful many times.
In Kindergarten (mind you, I was one of maybe 2 or 3 black kids in class and best friends with the only other black boy in class), I'd wear my hair in braids everyday.

One day I wore my natural hair in a puff that my mom did. When I walked into class, my classmates had the whoaaaa, your hair! (You know, the normal reactions FIVE year olds would have).

I didn't think any of it cause we were kids and nobody was being mean. When I sat down for my reading circle however, my teacher saw my hair. When she looked at me she said "oh.my.gosh. what happened to your hair" and made a snarky (almost disgusted) ,stunned looked. I'm pretty sure that was the first and last time I wore my natural hair to school for years. I mean YEARS. This is one of the reasons I still feel very uncomfortable when people mention my hair, even if it's a compliment. The feeling that me and so many little black girls with natural hair have to feel ostracized and maybe ridiculed in their classes is disheartening. Thinking of her other acts (apparently last year she told a disabled kid she didn't think he'd make it to second grade), I'm honestly contemplating going to her when I graduate and let her know the terrible effect she had on my (and other students) self-esteem. And show her the amazing progress I've made on my own.

It may sound as if I'm over-exaggerating, but your first school teacher is not supposed to make the school environment one that is uncomfortable for little kids. Especially if they have control.

Yeah I will idc anymore she needs to hear it, I'll go pay her a visit. I'm not going to do anything bad don't be alarmed, but a simple conversation will suffice. Ms. Stein I'm talking to you.


*Next week: Second Grade. I got tea for this one.

New Movie Queen and Slim Sparks Discussion

By: Rafeeat Bishi

           When I first saw the trailer for the crime-movie Queen and Slim I was excited. The actors looked promising and so did the premise.

         But after watching the trailer a few times, I found myself rolling my eyes. Mainly because the basis of the story was two Black adults on the run from the law after killing a cop who stopped them wrongfully.

         When we see Black characters, a lot of us prepare to see poverty, death, slavery or injustice. The same thing goes for other races. When we see Native characters, we prepare to see stereotypes of tribes, or watered down interactions with White imperialists. When we see non-Black Latinos, we prepare to see Gang violence, drugs, housekeepers, and poverty. When we see Asian characters, we see mousy, education oriented East Asians, and for Southeast Asians we see convenience store owners or gas station workers. When we Arabs, we see terrorists. The list goes on and on.


          I wish I could watch a space movie with Black characters and not have to fear for when their death scene is coming. Queen and Slim was intriguing but then I remembered it would only end one way. Them in jail. Or dead. 

          Some Black people on Twitter discussed how they found these stories to be triggering. For example, the movie 12 Years a Slave. Which is absolutely true. Seeing your people be oppressed and dehumanized is not entertaining. Especially if you're living it. Why should you be subject to watching something that you already know about? '

         I felt the same way about When They See Us. I was unable to watch it all the way through because I found it mentally draining

          People say "these stories need to be told" and are "required viewing". Which is absolutely true. But they don't need to be told to the people who live that experience everyday. Should they be made? Yes. Art imitates life. But if other races can get a variety of films in the same year, why can't we? White people can have a hard-hitting drama one week, Harry Potter the next week, and a superhero movie the week after. This is why it was a big deal when Black Panther, Us, Searching, Crazy Rich Asians, and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse came out (can I just say spider-verse is the best movie ever pls go watch it it's on Netflix).

         It's important that while younger generations understand their reality, they are also able to see themselves in a different light. These films are only required viewing for those who can not relate or are uneducated on the nuances of these situations.  

        On a happier note, a romance film called The Photograph with two Black actors is coming out in February. It does not look like it's based off of the sad injustices in America. 

The Problem With Suspension in Schools

By: Rafeeat Bishi

          Mrs. Lozano recently came in and told us that our school had removed ISS. I was really pleased to hear this. Mainly because throughout middle school and high school I found it to be ineffective. It rarely prompted students to "reflect on their actions". 

          I remember one day in middle school, a girl in my grade was begging the administrator to put her in ISS with her friends who were there. My brothers have gotten it multiple times for minor infractions, and all it did was put them behind in their schoolwork. They were not given any forms of counseling to work through what put them in ISS in the first place.

          More often due to implicit bias, Black, disabled, and Latino students will be suspended, instead of given chances or warnings. Many teachers view having those students as "extra work" and are more likely to penalize and ostracize them, seeing them as "problem students". 

          Moreover, unless the student has proven themselves to be harmful to other students, out of school suspension for minor offenses I think can be very detrimental. Educators and administrators claim it gives students time to "think about their wrongdoing with their parents". But what happens if the student is sent to a home without an adequate support system? For example, a child is told to stay at home, but their guardian works for most of the day. An entire day is spent at home alone,and most of the time young kids will not take that time to "reflect on their actions". If no one helped them understand what was wrong with their actions and how to fix them, what will stop them from doing them again? 


          Studies also show that suspension promotes the school-to-prison pipeline, which is the disproportionate tendency of minors/young adults from disadvantaged backgrounds to become incarcerated, because of increasingly harsh school and municipal policies. Kids who have been suspended are more likely to repeat a grade, dropout, or be arrested. 

          I think administrators and educators should receive training for minority students so that their behaviors are not met immediately with aggressive punishments. And while suspension may not be completely eradicated, it can be reformed so that the time spent during suspension is productive. Counseling, tutoring, meditation, and interactive activities are some suggestions. 



I read that a Baltimore school replaced detention with meditation and counseling. I think that's a good idea.
https://www.cnn.com/2016/11/04/health/meditation-in-schools-baltimore/index.html 

Speaking "Proper English"

By: Rafeeat Bishi

Me and a lot of black people I noticed who spoke by definition, Standard American English, would be considered "white" by our peers. Their reasoning would be because we did not speak like "common Black people". By definition, that is African-American Vernacular English, or AAVE, and it is a recognized dialect of English. It varies regionally in places like the South and the Midwest, or even in different cities, like Philly, New York or Baltimore.
I'm not a native speaker of AAVE because my parents didn't grow up speaking it, since they're Nigerian. We have our own form of English dialect separate from the native language. But there have been times where I've picked it up after being in certain surroundings.

You can't speak a color because language isn't bound by race. So how can all people of one race sound alike? Especially if we come from different places?

When I'm at a place where I'm not surrounded by people who look like me, I'll be more likely to adapt to that situation and speak differently. I think it's very harmful for all people, including Black people, to employ that stereotype.

Whiteness should not be equated with properness (is that a word). Just because something is Western or European, does not mean its higher mannered. Proximity to Whiteness is too often seen as the goal and positive.

A lot of people also equate speaking "white" with intelligence.  I'll sometimes see Black people make claims against AAVE, saying things like "don't speak to me in Ebonics, I speak proper English. I'm educated"

Using different words or terms must mean you're not smart? Make it make sense.

That statement can be so irritating. So many people speak AAVE because it's simply what they're around. Speaking a different dialect, whether or not it's grammatically "correct" does not make someone more or less intelligent. In fact, Those who speak AAVE and/or have the ability to code-switch apparently have higher brain functions. Bilingualism is never a negative.

When I'm talking to my sister, or with other Black peers, or my African friends at the mosque, it sometimes can seem as if I'm a different person. I still hold my same sentiments, I just convey them differently. And speaking one or the other doesn't make me any less intelligent or any less Black.

Here's a few links:
https://www.languagejones.com/blog-1/2014/6/8/what-is-aave
https://bilingualkidspot.com/2018/04/04/code-switching-sophisticated-linguistic-tool/