Video Activity: A month ago, I decided to turn homeschooling into antiracism school so that I could learn along with my kids. Last week, I chose one of the many activities available to teach kids about privilege. The video above, outlines the activity and conversation points.
And here is the accompanying blog:
My family and I have been doing a lot of hiking lately. Usually meeting up with another family, we gather at the trail head, ensure everyone is ready, and then begin.
A couple of adults, engaged in a conversation, are usually at the front. The older kids trail behind them, jumping over stumps and balancing on logs as they go. After them, follow a couple of more adults, one slower due to a recent knee injury. Then the younger kids are at the back because of their age, but more because they continuously stop to observe a slug, gaze upward at the trees, or slop around in a mud puddle.
As we hike, we spread out. Every 5 minutes or so, the hikers at the front slow their pace to ensure the ones at the back catch up. Once we are together as a group again, we continue hiking. After about 45 minutes, the fast hikers stop for a break. When the slower hikers meet up with them, we have a snack. Then, again, we ensure everyone is ready to go, and we continue. Together.
At the end of the hike, it is always ensured that everyone is out of the forest and is together again before we depart for home.
It would be strange if the few hikers at the front, with their eye on speed and the glory of the finish line, began the hike and just kept going at their fast pace, without looking back, until the end of the trail.
Here’s my point: this hiking experience has me thinking about how privilege plays out in our society. The way we live in North America is more like the strange scenario. A select few, privileged due to their white skin, heterosexuality, cis-gender (which means they identify with the gender they were assigned at birth), high socio-economic wealth, and typically male gender, tend to speed ahead with their eye on the prize rarely looking back at the others behind.
This is strange. Any level-headed human (and what I have observed in the animal kingdom) knows that the group is a group. Everyone is equal in this adventure, and it is the duty of the ones in the front to wait for the group to gather as a team before continuing along the journey.
*As I write and post, I learn. And it has come to my attention that this post and video could be interpreted as white saviorship. So, if you are teaching this activity to your kids please ensure to emphasize that the continuum with the lines represents who holds power in North America presently because of their privilege.
It is NOT a continuum of who is better or worse.
It means that the people closest to the recycling bin/prize hold power, and they have a choice to use that power to serve them self only (and feed their cloud), or to use it to be there for the world and ensure every one has equal rights (and feed their sun). Looking back means taking their eye off the prize of more money and more power, and taking the time to learn the history and truth about the injustices to Black and Indigenous people and POC. It means taking action by donating to Black and Indigenous lead organizations, voting, writing to MLAs and MPs, protesting, learning, and listening.
It also means posting on social media, being willing to make mistakes, get informed of those mistakes, and fix them (and meditate and give self-love to feel all the emotions of guilt, confusion, anger and sadness along the way).