Black Class

I think that Carters’ idea of  “Black cultural capital” is extremely powerful, especially when speaking of class “dominance” and participation. While reading this piece, all I could think of what the Women in Walled Communities 360 as well as the Black American Perspective class (which I ironically called my Black class), and even this class/Ed classes. Because of the nature of the 360’s theme, it focused a lot on the issues of mass incarceration. For most of the class, students of color would tend to dominate/lead the conversations while white students listened more. I could say the same for the Black class, although I would add that the majority of the class was composed of students of color. In this class, I can also see the difference or divide between how students of color engage in/feel about the class versus our white counterparts (I could also say this for maybe most of my Ed classes, but it also depends on the ‘unit’ that is being discussed). The reality of Black cultural capital is so important and interesting to me, because I always thought about it, but never knew what to call it. I think this can go back to my feelings during the “reflection class” we had where I felt a little uneasy because I have engaged in so many conversations about race inequality (something along those lines).

In classes/units that pertain more towards issues that disproportionately affect people of color, the BMC students of color tend to have more to say and usually involve personal experience. I just found the connection to be so interesting. In our own class, for example, when speaking about identity and culture, at least in my opinion/maybe I misunderstood, white students felt the “otherness” Hill mentions on pages 57-58. I feel the white students feeling like the conversation “ain’t for them” which affects their participation at that particular moment. I saw this happening a lot during our 360, as well as the Black class. This is also true for a lot of my Ed classes, and I speak from personal experience. I went to a low-income, labeled “underperforming”, which was 93% Blacks and Latinos combined (2010-2011 sources – last year of it being open). Because of my experiences, and the Black cultural capital I posses, I participate more, feel more motivated to speak when it comes to topics about “underperforming schools”, schools-to-prison pipeline, incarceration, student drop out – all the stereotypical aspects of students of color in low-income schools.

This “radical”, counter-hegemonic way of learning creates a distortion in our classes where the knowledge that tends to be appreciated the most in ‘regular’ classes – knowledge in terms of cultural capital, or more theoretical, or politically correct, or from the Eurocentric perspective – is not so much necessarily the SOLE focus of the class.