Today I met with a group of students in an anti-racism course. I was invited by a colleague who I am partnering with to develop a training. We are proposing a training for faculty on how to support the inclusion of "underrepresented" students (read: anyone not white, straight, female, able-bodied and upper middle class) on study abroad programs. It was really important that I go to this group and hear students tell me about all the insanely racist and F!@#ed up things that happened to them while abroad, but it was also hard to hear. Let me back up now to give you a short bit of background on me.
I am a traveler. I have studied, taught, and lived abroad for several years. For the past three summers, I have taken high school students to Japan, so I know a little sumthin sumthin about facilitating diverse groups of people abroad. I also know what it is like to be a participant in a program where I did not feel supported...and I think that is why my hands are shaking as I write these words.
Today I mailed off my absentee ballot. It was the first time in my life that I was able to cast a vote for a black man to lead this nation. Even though WA is stupid and our primary doesn't count, so I must now also go Caucus in order to pick my candidate, I voted anyway for the sheer symbolism of being able to feel like something has changed. Then I came to work, back to this institution of which I am a graduate, back to this institution of which I am now an employee, and I spent the majority of my day searching for research to support the reasons why my institution should approve and sponsor my training. Of course the most powerful reason for me is that after studying abroad with this institution and having an experience that could have been infinitely better with the proper facilitation, my training could be a preventive measure and save tons of other kids of color from the agony of___________ (fill in the blank with: being discriminated against in a foreign country in very familiar ways, having their study abroad leader ignore the fact that they are being mistreated, leaving the US only to feel even more marginalized, andetc) .
But really I am just angry that it's been almost a decade since my trip, and I am meeting with students who are repeating my experiences. These students are angry. They are alienated. Some of them cannot discuss what happened without crying. They have been mistreated. They have been marginalized. And really, who needs to leave the good old USA for that. They have come back even more damaged...and all in the name of taking advantage of an international opportunity to become a "global citizen". I am left unsettled and furiously questioning: What kind of citizenship is my institution promoting? What can I do to set things right? Why is it once again MY responsibility to correct the actions of a racist organization? When will change come?
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