Comments on: Writers Against Racism: Tony Medina

By: tanita

tanita — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 17:47:44 +0000

Not a lot of people understand the tremendous impact class has on a society; we tend to get bogged down simply in race. I’m hoping as these conversations expand and continue that they encourage writers to touch on some of these larger issues in ways that young readers and thinkers can understand.

By: Amy Bowllan

Amy Bowllan — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 16:23:39 +0000

Professor Medina, your story touched so many chords with me – especially given the fact that I had similar experiences. I would love to post your reading lists. We need 21st century authors from all cultures to include in K-12 reading lists. Thanks for sharing your story, too.

By: Tony Medina

Tony Medina — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 09:49:12 +0000

Thanks for your comments about my interview, George Edward Stanley. It sounds like you’re doing a lot of great work where you are. I was fortunate to grow up in New York City where I went to school with a diverse group of students and where I was exposed to so many different cultures: African American, Jewish, Irish, Italian, and various Asian and Caribbean cultural backgrounds. It wasn’t until I was much older that I began gravitating to the various literatures of these great cultures. I think we as humans are so fortunate to have such a wealth of variety. I think the future of American youth is going to be such a collage of various culutral influences that the American teen is going to be defined as universal. We can see it already in our culture. And it doesn’t just end with literature, but with music, aesthetics, partners, food, clothing, religion and other cultural forces. Keep up the great work in Lawton.

Peace,

Tony

By: George Edward Stanley

George Edward Stanley — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 08:20:24 +0000

Professor Medina, while I found your entire story full of information that needs to be heard by everyone in this country, the part that spoke to me most was the section about how literature can be used to combat racism and promote tolerance (and while I agree with you completely about not having just a tolerant society, for the time being, at least, I’d settle for “tolerance” as a start for some groups in our country – and then we can work toward acceptance), and I’m going to work toward using the Lawton (Oklahoma) Public Schools as a laboratory. I’ve mentioned the racial/ethnic diversity in this city of about 100,000 people. It’s wonderful – and I think, for the most part, it’s celebrated daily! (In fact, our huge International Festival is this week!) The public school classrooms are populated with young people who are: black, white, Hispanic (Mexican, Puerto Rican, Panamanian – mostly) Asian, Native American, black-German, black-Korean, black-Filipino, white-German, white-Korean, white-Filipino, white-Mexican, black-Mexican, and I could go on and on.) I think it is especially important for these classrooms to use literature which celebrates all of these cultures. It would certainly make individual students feel included. It would certainly help other students understand their classmates’ experiences better. As I said, I really do think LPS does a very good job – but I’m not sure the reading lists totally reflect this wonderful diversity. Amy and the other incredible W.A.R. veterans are compiling books lists which I plan to make available to the teacher-education professors at Cameron University and to our public school system. Again, thank you for your story!