From the very start I knew my childhood would be more difficult than others due to the fact of the amount of melanin in my skin. Crazy concept right, but also extremely relatable. I had seen and experienced acts of discrimination before the age of twelve and every incident left an imprint on my social well-being. Although I may find my own path in the world to be true, there are some people in the world that would highly disagree with me. However, something I have yet to learn is how some people feel it necessary to speak so strongly about my own life experiences. Luckily, a woman seemed to have the same wondering as me, by the name of Jane Elliot.
Jane Elliott is an American former third-grade schoolteacher, anti-racism activist, and educator, as well as a feminist and LGBT activist. She is known for her "Blue eyes–Brown eyes" exercise.
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Every single day I wake up and step into a world that I know historically, and presently has never worked in favor of persons of color. Before starting my day I know that I have to fight the same fight I fought yesterday and will have to continue to do this for the rest of my life.
Jane Elliot, for those of you who may not know is a retired American teacher whom realized her true calling in the early 60's after the death of Martin Luther King Jr. His death had a profound effect on Elliot, therefore she became determined to uproot the evils of discrimination. For forty years Jane Elliot has employed an exercise that has ignited controversy around the world. Elliot says that her exercise uncovers the deep dark truth about racism in its darkest form. Her extreme message and methods force people to come to the realization of seeing the evil that goes on in every day race town America.
The commencement of the exercise entails separating people by eye color. Brown eyes and blue eyes completely segregated. Prior to the exercise beginning, Elliot makes it known to the brown eye group that she is going to make the blue eyed group feel that they do not belong and are next to nothing.
Elliot's experiment lacks sentiment, considering she believes that when you conduct the exercise in a nice way, people look at you as weak. Her method includes injecting live racism into the people of the blue eyes in hopes that they will decide to not let certain things happen to other people in general public social life. She notes that there's nothing polite about racism. There are no jokes when it comes to racism and trying to get rid of it.
The ultimate goal of the exercise is "to have white people know how it feels to be something other than white for a max of two and a half hours."
This statement really strikes a chord in me. "Two and a half hours." I love my black culture and heritage, however, if I could get two and a half hours to walk outside or into a grocery store in a colorless society I would accept that offer without contemplation.
Elliot also indicated that "if you want to see a decrease in racism in your society, the first thing you have to do is allow white people to be on the receiving end of it."
By using adults in the experiment, Elliot puts adults into a child-like position giving way to an open field to humiliation and the ultimate mistreatment.
Mentally and emotionally abused is the history of black Americans in the United States and it has had a insurmountable effect on the long-lasting livelihood of African Americans in the United States.
Jane Elliot believes that racism is a "immoral and irrational social construct that people are too quick to conform to."
She's able to convince people that they're worthless in a matter of 45 minutes. She also notes that the verbal harm that she commits in this experiment goes on for a select period of time. How would this effect a culture if this was done to them for 60 plus years and beyond?
One thing that people on the blue side argue is that everyone has to experience some type of discrimination. Whether someone is over-weight or has lime green hair. The problem with this argument is that there is still the factor of choice when it comes to removable physicality's. There is no removing skin color.
I have always said that you absolutely can not speak on anyones personal experience strongly unless you physically have walked in their shoes, step by step through every microaggression and or act of discrimination. Jane Elliot gives me hope that there are people out in the world fighting against a long history of oppression and subjection to cruelty. I appreciate her practices because she shows people in a made up exercise and how those people can't even handle two hours of being on the receiving end of any type of discrimination.
Lastly, in one exercise conducted in the United Kingdom, one person of color realized two things below.
1. you either play the game or
2. you fight against it and risk prosecution or a major backlash.
Perfect example: One guy said that when he picks up the phone to speak to the bank he tries to sound as white as possible. He believes that this is the easier way to go.
The under the surface racism that has boiled up until the year of 2016 has just now approached the surface to the American people.
Because something doesn't effect you, that does not mean that it does not exist.
What Jane Elliot does to non-people of color appears to be brutal, because it is not something that they have to deal with all day, every day.
We've got to get better as society about stepping in and saying something. No matter what race you are, no one should be belittled. You can not argue with someones experience, if you do, you're apart of the problem.
Step in and stand up for those who fight the ultimate fight against something they can not control.
Thank you Jane Elliot for pushing this effort.
I will end this with a quote.
“You think I don’t live in a black mans world. Oh you know the one. The one where that salesman there has been eye bawling us ever since we came in here. Or where that security guard has moved just a little off his mark so he can keep us in his sight. And where they will definitely ask for an ID with my credit card when I go to pay even though they haven’t asked for anybody else’s. Plus a million things everyday that I have to choose to let go just so I am not pissed off all the time…like I have done everyday of my life.”-Randall on This Is Us
