Paula Dean and the Societal Complacency of Ignorance

Hi!
I realize it has been two months since I last posted and for that I am dearly sorry for those reading often! I have been touring with the University of Michigan Men's Glee Club and have recently been training to be an intern teacher with the Breakthrough Collaborative in New York City. Both have been great experiences, feel free to check them out in the links. I actually taught my first class today and it was amazing!

So! To why I am writing today. As you know I try to be impartial and logical in my stance on controversial issues. In that battle, I have been fortunate to meet others who can share that mindset at times and one of my good friends made a post today about the Paula Deen controversy I thought really captured what I try to when thinking about these issues. 

Paula Deen 

Her post was:  

"The world we live in..... So this whole Paula Dean thing 

With the minimal information that we as a society have been fed about this cooking ladies personality it has definitely stirred the pot. Regardless of whether or not her view of blacks was articulated correctly I do not fully know, with everyone doing he said she said.

I believe sometimes the democratic state of mind that we all live in sometimes removes our compassion and realistic factor, and our mouths get disconnected from our brain.

Everyone is quick to defend themselves and say what they won't tolerate and yet there are more important issues not being addressed at this current time.

What is still happening with the IRS? where is Charles Pugh?

It is clear that sometimes the black society can be like little cats, waive a ball of yarn in front of our eyes and we'll forget whats really going on.

I feel deeply for Ms. Dean and no not because i'm trying to take her side and say whether or not her comment was or was not right, but because she is little being dragged through media fire.

It is not our job to crucify but rather identify recognize and spread truth!

Take the big picture away from this moment, Yes there are still people who do not know how to correctly interact across cultures, how do we as people address this? Social justice isn't learned over night.

We are all humans that still have emotions whether or not we are right or wrong... Let her acquire the help she needs in her own time not push her wrong doings in her face. I pray peace in her life"

In times like these it is SO easy to be critical. It is, to an extent necessary. But instead of breaking down, destroying during these moments they should be critical periods for each to teach and learn about each other. Nothing, especially not social justice, is truly learned over night and we can no longer afford to be complacent in our ignorance, both of individuals and of cultures. It takes years of trying and conversations to learn and understand. And after all that work, you become even wiser to just how much you are still ignorant of and that is the beauty of learning. It never ends, and it never has to!

Lets not be distracted by the "ball and yarn" (which I would say applies to numerous identities of people, not just blacks) and instead really learn to work out our issues.

Let's take moments like this to talk about the fact that race is still a major issue in this world and how we can go about breaking down the barriers we have been taught to build around ourselves. After all, no one can teach anyone else about you but you.

Let's claim and master our own experiences and share them with the world; teach your understanding.

Paula Deen still has work to do. But as a society, will we teach her the errs of her ways or solely break her down for them? I would hope we can be wise enough to know that nothing will come f that that will better us. Remember, we all make mistakes, just as we all struggle.

I'm Michael Chrzan and...

This is Where I Stand.

As always, if you want to discuss or debate my stance, email me at mlchrzan@outlook.com

Show You- Character and its Place in Applications

Hello,

I am so sorry I haven't written a post in so long. April is a very hectic month for me as far as student group performances and finals and papers and projects and just life haha. But recently there have been a couple of stories that have peaked my interest when thinking about social justice and keeping my theme of impartiality going I was curious to see if I could write on the story of one Suzy Lee Weiss.

Suzy Lee Weiss on Good Morning America

For those who have not heard the story that garnered her a spot on Good Morning America, feel free to watch the video above see the link in the next paragraph for her article. 

I'll start with her side. I can not find very much information on Suzy Lee Weiss (probably best). From what I can find she is a child from a well-off family and a high school senior graduating and apparently attending the University of Michigan in the fall, if the end of the GMA video is any indication. So keeping what I do know out of mind, I went back and re-read her op-ed titled "To (All) the Colleges that Rejected Me" in the Wall Street Journal. 

When trying to do so I found out very quickly that that would be next to impossible; she writes the articles based on the stereotypes she feels she lacks. She writes in the article "If it were up to me, I would've been any of the diversities: Navajo, Pacific Islander, anything." Her entire article is about how who she is has kept her out of her dream schools. I can understand where Suzy is coming from, however. She worked hard throughout high school- academically at least- and has some amazing numbers behind her to prove it. She apparently has also done some community service according to her interview. College admissions to these tops schools- and just in general- have become increasingly competitive and if that is what Suzy was trying to evaluate she did do that-although how she did it seems to be the problem and where her logic was flawed.

Now, onto the other side. In her article, Suzy using some very emotional language. She says things such as:

"I also probably should have started a fake charity."
"I would have gladly worn a headdress to school. Show me to any closet, and I would've happily come out of it. "Diversity!"

No wonder people are making a fuss; perhaps it is because of the tone of the writing. Suzy notes in her interview that she wrote this piece at the advice of her sister (who just so happens to have worked for the WSJ) the day she was "in tears" over her rejection from numerous schools. I believe that could be the problem. It doesn't seem like this is a satire. It is more like an emotional outrage of her trying to demerit anyone who had characterisitcs she felt she didn't that got them into the school instead of her. That is what can be best gathered from the tone of herarticle (the worst being that she is a racist. Let's not go that far). 

The admissions process and decisions for every school in this country are different. Thousands of students- some with those criteria she mentions and the numbers she has- get rejected. The thing to remember is that all the numbers and activities are not quotas to be filled. There aren't a certain number of spots for kids who did band, or choir, and black kids that did 4 extracurriculars, etc. There are just open seats and college leave them open to students who they feel will add to their environment- in any way. Diversity has more meaning than just ethnically. It is attitude, geography, socieoeconomic status, and many other things can be considered diversity and finding the right blend of diversities is what college strive for so that they can become these microcasms of learning and understanding our fellow men through interaction at great instituions of learning. 

Perhaps that is where Suzy was confused. When the colleges said "Just be yourself" they didn't mean be you. They meant show you. Show them who you are through your extracurriculars, through you're heritage, through your charity, through anything you can show us, show us your character and how you define yourself and shape the world around you. She shouldn't be angry because some students found ways to describe themselves- show themselves- and build that character that she so easily showed she lacked. 

In my research (read: Googling) I ran across one article response that truly spoke to what I believe logically follows from this topic. In the article its author, Kendra James, writes

In an ill-advised appearance on The Today Show, Suzy argues that the necessity of diversity means that colleges are judging applicants using factors (read: race) that the applicants have no control over. “Anyone can relate to this,” she says.
Actually Suzy, no, they can’t. I mean, we could start with fact that most of us don’t have the luxury of being able to cry over our failings publicly in a nationally published papers where our sisters just so happened to work once upon a time. Plus, in singling out diversity as your issue, you’re eliminating half the college applying population from your debate. By your logic, if a white girl with your background doesn’t get into an Ivy League college, it’s because there weren’t enough spots for white students that year. But, if a non-white girl with an identical profile is rejected, who do they blame? No one. They don’t have the excuse; they simply weren’t good enough. We don’t get to make ourselves feel better by engaging in a smear campaign against the fictional Cherokee girl that took our Ivy League slot.

Another of Suzy's quotes is 

Diversity is a wonderful thing. I think all colleges should have a holistic approach to every college applicant. I do, however, think that in this day in age we're being judged on things that we cannot control as opposed to things that we can.

The err in logic here is that we can control who we are and how we will represent ourselves and out impact on society. Even if it is in the smallest of ways- how those experiences build our character is what colleges want to know and what Suzy lacked. Her story speaks to a common misconeption about how we see achievements in the United States. You aren't being judged on what you did when applying to college, or to anything for that matter. You are being judged on what those things did to you and who you have become as a result of your experiences. 

I'm Michael Chrzan and That's Where I Stand.