Green's "THE RE-EDUCATION OF NEISHA-ANNE S GREEN" explores the intricacies of being a person of color in education. In it, she focuses not only on obtaining clarity about her identity, but also on how her identity ties to her journey as a writer. Not only did she have to deal with the desire to belong, but she also had to deal with the concept of "code-meshing," also known as "code-switching," and how to provide a more empowered approach to the writing center.
Camarillo's essay "Dismantling Neutrality" focuses on anti-racist approaches to the writing center. Camarillo also emphasizes that assessing writing, particularly by students, might be linked to bigger, systemic issues. There is also the point of imposing a white-centric judgment on students of color; to counteract this, he believes that an institutional and ecological consensus on how students of color interact with power, people, and places is required. Camarillo highlights that the writing center's purpose is to remove racial identifiers in students.
These two perspectives on the writing center are similar in that they both focus on empowering students of color via writing, but they do so in different ways. Green advocates for students of color to become more ingrained in their identities and to use their identities to further their writing, whereas Camarillo advocates for the elimination of the concept of race totally in relation to the writing center.
"Race, Retention, Language, and Literacy" by Faison and Trevio seeks to contrast the idealism of the writing center with what it is: a breeding factory for the upper-middle-class white comforts that so many of its actual participants are accustomed to. The essay focuses on the gap between identity and education, and how a lack of either can be fatal for a person of color, even if it is not as destructive for white people. It also focuses on the adventures of people who are different from the norm, both ethnically and sexually, who work in education, notably at the writing center. The writers hope that through critiquing the concept of a writing center, they might inform and change some of the writing center's preconceived notions in order to make them more inclusive.
While I agree with some of the authors' points of view, I have not personally encountered the majority of the difficulties raised by the authors. While everyone's experiences differ and equality should be taken for granted rather than pushed for, it is critical to recognize that POC is a grouping term rather than an actual group. Racism in education is more often than not the result of ignorance rather than malice, in which case we should work to educate. I can't say that my identification as a person of color has made me afraid to write because I come from an upper-middle-class family and have been somewhat protected my entire life. In reality, I was reared on the likes of James Baldwin and Langston Hughes, pushed by the black culture I grew up in and, as a result, helped me find my identity. Race is unchangeable, and I welcome it, but I would be hesitant to designate myself with the name "person of color" rather than my proper designation of "black."
In light of the Faison and Trevio piece, I'd like to ask how they would situate persons of color in positions of power and influence as opposed to non-POC people in the writing center.
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