The “Name Game”: racialization in a suburban high school (Encore)

Drs. Tony de Jesus, Anthony Johnston, and Don Siler of University of St. Joseph recount their intervention in a multiracial high school in crisis. White students had instigated a “game” of addressing Black students as the n-word. We discuss the impact of racialization in the Trump era on white students, students of color, and the school community as well as actual and potential responses by schools.

*Episode originally posted on February 26th, 2020.

Overview

00:00-00:48 Intros

00:49-03:13 “Name game”: the background

03:14-04:58 The “name game”

04:59-05:30 The intervention

05:31-08:41 Student: “Being white means being seen as racist”

08:42-12:13 Racialized identities/racialization of youth

12:14-13:39 Impact of racialization on school community

13:40-16:46 Obstacles to whites grasping the impact of race-related experiences on Black students

16:47-19:03 Administrators’ and faculty members’ responses

19:04-20:37 The blame game

20:38-23:43 White students  who wanted to address the issue

23:44-29:35 The “n-word” and language

29:36-34:08 Applying the lens of ethics

34:09-37:00 Bakhtin, carnival, heteroglossia

37:01-46:30 How can schools respond to racism/racist actions?

46:31-48:05 Parents

48:06-49:30 Outro

Transcript

Click here to see the full transcription of the episode. 

References

• Book Why Are All The Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? And Other Conversations About Race by Beverly Tatum.
• Article on Semantic Scholar “The Name Game”: Adolescent Racialization in the Era of Trump  by Anthony Johnston, Don Siler, Anthony De Jesús

Credits

Photo by Spencer Pierce / Unsplash

Soundtrack by Podington Bear