Racism & violence & police misconduct are “not the pink elephant in the room” - “It is the room"

[kpete]

On Ferguson, these teens are smarter than everyone.

...................

Their daily lives do “not allow them to buy into any kind of post-racial rhetoric,” says Cathy Cohen, a University of Chicago political scientist who studies youth politics and race. “These young people do what social scientists do. They falsify the premise. When they look around, they know it’s not post-racial...We have to recognize the level of expertise that these young people have.”

The teacher wonders if the “conversation” we should be having is less a dialogue about “race relations” than a listening session to hear teens like the ones she teaches.

Racism and violence and police misconduct are “not the pink elephant in the room,” she says. “It is the room.”

Class is nearly over when three older students walk into the classroom carrying a long paper banner with notes and hearts scrawled across it. Two days earlier, a student at the school had been shot and killed in St. Louis. The police investigation is ongoing. The school held a moment of silence that day, and students are putting together a paper monument.

“You knew him?” I ask one of the young men who came in with the banner.

“That was my cousin,” he says, and looks down at the floor.

.....

the rest:
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/ts/ferguson-racism-dialogue-black-teens

[okaawhatever]

1. K & R nt

[Mnemosyne]

2. K&R nt