Objectivity part 4

In this final thought exercise about objectivity, I thought I’d focus on these two antidotes to objectivity.

• support yourself and your group to sit with discomfort when people are sharing points of view or lived experiences that are not familiar to you
• get curious about sources of information and stories, both to insure that those who are often overlooked as sources get lifted up and recognized and also to insure that those who claim credit are grounded in lived experience and social justice values (thank you Cristina Rivera-Chapman)

As I’m writing this there are reports of people wanting to ban 50 books in Texas libraries. One of the books that they want to ban is Stamped. Here’s the quote about it in the article

This young adult adaptation of “Stamped From the Beginning,” Kendi’s National Book Award-winning historical examination of racism, was flagged for removal by a parent in Katy, who wrote that the children’s book “is littered with completely fabricated and conspiracy theory views on history” that make it seem as if “all historical events of the past were a result of racism.”

I should say I lived in Katy, Texas for 11 years when I was younger. I’m quite familiar with the city. I can recall a number of racist interactions in school and in the community. From being told that I should aspire to play sports because that’s what Black people are good at in elementary school to hearing about the Curse of Ham in Sunday School. I also remember hearing about Katy being home to KKK headquarters. I recall in relative recent history of KKK fliers being spread about town.

So to hear these comments by a parent in Katy is not a shock and feels consistent with my experience in the community. What I also recall is the number of times that the defense to these acts that caused harm we claims of how they came from an objective stand point and their intent was neutrality and “just facts”. It didn’t matter if the claims they were making were grounded in truth. It only mattered if they believed it was true. If they didn’t believe it was true, then it was subjective. So this comment from a parent that Stamped is full of conspiracy theories seems consistent with my previous interactions.

What would happen if parents met new information about history with curiosity and leaned into their discomfort of information that all historical events might have elements of racists ideas and thinking that produced racists outcomes. What if this is true? What if the version of history we have been taught was only from one perspective and purposely omitted information that history books like Stamped are now trying to include? If we leaned into the antidotes like curiosity and discomfort, we learn that these perspective that are now being vocalized have validity and gives us a much broader understanding of history and an opportunity to seek justice for all.