"Not Stud’n’ ‘em White Folks"

Throughout the semester, we’ve had great speakers who’ve discussed topics such as mass incarceration, racial profiling, and education, and more topics which have without a doubt wowed me.  

In discussing what we've learned over the semester, I recognized the importance of not only remembering oral histories but the importance of seeing them through a more analytical lens. I admit, I put too much value and power on oral histories. It was though the class discussion and Zandria Robinson's discussion that I was able to to think more critically. While Robinson's lecture takes on the idea of black identity in the south, there were certainly similar draws to the semester's class discussions. 

During her presentation, it was clear from the way she presented the information and through the audience questions that Robinson is acutely aware that the South needs to do a better job at studying oral stories and black identity. Her passion for presenting such stories reminded me of the works collected by Crossroads To Freedom. While the Crossroads to Freedom goal is "to empower Memphians to tell the stories of our city and region as a vital aspect of participation in the future of our community," it is important to consider how the stories and experiences have shaped and altered individual's understanding and creation of self-identity. 

With this is mind, I am able to appreciate what Robinson was to deliver to the community during her lecture. Through the conversations with her interviewees, Robinson was able to identify three themes that guided her presentation of the third chapter of her book "Not Stud’n’ ‘em White Folks." As the respondents were speaking about interactions with white people, they would refer to "not stud's  'em White folks" as a way of not unpacking the things that white people would do or say. Some examples of what she describes is explained through her themes: 

1: progress and denial: respondents allow white people to be and do not call them out on racism

2: respondents draw from religious/spiritual language to navigate race, class, and regional tensions

3: New South Theory, Old South Methods: white people will continue to be racists, that's just the way 

  

My poor interpretation does not due her research justice. It is for this reason that I bought her book to better understand her research and her respondents understanding of identity. As I mentioned earlier in the semester, I have a close high-school friend whose grandmother is from Louisiana and the rest of her family is from Mississippi. There is quite the SES in the three generations and while I know that bringing a conversation about black identity is unlikely to be considered a dinner-friendly discussion, I would still like to have Robinson's research more clear before beginning a conversation. 

With that said, I certainly noticed a palpable level of discomfort in the audience as Robinson was going through her qualitative research. There were some instances where the audience would be engulfed in laughter while others remained still and silent. It wasn't until the end midway of the presentation that I noticed a large percentage of the audience were not you typical Rhodes members. I was pleasantly surprised to see such high numbers of people of color on campus who were there to participate just as I wished there could be. At the same time, I did recognize that Robinson was also speaking to an audience that would only be able to think about black identity as an abstract thought. 

We've spent a whole semester on history of the [long] civil rights movement and have had rich discussions. My question is, in order to have a greater appreciation about black identity, how much would we or others have to learn/discuss/research to be able to best appreciate Robinson's book? Would we ever be able to, reading as the "other" in this case?