Colorism Archives - Green Card Voices

Time Frame

1–2 class periods

Materials

Green Card Entrepreneur Voices – Dario Meija’s story
Highlighters
Pens/Pencils
Slides

Connections to the 7 Cs of Ethnic Studies

Challenge: imperialist/colonial hegemonic beliefs and practices on ideological, institutional, interpersonal, and internalized levels
Critique: empire, white supremacy, anti-Blackness, anti-Indigeneity, racism, xenophobia, patriarchy, cisheteropatriarchy, capitalism, ableism, anthropocentrism, and other forms of power and oppression at the intersections of our society

Instruction

Day 1- Ignite: Intro/Warm-Up

Welcome, agenda, announcements, learning target (slide 1)

a. Warm-up Q: When was a time you overcame a fear or hardship?

1. Turn to a neighbor + share (2-4 minutes)
2. Share out to the class; pick a few students to share (2-3 minutes)

b. Mental health: Today’s lesson discusses racism and experiences of exclusion within Latine communities. Some may personally connect to these experiences in different ways. Please take care of yourself; participate in ways that feel comfortable and respectful.

Chunk: Resistance and Resilience—Latinos Are NOT a Monolith

c. Vocabulary (slide 2)

i. Vocabulary: Monolithic Thinking

1. 1. “the tendency to view cultures, experiences, and people from a single perspective”
  2. Oftentimes, people believe that all Latino/a/x people have the same culture, experiences, traditions or beliefs. But from country to country, and even within countries, Latino/a/x people are so different!

ii. Vocabulary: Colorism

1. 1. “prejudice or discrimination against individuals with a dark skin tone, typically among people of the same ethnic or racial group”
  2. Colorism is a form of racism, but many people don’t even recognize it as a phenomenon. Many Latin American countries suffer from it.

d. Example: Latino/a/x are not a cultural monolithic group, even within one country!

i. Slide 3: Afro-Latinos: people with descendants from Africa

1. 1. Watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1XmfL62xozI
  2. As students watch, have them think/answer: Explain how colorism has led to stereotypes and prejudice in Black Mexicans’ experience in Mexico.
  3. Pick two people to share with the class.

ii. Slide 4: Indigenous people: native peoples to the land prior to European colonization

1. 1. Watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQ9Uwq5kXY8
  2. As students watch, have them think/answer: How does colorism impact the experience of indigenous peoples in Mexico?
  3. Pick two people to share with the class.

iii. Puerto Rico is technically a US territory, but its rich cultural history makes it distinct from the rest of the United States. It also was impacted by colonization and slavery, leading to the erasure of many Taino people, those indigenous to the island.

1. 1. Ask students: Let’s make a list of things you think of when you think of Puerto Rico. (Have students shout out their answers and write a list on the board; Bad Bunny is likely to appear on this list.)
  2. There may be lots of buzz around these ideas, but for many years, Puerto Rico has wanted to establish independence from the US—all the way back to the early 1900s.
  3. Today, even stars like Bad Bunny are calling attention to the ongoing issues that Puerto Rico faces, like environmental disasters due to climate change, the lasting effects of colonization and slavery, and the economic/social inequalities people face there, despite being a part of the “exceptional” US.
    a. Play Bad Bunny’s “El Apagon – Aqui Vive Gente.” (Disclaimer: It does have swearing in Spanish, and maybe some explicit dancing. Watch to see what scenes are most appropriate for students prior to showing it.)

iv. Slide 5: Art as a form of resistance and resilience

1. Places all around Latin America have resistance movements against colonization, imperialism, environmentalism, and more—many of these movements having solidarity with one another!
  a. Ask students: How did Bad Bunny use art to call attention to what happens in Puerto Rico? (This could be your exit ticket, after which you continue with the next part tomorrow.)
2. Dance, music, attire, culinary arts, and more!
4. “Notice how many of these experiences of resistance and resilience come from Black/African or Indigenous cultures.”
5. Student work: Take a moment to look up a community concern in a Latin American country.
  a. Write the concern.
  b. Write about a group working to address concern.
  c. Question: How are they using art or another form of emotional expression to further their movement?

v. Recap: Latino/a/x are not a monolithic group, even within one country! (slide 6)

1. Even within Mexico, people come from all sorts of different racial and even cultural backgrounds. (Break text, new paragraph/line.) Now imagine we expand this map by thousands of more miles! (Insert map of Central and South America, including islands in Caribbean.)

Day 2 – Chew: Resistance and Resilience in our identities and intersectionality (slide 6)

e. Class work time instructions

“So what happens when you have many identities—what do we do to honor all of them?”

f. Slide 7: Part 1: Pick a Partner

i. Read the story of Dario Meija (have them printed).

ii. Annotate Dario’s story.

1. 1. Circle words you do not know.
  2. Highlight sections where Dario shares parts of his story that were hard/difficult for either him or his family.
  3. Underline sections where Dario shares parts of his story that honor his identities or bring him joy.
  4. Star sections that demonstrate identities (gender, culture, language, race, etc.).

g. Slide 8: Part 2: World café

i. Assign five students to “host” at five table groups; pairs are split and asked to go to a table, then go to a new table every 7-9 minutes.

1. 1. Table one question: What annotation stuck out to you—why did it impact you?
  2. Table two question: What are some ways Dario finds joy in his Ecuadorian identity?
  3. Table three question: How does Dario’s cultural and racial identity impact his work?
  4. Table four question: Why does Dario share his story?
  5. Table five question: In what ways does Dario demonstrate resilience?

Review: Large Group Whipshare Discussion (or can expand it, if time allows) (slide 9)

h. What can resistance and resilience look like? (Use context from any material today or the conversations had during the world café activity.)

Multilingual and ELL Supports

Provide English sentence stems to help students contribute to the conversation about colorism, stereotypes, and prejudices.
Enable captions on video (in English and/or home language).
Allow students to think about their answers by writing them in their home language first prior to teacher questions during the lesson (chunk), and while sharing annotations and reflection questions with a partner.
Allow students to read Dario’s story in their home language.
Allow students to annotate in their home language.

Vocabulary and Definitions

Cultural monolith: a culture that follows a single perspective, experience, or person
Colorism: preferential treatment of people of the same race based on the lightness of their skin tone
Stereotype: a widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a particular type of person or thing
Prejudice: an unfair/unreasonable opinion, attitude, or emotion toward a person or group that is not based on reason, fact, or actual experience
Discrimination: unfair or unequal treatment of people based on personal identities like race, gender, sexuality, religion, age, ability, class, and more
Racism: a form of discrimination against someone’s race through the acceptance of negative stereotypes and emotion; can lead to violence
Resistance: defining oneself against or challenging dominant structures within society
Resilience: the ability of people or communities to adapt, withstand, or recover from difficult situations; best practiced when it is done in community or collectively rather than individually