A Metaphor for Racism
Insights from a story about a bird
When I was a university professor, I often encountered white people who hadn’t noticed systemic racism and didn’t believe in it. As one student wrote in an essay, “I really don’t think it’s a thing.”
That remark popped into my mind recently when I had an unusual encounter with a bird. As odd as this may sound, the bird inspired me to write a story about it and use the story as a metaphor for understanding racism. I also wrote some questions to stimulate discussion. If this sounds intriguing, you may want to start by reading my story about the bird.
Using the story as a metaphor for understanding racism
Metaphors are a useful learning tool. They let us use something that’s easy to understand as a basis for grasping something that’s harder. My premise is that systemic racism is difficult for many white people to understand because it threatens their self-affirming views of reality. We can use my depiction of what happened to the bird in my story as a metaphor for understanding…
