Reading Reflection #2: Implicit Bias and Race (due 1/23)


To complete this reading reflection assignment, (1) Go to your personal blog, (2) Click on New -> Post, (3) Title the post Reading Reflection #2: Implicit Bias and Race, (4) Select the Category box for Reading Reflections, and (5) Add a few descriptive tags. Remember to respond to all six prompts below.

Based on your reading of “Trouble in Mind: To Be Black Is Blue in America” by IBé [link in D2L], answer the following questions:

  1. What was your emotional response when you read about IBé’s experiences as a Black man in St. Cloud? What personal experiences of your own can you connect or compare to those he describes?
  2. On page 74, IBé shares his thought process when he encounters microaggressions or discrimination. He then quotes James Baldwin as saying, “To be black and conscious in America is to be in a constant state of rage.” IBé adds, “Even if you are not raging mad, you may be losing your mind. In other words, trouble in mind.” What do you think he means by this?

Based on your viewing of Microaggressions in the Classroom, answer the following questions:

  1. Describe a time you witnessed or experienced a microaggression, in the classroom or within another group experience (if you can’t think of one you’ve experienced personally, describe one you’ve seen in a movie, etc.). What happened? How was it addressed (or not addressed)? How did people react? How did it make you feel?
  2. How important do you think it is for students to feel a sense of belonging within the classroom and within the university? How can feeling like you belong and are welcome affect one’s ability to do well and succeed?

Based on your reading of “Do Conversations About Race Belong in the Classroom?,” respond to the following questions:

  1. How diverse was your high school? If you identify as white, how much did you talk or think about what it means to be white in the United States? If you didn’t talk or think about being white, do you think that was itself a privilege? If you identify as a Person of Color, Latinx, or Indigenous, how has whiteness been visible to you?
  2. Do you think conversations about race should happen in school? Why or why not (please answer thoughtfully)?