the intentional unintentional.

    The topic of our second story circle with Dave Molina was: "In your time here so far, when did you realize that race is still a barrier in the classroom?" I won't share anyone's story, for each person's story is his/her own, but one of the common threads we discussed was relationships. We found that in many of the stories there was a struggle to form relationships, and within those relationships to be accepted, not to stereotype, not to homogenize. We talked about natural relationships that form and why they form that way. One of the main things that was brought up was race and how easy it is to fall into a rhythm with who you surround yourself with.
    Toward the end of the story circle Dave asked us all how we could begin to build the bridge toward the future--how to take what we've talked about in our circle and apply to our own lives. There was silence in the beginning, and I thought, how perfect for the situation. See, we are trying to make something natural. It seems a little paradoxical. We want these natural relationships to be formed--relationships where a person doesn't have to explain why although he may appear white, he is actually half latino, or black, in order to relate. However, to get to this point, this point of naturalness, or unconsciousness one might say, we have to be conscious. We have to have discussions like the story circle. We have to bring the problem to the forefront. We have to notice things. We have to be aware.
    I find this funny, but I also think it's what makes the change so difficult. We have to stand up and face something that we want to be invisible. We have to acknowledge something that is kind of awkward to acknowledge, because we know it shouldn't need to be acknowledged, if that makes any sense.