SEAHO Report - Holiday 2020 - 12

FEATURE ARTICLES

Dismantling Race Conversations
and Implementing Practices
for Supporting Students
Jayla Beeler, University of North Carolina at Greensboro
In our current society, beyond the global
pandemic, race is at the forefront of many
minds. Just as we are seeing the CNN
headlines about COVID-19, there are just
as many, if not more, headlines related to
justice for Black and Brown people. This
reflection will not be about police brutality
or systemic racism; it is however, about
race and how it impacts our students, staff,
and other stakeholders in our institutions.
It is my hope that this reflection challenges
your way of thinking about race and will
provide implications for how to support our
students and colleagues now in our new
virtual reality, and when we all return to
campus.
This article, Pushing Back Against Racism
and Xenophobia on Campuses, sheds light
on how powerful race is all over the world,
but also, how it should be approached in
conversations in the classroom and beyond.
My reasoning for choosing this article was
simple, understanding race is so important
in how we understand our residents. Race
is central to understanding human behavior
in the United States and throughout the
world. It continues to be one of the most
significant issues of our time (Hamedani,
Markus, & Moya, 2020). Though it is only
one aspect of our students' identities,
it is a large one. It is one that cannot go
unnoticed and for some, it is what defines
them, or it is the only way they feel viewed
by society. I believe race has so much to
do with how we operate in this world,
but I want my residential community,
whether that be here at the University of
North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG) or
wherever, to be a space where race is not
the only identifying factor in building
rapport and relationships. Students should
not be made to feel uncomfortable when

12

race is brought into conversations. Much
like the article mentions, conversations
about race are difficult to have, and I
100% agree. However, just because it may
bring discomfort, that does not mean we
should stop engaging in them. We cannot
afford to let our commitments to diversity,
equity, and inclusion fall to the wayside.
I think this work of dismantling social
constructs attempts to break down negative
connotations surrounding race and begins
at the faculty and staff level.
There were five key takeaways from the
article, each one giving context or advice
on how conversations surrounding race
should be addressed. I won't discuss
each in detail, but I will talk about what I
learned from most of the points that were
made, as I found them to be tremendously
interesting and I hope to be able to take
this information into conversations with
my Resident Advisors (RAs), so they can
do some powerful work in our residential
community. The first point: Use the
Language of " Doing. " The article suggests
that in both conversations and learning
experiences about race, we should use
the idea of race as a doing; as a starting
point to create common ground and dispel
misunderstandings (Hamedani, Markus,
& Moya, 2020). In full transparency, when
I first read that, it didn't make a ton of
sense, but as I sat with it, things became a
little clearer. Typically, when conversations
surrounding race are happening, there
seems to always be tension in the air,
but from my understanding of the first
takeaway, we should not start out in
defense mode, rather use the topic of
race to gauge an understanding of what
participants know and to assist them in
learning from a different perspective.
SEAHO Report - Holiday 2020

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