Working in a New York City charter school, race is a very visually apparent factor. The students all live in the surrounding neighborhood, and all come from families who want the best free education they can have for their child. Where I work, most of the children are African-American and some are Hispanic. We also have a large African population. In contrast to this are the teachers and other adults who work in the school. All of the staff is highly educated and wants to make a real difference in the lives of children. They want to close the achievement gap through whatever means possible. Most of the staff is white, with a small percentage of African-American and Hispanic teachers. So basically it is almost opposite.
Race is always the elephant in the room. Usually I feel it the most around the families, as children are usually not articulate about race. With the children, it makes it slightly uncomfortable to talk about the color of our skin, or different races because the teacher-the one in control-is the only white person in the room.
As the art teacher, color is a visually important part of the children’s mage making, especially when they are making self-portraits. Usually I find all children show their skin as being lighter than it really is. If I set out shades of brown paper and ask them to pick the one that matches them to make collages, they all choose the lighter pieces and if I show them that they match a different, darker shade, they et mad and insist on having the lighter one. This goes into the Whiteness factor in our culture, and also when there are no white kids in the room, the color perception shifts. It becomes light or dark brown, not black or white.
When they students are at the right age to really explore the real colors of skin, I show them self-portraits from lots of different races and cultures and read them a wonderful children’s book, The Colors of Us by Karen Katz. The book describes how everyone’s skin is a special shade of brown, and shows all the people on her street. When it is time to mix our own special brown, I ask the kids, “Who thinks they are black? And lots of hands go up. I put a dot of black paint on their hands and ask them if it matches. They all say no and are surprised. Then I ask them who thinks they are white? Lots of other hands go up, and I do the same with white paint and we see it does not match. I do it on my hands as well. Then I show them how we can make brown, and add white or black or blue to it to find our special shade of brown. They can put a dot on their hand if they thin it matches. When they find their color, they are so excited to paint their skin color on their paper. No one tells me it is too dark, or not right.
When they finish their paintings, they see how beautiful the colors of all of us are, and how much their paintings really looks like them when they show the colors they really see. It is also a great art teaching display to the families and staff at the school, to realize people are not the colors black and white, and to be aware of how these words affect our perceptions of each other and ourselves.
