My Beyond Border group prepared and did a presentation based on the chapter 7
“Conversation”, from "Choosing to Participate". The three themes of
Literature chosen by our team were : Identity, Resilience, and Inter-Cultural Competence .
1. Resilience is atheme which runs deep
through chapter 7 "Coversations". This attitude to succeed is learned
onlythrough resistance. The resistance metby the "Little Rock nine," was
unprecedented. The reasons these courageous high schoolstudent persevered was a
direct result of resilience.
2. Identity - In Chapter 7, Conversations NBC had invited
three white students and two black students from CentralHigh School
to form an opinion and decide whether or not to take action. Theywere asked
a serious of questions and how little did they know about eachother. They
were strangers they had no identity but hated each other justbecause the
color of their skin. They had asked an important question whydidn’t the
kids want to go to the school with Negros and they had answeredbecause of
race mixing. They were race profiling on African American they hadno
identity just because they were black they did want them at their school
andthey did not have the same equal rights as a white person. The
moderatortouched on a good point in the discussion did they ever
reallymade an effort to find out what Negros like? White kids answer not until
todaythey had made the correlation on what their parents and society
wereidentifying them as. After the round table discussion notmuch changed there
was not much teachers or staff could do for the Negrosstudents being
harassed.
3. Inter-Cultural Competence - The theme ofinter-cultural
competence refers to the ability to connect with people from a different culture.
Chapter sevenfocuses on breaking the silence between the Black and White
communities inLittle Rock in order to help the white community be more open to
the presenceof black students in Central High school.A generalreading of the
chapter reveals that the lack of communication between the blackand white
communities is causing the white community to reject “race mixing”.That general
climate of segregation is being replicated in Central High School,as white
students are constantly harassing the nine first black who have beenadmitted to
the school. Likewise, the black students do not know how to end theviolence they
are being subjected to. This situation stems from the fact thatthe two
cultures do not know much about each other or, in other terms, theylack the
inter-cultural skills required to understand that they both care aboutthe
same things in life. So, the point of the chapter is to bring about
adialogue between the black and white communities in general to end
theresistance of the white community to the desegregation of Central High
School. A first bridgebetween blacks and
whites is created at the occasion of the NBC
round-tablediscussion featuring Black and White students from Central high
school.Students from the two races get to reveal their fears and
concerns.Nevertheless, even though the students come to the conclusion that both
racesare equal, so segregation is wrong, and the round-table discussion
isbroadcasted nationally, not much changes afterwards. The text mentions that
aminority of white students keep harassing the nine black students while
theother students look the other way. So, at that point, there is still lack
of inter-cultural competence. From the two communities.Eventually,events prompt
voices from the black and White communities to speak up aboutrace and bring
about change. White and black parents start talking aboutracism. Sara
Alderman Murphy creates an interracial group of women willing tospeak about
“race” in 1963. These dramatic events prompt the black and whitecommunities
to talk to each other, get to know about each other. So, as theydevelop
inter-cultural competence, they come to realize that the concept
ofsegregation is absurd. And that is the real beginning of change in Little
Rock.
poem explications
"May, an even, an odd, a joke on me."
Author: Nadda AE
"Cairo"
Author: Yahia Labadibi
"A River Flows"
Author: Omneya Kamal
"Facing the Mirror"
Author: Abdul-Rahman Yusuf
"Oh Life! I'm
Here" Author: Heba Abdel Azim
"Towards Our
Love" Author: Omneya Kamal
"His Fire and Her Ice"
Author: Omneya Kamal
Course Objective reinforced:
Exploring the deep racial discriminations inflicted upon Black students in
little Rock, and Central High school in particular, deepened my ability to
identify the interplay of key ideas, attitudes and social justice issues
related to nationality, linguistic background, race, class, gender,
religion, ability and sexual orientation within and among the characters,
plots, settings of the selected texts.
“Conversation”, from "Choosing to Participate". The three themes of
Literature chosen by our team were : Identity, Resilience, and Inter-Cultural Competence .
1. Resilience is atheme which runs deep
through chapter 7 "Coversations". This attitude to succeed is learned
onlythrough resistance. The resistance metby the "Little Rock nine," was
unprecedented. The reasons these courageous high schoolstudent persevered was a
direct result of resilience.
2. Identity - In Chapter 7, Conversations NBC had invited
three white students and two black students from CentralHigh School
to form an opinion and decide whether or not to take action. Theywere asked
a serious of questions and how little did they know about eachother. They
were strangers they had no identity but hated each other justbecause the
color of their skin. They had asked an important question whydidn’t the
kids want to go to the school with Negros and they had answeredbecause of
race mixing. They were race profiling on African American they hadno
identity just because they were black they did want them at their school
andthey did not have the same equal rights as a white person. The
moderatortouched on a good point in the discussion did they ever
reallymade an effort to find out what Negros like? White kids answer not until
todaythey had made the correlation on what their parents and society
wereidentifying them as. After the round table discussion notmuch changed there
was not much teachers or staff could do for the Negrosstudents being
harassed.
3. Inter-Cultural Competence - The theme ofinter-cultural
competence refers to the ability to connect with people from a different culture.
Chapter sevenfocuses on breaking the silence between the Black and White
communities inLittle Rock in order to help the white community be more open to
the presenceof black students in Central High school.A generalreading of the
chapter reveals that the lack of communication between the blackand white
communities is causing the white community to reject “race mixing”.That general
climate of segregation is being replicated in Central High School,as white
students are constantly harassing the nine first black who have beenadmitted to
the school. Likewise, the black students do not know how to end theviolence they
are being subjected to. This situation stems from the fact thatthe two
cultures do not know much about each other or, in other terms, theylack the
inter-cultural skills required to understand that they both care aboutthe
same things in life. So, the point of the chapter is to bring about
adialogue between the black and white communities in general to end
theresistance of the white community to the desegregation of Central High
School. A first bridgebetween blacks and
whites is created at the occasion of the NBC
round-tablediscussion featuring Black and White students from Central high
school.Students from the two races get to reveal their fears and
concerns.Nevertheless, even though the students come to the conclusion that both
racesare equal, so segregation is wrong, and the round-table discussion
isbroadcasted nationally, not much changes afterwards. The text mentions that
aminority of white students keep harassing the nine black students while
theother students look the other way. So, at that point, there is still lack
of inter-cultural competence. From the two communities.Eventually,events prompt
voices from the black and White communities to speak up aboutrace and bring
about change. White and black parents start talking aboutracism. Sara
Alderman Murphy creates an interracial group of women willing tospeak about
“race” in 1963. These dramatic events prompt the black and whitecommunities
to talk to each other, get to know about each other. So, as theydevelop
inter-cultural competence, they come to realize that the concept
ofsegregation is absurd. And that is the real beginning of change in Little
Rock.
poem explications
"May, an even, an odd, a joke on me."
Author: Nadda AE
"Cairo"
Author: Yahia Labadibi
"A River Flows"
Author: Omneya Kamal
"Facing the Mirror"
Author: Abdul-Rahman Yusuf
"Oh Life! I'm
Here" Author: Heba Abdel Azim
"Towards Our
Love" Author: Omneya Kamal
"His Fire and Her Ice"
Author: Omneya Kamal
Course Objective reinforced:
Exploring the deep racial discriminations inflicted upon Black students in
little Rock, and Central High school in particular, deepened my ability to
identify the interplay of key ideas, attitudes and social justice issues
related to nationality, linguistic background, race, class, gender,
religion, ability and sexual orientation within and among the characters,
plots, settings of the selected texts.