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Tokenism in the Classroom

This podcast was created during the CCDE Interrupting Privilege Podcasting Workshop during the summer of 2021. Several students and community members came together to learn how to tell stories using the podcasting medium.

In this podcast, two students discuss what it looks like to be the token Black student in the classroom who is often expected to teach the class about the Black experience in the U.S. or correct problematic comments. The students in this podcast encourage white teachers to do the work to ease the burden of responsibility off of Black students and lead by example by demonstrating what it looks like to talk about privilege and interrupt it.

I always have to speak for Black people and I just don’t want that attention. Like, I just want to show up to class and just sit there. But if I do show up and just sit there then it seems like I’m not participating as much as my peers but it’s because you’re always getting looked at, you’re hypervisible.