Asao B. Inoue's Infrequent Words

Entry 14 So if racism is really racist discourse, at least as we might study it in a literacy or language classroom, then that field is made up of things we might identify and define. Things we can look for in and around texts with students. This will help us understand the racial politics of the languages and literatures we teach, and how those politics afford meaning and significance to those texts and their ideas. It can help us keep thinking about the racist discourses that any text participate in.   What are the elements? You likely already know them, or could guess. Goldberg says that racist discourse has two aspects. The first aspect is a collection of “discursive representations.” He means “styles of reference,” “figures of speech,” and “metaphors” ( note 88 ). Basically, one part of racism is the language we use to express it or enact it. It’s the tropes and styles of racism in language, like the raven as a symbol of Blacks and slavery, the “Yellow Peril” and Asians a...

Entry 10 At the heart of racist discourse is the logic of categorization. It structures and produces power and unequal outcomes in racialized groups in schools. For instance, grading in the literacy classroom, because it categorizes instances of language (and students) then sorts those instances and students into hierarchies, creates power relations among people and groups of people. It creates haves and have-nots. These power relations are based on language by being based on the language standard used to dispense grades. So, because language always travels with groups of people who have fallen within racialized patterns in communities, categorizing by language categorizes by race. The group of people who make language standards in schools -- that is, elite Whites -- also make the privileges that flow to people like them, or who come from similar places as they do. The bottom line is: Grading by a single standard of language is racist. It’s a good example of racist discourse and how ra...