Trainor and Racism

This study has had two effects on me. And neither of them had anything to do with race.

The first is: BLEH. Why does it seem as if the writer has spent half of the study prepping the reader. Or maybe it's worse than that - I feel like Trainor has spent half of his study talking in circles and remaking points that have already been made that don't need to be remade.

The second effect is: miscommunication. It reminded me that language is subjective - especially the meaning of signifiers. When Trainor talks about how students say one thing like "Angelou is whining," which initially sounds horrible and potentially racist, when asked to expand they were able to give in depth and thoughtful analysis on what they meant. This just goes to show how easily one sentence can be misconstrued and why even in writing, we have to really take time to develop our thoughts because that first reaction/response/statement/thought is not always that one that best conveys how we are feeling or what we are thinking.

That being said, every response from a student made me cringe. Besides the incessant "like"s and inability to construct a sentence verbally that had any sustenance, I felt sorry for the students because it seemed as if they were unable to step outside of themselves and their environments to think critically about race for a moment. I also found it compelling that Mike, of all students, and though his responses and accounts of racism were the most harsh, seemed to make the most sense and have the most intellectual thought behind it.