Difficult words, exchanged with care

Some of the 9th-graders in Jehanne Beaton's "Open" seminars have so much to say about race and ethnicity that they have to switch which arm is raised while waiting for a turn to talk.

The rainbow of Minneapolis's diverse population arcs right through Roosevelt High School. The student body is roughly 20 percent African-American, 10 percent Hispanic, 10 percent Asian-American, and 30 percent white and native American. The other 30 percent are Somalis. And some students, of course, blur the lines between racial and cultural groups.

It can be a volatile mix. But Ms. Beaton's new course, which started in January, is about exploring differences and creating relationships. Although it counts as a social-studies credit, Beaton draws on poetry, stories, and other literature to help students deal with the pushes and pulls of adolescence. The poem "Blink Your Eyes" by Sekou Sundiata, for example, had them contemplating how it feels to be treated badly because of "the skin you're living in."

"When kids go through this time in their lives, when they are becoming racially conscious, they have all this anger and frustration inside them, and if they don't have the words to put to these feelings, they blow up," Beaton says.

She grew up in the Minneapolis suburbs "feeling very bicultural" – her mother Hispanic and her father white. "As teachers, we [say] literature is so great because it provides windows and mirrors to kids.... I don't remember ever having mirrors as a kid, ever."

In college, she set out to study "the history of everybody who didn't make it into a textbook."

Now, her students are so comfortable that they talk about subjects that seem too difficult in other settings.

After a class in April, a cross-section of students stayed to discuss how literature has shaped their thoughts about race. Here are some of their comments:

Sandy Velazquez (Hispanic): I read this story about a Puerto Rican kid who didn't want to say the Pledge of Allegiance. And his Caucasian teacher was really mean to him.... And I think, 'Caucasian people, are they all bad?' But then I read another thing where I see a white person do a nice thing.... Literature does affect you, especially if you love that story. I've been becoming more nice to people of all cultures.

Elizabeth Kamara (African-American): I like to get to know different people's backgrounds.... [But] when we read or talk about race, I just get mad sometimes. If we read a story about slavery, it makes me feel angry. It is necessary, though. It's good ... even though I don't like to talk about it.

Ashley Sivoravong (white and Asian): In a lot of the discussions, my feelings do get hurt. People can tell when I get angry, and I argue. Sometimes I make excuses for them, for why people treat me that way, because I don't want to believe that they are bad. They are taught to think a certain way. From the time you come into this world, you're taught.

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