Letter to the Editor

Letter to the Editor Racelessness a Difficult Characterization Dear Editor: I would appreciate an opportunity to respond to a recent article in the American Annals of the Deaf, entitled, "The Association Between Racelessness and Achievement Among African American Deaf Adolescents" (Mosley-Hall, 1998). My initial reaction to the construct on which the study was based—"racelessness" per se—was disdain. I have read Fordham's (1990) original study of Black hearing teens and am familiar with Ogbu's theory (Ogbu & Simons, 1994) of minority status, the model on which racelessness is built. I agree with his assertions that African American students experience social pressures that inhibit their ability to engage in pro-school attitudes and behaviors because they (the attitudes and behaviors) are associated with the oppressor. However, it does not matter from which angle I view it, I find racelessness a difficult characterization to make of young people who are still undergoing the developmental process of racial identity formation (Tatum, 1998). The students being referred to may not have a solid racial identity and may not be aware of the full impact race has in this society, and to label them raceless is a rather strong indictment, particularly when the scale used to measure racelessness reflects such a narrow and stereotypical view of African American culture that its face validity is rather questionable. To accept such a view is feeding into the same negative stereotype which equates being smart with acting White. If we do not broaden our view of Black culture, then how do we expect our children to be able to do so? And to label children as "modern-day Uncle Toms" implies they are undermining the community simply by succeeding in school. What about the students who are racially aware enough to know that their history is filled with examples of Black high achievement so that succeeding in school is seen as their legacy and something they feel expected to do? Where do these students fit into the model—being neither raceless nor low achieving? Such a dichotomous line of thinking does almost as much damage as those in the school systems who devalue our children, disproportionately place them in lower academic or vocational tracks, administer culturally biased tests to our students, and expect low achievement from them. According to the racelessness model, none of these teacher variables is considered as contributing to the low academic performance of Black Deaf students. African American students, as measured by the raceless scale, are being judged by how closely they subscribe to stereotypic views of Black people. However, the teachers are not being judged on the extent to which they make judgments against the students who fit the stereotype. Are they seating them in the back of the room, calling on them less frequently, allowing them shorter time to answer questions , or providing less constructive feedback to their work? These teacher variables have a more direct causal relationship to student success (Hilliard, 1989). Although I subscribe to Delpit's (1993) view of recognizing the "power" of achievement and, in effect, teaching our children to adopt those behaviors necessary to achieve success (access power), we as professionals would be doing a disservice to the generation succeeding us if we do not fight to change the mind-set of others responsible for educating our children so that African American students expressing their cultural competence (in the way they dress, gesture, etc.) are not viewed as threatening or menacing by teachers (namely those of the dominant culture). We need to challenge the notions and behaviors they (teachers) bring into the classroom and how these notions and behaviors perpetuate the self-fulfilling prophecy instead of "blaming the victim"—i.e., Black Deaf adolescents who are in the midst of a major developmental transition period. Educators and parents are the ones who have to effect change. It is the responsibility of the adults to accommodate the needs of students, not the other way around. In addition, what would have been helpful to me in reading the article is a little more discussion on the development of a Deaf cultural identity and the effect that has on ethnic identity. The Aramburo (1989) study that was...