School News

Dasher Dialogue promotes awareness around use of “loaded” words

12/14/2017

Becky Steimle

“We live in divided times,” says Jim Wilkinson, DSHA Diversity & Inclusion coordinator. “The best way to build bridges is to talk honestly to each other.”

The November 14 Dasher Dialogue provided an opportunity for students to talk honestly, discussing the use of race-related and demeaning words, as part of DSHA’s “Building Bridges Not Walls” diveristy and inclusion focus for the 2017-18 academic year.

The Dialogue was reported on by Shawn Gallagher of TODAY’S TMJ4 in a three-minute segment that aired that evening.

TSC members Brian Calhoun, DSHA fitness director, and Jocklyn Jackson of the DSHA maintenance staff, represented some of the views of the black community in discussing the appropriateness of using “the N word.”

In a related discussion, Best Buddies representatives Cookie Topp ’18 and Grace Kaupp ’19, who both have sisters with special needs, addressed the use of the ‘R word.’

“The ‘N word’ sums up all the bitter years of insult in America,” said Mahogany Billups ’18, who is black, as she addressed the group of more than 100 students and faculty in the Hanson Theater. “It’s gained acceptance through music and comedy, but most blacks continue to view the use of it by non-blacks as offensive.”

There’s a sense among some non-black people today that, because blacks sometimes use the word, it’s okay for them to use it.

It’s not, says Billups.

“African Americans have the liberty to use it. Non-blacks don’t have the right to use it.”

“It’s a word that, in this country’s history, was normalized and common and used in a derogatory way,” says Antonette Mastrogiovanni-Washington ’18, who is black. “It was used to demean people and strip away their identity.”

So why use it at all?

“When blacks use the ‘N word,’ we have actually reclaimed it,” says Mastrogiovanni-Washington. “When used by black people to black people, we take ownership of it, instead of it being thrown at us by others.”

Calhoun says he hears the ‘N word’ in conversation with friends who are black and has occasionally used it himself. He says that in friend-group situations, it doesn’t necessarily offend him.

“I think we went through something so horrific, we’re going to take the word and turn a negative into a positive, or take the power out of other people’s hands and thereby out of the word itself.”

The word is heavy with meaning, Jackson says, and has been since the beginning of slavery in this country. It’s hurtful and disrespectful, and it’s not who she is.

“My birth certificate says ‘negro,’ but that’s not who I am.

“My name is Jocklyn.”

Topp and Kaupp say they see a similar lack of awareness and sensitivity by people who use the ‘R word.’

They advocate calling people out when they use the word. Like the ‘N word,’ it’s thoughtlessly tossed around – and that hurts people.

“Give them a different word to use,” suggests Kaupp.

Best Buddies’ goal is to remove the ‘R word’ from people’s vocabulary and empower every individual with special needs.

“It begins with respect,” says Topp. “That’s what we want to replace the ‘R word’ with.”

“Everyone is a person who deserves respect. My sister can play sports, read a menu, and in her mind she can do whatever she wants,” says Topp.

Mahogany Billups says she doesn’t expect people to start caring much about something that obviously doesn’t personally affect them.

“I use the example of LGBTQ people – my feelings are neutral, but I would never want to disrespect someone because of my lack of knowledge. So I try to make myself aware of other people’s issues.

“Maybe people in general will start to realize it’s good to learn a little more about how it is for other people.

“I’m not asking my fellow students to necessarily care – but to be aware.”

Awareness is Wilkinson’s goal. He says some teachers offer extra credit to students who attend Dasher Dialogues.

“Maybe they don’t come initially purely because of interest in the topic, but maybe some of what’s said gets in.

“We are all a product of our previous experiences. It’s important to respect those experiences, accept people where they are, and be open to those with different opinions and experiences.

Click here to hear more DSHA students and faculty, as presented by TMJ4's Shaun Gallagher.

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- Grace Kaupp, DSHA '19, Cookie Topp, DSHA '18, and Health & Fitness Faculty Brian Calhoun served as panelists for the Dasher Dialogue.
- Students listen during the Dasher Dialogue while Shaun Gallagher from TMJ4 films the event.
- AP Human Geography students were also featured on the TMJ4 news feature for their Geography of Civil Rights projects.