Incidents

Happy Valentine's Day

 A little bit of history: This holiday is celebrated to an unclear extent in the Czech Republic. What I have heard is that after the Velvet Revolution in 1989-- which brought about the end of communism in Czechoslovakia and opened it up to Western culture and influences-- when a lot of what Americans do and celebrate was introduced to the country, Valentine's and holidays like it (Halloween) were celebrated as a kind of novelty. Now, however, Czech's have a renewed appreciation for their own traditionally Czech holiday on May 1st. It's their Labor Day (Svátek práce, První máj) but they treat it as a day for love now, since the people were forced to participate in large celebrations of labor by their socialist leaders. (Legend says if a woman does not get kissed under a cherry tree by her lover she will wither away; I'm just parlaying the message don't ask me). (JobSpin)

Hope you're not done reading yet, this is just getting interesting...

Imma rapid fire this experience so you can feel it in the moment:

-In the acting studio class that is a part of the curriculum to make student filmmakers more sympathetic to the plight/psychology of actors (essentially)

-Reading a scene from "When Harry Met Sally", the exchange is between a man and a woman

-(The man and the woman are Harry and Sally, respectively)

-Acting prof is visibly tooting her progressive horn when saying that we can have whatever genders read for the roles

-"It can be guy and girl. Girl and girl. Guy and guy. It doesn't matter!"

-Her point was made at that point, she really could have stopped right there

-But she kept going

-I read the scene with a white guy

-Prof says that our scene can "mean so many things! You could have slept with his girlfriend or vice versa!Or you could be from different countries and meeting somewhere! Tell me, where are your parents from?"

-Me: "Hmm?" (also a golden opportunity for her to realize what she was saying was totally irrelevant and borderline inappropriate given what we were talking about)

-Prof: "Where are you parents from?"

-Me: "Congo DRC"

-Prof: "Ah! Yes, yes Congo. So you two could be meeting in LA or something and you'd have no idea what that's like!"

-then she went on to talk about some other bullshit

Meanwhile, I (Isaiah Tulanda, Los Angeles, CA born & raised) was sitting there in disbelief like

(Nick Young, professional basketball player, fellow LA Native, expressing disbelief)

(Ironically I was wearing a Claremont shirt at that moment, Claremont isn't a big name but it is literally in LA County, wow)

That was yesterday (Wednesday). Let me tell you about today though...

I will preface this by saying the professor did this to a white student as well in the other section, before mine.

Storyboarding studio, talking about the importance of having a storyboard (visual representations of your scenes) before shoot:

-I'm sitting in the front row as I am sometimes wont to do, but there's only two rows in this classroom

-Prof is eccentric, in emphasizing the necessity of having the proper tools to realize your goals he has me split an apple in half using my hands compared to someone using a knife (he brought his own knife)

-(Fine enough example, right? Point was made)

-But he kept going

-He brings out a chain and talks about how we need to captivate/capture our audience and guide them to what we want them to focus on

-He puts the chain around my neck

and I let it happen.

-My white and other nonblack classmates (yes I am the only black student in this section) watch with laughter/nervous laughter/aghast remove

-I am so overwhelmed and in awe of the situation that I find myself in that I just laugh and hope that it ends soon.

I will not discuss what the imagery of this white man I'd known less than an hour putting a chain around my neck looked connoted, how it relates to my Black identity or my Congolese identity is very well documented.

I know there was no malicious intent behind this act, but that does not make it okay. I have emailed the professor already and I am awaiting a response. I never feared for my safety during this interaction, and I am still living this extremely privileged experience, but that does not make it okay. I did not consent to this example, and I did not say anything during class because I did not want to make a scene. Like I said earlier, it happened to a white student, but this should not have happened to either of us.

The Czech Republic and its inhabitants are not the most keen on the cultural and racial sensitivities of America (remember the post where I mentioned the overwhelming ethnic majority of the state?), and I do not expect them to be, but examples of anti-Blackness can be seen globally.

If a program is to have international students in their clientele they should be thoughtful in preparing the staff that will be interacting with them. The irony in this is that one of the program directors (a Czech native) was there the entire class. Yep, watched the entire thing happen. It also does not help that I was wearing my "I <3 OBSA; The Office of Black Student Affairs Serving the Claremont Colleges" shirt. Just a whole mess that I know will linger in the recesses of my subconscious for a very long time.

After all this, I just want to go home. Or Claremont. Be surrounded by people I love and that love me. But that's not how this works. This post-high school/pre-settled down stage of life will be (and has been) marred by discomfort, but I'll be damned if ignorant people make me stray the course.

Take care of yourselves, spread some love today.

UPDATE: I wrote this teacher an e-mail later this same night and he replied saying he was deeply sorry and that there was no malicious intention. I believe it. At least all is settled now.