Black Kids Sitting Together In The Cafeteria Summary

1024 Words5 Pages
In eighteen years of life, I have enjoyed the privilege of artificial diversity. In my kindergarten class of thirty-two students at The Fessenden School, two were Black, two were Asian, two were Hispanic, and twenty-six were White. When I arrived at Nobles in 2011, the percentage of racial diversity slightly increased; however, I already understood the culture. I already understood the image of racially mixed students pouring chemicals from one beaker into another. I already understood my personal comfort within the artificial diversity of Nobles. In “Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?” Professor Beverly Tatum explores Janet Helm’s six stages of White identity in order to broaden her own discussion of racism. Tatum describes the first step of the developmental process: “At the contact stage, Whites pay little attention to the significance of their racial identity…They simply think of themselves as being part of the racial norm” (95). In my nine years at Fessenden and first two years at Nobles, I found myself trapped within this “contact stage.” I interacted with those two Blacks, two Asians, and two Hispanics daily; however, I…show more content…
Ben Snyder detailed the alcoves’ conception and construction. Bob Henderson provided insight into the natural divisions which exist among groups of maturing adolescents. Edgar De Leon chronicled his own alcove experience as a Nobles student in the early 2000s. Alden Mauck described both his responsibility to interact with all students in the alcoves and his understanding of the “Black Alcove” as a healthy expression of racial affinity. These conversations formed the foundation of a successful article which pushed the conversation forward; however, only my time spent sitting in and interacting with the “Black Alcove” formed my progression into the disintegration
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