Presentation airs 'dirty laundry'

By discussing racism and racial identity -- two issues many people face every day -- misunderstandings can be resolved, and tensions can be lessened.\nGuest lecturer Chalmer Thompson instilled these ideas into about 40 Minority Achievers Program (MAP) students who gathered Tuesday night in the Indiana Memorial Union's Federal Room for the fourth LEAD (Leadership skills, academic Excellence, professional Achievement, and community Development) Speaker Series of the semester.\n"People don\'t like to talk about it -- it's uncomfortable, like airing dirty laundry," Thompson said of racism. "It takes a lot of time to establish a climate for discussing these issues of race as well as establishing a climate in which people feel safe."\nThompson, an associate professor at the School of Education and a counselor, provided the MAP students with a better understanding of what racism is and how to work through and discuss it.\nThe speaker reiterated that by suppressing and silencing feelings people have about racism, the adverse effects of it won\'t go away. However, by talking through these issues, people can grow and learn to develop ways to alleviate the adversity.\n Chalmer's lecture was important because it brought awareness to racism and its prevalence in society, said Charles Barnes, a freshman.\n "The presentation itself taught me about the way racism effects us everyday, and the way people don\'t really want to deal with it even though it\'s a real problem," Barnes said. "People kind of push it aside, even though they recognize it exists -- but don't do anything about it, and I thought that was really interesting."\nTuesday's MAP lecture also taught the students that racism can be internalized, therefore making it more difficult to identify and discuss.\n"I like how she brought up the idea that racism is systematic -- it's not something that someone is innately born with, and also the fact that people are divided into certain social and racial hierarchies," said Freshman Beth Wehner. "It's actually something that happens within cultures, happens within school and households, and it's something that, therefore, can be resolved with education and awareness."\nIn addition to her work at IU, Thompson is the director of the Heritage Project, a community-driven, multi-level program aimed at reversing the adverse effects of racial socialization of students of color. She has also co-edited a book entitled "Racial Identity Theory: Applications to Individual, Group, and Organizational Interventions."\n"When masses of people begin to face their fears in thinking about changes for themselves and for others in their generation, then the changes necessary to dismantle racism in future generations may become less and less arduous," Thompson wrote in her book, published in 1997.\nTo conclude her lecture, Thompson left the MAP students with encouraging words. \n"I leave you with this challenge, and that is ... to take chances and to become better leaders," Thompson said. "... We should be learning about ourselves not as superior or inferior to anyone, but certainly as equals"