Educator speaks out against racism

Jane Elliott, a leading race educator, doesn't allow racism.\nElliott spoke with students Wednesday at Alumni Hall in the Indiana Memorial Union to discuss issues of racism. \nElliott interacted frequently with the crowd to prove her point, and even asked two students to stand on the stage. After she and the student volunteers conducted a question-answer series to determine what and which race, gender, age and height are perceived to be more privileged, the audience agreed young, tall, white males have the most power. \n"It was amazing how she formed our responses to her questions about race," freshman Scott Tidwell said. Tidwell was one of the volunteers and is a 6-foot, 6-inch white male. "I was trying to come up with the most honest responses."\nElliott conducted an experiment known as "Blue Eyes, Brown Eyes" for her third-grade students the day after Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in 1968 in Memphis, Tenn., when she worked as an elementary school teacher in her hometown, Riceville, in Northeastern Iowa. \nElliott divided her students into two groups according to their eye colors. \nStudents with brown eyes received temporary superiority over students with blue eyes. Brown-eyed students received privileged treatment, such as a longer recess, while blue-eyed students lost some of the classroom rights, such as drinking directly from the water fountain and taking a second helping at lunch, according to an online magazine, Horizon.\nElliott said within 15 minutes some brown-eyed students became controlling. But at the same time some mentally disabled brown-eyed students showed significant improvement in spelling words. \nOn the other hand, a blue-eyed girl suddenly cried because other brown-eyed students were bullying her, Elliott said.\n"I was shocked by what I learned that day," Elliott said.\nElliot said her students were about nine years old, and they told her that their parents taught them racism. She said the age of reason in children is 12, and children older than that age should be able to question what they have learned from their parents.\nWhen asked about the justification for causing ordeal to random people, Elliott said she acknowledged that she sympathized with the examinees. But she said work must be done first. \n"You have to nail it down," Elliott said. "Get busy at it."\nLewis said IU should implement Elliott's experiment.\n"I think when we talk about diversity issues and prejudice, one of the most impactful lessons is a lesson that is learned or experienced first hand," Lewis said. "In terms of IU, whether our student body should go through such an experience, I would be in favor of "Brown Eyes, Blue Eyes."\nOn the day she conducted the experiment to her students, Elliott said she talked to her colleagues about the experiment. She said their reactions to her exercise and opinions about African Americans were more negative than she could imagine. \n"I was afraid I was going to lose my job," Elliott said. \nElliott also said her father lost respect for her, and many other people stopped talking to her.\n"I've been threatened to death," Elliott said. "You pay a price to stand up for people. You want to be sure what's coming."\nAt the end of the lecture, Elliott showed the video, "The College Eye," in which she gave a similar experiment, this time, to college students.\nIn dealing with racial hardships, Elliott said victims should do whatever they can to raise awareness of the issue.\n"You have the right to say, 'I will not tolerate it,'" Elliott said.\nAfter being born and raised in Riceville, Elliott went to the University of Northern Iowa. There, Elliott said she met African-Americans who were smarter than she was and richer than her family. She said their characteristics astounded her.\n"My K-12 education was a lie," Elliott said. "I was ignorant because I was schooled instead of educated."\nElliott also talked about the Ku Klux Klan that advocates White Christians. She said the organization should openly argue for their point.\n"The KKK is scared white males who are afraid of their loss of power," Elliott said.\nElliott's speech, "Anatomy of Prejudice" was sponsored by the Union Board, the Kelley School of Business, Liberal Arts and Management Program, the Office of Diversity Education and nine other organizations.\nWilliam Lewis, director of diversity at the Kelley school, said he hopes Elliott will keep making changes in our society. \n"What I learned from Jane's lecture is that prejudice and discrimination happens regardless of race and gender," Lewis said. "She can continue to do this work, and what she has accomplished is raising the awareness of prejudice and discrimination in America"