Bush fellowship recipient advocates patience on journey to end racism

By Arline Datu
June 3, 2009

Shvonne Johnson is the outreach coordinator of Multicultural and International Programs and Services (MIPS) at the College of St. Catherine. She oversees the First Step Summer Institute, a college immersion program that prepares young women of color for higher education. Johnson recently was awarded a Bush fellowship and plans to pursue a master's degree in history, specializing in the African-American diaspora, at Howard University in Washington, D.C., in 2010.

Q. What forces have had the greatest impact on African American achievement?

A. The history of oppression has followed African Americans from the deep South to their migration North and to every other part of the United States. American institutions traditionally have lacked the right structures to nourish and teach students of color. Look to some of our earliest educators -- Noah Webster, who believed in a standardized, universal education for white people with predominantly white teachers. How can that kind of environment be welcoming and safe for African Americans or Native Americans, Hispanic and Asian Americans? How can our kids be successful in those circumstances when they’re asked to put aside their customs and their language?

Q. What do you hope to accomplish after your graduate work?

A. Institutional structures have affected the achievement levels of African Americans as a whole and account for the gaps in achievement between white students and students of color. Minnesota ranks fourth in overall college graduation rates, but ranks 50th for African American graduation rates. I hope to return to Minnesota after I finish my degree at Howard to work with institutions of higher learning and to improve the graduation rate of people of color.

Q. How do programs like First Step work for positive change for students of color?

A. First Step has had a long-lasting, transformative effect on young women of color by providing them with an understanding of how oppression has affected their lives. The program started 30 years ago, initially with young Latina women. The goal was to help equip them with the skills and confidence to assure them they belong in institutions of higher learning. The program started as multicultural and now it looks at the historical aspect of racism as well as the underlying oppression of living in a white-dominant culture.

Q. How did your own experiences influence your work?

A. As an African-American girl growing up in Minnesota, I went to predominantly white schools. I had no idea I was a black person. People would say, “I don’t think of you as a black person; you’re so smart.” Later, I went to an African-American college in Alabama. It was an eye-opener. I understood for the first time that I come from smart people, and that I wasn’t an exception.

Q. What is your role in creating a welcoming environment for women of color at the college?

A. I work with the academic and professional staff to train them and make them aware of the richness people of color bring to the work in a predominantly white institution. The training I do approaches racism from a core perspective. Ultimately, it’s about keeping the academic environment a safe place in which to express one’s feelings.

Q. How do we go about becoming a non-racist society?

A. We in the United States see we are living in a more diverse world, a more diverse society because of people of color. Some see this as a crisis, some as an opportunity. The United States has always been a diverse country, going back to when the Irish and the Germans and Italians were immigrants and had to adapt to becoming “American,” and American eventually translated into being white.

As the dilution of culture began to happen, the melting pot translated into becoming white. That assumption of whiteness leads to seeing others who aren’t white as permanent foreigners. All of us, no matter where we are from, must learn and know our own stories, whether you are white or a person of color. Then, we would know and understand how our own culture and the dominant culture interact.

We are all products of a racist society, so in building bridges to one another, we have to understand that you’re probably going to say something that’s not the right thing. But that’s where we have to be patient in the journey because we’ve all been ill taught. We need to have compassion for one another.

Contact Julie Michener, (651) 690-6521

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