This document is a racial autobiography by Jason Flom where he reflects on his experience and understanding of race as a white male. He discusses growing up in a racially mixed public school where he was bullied several times by black students without understanding the racial motivations. He realized the significance of race after these experiences. Flom went on to study African American literature in college where he gained a deeper appreciation for racial history but also felt guilt for the role of whites. Now with daughters of his own, he hopes to pass on both an appreciation for racial diversity as well as an understanding of racial privilege to see beyond diversity.

1. Race Autobiography
by Jason Flom
Beyond Diversity
Pacific Educational Group
Fall 2012
Image: Tiffany Shlain

2. Or. . .
Ignorant White Male Quests To Be a
Less Ignorant White Male
Image: Money Python

3. I entered a world rife with a history of glaring blindness.
Image: Margaret Bourke-White

4. 1975
(This isn’t me.)
Image: Brian Lee

5. By 1980 I rocked one of these,
while being blissfully unaware of race.
Image: Sears

6. I attended “lower performing” public schools.
Elem, Middle, High = half Black / half White populations.
Most of us were barely middle class.
Didn’t really think about race. . . Until . . .

7. 3rd Grade. Was beat up for the first time by an older
Black kid, surrounded by his rooting friends. Never
knew the cause or their names.
That’s when Race became real to me.
Image:A Black Man’s View

8. Went on to get my butt kicked 4 more times before graduating high
school. An indicator of how I fared in those bouts: I never threw or
landed a punch. I mostly wondered, “Why?”
In all, I only knew one of the kids by name.
I assumed Race as motivating factor in each.
Image: AP Photo

9. Didn’t consider myself a racist.
I just did my thing with the nerds and outcasts.
But I guess there was a lot I didn’t see about me.
Image: Cheezburger

10. Image: Kazama

11. Despite the memory of those altercations,
Two inhibitors made it easy to ignore the truth.
Image: Jim Henson

12. 1. I’m literally color blind.
(These pairs look exactly the same to me.)
It served as a convenient race metaphor.
“Hey, I’m color blind. Really. And figuratively.”
Image: Jim Goldstein

13. 2. I loved (and still love) “Black” music . . .
How could I possibly contribute to poor race relations?
Image: Yuri via Last.fm

14. Of course, we
learn what we
experience,
And a White male
experiences
Privilege.
An inkling of this
hints around
graduation.
Image: Abagond

15. It’s tough realizing you don’t know what you don’t
know. This begins to dawn in college.
Image: 9Gag

16. At UF I fell in love with African American literature.
Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Their Eyes Were Watching God, The Fire
Next Time, Beloved, The Souls of Black Folk, Up From
Slavery, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, Ain’t I A
Woman?
. . . Equiano, Wheatley, Dunbar, Cullen . . .
Native Son
Image: Richard Wright

17. In my African American Literature and Native American
Literature classes, I wanted to talk authorship.
My classmates of color wanted to talk racism.
Couldn’t understand why they weren’t tired of the topic.

18. In the college of
education, a
professor fully lifts
the veil.
And then sends us
into low income
housing 3 times a
week.
Image: Kasama

19. Here my thinking about race & racism boiled down to
this: EVERYTHING in the SE is shaped by racial history.
Image: Jessica Luallen

20. Began building curricula with Tom Feelings’
“The Middle Passage” as the starting point.
Image: Tom Feelings

21. Once I had my own
classroom, we used
African American
literature as the lens for
investigating
history, geography, story
arc, narrative, character,
protagonists and
antagonists.
I challenged my students:
“Are all Whites bad? Or
just some of us?”
Prove it.
Image: Leon’s Story

22. We built maps around the SE.
(The black arrows represent slave trade routes.)
Image: Jason Flom

23. We culminated with a SE Tour of Civil Rights Sites:
-Selma Bridge-
Image: Jason Flom

24. -Dexter Ave Baptist Church-
Montgomery, AL
Image: Jason Flom

25. -Civil Rights Memorial-
Montgomery, AL
Image: Jason Flom

26. -Booker T. Washington’s Grave-
Tuskegee, AL
Image: Jason Flom

27. -MLK, Jr’s Tomb-
Atlanta, GA
Image: Jason Flom

28. -Jimmy Carter Museum-
Plains, GA
Image: Jason Flom

29. But what does this all mean in terms of my
racial autobiography?

30. I have a love – for a
history (& its music).
And a guilt – for my
color’s part in it.
Image: ROFLRAZZI

31. And now I have girls, and I wonder,
“What privilege will they feel entitled to?”
Image: Jason Flom

32. I can only hope what we pass to them is the love & appreciation,
as well as the courage & insight to see Beyond Diversity.
Image: Jason Flom