Vocabulary Laboratory

First Things First

You probably don’t read Imprimis, published bimonthly by Hillsdale College. Somehow my address got listed, and I’ve been getting hard copy snail mail. I don’t know if you can read this. You can probably see enough.

Imprimis is an example my take on the horror genre. I feel strangely uneasy about italicizing it.

Irby (2021) excavated deep social and cultural structures supporting anti-blackness in public schools, one of which is the drive White people have to stay in their comfort zones, to be innocent bystanders.

Hillsdale’s White audience must take comfort from this newsletter. The newsletter is one of those social scaffolds that sustains anti-blackness in White culture.

Irby (2021) provides evidence illuminating the power of discomfort as a necessary part of equity work. Black and Brown people feel righteous anger about White complacency in public schools. Innocent White bystanders must awaken in discomfort. They must learn to comprehend Imprimis.

Let’s take an excursion into vocabulary and reading comprehension where every educated person should be expected to know the word “yacht.” The following practice test questions come from the following excerpt in the feature article titled “The Rise of Wokeness in the Military”:

“…[T]he chief worry of grizzled American veterans today… is the weakening of [the military’s] fabric by radical progressives (or ‘woke’) being imposed, not by a rising generation of slackers, but by the very leaders charged with ensuring their readiness.”

Select the best Knight of the Right Answer for each item.

1. A grizzled American veteran usually

   a. plays the blues harmonica

   b. wears a baseball cap

   c. understands anti-blackness

   d. worries about the quality of the fabric used in modern uniforms

2. Being ‘woke’ differs from being woke in that

   a. the single apostrophe is either missing or present

   b. I don’t see much difference

   c. ‘woke’ means educated, woke means like alarm clock

   d. the single apostrophe means it’s fake like ‘poison’ and poison

3. By a “rising generation of slackers,” the White author probably defines ‘slacker’ as

   a. lazy Whites

   b. ‘woke’ Whites

   c. fake Whites

   d. White men and women in slacks

4. In the passage, the word “fabric” that is weakening most likely means

   a.

   b. suit of armor

   c. willingness to kill on command

   d. patriotism

Recently, I read a review of White Supremacy and Racism in the Post Civil Rights Era by Dr. Eduardo Bonilla-Silva (2001) and have it on my list of must-reads.

One part of the book, according to the review I read, outlines four main storylines found in qualitative interviews White people use to remain comfortable: (1) “the past is the past,” (2) “I didn’t own slaves,” (3) “My ___ didn’t get ____ because a black (usually a man got it,” and (4) “If (ethnic group) made it, how come blacks have not?” (Bonilla-Silva, 161).”

Irby (2021) has issued a standing call for voluntary White ambassadors to promote healing emanating from White discomfort—but he thinks in schools the work must be curated, organized, and planned. It must be voluntary. The status quo is powerful and organized.