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Published in The Spectator, the student newspaper of the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire;
Thursday, November 29, 2001
Visiting professors point out misconceptions
Two have extensive experience in diversity training, hope to spread knowledge
By Bill Olson
When Mai Lo was a freshman, a professor
gave her an "A" for a paper she wrote, along with the comment,
"You wrote well for a person whose language is not English."
Lo, who came to the United States when she was 3 months old, said she
found the comment very racist.
"The 'A' was great, but I just didn't know what the merits
were," she said.
She said she didn't know if she got the "A" because the
professor thought her English was simply good or because her work was
seen as a good effort by someone who spoke English as a second language.
"Every time I went to that class, I knew I was being seen as 'that
person whose language wasn't English,'" Lo said.
That experience has helped Lo understand the importance of diversity
training.
Now a $420,000 grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation is
helping UW-Eau Claire improve its diversity education.
Two news media professionals, Lynette Nyman and Barbara Blackdeer-Mackenzie,
are helping communication and journalism students learn more about Hmong-American
and American Indian affairs during the 2001-02 school year.
Nyman covered Hmong affairs in the Twin Cities for Minnesota Public
Radio during the past four years.
Blackdeer-Mackenzie, a citizen of the Ho-Chunk Nation, has worked with
that tribe's presidential staff and also was the human resources
director at the Indian Community School of Milwaukee.
Blackdeer-Mackenzie said she had to spend a lot of time educating
professional journalists who wrote about the Ho-Chunk Nation. She wants
journalism students to understand the importance of doing homework
before doing a story about Native Americans.
"Professional practicing reporters often don't understand the
issues, history or the complexity of the tribal societies," she
said.
"Few people understand that the Native American tribes are
pre-existing governments to the United States and need to be understood
as such."
Another problem is that journalists see non-whites as only ethnic
people, Lo said. They should make an effort to reach out to minorities
and to recognize them simply as members of the community.
"It just seems that the only reason I'm reading about Native
Americans or Hmong people is because there's a New Year or a pow
wow," she said.
"It's weird to not see normal daily stuff or opinions."
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