Who Said That? : Why the speaker is as important as the speech

“And the quotes that I found?” asked Pierre as he, Theresa, and I hung up the welcome banner on the door of the school. He was referring to some quotes he found to be part of the display on the board by the main office.

“They said they weren't going to use them because none of them were from Peruvians,” replied Theresa.

There was a brief moment of silence while we tied the knots to secure the banner. Then Pierre voiced the thought that was clearly eating at him. “It seems to me that what's important is what was said, not who said. Why should it matter if they were not from Peruvians?”

Piere and his wife are missionaries from Europe. They both work as psychologists in the Fe y Alegría schools. At the time, I couldn't come up with a very good response to Pierre’s question. What I said was, “Well in my high school, we had lots of quotes from famous Americans. It's a way to build appreciation for your culture.” But I wish I had been quicker on my feet, I wish I had been more elegant. Because Pierre's question was a doorway. It was a doorway to consciencization and important discussion of race, culture, and education. So I've been thinking about it all week. I think I've finally found the words I was looking for.

It matters that the quotes aren't from Peruvians who says something can be just as important what is said. When we put quotes up around the school, we are highlighting two aspects as important. First, the quote itself. But quotes are almost always followed by the name of the speaker or writer. That's the second aspect. When we put up "An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind", part of the message we convey to students it that Ghandi is important and we should listen to him.

While I did not see the quotes myself, I trust that Pierre picked quotes from worthy individuals. I'm sure the words he picked were worth hearing and considering, and the speakers or writers are worth listening to or reading. But there's more going on here at Fe y Alegría No. 44 San Ignacio de Loyola in Andahuaylillas. Remember, the quotes were rejected because they did not come from Peruvians. The staff of the school are trying to work against the forces of global racism.

I brought three books with me to Peru: The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything, the Bible, and The Skillful Teacher. The last book was my mother's suggestion. She maintained that if I could only have one book on teaching, it was the book to have.* In the second chapter, the authors list 7 beliefs that are “essential to teacher learning.” This is Belief 7:

Racism exerts a downward force on the achievement of students of color that must be met with active antiracist teaching. (emphasis added)

Active antiracist teaching. That is a teacher's and a school's duty to confront the forces of racism. The racism in question here is the global cultural racism that devalues the thinking, storytelling, music, and art of Latin America (among many other places). In 2013, a Peruvian made film called Asumare came out. It was a big deal in Peru because it achieved the rare honor of being a Peruvian film at the top of the box office. Reread that sentence. No, actually go reread it. Let it sink in. When was the last time a non-American film was at the topped the box office charts? In Peru, American films sit on top of the box office most weeks. That's an example of global cultural racism. Peruvian children go to the movies and they are shown the US and it's stories, not their own country and their own culture's stories.

The authors of The Skillful Teacher expound on Belief 7 saying “cultural and institutional manifestations of racism are carried over into school as the stereotypes, distortions, or omission of cultures other than Western European from curriculum.... [Teachers] need to build culturally relevant teaching into their practice.” What does this mean for the quotes on the board by the office? It means that the quotes should be “culturally relevant.” They should come from members of the students' culture and speak to their realities. The quotes should come from Peruvians, or even better, Quechua speaking cusqueños.** Having quotes from writers like Mario Vargas Llosa (a Limeño who won the 2010 Nobel prize for literature) or José María Arguedas (perhaps the most well known Peruvian author to write the Andean region and write in Quechua) says to the students, 'your culture is important. Your culture has produced great thinkers and writers, has produced people worth listening to. Since you are from the same culture, you have the same potential. Be proud of your culture and learn its history.'

Belief 6 is “The total environment of a school has a powerful effect on students' learning.” At a school in the Peruvian highlands, the environment created should uphold the local culture. Fe y Alegría No. 44 does this in a number of ways. In primary school all students are required to take Quechua.*** But ensuring that the quotes on the board by the office are from Peruvians is another way to build that environment and to confront global cultural racism with “active antiracist teaching.”

That's why it matters that the quotes Pierre chose weren't from Peruvians. Because the message of a quote isn't just in what was said, it's also in who said it. Just as I had famous Americans and Bostonions to listen to in my years at Boston Latin School, the students at Fe y Alegría No. 44 deserve Peruvians and Andinos to listen to.

…

I want to make clear that I don't blame Pierre for picking quotes from non-Peruvians. Coming from a privileged white background, it is an easy mistake to make. As Peggy McIntosh states in her famous essay White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack, “whites are taught to think of their lives as morally neutral, normative, and average, and also ideal, so that when we work to benefit others, this is seen as work which will allow “them” to be more like “us.”” That Pierre did not understand the importances of the who in quotes as well as the what is very likely due more to ignorance than active intentions to oppress. This kind of ignorance is, in my experience, best addressed with patient explaining rather than angry blaming.

*Even this is an example of the speaker mattering as much as the words. I have great respect for my mother as an educator, so I listened to her. Had the book suggestion come from my impressively inept Latin American Politics professor, I wouldn't have even remembered the title, much less brought it down to Peru.

**That's what you call a person from the Cusco region.

***If you don't know what Quechua is, go read the FAQs