Erin,
You have great questions, but I find them much too big to answer.
The main reason why your questions are too hard to answer, I think,
is that below them lies the current debate between integration and
multi-culturalism. When we use the word "community," what are we
talking about? Is there one (geographical) community that we hope to
serve? Or are there a number of different "communities" within our
local community in which inclusion has something to do with race,
class, religion, sexual preference, etc. For example, if we talk
about the "African-American community," we are presuming that such a
community exists and has some distinguishing cultural
characteristics. As a caucasian, I can never be a part of that
community. I can have all sorts of relationships with members of
that community, and I may even be allowed to serve that community,
but I can never become a member of that community because of the
exclusive "multi-cultural" way I have defined it. On the other hand,
if I define community more broadly and think in terms of a community
which is made up of people many diverse races, ethnicities, creeds,
prefences and both genders, I have defined a community that 1) in my
mind, is perfect but doesn't exist and 2) puts more emphasis on
"assimilation" or "blending" than on cultural diversity. In my mind,
at least, community SHOULD be somewhere in between these two models.
But I haven't seen it happen, and, unfortunately, have few ideas as
to how it can happen.
In the geographical community of Dayton, OH, we are quite limited in
racial diversity to caucasians and African-Americans. The numbers of
people of other races is extremely small (not that those people are
insignificant, just that their numbers are small). Dayton is one of
the most racially segregated cities in the U.S., with
African-American neighborhoods on the west side of town and a couple
of northwest suburbs. Everywhere else is predominantly white. There
are two Boys and Girls Clubs, one on the west side and one on the
east. The children who attend these facilities are, as you might
have already guessed, predominantly African-American at the west side
one and predominantly caucasian at the east side one (despite the
efforts of many years of school desegregation, fair housing, etc.).
Guess which groups of students choose to volunteer at each of these
sites. I am personally torn about this, because I would like to
believe that an African-American student be as effective a mentor to
a white Appalachian child as effectively as a white student and that
a white student can be as effective a mentor to an African-American
child as a black student. And I really believe that in many
individual cases this can happen. But I have been dissuaded from
thinking this way by my colleagues in African-American Student
Services. And they have a solid argument about the need of the
African-American "community" to strengthen itself, especially by
having African-American male college students mentoring young
African-American boys. On the other hand, it deprives all of the
kids from getting what would be a positive experience in cultural
diversity from a mentoring relationship with a college student of a
different race. So, as I wrestle with this huge question, I let the
students choose whatever they want to do in terms of a volunteer
placement.
What I deal mostly with are student volunteers. This can be quite
different than an academic service-learning experience. The faculty
member and service agency representatives in these situations may be
able to have much more say in terms of service placement. So, Erin,
you may want to make the distinction between volunteering and
service-learning as you and graduate student work on this project.
Even so, I have worked with a few agency representatives who strongly
prefer African-American student volunteers to caucasian if their
clients were primarily African-American. Although no one has ever
voiced a preference for caucasian students to me, I wonder how
receptive some white community members might be to having
African-American students tutor them as they work towards their GED,
for example. Despite what we try to do to prepare students to treat
the people they serve as at least their equals, the perception among
those being served can still be, "Y'all think you're better than us,
don't ya?" This attitude can be intensified not only by class and
age differences, but also by race.
I have rambled long enough on this issue, but have really only
skimmed the surface. Again, this is a huge issue, and I, for one,
am too torn to answer your questions.
Peace,
Nick
======================================================================
Nick Cardilino "A different world cannot be built
University of Dayton by indifferent people."
Center for Social Concern --Horace Mann
E-mail: cardilin@trinity.udayton.edu
Phone: (513)-229-2524 Fax: (513)-229-2035
homepage: http://www.udayton.edu/~campmin
======================================================================