General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: What White People Don't Understand About Rachel Jeantel [View all]mike_c
(36,281 posts)Disclosure: I'm a 58 year old white academic. I have spent the better part of my life either educating myself or educating others. I left a lower middle class family as a teenager, so I've had no help from that quarter, although I certainly acknowledge that cultural privilege allowed me access that is more difficult for some. I have not watched any of the Zimmerman trial-- I don't do TV-- so I haven't seen or listened to Ms. Jeantel. But as I understand the "cultural difference" you're discussing, it expressed itself primarily through uneducated responses to questions, and that's where my conflict arises. There are many reasons that people remain undereducated-- poverty, social inequity, and disrespect for intellectualism are a few-- but all of these are things we need to overcome, not things we should use to excuse ignorance.
I hope that if those white jurors didn't like Ms. Jeantel's bearing and testimony, that they see her as an example of how far short we still fall in our efforts to enlighten the world through education.