Cultural Awareness and CRT in College Reading Selections: A Mix of Both?

How does “Brownies,” a story about fourth-grade girls striving to become full-fledged Girl Scouts, set out to deal with racism? The narrator is a sarcastic Black girl whose moniker is permanently “Snot” after mucus flew out of her nose one day in first grade. Coming from the suburbs of Atlanta, Ga., she has rarely seen a white person. Packer uses this unfamiliarity to establish that Snot has a belligerent attitude toward the white people she encounters. Most of the other Brownies, the sole exception being Daphne, share that hostile mindset.

Snot points and sneers at the pretensions of white businessmen shuffling regally to the library and the white mothers and daughters who “coo-coo” over fancy dresses in Rich's department store. Among her friends and classmates, the word “Caucasian” does not merely denote a race but also serves as a snappy insult; it comes in handy when someone is being foolish or clumsy and that must be pointed out. The “strawberry” and “vanilla” girls of Troop 909 are compared to “wet Chihuahuas” and even “Caucasian Chihuahuas.” These girls are seen as “invaders,” and Snot becomes part of her troop's revenge against them by (falsely) accusing them of uttering a certain racial slur and then watching from the sidelines as they receive a severe “talking-to” from their troop leader.

Of course, Snot and her accomplices are caught and punished after their troop leader, Mrs. Margolin, discovers the plot.

 One must note that many of the girls are too innocent to know or utter the slur against anyone. One Troop 909 girl shouts, "That's a BAD word! We don't say bad words!" The Troop 909 girls would rather be Camp Crescendo's friends and have adventures with them at camp. Daphne is the only Camp Crescendo girl who does not partake in any of her troop's bullying, likely because she is a gentle, creative, and poetic mind. Snot and two other girls, even Arnetta the "teacher's pet," sneak out to plan to frame the other troop of a hate crime. 

“Brownies” does present an interesting depiction of cultural identity. Snot's group shares a common enjoyment of pop songs such as “Karma Chameleon” and even the works of Michael Jackson. Janice, an exaggerated faux-country girl, even wishes to marry Michael Jackson. Religious beliefs and values are highly prevalent, since the Brownies meet at an African Methodist Episcopal church. Mrs. Margolin enjoys making tiny churches out of popsicle sticks and teaching religious acrostics such as “Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth” for “Bible.” In addition to hymns such as “The Donut Song,” the girls have special tunes to croon, such as “The Friends Song” and “The Brownie Song.” Humorously, some of the girls (namely Octavia and Arnetta) share a hatred of these songs (likely because of their clichéd lyrics). Intertwined with these religious themes are the usual goals of Brownies: earning merit badges, selling cookies, and being promoted to Girl Scouts. In fact, Octavia claims to have “a million more cookies to sell,” and Daphne has “one more badge” before they graduate from the Brownies program. Snot's cultural identity combines religious traditions with her troop's other customs: enjoying Michael Jackson, sneering at whites, and clawing her way toward becoming a Girl Scout.

However, racism had already been dealt with long ago. The story is funny and enjoyable, but it has been used to promote critical race theory as much as cultural awareness. Young children would rather make friends with their peers. Without any racial content or insults, Camp Crescendo and Troop 909 would be more realistic rivals, competing over how many merit badges each has earned or how many cookies each has sold.

Dead Men's Path

Chinua Achebe's “Dead Men's Path” is an intriguing short story. When everything goes wrong in an African village over a new fence, who is to blame?

The schoolmaster and the priest are at variance over a fence being posted on the “Dead Men's Path.” The priest is opposed to the fence because it blocks the path by which the spirits of ancestors are said to visit their living relatives. In his view, the grand scheme of life for the whole village seems to depend on this path. The schoolmaster considers this a ridiculous idea, because dead men do not need paths and he refuses to let his school compound be reduced to a thoroughfare. When beautiful flowers and hedges get crushed and a woman dies in childbirth, are the insulted ancestors getting their revenge, are mortal beings (i.e. people hired by the priest or the priest himself) wreaking havoc, or is everything all a coincidence? 

Achebe does not really delve deeply into the issue of racism, but “Dead Men's Path” is certainly weaving a rich tapestry of cultural identity and how it changes over time. The priest is still following his forefathers' ancient practices, so he strives to get this highly significant path reopened. He feels the path is spiritually important because, in his words, “Our dead relatives depart by it and our ancestors visit by it. But more important, it is the path of children coming in to be born.” Mr. Obi, the schoolmaster, laughs the suggestion off as “fantastic” and feels that his duty is to teach his students to refute such ideas. Although the priest begs Obi to open the path, the headmaster refuses to have his compound serve as a highway. In an attempt to make a compromise, Obi offers to construct a different route for the ancestors to cross and casually remarks, “I don't suppose the ancestors will find the little detour too burdensome.” When someone dies, school buildings are destroyed, and plants get trampled, the priest immediately consults a diviner, who concludes that the ancestors require substantial sacrifices as restitution for their mystic path being blocked off by a thoughtless young mortal. Mr. Obi boasts a more modernized outlook, while the priest and diviner possess more "traditional" values. 

Obi, the headmaster, struggles because he wants the priest to build a different path by which the ancestors can visit the living. He is still tied to his homeland because the priest wants him to leave the original path unfenced. He is expected to conform to the traditional African ways, and is pulled closer to his heritage. He is also pulled closer to the British culture that has pervaded Africa by his conscience. He does not want the school compound used as a thoroughfare because it violates his Christian beliefs, introduced by the British, that no one should try to appease or communicate with the dead. He wants to teach Christian ideals instead of the traditional ways, and denounces the old ways as “fantastic.”

In a forced compromise, Obi pitches an idea to help build a different path. He is not doing it for the ancestors, because he denies that they need a footpath for any reason. He is clearly not happy about the compromise. He simply wants to keep the priest happy, so he tries to sweeten the deal by saying he will get his students to help build it. “I don't suppose the ancestors will find the little detour too burdensome,” he says sarcastically. The priest rejects that compromise because it violates his cultural values. Obi tries to get the priest to compromise, despite it violating the former's conscience, but all to no avail. 

Achebe ends his story with some more irony. At the conclusion, the white supervisor writes a nasty report on the ruined condition of the school compound after inspection. Before the inspection, Mr. Obi was very worried about what the Government Education Officer would think if his school compound were being used as a footpath on which to practice traditional African rituals. Obi was probably pondering that the Education Officer would consider him a buffoon who could not give children a remotely sound education and was violating too many regulations to count on one hand. After a less-than-flattering inspection of the battered compound, the supervisor places some blame for the school's ruin on Obi's own “misguided zeal.” The supervisor is implicitly inquiring, “So, who's misguided now?"

It is an engaging and well-written story, but, again, some colleges may use it for CRT and to paint Christians as a little misinformed about other cultures.