Racial Battle Fatigue

Covering equity issues of sex, race, class, age, sexual orientation, and disability, this work presents creative, nontraditional narratives about performing social justice work, acknowledging the contributions of previous generations, describing current challenges, and appealing to readers to join the struggle toward a better world.
Many would like to believe we are living as "post-racial" America, long past the days of discrimination and marginalization of people simply due to their race and minority status. However, editor Jennifer L. Martin and a breadth of expert contributors show that prejudice and discrimination are still very much alive in the United States. Sharing personal stories of challenges, aggressions, retaliations, and finally racial battle fatigue, these activists, practitioners, and scholars explain how they have been attacked-in subtle, shrouded, and sometimes outright ways-simply for whom and what they advocate: social justice.
The stories within consist of discussions on the interconnections among equity issues: sex, race, class, age, sexual orientation, and disability. Furthermore, the work relates current events such as the banning of ethnic studies in Arizona and the shooting of Trayvon Martin to the battle for social justice. Other topics addressed include the ongoing problems of white supremacist beliefs, the challenges of teaching about the racist thinking that permeates our media and popular culture, and the harms of aggressions faced by minorities and those possessing multiple minority status. The unique narratives presented in this single-volume work combine the various approaches to answering questions about not only the necessity of fighting for social justice but also the impact of the struggle on its champions.

Jennifer L. Martin, PhD, is assistant professor of education at the University of Mount Union, Alliance, OH.

Foreword
H. Richard Milner IV
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Jennifer L. Martin
Part I: Theory and Narrative
1. Self-Study of Social Justice Teaching on the Tenure Track: A Pedagogy of Vulnerability
Jennifer L. Martin
2. "She Was More Intelligent Than I Thought She'd Be!": Status, Stigma, and Microaggressions in the Academy
M. L. Sharp-Grier
3. Shocked into Silence No More
Linda Prieto
4. Being Tall Isn't Exactly the Same Thing as Being Black: The Challenges of Critical Perspective-Taking in a Nearly All-White Classroom
Sherry L. Deckman and Beatriz M. Montilla
5. "Alien" Troublemakers and Nonthreatening Pets at a Predominantly White University
Yukari Takimoto Amos
6. "Becoming the Bear": A Meditation on Racial Battle Fatigue, Resistance, and Grace in Academia
G. Michelle Collins-Sibley
7. Difficult Dialogues: A Story of Relationship as a Strategy for ?Racial Battle Fatigue
Melissa Payne and Victoria Pruin DeFrancisco
8. Where Do I Belong?: The Formation of a Destabilized Identity
Brandelyn Tosolt
Part II: Battles Still to Be Waged
9. "Yes, I Am Smart!": Battling Microaggressions as Women of ?Color Doctoral Students
Jessica C. Harris, Jasmine M. Haywood, Samantha M. Ivery, ?and Johari R. Shuck
10. "Black Sheep" in the Ivory Tower: Academics of Color Explore Racial Battle Fatigue and Microaggressions in ?"Postracial America"
Crystal Shelby-Caffey, Lavern Byfield, and Edwin Úbeda
11. "They Shouldn't Get Any Credit for It!": Mexican American ?Studies, Mexican Heritage People, Racial Microaggressions, ?and Racial Battle Fatigue
Richard Orozco
12. Weathering Through: How a Doctoral Candidate with White ?Male Privilege Succumbed to Racial Battle Fatigue
Steven Funk
13. A Critical Eulogy for Joaquin Luna: Mindful Racial Realism ?as an Intervention to End Racial Battle Fatigue
Antonio Tomas De La Garza
14. Effective Gender Activism: An Exercise in Marginalization
Wendy Murphy
15. Black Women in Academia: The Invisible Life
Jenelle S. Pitt, Mya Vaughn, Aisha Shamburger-Rousseau, and ?LaKeisha L. Harris
16. At the Margins of Social Justice: The Moral Debate on Special Education and the Other Latino
Bernardo E. Pohl, Jr.
Part III: Pedagogy and Practice
17. Reflections on Feminism in the Classroom: ?A "Life Raft" for Students
Michele Paludi
18. Teaching Trayvon: Teaching about Racism through Public ?Pedagogy, Hip Hop, Black Trauma, and Social Media
Bettina L. Love and Regina N. Bradley
19. Princess Pedagogy: Race, Gender, and the Disney Construct
Christopher Bell
About the Editor and Contributors
Index