At first, I thought this would be a class for "dealing with complex emergencies"... Now my college professor is teaching us about systemic racism, the "Politics of Disposability", structures of oppression, environmental racism, intersecting systems of oppression, and so on.
The problem is, a lot of the concerns are valid. Flint Michigan - mostly black, mostly poor. Left without drinking water for years as a result. That shit wouldn't fly for a second in a rich white neighborhood. Wealthy communities wouldn't be so easily abused by a water supplier and a compromised local government. Same deal with the racial divide in the response to Hurricane Katrina. The poor don't get prioritized. They get, at best, sideways glances in this supposedly egalitarian society. That's true.
So my professor identifies the disparity, and that's when he loses the plot. You see, all of these disparities are a result of the entire system being corrupt. The entire system is built to privilege wealth and whiteness, we must not merely stand by and "be colorblind", we must actively be anti-racist. Any violence carried out in the name of equality is merely self-defense, etc. One of the slides literally told us to "become radicalized", because it takes a radical to truly change a system, and that the white moderate is the greatest evil of all. And the worst thing is, I'm just a stupid 20-something... I couldn't possibly hold an eloquent enough conversation face to face even with all of the facts and statistics on my side. I don't have as much experience and exposure to the political landscape as he does, so what can you do... I'll just have to grit my teeth and nod my head. I wouldn't dare disagree and put a cross-hair on my back. What the hell can I even say to him? He's actively teaching us grievance-based politics and he doesn't even realize it.
I’ve been dealing with this kind of thing for years, as I work towards my Ph.D. Professors will claim that they are open-minded and that they like to hear perspectives with which they disagree. Unfortunately, they are lying when they say these things. Also, you are not going to change his mind no matter how hard you try. I think the best thing you can do during class discussions is to deflect. Talk about how white liberals and Democrats are often the most racist, thinking that black people are inferior, and that their anti-business policies made places like Flint unlivable. No business = no taxes = no tap water. You can also bring up the policies of leading Dem politicians like Joe Biden. His opposition to busing, 1994 crime bill, NAFTA, which had “disproportionate impact” on poor people of color, along with his many racist comments, are all fair game. You can also talk about govt. bureaucracy and how funding that could go to areas like this gets diverted to multi-billion dollar universities, which, in his language, disproportionally benefit white people, like himself (assuming he’s white). If you can bring up these issues, then make sure you call call to mind stats/reports to back you up. You also have more of a chance to defend your ideas in your papers, but this can be risky, as he could mark you down for disagreeing with him. You can mitigate some of that by making sure that your papers are well-cited. Include references to sources he likes along with the ones that back up your argument. This is key, because he’ll say, “I failed you because you didn’t cite the right scholarship.” You should also make sure the paper is as well-written and as organized as possible. Don’t feel the need to write in a fancy way, just make sure that the paper has decent prose and that there are no spelling/grammatical errors. I’ve seen leftist profs. take an inordinate amount of points off of conservative students’ papers for ideological reasons, and their cover story was that the paper was “poorly constructed” or that “it had too many editing errors.” This problem can be caught if you have another person in your class read your paper for you. You can also have Microsoft Word read your paper aloud, which will tell you how your paper comes across to other readers. I think if you do these things, you’ll have more of a chance to express your own opinions in class, but it’s risky, and it’s a lot more work than just regurgitating what your prof. wants you say. If you do believe you have been unfairly graded for political reasons, then you can usually apply for a grade reconsideration, in which professors will review your paper and decide if the grade you received as merited. Nine times out of ten, they will look out for their own, and back the prof., no matter how egregious the grade was, but no professor wants to take time away from their pet subjects to go through a tribunal, so keep this “nuclear option” in mind as well. Godspeed.