Hope White, newcomer to Sarasota. February 7, 2015; Herald Tribune\/Carla Varisco photo <\/p>\n
In the two years after her mother moved to San Diego when she was a child, Hope White attended a half-dozen schools. She remembers the day she came home from a new third-grade class and said to her mother, But Mom, that was so easy! <\/p>\n
It was only much later, when she was pursuing a graduate degree in education at UCLA, that White realized she must have been placed into a lower-level class because of the color of her skin. <\/p>\n
I knew it was race, says White, who has been searching for a position in her chosen field of education administration since arriving in Sarasota five months ago. It made me think about how a teachers perceptions can cause a student to succeed or fail. <\/p>\n
Race wasnt something White, 34, was conscious of as a child. She grew up in a spiritual tradition known as Nichiren Daishonin Buddhism, a practice noted for its belief that all people are inherently capable of attaining enlightenment. Chanting, playing instruments and putting on performances within the communitys accepting atmosphere remain a fond part of her childhood memories. <\/p>\n
We believe everyone has the opportunity to bring out their potential, says White, who immediately joined a local Nichiren group after moving here. Racism is alive and well and always will be, but I dont have to be influenced by it. I want to embrace as many people as possible. Thats what humanism is all about. <\/p>\n
In the predominantly white area where she grew up, hers was the only African-American family on the block. But both her family and the sole Latino and Filipino families in the neighborhood were made to feel welcome. <\/p>\n
When we all got together it was like a little United Nations, she remembers. <\/p>\n
Though she wasnt forced into her spiritual practice, from the start Nicherin Buddhisms non-violent, inclusive philosophy appealed to her. But at her mothers insistence that it would be a resume builder, she enrolled in the military after high school. Stationed at Fort Bragg in North Carolina as a member of the airborne division, she says it took every ounce I had not to go AWOL. <\/p>\n
I couldnt deal with training my body and mind to harm other people. I thought, if were going to have a military, lets make it a humanistic one that does construction, education. Creating value instead of destroying it. <\/p>\n
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Sunday profile: Eager to bring humanism to the classroom<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Hope White, newcomer to Sarasota. February 7, 2015; Herald Tribune\/Carla Varisco photo In the two years after her mother moved to San Diego when she was a child, Hope White attended a half-dozen schools Continue reading