Where do we go from here?
“Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.” — James Baldwin
In most neighborhoods across the country, school has either started or is scheduled to start very soon. The beautiful breath of summer is exhaling for the last time and the dawn of a new year is upon us. But, what will this year have in store for the classrooms of black and brown students?
If you follow the equity edu space on Twitter of Instagram, there has been much expressions of commitment to making classrooms work for ‘all kids’ and to ‘being the change we seek to make’ in the schoolhouse. I have no doubt that people have been changed — I have seen it firsthand. My push is and always will revolve around three questions— at what level has the change been made? What evidence will we have for it? How will we continue to pursue learning to make the change permanent?
The summer has had its moments of glee and beauty for most people, but it has also given us grim reminders of the racism and violence that exist from the highest levers of power to a mall in El Paso, Texas, a bar in my birthplace of Dayton, Ohio and finally to a school where I was a teacher and instructional coach just over a year ago. Rest in peace, Ahkii. I love you.
The violence and racism that invades the environments of too many of our children are a constant reminder of our need to change. Like, really change. And so, are we ready to do it?
How Deep is the Change?
A change that is practiced is a change that has been made. Until there is a difference at the heart, values, beliefs and habits level, all other attempts to change are at best a performance and at worst a betrayal. Change does not just happen in the head, but it happens in the heart and in collaboration with a community of people that will celebrate victories with you and cry about setbacks with you as you all strive to truly be anti-racist.
Where is the proof?
If your previous thinking has been uprooted, we should see the fruit. Where has your change made the lives and outcomes of students of color better? I know the school year has yet to begin, but it is important that we begin to level set now so that we can keep track of the evidence that proves our commitment to the education of all children. There are practical ways to keep a record of your outcomes. Get a colleague to observe your interactions with students of color as it relates to helping them achieve a difficult academic objective. Create a survey for your students of color, asking them to rate you on categories such as “s/he makes me feel valued” or “I feel better about learning when I am in his/her class.” Finally, ask your colleague(s) to be deficit language monitors for you — give them the permission to check you if you use language that promotes stereotypes or negative perceptions about the ability of black and brown students. Better yet, put up a deficit language graveyard in your classroom and the faculty lounge with phrases that are dead and buried such as “these kids can’t” or “these kids aren’t ready.” I am sure other phrases may come to mind.
What is your IEP?
I have made some of the worst decisions in my life when I have put complete trust in my prior knowledge about something. When I thought that I had learned enough about something, failure at an aspect of that area of information or that experience was destined to occur. And so it is with learning how to truly value black and brown students not just as members of your classroom but as whole people who come from a whole culture and want to achieve with their whole hearts. If it is true that what will save teaching is teaching, then what will save people is learning. And not just any learning — but learning about the experience of minoritized people throughout history. Learning about how biases form and show up in how we educate all children. Learning about the history (and present) of racism and how it was not only vicious and dangerous, but how it was/is intentional and calculated. Learning never stops. So, what is your individualized equity plan? How will you continue the learning? Who will you learn with? How will you engage the very students you serve in your own learning plan?
Teaching is one of the most noble professions in the world. And it’s extremely hard. Damn hard. The difficulty of teaching is not just in the task, but in our willingness to reconcile who we say we are with how we take care of our students of color. We must reconcile these realities on a daily basis and when we come up lacking or if there is clear hypocrisy, we must have the courage and love to confront ourselves about it. And then apologize to those we have harmed. And then do better.
This is what makes teaching at times excruciatingly painful — we must be prepared to die to the old ways of knowing, acting and being if they perpetuate harm and lead to racially coded inequities in student performance. It goes beyond our intent, what we may not have known before or who we envision ourselves to be. Anti-racist teaching is mirror-work and window-work. It is waking up everyday and deciding not to fix kids who never really had the problem to begin with and instead, focusing on the adult who is responsible for them.
Let our change be felt for real this year.
