Tuesday, June 9, 2020

A Reflection on Top 5 Things White Teachers Can Do To Dismantle Racism by Tame the Classroom



Tame the Classroom posted Top 5 Things White Teachers Can Do To Dismantle Racism about a week ago in response to the recent killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Aubery which have sparked outrage and protests across the nation and around the world.

This post comes at a crucial time when many white teachers like myself feel uncertain, desperate to stand up and help, but unsure of how to.

After reading the post and reflecting on it, I challenge teachers to share Tame the Classroom's post, and reflect honestly on how much you are doing as a white person in a position of power in society.

So, white teachers, which of these do you already do? Which are you working on? Which are missing in your practice?

I'll go first:

ALREADY DO


1. Speak out against injustices.
I'm happy to say that I have no problem whatsoever speaking my mind on issues of injustice. I know there are many teachers who are afraid to appear too political. I myself used to avoid telling students my personal thoughts on politics or who I voted for, because I was warned I could have an undue influence and get in trouble for it. I toed that line for several years, but after Donald Trump was elected and proved to be as bad for people of color and for public education as we feared, I stopped caring about that line. Because our country has crossed a far greater line in the hatred and bigotry we allow. One day I may suffer professionally for speaking my mind, but frankly at this time in our country's history, I don't give a damn.


WORKING ON


2. Study and teach black history and current events all year long.
I already infuse current events into my curriculum but it's not consistent. It's one of those things I keep intending to do a better job with and dropping when other responsibilities get in the way. This coming year I'm thinking of making several current event articles available for students to choose one of interest and discuss.

I also really need to learn more about black history and POC history so I can integrate it as well. As an English teacher I can include this by highlighting amazing black authors and artists and reading and writing about black history. I need to find better resources for this to determine what POC consider to be crucial to know or learn about. This will be integrated into study of critical literacies, especially with my older students.


3. Provide classroom resources that include representation.
I reject the canon as being the only things worth reading in school, but until this past year I didn't think much about representation in my class library. My focus was entirely on the genres or topics my students would be interested in, not if they could see themselves in them.

All of my teacher supply money will go towards correcting that this year. If you haven't already done so, I highly recommend checking out the recent issues of School Library Journal which they've maid available to the public during quarantine. In particular their December 2019 issue features the article "Black is Beautiful," and their Winter 2019 has a great list of books in "Towards a More Diverse Collection." March 2020 has an article "Social Justice" with books that address inequality and injustice that are worth checking out as well.


4. Seek to understand your black students, black families, black teacher colleagues and their cultures.
I'd like to believe that I don't factor in race when I interact with others, but I recognize that this is likely a rose-tinted view of my world. I may harbor hidden assumptions even I am not aware of, and there are also times when educators should be aware or race in order to identify issues of inequality.

I definitely get to know my black students and love talking to them about our cultural differences. Sometimes I tell them a story and they laugh and tell me "that's some white people stuff." I could be offended by this, or avoid the conversation, but I find it fascinating to ask them what they mean and learn about the differences in our life experiences.

I recognize that I could go further than knowing my students well as individuals. The truth is that, as a high school teacher, the idea of getting to know every family is daunting and it often falls to the wayside. Who knows how much my students and I are missing out on because of that?


I'M NOT SURE


5. Support your fellow black teacher colleagues.
This one I really struggle with responding to, and I plan to reach out to some of my black colleagues to discuss it.

The Tame the Classroom post suggests offering genuine friendship to black colleagues and talking to them about social justice issues. I believe I have those genuine friendships, but being completely honest my best friends at work are all white. At this moment I find myself reflecting on why that is. Is it because the vast majority of the teachers in my department are white? Or that the black teachers in my department teach different subject areas and have different planning periods?

Or do I not extend the same effort of friendship to black teachers as I do to white ones? I genuinely hope that's not the case but I won't know until I examine myself and talk to others.



I hope that in this post I have been honest and not offensive. I wanted to use this space to be bare and acknowledge my weaknesses and what I still need to learn, while also sharing an amazing resource that I believe my fellow teachers should all utilize.

So once again, please go read Top 5 Things White Teachers Can Do To Dismantle Racism and, when your done, take the time to truly reflect on where you are, where you're going, and how you'll get there.

Saturday, June 6, 2020

Amazing Books About Racism

Note: This post does contain affiliate links. If you use the link and make a purchase I will receive a small commision at no expense to you. The content of this post has not been influenced in any way by this.

I think many of us are seeking to find ways to help us understand not only what is currently happening in our country, but to better understand our country's history of racism and systemic oppression and segregation. Far better people than me have posted some amazing content online and I urge you to listen to the people of color crying out for change.

As a white woman, I cannot speak personally on these issues, but I can help to spread information and foster understanding. Below are books I have read personally or have had recommended to me on the topic. I honestly don't think I can do them justice by trying to summarize or review them, so instead I am including notes from the publishers for each.


White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism


White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About ...

White people in North America live in a social environment that protects and insulates them from race-based stress. This insulated environment of racial protection builds white expectations for racial comfort while at the same time lowering the ability to tolerate racial stress.  Although white racial insulation is somewhat mediated by social class (with poor and working class urban whites being generally less racially insulated than suburban or rural whites), the larger social environment insulates and protects whites as a group through institutions, cultural representations, media, school textbooks, movies, advertising, and dominant discourses. Racial stress results from an interruption to what is racially familiar. In turn, whites are often at a loss for how to respond in constructive ways., as we have not had to build the cognitive or affective skills or develop the stamina that that would allow for constructive engagement across racial divides. leading to what I refer to as White Fragility. White Fragility is a state in which even a minimum amount of racial stress becomes intolerable, triggering a range of defensive moves. These moves include the outward display of emotions such as anger, fear, and guilt, and behaviors such as argumentation, silence, and leaving the stress-inducing situation. These behaviors, in turn, function to reinstate white racial equilibrium. This book explicates the dynamics of White Fragility and how we might build our capacity in the on-going work towards racial justice.



Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race


Why journalist Reni Eddo-Lodge is no longer talking to white ...

Award-winning journalist Reni Eddo-Lodge was frustrated with the way that discussions of race and racism are so often led by those blind to it, by those willfully ignorant of its legacy. Her response, Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race, has transformed the conversation both in Britain and around the world. Examining everything from eradicated black history to the political purpose of white dominance, from whitewashed feminism to the inextricable link between class and race, Eddo-Lodge offers a timely and essential new framework for how to see, acknowledge, and counter racism. Including a new afterword by the author, this is a searing, illuminating, absolutely necessary exploration of what it is to be a person of color in Britain today, and an essential handbook for anyone looking to understand how structural racism works.


The Shame of the Nation: The Restoration of Apartheid Schooling in America


The Shame of the Nation: The Restoration of Apartheid Schooling in ...

Since the early 1980s, when the federal courts began dismantling the landmark ruling in Brown v. Board of Education, segregation of black children has reverted to its highest level since 1968. In many inner-city schools, a stick-and-carrot method of behavioral control traditionally used in prisons is now used with students. Meanwhile, as high-stakes testing takes on pathological and punitive dimensions, liberal education has been increasingly replaced by culturally barren and robotic methods of instruction that would be rejected out of hand by schools that serve the mainstream of society.

Filled with the passionate voices of children, principals, and teachers, and some of the most revered leaders in the black community, The Shame of the Nation pays tribute to those undefeated educators who persist against the odds, but directly challenges the chilling practices now being forced upon our urban systems. In their place, Kozol offers a humane, dramatic challenge to our nation to fulfill at last the promise made some 50 years ago to all our youngest citizens.



Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America


Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas ...

SOME AMERICANS cling desperately to the myth that we are living in a post-racial society, that the election of the first Black president spelled the doom of racism. In fact, racist thought is alive and well in America - more sophisticated and more insidious than ever. And as award-winning historian Ibram X. Kendi argues in Stamped from the Beginning, if we have any hope of grappling with this stark reality, we must first understand how racist ideas were developed, disseminated, and enshrined in American society.

In this deeply researched and fast-moving narrative, Kendi chronicles the entire story of anti-Black racist ideas and their staggering power over the course of American history. Stamped from the Beginning uses the life stories of five major American intellectuals to offer a window into the contentious debates between assimilationists and segregationists and between racists and antiracists. From Puritan minister Cotton Mather to Thomas Jefferson, from fiery abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison to brilliant scholar W.E.B. Du Bois to legendary anti-prison activist Angela Davis, Kendi shows how and why some of our leading proslavery and pro-civil rights thinkers have challenged or helped cement racist ideas in America.

Contrary to popular conceptions, racist ideas did not arise from ignorance or hatred. Instead, they were devised and honed by some of the most brilliant minds of each era. These intellectuals used their brilliance to justify and rationalize deeply entrenched discriminatory policies and the nation’s racial disparities in everything from wealth to health. And while racist ideas are easily produced and easily consumed, they can also be discredited. In shedding much-needed light on the murky history of racist ideas, Stamped from the Beginning offers us the tools we need to expose them—and in the process, gives us reason to hope.



Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You: A Remix of the National Book Award-winning Stamped from the Beginning


Amazon.com: Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You: A Remix of the ...

This is NOT a history book.
This is a book about the here and now.
A book to help us better understand why we are where we are.
A book about race.

The construct of race has always been used to gain and keep power, to create dynamics that separate and silence. This remarkable reimagining of Dr. Ibram X. Kendi’s National Book Award-winning Stamped from the Beginning reveals the history of racist ideas in America, and inspires hope for an antiracist future. It takes you on a race journey from then to now, shows you why we feel how we feel, and why the poison of racism lingers. It also proves that while racist ideas have always been easy to fabricate and distribute, they can also be discredited.

Through a gripping, fast-paced, and energizing narrative written by beloved award-winner Jason Reynolds, this book shines a light on the many insidious forms of racist ideas–and on ways readers can identify and stamp out racist thoughts in their daily lives.