The
focus of the AVReading newsletters this year has been on race and equity.
If you missed some of the newsletters or you would like to review them,
you can access them at avreading.org. We have examined a broad range of
topics from intentionality and language to recognizing privilege, holding
courageous conversations and addressing microagressions. We’ve addressed
specific practices like calling home, bringing in current events, and
acknowledging language choices.
For
this last installment, I will discuss the idea of increased consciousness.
I have taken the idea from the concept of “Stay Woke” which has a history
within the African American community. It’s the idea that once you start
to realize the inequities and injustices that exist around you, it’s important
to remain aware and active in your work to make our community safe for
everyone.
The
idea of staying conscious implies that it requires a perpetual effort to
recognize the changing landscape of marginalization. Racialized practices
have a way of evolving. When our country finally grappled with the injustice of
slavery, Jim Crow policies became the new evolution of that same ugly stain of
racism. And after the work of the civil rights movements of the 50s and 60s,
mass incarceration became it’s next iteration. Even within our school
systems, we must be ever vigilant in our choices and practices-- as a building
and as educators. While a given policy
may not have been intentionally discriminatory, in practice sometimes they
disproportionately impact one group over another, privileging some and
disadvantaging others.
Being
aware simply takes constant attention: engaging in conversations, participating
in events that celebrate and acknowledge diversity, reading books, viewing
movies and documentaries, listening to podcasts, building community.
Over
Memorial Day weekend, I traveled with the speech team to Washington D.C for a
grand national tournament. One of the students traveling with us was a
young woman of color who was also Muslim.
Upon arriving, we waited in a fairly large group of people for a shuttle
to take us to the rental vehicles. I invited this student, as we entered
the shuttle, to come stand by me because-- even in this day and age-- I worry
about her in those spaces. Sitting
across from us was an elderly white gentleman and his wife. And from the
moment she took her spot next to me, he maintained a hard stare at her. It went on for a few moments, until
finally, she looked back at him with direct eye contact at which point he broke
it off. Of course, I cannot know the
exact reason for his glare, but I do know how the experience bothered the
student, leaving her to wonder if she had somehow trespassed into space where
she didn’t belong. It was just another example of how we still have a
ways to go, how we find ways to make people feel different or marginal.
The
weekend turned out to be a truly exceptional experience. Not only did the
students perform exceptionally well, but we also got to visit some of our
nation’s most important landmarks, including the newly opened African American
Museum. The floorplan for the museum is immense. You begin by taking an
elevator three floors down where you begin your journey with the creation of
race as a construct, through slavery, the Civil War, to Jim Crow, the Civil
Rights and beyond. We gathered that evening as a team around the table to
talk about what we saw and felt at the museum, and it was one of those moments,
where you could just sense a growing awareness.
One coach, who is African American, mentioned to the group that he
struggles at times with the path of our society’s racial journey. He says
that it is easy to get really overwhelmed by the problems we face. That
oppression seemed to be cyclical because we seemed to overcome forms of racism
only to work our way back to a new ones.
But he mentioned that as he went through the displays in the museum, he
was reminded that it isn’t so much a circle that we are travelling in, as much
as a spiral, which is trending upward. And he stated that while we still
have much ground to travel, there is progress and hope.
We
are truly blessed to work in a school that mirrors the demographic proportions
of our country. We are America. And the work we do here should be the model of
the work we envision for our larger community. May you embrace the challenges
that are ahead and help us to continue our spiral up.
View full Newsletter here.
