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For Trinity Thompson, the decision of whether or not to address high-profile killings of black people with her second-graders was a no-brainer. She was teaching in Harlem soon after Eric Garner was killed by a police officer in a nearby New York City borough.

"How do I respond to this?" Thompson recalls asking herself. "And then from there, it was like, How do I respond to this- again?" Each time news reports covered another black person dying at the hands of police, her students-most of whom were black-asked more and more difficult questions. A career-long social justice educator, Thompson was committed to a response that focused not only on the problem, but also on how people were resisting it and seeking solutions.

And that meant teaching second-graders about Black Lives Matter (BLM).

She knew it was risky. When the Black Lives Matter movement comes up in conversation, it is often characterized in one of two ways: as the work of strategic activists drawing attention to and combating issues that harm black people, black communities and humanity at large, or as a movement marked by violent outbursts and driven by an exclusionary, racist, anti-police agenda.

This split gives some educators pause when it comes to teaching about BLM. Others embrace the topic, recognizing it as an opportunity to teach about collective action and to link past racial justice movements to the present. But all educators, by virtue of the fact that their students have either direct or mediated exposure to Black Lives Matter, should know the basic facts about the movement's central beliefs and practices.

Not all of us are like Thompson; the students who sit in front of us daily are not always directly affected by the killing of unarmed black people or any of the other injustices that plague our nation. But as teachers who function as caretakers, truth-seekers and advocates of justice, we can acknowledge how the threat of justice in one community is, to borrow from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., a threat to justice in every community. We have a civic responsibility to be educated about Black Lives Matter and, as we learn, we must teach.

The Beginning and the Hashtag

The Black Lives Matter movement began with a commitment to ending police brutality and state-sanctioned violence and injustice against black people. It is also dedicated to affirming black people's "contributions to this society, our humanity, and our resilience in the face of deadly oppression," according to its founders. The movement was started by three black women-Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors and Opal Tometi-following the 2013 acquittal of George Zimmerman, a Florida man who had shot and killed Trayvon Martin, an unarmed black teenager, the preceding year. Garza took to social media the night of that acquittal, stating in part, "Black people. I love you. I love us. Our lives matter." A year later, Michael Brown, another unarmed black teenager, was shot and killed by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri; the officer was not indicted. Shortly thereafter, the internet was filled with messages of outcry and support that included #BlackLivesMatter.

Since the Ferguson action in 2014, BLM has taken shape as a multichapter national organization; 37 chapters currently operate in the United States, one in Canada. Many BLM chapters and other organizations that embrace the movement mobilize people to demonstrate in communities where police shootings have occurred and to convene at large gatherings-such as political rallies-to bring awareness to police brutality. The website of the original group, blacklivesmatter.com, also lists other types of local and national events, such as teach-ins, panels and Twitter chats, and encourages organizers to submit their own events.

In an October 2016 interview with TEDWomen, Cullors explained what the movement means to her.

"Black Lives Matter is our call to action. It is a tool to a reimagined world where black people are free to exist, free to live. It is a tool for our allies to show up differently for us," she said. "I grew up in a neighborhood that was heavily policed. I witnessed my brothers and my siblings continuously stopped and frisked by law enforcement. I remember my home being raided. And one of the questions, as a child, I had was why? Why us? Black Lives Matter offers answers to the why."

Myths and Criticisms

People who don't follow Black Lives Matter usually become aware of the movement when news sites report on BLM actions or protests. What many people don't realize is that the leadership also embraces policy change and legislation as necessary elements to end oppression of black people-and that the work and the leadership are not limited to the Black Lives Matter network.

One common misconception about the BLM movement is that it is leaderless. But there isn't one leader; there are many. "BLM is composed of many local leaders and many local organizations including Black Youth Project 100, the Dream Defenders, the Organization for Black Struggle, Hands Up United, Millennial Activists United, and the Black Lives Matter national network," organizers explain on the website. "We demonstrate through this model that the movement is bigger than any one person."

Another misconception is that the movement is solely a mechanism for protest. In fact, the many people and organizations with agendas and goals that overlap and align with BLM have produced detailed policy demands and proposals for institutional reforms. Campaign Zero, for example, outlines a list of policy proposals largely focused on ending police brutality. It is a strategy for addressing one of the most visible, damaging and deadly symptoms of systemic racism. The Movement for Black Lives, a collective of more than 50 organizations, advances a platform covering six areas of domestic-policy reform, including economic justice and investment in equitable education and health care instead of criminalization and incarceration.

Many people, however, view the BLM movement as violent, seeking to "sow a racial divide" and intent on interrupting the work of police officers commissioned to protect and serve the public. For example, Rudy Giuliani, the former mayor of New York City, said in a television interview that the movement is "inherently racist" and "divides us." He further stated, "They don't mean 'black lives matter'; they mean 'let's agitate against the police matters.'"

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Why Teaching Black Lives Matter Matters | Part I

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For Trinity Thompson, the decision of whether or not to address high-profile killings of black people with her second-graders was a no-brainer. She was teaching in Harlem soon after Eric Garner was killed by a police officer in a nearby New York City borough. "How do I respond to this?"

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A few years ago, Tracey was observing a first-year teacher's math class. During the lesson, none of the black students raised a hand to participate, while multiple white students did. What could be the reason for this? Were the black students less prepared? Less confident or engaged in school? As the school's principal, Tracey took careful notes-and what he saw turned those questions on their head by revealing a likely cause unrelated to student attitude or aptitude.

During the post-observation conference with this teacher, Tracey shared the data he had collected. He'd seen that all the black students in this algebra class sat in the two rows along the left wall, whereas the white students occupied the four other rows. During the lesson, the teacher had positioned her body toward the white students, leaving the two rows of black students relegated to her periphery. Not a single black student had raised his or her hand or been called on during the entire lesson. The white students had raised their hands and participated more than 30 times, some multiple times.

The new teacher, whom we'll call Susan, was surprised. She didn't realize that she was unconsciously favoring the white students and overlooking the black students. She thanked Tracey for the observations, asked for advice, and requested that he observe her again the next day. When he returned, Susan was positioned on the other side of the room facing the entire class. Unlike the previous day, black students raised their hands and Susan called on them. When she could make eye contact with the students and see their faces, their participation increased.

Crucial Interactions

How many of us are unintentionally doing something similar? The fact is, considering the universality of unconscious racial bias, most of us at times probably send subtle but persistent messages that white students are more worthy of our attention and more favored in intellectual discourse. Through verbal and nonverbal communication, students receive messages about their value and worth on a minute-to-minute basis throughout the school day. And biased messages, delivered frequently over time, have a profound effect on students.

The good news is that, as Tracey's interaction with Susan illustrates, we can do something about this disturbing reality, including guiding new teachers, who may be especially unattuned to the nuances of how their behavior affects students. Knowledge of our biases gives us the power to reduce their impact. New teachers (and veterans and administrators) must continually ask: What is our impact on students of color? How can we find out? How can we do better? Strategically collecting data can point us to concrete behaviors to change and monitor-so we can be the fair, encouraging educators we strive to be.

Notice several things about the interaction between Tracey and Susan. Susan didn't get defensive. She didn't hear Tracey's feedback as an indictment of her character. Like most teachers, Susan earnestly wanted her students to do well and wanted to get rid of anything that was holding them back. For his part, Tracey didn't dismiss this teacher as a bad person because she showed biased behavior. He saw that her actions didn't align with her intentions and presumed that she would want to know. His faith in her conscious commitment to all students remained unchanged.

Such interactions are crucial in schools-but rare. Crucial because a growing body of research demonstrates that educators aren't immune to the effects of unconscious racial bias (Eberhardt, 2019; Lewis & Diamond, 2017). These biases have harmful effects on children we care about. They can lead us to view black and brown children as less capable and more culpable, or to view white children as more worthy of second chances and of being challenged. This is true for educators who are novice and veteran, white and people of color.

These conversations are rare partly because educators, like most Americans, enter the workforce unaware of the influence of unconscious racial bias on their perceptions and actions. Many educators believe that racism is essentially a character trait and that people can be sorted into two distinct categories: you're either racist or you're not. With this mindset, if you show a preference toward white students or hold Latino students to lower expectations-even if these behaviors are unconscious-you find yourself in the same category as torch-bearing Klan members. Not surprisingly, people resist this label and insist on the only other option- not racist.

Beware the Binary Mindset

Some researchers describe such sorting of people into either racist or nonracist as a product of a binary mindset (DiAngelo, 2018). As colleagues working with school administrators, the two of us have talked about racism a lot. During one such conversation, Sarah discovered how she had absorbed this binary mindset about her identity as a good white person.

Sarah was describing a time when a black student new to her class had told others that she was racist, and she'd been confident he was wrong. The student had been resisting revising his work and writing in full sentences, and Sarah assumed his comment was about this issue, guessing that he was just having a hard time adjusting to the high standards of her class. She acknowledged to Tracey that there could be times when she might act unfairly and need students to point that out to her, but she felt sure she had assessed this particular situation accurately. She believed the student was simply wrong, which she told the student in class. Tracey invited Sarah to consider that, as a white person, she might not have fully understood this student's experience. Wasn't she curious to learn how a black male student was experiencing her classroom? His comment might have stemmed from frustration at having to revise his work-or it might have been about something entirely different that Sarah wasn't aware of. When Tracey suggested that disregarding the student's perception might have had a negative impact on him, and that it would've been better for Sarah to ask this student in private what led him to that conclusion, Sarah got defensive. Didn't Tracey know that she cared about her students and treated them all fairly? That parents of all races praised her? She was a good white person, committed to equality.

Sarah eventually came to understand that unconscious biases were just that-unconscious. Her intentions, her skills as a teacher, even the respect families of color granted her, didn't eliminate the possibility that her actions or assumptions could be biased and harmful to students. Coming to accept this fact was painful, discouraging, and ultimately empowering. Painful and discouraging because Sarah had to face the fact that she harbored biases and the fact that she couldn't simply turn them off. Empowering because understanding the way bias operates is the key to reducing its impact on students. Understanding that good intentions don't protect us from acting in biased ways opens up space to examine biases without an emotional, defensive stance. It opens up space for growth.

Part of that growth, for all teachers, should be confronting the binary mindset and replacing it with a developmental mindset. A developmental mindset allows educators to talk to each other productively about possible racial biases, analyze the impact of these biases in a systematic way, and ultimately change their behaviors.

In the field of education, the concept of a growth mindset has considerable traction. Carol Dweck (2007) found that people tend to approach learning in two distinct ways: Some view intelligence as a fixed trait (you're either smart or you're not), while others view it as something you gain developmentally through ongoing effort. Those who view intelligence as fixed tend to respond defensively to criticism because they experience it as commentary on their intellectual identity, whereas those with a growth mindset embrace criticism as a way to gain more intelligence. Holding a fixed mindset can lead to shutting down when things feel hard. When people with a growth mindset face challenges, they're willing to grapple with them in order to learn.

What if educators took this same approach regarding the desire to be free of racism? Like intelligence, being anti-racist isn't a fixed trait. Rather, it's built through deliberate, repeated effort over time. With this mindset, discovering we're biased is not a character indictment. In fact, educators with a growth mindset seek out feedback about potential biases, knowing it will lead to improved practice-and ultimately more positive outcomes for learners.

Create the Conditions to Address Bias

To foster conversations like the one Susan and Tracey had, schools need to help teachers and administrators adopt a developmental mindset about becoming anti-racist. This won't happen on its own. So how do leaders create conditions for new teachers to examine their practice for signs of even subtle, unconscious racism? Key leadership moves include confronting the myth of colorblindness, building trust, and not prioritizing white people's comfort in conversations about race and racial bias.

Confronting the idea of colorblindness is especially important. Rather than embracing a "blind" approach to race, leaders should help teachers understand that race affects the life experiences of our students and ourselves. Most teachers in the United States are white, and many white people mistakenly believe that in order to achieve a future free of discrimination, they should act as though that future is already a reality. Ignoring racial discrimination doesn't make racism go away, however. We may not have separate drinking fountains for blacks and whites anymore, but research shows white people still get preferential treatment in a wide variety of ways (Staats et al., 2017). In tests of positive association, a majority of white Americans and a substantial percentage of people of color show a preference for white people (Banaji & Greenwald, 2013).

Teachers of color don't need to learn that racial discrimination exists; they experience it. In contrast, many white teachers don't think that they have a racialized experience at all. For many white educators, learning to talk about race is a new skill that requires practice. In addition, many people of color have experienced unproductive, superficial conversations about racial equity in mixed-race settings. Leaders committed to confronting racial bias in their schools must reserve time for new educators, along with veterans, to build the skills of talking about race and racism with colleagues.

At one middle school we know, during weekly team meetings, trained teacher leaders facilitate discussions of readings and TED Talks describing the experiences of people of different racial backgrounds. Protocols ensure that everyone gets "air time" and that people speak for themselves rather than making generalizations. Another school breaks into racial-affinity groups to discuss books about racial identity development such as Glenn Singleton's Courageous Conversations About Race (Corwin, 2015). Efforts like these signal to new teachers that racial identity development is professional development.

Communities tackling unconscious bias also work to become braver together -by fostering trust. Establishing and adhering to norms and protocols can go a long way here. Like mountaineers relying on colleagues to catch them when they fall, educators need to know that when they talk together about race or examine evidence of potential racial biases, their colleagues won't abandon them through disengagement, defensiveness, or disdain. Teachers of color need to know that if they share a personal experience of racism, it won't be met with skepticism. They need to see evidence that white colleagues are willing to have their sense of identity as non-racists challenged. Antiracist educator Robin DiAngelo describes the defensiveness that can come up for white people in these conversations. Reading her work can help leaders of all races anticipate patterns of response that frequently come up in conversations about race.

There's another crucial condition to this work: realizing that conversations about race don't take place on a level playing field. White people can choose to engage or not; people of color don't have that choice. When leaders worry that a conversation about racism will cause discomfort among staff members, it's helpful to ask, "Whose comfort am I prioritizing?"

Investigate, Analyze, Address

Once we release ourselves from the binary mindset of having to prove we're bias-free, we can focus our energy on making school a fairer place for all students. Since unconscious racial bias is, by definition, unintentional, we can't just decide one day to stop. However, we can commit to monitoring where and how bias affects our students-by systematically collecting and analyzing data and acting on what we learn regarding what we might need to change. The goal is to create a community determined to answer questions like, What is our impact on students of color? How will we know? What can we change in our practice to get better results?

When new teachers join colleagues guided by questions like these, they are less likely to adopt a deficit approach, placing blame on students for low performance. They'll be inducted into a school culture of inquiry, not defensiveness. They'll learn to start from the assumption that all students genuinely are capable of meeting or exceeding standards. From this vantage point, racial disparities or low performance from certain groups of students will prompt new teachers to grow more curious, not more complacent. They'll seek to understand students' experiences more specifically to realize what adults can change to improve student outcomes.

To monitor the impact of unconscious bias, it's crucial to disaggregate data by race to surface disparities that may not be apparent. For example, if 85 percent of students respond to a school climate survey saying they feel their teachers respect them, that may seem like a fairly encouraging number. However, if the school is racially diverse and the remaining 15 percent who don't feel respected are all Latino students, then the picture is quite different-and concerning.

There are countless areas to investigate. Teachers might conduct an audit of who participates in class discussions, analyze feedback on student writing, or record who receives extra credit or even who receives instruction from substitute teachers more often. Throughout the inquiry, framing makes a difference. The point isn't to determine who is to blame; this process of collecting and analyzing data should feel empowering to teachers committed to increasing their effectiveness with all students.

Once leaders and faculty identify racial discrepancies in school and classroom practices, their follow-up action plan will likely involve the following three steps: (1) design and implement clear systems or structures that increase fairness; (2) determine objective criteria for impactful decisions like who qualifies for a character award or whether to send a child to the office; and (3) increase overall teacher collaboration to identify signs of bias that individuals might not notice on their own. These three steps may be attractive because they can be checked off a list. However, it would be too easy to think that once we've checked each step off, we've ensured fair treatment of all students. It's not that simple.

Creating a system-or setting up criteria or increasing collaboration-will help but won't be sufficient to ensure that students of color receive treatment equal to that of white students. We need to accept that unconscious bias will continually seep into the school day. We address bias best not just by creating systems, but also by shedding defensiveness and adopting a developmental mindset and a willingness to inquire. In this way, we'll build a culture of continual investigation and growth to address the unconscious racial bias that lives in our schools and ourselves.

Reflect & Discuss

➛ Consider the authors' question: What impact are your practices having on students of color? Does anything in your mentoring or induction for new teachers help new teachers reflect on this question? Might you include something to help new hires think about this?

➛ Do you ever talk with fellow teachers about racism or racial identity? Do you think there is enough trust among some of your colleagues to let this happen? If not, why not?

➛ Does your school foster a growth mindset with respect to racial bias?

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A few years ago, Tracey was observing a first-year teacher's math class. During the lesson, none of the black students raised a hand to participate, while multiple white students did. What could be the reason for this? Were the black students less prepared? Less confident or engaged in school?

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Culturally Responsive Teaching & the Brain

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Blog - Culturally Responsive Teaching & the Brain

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Understanding how school discipline policies can contribute to the school-to-prison pipeline is essential for educators and families. Harsh punishments, automatic out-of-class time and police involvement for discipline can push young people out of classrooms and into the criminal legal system. But educators, parents and caregivers can help to change this harmful system by advocating for and implementing practices that prioritize mental health and well-being.

We offer this new resource page that highlights LFJ articles and content to open dialogue, shift practices and foster change to benefit all young people.

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Learning for Justice | Education Resources

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Learning for Justice provides free resources to educators-teachers, administrators, counselors and other practitioners-who work with children from kindergarten through high school. Educators use our materials to supplement the curriculum, to inform their practices, and to create civil and inclusive school communities where children are respected, valued and welcome participants.

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21-Day Racial Equity Challenge — America & Moore

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In 1996, America & MOORE, LLC was established to provide comprehensive diversity and leadership trainings, workshops, keynotes and consultation for schools, businesses, colleges and universities. After 20 years, our list of challenging and action-oriented sessions includes, but is not limited to White Women Teaching Black Boys, The N!gga(er) Word, America Is Changing: Are You Ready?, The Personal Achievement Gap, #Zero2Hero: An Addiction and Success Story, White Privilege 101, Diversity, Power, Leadership & Moore. Founder, Dr. Moore is recognized as one of the nation’s top motivational speakers, educators and consultants, especially for his work with students K-16.
Dr. Moore is co-founder of the on-line journal Understanding and Dismantling Privilege, co-editor of Everyday White People Confront Racial and Social Injustice: 15 Stories and the forthcoming book, A White Women’s Guide to Teaching Black Boys. Dr. Moore received his Ph.D. from the University of Iowa in Education Leadership. His PhD research is on Black Football Players at D3 Schools in the Midwest. (T): @eddieknowsmoore | (IG): eddiemoorejr

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The 1619 Project Curriculum in Lesson Plan Grouping - The 1619 Project, inaugurated with a special issue of The New York Times Magazine, challenges us to reframe U.S. history by marking the year when the first enslaved Africans arrived on Virginia soil as our nation’s foundational date. Here you wil…

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Culturally Responsive Teaching: 4 Misconceptions | Cult of Pedagogy

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In some cases, teachers think they’re practicing culturally responsive teaching, when in fact, they’re kind of not. Zaretta Hammond helps clear things up.

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May 13, 2020
In most American schools, children hear about democracy, but don't get to practice it. What would a more engaged brand of civics education look like?

Story reported by Ben James, with host John Biewen and collaborator Chenjerai Kumanyika. Interviews with Arielle Jennings, Hilary Moss, and Nikole Hannah-Jones.

The series editor is Loretta Williams. Music by the Summer Street Brass Band, Algiers, John Erik Kaada, Eric Neveux, and Lucas Biewen. Music consulting and production help from Joe Augustine of Narrative Music.
Photo: Stephen Buckley, Jelicity Mercado, Bella Goncalves, and Angelica Pareja, eighth-grade students at Pyne Arts Magnet School in Lowell, Massachusetts, with their award at Civics Day in Boston, December 2019. Download a transcript of the episode here.

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In most American schools, children hear about democracy, but don't get to practice it. What would a more engaged brand of civics education look like? Story reported by Ben James, with host John Biewen and collaborator Chenjerai Kumanyika. Interviews with Arielle Jennings, Hilary Moss, and Nikole

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A Podcast from the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University

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start at 3:00 minutes in

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Prof. Ibram X. Kendi: Stamped From the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America

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Intro to "Stamped" , the young adult remix of Stamped from the Beginning

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Intro to "Stamped" , the young adult remix of Stamped from the Beginning

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Teaching kids about the complicated history of racism

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Teaching While White podcast featuring Robin di Angelo

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Teaching While White podcast featuring Robin di Angelo

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White Fragility- Part One - Teaching While White

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The Zinn Education Project is my compass in a sea of corporate textbooks, packaged common core curriculum and standardized testing. My entire curriculum is based on lessons that can be found on the Zinn Education Project.

High School Social Studies Teacher, Portland, Ore.

Your support is needed to help more students learn people's history. 100% of Zinn Education Project funding comes from individuals like you. Donate today.

By Ursula Wolfe-Rocca

From voter ID laws to voter-roll purges, gerrymandering to poll closures to the deadly in-person voting conditions during a pandemic, the right to vote is under attack and the stakes are high. It is critical that students learn about the fight for voting rights, past and present.

Nov. 30, 1924: Shirley Chisholm Born...

Teaching About the Violence in Palestine and Israel...

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-Howard Zinn

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Zinn Education Project: Teaching People's History

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The Zinn Education Project promotes and supports the teaching of people's history in middle and high school classrooms across the country. Based on the lens of history highlighted in Howard Zinn's best-selling book A People's History of the United States, the website offers free, downloadable lessons and articles organized by theme, time period, and reading level.

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Listen to ‘1619,’ a Podcast From The New York Times (Published 2020)

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An audio series on how slavery has transformed America, connecting past and present through the oldest form of storytelling.

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RACE – THE POWER OF AN ILLUSION: How the Racial Wealth Gap Was Created

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These scenes are excerpted from California Newsreel’s acclaimed three-part documentary series, Race-The Power of an Illusion.  To learn more and watch the entire series, please visit http://newsreel.org/video/RACE-THE-POWER-OF-AN-ILLUSION

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In this thought-provoking documentary, scholars, activists and politicians analyze the criminalization of African Americans and the U.S. prison boom. Watch trailers & learn more.

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“Racial Microaggressions in Everyday Life.”

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“Racial Microaggressions in Everyday Life.”

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Not too long ago, I (Asian American) boarded a small plane with an African American colleague in the early hours of the morning. As there were few passengers, the flight attendant told us to sit anywhere, so we choose seats near the front of the plane and across the aisle from one another.

At the last minute, three white men entered the plane and took seats in front of us. Just before takeoff, the flight attendant, who is white, asked if we would mind moving to the back of the aircraft to better balance the plane's weight. We grudgingly complied but felt singled out as passengers of color in being told to "move to the back of the bus." When we expressed these feelings to the attendant, she indignantly denied the charge, became defensive, stated that her intent was to ensure the flight's safety, and wanted to give us some privacy.

Since we had entered the plane first, I asked why she did not ask the white men to move instead of us. She became indignant, stated that we had misunderstood her intentions, claimed she did not see "color," suggested that we were being "oversensitive," and refused to talk about the matter any further.

Were we being overly sensitive, or was the flight attendant being racist? That is a question that people of color are constantly faced with in their day-to-day interactions with well-intentioned white folks who experience themselves as good, moral and decent human beings.
The Common Experience of Racial Microaggressions
Such incidents have become a commonplace experience for many people of color because they seem to occur constantly in our daily lives.

When a white couple (man and woman) passes a black man on the sidewalk, the woman automatically clutches her purse more tightly, while the white man checks for his wallet in the back pocket. (Hidden message: Blacks are prone to crime and up to no good.)

A third-generation Asian American is complimented by a taxi cab driver for speaking such good English. (Hidden message: Asian Americans are perceived as perpetual aliens in their own country and not "real Americans.")

Police stop a Latino male driver for no apparent reason but to subtly check his driver's license to determine immigration status. (Hidden message: Latinas/os are illegal aliens.)

American Indian students at the University of Illinois see Native American symbols and mascots, exemplified by Chief Illiniwek dancing and whooping fiercely during football games. (Hidden message: American Indians are savages, blood-thirsty, and their culture and traditions are demeaned.)

In our eight-year research at Teachers College, Columbia University, we have found that these racial microaggressions may, on the surface, appear like a compliment or seem quite innocent and harmless, but nevertheless, they contain what we call demeaning meta-communications or hidden messages.
What Are Racial Microaggressions?
The term racial microaggressions was first coined by psychiatrist Chester Pierce, M.D., in the 1970s. But the concept is also rooted in the work of Jack Dovidio, Ph.D. (Yale University) and Samuel Gaertner, Ph.D. (University of Delaware) in their formulation of aversive racism-many well-intentioned whites consciously believe in and profess equality, but unconsciously act in a racist manner, particularly in ambiguous situations.

Racial microaggressions are the brief and everyday slights, insults, indignities and denigrating messages sent to people of color by well-intentioned white people who are unaware of the hidden messages being communicated. These messages may be sent verbally ("You speak good English."), nonverbally (clutching one's purse more tightly), or environmentally (symbols like the confederate flag or using American Indian mascots). Such communications are usually outside the level of conscious awareness of perpetrators. In the case of the flight attendant, I am sure that she believed she was acting with the best of intentions and probably felt aghast that someone would accuse her of such a horrendous act.

Our research and those of many social psychologists suggest that most people, like the flight attendant, harbor unconscious biases and prejudices that leak out in many interpersonal situations and decision points. In other words, the attendant was acting with bias-she just didn't know it. Getting perpetrators to realize that they are acting in a biased manner is a monumental task because (a) on a conscious level they see themselves as fair-minded individuals who would never consciously discriminate, (b) they are genuinely not aware of their biases, and (c) their self image of being "a good moral human being" is assailed if they realize and acknowledge that they possess biased thoughts, attitudes and feelings that harm people of color.

To better understand the type and range of these incidents, my research team and other researchers are exploring the manifestation, dynamics and impact of microaggressions. We have begun documenting how African Americans, Asian Americans, American Indians and Latina(o) Americans who receive these everyday psychological slings and arrows experience an erosion of their mental health, job performance, classroom learning, the quality of social experience, and ultimately their standard of living.
Classifying Microaggressions
In my book, Racial Microaggressions in Everyday Life: Race, Gender and Sexual Orientation (John Wiley & Sons, 2010), I summarize research conducted at Teachers College, Columbia University which led us to propose a classification of racial microaggressions. Three types of current racial transgressions were described:

* Microassaults: Conscious and intentional discriminatory actions: using racial epithets, displaying white supremacist symbols-swastikas, or preventing one's son or daughter from dating outside of their race.

* Microinsults: Verbal, nonverbal, and environmental communications that subtly convey rudeness and insensitivity that demean a person's racial heritage or identity. An example is an employee who asks a co-worker of color how he/she got his/her job, implying he/she may have landed it through an affirmative action or quota system.

* Microinvalidations: Communications that subtly exclude negate or nullify the thoughts, feelings or experiential reality of a person of color. For instance, white people often ask Latinos where they were born, conveying the message that they are perpetual foreigners in their own land.

Our research suggests that microinsults and microinvalidations are potentially more harmful because of their invisibility, which puts people of color in a psychological bind: While people of color may feel insulted, they are often uncertain why, and perpetrators are unaware that anything has happened and are not aware they have been offensive. For people of color, they are caught in a Catch-22. If they question the perpetrator, as in the case of the flight attendant, denials are likely to follow. Indeed, they may be labeled "oversensitive" or even "paranoid." If they choose not to confront perpetrators, the turmoil stews and percolates in the psyche of the person taking a huge emotional toll. In other words, they are damned if they do and damned if they don't.

Note that the denials by perpetrators are usually not conscious attempts to deceive; they honestly believe they have done no wrong. Microaggressions hold their power because they are invisible, and therefore they don't allow whites to see that their actions and attitudes may be discriminatory. Therein lays the dilemma. The person of color is left to question what actually happened. The result is confusion, anger and an overall draining of energy.

Ironically, some research and testimony from people of color indicate they are better able to handle overt, conscious and deliberate acts of racism than the unconscious, subtle and less obvious forms. That is because there is no guesswork involved in overt forms of racism.
Harmful Impact
Many racial microaggressions are so subtle that neither target nor perpetrator may entirely understand what is happening. The invisibility of racial microaggressions may be more harmful to people of color than hate crimes or the overt and deliberate acts of white supremacists such as the Klan and Skinheads. Studies support the fact that people of color frequently experience microaggressions, that it is a continuing reality in their day-to-day interactions with friends, neighbors, co-workers, teachers, and employers in academic, social and public settings.

They are often made to feel excluded, untrustworthy, second-class citizens, and abnormal. People of color often describe the terrible feeling of being watched suspiciously in stores, that any slipup they make would negatively impact every person of color, that they felt pressured to represent the group in positive ways, and that they feel trapped in a stereotype. The burden of constant vigilance drains and saps psychological and spiritual energies of targets and contributes to chronic fatigue and a feeling of racial frustration and anger.

Space does not allow me to elaborate on the harmful impact of racial microaggressions, but I summarize what the research literature reveals. Although they may appear like insignificant slights, or banal and trivial in nature, studies reveal that racial microaggressions have powerful detrimental consequences to people of color. They have been found to: (a) assail the mental health of recipients, (b) create a hostile and invalidating work or campus climate, (c) perpetuate stereotype threat, (d) create physical health problems, (e) saturate the broader society with cues that signal devaluation of social group identities, (f) lower work productivity and problem solving abilities, and ( g) be partially responsible for creating inequities in education, employment and health care.
Future Posts
I realize that I have left many questions unanswered with this posting, but my research team and I plan to continue updating our findings for readers to consider. For readers who desire a more thorough understanding of microaggressions, I recommend two major sources on the topic published this year (2010): Microaggressions in Everyday Life: Race, Gender, and Sexual Orientation and Microaggressions and Marginality: Manifestation, Dynamics and Impact. Both can be accessed through the John Wiley & Sons website.

Future posts will deal with questions such as: How do people of color cope with the daily onslaught of racial microaggressions? Are some coping strategies better than others? How do we help perpetrators to become aware of microaggressions? What are the best ways to prevent them at an individual, institutional and societal level? Do other socially marginalized groups like women, LGBTs, those with disabilities, and religious minorities experience microaggressions? In what ways are they similar or different? Is it possible for any of us to be born and raised in the United States without inheriting the racial, gender and sexual orientation biases of our ancestors? Are you personally a racist, sexist, or heterosexist? What is the best way for the average U.S. citizen to overcome these biases?

The first step in eliminating microaggressions is to make the "invisible" visible. I realize how controversial topics of race and racism, gender and sexism and sexual orientation and heterosexism push emotional hot buttons in all of us. I am hopeful that our blogs will stimulate discussion, debate, self-reflection, and helpful dialogue directed at increasing mutual respect and understanding of the multiple social identities we all possess.
Click here to watch a short video about microaggressions featuring Dr. Derald Wing Sue. To view a detailed description, including a chapter excerpt, or to purchase Dr. Sue's books, click here.

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Racial Microaggressions in Everyday Life

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Not too long ago, I (Asian American) boarded a small plane with an African American colleague in the early hours of the morning. As there were few passengers, the flight attendant told us to sit anywhere, so we choose seats near the front of the plane and across the aisle from one another.

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M. Gladwell’s Revisionist History Podcast “GeneralChapman’s Last Stand”

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M. Gladwell’s Revisionist History Podcast “GeneralChapman’s Last Stand”

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"Good fences make good neighbors. Or maybe not."

General Leonard Chapman guided the Marines Corp through some of the most difficult years in its history. He was brilliant, organized, decisive and indefatigable. Then he turned his attention to the America's immigration crisis. You think you want effective leadership? Be careful what you wish for.

Marine Barracks Washington Parade kicks off the 2018 parade season, May 4th, 2018

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"Good fences make good neighbors. Or maybe not." General Leonard Chapman guided the Marines Corp through some of the most difficult years in its history. He was brilliant, organized, decisive and indefatigable. Then he turned his attention to the America's immigration crisis. You think you want effective leadership?

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Read and Reflect on "White Fragility" by Robin DiAngleo

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Read and Reflect on "White Fragility" by Robin DiAngleo

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Access an article published in International Journal of Critical Pedagogy or read her book by the same title.

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Dr. Robin DiAngelo (Author), Michael Eric Dyson (Foreword)

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

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White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism [DiAngelo, Dr. Robin, Dyson, Michael Eric] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism

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Read "White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack" by Peggy McIntosh

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Read "White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack" by Peggy McIntosh

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'White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack' and 'Some Notes for Facilitators' - National SEED Project

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White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack Downloadable PDF © 1989 Peggy McIntosh 'White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack' first appeared in P...

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Social Inequalities Explained in a $100 Race - Please Watch to the End. Thanks.

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Systemic Racism Explained

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Preview of En Comunidad

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Today on the podcast we are excited welcome Carla España and Luz Yadira Herrera, authors of En Comunidad: Lessons for Centering the Voices and Experiences of Bilingual Latinx Students. Both Carla and Luz infuse their own experiences as bilingual Latinx students into their writing and teaching, urging teachers to create liberating spaces for their students by embracing a practice known as translanguaging.

They assert that educators must center and study the "language practices in students' lives and texts, helping both children and teachers think about their ideas on language."

Our conversation began with by talking about the school experiences of US Latinx students...
Below is a full transcript of this episode.
Carla: I think the experience for U.S. Latinx students is really complex and varied. Just like how we talk about the complexity of Latinx identities, we also have to talk about the complexity of those experiences in schools. You have some students who might go to school where there might be bilingual programs, and those bilingual programs might be very open to welcoming their full linguistic repertoire and the language practices. And so they might flow and use their entire language repertoire in those programs. You might have programs with the same names across state district and the school in across a few blocks away. Like I am in New York city and I see this all the time where the programs might be named the same, but their experiences might be very different because they might be called dual language bilingual programs, but it might have very fixed language separation.

And so the students might be told, "You cannot speak in English on a Spanish day or you cannot speak a Spanish on an English day." And that is very confining, constricting to their language practice and their identities and the ways they've grown up. And those are some of the experiences around specific programs and the way they look like and how that affects U.S. Latinx students. But I know Luz can also talk about students outside of those programs and what their experiences might be like.

Luz: I do want to add a little bit about the difference in California that we have. Because California just got out of a almost 20 year essential ban on bilingual education because of Proposition 227, which was recently overturned with Proposition 58 in 2016. So now we're seeing a huge expansion of bilingual programs across the state to the point where we can't keep up with the demand. I'm at a school right now, it has five classes in kindergarten that are bilingual, five in first grade, five in second grade. And every year they're going to add a new grade. So that's huge.

That's one of the biggest class numbers that we've had that I've seen personally and I've been able to work with that school closely this semester because I'm a professor in residence for their bilingual teacher residency program. But like Carla says, you can't really boil it down to one experience. We have to recognize that bilingual Latinx children experience their bilingualism in schooling in different ways. Sometimes their schooling does value their bilingualism, sometimes schooling does not at all recognize that. And that's something that's very real for Latinx students across the country.

Carla: And I also think that, like I was just talking about bilingual dual language programs, but there are students who go into schools that don't have that kind of support. And so it might look like they're being pulled out or getting support with an extra adult in the classroom that meets with them in small groups. And there's so many co-teaching models that schools have supported teachers with. And in some of those spaces, those students feel really welcomed and they're in classrooms with students who speak other languages and they don't feel alone and like a newcomer in that sense. But in other cases they might not. And so they might be completely ignored or they might not receive any kind of support in terms of text availability or curriculum where they see themselves represented.

And so that's an experience that's very real. Especially when I was thinking about when I was working with teachers in New York City and they had a selection of curriculum and they're always looking at, does the curriculum really represent our students that we're teaching? And so that's a very real issue that we take on in this book.

Brett: And on that note, Carla, how can schools center bilingual Latinx students?

Carla: Yeah, so I think one of the, for us, it was really important that we began our book with talking about the work that we have to do as teachers. I mean it's something that both of us do in our teacher preparation programs, with graduate students, whether they might be in-service or pre-service teachers, undergrads or graduate students. Meaning that I refuse to go into lesson planning and give you like, "Let me give you the top five strategies," without first us unpacking our own assumptions, our own ideas, our own language ideologies. A lot of us, we all bring them to the classrooms and we sometimes re-inscribe them or we make this vicious cycle that keeps going on if they go unchecked.

And so what we do, one of the things we talk about in the book, and that's our first and second chapters that really set this up, is saying, how can we as teachers first unpack our own language ideologies? So think about our own moments where we feel that our language practices and our identities have been privileged. Well it's where they haven't been. Why not? So issues of language and power come up. And so that's one of the, for us, is like the starting point. Start with ourselves and that way we reject that deficit approach that usually says, "Well the problem is the children and we have to fix or add on or give them this academic language."

And what we're saying is that, "No, the students aren't an issue. The issue here is that us, as adults, as teachers, as educators, we must start with our own language ideologies." And so that for us is one of the major approaches that we take is consider how we can unpack those and from there we can then start getting to know our students. So Luz will talk a little bit about what we talk about in the book and in terms of addressing how we can get to know our students better.

Luz: Yes, absolutely. I think, well of course, we have to start with ourselves and then we have to think about how we can approach the teaching of our students and just creating spaces for them to tell their own stories and creating a classroom community where they feel that they are a valued and trusted and loved. One of the things that we talk about in our book is you approach the three T's, I think Ofelia García, that's what she ended up calling it. We approach our lessons thinking about a topic, texts and translanguaging. A topic that is relevant to students experiences, students varied experiences, topics that are relevant to their lives and their communities, et cetera, as well as texts that celebrate these identities and these varied experiences.

And finally translanguaging, that really honors a student's language practices and uses those language practices in the classroom, really centering them in the classroom.

Brett: Luz, I want to stick with that actually. A large portion of, of how you get a sense of the beginning of the book is translanguaging. and it's very important in the element of your book. Can you talk a little bit more about what is translanguaging and how does it help students?

Luz: Translanguaging is simply the way bilingual people communicate. Translanguaging is both a pedagogical approach, but also a theory and a philosophy. And translanguaging is the way that I think bilingual people just make sense of their bilingual worlds. And Ofelia García is the one that really has pushed this concept forward. And it's really about using our entire linguistic repertoire to make meaning to connect, to learn, and to teach. It's about erasing some of those linguistic boundaries that sometimes schools or other institutions impose on people, especially bilingual children.

Carla: And so those boundaries are really important to consider. When you think about bilingual and multilingual learners, do you think about these like boundaries around named languages? So there's Arabic and there's Spanish and there's English and there's these like confined, bounded languages. And that just doesn't work for bilingual, multilingual beings. So we don't think in these like boxed categories. There's no switch in my brain for me to go to like Spanish thinking, English thinking. And so with translanguaging, it looks at these language practices as along one language repertoire.

And I love clarifying, at least the way I've been doing this with students and teachers, the distinction between using the term translanguaging and code switching. And so a lot of people will say, "Oh, that's the same." And I loved sharing that. Well for us, the way we've been using translanguaging, translanguaging is an insider's view of our own bilingual multilingual practices, code switching as an outsider's view of what someone is doing. Because they're seeing these as separate codes. And for us we don't see this as separate, it's just one.

Another a reference we make in our book, lest we define translanguaging, is to a beautiful article written by Camila Leiva, a former New York City high school teacher and Ofelia García where they looked at translanguaging in three parts as those mentioned, translanguaging, communicate the ways that bilingual multilingual beings communicate, to translanguaging as pedagogy. So I think of my days when I was teaching sixth grade and I would be reading a read aloud in Spanish and some of the students, when they would break out into their conversations with their notes, their note taking would reflect Spanish and English features and it would be Spanish features from different parts of Dominican Republic and different parts of Mexico.

And I would respond with Spanish teachers from Chile, where I'm from. And so there was a lot of translanguaging happening there as I taught and as they communicated. And the third part, translanguaging as social justice, is really using this concept, this pedagogy, this communication as a way to validate the language practices of so many of us where our language practices have been minoritized, have been set aside, have been marginalized. And so it's time to elevate it and increase basis for it.

Brett: I'd like to come back to identity. You both spoke about how powerful it is a minute ago. And really in your book it is also a powerful element throughout as you both write about each of your personal journeys as bilingual students. Could you each sort of take a moment now and just sort of share with us a little bit about each of your journeys?

Luz: Well, I moved to the United States, to LA specifically, from Mexico when I was a little girl. I started third grade here and my third grade teacher didn't speak any Spanish even though I grew up in a community where it was probably half immigrant, from Mexico mostly. But she was able to sit me next to a bilingual buddy, Harvey. I'll never forget his name. And he's just kind of the person that I always think about through like the beginning of my journey, just kind of helping me navigate this new environment, this new language, new just everything. And I think that's where my journey kind of began. But I think what was most important for us is our ability that we had a growing up to go back and forth to our home or home country. And this was something that we did every year around Christmas time.

We pack up our SUV or van or whatever car we had at that time and drove for two days down to Mexico. And for me that was a really an essential part of this journey because it made me feel connected to my homeland, it made me feel like I belonged somewhere. It made me feel like I really was proud of my language and my culture and my identity because I had that close connection and I valued my language because I wanted to be able to communicate with my cousins, with my family. And I think that's one way that that has helped me, at least in this bilingual journey, in really making sure that I held it in a high kind of regard, I guess. And I didn't really experience bilingual education myself, but I was able to of course use language at home and I kept up my own reading just so that I can keep improving on it. Again, just my close connection to home just really helped. And just my overall development as a bilingual person.

Carla: For me, I came from Chile to New York City when I was five years old and I arrived with my mom. We had been separated from my dad for about a year and my mom said she couldn't continue living that way and she really wanted us to be closer to my dad and to raise me with him. And so we made it to New York City. We arrived as undocumented immigrants and that identity marker was very real. And I felt it and I continue to feel it even though I am now documented. I remember every time I drive past this... on Queens Boulevard in Queens in New York, this place where my mom and I had gotten lost and I was little, I still feel like I had this physical reaction to the fear and the tears start flowing anytime I pass by that place. And so growing up with that, I knew that there were sort of spaces we couldn't go to, I obviously from the travel for a while to Chile.

And I ended up going to a school in Queens that had representation from so many different languages and I made friends from people from all over and it made me feel less alone. But I felt very frustrated because all of the instruction was in English. I remember being taken with a group of students from different countries who were learning English to like the smaller room, which seemed like a closet. And we would just do worksheets and English grammar, that kind of support. And my parents decided to put me in Saturday school, it was fully in Spanish and it was this Argentinian school. And every Saturday I would go and I would learn like Argentinian history and music and dance. And as a Chilean it was great because it connected me to our neighbors. Not only neighbors like country-wise Chile to Argentina neighbors, but also our neighbors from our building were from Argentina who told us about the school.

And so I grew up, Monday to Friday, feeling really much like not enough or less than, like I still had to work really hard and really frustrated as a child in school. But Saturdays I felt like super smart and I was participating and I danced and I sang. And I think to this day that's plays a big role as to why I love performing. But later on as I was able to get my papers with my family and we started just like Luz, traveling and visiting family became a huge part of my identity as this connection. And I know that's a privilege that I have now and I'm constantly aware of it and saying how the big impact it had that I was able to see my grandparents and I was able to communicate with them and continue and I wrote letters to them.

But it really was something that growing up has really informed my own practice as a teacher to consider that journey across not only geographical regions but also journeys from within and trying to figure out like who am I. That question of like what does it need to be an American? How do I fit into this culture and are people going to welcome me? And should I change for people or should I not? And that's something that we constantly grapple with and I constantly grapple with that question with my students as well.

Brett: What about you Luz, how did your experience form your journey to becoming a bilingual teacher educator?

Luz: That's a great question. I think I didn't originally intend to be a teacher. I wanted to actually go into education, but into counseling. When I was in high school, I was a peer counselor, so that was just kind of in my mind, I'm going to be a counselor. I wanted to work in education in some way and definitely through counseling I thought. And so when I went into undergrad, I was able to work with this program that outreached into high schools, like the one that I went to, Inglewood High, and advise students on college applications, FAFSA and all of those things. And it was just kind of like, "Yes, for sure I need to be a college counselor or some sort of counselor." But I had the opportunity after college to begin a Master's program and go into teaching and that completely changed my trajectory.

I taught for about seven years in Harlem, in New York City. And I think it was just that moment that, or that time that I realized that I wanted to pursue higher education so that I could have just a larger impact in my own way, I guess, with teachers and education. And so that's why I joined the doctoral program too, to become a teacher educator. And I didn't actually start as a bilingual teacher. I was never a bilingual teacher. I was an ESL teacher or they call it a ELD teacher now, english language development teacher.

Carla: Or English as a new language teacher.

Luz: Oh, right.

Carla: So much terminology everywhere.

Luz: Different terms, yeah.

So English as a new language teacher. And I think it was that experience of working with those groups of students that I realized that we were not doing enough. It wasn't enough just to teach English. It was important to also think about ways for students to develop, maintain their bilingualism. And so that's what turned me around. That's what led me to a path to pursue research and more teaching around bilingualism and bilingual education because of those injustices that I really witnessed and I felt like I took part in.

Brett: You both mentioned the terminology a second ago. And in your book you note the importance in your work about using the term emergent bilingual learner or E-B-L, rather than the term E-L-L for English language learners. So why is it important to you? Why is it important in your work to use emergent bilingual learner?

Luz: So this is another term that was actually coined by Ofelia García. And of course she is our mentor. She was our graduate dissertation advisor as well as she's also the forward author for our book. So you'll hear us talking a lot about Ofelia García. Ofelia García coined this term emergent bilingual learner as a way to move away from sort of deficit perspectives like English language learner that focuses on learning English and attaining English and really shifting our perspective to developing a bilingualism or bilingual outlook. Really centering students bilingualism and looking at their home language practices as something that is valued and important to maintain and sustain and develop. Do you want to add anything, Carla?

Carla: No, I think for me it's important to also connect it to that line that you just said earlier. Respond to the other question saying it wasn't enough. And I feel like sometimes we go through the motions of just teaching and going through with the terminology that might be in our graduate programs or in our schools. And I think one of the ways that we can push against that, is really changing the ways that we're labeling students. And I think it's a big deal and students are more than just a bot, a learner that's focusing on learning English. Like they're bringing something to the table there, navigating tremendous things in their lives, considering they're, just like Luz was discussing her own journey, like navigating multiple cultures, languages, experiences. And so I think pushing against those labels that come from really a deficit mindset is powerful. And I would even push further and say like, yeah, we use EBL as an umbrella term, emergent bilingual, but also acknowledging that a lot of students might be multi-lingual.

A lot of students are navigating multiple language practices. When I was teaching in Harlem, just like Luz was also teaching there, I had students who were not only speaking two languages like Spanish and English, but I have students who are speaking different languages from Mexico that were in Spanish. And so as a teacher it put me in a position to learn from them and be aware of their really complex language practices.

Brett: With that, Carla, how can teachers who don't speak Spanish use translanguaging in their classroom?

Carla: Oh, you just reminded me. I was once in this coaching group with Colleen Cruz, who we love, another high-demand author too. And Colleen had encouraged us and this coaching group to take up an activity where we would be learning something that was challenging for us and that would put us in a position to like grow in empathy of our students who are also learning and so many things in our classrooms. And at that time I took a guitar because I didn't want it to learn. And I love observing the teacher and how the moves that the teacher was making in making you feel like very welcomed and that I could play these chords. And she sat me next to the students who were just like approximating where I was, which is great. And so that's what I think of when teachers who say, "Well, I'm not a bilingual speaker, I'm a monolingual teacher."

And we acknowledge that, like most of our teaching courses, like white monolingual women. And we're saying with our book, "You too can do this. In fact, like you too should do this." And so that might mean, like I had to do this when I had to learn for my students who are from Yemen to speaking Arabic, might mean I have to learn the language practices of my students. And so grab a little notebook and start listening to them, get some phrases. It also means engaging in what students are producing texts that show their full linguistic repertoire. So the student is writing in Spanish and English and us saying, "Let me welcome that kind of writing and I can learn from that as well."

Taking up that kind of practice. I also think if we are literacy teachers, if we are historians and we're teaching our social studies teachers, whatever content area we teach, we also see ourselves as like, "Well, I'm engaging in reading history articles and I'm teaching these history articles. Well I am in any content course in an English language arts classroom, I'm also teaching how you communicate these things. I should also be a part, as a learner, be a part of this community."

So just as I walked into schools with my reader's notebook, my writer's notebook, the books I'm reading, I also walk in these spaces like we're also continuing to learn these language practices. And so what that might look like for some teachers, we engage in some book clubs. That was one of my favorite things to do with teachers, and hearing teachers saying like, "You know what? I started with a podcast or I started with an app." And I say, "Great, you're listening to a podcast, that has the transcription in English and Spanish for these investigative journalism stories from Latin America. Beautiful. Now here you have the texts on the screen, you're listening to this in Spanish. Now we can grab some articles and some books and so it will be from there." But I think that would help the teachers grow in empathy and also establish the connection with the students.

Luz: Just to add to that, it really takes a teacher that sees themselves as a co-learner. That sees their children or their students as a resource in a way. So students are the experts, students are the language experts in this case. And teachers can use that expertise to add to her teaching practice. Teachers can also think about how to bring in the caregivers. So the community into the classroom to help with the translanguaging aspect of it. And also CUNY NYSA launched a web series to address a specific topic like how can I engage in translanguaging even when I'm not bilingual or multilingual. So that's a worthy resource to check out as well.

Brett: I want to end with this. You quote in the book, author Meg Medina, in referring to the importance of using bilingual language saying that this shows trust. Can you speak a little bit to the issue of trust and how important that is in this work?

Carla: Oh, we love Meg. Meg is like madrina of our children's literature. We wanted to include that quote from Meg Medina and really talking about trusting students. And for us it means that we are centering the students. So that means when you center something, just like that's in our title, you have to take something away from there. So we are de-centering this like typical teacher authoritative figure that bearable knowledge and teaching English to these English language learners as has been painted this narrative. And instead we're saying, "We will trust that students are coming into our classrooms as complex human beings who I'm acknowledging their full humanity. I'm acknowledging that they communicate in these ways that they have these stories to tell. And I need to remove myself from that long-held space or idea or notion that I am the variable knowledge and I'm going to teach them.

And so that trust means letting go. And it's really tough, it's to let go. And it's really tough because we're doing this within this larger narrative in society that is painted bilingual and multilingual learners, especially in the U.S., as deficient, as lacking as opposed to painting them as like these human beings who are just navigating so many complex systems in society and that we can learn from it. Really it's going against the current in doing this, in this kind of approach where you trust your students and say, "I will center your experiences and your lives are valid. And I will listen and I will use that in instruction. And that means I will go find texts that reflect that. I will create curriculum around that."

And that's tough work because some curriculum that we have doesn't do that. And so it requires us to go against a lot of what we've been trained in. And so I'm very honored that like Luz and I are in spaces, graduate schools and teacher ed programs and visiting schools where we are able to have these conversations. And we talk in one of our chapters, like creating these counter narratives because that trust is a counter narrative to the master narrative of what the learning experiences are in the classrooms.

Brett: And Luz, at the same time, there's a level of importance there protecting the student's safety and how they share their stories too. Isn't that right?

Luz: Absolutely. I think when we think about the rhetoric, the narratives that we hear, just sociopolitical concepts that we are living in, it's important to consider students' safety. There's a lot of immigrant communities that do not trust institutions and rightfully so. And so it's important that we are able to respect boundaries to, well, first, create a community in the classroom where students feel protected and feel safe and fell loved, like I said before. But also just kind of not really force anybody to share their stories. Be patient, create multiple opportunities for children to be able to share their stories in different ways and with different people. Maybe they wanted to share it in their notebooks by themselves. Maybe they want to share with a partner. And little by little maybe they will open up to a larger audience.

But it's something that we just have to be careful about. Just not pushing anybody to share more than they want and more than they're ready for. And just be really open with the community, with the parents about which projects you're engaging with so that they can also support and feel part of this community.

Carla: And I think that's really impactful thinking about that because if I plan, let's say, a personal narrative or memoir writing unit to start like day one of school. And I'm having students share without me listening and getting to know their experiences or would they be comfortable doing that? Really, I'm putting them in positions where it shows that I am not listening, I'm not getting to know them. And so I think that's really important. We're just really excited. We're really thankful for the support for this book. I mean it's been a journey where we've been really thankful that we've had this space to really go through our own journeys as students within systems of schooling, whether they've been welcoming or not, and then also our own journeys as teachers. And then I'm just really excited to share this, especially considering the political climate that we're in right now.

I think it's important to acknowledge that our students are taking in messages and are also responding in different ways. And I think it is definitely our responsibility. Just like Luz was saying, like sometimes it's not enough. And it's not enough for me to just say, "Okay, I grabbed this strategy or I got this worksheet." And it's like, no, we have to do more work to unpack some of our own narratives and journeys around the identities and language practices of bilingual Latinx students. And so for me, I'm just thankful that I had this writing partner, Luz, and then we have this space. And we're excited to keep the discussion going.

Luz: Yes, definitely. We look forward to the conversations that will pop up when people start getting their hands on the book. And we're just so thankful for everything. Thank you so much. Thank you for having us.
Una transcripcíon en español.
Carla: La experiencia de los estudiantes latinos de U.S. es realmente compleja y variada. Al igual que hablamos de la complejidad de las identidades latinas, también tenemos que hablar sobre la complejidad de esas experiencias en los centros educativos. Así, tienes a estudiantes que pueden ir a centros donde puede haber programas bilingües, y esos programas bilingües pueden ser muy abiertos para dar cabida a todo su repertorio lingüístico en sus prácticas idiomáticas, y para que puedan fluir y usar todo su repertorio lingüístico en esos programas. Puedes tener programas con los mismos nombres a través del distrito estatal, y la escuela a unas pocas manzanas de distancia. En plan, estoy en la New York City, y veo esto siempre, los programas pueden tener el mismo nombre, pero sus experiencias pueden ser muy diferentes, porque podrían ser lenguaje dual, programas bilingües, pero podría haber una separación de idioma muy específica.

Y se les podría decir a los estudiantes: "No puedes hablar en inglés en un día de español" o "No puedes hablar en español en un día de inglés." Y eso es muy limitador, restrictivo con sus practices lingüísticas y sus identidades y las formas en que han crecido. Y esas son algunas de las experiencias alrededor de programas específicos y su percepción, y cómo afecta a los estudiantes latinos de U.S. Pero sé que Luz también puede hablar sobre estudiantes fuera de esos programas y cómo podrían ser sus experiencias.

Luz: Quiero hablar un poco sobre la diferencia que tenemos en California. Porque California acaba de salir de una prohibición de casi 20 años en educación bilingüe, debido a la Proposición 227, que fue revocada recientemente con la Propuesta 58 en 2016. Así que ahora estamos viendo una gran expansión de programas bilingües en todo el estado hasta el punto en que no podamos cubrir la demanda. Estoy en un centro ahora mismo. Tiene cinco clases en jardín de infancia que son bilingües, cinco en primer grado, cinco en segundo grado, y cada año van a agregar una nueva calificación. Entonces eso es enorme.

Ese es uno de los números de clase más grandes que hemos tenido y que he visto personalmente, y he podido trabajar con esa escuela muy estrechamente este semestre, porque soy profesor residente dentro del programa de residencia de docentes bilingües. Pero, como dice Carla, realmente no puedes reducirlo a una experiencia. Tenemos que aceptar que los niños bilingües latinos experimenten su bilingüismo y escolaridad de maneras diferentes. A veces su escolaridad, ya sabes, A veces la escuela no lo reconoce en absoluto, y esa es una realidad para los estudiantes latinos de todo el país.

Carla: Y también creo que, solo he hablado de programas bilingües de lenguaje dual, pero hay estudiantes que van a la escuela y que no tienen ese tipo de apoyo. Y podría parecer que están siendo marginados u obtener apoyo con un adulto adicional en el aula que se reúne con ellos en pequeños grupos. Y hay tantos modelos de enseñanza conjunta que las escuelas han apoyado a los maestros. Y en algunos de esos espacios, esos estudiantes se sienten verdaderamente aceptados y están en aulas con estudiantes que hablan otros idiomas, y no se sienten solos y como un recién llegado. Pero en otros casos, puede que no. Y entonces podrían ser completamente ignorados, o pueden no recibir ningún tipo de apoyo en términos de disponibilidad de texto o plan de estudios donde se ven representados.

Y esa es una experiencia muy real. Especialmente cuando estaba pensando en... Cuando trabajaba con maestros en la ciudad de Nueva York, y tenían una selección de currículum en la que me planteé, ¿realmente el currículum refleja lo que nosotros enseñamos a nuestros estudiantes? Y ese es un problema muy real que asumimos en este libro.

Brett: Y con respecto a eso, Carla, ¿Cómo pueden centrarse en los estudiantes bilingües latios?

Carla: Sí, una de las... bueno, para nosotros fue muy importante que empezamos nuestro libro hablando sobre el trabajo que tenemos que hacer como docentes. Es decir, es algo que ambos hacemos en los programas docents con estudiantes graduados, ya sean maestros en servicio o en prácticas, estudiantes de pregrado o posgrado. Por lo que rechazo entrar en la planificación de la lección y decir algo tipo: "Déjame darte las cinco estrategias principales" sin primero exponer nuestras propias suposiciones, nuestras propias ideas e ideologías lingüísticas. Y muchos de nosotros, los llevamos a las aulas, y a veces los reinscribimos, o caemos en este círculo vicioso que continúa si no se les controla.

Y entonces lo que hacemos, una de las cosas de las que hablamos en el libro, y eso viene en los capítulos primero y segundo, que sirve para arreglar esto, es explicar cómo podemos, como maestros, expresar nuestra propia ideología lingüística. Piensa en esos momentos en los que sentimos que nuestras prácticas e identidades han sido un privilegio. Esos momentos en los que no han estado y por qué no. Entonces, surgen problemas de lenguaje y poder. Y entonces ese es... para nosotros ese es el punto de partida. Comienza en nosotros mismos y de esa manera rechazamos ese enfoque de déficit que generalmente dice: "Bueno, el problema son los niños, y tenemos que arreglar o agregar o darles este lenguaje académico." Y lo que estamos viendo es que no, el problema aquí no es que los estudiantes sean el problema, no lo son. El problema aquí es que nosotros, como adultos, como profesores, como educadores, debemos comenzar con nuestras ideologías lingüísticas. Y para nosotros uno de los principales enfoques que tomamos es considerar cómo podemos aplicarlas, y a partir de ahí, podemos comenzar a conocer a nuestros estudiantes. Entonces, ahora hablamos un poco sobre lo que hablamos en el libro, y en términos de acercamiento, de cómo podemos conocer mejor a nuestros estudiantes.

Luz: Si, absolutamente. Creo que, por supuesto debemos comenzar con nosotros mismos, y luego tenemos que pensar cómo podemos acercarnos a enseñar a nuestros alumnos, simplemente creando espacios para que cuenten sus historias y creando una comunidad de aula donde sientan que son valorados, confiables y amados. Una de las cosas de las que hablamos en nuestro libro, es el enfoque, las tres Ts, Creo que Ofelia García, así es como terminó llamándolo. Nos acercamos a nuestras lecciones pensando en un tema, textos y translenguaje, ¿verdad? Un tema relevante para las experiencias de los estudiantes, para las variadas experiencias de los estudiantes, temas que sean relevantes para sus vidas, y sus comunidades, etc. así como textos que celebran estas identidades y estas variadas experiencias. Y, finalmente, el translenguaje, ¿verdad? Eso honra las prácticas lingüísticas de los estudiantes y aplica esas prácticas de lenguaje en el aula, centrándolos de verdad en el aula.

Brett: Luz, quiero seguir con eso en realidad. Una gran parte del inicio del libro se basa en el translenguaje, y es muy importante en el elemento de tu libro. ¿Puedes hablar un poco más sobre lo que es el translenguaje y cómo ayuda a los estudiantes?

Luz: El translenguaje es simplemente la forma en la que las personas bilingües se comunican. El translenguaje es un enfoque pedagógico, pero también una teoría y una filosofía y el translenguaje es la forma en que, creo, las personas bilingües simplemente sacan sentido a sus mundos bilingües, ¿verdad? Y Ofelia García es la que realmente ha empujado este concepto hacia adelante. Se trata de usar todo nuestro repertorio lingüístico para dar sentido, conectar, aprender y enseñar. Se trata de borrar algunos de esos límites lingüísticos, que a veces, ya sabes, escuelas u otras instituciones imponen a las personas, especialmente a los niños bilingües.

Carla: Y entonces esos límites son realmente importantes. Cuando piensas en estudiantes bilingües y multilingües, piensa en los límites alrededor de los idiomas. Están el árabe y español, y está el ingles y están los idiomas limitados y confinados. Y eso no funciona para personas bilingües y multilingües, ¿verdad? No pensamos en estas categorías de manera cerrada. No puedo cambiar mi cerebro para cambiar al pensamiento español o al inglés. Y así con el translenguaje, contempla estas prácticas de idioma a lo largo de un repertorio de idiomas.

Y me encanta aclarar, la forma en que he hecho esto con estudiantes y profesores, la diferencia entre utilizar el término translenguaje y cambio de código. Y mucha gente dirá: "Oh, eso es lo mismo". Y me encanta hablar de eso, bueno, para nosotros, la forma en que hemos estado usando el translenguaje, el translenguaje es una visión interna de nuestras propias prácticas bilingües y multilingües. Un cambio de código como una visión externa de lo que alguien está haciendo, porque los ven como códigos separados. Nosotros no vemos esto como algo separado, es una sola cosa. Otra referencia que hacemos en nuestro libro al definir el translenguaje es un hermoso artículo escrito por Camila Leiva, una ex profesora de secundaria de la ciudad de Nueva York, y Ofelia García, donde analizaron el translenguaje en tres partes como mencionó Luz, El translenguaje como comunicación, cómo los seres bilingües y multilingües se comunican, al translenguaje como pedagogía. Entonces, pienso en mis días cuando daba sexto grado, y leía una lectura en voz alta en español, y algunos estudiantes, cuando salían a hablar con sus notas, sus apuntes reflejaban características en español e inglés. Y serían características españolas de diferentes partes e la República Dominicana y diferentes partes de México.

Y respondería con profesores de español de Chile, de donde soy. Y entonces hubo mucho translenguaje allí, por cómo enseñé y cómo se comunicaron. Y la tercera parte, el translenguaje como justicia social está usando este concepto, esta pedagogía, esta comunicación como una forma de validar las prácticas lingüísticas de muchos de nosotros, donde nuestras prácticas lingüísticas han sido minorizadas, han sido puestas a un lado, han sido marginadas. Y es hora de darle valor y aumentar los espacios para ello.

Brett: Me gustaría volver a la identidad. Ambos hablaron sobre lo poderosa que es hace un minuto, y, realmente, en el libro, también es un elemento poderoso todo el tiempo, pues ambos escribís sobre vuestros viajes personales como estudiantes bilingües. ¿Podrías dedicar un momento a compartir un poco con nosotros sobre vuestros viajes?

Luz: Yo me mudé a los EE. UU, a Los Ángeles específicamente, desde México cuando era una niña pequeña. Empecé el tercer grado aquí, y mi maestra de tercer grado no hablaba español, aunque crecí en una comunidad que probablemente era mitad inmigrante, ya sabes, de México, en su mayoría. Pero ella pudo sentarme junto a un amigo bilingüe, Harvey. Nunca olvidaré su nombre. Y él es la persona en la que siempre pienso hasta el comienzo de mi viaje, me ayuda a navegar en este nuevo entorno, este nuevo lenguaje, en todo lo nuevo. Y creo que ahí es donde comenzó mi viaje. Pero creo que lo más importante para nosotros es la habilidad que teníamos para crecer, ir y venir a nuestra casa o país de origen. Y esto era algo que hacíamos todos los años, alrededor de las Navidades.

Cargamos el equipaje, ya sabes, en nuestro SUV o camioneta o el auto que teníamos en ese momento y condujo durante dos días a México. Y para mí, eso fue realmente una parte esencial de este viaje, porque me hizo sentir conectada a mi tierra natal, como si perteneciera a alguna parte. Me hizo sentir como si estuviera realmente orgulloso de mi idioma, mi cultura y mi identidad, porque tuve esa estrecha conexión. Y valoré mi idioma porque quería poder comunicarme con mis primos, con mi familia, y creo que eso es algo que me ha ayudado, al menos en este viaje bilingüe, para asegurarme de que yo, ya sabes, lo tuviera en gran estima. Y yo realmente no experimenté la educación bilingüe, pero pude, por supuesto, usar el idioma en casa, y seguí leyendo, solo para poder seguir mejorando. De nuevo, solo mi estrecha conexión con mi hogar me ayudó en mi desarrollo general como persona bilingüe.

Carla: Yo vine de Chile a la ciudad de Nueva York cuando tenía cinco años, y llegué con mi mamá. Estuvimos separados de mi padre durante un año y mi mamá dijo que no podía seguir viviendo así, ella quería que estuviéramos más cerca de mi papá, y criarme con él. Y así llegamos a la ciudad de Nueva York. Llegamos como inmigrantes indocumentados, y ese marcador de identidad era muy real, y lo sentí y sigo sintiéndolo a pesar de que ahora estoy documentado. Recuerdo conducir al pasar cada vez que paso por delante de aquel lugar, en Queens Boulevard en Queens, Nueva York, el lugar donde mi madre y yo nos habíamos perdido cuando era pequeño. Todavía siento que tuve esta reacción física al miedo, y las lágrimas comienzan a fluir cada vez que paso por allí. Y al crecer con eso, sabía que había ciertos espacios a los que no podíamos ir, había ciertas cosas. Obviamente no pude viajar por un tiempo a Chile. Y terminé yendo a una escuela en Queens que tenía una representación de muchos idiomas diferentes, e hice amigos de gente de todas partes, y me hizo sentir menos solo, pero me sentí muy frustrado porque toda la instrucción fue en inglés. Y recuerdo que me llevaron con un grupo de estudiantes de diferentes países para aprender inglés a una pequeña habitación, que parecía casi un armario. Y solo hacíamos, ya sabes, fichas de deberes y gramática inglesa. Ese tipo de apoyo. Y mis padres decidieron apuntarme a clases los sábados. Eran completamente en español, y era una escuela Argentina, y todos los sábados iba y aprendía historia argentina, y música, y danza, y como chileno, fue genial, porque me conectó con nuestros vecinos. No solo vecinos del país sabio, Chile y Argentina como vecinos, sino también con los vecinos de nuestro edificio, eran de Argentina y nos hablaron sobre la escuela. Y así crecí, de lunes a viernes, sintiéndome realmente sin lograr llegar a lo suficiente. Como que todavía tenía que trabajar muy duro y realmente frustrado como niño en la escuela, pero los sábados me sentía superinteligente y participaba, bailaba y cantaba y creo que hasta el día de hoy eso juega un papel importante en cuanto a por qué me encanta actuar. Más tarde, cuando pude conseguir mis papeles con mi familia, empezamos, como Luz, viajando, y visitar a la familia fue una gran parte de mi identidad, fue una conexión. Y sé que es un privilegio que tengo ahora, y soy constantemente consciente de ello y poder expresar el gran impacto que tuvo que pudiera ver a mis abuelos, y pudiera comunicarme con ellos y seguir con ellos, y escribirles cartas.

Eso fue algo que, al crecer, realmente formó mi propia práctica como profesor considerar ese viaje a través de no solo regiones geográficas, sino también viajes interiores, y tratando de descubrir quién soy yo. Preguntas como: ¿qué significa ser estadounidense? ¿Cómo encajo en esta cultura? ¿La gente me va a dar la bienvenida? ¿Debería cambiar por la gente, o no debería? Y eso es algo con lo que lidiamos constantemente, y constantemente planteo esa pregunta a mis alumnos también.

Brett: ¿Y tú, Luz? ¿Cómo influyó la experiencia de tu viaje para convertirte en una docente bilingüe?

Luz: Esa es una buena pregunta. Originalmente no tenía la intención de ser maestra. Yo realmente quería ir a la educación, pero en orientación. Cuando estaba en la escuela secundaria, era orientadora. Así que eso estaba en mi mente, "Voy a ser una orientadora". Quería trabajar en educación de alguna manera, y pensé en hacerlo a través de la orientación. Y así, cuando fui a la universidad, pude trabajar con este programa que se extiende a las escuelas secundarias, como en el que estuve, Englewood High, y orientar en las solicitudes universitarias, FAFSA, y todas esas cosas. Y fue algo así como: "Sí, claro, tengo que ser una orientadora universitaria, o una orientadora de lo que sea". Pero tuve la oportunidad después de la universidad de cursar un programa de Master y comenzar a enseñar, y eso cambió completamente mi trayectoria.

Enseñé durante unos siete años en Harlem, en Nueva York, y creo que fue en aquel momento o en aquella época cuando me di cuenta de que quería ir a educación superior para poder tener un impacto mayor a mi manera, supongo, en los profesores y la educación. Y por eso me apunté al programa de doctorado, para convertirme en una formadora de docentes. En realidad no comencé como maestra bilingüe. Nunca fui una maestra bilingüe. Inglés como segundo idioma en inglés lo llaman ELD ahora, ¿verdad? Que es "English Language Development teacher".

Carla: Inglés como nuevo idioma aquí .

Luz: Oh, sí.

Carla: Mucha terminología por todas partes.

Luz: Hay diferentes términos, sí.

Entonces, de inglés como nuevo idioma. Y creo que fue en esa experiencia de trabajar con esos grupos de estudiantes cuando me percibí que no estábamos haciendo lo suficiente. No bastaba con enseñar inglés. También era importante pensar en métodos para que se desarrollara y mantuviera el bilingüismo. Y eso fue lo que me cautivó. Eso es lo que me llevó a un camino para seguir investigando y formándome más sobre el bilingüismo y la educación bilingüe, por esas injusticias que realmente presencié, y en las que sentí que participé.

Brett: Ambos habéis mencionado la terminología hace un momento, y en tu libro, notas la importancia en tu trabajo sobre el uso del término estudiante bilingüe emergente, o las siglas en inglés, EBL, en lugar del término ELL, para estudiantes de inglés. Entonces, ¿por qué es importante para vosotros? ¿por qué es importante en vuestro trabajo utilizar ese término?

Luz: Este es otro término que en realidad fue acuñado por Ofelia Garcia originalmente en inglés, y por supuesto ella es nuestra mentora. También fue nuestra asesora de tesis de posgrado, y ella también es la autora principal de nuestro libro. Por eso nos escucharán hablar mucho sobre Ofelia García. Ofelia García acuñó el término "Emergent Bilingual Learner" como una forma de alejarse de las perspectivas de déficit como estudiante de inglés que se enfoca en estudiar inglés y asimilarlo y realmente cambiando nuestra perspectiva para desarrollar un bilingüismo o una perspectiva bilingüe. Centrándonos realmente en el bilingüismo de los estudiantes y viendo la práctica de su lengua maternal como algo valioso e importante que mantener, sostener y desarrollar. ¿Quieres añadir algo, Carla?

Carla: No, creo que para mí también es importante conectarlo con esa línea que acabas de decir, respondiendo a la otra pregunta y diciendo que no fue suficiente. Y siento que a veces pasamos por los mecanismos de solo enseñar y seguir con la terminología que podría estar en nuestros programas de posgrado o en nuestras escuelas, y creo que una de las formas de luchar contra eso es cambiar la forma en la que etiquetamos a los estudiantes. Y creo que es un gran problema, y los estudiantes son más que solo un alumno que se está centrando en aprender inglés. Ellos también aportan. Están atravesando cosas tremendas en sus vidas, considerando todo, tal como Luz contaba antes su propio viaje, navegando por múltiples culturas, idiomas, experiencias. Entonces, creo que luchar contra esas etiquetas que vienen de una mentalidad muy deficitaria es poderoso. Por eso yo presionaría más incluso, como usar EBL como un término general, o emergente bilingüe, pero también reconociendo que muchos estudiantes pueden ser multilingüe.

O muchos estudiantes, ya sabes, están pasando por múltiples prácticas lingüísticas. Cuando enseñaba en Harlem, al igual que Luz también enseñaba allí, tenía estudiantes que no solo hablaban dos idiomas, como español e inglés, tenía estudiantes que hablaban diferentes idiomas de México que no eran españoles. Y como docente, eso me puso en una posición para aprender de ellos, ¿vale? Y ser consciente de sus complejas prácticas lingüísticas.

Brett: Carla, ¿cómo pueden los maestros que no hablan español utilizar el translenguaje en su aula?

Carla: Oh, me acabas de recordar a una vez que estuve en un grupo de coaching con Colleen Cruz, a quien amamos. Otra autora de Heinemann, también. Y Colleen nos había animado en este grupo de entrenamiento a emprender una actividad en la que estaríamos aprendiendo algo que fuese desafiante para nosotros, y eso nos pondría en posición de aumentar la empatía de nuestros estudiantes que también están aprendiendo muchas cosas en nuestras aulas. Y en ese momento, cogí la guitarra, porque quería aprender y me encanta observar al profesor y los movimientos que el maestro estaba haciendo, que me hacían sentir muy partícipe y que yo sería capaz de tocar estos acordes. Y ella me sentó al lado de los estudiantes, que simplemente se aproximaban a donde estaba yo, lo cual era genial. Y eso es lo que pienso cuando los maestros que dicen: "Bueno, no soy un hablante bilingüe. Soy un docente monolingüe".

Y lo reconocemos. Como, la mayoría de nuestros cursos de enseñanza, como mujeres blancas y monolingües. Y estamos diciendo con nuestro libro: "Tú también puedes hacer esto. De hecho, tú también deberías hacer esto". Y eso podría significar que tenía que hacer esto cuando tuve que aprender de mis alumnos que eran de Yemen y hablaban árabe, o que tendría que aprender las prácticas lingüísticas de mis alumnos. Y así cogeré un pequeño cuaderno y empezaré a escucharlos, a anotar algunas frases. También significa participar cuando los estudiantes producen textos que muestran su repertorio lingüístico completo, en los que escriben en español e inglés, y que digamos: "Voy a aceptar ese tipo de escritura".

Y también aprender de eso, tomando ese tipo de práctica. También pienso que si somos maestros de alfabetización, si somos historiadores y enseñamos, somos profesores de estudios sociales, cualquier área de contenido que enseñemos, también nos vemos a nosotros como por ejemplo: "Estoy leyendo artículos de historia, y estoy enseñando estos artículos de historia. Bueno, si estoy en algún curso de contenido en cualquier aula de inglés, también estoy enseñando cómo comunicas estas cosas, también debería ser parte, como aprendiz, ser parte de esta comunidad." Y así, justo cuando entro a las escuelas con el cuaderno de mi lector, el cuaderno de mi escritor, los libros que estoy leyendo, también camino en estos espacios diciendo: "Proseguimos aprendiendo estas prácticas lingüísticas".

Y entonces, para algunos maestros podría desembocar en participar en algunos clubes de lectura. Esa ha sido una de mis cosas favoritas con los maestros, con maestros que te dicen: "¿Sabes qué? "He empezado un podcast o comencé con una aplicación". Y yo digo: "Genial, estás escuchando un podcast que tiene la transcripción en inglés y español por estas historias de periodismo de investigación de América Latina. Maravilloso. Ahora, aquí tienes el texto en pantalla, estás escuchando esto en español, ahora podemos tomar algunos artículos y algunos libros y así te haré salir de allí". Creo que eso ayudaría a los maestros a crecer en empatía y también establecer una conexión con los estudiantes.

Luz: Solo para agregar a eso, ya sabes, realmente se necesita un maestro que se ve a sí mismo como un compañero de estudios, ¿verdad? Que ve a sus hijos, o sus estudiantes, como un recurso de alguna manera. Entonces, los estudiantes son los expertos. Los estudiantes son expertos en idiomas en este caso, ¿no? Y por eso los maestros pueden usar esa experiencia para agregarla a su práctica docente. Los maestros también pueden pensar cómo atraer a los cuidadores, la comunidad, al aula para ayudar con el aspecto translingüístico. Y también CUNY-NYSIEB lanzó una serie web para abordar este tema específico. Preguntando: ¿cómo puedo involucrarme en el translenguaje si no soy bilingüe o multilingüe? Así que también es un recurso valioso que ver.

Brett: Quiero terminar con esto. Citas en el libro a Meg Medina, al referirte a la importancia de usar el lenguaje bilingüe, diciendo que esto muestra confianza. ¿Puedes hablar un poco sobre el tema de la confianza y cuán importante es eso en este trabajo?

Carla: ¡Oh, adoramos a Meg! Meg es como de madrina la literatura de nuestros hijos. Queríamos citarla, incluir esa cita de Meg Medina y hablar de confiar en los estudiantes. Y significa que estamos centrándonos en los estudiantes. Eso significa que cuando te centras algo, así como lo hicimos con nuestro título, tienes que sacar algo de ahí. Entonces, estamos descentrando esta típica figura autoritaria del maestro, ese portador de todo el conocimiento, que enseña inglés a los estudiantes de inglés, que es como se ha pintado siempre. Y en cambio estamos diciendo que confiaremos en que los estudiantes entran a nuestras aulas como seres humanos complejos, a quieesn reconozco su humanidad plena, Estoy reconociendo que se comunican de esta manera, que tienen estas historias que contar, y necesito alejarme de esa larga distancia, de la idea de ser el portador de todo conocimiento y que solo yo les voy a enseñar.

Y la confianza significa dejarse llevar, y es realmente difícil, dejarse llevar. Y es realmente duro porque estamos haciendo esto dentro de esta narrative más amplia en la Sociedad que ha caracterizado a los alumnos bilingües y multilingües, especialmente en U.S. como deficientes, como carentes, en lugar de pintarlos como estos seres humanos que solo navegan en muchos sistemas complejos en la sociedad de los que podemos aprender. Hacer esto es ir en contra de la corriente, de este tipo de enfoque donde confías en tus estudiantes y dices: "Me centraré en tus experiencias, y vuestras vidas son válidas, y os escucharé, y lo usaré en la instrucción". Y eso significa que iré a buscar textos que reflejen eso. Crearé un plan de estudios sobre eso.

Y ese es un trabajo duro porque el plan de estudios que tenemos no hace eso, y nos obliga a ir en contra de mucho de lo que nos han enseñado. Y me siento muy honrada de que Luz y yo estemos en escuelas de posgrado y programas docentes, y visitemos escuelas donde podemos tener estas conversaciones. Y hablamos en uno de nuestros capítulos, de como crear estas contranarrativas. Porque esa confianza es una narrativa que va contra la narración maestra de lo que son las experiencias de aprendizaje en el aula.

Brett: Y, Luz, al mismo tiempo, hay un nivel de importancia en proteger la seguridad de los estudiantes y cómo comparten sus historias también, ¿no es así?

Luz: Absolutamente. Creo que cuando pensamos en la retórica, en las narraciones que escuchamos, son solo conceptos sociopolíticos en los que vivimos, es importante considerar la seguridad de los estudiantes. Hay muchas comunidades de inmigrantes que no confían en las instituciones, y con razón. Y entonces es importante que seamos capaces de respetar los límites, ¿verdad? Para así, primero crear una comunidad en el aula donde los estudiantes se sientan protegidos y seguros, y se sientan apreciados, como dije antes. Pero que también no obligaría a nadie a compartir sus historias, ¿verdad? Ser pacientes. Crear distintas oportunidades para los niños para poder compartir sus historias de diferentes maneras, y con diferentes personas. Quizás prefieran compartirlo en sus cuadernos solamente. Quizás quieran compartirlo con un compañero, ¿sabes? Y poco a poco, tal vez se abran a un público más amplio.

Pero es algo con lo que debemos tener cuidado. Y no presionar a nadie para compartir más de lo que quiera o pueda, y ser realmente abiertos con la comunidad, con los padres, sobre los proyectos en los que se involucran para que también puedan apoyar y sentirse parte de esta comunidad.

Carla: Y creo que es realmente impactante pensar en eso, porque si planeo, digamos, una narración personal o sistema de escritura de memorias para el primer día y hago que los estudiantes compartan sin yo escuchar y conocer sus experiencias, o saber si se sentirían cómodos haciendo eso, realmente los estaré poniendo en posiciones donde se verá que no estoy escuchando, no estoy llegando a conocerlos. Y creo que eso es muy importante. Estamos muy emocionadas. Estamos realmente agradecidos por el apoyo a este libro. Ha sido un todo un viaje y damos las gracias por haber tenido este espacio para realmente repasar nuestros propios viajes como estudiantes dentro de los sistemas de escolarización, hayan sido agradables o no. Y luego también nuestros propios viajes como profesores. Y me ha emocionado mucho de compartir esto, especialmente teniendo en cuenta el clima politico que tenemos en este momento.

Creo que es importante reconocer que nuestros alumnos reciben mensajes y también están respondiendo de diferentes maneras, y creo que definitivamente es nuestra responsabilidad, tal como decía Luz, entender que a veces no es suficiente, ¿verdad? Entonces, no es suficiente para mí solo decir: "Vale, usé esto como estrategia" o "recibí esta hoja de trabajo" y no, tenemos que hacer más trabajo para sacar algunas de nuestras propias historias y viajes en torno a las identidades y prácticas lingüísticas de estudiantes bilingües latinos, y por eso doy gracias por tener a esta compañera de escritura, Luz, y que tengamos este espacio. Nos ha encantado tener este debate.

Luz: Sí, definitivamente. Esperamos con interés los comentarios que surgirán, ya sabéis, cuando la gente empiece a echarle mano al libro, y estamos muy agradecidos por todo. Muchas gracias. Gracias por invitarnos.
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Learn more about En Comunidad at Heinemann.com

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Carla España is an instructor at the Bank Street College Graduate School of Education. Carla's teaching journey began in a bilingual classroom in Harlem, New York, continued at Teachers College Reading and Writing Project partner schools, and at the bilingual teacher preparation program at Hunter College, City University of New York. Finder Carla on Twitter: @ProfesoraEspana

Luz Yadira Herrera is an Assistant Professor at the Kremen School of Education and Human Development at California State University, Fresno. As a former teacher in NYC public schools and researcher at CUNY-NYSIEB, her teaching and research centers culturally and linguistically sustaining approaches to teaching emergent bilinguals, translanguaging pedagogy, and bilingual education policy. Find Luz on Twitter: @Dra_LuzYadira

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On the Podcast: Carla España and Luz Yadira Herrera on Centering Bilingual Latinx Students

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Today on the podcast we are excited welcome Carla España and Luz Yadira Herrera, authors of En Comunidad: Lessons for Centering the Voices and Experiences of Bilingual Latinx Students. Both Carla and Luz infuse their own experiences as bilingual Latinx students into their writing and teaching, urging teachers to create liberating spaces for their students by embracing a practice known as translanguaging.

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Learning about the dangers of systemic racism often leads people to ask: What can I do personally to make a difference?

Layla Saad, an East African, Arab, British, Black, Muslim woman living in Qatar, came up with an impressive answer - a 28-day process that she calls a "personal anti-racism tool" designed to teach those with white privilege how systemic racism works and how they can stop contributing to white supremacy in the world.

Her book is called Me and White Supremacy: Combat Racism, Change the World, and Become a Good Ancestor. It began a few years ago as a 28-day Instagram challenge, evolved into a free PDF digital workbook and has now become a New York Times bestseller. (It was sold out at Amazon when we recorded this interview, but Saad reported that her publisher was working to print more copies.)

Saad's process involves defining terms like "white centering" (the belief that white culture, values and norms are the normal center of the world) and "ally cookies" (the special praise sought by some white people for not being racist). She encourages readers to keep a journal and write answers for tough questions like "What negative experiences has your white privilege protected you from throughout your life?"

This is "the work," as Saad describes it: a tough journey that pushes readers to examine the often-hidden mechanisms of white supremacy and systemic racism in our lives. As an African American journalist who has written more than a few times about the subject myself, I had 1,000 questions for Saad, starting with a simple concept:
The word that struck me as I was reading through your book was "discipline." You're asking for discipline from people - to take on a demanding process with no easy answers.
This is about learning how to identify how you're seen in the world and how you see yourself so that you can essentially betray it. So you can say, "I'm not going to play this game anymore. I'm not going to walk on this earth as if I am superior and treat people as if they are inferior to me."

The first exercise in the book is on white privilege. When you hear "white privilege," you may think, "Yes, white people shouldn't be privileged. But that isn't as bad as white supremacy." When you hear the words "white supremacy," you're thinking of the KKK, neo-Nazis and skinheads.

And what I want people to realize is that white privilege is a part of white supremacy and upholds white supremacy. This isn't about generalizing or stereotyping white people as being somehow deficient or defunct. This is about seeing how you were born into a system that automatically gave you these powers and these privileges.
Why is journaling an important part of this?
Without the journaling, it's just an exercise in intellectual stimulation. You stay at the level of mental thought without any heart engagement. There's something about putting pen to paper, writing down what comes up, that unlocks past memories.

I really want people to understand that what we're talking about isn't conscious. You're not consciously in the world thinking you're superior to people of other races. It's deeper rooted than that. The process of journaling brings into consciousness these ways of being and thinking and believing that you're not conscious of. It's that feeling of seeing a black person walking down the street and crossing to the other side and not even thinking about it. The journaling helps unearth that instinct that kicks in at that moment.
Can you describe what "the work" is and how you came up with the idea for the book?
Despite the title and what people initially think when they see it, it's not for the "bad people." It's written for the people who think they aren't racist. Who say they don't see color. Who have black friends. Who voted for Obama. It's written for the people who really think they're allies.

In the book, I quote Martin Luther King Jr. and his letter from a Birmingham jail. He talks about [how] one of the greatest stumbling blocks to progress is actually the white moderate who doesn't see themselves as the problem. But through their silence, through their inaction, through saying, "Wait," they actually uphold white supremacy.

I wanted to write this book as a process for people to walk themselves through these issues and ask themselves, "How does white supremacy show up in my life?" Because white supremacy is playing out in your life and in your everyday interactions with people in your life.

As you begin to switch on the light and see how this plays out within you, you begin to change your behaviors and you begin to influence the people around you. Systems are maintained by people. But systems can also be changed by people.

For example, a school is a system. So if you're a parent and you see that subtle and not-so-subtle racism is taking place at your child's school, then you'll start to take responsibility for these actions if you're opening your eyes to your own racism. You'll start to hold the school accountable to create an environment where all children and staff members feel like they matter.
What do you think is the biggest obstacle or the toughest challenge for white people when they decide they want to take on this challenge?
People get stumped on white exceptionalism.
Can you define that?
White exceptionalism is this idea that I, as a white person, am actually one of the good ones. I think white exceptionalism is actually what drives a lot of people to buy my book in the first place, because I think that they have this belief that they're one of the good ones. An ally buys a book like this.

I think white exceptionalism is very dangerous because it separates the "good" from the "bad." And there is no good or bad. This isn't about your inherent goodness as a person. We're talking about the ways you're unaware of causing harm to other people. Because you're not aware. And so that's what we're bringing into the light.

You're going to have to redefine good. What does it mean to you to be good? Is it that everyone else thinks you're not racist? We see this with brands right now. Businesses are putting forth Black Lives Matter statements because they want everyone to know they're not racist and are doing the work. A statement isn't proof that you're one of the good ones. A statement shows that you have caught onto the fact that you need to say something or otherwise you're going to be perceived as agreeing with or co-signing that black lives don't matter. But that's not the work.

The work is digging in and looking at how you treat black people - your staff, your customers, your clients. What policies do you have in place, whether written policies or unofficial policies, that show us black lives don't matter here?
What are the benefits and drawbacks of doing this work on your own versus doing it as a group?
I don't think there's necessarily one preferred way or another. It's about returning to this work again and again and knowing there are benefits to doing it alone and to doing it with a group.

One of the things that people have to be wary of in the group is this idea that, "We're in this group, and we do this work. So we are the good ones." It can be dangerous when white people start congratulating one another for being good allies.

I think the benefits of doing it in a group is that you get to see and understand that it's not just you who is digging up these unconscious racist thoughts and beliefs that are very ugly. You get to hear from other people, which may spark things for you.

So, for example, you may read one of the [chapters] and think, "I don't center myself or think I'm exceptional." But if you're in a group with other white people and they tell you the ways they center themselves or find themselves exceptional, it might help you see how you also do certain behaviors that fall under white centering or white exceptionalism.

What we're trying to do is not just create individuals who are doing this work, but really a culture of doing the work - a culture of anti-racism. But I also think that shouldn't be a deterrent if you can't find community.
If you had to break it down, what are the three important things people can do to work on themselves and help unwind white supremacy?
Number one is, this work begins and ends with yourself as an individual. The one place where you have complete control is within yourself. So when you think - "Where do I start? What do I do?" - it's you. You need to start with you first. If you start doing things outside of yourself, if you think that you're here to save black and brown people, remember you're not here to save us. You're here to see the ways in which you are already causing us harm and stop doing that.

Second, impact the people you are in relationships with - your parents, your kids, cousins, friends, bosses, whoever. You have the ability to influence those people. So take what you've been learning about yourself, and have those conversations with the people with white privilege in your life. Because when you've been doing the work within yourself, you're actually able to understand what they're thinking from a more empathetic point of view, as opposed to just preaching at them and saying, "That's racist." Sometimes the call-out is necessary, but for long-term change we need ongoing meaningful conversations.

Lastly, look at the systems around you. What do you benefit from? What do you create and sustain? And how can you change those things? We can't wait for the lawmakers and the policymakers and the politicians to change things. They have a vested interest in things staying the same. But you as this collective can [effect] change by saying this isn't actually what we want - we're going to hold you accountable to a different world.
We'd love to hear from you. Leave us a voicemail at 202-216-9823, or email us at If you want more Life Kit, The audio portion of this story was produced by Clare Schneider. subscribe to our newsletter. LifeKit@npr.org.

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'Me And White Supremacy' Helps You Do The Work Of Dismantling Racism : Life Kit

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There's been a lot of talk about the work white people need to do to understand their role in racism. Layla Saad's book, Me and White Supremacy, helps readers do just that. Saad explains why it's important to dig into the uncomfortable work, why being an ally isn't enough, and ideas to combat white supremacy in your everyday life.

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If you're white, you may not think of yourself as racist. Maybe you hardly think about race at all. But Robin DiAngelo, the author of White Fragility, says white people need to think about how they fit into racist systems if they want to be anti-racist. She calls for a more nuanced and informed understanding of racism so white people can take accountability for the ways they benefit from these structures:

"The simplistic idea that racism is limited to individual intentional acts committed by unkind people is at the root of virtually all white defensiveness on this topic," writes DiAngelo in White Fragility.

Here are some tips and takeaways from our interview with DiAngelo to help you combat racism:
Start by reflecting on your own experience of being a white person.
"We live in a society that turns race over to people of color. They have a race, and we're just people. And so we see ourselves as outside of race," says DiAngelo. "If we can start our work by reflecting on our own experiences - specifically as white people - and not only as objective individuals outside of race, there's so much insight to be gained there. Start by asking yourself: What does it mean to be white? How has being white shaped my life?"
We need to change our definition of racism.
( Merriam-Webster recently agreed to revise its dictionary's definition.) It's important to recognize that all white people have been socialized into racist systems and it's inevitable that we all have blind spots, says DiAngelo. It is akin to swimming with a current, rather than against it. Instead of asking if you've been shaped by these systems, ask yourself how you've been shaped by them.
We're complicit in racist structures even if they go against our values or beliefs.
DiAngelo explains that when bias is upheld by legal authority and institutional control, it's transformed into systems of racial inequality. Racism's survival doesn't depend on our agreement or beliefs - even if you don't think people should be treated differently because of their race, they automatically will be mistreated across those systems: education, health care, criminal justice, housing, banking, economics, language, technology, media representation, ideology and so on. If we don't interrupt the systems we live within, then we're complicit in them, says DiAngelo. "In that way, we can say that nice white people who do nothing further to challenge racism are racist."

Educate yourself by reading, watching and listening to work by people of color.

DiAngelo recommends reading Layla Saad's book Me and White Supremacy and taking the 21-Day Racial Equity Habit Building Challenge by Eddie Moore. These resources will help start you on what must be an ongoing process of both recognizing how you are complicit within a racist society and interrupting that complicity, says DiAngelo. A momentary interest is not enough.
Humility is key - you can't know all you need to know.
It is a bit like asking how to get in shape by Monday morning. You won't be. You can only get started by Monday. And it will be a multipart process. Diet, exercise, sleep and so on. And you will never be in a fixed state of shape. It is an ongoing practice that must be integrated into your life. Anti-racist practice is an ongoing practice, says DiAngelo. You will never "arrive." It is a journey, not a destination.

Of course, we all have an opinion on racism. But be willing to consider that if you are white, maybe your opinions are not as informed as you think they are. For example, you can go from elementary school through graduate school in this country without discussing systemic racism at all or in any sustained depth. Think about that.

"The social contract underwriting all other social contracts in the Western world is white supremacy," says DiAngelo. "But it is rarely if ever discussed in mainstream education. You can be seen as qualified to lead thousands of people, in an organization that professes to 'value diversity,' and you won't even have been asked if you can engage in these issues with any skill during the hiring process."
If you feel overwhelmed about where to start, take out a piece of paper and jot down why you don't know what to do or how to get started. For more Life Kit, subscribe to our The audio portion of this story was produced by Mallory Yu, Sarah Handel and Clare Schneider. The story was adapted for digital by Clare Schneider. weekly newsletter.
DiAngelo says she's often asked by other white people, "What do I do?" She advises, "Make a list of why you don't know what to do. Maybe you never talk about racism with your white friends. Maybe you never talk about racism with your black, Indigenous or friends of color. Maybe you don't have any black, Indigenous or friends of color. Maybe you haven't cared enough to find out before now."

Whatever is on your list, let it guide you. Addressing the reasons you've observed won't be quick and easy, but you can start educating yourself today. Google is your friend: "So many black people are publishing and putting out really excellent lists [of resources]. We have to break with the apathy and seek those out."

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'Interrupt The Systems': Robin DiAngelo On 'White Fragility' And Anti-Racism : Life Kit

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You may not think of yourself as racist, but Robin DiAngelo says that "nice white people" are still complicit in racist structures. DiAngelo has tips to help white people break from apathy, interrupt racist systems and commit to anti-racist practices.

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I'm a librarian and I do that job with the Maya Angelou quote in mind all the time.  It's important to constantly be updating the library program and collection to reflect new knowledge and understanding.

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I'm a librarian and I do that job with the Maya Angelou quote in mind all the time.  It's important to constantly be updating the library program and collection to reflect new knowledge and understanding.

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You should always strive to do the best you can, but at the same time aim to learn more in order to improve and perfect what we know. And of course, we must apply this knowledge as we acquire it...