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My own personal key findings, highlights & connections. 

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My own personal key findings, highlights & connections. 

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Key Findings from Letting Go of Literary Whiteness

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NCTE Racial Literacy Policy Research Brief

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NCTE Racial Literacy Policy Research Brief

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Ibram X. Kendi: The difference between being "not racist" and antiracist

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There is no such thing as being "not racist," says author and historian Ibram X. Kendi. In this vital conversation, he defines the transformative concept of antiracism to help us more clearly recognize, take responsibility for and reject prejudices in our public policies, workplaces and personal beliefs.

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STAMPED by Jason Reynolds & Ibram X. Kendi- Interactive Notebook

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STAMPED by Jason Reynolds & Ibram X. Kendi- Interactive Notebook

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Teaching: How to be a white antiracist teacher (history classroom)

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Teaching: How to be a white antiracist teacher (history classroom)

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Robert Roth on an anti-racist approach to high-school history

Camilo Hunica

Editor's Note: In 1988, a teacher most commonly had 15 years of experience. In recent years, that number is closer to just three years leading a classroom. The "On Teaching" series focuses on the wisdom of veteran teachers.
One of this year's largest youth-led Black Lives Matter protests took place on June 3 in front of Mission High School in San Francisco, where Robert Roth taught U.S. History and Ethnic Studies from 2005 until he retired in 2018. Roth was in the crowd, listening to teenage speakers who were urging white people like himself-including white educators, who make up 79 percent of the U.S. teaching force-to step up as allies in the fight for racial justice.

It was a message that Roth has been attuned to for a long time. In 1964, when Roth was himself a teenager, he joined what became the nation's largest anti-school-segregation boycott in New York City. As a student at Columbia University in 1968, he was a key part of one of the largest college anti-war and anti-racist protests of that era. And since he first started teaching in San Francisco in 1988, Roth has been grappling with what it means to be an anti-racist teacher working in majority Black and Latino schools.

For Roth, in his 30 years in education this meant changing his curricula to highlight the role people of color played in transforming our society; helping develop the ethnic-studies program at Mission High School; working with students and teachers to make ethnic studies a part of every high school in San Francisco Unified District today; and learning from his students and from teachers of color about how to make his classrooms work for everyone, so that all students feel intellectually challenged and engaged.

More in this series

In conversations in 2018 and 2020, I asked Roth to reflect on how he approached teaching U.S. history as an anti-racist educator. This Q&A has been lightly edited for brevity and clarity.

Kristina Rizga: As part of your U.S. history class this year, you recently taught a unit on the civil-rights movement. Can you talk about the content of this unit?

Robert Roth: The traditional history of the civil-rights movement-the one that you find in most history textbooks-goes from 1954 to 1965. It starts with Brown v. Board of Education and then focuses on Dr. King and Rosa Parks and nonviolent civil disobedience. It ends with the march in Selma, the passage of the Civil Rights Act in 1964, and then the Voting Rights Act in 1965. It is a triumphal story of the successful end to legal segregation, and Black people securing voting rights.

I teach the events that are part of this narrative, but I also teach about the massive protests in the North over police brutality and segregated housing that happened at the same time. I teach that in 1965, after the Voting Rights Act was passed, the Watts Rebellion took place over racist police practices, and that the fight against police violence and voter suppression continues to this day. The Movement for Black Lives is a continuation of this fight, and not just something that started a few years ago. We study Dr. King and Rosa Parks, but we also study Malcolm X, Ella Baker, Fannie Lou Hamer, and the Black Panther Party. We use resources like the Zinn Education Project and Rethinking Schools to help reframe the curriculum.

History is made by masses of people, not just by three or four great leaders. If all you teach is the history of icons, it doesn't place any of our students in that history. When students learn, for example, about the Children's March in Birmingham or the Chicano student-led walkouts in East Los Angeles in 1968, they can see themselves in these movements and can see that young people just like them have changed the world. Especially at a time like today, when Black and brown youth are leading such a powerful new wave of activism, this is so important. History is happening right now, and a history class can be a window into the ways in which the past and present are intricately connected.

Rizga: What do students produce as work in your classroom?

Roth: They do everything! They write essays, work on group presentations, write poems, act out scenarios from the past, imagine themselves as part of any given historical moment, do research papers and reflection pieces, analyze text, and create beautiful posters with their own point of view about what they are learning. They present their work to their classmates, publish pieces to share with other classes, and debate current issues. Their imagination and creativity always amaze me.

I'm always giving feedback, pushing students to analyze text and not just summarize it, to use evidence to back up their opinions. But I don't want to thwart their own intellectual energy. I want them to have the space to explore and take risks and to think deeply about a subject, not just memorize a random fact or date. I want the classroom to come alive with their thoughts and their voices.

Rizga: What are some of the most important things you've learned about grading and commenting on student work?

Roth: It's really important to let students know that you will be in dialogue with them about all aspects of their work, including their grades. If a student knows that they are seen and heard, they can handle critique and challenge. But if they feel condescension or disrespect, they will very often tune out. An effective teacher is able to name a student's strengths, and not just their weaknesses. If the back-and-forth is just negative-looking at what's not there, picking on what a student doesn't yet know how to do-then that's a recipe for disengagement. And in order to understand the student's strength, you have to understand the student. Where is this young person coming from? What are the ways in which you see their brilliance, their intellect? What are the areas in which you can define clearly that they need improvement, and how do you engage with them for a year in those areas? This academic dialogue with students is really the centerpiece of a year's work.

I love to look at student work. I love to see what their ideas are, what strikes them, how they are growing academically. And I want to get right in the middle of their process and muck around with them as we figure out together how to build their skills. That means reading carefully what they write, not just correcting grammar without commenting on their ideas. And it means drawing lessons about my own teaching from their work: What do I have to teach better? What was unclear in what I asked students to do? What concepts do I need to teach more clearly?

When you have a system based on grades, you have to give consistent feedback so that students know how their work is being evaluated. If you're not in that kind of consistent academic dialogue with them, then you are holding all the power: Students have no idea what you want, and they have few ways to challenge how they are being graded. At Mission High, teachers meet regularly to share student work, and to figure out how to give meaningful feedback to help students grow. And we try, as best as we can, to return work on a regular basis-not just put it in a folder and give it back at the end of a marking period.

Rizga: How do you build relationships with your students?

Roth: First, have a sense of humor. A high-school teacher is working with teenagers. If you don't have a sense of humor, forget it. Having said that, the core of my relationship with students is about their academic success. Yes, many students will connect with me about challenges in their lives or just to talk, and my door is always open. If I sense something is wrong, or I learn about a struggle outside of class, I will reach out. And if I hear about a student's success in another class or something that they've done in the community, I'm all over it.

But the center of our relationship is about school. I'm cautious about invading their private space if they're not reaching out to me. But they know that I care about their success, that they can talk to me at any time about the class, about their grade, about their other classes. And that I will take their work seriously, remember what they did on the last project, highlight their achievements, and never give up on them. That's the core of it.

Rizga: What advice do you have for white educators who, like you, work mostly with Black and Latino students and want to develop an anti-racist teaching practice?

Roth: Everything we've been talking about this entire interview relates to anti-racist teaching. It's about respecting our students, engaging with them, giving young people the space to show their own intellect and scholarship, and having all of this inform our practice as teachers. I've been teaching for 30 years, but I always look to learn more from my students, from their parents and guardians, from their communities, and from my colleagues of color. I have never forgotten that their lives are very different from mine. I have been schooled continually to listen and to learn and to actively support and fight for the leadership of people of color. As a teacher, I am always attentive to cues from my students about what they need, what kind of relationship they want to build with me as a teacher.

You're not just the teacher of students of color; you are teaching within Black and brown communities that are being marginalized and gentrified in places like the San Francisco Bay Area. Many of our students are undocumented and have had harrowing experiences getting and staying here. When there is a challenge to DACA, it impacts so many of them and their families. And yet here they are, each day in class, hanging in and doing their work. As a white educator, I think you have to see all of this and feel it and stretch yourself across boundaries.

Rizga: What are some of the key moments in your career that contributed to professional growth?

Roth: Early on in my teaching career, I was part of an educators' network called IRISE, which was led by Black teachers throughout the Bay Area. IRISE challenged teachers to reflect on their work with Black students; to study the pedagogy developed by Black educators like Asa Hilliard, Theresa Perry, and Noma LeMoine, to name just a few; and to be change-makers at our own schools. I've tried to do that throughout my years of teaching.

I've also been teaching partners with many teachers of color, including Pirette McKamey, who is now the first Black principal at Mission High, and who has been the touchstone for my development as an educator throughout these 30 years. That study, those relationships are so fundamental for white educators who want to grow as anti-racist educators. Anti-racist teaching involves more than changing curriculum. It demands a deep, heartfelt love for the students that we teach. You have to develop relationships with students that are very deep and that transcend just their years in high school. I don't think there's a formula, but you have to approach all of this as a lifelong journey.

As for curriculum: It's an exciting time to be a history teacher, because the teaching of history is being challenged more than at any time I can remember. That's why President Trump has gone out of his way to attack sites like the Zinn Education Project and the 1619 Project. The white-male supremacist narrative about U.S. history is beginning to be turned on its head, and anti-racist history teachers are confronted with rising to the challenge. How do we help students make sense of this period? How do we teach about the origins of policing in the U.S.? How the prison system exploded as a system of social control against Black people in the period following Reconstruction? How do we address the rise of anti-Chinese racism in this period? How do we make time to cover something like the Mendez v. Westminster case, because it shows so clearly the connections between Black and Latinx movements? Or the ways in which the coronavirus has impacted Native people on Pine Ridge Reservation?

Rizga: Which fundamental changes to the overall system would make educators more effective?

Roth: For one thing, there has to be a priority on the education of Black and brown students: More resources, higher pay for teachers in schools that serve these communities, incentives for experienced and successful teachers to stay in these schools. I think that education programs have to recruit teachers of color and be much more attuned to anti-racist pedagogy that has been out there for a long time.

Teachers should not have to teach five classes. They need more time to look at student work, to meet with colleagues, and to revise curriculum. This is all about how much money a society is willing to devote to the education of children. In a city like San Francisco, where there is so much private money, the school system is always facing budget cuts. How can that be? Veteran teachers who have honed their craft and been successful with students need to be given time to mentor new teachers.

I think that the whole standardized-testing system, which has been a billion-dollar industry, is a cruel joke. There needs to be a much more holistic system to evaluate schools, keep educators accountable for the outcomes of Black and brown students, and not just show us differences in income, race, and access. I've watched these tests be redesigned for 30 years, and they are still doing the same thing: showing you differences in opportunities and then replicating disadvantages.

Rizga: What advice would you give to new teachers coming in now?

Roth: I would say, "Hang in there." It's an incredibly rewarding journey. The first few years are going to be more than hard, but they will also be so exciting. Find some mentors that you trust, really get to know your students, and don't give up quickly. You can't become an effective teacher in two years. You have to go through the bumps, and each year the rewards get greater.

Teachers are glorified on the one hand, but on the other hand, disrespected and not seen as scholars or thinkers-instead as people who just deliver information and get along with kids. Researchers at a university get more of a voice about teaching than a teacher who's been doing it for decades. Because of all of these things, there is a lot of pressure for young teachers to leave. But it's an incredible job, and there's incredible joy to it. Stick with it.
This article is part of our project "On Teaching," which is supported by grants from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the Spencer Foundation, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and the Panta Rhea Foundation.

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Working for Racial Justice as a White Teacher

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Robert Roth on an anti-racist approach to high-school history Editor's Note: In 1988, a teacher most commonly had 15 years of experience. In recent years, that number is closer to just three years leading a classroom. The "On Teaching" series focuses on the wisdom of veteran teachers.

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Anti-Racist : a person who opposes racism and promotes racial tolerance.

Bias : favoring or showing prejudice towards certain people or ideas.

BIPOC : Black, Indigenous and People of Color.

Cultural Appropriation: inappropriately and/or incorrectly using or taking advantage of, or claiming ownership and rights to use another culture's capital and patrimony; such as fashion, trends, iconography, traditional art, ceremonies, etc.

False Narrative : a story that you perceive as being true but has little basis in reality, this perception can be due to insufficient or inaccurate information or to insufficient or inaccurate assessment.

NBIPOC : Non-Black Indigenous People of Color

Person of color : a person who is not white or of European parentage.

Stereotype : a category or group that we put people into (thinking a certain type of person or thing acts/thinks/looks a certain way).

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A printed glossary is available in the book, published July 2018: Rise, Shine, Be Woke (available on Amazon and iBooks).

Ideas matter. Language matters. Human unity matters. The goal of the Anti-racism Digital Library and Thesaurus (ADL) is to describe anti-racism in all its fullness iin order to increase human unity. We seek to fuel the scorching of race, racialization, racism and ignite cooperation for justice and peace by discovering, crafting, evolving, and making available a new vocabulary for describing complex humanity, The International Anti-racism Dictionary-Thesaurus. The Library and Thesaurus can be used in everyday language and for assigning subject headings in library catalogs and indexing databases. The Glossary is a first step towards developing a Dictionary-Thesaurus. Terms and phrases, when completed, will describe people and anti-racism actions, behaviors, values, policies, strategies, and movements, not just in the U.S.A. but in the global arena as well.

The work of anti-racism scholars, trainers, and activists, inclusive style guides by anti-racist organizations, along with Critical Race Theory (CRT) by Ricardo and Stefancic (2001) are major sources of this Glossary. The Glossary is a work in progress. Initially, the Scriptures of diverse Christian faith traditions, selective texts from Christian liberation theologies, scholarship about anti-racism, comparative religion, human rights, anti-racism education, and positive peace, will be included. The ideas about categorization (frames, idealized cognitive models, metaphors, bias, etc.) are influenced by George Lakoff's Women, Fire and Dangerous Things: What Categories Reveal About the Mind. Chicago, University of Chicago Press. 1987. Many disciplines and domains are being investigated - notably religion, theology, psychology, sociology, linguistics, ethnic, indigenous, peace studies - but the terms may not yet be fully defined here.

Some Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) based on Coleman's study of The Representation and Treatment of "Anti-Racism" in Bibliographic Information Systems and Knowledge Structures are also listed. They are based on findings which were reported at the Annual Conference of the American Theological Librarians Association (ATLA), June 2016.

It is not my intention to create a full thesaurus when vocabularies already exist. Rather, it is my intention to find the emergences and expressions of the practices, actions, and behaviors besides issues and movements of anti-racism fully visible. It is also an attempt to transform language that limits people's identity to skin color tones (Whites, Blacks and the infamous People of Color). Library vocabularies used when possible are: Library of Congress Demographic Group Terms(2015)for people group names (LCGDT); Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH);ATLA Thesaurus of Religious Occupational Terms (TROT); ERIC descriptors; and also style guides from communications and journalism.

Other sources of terms and definitions include the work of anti-racism organizations. These are also found as resources in the library. E.g. Calgary Anti-racism Education (CARED) which includes an extensive glossary and training tools, as well as links to websites and blogs.

Feedback is invited. If you would you like to contribute terms, help in completing the definitions, or participate in any other way in the development of the vocabulary and the library, please contact Anita Coleman [acoleman at lpts dot edu].

A 2018 pdf copy of this glossary can be downloaded from the library http://sacred.omeka.net/items/show/218

Alphabetical List of Terms

Advocacy: To publicly support a policy or cause and to advocate for its legal adoption and use. Christian political advocacy is a specific anti-racism behavior and a key part of Christian discipleship and anti-racist identity (as advocate). Anti-racism advocacy is not limited to those who profess the Christian faith although they have a centuries long legacy through Christian institutions and organization, missions, and social justice as it may also be called, in abolition, civil rights, prisoner rehabilitation, immigration issues, healthcare, education and more. Mission, Solidarity, Reparation and Witness-bearing are also related forms of Christian anti-racism.

Affirmative action: Policy that strives for increased minority enrollment, activity, or membership, often with the intention of diversifying a certain environment such as a school or workplace.

Ally is a member of an oppressor group who works to end a form of oppression which gives him or her privilege. Allyship is a process and everyone has a lot to learn. Allyship involves a lot of listening ... Sometimes, people say 'doing ally work' or 'acting in solidarity' with reference to the fact that 'ally' is not an identity but an ongoing and lifelong process that involves a lot of work. Optical Allyship (May 2020) is performative allyship!

Alternative Dispute Resolution: Abbreviated as ADR. Any method of resolving disputes without going through the public court system. Arbitration and mediation are the two major forms of ADR.
Ambiguity: emerging quality of visible identity characteristics favored by some.
Angelification (Christian): "One who enters the sphere of Jesus' activity through conversion experiences death and immediate resurrection to the angelic life." Example: Rosa Parks. p. 223 -229, Susan Garrett. No Ordinary Angel, 2005.

Angelic Community: United by common vision and common grief, and reflecting divine glory, transient, ephemeral, emerging whenever and wherever love and mutual care, rather than enmity and egoism, govern the way the members of a body or people relate to one another." Example: "Timothy Tyson tells of the ugly accounts that transpired in Oxford, North Carolina in 1970: a black man was murdered in cold blood and his white murderers, known to many, were acquitted... For Tyson who is white, there was personal damage ... father was forced out of his pastorate for siding with the victim, and Tyson himself, a ten-year old boy at the time, suffered debilitating anger that lasted for years ... But he completes the story with a vision of community restored: an account of a trip taken with an interracial group of college students to see the sites where racism had been so viciously enacted, to lament what had been lost, and to find healing balm along the way." p. 229, Susan Garrett. No Ordinary Angel, 2005.

Antiessentialism: see Essentialism, also Intersectionality

Anti-oppression: Anti-oppression is an interdisciplinary theory that the unjust exercise of power, privilege or authority, in other words, oppression, is something everybody in society does. Structural oppression continues to be perpetuated despite our intentions to be anti-oppressive. Some key tenets are: Power, privilege, and oppression, continue to play out even among anti-racist groups engaged in fighting oppression and so we must be committed to understanding how various systems of oppression affect us all; For the good of all words and language that dehumanize, marginalize or exclude must be challenged and changed; Anti-oppressive practice is lifelong and requires commitment by the organization/group to anti-oppression goals.

Anti Anti-racism: A conservative anti-racism stance, a belief that anti-racism is not needed, and it is often expressed in the form of rhetorical strategies.

Anti-racialism is the silencing of racism and is opposed to anti-racism.

Anti-racism: The policy of opposing racism and promoting racial tolerance. From The Oxford English Dictionary (online). From the LCSH: Anti-racism (May Subd Geog) - Here are entered works on beliefs, actions, movements, and policies adopted or developed to oppose racism.

Anti-racism is some form of focused and sustained action, that involves a mix of peoples and groups (i.e. they come from different cultures, faiths, speak diverse languages, etc. in short, intercultural, interfaith, multi-lingual, inter-class, and inter-abled) with the intent to change a system or an institutional policy, practice, or procedure which has racist effects. Coleman ( 2016a, 2016b).

Anti-racism is the active process of identifying, challenging, and changing the values, structures and behaviors that perpetuate individual and systemic racism. It does so by examining the power imbalances between racialized and non-racialized or differently racialized peoples.

Anti-racism is a critical part of Christian discipleship, and includes the continual practice of behaviors such asadvocacy, cultural humility, empathy, hospitality, interfaith, dialog reconciliation, solidarity, witness-bearing, and more.

Anti-racist identity =Share Power, Eliminate/Uncover Prejudice, Examine Privilege. Anti-racist identity respects difference, shares power, strives to eliminate prejudice, examines privilege, uncovers thoughts, changes language, build community, and restores harmony and equity, and increases justice for all.

Asian whiteness is when whiteness is equated to success and white = ideal in Asian American communities, including new immigrants from Asia. Knowingly or unwittingly, they practice anti-blackness and anti-otherness. This is Asian whiteness.
Beloved Community is a global and concrete vision of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in which all people can share in the wealth of the earth. Poverty, hunger, and homelessness will not be tolerated because international standards of human decency will not allow it. Racism and all forms of discrimination, bigotry, and prejudice will be replaced by an all-inclusive spirit of sisterhood and brotherhood. Agape love, the moral order of the universe that sustains and supports relationships between humans and the holy to be one of harmony and integration, and non-violence as a living force are key aspects.
Beloved Community: The biblical notion of creating a community in which people are accepted, loved, and treated as they need to be treated. Used by Martin Luther King, Jr. Source: When Howard Thurman met Mahatma Gandhi: Nonviolence and the Civil Rights Movement. (2014) https://www.beaconbroadside.com/broadside/2014/10/when-howard-thurman-met-mahatma-gandhi-nonviolence-and-the-civil-rights-movement.html

Recent source: Catherine Meeks, A Beloved Community: Christian churches can address racism through spiritual formation.

Bias: A strong tendency to prefer one thing or person.Bias has become synonymous with prejudice, which is unfair liking or disliking and may be based on skin color, sex, religion, etc. Implicit bias, an innate bias against anything that is different from us, is built into the amygdala, a part of our brain.
Bigotry
Bicultural education: Pedagogical approach that encourages retention of a child's original or family culture

Binary paradigm of race: Pattern of framing race issues in terms of two categories, such as black and white, white people vs. people of color.

Bio race (Biological view of race): The biological view of race was a once popular view that humanity is divided into four or five major groups, corresponding to objective and real physical differences. It is now making a comeback as bio-race in the light of new genetic findings about diseases such as Osteopenia, Sickle cell anemia, etc.. Related to genetic race. For more information read: Templeton A.R. (2013) Biological Race in Humans. URL: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23684745

Black has been accepted or claimed as group identity. A distinction must be made between Black as identity and Blackness. Both are socially constructed.

Black Community. In recent years "black love" has emerged as the moral heart of racial justice movements. "The project that we are building," writes Black Lives Matter co-founder Alicia Garza, "is a love note to our folks." She defines "black love" as "building community and solidarity," overcoming the legacy of slavery and racial injustice to cultivate affection across intra-racial differences, including class, gender, sexuality, religion, and age. This justice-oriented account of black love has been percolating among black intellectuals, developing beyond the apparent opposition between King's liberal love and black power's radical rejection of it, in rage. Over the past two decades, the feminist, bell hooks, has argued that the radical self-assertion of black power must be coupled with the vision of harmonious community put forward by King in an expansive conception of self-love in, and as, black community.

Blaxican - a person of mixed heritage that includes Africa, United States of America and Mexico. "Walter Thompson-Hernandez often sees a reflection of himself in the stories his camera captures. Boldly staring into the lens of his camera, Black Mexican, or Blaxican, men and women slowly unveil a bit of themselves to him.... As the child of an African-American father and a non-black Mexican mother, the stories resonate with Thompson-Hernandez who started the Instagram page as an academic research project for the University of South Carolina, but found himself personally drawn to the project to understand the complexities of race and ethnicity in a country that often sees both as one and the same thing." This content was originally published by teleSUR at the following address:" http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Blaxican-The-Revolutionary-Identity-of-Black-Mexicans-20150724-0001.html".

Call to context/Context: Belief that social relations and truth require close attention to history, particularity, and experience.

Color Imagery: Words, texts, and television images that associate skin color with traits such as innocence, criminality, or physical beauty

Color Labels are skin colors used to categorize humans. Skin color matters in our society as it is a signifier loaded with identity and value. People are judged on the basis of their skin color and we think nothing of describing others by using skin color labels. E.g. Blacks, People of Color, Whites. Blackness, color, whiteness are all constructed and they are not monoliths. It is a part of lived experience that people are from specific places, geographies, languages, and other factors, there are expressions of diversities within them such as Jamaican not African American, and statements like "But I'm not white... black ... woman of color, etc."
Colorism Colorstroke Communications Justice refers to the universal preference for lighter colored skin across the world, in a world where dark skin is demonized and white skin prized. Combined with color imagery, we begin to see how much of the symbolism and metaphors in the Christian faith, English literature, and other social traditions contribute to myths such as: Light skin must be shielded from the sun; dark bodies flourish under the sun. Two questions (among many) that need to be further investigated are: What, if any, are the human evolutionary advantages of pale, light, white? What are the mythologies associated with color that have impacted human equity?
Colorblindness is the idea of "I don't see color, I treat all people alike." Colorblindness is the refusal to see racism as anything other than simple bias or individual prejudice; colorblindness is an imprecise term because in the United States of America and similar racialized societies, people choose to see race in a particular, hierarchical way and avoid using race, racism or racialization as an explanatory framework for social policy or transactions. An anti-racism stance acknowledges the existence of different skin colors and color differences but does not value or place them on a hierarchy (see also property of whiteness). All skin colors are of equal value.

Compassion - An observable behavior towards different others. Sympathy, pity, expression in concern for the suffering of others is a hall-mark of anti-racism identity as well as Christian discipleship.

Countermajoritarianism: View that the court system is free to strike down laws enacted by the majority that are unfair to minority groups

Counter-storytelling: Writing that aims to cast doubt on the validity of accepted premises or myths, especially ones held by the majority

Critical legal studies: Legal movement that challenged liberalism from the Left, denying that law was neutral, that every case had a single correct answer, and that rights were of vital importance
Crosscultural
Critical race theory is a movement, theory and a book, the classic Ricardo Delgado and Jean Stefancic. 2001. Critical Race Theory: An Introduction. New York University Press.
Cultural appropriation Cultural competence Cultural proficiency Cultural racism
Critique of rights: Critical legal studies position that rights are alienating, ephemeral, and much less useful than most people think

Culture - Sociologists define culture as the values, beliefs, behavior, and material objects that constitute a people's way of life. In Macionis, John. Sociology. Sixth edition. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey, Prentice-Hall, 1997. page 62.

Deconstructionism: Intellectual approach that targets traditional interpretations of terms, concepts, and practices, showing that they contain unsuspected meanings or internal contradictions

Determinism: View that individuals and culture are products of particular forces, such as economics, biology, or the search for high status

Difference: Not the same. "Growing up, I learned difference is the norm. No two people are alike and that is very good. " Anita Coleman

Differential racialization: process by which racial and ethnic groups are viewed and treated differently by, mainstream society

Diaspora and related terms such as Asian Diasporas

Dignity see Human Rights, Human Dignity

Digital justice see Detroit Digital Justice Coalition

Direct action: Is non-violence a form of direct action - Howard Thurman; Gandhi: It is the only form of direct action. Source: https://www.beaconbroadside.com/broadside/2014/10/when-howard-thurman-met-mahatma-gandhi-nonviolence-and-the-civil-rights-movement.html

Discourse: Formal, extensive, oral or written treatment of a subject; the way we speak about something

Diversity includes all the ways in which people differ, and it encompasses all the different characteristics that make one individual or group different from another. It is all-inclusive and recognizes everyone and every group as part of the diversity that should be valued. A broad definition includes not only race, ethnicity, and gender - the groups that most often come to mind when the term "diversity" is used - but also age, national origin, religion, disability, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, education, marital status, language, and physical appearance. It also involves different ideas, perspectives, and values.

Double consciousness (W.E.B. DuBois)

Emotional labour is the suppression of feelings between worker and customer or client. It is the neutral or friendly mask one wears in spite of the discomfort, displeasure, or even distress one may feel during an interaction. It is the deployment of mental resources to keep smiling when one is internally suffering. Source: A.D.A. France-Williams. Ghost Ship: Institutional Racism and the Church of England. London, UK: SCM Press, 2020. Page 5-6.
Endemic racism - one of the tenets of Critical Race Theory
Empathy is at the heart of anti-racism and the struggles for justice

Empathetic fallacy: Mistaken belief that sweeping social form can be accomplished through speech and incremental victories within the system

Environmental racism: the burdening of economically and socially disadvantaged communities with a disproportionate share of environmental hazards. Related to NIMBY: "Not In My Back Yard," the tendency of people to protest poor environmental practices when those practices will affect them directly. (Introduction to Sociology 2e. OpenStax CNX. Located at: http://cnx.org/contents/02040312-72c8-441e-a685-20e9333f3e1d/Introduction_to_Sociology_2e. License: CC BY: Attribution. License Terms: Download for free at http://cnx.org/contents/02040312-72c8-441e-a685-20e9333f3e1d@3.49)
Ethnic global linkages
Equity is about dividing resources proportionally to achieve a fair outcome while equality is about dividing resources in matching amounts for all involved. In other words, equity recognizes the important role played by the past in human capabilities and achievements in the present and for the future and seeks to address them fairly.

Essentialism: the search for the unique essence of a group, the proper unit, or atom, of social analysis and change. The question, do all oppressed people have something in common lies at the heart of the Essentialism/Antiessentialism debate. Essentialism has a political dimension. Essentialism is paring something down until the heart of the matter stands alone.

Ethnicity is a shared cultural heritage. Members of an ethnic category have common ancestors, language, or religion that, together confer a distinct social identity. In Macionis, John. Sociology. Sixth edition. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey, Prentice-Hall, 1997. page 321

Euro-Americans People whose recent origins are in the continent of Europe

Eurocentricism: tendency to interpret the world in terms of European values and perspectives and the belief that they are superior

Exceptionalism: belief that a particular group's history justifies treating it as unique.

Exceptionality: is a term in multicultural education which is applied to students with specialized needs or disabilities

False consciousness: phenomenon in which oppressed people internalize and identify with attitudes and ideology of the controlling class
Susan Garrett. No Ordinary Angel, 2005
Frames

Freedom (Christian) being who each one of us, created in the image of God, is intended to be. Anita Coleman, Casa Charis: A Daybook of Freedom, Charis Research, 2014. p. 18.

Fusion

Global church

Globalization

Grace

Hegemony: Domination by the ruling class, and unconscious acceptance of that state of affairs

Honor

Human services are the services provided by anti-racists, churches and organizations. Support Food Pantry; Start a Feeding Program

Hybrid - (include the notions of cultural hybridity and plural identities)

Hypodescent: "One-drop rule" that holds that anyone with any degree of discernible African ancestry is black
Idealized cognitive models
Hypocognition means there is no established frame, no fixed ideas already out there for the other side, that is the lack of ideas and the lack of a relatively simple fixed frame that can be evoked by a word or two. A conceptual gap.

Idealism (Christian) Christian discipleship also elicits idealism because Christ has set us free from the fear of death. ... p. 235 With such idealism comes an intoxicating sense of the power of the Holy Spirit in us; p. 231-232, Susan Garrett. No Ordinary Angel, 2005
Imagination Susan Garrett. No Ordinary Angel, 2005
Identity Labels are social and political constructions created for the purpose of organizing and pursuing anti-racist political power that ends systems of domination, exploitation, marginalization and oppression. They are a means to building belonging, achieving equity, practicing radical inclusion, in order to represent and privilege but in the end to build a better world for ALL people.

Illiberalism

Immigrant analogy: belief that racialized minority groups, especially Latinos/as and Asians, will follow the same path of assimilation as white European ethnics

Implicit bias - Implicit racial bias - Implicit social cognition - See https://perception.org/research/implicit-bias/
Inter-able: inclusive of all people of varying levels of human abilities (e.g intellectual, cognitive, or physical disabilities, legally blind, etc.)
Inclusion (Inclusivity): The Rev. Dr. Eric Law in the book "Inclusion: Making Room for God's Grace" (2000, Chalice Press) defines inclusion as a Christian ministry. Inclusion is a process and is much more complicated than exclusion, which is fairly simple and easier to define with regards to people. We often know the kinds of people we don't want to include in our groups or communities and how to set up the boundaries to keep them outside. Once we reject them, we don't have to deal with them. Inclusion, on the other hand, is much more complicated. "Inclusion involves a great deal of thinking and listening when we take into consideration others' experience, history, feelings, and so forth. Inclusion requires time and energy to follow up after a person or a group has been physically included. Once a group is embraced in our circle, we have to live with its members for an unspecified period of time." (p. 7)

Individual mindfulness

Information institutions - Cultural heritage institutions such as archives, libraries, museums and knowledge structures for intellectual access such as the library catalog, electronic indexes and databases, classification schemes, authority lists, subject headings and thesauri.

Indeterminancy: idea that legal reasoning rarely, if ever, has one right answer and that politics and social pressures on judged influence outcomes

Institutional mindfulness

Institutional racism/sexism
Interfaith dialog
Institutional transformation

Interdependence

Interest convergence: Thesis pioneered by Derrick Bell that the majority group tolerates advances for racial justice only when it suits its interest to do so

Internalized racism: Victims of racism internalize it by developing ideas, beliefs, and behaviors that support or collude with it, are rewarded for supporting it or punished when they are not, and is also a system of oppression that must be made conscious and explicit. It affects marginalized communities intra-culturally as well as cross-culturally (e.g. cross-cultural hostility) as they struggle against individual and group histories of domination.

Interpersonal mindfulness

Intersectionality: Belief that individuals and classes often have shared or overlapping interests or traits

Investment anti-racist examples include end food deserts, provide emergency and permanent supportive housing.

Kyriarchy: a system identified by the theologian Elisabeth Schussler Fiorenza explains how ethnicity, class, economics and education, as well as gender, intersect to oppress us all, men as well as women.

Law - beyond conflict resolution to building peace

Legal realism: Early-twentieth-century forerunner of critical legal studies, which disavowed mechanical jurisprudence in favor of social science, politics, and policy judgment

Legal storytelling: Scholarship that focuses on the theory or practice of unearthing and replacing underlying rhetorical structures of the current social order, insofar as these are unfair to disenfranchised groups
Martyrdom
Legitimacy: Quality of an instruction, such as law, which is viewed as justified and worthy of respect

Liberalism: Political philosophy that holds that the purpose of government is to maximize liberty; in civil rights, the view that law should enforce formal equality in treatment

Lingucism - refers to Lingusitic Human Rights, which are a growing area of study and combines the study of language as a central dimension of ethnicity, aliong with national and international law.

Merit: Individual worthiness; critical race scholars question the view that people may be ranked by merit and that distribution of benefits is rational and just.

Mestizaje, the fusion of European and indigenous cultures in Latin America.

Microaggression: Stunning small encounter with racism, usually unnoticed by members of the dominant or majority group.
Mission Mixed race
Migration (and variants, migrants)
Mongrelization Movement building Multi-cultural competency
Mindfulness - has two parts, discernment and compassion when linked to social justice and diversity - from Angela Harris, Reflections on Mindfulness, Social Justice, and Diversity, see the YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HX-FwdahiLg

Minorities (don't use this term!) have two major characteristics: First, they share a distinctive identity. Second, is subordination (U.S. minorities typically have lesser income, lower occupational prestige, and more limited schooling than their counterparts in the majority. ... class, race, and ethnicity, as well as gender, are not mutually exclusive issues but are overlapping and reinforcing dimensions of social stratification." Macionis, John. Sociology. Sixth edition. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey, Prentice-Hall, 1997. page 322.
Multi-ethnic
Model minority myth: Idea that Asian Americans are hard-working, intelligent, and successful and that other groups should emulate them.

Multicultural education refers to any form of education or teaching that incorporates the histories, texts, values, beliefs, and perspectives of people from different cultural backgrounds. At the classroom level, for example, teachers may modify or incorporate lessons to reflect the cultural diversity of the students in a particular class. In many cases, "culture" is defined in the broadest possible sense, encompassing race, ethnicity, nationality, language, religion, class, gender, sexual orientation, and "exceptionality"-a term applied to students with specialized needs or disabilities. Generally speaking, multicultural education is predicated on the principle of educational equity for all students, regardless of culture, and it strives to remove barriers to educational opportunities and success for students from different cultural backgrounds. Source: http://edglossary.org/multicultural-education/
Nativism
Multi-culturism - "Multiculturalism means more than racial balance and inclusion. All members of the community must be competent to communicate with each other for an effective multicultural process... The goals of multicultural competency are increased understanding, respectful communication, and full inclusion of all people, not cultural competence by itself." From, Uprooting Racism, Paul Kivel, 2002, p. 226. (See also the definition of Multi-cultural education)

Multiple consciousness: Ability of people of color to perceive something in two or more ways, for example as a way a member of his or her group would see it and as a white would.

Mutual invitation - is a process articulated by Eric Law in his book T he Wolf Shall Lie with the Lamb. URL: http://www.kscopeinstitute.org/mutual-invitation/

Neo-liberal

Niagara movement: This was the intellectual organization of Blacks led by W.E.B. De Bois, 105-1910 for "full political, civil, and social rights for African Americans" in contrast to the Atlanta Compromise proposed by Booker T. Washington. A forerunner of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Source: Encyclopedia Britannica

NIMBY: "Not In My Back Yard," the tendency of people to protest poor environmental practices when those practices will affect them directly. Related to Environmental Racism (Introduction to Sociology 2e. OpenStax CNX. Located at: http://cnx.org/contents/02040312-72c8-441e-a685-20e9333f3e1d/Introduction_to_Sociology_2e. License: CC BY: Attribution. License Terms: Download for free at http://cnx.org/contents/02040312-72c8-441e-a685-20e9333f3e1d@3.49)

Non-violence (satyagraha): In 1935, Howard Thurman, one of the most influential African American religious thinkers of the twentieth century, took a pivotal "Pilgrimage of Friendship" to India that would forever change him-and that would ultimately shape the course of the civil rights movement in the United States. When Thurman became the first African American to meet with Mahatma Gandhi, he found himself called upon to create a new version of American Christianity, one that eschewed self-imposed racial and religious boundaries, and equipped itself to confront the enormous social injustices that plagued the United States during this period. Gandhi's philosophy and practice of satyagraha, or "soul force," would have a momentous impact on Thurman, showing him the effectiveness of nonviolent resistance. After the journey to India, Thurman's distinctly American translation of satyagraha into a Black Christian context became one of the key inspirations for the civil rights movement, fulfilling Gandhi's prescient words that "it may be through the Negroes that the unadulterated message of nonviolence will be delivered to the world." Source: Visions of a Better World, http://www.beacon.org/Visions-of-a-Better-World-P745.aspx

Normative: Of, pertaining to, or based on a norm, especially one regarded as broad or universal.

Nuance theory: View that one may determine the essential qualities of a group such as women, and that difference from that essential core may be treated as slight variations or shades of difference.

Pan (e.g. Pan-Islamic)

Paradigm: Reigning system of belief in a discipline that controls what is seen as possible, relevant, and valid.
Post-racial Prejudice
Passing
Privilege
Perspectavalism: Belief that a person's or group's position or standpoint greatly influences how they see truth and reality.

Pluralism is a state in which racial and ethnic minorities are distinct but have social parity. Macionis, John. Sociology. Sixth edition. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey, Prentice-Hall, 1997. page 329. See the Pluralism Project by Diana Eck and others at Harvard Divinity School's Andover Harvard Theological Library for a more nuanced and detailed definition as well as resources, research, and glossary.

Principle of involuntary sacrifice: The notion that costs of civil rights advances are always placed on blacks or low-income whites.

Property interest in whiteness: Idea that white skin and identity are economically valuable. A good paper on this is Cheryl Harris, Whiteness as Property.
Racial and ethnic identity Racial fatigue
Psychological wage (Du Bois)

Race - "the idea that the human species is divided into distinct groups on the basis of inherited physical and behavioral differences. Genetic studies in the late 20th century refuted the existence of biogenetically distinct races, and scholars now argue that "races" are cultural interventions reflecting specific attitudes and beliefs that were imposed on different populations in the wake of western European conquests beginning in the 15th century." Source: Encyclopedia Britannica. According to John J. Macionis, author of one of the classical textbooks for undergraduate college courses, Sociology (6th edition, Prentice-Hall, 1997), "A race is a category composed of people who share biologically transmitted traits that members of a society deem socially significant. ... Although in the United States we readily distinguish "black" and "white" people, research confirms that our population is genetically mixed... In short, no matter what people may think, race is no black-and-white issue." (page 320)
Racial idealist
Race as a social construction is one of the tenets of Critical Race Theory.

Racial fraud & box checking: Action on the part of a non-minority person, or one with a very slight connection with a minority group, to gain the benefit of minority status, as with affirmative action.
Racial realist
Racial healing

Racial justice - justice for the entire human race for all people groups, irrespective of skin color

Racial realism: View that racial progress is sporadic and that people of color are doomed to experience only infrequent peaks followed by regression.

Racial reasoning - Cornell West, Race Matters, chapter on The Pitfalls of Racial Reasoning

Racialized people, racialized person, racialized group, are recent terms for the outdated and inaccurate terms of 'racial minority,' 'visible minority,' 'person of color' or 'non-White.'

Racialization is the process by which a society or a group creates races; in the USA, the Office of Management and Budget is in charge of the Census race categories which started with Free White Males, Free White Females, All other free persons, and Slaves as a count of property; White has remained the norm even though the definition of who is white has kept changing over the last 200 years; Colored became Negro, Black, and African-American; the Census calls Latino/Hispanic an ethnicity, not a race; in the 2020 Census MENA for Middle Eastern and North African people, now considered White, will be added as a separate category.People as well as issues - housing, terrorism, immigration - are racialized. The processes of racialization are fluid, they keep changing, and we live in a racialized society and an increasingly racialized world. Pause for a minute to reflect silently on What Census Call Us: A Historical Timeline.

Racial justice is the belief, actions, and movement that there is only one human race; justice is a basic human right for all people, irrespective of skin color, national origin, etc. Racial equity is a key. In an ideal situation a society's markets and institutions will function well for all people. Unfortunately our data does not support this. Thus, in order to improve racial equity we must achieve greater social justice. This means meeting individual people where they are, and when resources are limited as they often are, ensuring that the same kind of justice is experienced. Popular images of racial equity and justice are: leveling the playing field which is controversial, removing barriers, and the popular scales of justice. Imagine the dominant group on one scale and one of the subordinate groups on another in terms of level of educational attainment, number of employed, number of home owners, number never incarcerated, number of poor, and so on. When the scales are balanced on these and other socio-economic and health indicators, then, racial justice has been achieved.

Racism is an ideology that either directly or indirectly asserts that one group, whose own characteristics and markers keep shifting over time, is inherently superior to others. It is a system of privilege and oppression that rests on an understanding of humans as belonging to different races ordered in a hierarchy. People thereby deserve or are given different treatment. It can be openly displayed in racial jokes and slurs or hate crimes but it can be more deeply rooted in attitudes, values, and stereotypical beliefs. In some cases, these are unconsciously held and have become deeply embedded in systems and institutions that have evolved over time. Racism operates at a number of levels, individual, systemic, institutional, and societal, national, international, and these are all connected. Racism is subtle, elusive, and widespread. See also Systemic Racism

Reconciliation

Reconstruction: Period when society is attempting to redress racial wrongs consistently and in thoroughgoing fashion.

Reparation is an anti-racism process, a relationship with equity. What Does Anti-racism have to do with equity? By Joy Bailey, Crossroads Antiracism Organizing and Training cited by Laura Cheifetz, keynote at Missions Connections, Presbytery of Los Ranchos, 6 Feb. 2016.

Resilience - building up resilience in the face of injustice and suffering

Restorative justice

Restrictive covenant: Legally enforceable limitation on land use or occupancy, often created by the original owner or developer of neighborhoods.

Retribalization

Reverse discrimination: Discrimination aimed at the majority group.

Revisionist: View of history or an event that challenges the accepted one.

Scientific racism

Social Justice

Social stratification

Stereotyping

Stock stories: Tales that a people commonly subscribe to and use to explain their social reality; for example, that African Americans who try hard will be accepted and succeed.

Structural determinism: Concept that a mode of thought or widely shared practice determines significant social outcomes, usually without our conscious knowledge.

Structural racialization

Structural racism - Racism has been institutionalized and is deeply enculturated in our national life, our systems, our laws, our culture, our words, images, vocabulary, attitudes, and preferences. Racism is part of a web of inter-connected forces that are also maintained and perpetuated by the information institutions.

Superstar syndrome

Survivor's guilt

Systemic Racism is the belief that racism has been institutionalized and is also deeply enculturated in our national life, our systems, our laws, our culture, our words, images, vocabulary, attitudes, and preferences. Institutional and Structural racism are both forms of systemic racism. Even the educational system is tainted with institutional and structural (system wide) racism. Example: European or Western ways of knowing are privileged over others. This is epistemic racism and in this sense most of us are racists.

Tolerance

Transnational (Transnationalism)

Transparency phenomenon: Ability of whiteness to disguise itself and become invisible.

Tribal frontier

Tribalism
Voices of color - another tenet of Critical Race Theory
Universal church
White blindspot
Urbanization
White Fragility White Identity
Voice in critical race theory is defined as the ability of a group to express their experiences in ways that are unique to them. Example: African American women extended to womanist theology. Just like an anti-racist identity shares power, constantly examines implicit bias, and is working to build inclusive, caring communities and change an oppressive system, an anti-racist voice speaks the language of anti-racism after one has learned to be an active and culturally humble listener.
White Privilege
White Anglo Saxon Protestants (WASPs)

White Ethnics - gained currency during the 1960s recognizing visible ethnic heritage and social disadvantages of white Americans without non-English European ancestry. Paraphrased from Macionis, John. Sociology. Sixth edition. New Jersey, Prentice-Hall, 1997. In Chapter 12, Race and Ethnicity. Sub-heading: White Ethnic Americans, page 344.

White People - also referred to as Europeans or Euro-Americans, Americans of European origins
Witness bearing (Christianity)
Whiteness - "Racism is based on the concept of whiteness - a powerful fiction enforced by power and violence. Whiteness is a constantly shifting boundary separating those who are entitled to certain benefits from those whose exploitation and vulnerability to violence is justified by their not being white." Source: Uprooting Racism by Paul Kivel. URL: http://www.utne.com/arts/uprooting-racism-ze0z1304zcalt

White supremacy is often thought to be connected only to extremist, right-wing hate groups. However, the term white supremacy is also a more specific term for racism and a more accurate descriptor for the reality of the everyday experiences of people of color. It exists in both the overt form of right-wing white power groups, as well as a form of oppression that is reproduced by the everyday practices of a well-intentioned liberal society. Example: Appeals to colorblindness; whiteness as the norm. Research has also found that a lack of ethnic identity among young white skin Americans has contributed to the rise of a white identity that is centered on race. This podcast discusses one characteristic of white supremacy culture, namely individualism, and how to spot it and end it in our church life. https://sacred.omeka.net/items/show/331

White Supremacy "is a political, economic, and cultural system in which whites overwhelmingly control power, material resources, conscious and unconscious ideas of white superiority and entitlement are widespread, and relations of white dominance and non-white subordination are daily reenacted across a broad array of institutions and social settings." Hoarding power, hierarchy, perfectionism, individualism, sense of urgency, stressing quantity over quality, are some characteristics of white supremacy culture.

"...survival ... is learning how to ... make common cause with those others identified as outside the structures in order to define and seek a world in which we can all flourish. It is learning how to take our differences and make them strengths. For the master's tools will never dismantle the master's house. They may allow us temporarily to beat him at his own game, but they will never enable us to bring about genuine change.... Racism and homophobia are real conditions of all our lives in this place and time. I urge each one of us here to reach down into that deep place of knowledge inside herself and touch that terror and loathing of any difference that lives here. See whose face it wears." - Audre Lorde

Xenophobia

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"Libraries are always inclusive, never exclusive." - Cynthia Hurd, a 31-year library employee who died in the Emanuel AME church shooting in June 2015. The Anti-racism Digital Library and International Anti-racism Thesaurus is a research and development initiative that seeks to serve as a clearinghouse for anti-racism related resources.

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Critical Conversations on Whiteness With Young Adult Literature: Research Article 

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Critical Conversations on Whiteness With Young Adult Literature: Research Article 

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Editor's Note: Last week, Rick Hess invited Julie Gunlock, the director of the Independent Women's Forum's center for progress and innovation, to guest blog on his Education Week opinion blog, Rick Hess Straight Up. In the second of her three guest opinion posts, Gunlock decried the "No Family Separation, Black Lives Matter, Pro Civil Liberties, Climate Change is Real" Zoom background of her son's school administrator, characterizing it as an incursion of politics into the public schoolhouse. This post, in particular, provoked strong reader reactions both in the comments section and on social media. The debate on Twitter grew especially charged as Gunlock personally disparaged her critics. Education Week reached out to Christina Torres, a teacher and former Education Week blogger who received some of that derision, inviting her to respond.
Dear Julie,

When I tweeted a critique of your blog post on a sunny morning last week, I didn't think much about it. While I vehemently disagree with you, nothing you wrote was that original. Many teachers have had to defend why our classrooms engage in critical conversation about social justice for years.

I do think your post did one thing well: It captured the powerful fear of anti-racist, anti-bias, or culturally responsive education that some people have.

I imagine you might tell me that you're not afraid. Your actions show otherwise. Discussing feedback about our own ideas is the part of writing that requires the most bravery. Yet, when someone disagreed with you on Twitter, you called her "hostile." When I questioned you, you said (in now-deleted tweets) that I was a "racist and a bad teacher."

You may have wanted to scare me, but unlike you, I'm not afraid of talking about race. Like many other BIPOC-Black, Indigenous, and people of color-folks, I come from a family where we had to discuss it when I was a kid. I come from ancestors who were able to thrive in spite of other people's fears and the systemic racism those fears wrought. I don't scare easy.

I also live in a world where discussing race is no longer "a necessary evil," as it may have felt when my parents wanted to prepare me for the world. Instead, it has resulted in difficult, beautiful, and rich conversations with some of the best people you'll ever meet: my 8th grade students. I have students who disagree with me about politics, and we all survive! We talk about it and we all grow together.

That's the thing: Teachers don't just teach "content." We never have. For generations, we have also taught our students to listen, share, and be empathetic. Teachers don't just help students understand themselves and the world around them, we also model how to have constructive discussions with one another.

And because race plays a role in everything from housing issues to the environment to the books we read, we can't teach students about the world without including race. The idea that in doing so, we're pushing what you called "social-justice crap" in your tweets just isn't true.

I can understand your fears, unfounded as they are. You're scared schools are trying to supplant families and teach morality. That's a discussion you don't need to have in a vacuum. It doesn't seem like you had teachers to help you face tough topics head-on. It doesn't seem like you have space in your life to engage in these essential conversations. I'm sad you live in a world run by your own fear and the only defenses you have to discomfort are mockery and snarky tweets.

But I don't want that empathy to overshadow the real crux of this discussion: your discomfort with a sign that read, "No Family Separation. Black Lives Matter. Pro Civil Liberties. Climate Change is Real." You equated these sentiments to your own "universal truths," including that "owning a gun is [your] constitutional right," that "public school unions need to be dismantled," that you "love tax cuts, dogs, red lipstick, and good French bread."

Here's the problem with your false equivalence: Gun control, school choice, and unions are nuanced policy issues with arguments to be made both pro and con.

What exactly is the other side of the position that "Black Lives Matter"? That Black lives ... don't matter? The statements you oppose aren't policy positions. The statements you oppose recognize the humanity of Black people, affirm that families shouldn't be forcibly separated, validate that climate change is scientific fact, and remind us that our Constitutional civil liberties are important.

None of those statements should be politically partisan issues; they are merely factual, compassionate understandings of the world around us. (In fact, the U.S. Office of Special Counsel ruled that using the phrase "Black Lives Matter" isn't inherently political.)

Yet, you politicized these issues. Why? What right do any of us have to debate the worthiness of the Black community? It is racist against Black people to suggest that a display of "Black Lives Matter" is equivalent to a display of your thoughts on union policy or your feelings on bread. Neither you nor I can imagine the pain of having to watch people online debate whether our lives matter.

Here's the kicker: You could be part of the solution. You could listen to Black voices and learn. Discussing my curriculum with families has led to awesome moments for all of us-in my classroom and their homes.

Also, despite your claim that I'm racist, I have many white friends! I even have a white husband! All joking aside, one of the many things I love about all my friends, regardless of race, is that we're not afraid to have meaningful conversations with each other, including about race.

Whether I'm teaching or writing for places like Education Week, I think a lot about legacy. What will people see when they remember me as a teacher or look at my writing? Right now, when people search your name, they'll see the words of a woman who was too scared to answer tough questions and who then deleted her personal attacks without apology.

It doesn't have to be that way, though. One of the beautiful things I've learned as a teacher is that we never stop learning and evolving. There's still a chance for you to be brave and join us in having some important discussions about race in our country.

When you're ready to have those conversations, I'll be here, ready to listen.

With aloha,
Christina Torres

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An Open Letter to a Parent Afraid of Anti-Racist Education (Opinion)

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Editor's Note: Last week, Rick Hess invited Julie Gunlock, the director of the Independent Women's Forum's center for progress and innovation, to guest blog on his Education Week opinion blog, Rick Hess Straight Up.

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'Stop and Frisk' is a threat to public health on a large scale.

Trial in the federal class action lawsuit on the NYPD's stop-and-frisk policy, Floyd, et al. v. City of New York, et al, begins on March 18. At stake is whether the controversial tactic is a racial profiling practice, which violates civil and constitutional rights. Filed by four plaintiffs who were stopped and frisked, the suit represents the entire class of people who have been racially profiled.

But racial profiling is not only a danger to a person's legal rights, which guarantee equal protection under the law. It is also a danger to their health.

A growing literature shows discrimination raises the risk of many emotional and physical problems. Discrimination has been shown to increase the risk of stress, depression, the common cold, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, breast cancer, and mortality. Recently, two journals -- The American Journal of Public Health and The Du Bois Review: Social Science Research on Race -- dedicated entire issues to the subject. These collections push us to consider how discrimination becomes what social epidemiologist Nancy Krieger, one of the field's leaders, terms " embodied inequality."

"The scale and scope of stop-and-frisk practices in communities of color have left many residents feeling that they are living under siege," the CCR authors write. When we read the NYCLU's 2012 report on Stop and Frisk, it is easy to see why. In 2011, there were 685,724 stops. In 70 of 76 precincts, greater than 50 percent of stops targeted blacks and Latinos. In 33 precincts, that number skyrockets to over 90 percent. Perhaps most shockingly, the number of stops of young black men (168,126) actually exceeded the number of young black men in New York City (158,406).

However, supporters of Stop and Frisk argue that it is an effective crime control tool and, if you want to avoid a stop, then do not commit a crime. The problem is that 90 percent of black and Latino men stopped were innocent. What might this mean in terms of heightened vigilance and stress? Not only must black and Latino people in New York anticipate acts of prejudice from the police, but they also must know innocence does not reduce the risk of harassment.

Related Story

These are ways that discrimination becomes embodied during one person's life. But no person discriminated against is an island. When conditions of social injustice affect this many people, and prompt poor health outcomes, risk passes down generations. And this damage isn't going away any time soon. Even in the absence of discrimination, Nancy Krieger argues that populations "would continue to exhibit persistent disparities reflecting prior inequities."

"At a time when the first generation of African Americans born in the post-Jim Crow Era is only 40 years old," Krieger wrote in 2005, "it is probably not accidental that current life expectancy among African Americans resembles that of White Americans 40 years ago."

Racial profiling should be considered a social determinant of health, because it exposes people to discrimination and the fear of discrimination. Race may be a social construct, but racism materializes in poor health.

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'Stop and Frisk' is a threat to public health on a large scale. Trial in the federal class action lawsuit on the NYPD's stop-and-frisk policy, Floyd, et al. v. City of New York, et al , begins on March 18. At stake is whether the controversial tactic is a racial profiling practice, which violates civil and constitutional rights.

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"I believe in the power of Facing History."

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Facing History & Ourselves
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Facing History & Ourselves is more than our name. It is an active and continuous process that calls on each of us to connect the choices of the past to those we face today. To build a more just and equitable future, we must face our history in all its complexity, Are you ready to face history with us?

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And hopefully, they will always remember what happened to us and make sure that it won't happen again.

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Teach the topics that shape our students' lives. Whether you're looking for a text, a webinar or a grab-and-go lesson, these resources will help your students explore identity and diversity, recognize injustice and learn to take action.

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Teach the topics that shape our students' lives. Whether you're looking for a text, a webinar or a grab-and-go lesson, these resources will help your students explore identity and diversity, recognize injustice and learn to take action.

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What's CODE SWITCH? It's the fearless conversations about race that you've been waiting for. Hosted by journalists of color, our podcast tackles the subject of race with empathy and humor. We explore how race affects every part of society - from politics and pop culture to history, food and everything in between.

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Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 28 wins & 46 nominations. See more awards "

Storyline

In 1979, James Baldwin wrote a letter to his literary agent describing his next project, "Remember This House." The book was to be a revolutionary, personal account of the lives and assassinations of three of his close friends: Medgar Evers, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr. At the time of Baldwin's death in 1987, he left behind only 30 completed pages of this manuscript. Filmmaker Raoul Peck envisions the book James Baldwin never finished. Written by Jwelch5742

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In "Remember This House" Raoul Peck envisions the book James Baldwin never finished -a radical narration about race in America, through the lives and assassinations of three of his friends: Martin Luther King Jr., Medgar Evers and Malcolm X. using only the writer's original words.

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Rated PG-13 for disturbing violent images, thematic material, language and brief nudity | See all certifications "

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Release Date:

17 February 2017 (USA)

Also Known As:

Remember This House

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$686,378, 3 February 2017, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$7,120,626, 2 June 2017

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Technical Specs

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I Am Not Your Negro was one of 15 films included on the shortlist for the best feature documentary Oscar. See more "

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James Baldwin : The story of the Negro in America is the story of America, and it is not a pretty story.
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Stormy Weather
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Published by EMI Mills Music Inc.
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(p) 2002, all rights reserved by BMG Music
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Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 28 wins & 46 nominations. See more awards " In 1979, James Baldwin wrote a letter to his literary agent describing his next project, "Remember This House." The book was to be a revolutionary, personal account of the lives and assassinations of three of his close friends: Medgar Evers, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr.

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Blog: white librarians working to dismantle racism. 

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Blog: white librarians working to dismantle racism. 

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A note about the following: I wrote this post several months ago. It was originally scheduled to publish Thursday March 12; we decided not to post it then because the night before, COVID-19 news swept the nation and all attention was focused there.

I know that some of our readers, like me, have time and mental space to read this right now; some do not. Our email and DMs are open; please get in touch if there is any support we can provide, and take care.

On January 31, we published a Links Roundup post. While we published it under the group account, I (Allie) organized and posted it, so I'm primarily responsible for the mistakes therein-namely, that in promoting Lee and Low's writeup of the 2019 Diversity Baseline Survey, I failed to name and credit Dr. Laura M. Jiménez, as well as Betsy Beckert, as co-authors of the survey. My mistake was part of a pattern in this specific instance ( the Guardian also failed to credit Dr. Jiménez and Ms. Beckert for their work on this survey), but it is also part of a larger pattern of White erasure of BIPOC people and work. So with a healthy dose of humility that comes with recognizing myself as a big part of the problem, and with my (and our) sincere apologies to Dr. Jiménez and Ms. Beckert, that pattern of erasure is the subject of this post.

With full credit to the People's Institute for Survival and Beyond, we here at Reading While White define racism as "Race-based prejudice coupled with access to systemic, structural power." It is impossible to exist in the world without having internalized race-based prejudice, and Whiteness necessarily confers a privileged relationship to systemic and structural power upon White people. Therefore, under this definition, all White people are racist. And all White people working on anti-racist activism necessarily bring their racism into their anti-racist work.

It is an inescapable truth that I will bring my own Whiteness and my own racism into anti-racist spaces, and that I will often reproduce racism in those spaces. I can always work to do better, but part of doing better is accepting and sitting with the inherent contradiction of my being in these spaces at all, trying to do anti-racist work while not denying the fact that I am racist.

In a study on how White activists contribute to severe burnout among BIPOC activists, Paul C. Gorski and Noura Erakat identified patterns of White activists "undermining or invalidating the racial justice work of activists of color" and "taking credit for participants' racial justice work and ideas" as major contributors to BIPOC burnout (among others). According to Gorski and Erakat, "white activists derived benefits from their involvement in racial justice activism at the expense of activists of color who, in turn, were silenced, undermined, disrespected, and eventually burned out."

Specifically, in Gorski's and Erakat's study, BIPOC activists reported that White activists:

"appropriate antiracist organizations by usurping power from activists of color"

"Need... the spotlight, [which] led some to exploit activists of color either to acquire benefits-leadership positions or speaking invitations, for example-or to win validation from activists of color."

"take credit for ideas they previously dismissed from [BIPOC activists]"

"accept benefits, such as credit and recognition, for ideas and work produced by activists of color." (One interviewee offered, as an example, White Academics "who just want to get their name published with someone who is recognized for doing racial justice.")

"take the work developed by marginalized people and 'put their name on it.' [One interviewee] explained, 'I have white racial justice workers who ... even record me or photograph something I post and use it as if it's theirs, without giving me credit ... as they coopt it and reappropriate it in a way that is dangerous.'"

BIPOC activists in Gorski's and Erakat's study described these White-rooted, within-community conditions as more intense and potent than external causes of burnout: "The racism that propelled participants into racial justice movements was reproduced within those movements. For many participants, this was a particularly disappointing and stress-inducing condition because they had entered movements hoping for a reprieve from the racism with which they coped outside their movements...." It stands to reason that White activists (including us at RWW) have done as much to undermine the anti-racist movement as any external force, and we (White people, including us at RWW) inevitably continue to do so.
There are different levels of White erasure of BIPOC work, from just ignoring it to actively appropriating it. Failing to acknowledge or credit BIPOC people for their work and ideas also erases their very existence and presence in activist spaces, a particularly noxious form of racism.

Big names in the White Anti-racist movement necessarily play a role in this problem. Tim Wise has been rightly criticised for how he dominates, profits from, and moves in general through anti-racist spaces; Leslie Mac, creator of the Ferguson Response Network and much more, wrote: "From Tim Wise to Dixon White - our pain is used for profit. And repeating concepts created by Black folks thru a white lens will always sell." While I myself have learned deeply from, and am grateful for, the work of White Fragility author Robin DiAngelo, I recognize that she also benefits from White privilege within the anti-racist movement; the BIPOC people with whom she's collaborated don't have nearly the same level of national name-recognition, at least among White people (I saw Dr. DiAngelo present at a conference with Darlene Flynn in 2017; both were excellent, and I've been bothered ever since that Robin DiAngelo is a household name among White activists and Flynn is not).

We here at Reading While White fall into this category as well. Although we do not have the same level of mainstream attention nationally as Wise or DiAngelo, we do have a disproportionate degree of clout within the fields of librarianship and children's literature, given that some of our BIPOC colleagues have done this work for more than twenty years (and we turn five this Fall). Ironically, given how I subsequently erased her work, Dr. Laura Jiménez pointed this out to me when I interviewed her three years ago:

The one thing that frustrates me the most--and I'm glad that Reading While White is doing what it does--is that if I say something about a book, if Debbie or Edi says something, we're all told that we're not giving the author a chance. That they tried. We are not believed. If you look at the traffic RWW get vs the traffic I get or Edi gets, even though we've been doing this for longer, you get more, and the only difference is that you're White. To be honest, part of me resents that. And, I am glad that there are people willing to amplify our voices. If I write something, and you pick it up, that means so many more people will be willing to hear it. And that is paramount to my work. You get a lot of crap, the same criticism, but at the end of the day, you are heard and you are believed. Without White voices, our message can't be heard. We are not believed. It's good that your team realizes it.

I am glad that Dr. Jiménez was honest here, although she was much more generous with us than we deserve, i.e., we do NOT get the same crap; what we get is much smaller, and benign by comparison. I imagine there are many BIPOC people within the children's literature field who feel similarly-or more strongly-and for good, valid reasons aren't inclined to tell us that they feel that way (see: Gorski's and Erakat's study about burnout above).

You've probably heard that Black people-especially women-need to work "twice as hard for half as much" (mainstream White America can thank Scandal for bringing that maxim into our consciousness). Think about what this means for us as White people: We work half as hard, for twice as much.

How does this show up in children's literature? For one, the bar to be published is infinitely higher for BIPOC creators; and even if you are published, the level of attention and spotlight from the vast majority of bookstores and libraries is disproportionately higher for White creators. While perusing my local Barnes & Noble the other night, I was angered by the number of mediocre books by White people, mostly men, prominently on display in the children's section. There were several that I'd hazard would never have been published, let alone given the best display space, had a Black woman submitted the same text. This itself is a form of erasure-our insistence upon highlighting the same White men, over and over, causes and allows them to take up space that should belong to BIPOC creators, and by extension, BIPOC readers.

SCBWI Minnesota recently quite literally erased-that is, deleted-the work of Dr. Sarah Park Dahlen when she pointed out that the image they'd set as their banner was a stereotypical, racist image (link included with permission). They also erased the voices of many people who'd commented in agreement with Dr. Dahlen. Deletion of harmful posts is a common form of White erasure; in one fell swoop, the original poster can erase, rather than take ownership of, their mistakes, and can also erase the voices of any BIPOC critiquing racism. In this case, SCBWI Minnesota also decided not to clarify who was responsible for the deletions (link included with permission), thereby erasing their responsibility for that act of erasure and diffusing the blame for this act of racism. Such deletions gaslight the targets of racism (which compounds the initial racism). As Dr. Ebony Elizabeth Thomas noted in a thread about patterns of White erasure she noticed last year, "oppression justifies its violence and power by arguing that the oppressed's receipts are invalid" (quote included with permission).

(A point of clarification here: SCBWI Minnesota later posted screenshots of the deleted content. Another point of clarification: Screenshots that are not transcribed are not accessible to those who use screen readers.)

Erasure also shows up in children's literature when White creators steal ideas from creators of color and present them as their own. This ranges from the constant entitlement White authors feel to tell BIPOC stories to outright theft and plagiarism. (If you haven't read Jacqueline Woodson's Who Can Tell My Story in a while, pause and re-read it now, and also make time for a re-read of Debbie Reese's An oft-posed question: "Who can tell your stories?"-and actually, also read Maya Gonzalez' My Story, Your Story, Their Story, Who Gets To Tell It before you read any more of my work). You may also have read David Bowles' recent, expert pieces on the "harmful, appropriating, inaccurate, trauma-porn melodrama" that is Jeanine Cummins' American Dirt, or Maya Gonzalez' careful documentation of how White authors Brook Pessin-Whedbee and Kelly Storck, as well as their publishers (Jessica Kingsley Publishers and Instant Help Books/imprint of New Harbinger Publications, Inc.) plagiarized her work. Recently, Tangerine Jones wrote about how authors Katherine Alford and Kathy Gunst, plus their publisher Simon and Schuster, coopted and profit from her work-and the White aggression Alford and Gunst brought against her. White plundering of Native stories and cultural content for profit also echoes the history of colonial invasion. As Professor Rebecca Tsosie says:

Indigenous peoples have property interests, even if they don't fall within the narrow definitions of Western law. This was a problem in the sixteenth century when the Doctrine of Discovery was applied as an international doctrine to validate the interests of European sovereigns in claiming property in the lands that were described as the "New World." They said that indigenous peoples don't really have property rights, they just kind of roam around on the land, and so it's okay for Europeans to go and appropriate the land and say that they have title. Now that's what we don't want to do with intellectual property rights in the modern era... [P]eople can go and basically steal indigenous songs and stories, and then they can copyright them... the harm's not merely economic, but it can be a cultural form of harm that could be very devastating.

(Many thanks to Dr. Debbie Reese for answering my questions on this subject, and for sending me that link.) All of the above are examples of the different forms that White appropriation and erasure of BIPOC work can take in the world of literature.

[CONTENT WARNING FOR THIS PARAGRAPH - discusses police killings of Black people]

But perhaps the most dangerous, destructive aspect of this erasure is the flipside. If White people leap to take credit and rewards for BIPOC work and ideas-and if we make those White names household staples, while erasing the names and existence of robbed BIPOC people-we also do the reverse, when it comes to blaming BIPOC people for their own murders while simultaneously erasing the White-owned guilt for those murders. I'm talking to White readers, now. You likely can name a slew of Black people murdered by police: Michael Brown. Eric Garner. Tamir Rice. Philando Castile. Alton Sterling. How many of their killers can you name, off the top of your head? They are: Darren Wilson. Daniel Pantaleo. Timothy Loehmann. Jeronimo Yanez. Howie Lake. Blane Salamoni. Yes, I had to look up most of those. No, they aren't all White, but their lack of mainstream name recognition still protects a White-dominant police force. None were held legally responsible for killing the above human beings. Why were their victims put on trial, their private lives plundered and exposed, by a White-dominant media and public desperate to find a reason to blame them for their own murders? Why have we (White people) done our best to malign their names and their legacies, exonerate their killers', and erase those of women and nonbinary BIPCOC victims? In the interest of Saying Her Name: Meagan Hockaday. Tanisha Anderson. Mya Hall. Alexia Christian. There are too many more. We should know them.

All of the credit for anti-racist gains, none of the blame for racism... this is still the dominant narrative in every sector of the White community, from open bigots with sheets and torches to the wokest of the woke.

At the White Privilege Conference in 2017, Darlene Flynn and Robin DiAngelo said that "getting educated just makes White folks better racists." BIPOC activists have raised concerns about White anti-racist activism for a long time; I recently re-read the famous excerpt from The Autiobiography of Malcolm X in which he advises "sincere" White people to "...find all other white people they can who feel as they do-and let them form their own all-white groups, to work trying to convert other white people who are thinking and acting so racist." This passage, among many other things, helped inform our thinking when we first launched Reading While White. I'd remembered the above words perfectly, but had conveniently managed to forget the following:

I have these very deep feelings that white people who want to join black organizations are really just taking the escapist way to salve their consciences. By visibly hovering near us, they are 'proving' that they are 'with us' ... generally whites' very presence subtly renders the black organization automatically less effective... I know that every time that whites join a black organization, you watch, pretty soon... a black may be up front with a title, but the whites, because of their money, are the real controllers.

What can we White people do, to be and do better? It's possible to get stuck in guilt, when we reflect on how we can aid and abet racism despite our best intentions. It's also tempting, while reflecting on this, to outright disengage from anti-racist efforts; and at times, we White people do need to step back, since our very presence can (as Malcolm X reminds us) automatically render BIPOC-led efforts less effective. And we should definitely remove ourselves when we're told that we're actively harming BIPOC activists.

White activists won't, however, help matters by completely and permanently disengaging from the movement. We also won't help by self-flagellating-especially publicly, which puts a lot of pressure on the injured people to provide forgiveness and absolution. There is no perfect science to knowing when to step up and step back, but we have a responsibility to keep trying to show up when it's helpful to the movement, and to step back when it's not.

The study I cited above from Gorski and Erakat suggests that White activists can improve by "policing one another around concerns related to credit- and spotlight-grabbing behaviors (such as coopting the ideas of activists of color) so activists of color do not need to expend energy doing so." We must hold each other accountable to this, and we must fight the kneejerk defensiveness that so often comes when anyone-fellow White people included-try to hold us accountable. Inviting others to give us direct feedback (and sharing how they can do that easily) is a good first step here, and in that spirit, please always feel free to email us, readingwhilewhite@gmail.com. We must remember, also, that asking fellow White people to hold us accountable should not be an excuse to ignore or dismiss BIPOC people when they do choose to expend energy to hold us accountable, feedback to which we are not entitled but for which we should be grateful.

We can also correct ourselves and each other when we start to subtly usurp and take control of BIPOC-led organizations, as Malcolm X warns is our default. Making finances, funding, and decision-making processes in organizations transparent, and making transparency the norm, can help; we also must listen and act when BIPOC people voice concerns about White leadership or processes. Patterns of BIPOC leaving organizations are almost always a signal that something is rotten in the White culture of that organization, and when we notice such patterns, we must self-examine and ask for help and education from our White friends and community. And above all, when we're made aware that we're impeding anti-racist efforts, we must remove ourselves, and commit to change and accountability, before we continue to inflict harm on BIPOC activists and weaken the movement overall.

Gorski and Erakat also advise White activists to "prioritize movement goals over their needs for recognition and validation." Putting this into practice is easier said than done. Many White people are drawn to anti-racist work entirely for ego- or profit-based reasons; maybe a few are drawn to the work for entirely pure reasons and don't care about recognition at all. But most of us fall somewhere in between (I include myself in that group). I need to learn, and practice, checking my ego (and letting others check my ego). We White people need to help each other actually do that work of prioritizing movement goals over egos-and this involves having very clear goals, as well as people we trust to hold us accountable.
(A quick N.B.: This language-"prioritize movement goals over your need for recognition and validation"-should never be used as an excuse to give men credit for the work of women and nonbinary people, to give cisgender or heterosexual people credit for LGBTQIA+ work, to give nondisabled people credit for disabled work, or to justify oppression of any other intersecting identity.)

We must also work on doing the flipside of all this. In addition to giving full credit to BIPOC people for BIPOC ideas and work, we need to work to take responsibility for White-owned and White-originated mistakes, harm, and damage. This means making apologies that don't ring hollow, taking action to correct the damage we've done, and working to prevent similar mistakes in the future. This means we openly and eagerly educate fellow White people about our own mistakes, rather than covering them up from each other in an effort to be the best White person in the group.

Dr. Jiménez told us, three years ago, that one of the most useful things we can do at Reading While White is to pass the mic. We have to do a better job of passing that mic, and talk internally often about how we can do better (we're always open to criticism and suggestions on this subject, as well). Our White readers can also play a role in this, by making sure that you hear what our BIPOC colleagues have to say when we do pass the mic. Read our kindred spirits, and read them before you read us. We make it a point to link to BIPOC articles, essays, and blog posts as often as we can-click through those and read them. If it means you have to stop reading us so you can read them, please read them. Like them more than you like us on social media. Amplify them more than you amplify us. And when they call upon you to take action, listen to them. Don't wait for us to say "don't promote books with anthropomorphic monkeys"-believe Edi Campbell when she says it herself.

I'm sorry to Dr. Jiménez-I shouldn't have erased your work. All of us at RWW are grateful that Dr. Jiménez encouraged us to acknowledge and examine that act; it's given us a chance to reflect and learn. And in the spirit of this work, we hope that these reflections are useful to you, too.

-Allie Jane Bruce

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A note about the following: I wrote this post several months ago. It was originally scheduled to publish Thursday March 12; we decided not to post it then because the night before, COVID-19 news swept the nation and all attention was focused there.

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Photo by Steve Johnson on Unsplash

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These last few weeks have been especially difficult for me as the news continues to reflect that racism still exists in 2020. I've witnessed video footage of Ahmaud Arbery shot and killed while jogging, George Floyd murdered by the police, and Christian Cooper harassed while bird watching in Central Park. As we think about the next generation of adults we are influencing, particularly our White students, now more than ever, we need to teach more than kindness.

As an equity advocate, I have lots of conversations about culturally responsive teaching and multicultural education. Not too long ago while I was consulting with an elementary school principal she said, "Multicultural Education is nice, but we are well over 90% White at my school."

A common myth regarding multicultural education is that it is about helping students of color see themselves within the content. But multicultural education is about more than just race: It refers to any form of learning or teaching that incorporates the histories, texts, values, beliefs, and perspectives of people from different cultural backgrounds ( Glossary of Education Reform). And even if the majority of your students are White, it doesn't mean we shouldn't teach from a multicultural perspective.

Don't get me wrong; I'm not advocating for a bunch of Kumbaya moments in the classroom. This is not a post about how we need to teach students to embrace diversity and love each other. It's about the influence we can and should have on our students. Dr. Gloria Ladson-Billings taught us that we teach what we value. Therefore, we are part of the problem if we refuse to teach about antiracism and speak out against police brutality. Our students look up to us as adults, and many of our students mimic our behavior. If we are silent around social justice matters, we send a loud message to our students about where we stand as these issues impact many of the communities we serve.

In fact, we need to go beyond multicultural education. In this 2017 interview, Zaretta Hammond differentiates between multicultural education and social justice education, which provides "a lens for the student, really being able to look at the world and seeing where things aren't fair or where injustice exists." To ensure the changes our society is hurting for, we need to give our White students both multicultural and social justice education. Additionally, Dr. James Banks, the father of multicultural education, advocates for educators to teach our students about social and civic action. Ensuring that students engage in multiple perspectives without coupling their learning with civic engagement does not complete the process of developing socially just citizens who are willing to take a stance against the mistreatment of others. We need to help our students find ways they can take action in response to what they have learned.

Going back to the principal I was speaking with about whether there was a need for multicultural education at her school, I was thinking, "This is why multicultural and social justice education is so important!" Even with her assumptions that because there wasn't a lot of racial representation at her school, does that mean the small percentage of students of color don't matter to her? If that's the case, what would her teachers say? Would they support her sentiments?

Why Multicultural Education is 100% Relevant in All-White Schools

"Whiteness" is Complex

When someone asks why multicultural education is needed at a predominately White school, an assumption is being made that White people are a homogenous group. But White people are as heterogeneous as other racial and ethnic groups: there's socioeconomic status, gender and sexual orientation, identity, religion, language, age, and disability, to name a few. All of those represent different cultures. Sometimes, when you're in a dominant culture and used to things being a certain way, you don't necessarily think about your ancestry or heritage and how things have changed over time. And because conditions have changed over time, it may appear that Whiteness is Whiteness, but there are so many different cultures embedded within that broad category.

I think it's essential that we help teach our White students about their ancestors and the origins of when their families first arrived in the United States. The languages, the cultures, the traditions, all those things don't necessarily have to be lost. They can be retrieved.

Let's go back to the 1790s, where the first census was started. With the first US Census, they classified race. The classifying of race allowed those in power to determine or allow a few rights: Who gets the right to get jobs? Who gets the right to marry? Who gets the right to own property? That's how the social construct of race started.

Above is a view of Europeans, or some of the first immigrants, who were coming from various countries. And if you look at the picture, they're White people, right? But they're coming from multiple countries. At this time, there were several languages represented. You had folks that came from Italy, Germany, Russia, England, and so on. There were all types of cultures coming into the United States.

There were also various forms of religions represented when the Europeans began to arrive in the US. In Russia, you had the Orthodox church. In England, you had the Anglican church. When they first came, they weren't willing to give up their culture and become this one White race. They held onto their traditions, values, and beliefs. But we see that over time, things have changed to where White supremacy and racial hierarchies began to form. Today, there are a lot of families who have European origins that may not necessarily speak the language from their original land of ancestry because those things might have been lost over generations.

Multicultural Literacy Is a Separate and Necessary Literacy

The concept of "literacy" is broad. Still, it can be divided into many different sub-categories. One of these is multicultural literacy, the ability to uncover biases relating to culture, and the skills to view the world through different cultural perspectives.

Dr. Robin DiAngelo says, "Historically reinforced ideologies such as individualism and color-blindness have left many White people racially illiterate but racially conscious when perceiving other racialized groups." So because they're in the dominant culture, they don't necessarily have to think about race, but they'll maybe notice racial issues that are not related to Whiteness.

In other words, maybe they might notice police brutality in a Black community. Perhaps they might see issues of race with Islamophobia and discrimination. But we want our students to do more than notice; responding to issues of racism, prejudice, and discrimination is essential.

Having literacy in this area is also key for equipping White students to participate more actively in conversations about racial justice. If they are not regularly exposed to these conversations, they are less likely to speak up on this topic. White friends and colleagues tell me all the time that they want to say something when racism and equity come up, but they often hold back because they don't know what to say or are afraid to say the wrong thing. With a higher level of multicultural literacy, our students will build more confidence.

What We've Been Doing Isn't Enough

Although multicultural education certainly isn't new, it's clear that what we've been doing up to this point hasn't been enough.

As recently as a few weeks ago, there have been instances of White people utilizing the police as a means to address their encounters with people of color. The underlying issue of racism is apparent in many of these instances. Discussing current events and helping White students understand why they should also be upset at discrimination and racism may prevent a continuous cycle of White people remaining silent and complicit when issues happen that do not directly impact them.

These conversations are essential to have. It's also critical to teach students about becoming allies and co-conspirators, especially at the middle and high school levels. It might be a little bit difficult with your first and second graders, and maybe your kindergartners, but I think there are some messages you could still portray to your students even at that age.

What Can Multicultural Education Teach Our White Students?

We've already established multicultural education goes beyond race. There's so much within the concept of "culture," and we must help our White students understand how race can impact them and how they can actively use whatever privilege they have to reduce issues of racism, discrimination, and bigotry.

1. Understanding Their Own Cultural and Ethnic Background

It's not uncommon for White people to say, Oh, I'm just White. I don't have a culture. We need to teach our White students about what their cultural background is and their ethnic backgrounds so they can understand and think about their language and religions going back to their ancestry. Lessons on their culture may help them start to understand how privilege and White supremacy began. So begin with going back and taking some time to help your students understand that. You can also work with students by exploring community history and cultural influence.

One of the things you can teach your students, your White students, is in history. Many White immigrants have been accused of marginalizing other White immigrants. For example, the Irish and Italians were mistreated, discriminated, and marginalized against by other White immigrants. If we can teach our White students how their ancestors might have perpetuated that oppression or perhaps were part of that oppression against each other, maybe that will help them understand a little bit how in 2020, oppression continues to exist to those who are not included in the dominant culture. They can kind of see how the "haves" and the "have nots" happened back then. One of the things we want to do is help students relate items from their background knowledge and be able to bring those to light.

2. Studying Implicit Bias in Everyday Language

Another thing we can do is discuss everyday language. How are words associated with white and black used? Words such as blackmail, blackballed, or blacklisted have different connotations than words like white labeled or whitelisted. We can have students examine how these words may spark negative perceptions based on their meanings and associations.

Consider how words such as "alien" or "immigrant" may trigger the thoughts of someone of Mexican descent. These types of stereotypes in our language may trigger our Latinx community. The same rule applies to phrases like "You should speak up more, you're so quiet" to an Asian student.

The language we use every day may not seem significant because of the implicit biases we have developed in our lives. The words we use daily are influenced by how we were raised, our social circle, and the media. We may not notice how some of the words we use may have adverse effects on particular groups of people (stereotypes, derogatory language, etc.). We can teach students about implicit bias and how to overcome bias in our language usage.

3. Examining Representation in Curriculum and Beyond

Let's take a look at our school curriculum. Have your students investigate how various cultural groups are represented in the school's curriculum. Lead these discussions with your students and have them understand it because a lot of times, that's not a thing we think about. When we are discussing representation in the school's curriculum, allow opportunities for a dialogue beyond heterosexual, cisgender, Christian-based educational norms. Instead, talk about subjects that aren't reflected, such as disabilities, and how they are depicted in the curriculum. How are people from the LGBTQ community portrayed or even acknowledged in the content? Chimamanda Adichie talks about the danger of a single story. We need to make sure that we can bring in various perspectives in our curriculum and instruction.

If students find minimal to no representation of certain groups in the curriculum, discuss ways to bring in a variety of multicultural perspectives. The website We Need Diverse Books is an excellent resource for building a more inclusive classroom library, and Milner published an article that discusses developing a multicultural curriculum for an all-White classroom.

From there, you can expand your communications by discussing popular culture and how various groups are represented in multiple media outlets such as the news, music, movies, and social media. Have them study or research certain groups and how the articles that come up and the titles of those articles. What do the reports say versus other articles about various groups?

4. Understanding and Recognizing Privilege

A combination of multicultural and social justice education can help students see the trouble with implicit racism and how even though they are not doing anything actively racist, they are still benefiting from a legacy of racism. Calling the cops to say that "an African American man is threatening me and my dog" is a result of White privilege. Knowing that Black people have historically been mistreated by law enforcement and using that knowledge to one's advantage is inhumane.

Teaching White students about power and privilege may be a touchy subject for some as White guilt and fragility may seep into the mindset of White teachers and students. However, we must learn to "disturb the comfortable and comfort the disturbed." Starting at a young age, we can help our students learn to understand that not everyone has access and the same opportunities as others. Students as young as six years old can learn about race and class. And this work doesn't have to be limited to social studies class. We can embed these principles in all subjects, including mathematics.

5. Dismantling Racism

It is not enough to teach White children to embrace racial and cultural diversity. We've got to go beyond cultural competency. "Children must also develop individual and group identities that will recognize and resist the false notions of superiority and racial entitlement" (Derman-Sparks, Ramsey, and Edwards, 2011). Because today we have to teach our students how to be antiracist and how to work to dismantle racism actively.

Invest in meaningful dialogue that brings awareness to issues impacting both local and global communities. Additionally, a social justice-minded educator teaches their students to develop their own socio-cultural consciousness and advocacy skills so they can advocate for themselves and others.

For elementary students, that action may include students committing to do more than not bully or laugh at each other. They may also commit to bystander intervention by stepping in and helping their peers who they see are being mistreated. We can help our students take a stance instead of just teaching them to be kind to each other and not engage in activities that include mistreating others.

For secondary students, action may include writing their school board about their concerns and calls for change. A strong student group organized with a mission and objectives goes a long way toward challenging institutional practices that are unjust toward certain groups. On local and national scales, have students engage in lessons that address mass incarceration, police brutality, civil rights, immigration, racism, healthcare disparities, unequal pay issues, trauma, suicide, drug abuse, and women's rights, and privilege.

Sometimes we teach our students how to be kind to others, embrace diversity, and respect differences. We can go beyond that by teaching our White students how to be antiracist actively and do their part to support advocacy towards social justice and reform. The foundation for teaching our students how to engage in these practices actively is by helping students understand their White racial identity and positionality in society. From there, students may have a better understanding of the need for a multicultural approach in education and what they can do to find their voice and role in creating a socially just society.

Additional Resources
Framing Brave Conversations About Race and Ethnicity 8 Ways Teachers Can Address White Supremacy in the Classroom Teaching About Racism, Antisemitism and White Supremacy How Does Race Affect a Student's Math Education? Curriculum for White Americans to Educate Themselves on Race and Racism White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America Diversity Equity and Inclusion Activity for Project Based Learning Racism No Way: Anti-racism Activities, Years 3-12 How Should I Talk About Race in My Mostly White Classroom?
Learn more from Sheldon Eakins on his website, the Leading Equity Center, where he offers resources, courses, and his podcast, the Leading Equity Podcast.

Come back for more.
Join our mailing list and get weekly tips, tools, and inspiration that will make your teaching more effective and fun. You'll get access to our members-only library of free downloads, including 20 Ways to Cut Your Grading Time in Half, the e-booklet that has helped thousands of teachers save time on grading. Over 50,000 teachers have already joined-come on in.

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Why White Students Need Multicultural and Social Justice Education

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Sponsored by PowerSchool and ViewSonic These last few weeks have been especially difficult for me as the news continues to reflect that racism still exists in 2020. I've witnessed video footage of Ahmaud Arbery shot and killed while jogging, George Floyd murdered by the police, and Christian Cooper harassed while bird watching in Central Park.

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Between the World and Me [Coates, Ta-Nehisi, Coates, Ta-Nehisi] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Between the World and Me

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Photo by Steve Johnson on Unsplash

Sponsored by PowerSchool and ViewSonic

These last few weeks have been especially difficult for me as the news continues to reflect that racism still exists in 2020. I've witnessed video footage of Ahmaud Arbery shot and killed while jogging, George Floyd murdered by the police, and Christian Cooper harassed while bird watching in Central Park. As we think about the next generation of adults we are influencing, particularly our White students, now more than ever, we need to teach more than kindness.

As an equity advocate, I have lots of conversations about culturally responsive teaching and multicultural education. Not too long ago while I was consulting with an elementary school principal she said, "Multicultural Education is nice, but we are well over 90% White at my school."

A common myth regarding multicultural education is that it is about helping students of color see themselves within the content. But multicultural education is about more than just race: It refers to any form of learning or teaching that incorporates the histories, texts, values, beliefs, and perspectives of people from different cultural backgrounds ( Glossary of Education Reform). And even if the majority of your students are White, it doesn't mean we shouldn't teach from a multicultural perspective.

Don't get me wrong; I'm not advocating for a bunch of Kumbaya moments in the classroom. This is not a post about how we need to teach students to embrace diversity and love each other. It's about the influence we can and should have on our students. Dr. Gloria Ladson-Billings taught us that we teach what we value. Therefore, we are part of the problem if we refuse to teach about antiracism and speak out against police brutality. Our students look up to us as adults, and many of our students mimic our behavior. If we are silent around social justice matters, we send a loud message to our students about where we stand as these issues impact many of the communities we serve.

In fact, we need to go beyond multicultural education. In this 2017 interview, Zaretta Hammond differentiates between multicultural education and social justice education, which provides "a lens for the student, really being able to look at the world and seeing where things aren't fair or where injustice exists." To ensure the changes our society is hurting for, we need to give our White students both multicultural and social justice education. Additionally, Dr. James Banks, the father of multicultural education, advocates for educators to teach our students about social and civic action. Ensuring that students engage in multiple perspectives without coupling their learning with civic engagement does not complete the process of developing socially just citizens who are willing to take a stance against the mistreatment of others. We need to help our students find ways they can take action in response to what they have learned.

Going back to the principal I was speaking with about whether there was a need for multicultural education at her school, I was thinking, "This is why multicultural and social justice education is so important!" Even with her assumptions that because there wasn't a lot of racial representation at her school, does that mean the small percentage of students of color don't matter to her? If that's the case, what would her teachers say? Would they support her sentiments?

Why Multicultural Education is 100% Relevant in All-White Schools

"Whiteness" is Complex

When someone asks why multicultural education is needed at a predominately White school, an assumption is being made that White people are a homogenous group. But White people are as heterogeneous as other racial and ethnic groups: there's socioeconomic status, gender and sexual orientation, identity, religion, language, age, and disability, to name a few. All of those represent different cultures. Sometimes, when you're in a dominant culture and used to things being a certain way, you don't necessarily think about your ancestry or heritage and how things have changed over time. And because conditions have changed over time, it may appear that Whiteness is Whiteness, but there are so many different cultures embedded within that broad category.

I think it's essential that we help teach our White students about their ancestors and the origins of when their families first arrived in the United States. The languages, the cultures, the traditions, all those things don't necessarily have to be lost. They can be retrieved.

Let's go back to the 1790s, where the first census was started. With the first US Census, they classified race. The classifying of race allowed those in power to determine or allow a few rights: Who gets the right to get jobs? Who gets the right to marry? Who gets the right to own property? That's how the social construct of race started.

Above is a view of Europeans, or some of the first immigrants, who were coming from various countries. And if you look at the picture, they're White people, right? But they're coming from multiple countries. At this time, there were several languages represented. You had folks that came from Italy, Germany, Russia, England, and so on. There were all types of cultures coming into the United States.

There were also various forms of religions represented when the Europeans began to arrive in the US. In Russia, you had the Orthodox church. In England, you had the Anglican church. When they first came, they weren't willing to give up their culture and become this one White race. They held onto their traditions, values, and beliefs. But we see that over time, things have changed to where White supremacy and racial hierarchies began to form. Today, there are a lot of families who have European origins that may not necessarily speak the language from their original land of ancestry because those things might have been lost over generations.

Multicultural Literacy Is a Separate and Necessary Literacy

The concept of "literacy" is broad. Still, it can be divided into many different sub-categories. One of these is multicultural literacy, the ability to uncover biases relating to culture, and the skills to view the world through different cultural perspectives.

Dr. Robin DiAngelo says, "Historically reinforced ideologies such as individualism and color-blindness have left many White people racially illiterate but racially conscious when perceiving other racialized groups." So because they're in the dominant culture, they don't necessarily have to think about race, but they'll maybe notice racial issues that are not related to Whiteness.

In other words, maybe they might notice police brutality in a Black community. Perhaps they might see issues of race with Islamophobia and discrimination. But we want our students to do more than notice; responding to issues of racism, prejudice, and discrimination is essential.

Having literacy in this area is also key for equipping White students to participate more actively in conversations about racial justice. If they are not regularly exposed to these conversations, they are less likely to speak up on this topic. White friends and colleagues tell me all the time that they want to say something when racism and equity come up, but they often hold back because they don't know what to say or are afraid to say the wrong thing. With a higher level of multicultural literacy, our students will build more confidence.

What We've Been Doing Isn't Enough

Although multicultural education certainly isn't new, it's clear that what we've been doing up to this point hasn't been enough.

As recently as a few weeks ago, there have been instances of White people utilizing the police as a means to address their encounters with people of color. The underlying issue of racism is apparent in many of these instances. Discussing current events and helping White students understand why they should also be upset at discrimination and racism may prevent a continuous cycle of White people remaining silent and complicit when issues happen that do not directly impact them.

These conversations are essential to have. It's also critical to teach students about becoming allies and co-conspirators, especially at the middle and high school levels. It might be a little bit difficult with your first and second graders, and maybe your kindergartners, but I think there are some messages you could still portray to your students even at that age.

What Can Multicultural Education Teach Our White Students?

We've already established multicultural education goes beyond race. There's so much within the concept of "culture," and we must help our White students understand how race can impact them and how they can actively use whatever privilege they have to reduce issues of racism, discrimination, and bigotry.

1. Understanding Their Own Cultural and Ethnic Background

It's not uncommon for White people to say, Oh, I'm just White. I don't have a culture. We need to teach our White students about what their cultural background is and their ethnic backgrounds so they can understand and think about their language and religions going back to their ancestry. Lessons on their culture may help them start to understand how privilege and White supremacy began. So begin with going back and taking some time to help your students understand that. You can also work with students by exploring community history and cultural influence.

One of the things you can teach your students, your White students, is in history. Many White immigrants have been accused of marginalizing other White immigrants. For example, the Irish and Italians were mistreated, discriminated, and marginalized against by other White immigrants. If we can teach our White students how their ancestors might have perpetuated that oppression or perhaps were part of that oppression against each other, maybe that will help them understand a little bit how in 2020, oppression continues to exist to those who are not included in the dominant culture. They can kind of see how the "haves" and the "have nots" happened back then. One of the things we want to do is help students relate items from their background knowledge and be able to bring those to light.

2. Studying Implicit Bias in Everyday Language

Another thing we can do is discuss everyday language. How are words associated with white and black used? Words such as blackmail, blackballed, or blacklisted have different connotations than words like white labeled or whitelisted. We can have students examine how these words may spark negative perceptions based on their meanings and associations.

Consider how words such as "alien" or "immigrant" may trigger the thoughts of someone of Mexican descent. These types of stereotypes in our language may trigger our Latinx community. The same rule applies to phrases like "You should speak up more, you're so quiet" to an Asian student.

The language we use every day may not seem significant because of the implicit biases we have developed in our lives. The words we use daily are influenced by how we were raised, our social circle, and the media. We may not notice how some of the words we use may have adverse effects on particular groups of people (stereotypes, derogatory language, etc.). We can teach students about implicit bias and how to overcome bias in our language usage.

3. Examining Representation in Curriculum and Beyond

Let's take a look at our school curriculum. Have your students investigate how various cultural groups are represented in the school's curriculum. Lead these discussions with your students and have them understand it because a lot of times, that's not a thing we think about. When we are discussing representation in the school's curriculum, allow opportunities for a dialogue beyond heterosexual, cisgender, Christian-based educational norms. Instead, talk about subjects that aren't reflected, such as disabilities, and how they are depicted in the curriculum. How are people from the LGBTQ community portrayed or even acknowledged in the content? Chimamanda Adichie talks about the danger of a single story. We need to make sure that we can bring in various perspectives in our curriculum and instruction.

If students find minimal to no representation of certain groups in the curriculum, discuss ways to bring in a variety of multicultural perspectives. The website We Need Diverse Books is an excellent resource for building a more inclusive classroom library, and Milner published an article that discusses developing a multicultural curriculum for an all-White classroom.

From there, you can expand your communications by discussing popular culture and how various groups are represented in multiple media outlets such as the news, music, movies, and social media. Have them study or research certain groups and how the articles that come up and the titles of those articles. What do the reports say versus other articles about various groups?

4. Understanding and Recognizing Privilege

A combination of multicultural and social justice education can help students see the trouble with implicit racism and how even though they are not doing anything actively racist, they are still benefiting from a legacy of racism. Calling the cops to say that "an African American man is threatening me and my dog" is a result of White privilege. Knowing that Black people have historically been mistreated by law enforcement and using that knowledge to one's advantage is inhumane.

Teaching White students about power and privilege may be a touchy subject for some as White guilt and fragility may seep into the mindset of White teachers and students. However, we must learn to "disturb the comfortable and comfort the disturbed." Starting at a young age, we can help our students learn to understand that not everyone has access and the same opportunities as others. Students as young as six years old can learn about race and class. And this work doesn't have to be limited to social studies class. We can embed these principles in all subjects, including mathematics.

5. Dismantling Racism

It is not enough to teach White children to embrace racial and cultural diversity. We've got to go beyond cultural competency. "Children must also develop individual and group identities that will recognize and resist the false notions of superiority and racial entitlement" (Derman-Sparks, Ramsey, and Edwards, 2011). Because today we have to teach our students how to be antiracist and how to work to dismantle racism actively.

Invest in meaningful dialogue that brings awareness to issues impacting both local and global communities. Additionally, a social justice-minded educator teaches their students to develop their own socio-cultural consciousness and advocacy skills so they can advocate for themselves and others.

For elementary students, that action may include students committing to do more than not bully or laugh at each other. They may also commit to bystander intervention by stepping in and helping their peers who they see are being mistreated. We can help our students take a stance instead of just teaching them to be kind to each other and not engage in activities that include mistreating others.

For secondary students, action may include writing their school board about their concerns and calls for change. A strong student group organized with a mission and objectives goes a long way toward challenging institutional practices that are unjust toward certain groups. On local and national scales, have students engage in lessons that address mass incarceration, police brutality, civil rights, immigration, racism, healthcare disparities, unequal pay issues, trauma, suicide, drug abuse, and women's rights, and privilege.

Sometimes we teach our students how to be kind to others, embrace diversity, and respect differences. We can go beyond that by teaching our White students how to be antiracist actively and do their part to support advocacy towards social justice and reform. The foundation for teaching our students how to engage in these practices actively is by helping students understand their White racial identity and positionality in society. From there, students may have a better understanding of the need for a multicultural approach in education and what they can do to find their voice and role in creating a socially just society.

Additional Resources
Framing Brave Conversations About Race and Ethnicity 8 Ways Teachers Can Address White Supremacy in the Classroom Teaching About Racism, Antisemitism and White Supremacy How Does Race Affect a Student's Math Education? Curriculum for White Americans to Educate Themselves on Race and Racism White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America Diversity Equity and Inclusion Activity for Project Based Learning Racism No Way: Anti-racism Activities, Years 3-12 How Should I Talk About Race in My Mostly White Classroom?
Learn more from Sheldon Eakins on his website, the Leading Equity Center, where he offers resources, courses, and his podcast, the Leading Equity Podcast.

Come back for more.
Join our mailing list and get weekly tips, tools, and inspiration that will make your teaching more effective and fun. You'll get access to our members-only library of free downloads, including 20 Ways to Cut Your Grading Time in Half, the e-booklet that has helped thousands of teachers save time on grading. Over 50,000 teachers have already joined-come on in.

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Why White Students Need Multicultural and Social Justice Education

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Sponsored by PowerSchool and ViewSonic These last few weeks have been especially difficult for me as the news continues to reflect that racism still exists in 2020. I've witnessed video footage of Ahmaud Arbery shot and killed while jogging, George Floyd murdered by the police, and Christian Cooper harassed while bird watching in Central Park.

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1619 is not a year that most Americans know as a notable date in our country's history. Those who do are at most a tiny fraction of those who can tell you that 1776 is the year of our nation's birth. What if, however, we were to tell you that the moment that the country's defining contradictions first came into the world was in late August of 1619? That was when a ship arrived at Point Comfort in the British colony of Virginia, bearing a cargo of 20 to 30 enslaved Africans. Their arrival inaugurated a barbaric system of chattel slavery that would last for the next 250 years. This is sometimes referred to as the country's original sin, but it is more than that: It is the country's very origin.

Out of slavery - and the anti-black racism it required - grew nearly everything that has truly made America exceptional: its economic might, its industrial power, its electoral system, its diet and popular music, the inequities of its public health and education, its astonishing penchant for violence, its income inequality, the example it sets for the world as a land of freedom and equality, its slang, its legal system and the endemic racial fears and hatreds that continue to plague it to this day. The seeds of all that were planted long before our official birth date, in 1776, when the men known as our founders formally declared independence from Britain.

The goal of The 1619 Project is to reframe American history by considering what it would mean to regard 1619 as our nation's birth year. Doing so requires us to place the consequences of slavery and the contributions of black Americans at the very center of the story we tell ourselves about who we are as a country.

The 1619 Project began with the publication, in August 2019, of a special issue of The New York Times Magazine containing essays on different aspects of contemporary American life, from mass incarceration to rush-hour traffic, that have their roots in slavery and its aftermath. Each essay takes up a modern phenomenon, familiar to all, and reveals its history. The first, by the staff writer Nikole Hannah-Jones (from whose mind this project sprang), provides the intellectual framework for the project and can be read as an introduction.

Alongside the essays, you will find 17 literary works that bring to life key moments in American history. These works are all original compositions by contemporary black writers who were asked to choose events on a timeline of the past 400 years. The poetry and fiction they created is arranged chronologically throughout the issue, and each work is introduced by the history to which the author is responding.

In addition to these elements, we partnered with the Smithsonian's National Museum of African-American History and Culture to create a brief visual history of slavery. That is as good a place to start as any.

A word of warning: There is gruesome material in these stories, material that readers will find disturbing. That is, unfortunately, as it must be. American history cannot be told truthfully without a clear vision of how inhuman and immoral the treatment of black Americans has been. By acknowledging this shameful history, by trying hard to understand its powerful influence on the present, perhaps we can prepare ourselves for a more just future.

That is the hope of this project.

The Idea of America, by Nikole Hannah-Jones

Capitalism, by Matthew Desmond

A Broken Health Care System, by Jeneen Interlandi

Traffic, by Kevin M. Kruse

Undemocratic Democracy, by Jamelle Bouie

Medical Inequality, by Linda Villarosa

American Popular Music, by Wesley Morris

Sugar, by Khalil Gibran Muhammad

Mass Incarceration, by Bryan Stevenson

The Wealth Gap, by Trymaine Lee

Hope, a Photo Essay, by Djeneba Aduayom
400 Years: A Literary Timeline
Why Can't We Teach This? by Nikita Stewart

A Brief History of Slavery, by Mary Elliott and Jazmine Hughes
The 1619 Podcast
Jake Silverstein is editor in chief of The New York Times Magazine.

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1619 is not a year that most Americans know as a notable date in our country's history. Those who do are at most a tiny fraction of those who can tell you that 1776 is the year of our nation's birth.

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They view the success of black students as central to the success of their own teaching.

Editor's Note: In 1988, a teacher most commonly had 15 years of experience. In recent years, that number is closer to just three years leading a classroom. The "On Teaching" series focuses on the wisdom of veteran teachers.
Ask black students who their favorite teacher is, and they will joyfully tell you. Ask them what it is about their favorite teacher, and most will say some version of this: They know how to work with me. So much is in that statement. It means that these students want to work, that they see their teachers as partners in the learning process, and that they know the teacher-student relationship is one in which they both have power. In other words, black students know that they bring intellect to the classroom, and they know when they are seen-and not seen.

As the principal of San Francisco's Mission High School and an anti-racist educator for more than 30 years, I have witnessed countless black students thrive in classrooms where teachers see them accurately and show that they are happy to have them there. In these classes, students choose to sit in the front of the class, take careful notes, shoot their hands up in discussions, and ask unexpected questions that cause the teacher and other classmates to stop and think. Given the chance, they email, text, and call the teachers who believe in them. In short, these students are everything their families and community members have raised and supported them to be.

I have seen some of these very same students walk into another teacher's classroom, go to the last row of desks, and put their head down. I have seen them sit frozen in their seat, staring at an assignment-when earlier I had heard them make jokes, talk excitedly about the content of their history class, celebrate solving a vexing algebra equation, or shake a test tube with authority, waiting for a result. Their report cards often reveal this disparity in classroom experiences: A's and B's in classes where they feel valued and C's, D's, or even F's in classes where they don't.

When black students' academic strengths are overlooked, black students are marginalized. They are kept out of advanced courses, given bad grades, and sent to the dean's office. Over the years, the power that they initially bring to school is siphoned off by educators at every level of the educational system who do not respect, and in some cases do not wish to respect, the intellectual contributions of black students.

Anti-racist teachers take black students seriously. They create a curriculum with black students in mind, and they carefully read students' work to understand what they are expressing. This might sound fairly standard, but making black students feel valued goes beyond general "good teaching." It requires educators to view the success of black students as central to the success of their own teaching. This is a paradigm shift: Instead of only asking black students who are not doing well in class to start identifying with school, we also ask teachers whose black students are not doing well in their classes to start identifying with those students.

I spent the majority of my career in the classroom, and I loved it because-to do it well-it required that I call on all aspects of my humanity. Standing in front of my black students, I knew that it was my responsibility to invite them into the classroom and then to see, push, and protect them once they were there. Over the years, collaborating with other anti-racist educators, I co-developed an approach that was successful-and it showed in the students' attendance, grades, and quality of work.

We read articles and books, and we attend workshops centered around black pedagogy. That helps us examine cultural differences in discourse styles, so we can better understand black students' analytical approaches in essays. We learn how to integrate oral language into our curriculum, such as adding a debate unit or a poetry-recitation assignment, and to provide ample opportunities for students to work together. And we learn that nothing goes without saying and that praise and direction should be plentiful. In essence, we do what works for black students, which also works for all students.

Educators who are committed to black students use evidence in their own classrooms to find ways to improve. They analyze the assignments handed in, identifying ways in which their teaching reached-and didn't reach-all of their students. They recognize the brilliance of a black student's contribution to a class discussion and seize on it. They disaggregate data such as grades and attendance by ethnicity, look for patterns, and problematize their own practice-rather than assume that their students weren't motivated or sufficiently prepared to engage with challenging material. They ask themselves: Why did Taylor get a C on the final when he earned an A or a B on all of his other assignments, many of them equally demanding? Why is Vince silent in his group? What inspired Hile to write multiple drafts of her essay, each time asking for more detailed feedback? They seek support from colleagues who are effective teachers for all of their students, including black students, because they know that the changes they make to their teaching practice will have an impact on their students' achievement. All of this makes them better educators.

Teachers who do not value black students will shift the discussion away from their own practice when they see that black students are not succeeding in their classes. They will create bonds that eventually turn into factions with fellow educators who are also unwilling to change their approach.

To fight against systemic racism means to buck norms. Educators at every level must be willing to be uncomfortable in their struggle for black students, recognizing students' power and feeding it by honoring their many contributions to our schools. Teachers need to insist on using their own power to consistently reveal and examine their practice, and seek input from black stakeholders; they must invite black parents to the table, listen to their concerns and ideas, and act on them. Principals must clearly and consistently communicate the anti-racist vision for their school, create professional-development opportunities for staff, recognize teachers who successfully teach all of their students, and intervene when they see problems. District-level administrators must more firmly root their anti-racist messaging in black students' school experiences, making expectations for educators clear. And school-board members need to listen to educators who have shown efficacy in educating black students. They must enact policies that hold us all accountable to our black families. We must make demands of ourselves and work together in our communities.

The only measure of our anti-racist teaching will be the academic success of all of our students, including our black students.
This article is part of our project "On Teaching," which is supported by grants from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the Spencer Foundation, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and the Panta Rhea Foundation.

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What Anti-racist Teachers Do Differently

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They view the success of black students as central to the success of their own teaching. Editor's Note: In 1988, a teacher most commonly had 15 years of experience. In recent years, that number is closer to just three years leading a classroom. The "On Teaching" series focuses on the wisdom of veteran teachers.

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So You Want to Talk About Race [Oluo, Ijeoma] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. So You Want to Talk About Race

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critical race theory is a lens. here are 11 ways looking through it might refine your view of history - cnn

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Critical race theory is a lens. Here are 11 ways looking through it might refine your understanding of history

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Critical race theory is just that -- a theory -- but the term has been weaponized, with its most extreme critics alleging that merely studying the theory is racist.

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An IG platform dedicated to uplifting the voices of Black people in and around the Ivy League

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An IG platform dedicated to uplifting the voices of Black people in and around the Ivy League

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the warmth of other suns: the epic story of america's great migration

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ethnic studies - african american studies - general

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african americans - migrations - history - 20th century

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The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration

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In this epic, beautifully written masterwork, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Isabel Wilkerson chronicles one of the great untold stories of American history: the decades-long migration of black citizens who fled the South for northern and western cities, in search of a better life.NATIONAL B...

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By Carlin Borsheim-Black and Sophia Tatiana Sarigianides, authors of Letting Go of Literary Whiteness: Antiracist Literature Instruction for White Students

Sophia has a framed poster in her living room of Mark Twain performing at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, a sign of how much she has revered Twain's humor, and, yes, his treatment of racism, for decades. This love of Twain and Huckleberry Finn began during her junior year of high school, when she learned this adulation from her English teacher, who inspired her to teach English herself. Via setting analysis, this teacher traced the increase in human cruelty as Huck and Jim descended further south on the Mississippi. She helped students notice the humor of Twain's satire in the novel through Huck's colorful phrasings. And Sophia's teacher emphasized the poignancy of Huck's decision to help Jim even if he believed that it meant going to hell. Sophia remembers feeling so good "participating" as a reader in Huck's noble decision to help Jim, joining other readers of this canonical text who understood the importance of the scene.

Many White teachers, like us, enter the field enamored of characters like Huck for what they allow us to feel as White people, especially in relation to people of color: heroic, on the right side of history, doing our part to combat racism through our teaching of literature. This is partly why so many of us reach for a text like Huckleberry Finn when we think about how it is that we (think) we address racism through our literature instruction. It feels good to "join" Huck in his decision to help Jim. And pointing out this decision through our teaching feels like we are doing work towards antiracist ends.

A critical focus on Whiteness, however, helps us to see that Huck, like other celebrated literary characters (e.g., Atticus), is a White savior character whose decision to go to hell on Jim's behalf gets lauded through our teaching in part because it represents White desires to feel and be seen as a "good White." From this perspective, too much of a focus on this moment-of Huck's seemingly selfless decision to save a runaway slave-shields so much more that is going on in the text that, without sufficient attention through our teaching, may work to perpetuate racism.

For Sophia-and for all White teachers, "Letting Go of Literary Whiteness" means recognizing these White desires, White investments and effects serving White interests that are at work when we select texts, engage in class discussion or literary analysis, and design assessments, even when we think we are doing so towards antiracist ends. "Letting Go of Literary Whiteness" involves beginning the work of refiguring our White racial identities so we can teach literature that pursues antiracist goals.

So what do we "let go of" in "letting go of literary whiteness"?

1. It involves a letting go of a confidence about our teaching of literature as White teachers or in White-dominant contexts when we hope for or intend antiracist outcomes without a sustained, critical consideration of the role of Whiteness in our moves and decisions.

2. It involves a letting go of curriculum that has for too-long served White interests.

3. It involves a letting go of pedagogy that may perpetuate or reinforce Whiteness rather than upend it, even when our intentions are the opposite.

4. It involves losses, a letting go of activities, interpretations, assessments that we may have enjoyed and appreciated, perhaps in part because they support White identities and perspectives.

Disruption hurts. Participating in this process of disruption as a teacher and a White person will involve losses, a "letting go" of ties to a curriculum and a pedagogy of Whiteness that has for too long served White interests and stood in the way of antiracist efforts. What we hope becomes evident through such perceived losses tied to literary texts and characters-and portrayals of heroic Whiteness on behalf of Black people-are the enormous gains towards larger racial equality for all that we get to participate in through our work in English classes.

"Letting Go of Literary Whiteness" involves being racially literate enough to see when our proclivities as White readers "unintentionally" perpetuate racism as we strive to teach our students to love literature. While the "letting go" signals the requisite losses-or perceived losses-that will come with revising the way we see key texts and characters in our curriculum, there is much that can replace such losses. Antiracist literature instruction is a set of practices that bolsters literary analysis with a more robust treatment of the race-related issues already in texts; guides the design of assessments to reinforce the need for racial literacy as a component of literary analysis; and offers teachers and students lenses through which to see and to respond to literature in ways that increase racial literacy and race-consciousness, especially for White students likely unaccustomed to doing so.

Featured Image: Huckleberry Finn with rabbit, public domain via Wikimedia commons.

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What are we letting go of in 'Letting Go of Literary Whiteness'?

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By Carlin Borsheim-Black and Sophia Tatiana Sarigianides, authors of Letting Go of Literary Whiteness: Antiracist Literature Instruction for White Students Sophia has a framed poster in her living room of Mark Twain performing at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, a sign of how much she has revered Twain's humor, and, yes, his treatment of racism, for decades.

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Developing Critical Consciousness through Angie Thomas' The Hate U Give

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Assessment and reflection for this lesson is less about feedback on development of specific measurable skills and is instead more centered on what and how students are thinking about the issues in and around the novel. The following ideas support students in thinking across texts and considering how their own lives might be influenced by what they read.

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Updated: April 4
With the much-anticipated April 3 opening of a new Broadway revival starring Denzel Washington, "A Raisin in the Sun" is again in the spotlight - though for teachers the groundbreaking play has been a classroom staple for decades. First performed on Broadway in 1959, "Raisin" last appeared there 10 years ago, then starring Phylicia Rashad, Sean Combs, Audra McDonald and Sanaa Lathan, a production that was later adapted for television.

The play remains a potent touchstone, still speaking to viewers about race, gender roles, family, hope and desperation, capitalism, the American dream and so much more.

This edition of our Text to Text series was written by Audrey Fisch, a professor of English and elementary and secondary education at New Jersey City University, and Susan Chenelle, who teaches English and journalism at University Academy Charter High School in Jersey City, N.J.

Together, they are writing a book series on using informational text to teach literature - a series that has much in common with what we do on The Learning Network in all our Language Arts lesson plans, but especially via our Text to Text series. The first volume of their series, "Using Informational Text to Teach 'To Kill a Mockingbird,'" will be published in April; the second will focus on "Raisin."

Below, the authors match a famous scene from the play with a 2013 Times article on the persistence of the problem of housing discrimination, a central theme in "Raisin" and an issue about which students are likely to have little background knowledge.

Text to Text | 'A Raisin in the Sun' and 'Discrimination in Housing Against Nonwhites Persists Quietly'

By Susan Chenelle and Audrey Fisch
Background: An introduction to the play by the Westport Country Playhouse, which staged a production directed by Phylicia Rashad in 2012.

One of the underlying sources for "A Raisin in the Sun" is Lorraine Hansberry's personal experience with housing discrimination. In the 1930s, her father, Carl Hansberry, bought a house in the South Park neighborhood of Chicago.

The house was "protected" by a racially restrictive covenant, which legally prevented ownership or occupancy of property by blacks. The covenant was enforced, the Hansberry family was evicted and Carl Hansberry sued. The case made it to the United States Supreme Court; Hansberry v. Lee (1940), however, did not overturn the constitutionality of racially restrictive covenants. It wasn't until 1948, in Shelley v. Kraemer, that the court would find such covenants discriminatory.

In "Raisin," the Younger family does not face a racially restrictive covenant when they buy a house in the white neighborhood of Clybourne Park. But they face two different threats.

From the opening scene of the play, we are made aware of the violence - "Set off another bomb yesterday" - menacing the Youngers and their dreams. The Youngers also face the coercion of the Clybourne Park Neighborhood Association. Unable to keep the Youngers out of the neighborhood through legal restrictions, Karl Lindner, a representative of the neighborhood association, has been sent to buy the Youngers out. Especially disturbing in the scene below is his attempt to justify his behavior, explaining that racial segregation is in everyone's best interest.

We match this scene from "Raisin" with a 2013 article on the present state and persistence of housing discrimination in the United States.

Shaila Dewan, reporting several studies based on undercover investigations, finds that the United States has yet to achieve real equity in housing. Black couples and white couples seeking properties to rent or buy continue to receive unequal treatment.

According to Shaun Donovan, secretary of the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development, "Although we've come a long way from the days of blatant, in-your-face housing injustice, discrimination still persists."

Key Question: Do we all have the right to buy a home of our own, wherever we want?

Activity Sheets: As students read and discuss, they might take notes using one or more of the three graphic organizers (PDFs) we have created for our Text to Text feature:

Text 1: Excerpt from 'A Raisin in the Sun,' by Lorraine Hansberry, Act 2, Scene 3

Note: We have excerpted only a small portion of the scene below. Please use the full text of Lindner's visit to the Youngers' home in Act 2, Scene 3.

LINDNER: Yes - that's the way we feel out in Clybourne Park. And that's why I was elected to come here this afternoon and talk to you people. Friendly like, you know, the way people should talk to each other and see if we couldn't find some way to work this thing out. As I say, the whole business is a matter of caring about the other fellow. Anybody can see that you are a nice family of folks, hard working and honest I'm sure. (BENEATHA frowns slightly, quizzically, her head tilted regarding him) Today everybody knows what it means to be on the outside of something. And of course, there is always somebody who is out to take advantage of people who don't always understand.

WALTER: What do you mean?

LINDNER: Well - you see our community is made up of people who've worked hard as the dickens for years to build up that little community. They're not rich and fancy people; just hard-working, honest people who don't really have much but those little homes and a dream of the kind of community they want to raise their children in. Now, I don't say we are perfect and there is a lot wrong in some of the things they want. But you've got to admit that a man, right or wrong, has the right to want to have the neighborhood he lives in a certain kind of way. And at the moment the overwhelming majority of our people out there feel that people get along better, take more of a common interest in the life of the community, when they share a common background. I want you to believe me when I tell you that race prejudice simply doesn't enter into it. It is a matter of the people of Clybourne Park believing, rightly or wrongly, as I say, that for the happiness of all concerned that our Negro families are happier when they live in their own communities.

BENEATHA: (with a grand and bitter gesture) This, friends, is the Welcoming Committee!
Continue this scene through Lindner's speech that ends, "People can get awful worked up when they feel that their whole way of life and everything they've ever worked for is threatened." Text 2: Excerpt from 'Discrimination in Housing Against Nonwhites Persists Quietly, U.S. Study Finds,' by Shaila Dewan (The New York Times, June 11, 2013)
Discrimination against blacks, Hispanics and Asians looking for housing persists in subtle forms, according to a new national study commissioned by the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development. Though less likely to face overt obstacles, like being refused an appointment to see a home, minority customers were shown fewer available units than whites with similar qualifications, the study found.

They were also asked more questions about their finances, according to the study, and given fewer offers of help financing a loan.

"Although we've come a long way from the days of blatant, in-your-face housing injustice, discrimination still persists," Shaun Donovan, the department's secretary, said in a telephone conference on Tuesday unveiling the findings. "And just because it has taken on a hidden form doesn't make it any less harmful."

In each of the study's 8,000 tests, one white and one minority tester of the same gender and age, posing as equally well-qualified renters or buyers, visited the same housing provider or agent. In more than half the test cases, both testers were shown the same number of apartments or homes. But in cases where one tester was shown more homes or apartments, the white tester was usually favored, leading to a higher number of units shown to whites overall.

In one test, a white customer looking for a two-bedroom apartment was shown a two-bedroom and a one-bedroom and given applications for both, while a Hispanic customer who arrived two hours later was told that nothing was available. In another, a real estate agent refused to meet with a black tester who was not prequalified for a loan, while a white tester was given an appointment without being asked if she had prequalified.

The study was the fourth of its kind since 1977, when the results showed a starker form of discrimination known as door-slamming. In 17 percent of the cases in that study, whites were offered a unit when blacks were told that none were available. In 2012, when the new study was conducted, the vast majority of testers of all races were able to at least make an appointment to see a recently advertised house or apartment.

But once they arrived, they were given fewer options. Over all, black prospective renters were presented 11 percent fewer rentals than whites, Hispanics about 12 percent fewer rentals and Asians about 10 percent fewer rentals. As prospective buyers, blacks were presented 17 percent fewer homes and Asians 15 percent fewer homes, but Hispanics were given the opportunity to see roughly the same number of homes as whites.

White testers also were more frequently offered lower rents, told that deposits and other move-in costs were negotiable, or were quoted a lower price. Taking into account fees, deposits and rents, apartments were more likely to cost whites slightly less in the first year of rental than blacks might pay. ...

Even subtle discrimination like steering minorities to certain neighborhoods or failing to offer them the homes most likely to increase in value would result in substantially weaker accumulation of wealth, said John Taylor, the president and chief executive of the National Community Reinvestment Coalition, which seeks to improve housing in underserved communities.

Polling shows that many Americans think financially stable customers have the same opportunities to obtain good housing regardless of race, he added.

"A study like this," he said, "helps you understand that there really is very different treatment occurring when it comes to things like housing and lending."
For Writing or Discussion:

1. What strategy does Lindner use in order to persuade the Youngers to accept the association's proposal? What is appealing about his argument? What is offensive about his suggestion? How does Walter respond to his efforts? Why do you think Walter responds as he does?

2. What forms of housing discrimination persist today, according to a recent study discussed in the article? How has housing discrimination changed since 1977? What justifications do you think people use to defend and continue such practices? How would you compare a real estate agent today who doesn't show an African-American family a house for sale in a white neighborhood with Lindner and the neighborhood association in "Raisin"? How have things changed? How have they remained the same?

3. How does the social and racial context in which housing discrimination occurs today compare with the circumstances in which the Youngers experience it? Why, for example, do the Youngers want to get out of their apartment and move to a house in Clybourne Park? What specifically about the house and the neighborhood of Clybourne Park is attractive to the Youngers? What does the play suggest are the reasons that they buy a house outside of "their own community"? Do you think people today are still drawn to homes outside of "their own community" for similar reasons?

4. Walter Younger's life insurance policy represents a substantial financial windfall for the Youngers. Mama's decision to use some of that money to buy a home in Clybourne Park represents the classic realization of the American dream. Use the article on housing discrimination to consider how achieving the American dream by purchasing a home can be complicated by race. Why, according to the article, is it more difficult for some to achieve this dream? And what kinds of long-term economic effects does housing discrimination have, according to the article?

5. As the article explains, housing discrimination has been the subject of several studies over the years by the federal government through the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Why do you think the federal government would study housing discrimination? What do you think is significant about the results of the research? What, if anything, do you think the government should do based on the results?

6. Why do you think housing discrimination existed in the American past? Why do you think housing discrimination continues today? What do you think the existence of housing discrimination says about contemporary American society? Do you think we all should have the right to buy a home of our own, wherever we want? What do you think should be done to ensure that right?

Going Further:
Imagining a 1963 Conversation: In 1963, Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy met with several prominent African-Americans (PFD), including Lorraine Hansberry, the author James Baldwin, and the actress-singer Lena Horne, to discuss segregation in schools and other sources of racial tension building in the North. The article notes that the meeting was "secret" and that Kennedy chose to meet with these artists as opposed to civil rights activists.

What conclusions can you draw about the state of race relations in the United States at the time? What do you think about Mr. Kennedy's strategy? Based on your reading of "A Raisin in the Sun," imagine the conversation between Lorraine Hansberry and Robert F. Kennedy. What suggestions might the playwright have had for the attorney general? How do you think Mr. Kennedy might have reacted to Ms. Hansberry and her ideas?

Hurricane Sandy and Housing Discrimination: In a 2013 editorial, the Times editorial board reports on charges that "black and Hispanic citizens" who lost their homes in Hurricane Sandy faced discrimination. What does this editorial suggest about the continuing legacy of housing discrimination that is featured in "A Raisin in the Sun"? Imagine you are a civil rights lawyer working for the Fair Share Housing Center. How might you tie the issue of Sandy recovery aid to the larger history of housing discrimination in this country?

School Segregation, Then and Now: Broaden your understanding of racial segregation in the United States. Use The New York Times or the Internet to research school segregation in the 1950s and 1960s. Compare your findings with articles like this one or this one from the 2012 Times series "A System Divided" and the opinions expressed in the Room for Debate post "Is Segregation Back in U.S. Public Schools?," which was published just after the 58th anniversary of the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education U.S. Supreme Court decision that declared segregation in schools unconstitutional.

Why does segregation in schools persist to the extent that it does so many years after it was declared unconstitutional? How are students affected by attending schools that are largely segregated? What do you think the relationship is between school segregation and housing discrimination?

'Raisin': 'A Landmark Lesson in Being Black'? In this 1999 article, "A Landmark Lesson in Being Black," Michael Anderson describes the effect of the 1959 Broadway debut of "A Raisin in the Sun":

But until that evening, Broadway had never seen a play written by a black woman, nor a play with a black director, nor a commercially produced drama about black life, rather than musicals or comedy. The Broadway premiere of "A Raisin in the Sun" was as much a milestone in the nation's social history as it was in American theater. "Never before," commented James Baldwin, "had so much of the truth of black people's lives been seen onstage."

Mr. Anderson also details how Lorraine Hansberry came to write the play, and the long struggle involved in raising the funds to produce it on Broadway. Do you think the play still carries such importance? Is it still a "landmark lesson" in the "truth of black people's lives"? Why or why not?
From Sidney Poitier to Sean Combs:
Two years after its Broadway premiere, "A Raisin in the Sun" appeared in movie theaters, starring Sidney Poitier and Ruby Dee. In the trailer for the 1961 film, the producer David Susskind provides a lengthy introduction that describes the awards the play received and the importance of its story before any scenes from the movie are shown.

Compare this to the introduction Sean Combs provides before the trailer, embedded above, for his 2008 made-for-TV version. What is similar and what is different about each of these introductions? Why do you think Mr. Susskind and Mr. Combs created them? What purposes do they serve?

"The Raisin Cycle": Lorraine Hansberry's play has inspired a number of reimaginings. Bruce Norris's 2011 Pulitzer Prize-winning "Clybourne Park" is both a prequel and sequel to "Raisin." The first act centers on the white family and their decision to sell their house in the all-white neighborhood of Clybourne Park to the Youngers. The second act centers on a white family buying the same house in what has become an all-black neighborhood, and shows the response they encounter from a black community worried about gentrification. Kwame Kwei-Armah's work, "Beneatha's Place," focuses on Beneatha's life in Africa in the first act, and then, about 50 years later, on her life at a California university. As Artistic Director of CenterStage in Baltimore, Mr. Kwei-Armah staged the three plays together in what he called "The Raisin Cycle."

If you could reimagine a moment in connection with "Raisin," what moment would you choose? Would you want to think about Big Walter and his life before the play begins? Would you be interested in drawing out the life that Travis Younger might have faced coming of age during the height of the Civil Rights Era? Write a "missing scene" in which you add your voice and vision to the Raisin Cycle somehow. Then, write a brief explanation of your creative choices. What inspired your decisions? How did you draw on your understanding of "Raisin" in what you wrote?

Update: April 4: A New Broadway Revival

Ben Brantley begins his review of this show by writing, "The spark of rebellion, the kind that makes a man stand up and fight, has almost been extinguished in Walter Lee Younger." In fact, he writes, "this production of "Raisin" makes clearer than any I've seen before [that] Walter inhabits a world that ages men like him fast."

How, according to this critic, does the production make audiences feel it is "happening in the present tense, in our own world of recessionary anxieties"? If you were to create a Text to Text pairing of your own that matched some scene, moment or line from the play with something in the news today, what would you choose? Why?
More Resources:
Times Topics Page | Lorraine Hansberry

New York Times | A Raisin in the Sun (1961) Film Overview
New York Times 2008 TV Review | A Tale of Race and Family and a $10,000 Question
New York Times 1965 Obituary | Lorraine Hansberry, 34, Dies (PDF)
New York Times 2014 Article | 'Raisin in the Sun' Exhibit Opens at New York Public Library New York Times 2014 Article | A New Website Dedicated to Lorraine Hansberry Learning Network Lesson | Economic Inequality in America: Developing a New War on Poverty Learning Network Lesson | Keeping the Dream Alive: Exploring the Lives and Works of Black American Playwrights Learning Network Classic Lit Collection

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housing and urban development department

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Text to Text | 'A Raisin in the Sun' and 'Discrimination in Housing Against Nonwhites Persists Quietly'

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Updated: April 4 With the much-anticipated April 3 opening of a new Broadway revival starring Denzel Washington, "A Raisin in the Sun" is again in the spotlight - though for teachers the groundbreaking play has been a classroom staple for decades.