Being an Antiracist Educator Part 2: Always Educating

For part one of my Being an Antiracist Educator series, click here.

In my last post on being an Antiracist educator, I wrote that there is no checklist.  That being an Antiracist teacher, had to come from being an Antiracist person and activist.  There is another part to being an Antiracist teacher that is important to know— as an Antiracist educator, you are always educating.

As a teacher this is a key part of your activism.  You can use the practical and tangible skill you have to bring about real change.  Yes, even (maybe especially) if you are a white teacher.  Let me explain:

There is a real emotional toll on people of colour doing the heavy lifting of teaching for change.  When I talk about Antiracism, as a black woman, I am actively trying to convince people of my worth, my humanity.  It is painful, sometimes soul destroying, but important work.  Work I often (including right now) do for no pay, and with great psychic and spiritual cost to myself.  More, racism isn’t a system that me or other people of colour created.  It is a system we are plagued by and victimized with- but for a very long time, we were the ones that fought to teach others about its abuses.  For too long, white people had seen themselves outside of racism, not as its beneficiaries, or as an active part of it.

But- recently, I have seen some momentum in teacher’s willingness to acknowledge racist systems, and educate themselves to be better teachers and better people.  And that’s heartening.  Now that people are learning, the next part, the more difficult part happens.  Sharing that learning.

And this is the key/ challenge to being an Antiracist educator- you are always educating.

In my classroom, I take every opportunity to engage my students by talking about some problematic opinions they have and teaching them about that.  For example, one of my students didn’t get the “big deal about Residential schools.” And that led to an inquiry about Residential School and Truth and Reconciliation.  But, I don’t only educate in my classroom.  As an Antiracist teacher, I teach everywhere.  It is the crux of my activism, as a teacher and as an Antiracist activist.

I would argue, that to be a true Antiracist teacher, you must be willing to teach antiracism everywhere.

Anyone who knows me in person (or has access to my social media) knows that I use my voice and forums for Antiracist educating any chance I get.  Just this week, a friend sent me a picture of a sign that she was having trouble describing why it didn’t seem right to her.  In Antiracist teacher fashion, I posted the picture and an analysis of why its a problem.  (To see the photo I and explanation, click here.)  I saw that conversation and photo as an opportunity to educate people around me.  As Antiracist educators, we need to see those tough conversations as an opportunity for activism, and education.