Thankfully, (and finally, I would add) many educators are looking to talk about racism and teach antiracism in their classes. The movement for this change is welcome by people of colour like me, and like many of our students. I remember the sigh of relief in one of my grade 8 classes, when I told them that for the week, we were going to talk about social justice issues.
(That year, my school was having some serious issues with anti-semitism, islamophobia and a predominately white student body using the n-word for some reason. Even though I was a new teacher, my activist self just could not let any of it go unchecked, even if the other staff and admin were dismissive of what was happening.)
That sigh of relief came not only from my BIPOC students, but from some of my white students who knew that the issues we were having were wrong- but they lacked the tools to talk about, and do something about it.
And that what teaching antiracism is really about-- providing the tool and language for students to become engaged anti-oppression allies.
There are many right ways of leading lessons and discussions about anti-racism. I have a post here about navigating difficult conversations about antiracism, and here about being an antiracist educator.
The list of things you could do when teaching about antiracism is long, and can be found on great sites like TeachingTolerance.org. What this post tackles are the things you should ABSOLUTELY NOT DO in you classroom if you are teaching antiracism.
1. Don't ignore race.
I often hear the very problematic statement from teachers that they don't "see race." Or that there is "one race, the human race." The worst thing that a teacher can do is pretend that race doesn't exist or doesn't matter. To be frank, as a person of colour, race effects the way I live everyday. For our students of color, it is the same, whether or not they realize it yet. For younger students, that racism they live is difficult to notice because it is systemic and part of the systems they are part of, like school, or culture. For older students, they can see, or have learned about ho race has effected their daily lives. Ignoring that is ignoring their experiences with racism; and this creates a cultural of un-safety in school. I think it could be very powerful for a BIPOC student to hear someone they might admire recognize some of their struggles. If you can't sympathize with your students, they lease you could do is empathize. Recognizing that race is something that effects us and defines us (whether or not we want it to) is important.
2. Don't assume that communities of colour are monolithic.
There are many different groups of Indigenous peoples and nations all with their own languages and customs. There are many groups of Black people with different histories and experiences. For example, my understanding of my race is very much shaped by my family's history as descendants of enslaved peoples in the US. That experience is different from Black people from the African continent, or descendants from enslaved peoples from other parts of the world.
So, when you are teaching a specific story in class, be specific. If you are reading about an Indigenous person's experience, don't generalize or stereotype-- which I have done, and is easy to do. It is more difficult to be specific and requires more knowledge to do so, but it is crucial and helps us be respectful of the people's stories we are sharing.
3. Don't deny your own identity and experience.
If you are a white teacher, that's cool- own that! If not, that's also cool- own that! Everybody has a race. A little louder for the folks in the back EVERYBODY HAS A RACE. And that race effects how we live and move through the world. For some folks, that race is not a hindrance, and for others it is. Its not any of our faults- it is how our society has developed. But now, we all have unlearning to do and reshaping of our world to start. All of us. Including me. For example, as someone who is perceived as able-bodied, I often overlook issues of ability- and this is something I need to do better with. We all have things we need to do better. And that's ok. We are starting with learning. Its ok to own it. In fact, I would argue that's the first step.
4. Don't teach that racism is something only bad people do.
This kind of goes with number 3. Being complicit in racism doesn't mean you're a bad person. It just means you're a person. Who lives in a society. That developed long before we got here. Racism is a system, with different levels of engagement. It is complicated, and covert and we all have a part in it.
For example, I recognize that as an institution, education is systemically racist-- but I am a teacher, and a representative of that system, and therefore complicit in that racism. Its a bitter pill to swallow being a BIPOC teacher working for a system that I know made me feel isolated and unimportant as a child. But, I also know that recognizing my role in education is an opportunity to change it. Being part of racist systems is something that was foisted onto us. How we choose to engage with those systems makes us good or bad people.
5. Don't ignore the impact of unintentional harm.
If you opened a door and accidentally hit a person on the other side of that door, what would you do? Would you respond with "why are you hurt? I didn't mean to hit you with the door?' Of course not. You would apologize and move more carefully in the future.
Teacher often assume that their good intentions bear more weight than the unintended consequences. If you cause unintentional racial harm while teaching, you apologize, do some more learning and be more careful in the future.
6. Don't ignore students' racial trauma.
Racial trauma is passed across generations, and can include direct and indirect experiences of systemic racism. For example, a study found that the trauma of the Holocaust is passed on through survivors' genes. As a more personal example, my father's experience of racial segregation in the US South, is something that formed how was raised. Being antiracist is not only about challenging racism, bt supporting people who have been traumatize by it. One way to do this is to provide trigger warning before showing videos that may be difficult for some viewers to watch.
Another way is to be careful with the anti-racism activities we do with our classes. Avoid any activity that models the Privilege Walk activity in the link. Several articles have been written about why this activity is problematic for the participants. (See this article, and this one.) I remember my class in teacher's college made us do this activity. I remember being stuck on the back wall with 2 other black students, and all of us being resentful that our experience with racism was the tool for which the white students can learn about their privilege. Sure it's visually powerful, but as author Meg Bolger writes "not all moments that are powerful are helpful or good." The cost for the learning of my white, middle class classmates was my discomfort and isolation.
7. Don't avoid topics because they are uncomfortable.
I think I said it best in my post on navigating tough conversations:
[T]he key to navigating a tough conversation on race: it is uncomfortable. Sometime very uncomfortable. Its going to be, because we are all part of racist systems in society. Everyone has implicit biases that form our opinion and values. We all have privileges and oppressions because of the multiplicity and intersectionality of our identities. Culturally, we shy away from conversations that are uncomfortable- that's why all of us know the saying that one shouldn't talk about "politics or religion." But we are all part of politics- we need to talk about it to shape our society into what we want it to be. So, even though its uncomfortable, we need to talk through issue like oppression. And we need to be okay with being uncomfortable (and vulnerable) in these conversations. The more we experience discomfort, the more equipped we will be to have these very important conversations with each other.
Avoiding these actions with help mitigate some of the harm teacher unintentionally cause when teaching about sensitive issues like social justice. Leading these lessons is difficult, and fraught; but I think they are necessary and important not only to our students, but to our future. We are all learning to be better equipped to fight racism, and as teachers, leading discussions and lessons like these are key not only to our own activism, but to our own learning.
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