This isn’t your average school year. There are politicians and media personalities who are fanning the flames of racial hatred, their words seeping out to kids through the news. Educators are grappling with the aftermath of Charlottesville, and we have undocumented students who feel threatened by anti-immigrant policies coming from state capitols and Washington, D.C.
I asked teachers on Facebook, “What sorts of conversations around race have you been witnessing (or facilitating) at school this fall?” One Washington state high school teacher described starting a group for women of color, where “the girls were able to speak freely about any issue they wanted to discuss.” Another educator led discussions about the “taking a knee” protests in the NFL. In some social studies classes, said the teachers, they talk about race every day, in many ways. “We have also been discussing the diversity of Native American communities across the country and have several students with different tribal connections,” said one.
Students have questions and concerns, and they want to discuss these issues. But what role can educators play in modeling civil discourse without allowing their own blind spots and biases to get in the way? Tricky business, especially for those who live in very white parts of the country. “White folk initiating conversations on race…the road to nowhere,” said one teacher of color. “Go get connected with a marginalized group and listen.”
[For more on this story by AMY L. EVA, go to https://greatergood.berkeley.e...s_race_in_classrooms]
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