Persistence, Not Performance

As a half Korean, half white, cis gendered woman, I recognize that I have a lot of privilege in the world. As race came to the forefront (once again), I worried that my voice might not be a welcome one. There is a particular way in the US that Asians and Blacks have been pitted against one another (read about it here or here or in The Making of Asian America by Erika Lee) and so that concerned me, too. Who am I to speak up now? What right do I have? However, as I watched protests and rallies, demonstrations that went well and so many that did not, I realized that I would not stay silent.

HEARTS logo, two interlocking hearts with six colored circles (one for each of the guiding principles) making up one leg of the larger heart.

My work for the last 8 years has been around trauma informed schools (TIS), with a focus on what educators can do to reach students who have experienced trauma – with strategies that benefit everyone in the school community. Our program, Healthy Environments and Response to Trauma in Schools (HEARTS), is a whole-school prevention and intervention model. I know there are million and one trauma trainings in the world now, and one way that HEARTS differs is that we explicitly address Cultural Humility and Equity, the ways that racism, sexism, ableism and other structural oppressions can be experienced as trauma, and what educators can do in the face of that.

Early on in my work I presented to an engaged group of educators, who participated actively all day. They asked questions and shared their own strategies they had been using. I thought I was doing great! At the end of the day, I looked at the evaluations and found that several people had written, “This was a great training! But I don’t know why she talked about race.”

That was early on in my work as a presenter, and I realized that I had not done it well. I had not drawn the line between race and education for them at least in part because I was worried about doing it explicitly, if I was the right person or if they would want to hear it.

I am here to be explicit now.

Pic shows Fannie Lou Hamer testifying at the Democratic Party convention in Atlantic City in 1964

I talk about race because I believe what Fannie Lou Hamer said, “Nobody’s free until everybody’s free.” I talk about systemic racism over and over again because I know this world cannot afford to lose even one person to its pernicious effects. We all benefit when the world is equitable.

I do it in schools because for Black children, school is often the first place they personally encounter systemic oppression, as individuals. When teachers comment on the spelling of their names, or are unwilling to learn to pronounce those names. When educators assume that Black boys talk too much, aren’t able to pay attention, or can’t sit still. When staff assume that Black girls are the ones who started the scuffle on the playground.

That is why it is imperative that all educators, from superintendents to those staff people we call on in a crisis (but often pay the least), must do this work. This is not about “not being a racist.” Being a racist is not a static character trait (more about that in How to Be An Anti-Racist, by Ibram X Kendi). We live in a racist country and we ALL do and say and think racist things, because it is part of the fabric of our systems. It is not easy. We must work to be anti-racist.

Three things educators can do

Nic Stone’s post on Instagram: Sometimes you make a statement that comes form the heart (“Read books about racism, but also about black people being people and doing people sh*t."), and all of a sudden everyone wants to talk to you. I shall make the most of it.

Chatted with @goodmorningamerica and got to recommend some (more) books (pictured if you swipe). They are a completely different batch from the ones I recommended in @cosmopolitan when talking about this same thing.

New motto: if there’s a black person on the cover and also a black person on the inside back flap (ayyye #OwnVoices!), go on ahead and buy that joint. And read it.

1.      Educate yourselves – Y’all know how I feel about reading. Right here on this website you can see books that I consider important, but you don’t have to take my word for it. Check the NYT non-fiction best seller list – it’s full of good anti-racist books right now.

And not just non-fiction, either. We need to read books, as author Nic Stone said, “about Black people being people and doing people sh*t.”

Follow Black educators (@tiffanymjewel @readlikearockstar @laylafsaad @thetututeacher @britthawthorne @garyrgrayjr @theeducatorsroom) on your social media, listen to colleagues, participate in trainings. Join an affinity group (or start one) and talk with your people about what you are learning. Do not DM Black activists/educators and ask them to explain things to you. “Do your own work” does not mean do it alone, it means look to your affinity groups. There will be people in those groups far ahead of you, and people far behind. Your work is to accept help/re-direction and to offer help/re-direction. Your work is to keep at it.

2.     DO something with that education. Internally. I encourage y’all to actually do the exercises in Me and White Supremacy, by Layla F. Saad. This book steps you through thinking about your privilege, how it shows up, and what you can do about it. When you read This Book is Anti-Racist, by Tiffany Jewel, DO the activities, write out the reflections. Get the Educator Guide, use it. When you read The New Jim Crow, by Michelle Alexander, write down the ways that your life has been enhanced by these laws. Challenge yourself! Talk in your affinity group. Get vulnerable with your people, and stay in the conversation.

As Britt Hawthorne put it, “…you are not ready to do anti-bias/anti-racist/social justice work w/ your learners if you are not actively calling in/out your co-workers…when you want to teach your learners about oppression but are not willing to advocate about it in real-time then it’s performative.” If you aren’t sure how to talk to someone about racist thoughts/language, there are many books and articles you can find online, including here and here.

The work is not to ask, What do I do IF I do or say something racist, but what will I do WHEN I do or say or think something racist? Put some thought into this.

3.  Hold yourself accountable. One way to hold yourself accountable is to tell people explicitly what you are working on. I know an educator who just discovered that saying “Yaaaaas” is a cultural appropriation and is not right for her (as a non-Black person) to say (here is an article about this). She told her people that she is taking it out of her vocabulary, and asked them to remind her if she forgets. She committed with her social capital.

Once school is in session, this teacher could get her students involved. She could tell them she isn’t going to use it anymore, and why (using age appropriate language) and ask them to remind her about it. Like any good intervention, this one will take some prep work. The teacher has to be ready to make the change, and she needs to instruct students on effective communication (“You said that word again!”).

This technique gets you so much chocolate in your cake! (I’m trying to find another way to say “bang for your buck” which is so violent! Feel free to tell me your favorite).

1. She would be educating her students on cultural appropriation.

2. She would be empowering them through modeling one way to go about making a change in their own lives.

3. She is giving them some agency by letting them know they can bring it up (at least to her).

4. She can use their reminders to her as ways to model ways to call someone out – or call someone in – in a way that can be heard.

Do the work, people. We don’t have time for a performance.

(banner photo shows (my) folded arms with Nobody’s Free Until Everybody’s Free tattooed in curlicue script. Photo taken by my blind partner.)