An Introduction to Race & Equity Work

Emotionally, we respond to information through feelings, when a racial issue strikes us at a physical level and causes an internal sensation such as anger, sadness, joy, or embarrassment.
Intellectually, our primary response to a racial issue or information may be characterized by personal disconnect with the subject or a steadfast search for information or date. Our intellectual response is often verbal and based in our best thinking.
Morally, we respond from a deep-seated belief that relates to the racial information or event. This belief has to do with the rightness or wrongness of a given racial issue.
Relationally, we connect and respond to racial information through our acting or what is most often characterized as specific behaviors or actions.

"The socially constructed meaning attached to a variety of physical attributes, including but not limited to skin and eye color, hair texture, and bone structures of people in the United States and elsewhere" (Singleton, P.50).

"Racism, generically speaking, can be defined as the beliefs and an enactment of beliefs that one set of characteristics (see above) is superior to another... It is the conscious or unconscious, intentional or unintentional enactment of racial power, grounded in racial prejudice, by an individual or group against another individual or group percieved to have lower status" (Singleton, P.50). In short, prejudice plus power.

Equity, through an educator's lens, is an operational belief, a habit of mind.
"Education equity is:

• Raising the achievement of all students, while

• narrowing the gaps between the highest and lowest performing students, and

• eliminating the racial predictability and disproportionality of which student groups occupy the highest and lowest achievement categories" (Singleton, P.55)

Equity is not a guarantee that all students will succeed.
Rather, it assures that all students will have the opportunity and support neccessary to succeed.
Equity does not mean that every student recieves an equal level of resources and support, but that students of the greatest need recieve the greatest level of support to empower academic success.

Overarching Questions:

• Earliest: What was your first personal experience in dealing with race, racism and inequity? Describe what happened.

• Most Recent: What was your most recent personal experience in dealing with race, racism, or inequity? Describe what happened.

To help you answer the overarching questions above, let the following questions guide but not limit your thinking. Note any memories or ideas that seem relevant to you. When you have identified some of the landmarks on your racial journey, start writing your autobiography. Remember that it is a fluid document, one that you will reflect on and update as your racial consciousness evolves.

1. Family:

• Are your parents the same race? Same ethnic group? Are your siblings? What about your extended family -- uncles, aunts, etc.?

• Where did your parents grow up? What exposure did they have to racial groups other than their own? (Have you ever talked with them about this?)

• What ideas did they grow up with regarding race relations? (Do you know? Have you ever talked with them about this? Why or why not?)

• Do you think of yourself as White? As Black? As Asian? As Latino? As American Indian? Or just as "human?” Do you think of yourself as a member of an ethnic group? What is its importance to you?

2. Neighborhood:

• What is the racial makeup of the neighborhood you grew up in?

• What was your first awareness of race – that there are different "races" and that you are a member of a racial group.

• What was your first encounter with another race? Describe the situation.

• When, where, and in what context did you first hear racial slurs?

• What messages do you recall getting from your parents about race? From others when you were little?

3. Elementary and Middle School:

• What was the racial makeup of your elementary school? Of its teachers?

• Think about the curriculum: what Black Americans did you hear about? How did you celebrate Martin Luther King Day? What about Asian Americans, or Latinos, or American Indians?

• Cultural influences: TV, advertisements, novels, music, movies, etc. What color God was presented to you? Angels? Santa Claus? The tooth fairy! Dolls?

• What was the racial makeup of organizations you were in? Girl Scouts, soccer team, church, etc.?

• How was your education in elementary and middle school shaped by your race?

4. High School and community:

• What was the racial makeup of your high school? Of its teachers?

• Was there interracial dating? Racial slurs? Any conflict with members of another race?

• Have you ever felt or been stigmatized because of your race or ethnic group membership?

• What else was important about your high-school years, racially speaking — maybe something that didn't happen in high school but during that time?

• What is the racial makeup of your hometown? Of your metropolitan area? What about your experiences in summer camp, summer jobs, etc.?

• How was your education in high school shaped by your race?

5. Present and Future:

• What is the racial makeup of the organization you currently work in? Of your circle(s) of friends? Does it meet your needs?

• Realistically, think about where you want to live (if different from where you are now). What is its racial makeup? Social class makeup? Where do you want to work in the next 10 years?

• What is its racial makeup? Social class makeup?

6. General:

• What's the most important image, encounter, whatever, you've had regarding race?

• To what degree and in what ways does race impact your personal life?

• Have you felt threatened? In the minority? Have you felt privileged?

• When did you learn about the perceived superiority of various aspects of your identity?

• When did you learn about the perceived inferiority of various aspects of your identity?

• When did you first purposefully use your privilege to disrupt the oppression of yourself or others?

• When did you first become aware of your racial identity?

• • • • • your gender?

        • your sexual orientation?

        • your primary language?

        • your citizenship status/country of origin?

        • your socio-economic status?

        • your spiritual identification?

        • your parents’ education level?

        • your housing status?

        • When have you felt othered or broken?

        • How did that show up for you physically? Emotionally?

        • How did it shape your experience?

• When have you really felt like you belonged or that bridges were created?

  • • What were the circumstances?

    • How did that show up for you physically? Emotionally?

    • How did it shape your experience?

    • How do you intentionally create these experiences for your students?

• Why is it important to address race personally and individually before trying to understand it at a group or societal level?