Social justice in education demands equity for all students, but it also yearns for growth that is provoked by student diversity. The variety of personal experiences, values, and world-views that arise from race, ethnicity, gender/gender identity, religious and spiritual beliefs, class, age, color, sexual orientation, disability, immigrant status, and national origin enhance creativity and learning potential. Education works when teachers are empowered to incorporate students’ backgrounds and experiences as strengths rather view them as hurdles to overcome.
https://online.mills.edu/blog/social-justice-in-education
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Let's Talk About Race
The Tutu Teacher has a wonderful message for all children. The she conducts a read aloud "Let's Talk About Race."
The author, Julius Lester invites you into his book by writing “I am a story. So are you.” He discusses about how each individual has many different elements to their story, from family, to name, to likes and dislikes and maybe even race. However, he says that race is just a portion of your story, but why do people think it is so important? He explains that sometimes we get too caught up on race and make quick assumptions based on skin color. He shares his own story as he explores what makes each of us special.
Virtual Library
Read Aloud Books of Discussing Race with Young Children
"Cultivate positive identity formation, encourage students to confront racial and ethnic injustice, and prepare them to live and work together in a diverse world. " https://www.tolerance.org/
Resources to educate yourself further in Race and Equity
The resources are divided into topics to help you navigate resources to build your knowledge on each topic.
Black Lives Matter
Definition
Saying “Black Lives Matter” is neither separatist nor racist. It is not anti-white, and, contrary to what some in the media may say, it is definitely not anti-police. It does not denote, promote, or support hatred of or violence against any ethnic group. Let me say that again: it does not promote or support hatred or violence against any group. It is about promoting the love of self and African-American/Black rights to equal justice and fairness.
-BY L-MANI S. VINEY (Vanity Fair, July 19, 2016)
Black Lives Matter
@doctordiaries uses a scenario to explain Black Lives Matter to those people that keep shouting All Lives Matter.
White Privilege, and White Fragility
Michel Martin interviews Robin DiAngelo, PhD, author of “White Fragility,” to talk about what she recognized as her own unconscious bias. (9 minutes)
As James Corden shares ways people can help in the fight against racial injustice and inequality in the United States, one of his writers, Olivia Harewood explains how James's inherited privilege is a tool he and other white people can use for good.
Author and educator Joy DeGruy shares how her sister-in-law uses her white privilege to stand up to systemic racial inequity. For more information on this film, go to www.crackingthecodes.org
"White Fragility" author Robin DiAngelo and CBS News contributor Ibram X. Kendi join "CBS This Morning" for a candid conversation about white privilege. They discuss what it is, why it persists and how it impacts African Americans. Both bestselling authors offer ways to encourage honest conversations about racism in America.
Dancer Allison Holker and her husband, Stephen “tWitch” Boss, deliver a powerful message on privilege.
The main intent of this video is not to highlight racial differences. Race was only used as a metaphor. Race is a good metaphor though and here's why. African Americans still lag behind the national average in Income level and Poverty measure. This is according to the United States Census Bureau.
Link to purchase:
Allows us to understand racism as a practice not restricted to ‘bad people’ (Claudia Rankine). Referring to the defensive moves that white people make when challenged racially, white fragility is characterized by emotions such as anger, fear, and guilt, and by behaviors including argumentation and silence. These behaviors, in turn, function to reinstate white racial equilibrium and prevent any meaningful cross-racial dialogue.
white-privilege.pdfThe following are examples of ways white individuals have privilege because they are white. Please read the list and place a check next to the privileges that apply to you or that you have encountered. At the end, try to list at least two more ways you have privilege based on your race.
White supremacy is a system of structural and societal racism which privileges white people over everyone else, regardless of the presence or absence of racial hatred. White racial advantages occur at both a collective and an individual level.
We just updated this chart, which presents *some* of the ways people practice and reinforce white supremacy that they may not be aware of, or even think of as “white supremacy”. If you are unsure of what any of these terms mean, please feel free to look them up. There is an abundance of scholarship and research on each of these things.
Image Source: Safehouse Progressive Alliance for Nonviolence (2005). Adapted: Ellen Tuzzolo (2016); Mary Julia Cooksey Cordero (@jewelspewels) (2019); The Conscious Kid (2020).
Race
Robin DiAngelo, author of “White Fragility,” unpacks common excuses white people make about race–and how to address them.
In a new episode of Home School, The Atlantic’s animated series about parenting, Tisby offers advice on how to have a conversation with children about race, from experiential learning to watching classic animated films.
This short documentary features interviews with white people on the challenges of talking about race.
In this short documentary, young black men explain the particular challenges they face growing up in America.
In this short documentary, black women talk about the challenges they face in society.
In this short documentary, former officers share their thoughts on policing and race in America.
In this short documentary, Latinos grapple with defining their ethnic and racial identities.
In this short documentary, the film grapples with the racist contradictions of a country that, many feel, would prefer it if Native Americans didn’t exist.
Implicit Biases and Microaggressions
What is implicit bias? NYT/POV's Saleem Reshamwala unscrews the lid on the unfair effects of our subconscious.
A study by researchers at Yale found that pre-K teachers, white and black alike, spend more time watching black boys -- expecting trouble.
SheKnows Media's Hatch program creates KidsSpeak content for grown-ups, made by kids on a mission. This workshop's mission was to educate parents on the concept of "microaggressions," defined as a form of unintentional discrimination, and their impact on teens' self-esteem. SheKnows Media's Hatch program creates KidsSpeak content for grown-ups, made by kids on a mission.
Hear some straight talk from middle-schoolers about race and what it's like to grow up in such racially charged times. More from our Being 12 series: http://being12.org/
Intersectionality refers to the social, economic and political ways in which identity-based systems of oppression and privilege connect, overlap and influence one another.
Read more about this here:
https://www.tolerance.org/magazine/summer-2016/teaching-at-the-intersections
Teaching Strategies and Tools
Social Justice Standards
A Framework for Anti-bias Education
The Social Justice Standards are a road map for anti-bias education at every stage of K–12 instruction. Comprised of anchor standards and age-appropriate learning outcomes, the Standards provide a common language and organizational structure educators can use to guide curriculum development and make schools more just and equitable.
The guide is intended for caregivers to use with their white children. If you have children who are not white, but who are also a part of your family, this guide is not for them. Black, indigenous, and other children of color DO NOT need to be present while you process through how you may have been complicit in racism. This will cause them further harm and trauma.
