Trust + Race

Establishing Trust Within a Culture of White Supremacy

Above, you will find a link to my full journal article.

Below are a summary of key findings, as well as conclusions and recommendations for sustaining this work.

White Supremacy Culture was not invented by anyone alive today, but those who hold White privilege continue to benefit from it. It is important to note that you do not have to be White to uphold White Supremacy Culture; however, as the primary guardians and recipients of racial privilege, White people bear significant responsibility for the perpetuation of White Supremacy Culture. A set of characteristics, described by Jones & Okun (2001) are the hallmarks of White Supremacy Culture, and are damaging because they are used as norms and standards without being pro-actively named or chosen by the group. They are damaging to both People of Color and to White people. The characteristics of White Supremacy Culture include: perfectionism; urgency; defensiveness; quantity over quality; worship of the written word; paternalism; either/or thinking; power hoarding; fear of open conflict; individualism; progress is bigger, more; objectivity; right to comfort. For more on this topic, visit: https://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/white-supremacy-culture-characteristics.html

Key Findings

Each finding is supported with data collected in the study, and can be explored in further detail in my M.Ed journal article.

Conclusions & Recommendations

Trust and race go hand in hand. It’s as simple as that. The two must be tended to simultaneously, and the work must be ongoing and adaptive. What is most important, however, is to begin having these conversations with colleagues with whom you already have a sense of safety and trust. It is much easier leaning into this work when we are surrounded by, what Dr. Bettina Love calls, co-conspirators. Each of my recommendations for future work centers race because it is the gatekeeper to authentic, relational trust.

We must name race because race is always in the room.

Throughout this research, I allowed participants to remain anonymous, even when documenting their racial identity. While anonymity can lead to more authentic sharing, it may also be what prevents us from moving forward. How can we begin to interrogate racial privilege if we are not willing to first self-identify our race? Ibram X. Kendi encourages every individual to identify race, so they may truly comprehend racial inequity. When we do not talk about race, we exist with “artificial harmony” (Lencioni, 2005). This allows us to interact with congeniality, but prevents us from engaging in open dialogue about race—and the racial achievement gap persists. We must consider whose comfort we are protecting in the context of who it is we are serving. It is an injustice to ourselves and our students to not address race, and leaders must lead with race explicitly at the forefront of their agenda. It is my strong belief that divisions exist among staff and between staff and students because we are unable to find courageous, constructive ways to tackle these conversations. In fact, we avoid them. Talking about race can feel hard, but we cannot transform our schools without doing so. We can all talk about race from our own perspective; we are the experts of ourselves. To grow in these skills, we must be honest, take risks, be open to criticism, and keep doing it. Guidance and coaching from trained professionals is also essential in supporting this work, but you don’t need them to get the conversation started. When working with teams or individuals, Elena Aguilar (2016) offers the following reassurances to guide us in conversations about race: This isn’t going to be easy. But it will get easier. There is no “right way” to have these conversations. But we have to do it anyway. Racism is learned and can be unlearned (p. 255).

We must commit ourselves to ongoing self work, and embrace vulnerability to share this work with one another.

Providing structured affinity spaces where people bravely opt into the work is an effective tool for reflection on racial identity. However, this work cannot continue to be optional if we want to see system-wide change. Ongoing self-reflection is necessary for transforming organizations, but we cannot get stuck in the personal reflection without having other action-based, forward-thinking activities paired alongside it. Gay & Kirkland (2003) contend that, “while personal and inner reflective dialogues are imperative, they need to be accompanied by similar dialogues with others” (p. 184). These similar dialogues can act to build trust, which is the foundation upon which all organizations must be built. In order to cultivate trust, we must think about how we communicate with one another; by practicing empathy-building with one another and, through shared stories of self, we can create shared norms for engaging in personal dialogue. This work must be mandatory.

We must prioritize racial literacy in our self work.

Without racial literacy, we may never achieve that which we seek: authentic relationships with colleagues—and students—who have different racial-ethnic identities than ourselves. Anyone who benefits from White privilege has a duty to recognize it and dismantle it. It is also important to have a shared understanding of systemic and institutionalized racism and the characteristics of White Supremacy, so we can name them as we navigate conflict. In her debut novel, Me and White Supremacy (2020), Layla F. Saad reminds us that there will never be a right time to do this work, and that choosing when and how to do antiracism work is a function of White privilege in and of itself; meanwhile Black, Indigenous, and People of Color do not have the same luxury to choose when they want to deal with racism.

We must set the stage and prepare the players for conversations about race.

Singleton (2015) explains that it is important to know that participants will show up in racial discourse in a number of ways: emotional, relational, intellectual, and moral (p. 29). It is therefore imperative to create a safe, brave learning space conducive for racially literate conversations. During individual collegial conversations, I found it incredibly important to plan and hold space for the many ways in which my participants showed up. Providing resources and questions beforehand was instrumental in making sure they felt comfortable and confident to share their authentic views and opinions. It is ok to ask the hard questions, but removing the element of surprise and being clear about what participants will do is necessary in building brave spaces founded in trust. Conflict will undoubtedly arise when talking about race. However, it is important for us to remember that “conflict can lead to more commitment and better work together” (Aguilar, 2016, p. 254).

We must accept non-closure, and that this work is never over.

As soon as we think that issues of race and racism have been solved, we need to consider those places in which we are not looking. Throughout this work I have noticed reluctancy and fatigue from participants — these are the challenges that remind me that this is the work we must be doing and that on the other side of discomfort is growth. I have also noticed an abundance of hope and a willingness to learn — these are the bright spots that must encourage us all to continue forward. We must be patiently urgent.