Anti-Racism Teach-Ins: Policy and Practice for Anti-Racism

(This is part 2 of a series.)

By Lynne Hamer, Ph.D.,
Special to the Truth

Faculty and students from the University of Toledo have organized teach-ins, open to the community hosted via Zoom, to work to understand and challenge white supremacy.  This involves not just being passively “not racist” but being actively “anti-racist,” which requires learning how to implement anti-racist policies and practices on the individual and institutional levels.

Hope Bland, PhD

Ibram X. Kendi (2019) defines racist as “one who is supporting a racist policy through their action or inaction or expressing a racist idea.” He defines antiracist as “one who is supporting an antiracist policy through their actions or expressing an antiracist idea” (p. 11).  Being antiracist sounds easy in Kendi’s words, and most of the organizer/presenters of Anti-Racism Teach-Ins  focus on how to get started.

Hope Bland, PhD, adjunct professor at the University of Toledo for both the Africana Studies program and Social Work and the Human Trafficking and Social Justice Institute, will take the series into  the administrative realm with her presentation, The Importance of a Racial Equity Plan in Educational Institutions.  Bland notes the need for educational institutions to place "Race" at the center of diversity initiatives aimed at achieving equity and justice in schools. In her presentation, Bland will critically examine systemic racism and its effect on our current educational system.   

Bland notes, "Systemic racism in education is a root cause of so many other inequities that BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and other People of Color) face.   Racial equity policies in education focus on racial disparities and starts with recognizing the historic systemic racism in the education system and in society.” She recognizes, however, that it is difficult to take the first step: “One issue for White Americans who say that they want to dismantle racism, is not knowing precisely where to start.  They worry about sounding racist and not sounding suitably anti-racist.” Her presentation and discussion will help participants develop the skills and language necessary to start.  
 

Aaron Baker, a doctoral student in educational sociology in the Social and Philosophical Foundations of Education (SPFE) program at the University of Toledo, will address Critical Self-Reflection:  Tools for Unpacking Seen, Unseen, and Unforeseen Racial Biases. Baker has taught undergraduates in the UToledo teacher education program how to reflect critically and how to develop tools to support reflection and action. Baker observes, “Research confirms that anti-racist teachers must regularly engage in rigorous self-reflection. Therefore, they must continuously seek to understand their students’ and their own racial backgrounds, heritage, and consequences of race that oppress some and privilege others.” Because of the centrality of reflection in being anti-racist, the teach-in organizers have built time for reflection into each teach-in session.  
 

Aaron Baker

Baker explains that his work is “is grounded in my experiences of racial isolation in schools where few role models looked like me.” He notes, “I hope to help better prepare educators to effectively serve marginalized students regardless of race, culture, gender, or LGBTQ+ status. I believe this starts with, us, educators understanding our racial and cultural identities.”
 

Quatez Scott is a Ph.D. student studying history of education, also in the SPFE program at the University of Toledo. His teach-in contribution is Antiracist Pedagogy as Praxis: Developing Personal Commitments to Racially Inclusive Classrooms. Scott has taught introductory level Africana Studies classes to undergraduates and has seen the impact that learning even a little knowledge and a few skills can have when students have not previously had access to knowledge and skills of antiracism. 

Scott is motivated to take time as a student to be part of the teach-ins because of the increased urgency of the moment. He explains, “I am participating in the teach-ins because now is an important time in our country to work with real educators looking to make transformational change in the ways we teach and understand marginalized communities.”

Sakui Malakpa, PhD, returns participants to matters of administration at both the classroom management level and the institutional level. A faculty member of the University of Toledo’s teacher education department, Malakpa will present Ideologies and Advantages of Diversity in Higher Education. Malakpa notes that throughout history and into the present, “several ideologies have been advanced to subvert the advocacy for diversity.” He draws on the ideas of Burke & Mayorga-Gallo (2017) to describe the “principle-policy gap” that often deep-sixes diversity initiatives and he involves participants in reflecting on how they can keep this from happening—in their own classrooms and through work at the institutional level. Malakpa will review various completing ideologies and outline advantages of diversity. 

Malakpa notes, “It helps when teachers and administrators understand the arguments buried in ideologies to deny policies and practices that promote diversity. Thus, this presentation will cover not only the ideology of colorblindness but also diversity as intent, acceptance, commodity, and liability.”

Quatez Scott

Sakui Malakpa,PhD

The organizers are structuring the Anti-Racism Teach-Ins as a safe space in which all participants work together with small but substantial steps. We will practice keeping our focus on the problems to be solved, but will also be reflective about how the problems manifest in our own practices and how we can change that.  The organizers understand that all of us, black and white, need to address white supremacy and racism personally, but that we can only do so by not taking the issues personally.

White supremacy will not be dismantled in ten sessions, and anti-racism is a daily practice, not something to be mastered in ten easy lessons. The organizers hope that other presenters and topics will emerge as the teach-ins progress and that people will continue to work together, day by day and step by step, to become anti-racists instead of just “not racist.”

References

Burke, M. A., Smith, C. W., & Mayorga-Gallo, S. (2017). The new principle-policy gap: How diversity ideology subverts diversity initiatives. Sociological Perspectives, 60(5), 889-911.

Kendi, I. (2019). How to be an antiracist. New York: One World Press.

The author is one of the organizers Anti-Racism Teach-Ins. For part 1 of this article, see http://www.thetruthtoledo.com/story/2020/072920/lynne.htm .

The teach-ins are open to the public with a special invitation to teachers, administrators and parents who want a safe space to work together to learn about, challenge and change white supremacy in schools. 

Join in Zoom meetings, 5-6 pm Mondays and Wednesdays, August 3 until Labor Day, at https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87347454267, meeting ID: 873 4745 4267. On Facebook, follow Anti-Racism Teach-Ins at https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100053978557767 for the schedule and links to materials shared in teach-ins. When the coronavirus is under control and limitations on gatherings are lifted, sessions will take place at the Mott Branch Library and continue to be accessible via Zoom.

The Anti-Racism Teach-Ins are hosted by the Toledo-Lucas County Public Library and supported by The Sojourner’s Truth, which will make resources from the sessions available on its website.  The University of Toledo is not an official sponsor of this series. 

Copyright © 2019 by [The Sojourner's Truth]. All rights reserved.
Revised: 08/06/20 11:03:41 -0400.

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