Anti-Racism
Anti-racism is the practice of identifying, challenging, and changing the values, structures and behaviors that perpetuate systemic racism. It’s shaking things up to build them back better. It’s about shifting the balance of power, and that shift needs to happen where we are, so for higher education professionals, that means the college classroom, the campus, the city where we live.
The semester before COVID hit, I was teaching an introduction to literature class. In one of our units we discuss The Great Gatsby in conjunction with the Harlem Renaissance. We compare and contrast the two cultures from the 1920s. We talk about black and white, civil rights, and the American Dream. We read “Mississippi—1955,” written by Langston Hughes after the death of Emmitt Till.
After class finished, one of the students came to talk with me. He had been in my composition course the previous semester, but he was quieter in literature, disengaged in a way he hadn’t been before, but this discussion brought him out of his silence. He came up and said, “you know that kid that was shot in the back by cops.” I nodded. I had read about it in the news. “He was my best friend.”
That student, that conversation about Black Lives Matter, about Emmitt Till, changed me. It was before George Floyd and the current protests, but it hit me harder because it was local, because he was a kid, still in high school, and he could easily have been my student. I watched, as Dr. King once wrote, the “ominous clouds of inferiority beginning to form in [this student’s]… mental sky,” and I know that as a culture, we can no longer afford to wait. I’m anti-racist because no one should watch their best friend die. Not like that. Not in America.
As an educator, one thing I can do is make sure each and every student that walks through my classes understands why this must stop. Some of that is the readings that we use. Publishing also struggles with issues of diversity (or lack of diversity), so as faculty, we must seek out diverse voices. We need to have those difficult conversations. One of our workshop leaders calls them courageous conversations, but I don’t think it takes courage. I think it takes a stubborn refusal to accept the status quo.
I support my beliefs with education, because that’s where I go to find solutions. I’ve taken professional development courses to improve my awareness of and ability to design or redesign my courses to meet the needs of a diverse student population. I want my students to know that I see them where they are, I respect them where they are, and I want to provide them with the same opportunities I was given. More, I want them to see beyond their mental borders, and that comes through reading, writing, and those stubborn conversations.
Educating myself and my students on these issues goes beyond course expectations and readings, because it is often the students who have not experienced “otherness” that most benefit from these discussions. Class readings, conversations, and activities help students to identify issues of racism, participate in challenging conversations, and open their eyes to issues of systemic racism.
We live in challenging times, but I believe the current generation of students is ready for the challenge. They are shaking things up. They are refusing the status quo. They are leading the cultural shift because they are engaged, they are passionate, and they are willing to fight the hard fight to put an end injustice. They will build it back better. My goal is to give them a strong foundation for their journey.
The semester before COVID hit, I was teaching an introduction to literature class. In one of our units we discuss The Great Gatsby in conjunction with the Harlem Renaissance. We compare and contrast the two cultures from the 1920s. We talk about black and white, civil rights, and the American Dream. We read “Mississippi—1955,” written by Langston Hughes after the death of Emmitt Till.
After class finished, one of the students came to talk with me. He had been in my composition course the previous semester, but he was quieter in literature, disengaged in a way he hadn’t been before, but this discussion brought him out of his silence. He came up and said, “you know that kid that was shot in the back by cops.” I nodded. I had read about it in the news. “He was my best friend.”
That student, that conversation about Black Lives Matter, about Emmitt Till, changed me. It was before George Floyd and the current protests, but it hit me harder because it was local, because he was a kid, still in high school, and he could easily have been my student. I watched, as Dr. King once wrote, the “ominous clouds of inferiority beginning to form in [this student’s]… mental sky,” and I know that as a culture, we can no longer afford to wait. I’m anti-racist because no one should watch their best friend die. Not like that. Not in America.
As an educator, one thing I can do is make sure each and every student that walks through my classes understands why this must stop. Some of that is the readings that we use. Publishing also struggles with issues of diversity (or lack of diversity), so as faculty, we must seek out diverse voices. We need to have those difficult conversations. One of our workshop leaders calls them courageous conversations, but I don’t think it takes courage. I think it takes a stubborn refusal to accept the status quo.
I support my beliefs with education, because that’s where I go to find solutions. I’ve taken professional development courses to improve my awareness of and ability to design or redesign my courses to meet the needs of a diverse student population. I want my students to know that I see them where they are, I respect them where they are, and I want to provide them with the same opportunities I was given. More, I want them to see beyond their mental borders, and that comes through reading, writing, and those stubborn conversations.
Educating myself and my students on these issues goes beyond course expectations and readings, because it is often the students who have not experienced “otherness” that most benefit from these discussions. Class readings, conversations, and activities help students to identify issues of racism, participate in challenging conversations, and open their eyes to issues of systemic racism.
We live in challenging times, but I believe the current generation of students is ready for the challenge. They are shaking things up. They are refusing the status quo. They are leading the cultural shift because they are engaged, they are passionate, and they are willing to fight the hard fight to put an end injustice. They will build it back better. My goal is to give them a strong foundation for their journey.