As a follow-up to my post about the NEA’s new business item on institutional racism, here’s an excerpt from Fred Klonsky’s post:
We white teachers in the AFT and the NEA are not inoculated from the racism that exists in the broader American society.
I went back and reread the institutional racism New Business Item in light of the rest of the meeting that followed its adoption.
I couldn’t help but be struck by the fact that the NBI talked about all the institutions in our society except one.
Ours.
Only when we as educators can look into the mirror and realize our complicity in the school-to-prison pipeline can we truly be liberated. Yes, I recognize we’re often hamstrung by mandates from deceptive overlords and wayward mandates from folks who’ve never been in the classroom. Yet, many of my friends have witnessed institutional racism firsthand, and how the institutions we work in and, sometimes, pay dues to, can be a deterrent from breaking the chains.
This work is complicated. If we’re not willing to have that conversation, then why work with students? Face the institution in front of you. Start with the one in the mirror. It helps.