This is the post where I almost started off with a “Dear White People.”
This is going to lean towards education, but applies pervasively.
I’m referring to the educators who still want to save the children, the ones who still think they’re teaching their subjects and not actual students, the ones who see teaching as a segue to administration or a central office job, the ones who use euphemisms for kids of color to advance their profile amongst their so-called liberal friends, or the ones who won’t acknowledge their privilege because it’s way easier to hide behind the first clause I just stated.
Unfortunately, for those of you who fall under this category, there are those of us who aren’t just your colleagues at work, but sat in similar seats that your students did, didn’t appreciate your attitudes then and really don’t appreciate them now. Your insistence, whether conscious or otherwise, perpetuate the legacy of seeing children of color as deserving less. You also paradoxically think that by lowering your expectations of those students, you’re helping them meet or exceed the requirements set forth post-you.
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