THREAD: One of the gaps / learning edges I identified for myself a year ago as I was preparing to go Harvard was: engaging in conversations about race, specifically about racial inequities in school systems.

#T3Learns #MTBoS #ITeachMath #EdLeaders

You might be in a similar place.

If so, the resources in this thread might be helpful for you.

Over the past year, I’ve made progress re: talking about race.

A few things that facilitated my learning:
1) Learning by listening to my cohortmates’ experiences.

2) Learning from books and the experiences they capture.

3) Getting in my reps -- meaning, actually *talking* about race, *especially* when it feels uncomfortable. For me, this involved getting more comfortable being uncomfortable and choosing discomfort over silence/complicity.

A year ago, I felt like I didn’t always have the words to explain my feelings. I also didn’t feel like I knew enough or was “prepared” enough to engage in conversations about race.

I still don’t always have the words, but I have more words and more understanding.

I still don’t know enough, but I know more than I did. I still feel underprepared, but I’m learning to not opt out because of this.

If you want to grow your understanding of the historical and current racial realities in the US and you want to grow your ability to engage in conversations about race, here are some books that have been helpful to me in my continuing journey.

I’ve included one personal and prominent take-away from each book, which is such a small glimpse of the learning each book gifted me.

@DrTraceyBenson & @SarahFiarman's “Unconscious Bias in School” helped me *see* how unconscious bias is showing up throughout our school systems---and how fear of talking about race perpetuates these injustices.

@BDTSpelman's “Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?” helped me understand the parts of my identity that I take for granted (and why) and the importance of racial identity work (especially as a white woman).

@banaji & Anthony Greenwald’s “Blind Spot: Hidden Biases of Good People” helped me understand unconscious bias as “hidden-bias blindspots” that often run counter to the explicit anti-racist beliefs we think we have.

@courageousdove's “Courageous Conversations about Race” helped me understand what a courageous conversation about race should be, should focus on, and should be bounded by. Also, his CC Compass helped explain different ways that people respond to conversations /events about race.

@kgreen’s “Something Must Be Done About Prince Edward County” illustrated the importance of understanding the racial histories of our communities and pushed me to further explore the racial and school segregation history of my small town.

@Isabelwilkerson’s “The Warmth of Other Sons” helped me understand the stories, histories, fears, dreams, and experiences of Black families in the Great Migration. It reinforced the importance of knowing our histories in order to transform our communities in the future.

@elizabethcatte’s “What You Are Getting Wrong about Appalachia” helped me understand how race, power, and politics have led to the construction of false narratives about Appalachians and the perceived erasure of entire people groups within this region.

@MRivasRodriguez’s “Texas Mexican Americans & Postwar Civil Rights” helped me understand the desegregation efforts in Texas and in a town near where I live, illustrating how racism was yielded similarly and differently against Latinos.

Richard Rothstein’s “The Color of Law” helped me understand how our currently segregated neighbourhoods across the United States came to be--and the role that local, state, and federal governments played in this.

@tressiemcphd’s “Thick” helped me better understand the complexities and nuances of the experiences of Black women and how these nuances intersect with academia and power.