This story about how a Black writer at Cards Against Humanity was committed against his will is WILD. https://medium.com/@nicolas.j.carter/how-to-know-youre-not-insane-and-how-a-cards-against-humanity-staff-writer-was-fired-40fe07fbbfe4

I've been thinking about racism and "madness" in the workplace for a few years now in the context of teachers of colour and students of colour.

When people think you are "mad"...

Thinking about how White folks are now awakening to things they would have called you "mad" or "paranoid" for just a few months ago, re: racism & White Supremacy...

One of the most jarring things about the reckoning we find ourselves in after the killing of George Floyd has been watching people who have opening or willfully denied the existence of racism now be moved to tears and action.

It's good, but it has been disorienting.

Disorienting because people have told you in so many ways (words & action) that you would be punished or ostracized for speaking honestly about how deeply racist our policies and outcomes are...and now they're listening & maybe you should lead them.

Hard to trust & disorienting.

Also, how some of these structures do, kind of make you "mad" because they are dehumanizing. They are not meant to create healthy humans, and when you get sick it means you body and mind are doing what they are supposed to do...

“It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society.”
- Krishnamurti

I have to sort my thoughts out about this but part of our racial/racist reckoning in schools and society has to be the fact that White people just didn't believe us or weren't willing to engage us when we spoke about the reality of our lives in this system.

For White educators: imagine, with all of the fire and passion and hurt you are filled with now, going into an institution that told you that you were making it up/exaggerating/brought it on yourself.

How "mad" would you feel?

Now imagine you are a Black child/teenager.

I want you to think about what it would do to your mental health as a child/teenager to experience that dissonance.

One of the most vital tools to survive and thrive in these systems as a Black person is having alternate spaces for "reality checks".

You can't trust the institutions and people in them with certain parts of your life/reality.

Black kids know this. This is why some disengage.

Quick aside, but the idea of having alternate spaces reminded me of Melissa Harris-Perry' analogy of the crooked room experiment.

Here: https://jezebel.com/black-women-are-standing-in-a-crooked-room-5873870

Again, still sorting out my thoughts, but my point is:

Part of our reckoning must be recognizing the mental health toll that White Supremacy and racism takes on Black students and staff & then tending to their wellness.