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Schools starting. We don’t just want to speak & represent. Give BIPOC real power and resources for liberation. Consultants, guest speakers, and YouTube clips are not enough. Dismantle the whole racist system. (Thread)
We bout to start the school year, people are writing welcome letters, holding all staff meetings & convening institutes. Some organizations believe they are progressive simply by buying copies of the new book for everyone, even if written by a brown person. Nope. Not enough.
Some go further to play clips of these brown people speaking or inviting them to present in the flesh. Still not enough.
Now let’s be clear, this is better than having the same white voices talk about change or not change, from their perspective, or try to interpret and ultimately pervert the message of black indigenous people of color.
Your school district might go even as far as to contract a brown consultant to come in and speak or better yet do professional development. This is better but still not good enough.
If you are not working to dismantle racism within your organization at all levels, and all sectors, you’re not doing enough. Of course you should’ve already done this, but there’s nothing wrong with starting today.
Sorry your book clubs are not enough. Good for performative workness and twitter posts. It is better if you’re reading from radical writers and black indigenous and authors of color. Just reading is not enough.
Check your privilege. Most likely white privilege. If you are uncomfortable you are moving in the right direction. Trust me there more to come.
Do you know who’s has the answers? People of color. Especially if we’re talking about race, racism, and being an anti-racist. That doesn’t mean that melanin absolves you from the effects of white supremacy and internalized oppression.
The point here, is that your organization hopefully, at least has a few, if not many people of color within. Talk to them. Lift up their voices. Center them in the work of liberation and anti-racism. But it’s not enough to just let them speak.
If you go back to doing the same shit you were doing before after you gave the mic to a melaninated person, that’s still white supremacy, with a brief interlude of equity.
People of color need to be at the table, in the cozy chairs. You might need more chairs. We need to have decision making power. We need to be centered in the design, thinking, and decisions.
Students of color, marginalized students, and oppressed students need to be centered. They will tell us if the shit stinks. They often do. We need to ask them. And ask how to freshen up.
The voices of our families and communities need to be centered. We need to design for their success and their liberation.
If you’re going to have brown people speak, give them the keys too, give them the gabble, Give them the pens that sign the checks that pay for educational equity and justice. Give them the positions they deserve to lead. A quote, guest speaker or PD is. It enough.
If you see superficial equity, or the façade of anti-racism, Call it out, demand more, co-conspire. If you are white and someone asks you to talk about equity and anti-racism pass the damn Mic.
Demand that your organization, school, or district has a plane for racial equity. Long term. With funds. Policies must be rewritten. Standards too. Pandemic or not.
Do something radical. Get parents and students to speak. Which ones? The marginalized. But don’t play them. Work towards clearing the hurdles for their liberation.
Please don’t show a clip of so and so saying blah blah blah.
And don’t rush it. Folks, especially white folks need time to unpack and interrogate whiteness. Most of that can be done outside. But do some of it.
The virus of whiteness is just as significant as the covid virus. Make sure you have time to addresss both.
BIPOC are both exhausted from being asked so much, but more tired of seeing whites folks show up like racists and non-racists. Balance these exhaustions with real commitments when you ask us for our time. MONEY helps too. It’s our money anyways.
If you are looking for the cheapest way to weave in some antiracism into your PD, plan, strategic planning, institute, think about that. Antiracism ain’t cheap. Racism was expensive too. BIPOC pay the costs. Time to settle up.
Don’t rush this. Give it time. Like all year/century. Don’t think that the moment passed. Don’t think that just because cities are all still on fire that you can chill out. The virus of whiteness is their spreading and infecting is.
Yes. Have speakers and quotes/books from BIPOC. But give us the keys, the megaphone, the checkbook, the steering wheel, and the GPS. We are heading for liberation.
