Beyond Intentions: My Reflections on Antiracism in Education

Since the day I graduated from college and entered the working world, I have worked in all the places where the social justice flag flies high. These are the places where the flag is both earned and placed in high places because of the intentions of the people who work there. The stated purpose of these places is to reverse the impact of past and ongoing injustice, yet they could be furthering injustice. The question is then, are our intentions enough? The short answer is no. We may have good intentions and be furthering injustices at the same time; the intentions and the impact are frequently misaligned.

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I have worked in the K-12 education world for almost 8 years now and have put much thought about how to best apply antiracist practices to the work we do. "Antiracism is the active process of identifying and eliminating racism by changing systems, organizational structures, policies and practices and attitudes, so that power is redistributed and shared equitably," says NAC International Perspectives: Women and Global Solidarity. An antiracist’s work goes beyond not being racist and dives into the work to dismantle the imbalance of power between white folks and people of color (POC). While racism is the pool we swim in, we have the collective responsibility to continuously dry ourselves up. Each one of us must look at the impact of our practices, attitudes, and way of doing things. We must look at ourselves in the mirror; the mirror that, at times, could be a moment when someone offers the gift of feedback about your behavior or practice to better support antiracism. However, I am not claiming that white folks and POC have equal responsibility to undue racism. That is a monumental distinction that I would need to write another blog entry in order to do it justice. Antiracist acts are also intentional opposition to racist aspects of a system or an organization. 

I recently had an intellectually stimulating conversation with my Seneca supervisor about the use of the word grit in education. According to Michigan State University, grit is defined as “courage, strength of character and showing perseverance.” While having grit is an admirable quality, it is also not something you should always ask of everyone. How do we think holistically about a student who is expected to show grit through an academic task if their parent has just passed away, or a close family member sent to prison? Wouldn’t it be a holistic approach to ask the student “how are you feeling?” and “what do you need to be here and persevere?” People of color are often used to systems asking them to preserve regardless of what they might be going through. It is not that far from the maxim, “pick yourself up by your bootstraps.” At times, the overuse of grit could also be presented as high expectations. Students need and deserve high expectations from educators and families, yet they also need their needs met before they can operate at their best.
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As I begin my work with Seneca at Rainier Valley Leadership Academy Middle and High School, I am working to unlearn the practices of an oppressive system that often goes unexamined, while also learning new ways to be antiracist. I am not working to be antiracist because I want to be a good person; I am working to be an antiracist educator because our students deserve it and I want to see a world where I am not having to assimilate or switch codes. As a person of color, I am tired of all the years I saw systems and practices go unquestioned. The least we can collectively do is question whose perspective influenced the systems around us and learn about the experiences of folks who did not influence the system.

Blog Post Written By: Yonas Fikak, Unconditional Education Coach