Reflections on Equity

I am white, undeniably. Blond hair, blue eyes, fair skin. Born and raised a U.S. citizen.

I went to a predominantly white school, the same in college. At present, I reside in a small rural northern community that is also predominantly white. Growing up I don’t remember ever thinking about my whiteness. White privilege.

My grandmother immigrated to America from Vienna, Austria when she was ten years old. Making me the granddaughter of an immigrant. No one questions my citizenship. White privilege.

My children play outside with friends without fear of being shot at, wear band-aids that match their skin tone and don’t have to question furthering their education. White privilege.

Sure I took classes on diversity in college, and then again when I went back for my masters. Although, that time it wasn’t about diversity but rather equity. In recent history as an educator, we were encouraged to make sure our school and classroom libraries had a nice variety of diverse books. I dutifully made changes in my book selections for the classroom to include diverse books, naively thinking that this was such a great idea. The bins with diverse books sat dormant for the most part. Untouched. Sure, I’d pull them now and again during Black History month for a read aloud, but my students weren’t pulling them to read independently. I didn’t stop to reflect on why that was. White privilege.

At the time I was so naive, even ignorant if you will, to the systemic inequities deeply ingrained in the education system. I didn’t know or understand the importance of books as mirrors and windows for students and I didn’t understand that books bring the opportunity to truly humanize and learn about others.

And then I learned...I learned the value of sharing the human story with children. The value of using books as windows, mirrors, and sliding glass doors. I am so happy that a shift in understanding changed the word “diverse” to ‘inclusive”. I like this term much more. Inclusive encompasses everyone. Maya Angelou says, “When you know better, do better”. I am trying every single day to do better. To examine my white privilege, my biases, microaggressions...and to teach my students how to see others as truly human.

Chapter 3 in Safir’s book is hard for me. Hard because I am still coming to terms with how completely naive I have been my entire life about equity, or rather the gross inequities that are deeply rooted in this country. Hard because I can’t seem to wrap my head around the systemic inequities that have and continue to plague our education systems. It’s that “unconscious bias” that Safir talks about on p. 63 that hurts the most.

“We are continually bombarded by biased messages by the dominant culture that communicates to the unconscious about relative worth and humanity of women, people of color, and other groups."

I consider myself a fairly smart human being. If I missed this, how many other people have also spent the majority of their lives not knowing and/or understanding “unconscious bias.”

Something else on this page really resonated with me and prompted me to choose this topic for reflection. Safir is talking about the brain, specifically the prefrontal cortex and explains how it reacts when we view someone as highly human, as opposed to when we dehumanize people. “Dehumanize", that one word resonated with me. Last week at NerdcampMI, during his Nerdtalk presentation, Mihn Lê talked about dehumanization. It was a gripping speech.

Was honored that @colbysharp invited me to give a Nerd Talk at #NerdCampMI and was even more excited when he told me I was going 1st—that way I didn’t have to follow these 3 amazing humans and could just soak in the brilliance of @CeceBellBooks @donalynbooks & @halseanderson 😉❤️ pic.twitter.com/1RDQZFfS7W

— Minh Lê (@bottomshelfbks) July 10, 2019

Mihn Lê was talking about the power of books and how he recently had lost faith in that power because of the tragedy currently unfolding at our border. He was questioning if books really could make a difference. Then he said these words, “So many of the horrific events that flood our news feeds can be traced back in part to one simple thing: an inability to see others as fully human.” Talk about unconscious bias being thrown at us every single day! Mihn Le went on to share,

This denial or failure to see one another has real-life implications, manifesting itself in the tragedies written in history books, and sadly, our current events. Whether it’s due to a lack of empathy or willful ignorance, this dehumanization makes it that much easier for inhumane policies to take root.

Reading Safir’s words, rereading and reflecting, coupled with the words spoken by Mihn Lê brings me back to my classroom library, my daily conversations, my self-examination...I need to read more inclusive books. I need to share them even more than ever with my students, colleagues, and peers. Books can and should be used as a tool to engage the world, the entire world, and all its people. I truly believe books hold this power when shared with others.

At the end of the day, we must remember that impact matters more than intent. (Safir, p.75)

I’m not brave enough yet to take a loud political stand, but I can engage in being the change by continuing to read and learn more, and by ensuring my students, colleagues, and peers are enveloped in a safe culture to talk about books, inclusivity, equity, and basic humanness.