On the lookout for everyday equity
Here’s what I’m learning about applying an equity lens to many different topics, from day-to-day operations to long range big picture patterns: Once you open your eyes for it, you’ll notice injustice almost everywhere you look. We are surrounded by injustice! Not just “out there” but much closer to home, hiding in plain sight.
It is also true that the forms of unfairness that exist in the closest proximity tend to be those we have learned to arrange ourselves with. They become ‘the way we do things’ or systemic bugs tolerated long enough that they become standard features. Recognizing injustice seems to depend on one’s perspective. As beneficiaries of unevenly applied standards, or historical advantages, we can be patently disinterested in hearing about how our situations are based on limiting others’ opportunities. Turns out, our comfort, bound up with our unexamined sense of entitlement, allows us to tune out plenty of what’s happening around us.
On a different note, something I noticed recently while introducing the game of soccer to my youngest learners: Defense is a much easier thing to learn and apply than offense. Children intuitively understand the need to protect what is dear (i.e., toys, sweets, or a special space in line) and devise impromptu strategies to manage it. To protect a soccer goal then, requires very little extra imagination. To work as a team in order to score, however, requires a very different set of motivations. Playing offense involves risk-taking and some degree of skill; each player enough of both to convince them that the possible reward is worth the effort and gamble.
In our approaches to social justice I guess it’s not a mystery that many of us spend substantial energy focused on defense rather than offense. Even as we aspire to be more anti-racist and inclusive in our day-to-day, we likely still invest more effort in preserving our own comfort and peace. We may keep ourselves informed about injustices across a range of contexts but what would it mean to go on offense?
I ask because this is very much my own quandary. My use of we and our is deliberate. My marginalized identities in no way exempt me from participating in harm and/or dismissal of others. Rather, what am I doing to prevent that?
With this month’s selection of materials, I invite us to probe our thinking about the forms of unfairness that cross our paths and even more importantly learn to respond with clarity and courage.
Resources worthy of your precious time:
Panel discussion on school-wide DEIJ with Joel Jr. Llaban, Angeline Aow, and Estelle Hughes (video)
There were several highlights in this hour-long conversation, hosted by ISC’s Head of Global Research, Nalini Cook. What stood out for me among all three speakers was the radical candor of their responses. Joel Llaban is clear:
“We cannot be hiding behind the veils of unconscious bias and get back to business…We need to ask ourselves the hard questions: What are the racist and sexist ideologies that we hold? How do these ideologies get metabolized into harmful interpersonal and institutional actions?”
Regarding the role of teachers in creating inclusive and anti-racist learning communities, Angeline Aow insists, “clarity before accountability.” Teachers must understand what is being required of them and receive the necessary support in order to enact change.
And Estelle Hughes questions the deeply Western orientation of our concept of global citizenship. She asks: “where is ubuntu in global citizenship?” and notes that “decolonization is about changing the way you think.”
Listen to the whole conversation. Although geared to address international school structures, the ideas discussed transfer well to many forms of privately funded education.
Wide-ranging reflections from one of my favorite authors, Robert Jones Jr.: Gratitude
Robert Jones Jr. is the author of The Prophets and has recently become one of my most trusted public voices anywhere. His newsletter, Witness, not only informs and updates. It moves me and I am quick to open it whenever it lands in my inbox. This particular post appeared just before the big American holiday in November and I was struck by this passage in particular:
“Most human beings just want the version of WSCP [white supremacist capitalist patriarchy (hooks)] that makes our own specific racial, class, and gender, etc. identities the valued, powerful, dictatorial, and, most importantly, centered ones. Said plainly: everyone hates white wealthy cisgender heterosexual men and, quiet as it’s kept, everyone wants to be a white wealthy cisgender heterosexual man.
Very few people actually want an end to WSCP; most people are trying to keep it intact while figuring out how to remix it so that the beat becomes danceable to their own rhythms.”
*Insert fire emoticon*
The Long Road of finding Success in DEI Initiatives by Varghese Alexander
Very grateful to my network for placing this read in my path. The article appears in the National Association of Independent Schools Magazine and reminds us about positionality in this work. In a nutshell, folks of color are tired, y’all. Queer folks are tired. Disabled folks are tired and fed up. Yet many of us continue to show up to move the needle. Varghese Alexander highlights these tensions and explicitly wonders about the sustainability of white allyship.
“How will our white colleagues negotiate the reality that not only is there no checklist or satisfying conclusion, but that they come into diversity work at a deficit simply because of the color of their skin? Their expertise will be discounted, their missteps magnified. What does white allyship look like? It looks like working twice as hard, for twice as long, for half as much gain. Then coming in and doing it again.”
Working twice as hard for half as much gain…Think about that and consider those injustices hiding in plain sight. Whose reality is reflected in that idea?
As a companion essay, I highly recommend “Escaping Our Confines of Fear” from international educator, Nunana Nyomi addressing the fears that keep us from pursuing social justice change with vigor.
“If DEIJ efforts are meant to create environments where all can thrive as their full selves, then why do we find it so hard to act? Why do we feel threatened? Perhaps we know, deep down, that taking action requires us to hold ourselves accountable for our part in perpetuating and benefiting from inequities in our communities.”
As usual, shortly before putting the final touches on this thing, a new resource popped up that blew me away. I would encourage everyone who belongs to organizations striving for social, political, and/or economic change to study this document carefully. Mitchell defines a number of common pitfalls and related fallacies for both individuals and organizations. The beauty of this guide resides in its clarity and focused antidotes. Beyond admiring the problems, the author offers us concrete steps we can take on the structural, ideological, strategic and emotional levels to cultivate organizational resiliency and sustainable courage. School leaders will find a great deal of wisdom in this resource. In our mission-driven institutions we must continue to parse the effectiveness and actual reach of our steps towards equity and inclusion. “Building Resilient Organizations” belongs in our resource library.
Let there be joy!
I realize that I’ve just given you a lot to process that may feel heavy. Remember to take your time, be gentle and kind to yourself and make space for it when and where you are able.
To close out 2022, I want to leave you with some outlets for (my particular ideas of) joy!
Explore Brittle Paper, a tremendous website featuring highlights of the African literary scene. An epic delight! In particular, their list of 100 notable books of 2022 offers an excellent selection of bookish pleasures.
Last month I elaborated on my Usher Tiny Desk crush. This month I discovered Durand Bernarr whose vocal range must simply be heard to be believed. Feast your ears!
In whatever way you are enjoying social media, please also share responsibly by making your posts fully accessible. Here’s a wonderful guide to help you do that!
As we prepare for the break, I want to make a special plug for your reading stack: Include a couple of graphic novels - fiction or nonfiction! They are wonderful for freshening a readers’ palate. I recently finished On A Sunbeam by Tillie Walden and was absolutely enthralled! Ask you nearest librarian for suggestions. You’ll thank me!
Thanks for hanging with me this far! I appreciate your support and feedback. Please enjoy the break and take the very best care of yourselves!
Warmest regards,
Sherri
Oh thank you!
Thanks Sherri!