I Wish
The murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor's at the hands of the Police, propelled the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020. The protests and rallies for justice highlighted the ultimate "Virus" that daily plagues people of color in what is so called "The Greatest Country". The virus I speak of is not COVID but racism. And after the many articles and documentaries that I have read and viewed in this course, I propose the exact same question as James Baldwin in his "I Am Not Your Nigger" documentary: "White people have to find out in their own hearts why it was necessary to have a nigger in the first place? To clarify: The African American did NOT ask to come to America!!! The real deal: The African American was involuntarily brought to this country in the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade over 400 years ago, yet African Americans, descendents of these slaves, have yet to come close to acquiring equality nor generational wealth. How can this be the case? There are many institutions that have been created to purposely deny us of our freedom to prosper. So, my plan is to show how a Western education system plays a significant role in the structural racism that exists in our country as it overly contributes to the school to prison pipeline.
There are a few policies that I would like to focus on in relation to the education of black and brown students of urban districts:
- zero tolerance policy
- standardized testing
- school discipline practices
- segregation
For my critical analysis, I plan to share my personal experiences of growing up Black in New England in the 70's and the affects education had on my family both good and bad.
I would like to use Anyon's "What Counts as Educational Policy" to show how detrimental some of our current as well as past school policies have physically and mentally caused harm to Black and Brown youth as the systemic inequalities are ignored.
My final resource will be to use Love's "We Want To Do More Than Survive" to examine historically how segregation has always played a role in the education of colored children. Also, I would like to dive deeper into Bennita Love's framework for abolitionist teaching and to provide a solution: how it could be practiced in our urban school districts and in affluent white communities to eradicate the racial disparities in education.
My reason for this topic is straightforward. Through intersectionality, I believe it is essential for me~ a black, female, educator in an urban district to effectively educate all of my students so that there can be a hope for our youth and a hope for a future, a future where Black and Brown children are embraced and welcomed for their blackness rather than disposed of.
Hi!
ReplyDeleteI think it is an interesting topic and after all the reading, listening, and watching of documentaries, makes me believe that America has come a long way to democracy and Freedom and yet, somewhere it is corrupt with the virus of 'racism' against indigenous, black and people of color or culture other than theirs. The seek of freedom from rule of Monarchy, but unable to free their captivated minds of hypocrisy, trying it on dark skinned people, berating them in every way possible. It would be great if you will look into those policies for investigations. best!
Hi Rachel- I love the way you focused on the individual when you stated, "Unable to free their captivated minds of hypocrisy". This is so true for the ones who have the power and run the systems that keep black and brown people captive; it's just like slavery all over again. So, yes it appears that we have come a long way as far as democracy and Freedom but in actuality, we haven't as now there are new policies and laws and systems set up to rob Black and Brown people of their Freedom of equality. Our voices have to be heard and systemic changes have to be made starting with school reform. My one goal moving forward is to implement an Abolitionist Approach to teaching, so that I can be that political actor in the classroom that Anyon spoke of in this week's reading.
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