Protecting Black Joy

What White People Can Do Next

Dear friends and fam,

Black joy celebrates the culture and contributions of BIPOC people, and in education, it is virtually nonexistent. Here's why it shouldn't be:

As Sonja Cherry-Paul writes in her op-ed for Chalkbeat, "it's important that Black children feel seen, valued, and loved in their reading lives." This is a powerful way to affirm Blackness and Black identities, and art, culture, and literature help us see ourselves, learn about the experiences of others, and foster a critical imagination for a different future.

When you see yourself reflected in art and culture, that affirms who you are and what you may be capable of in the future. I know about this through the increasing representations of Lesbians in pop culture, even if we usually are the first characters to get written off the show. (Autostraddle)

Here's why Black joy needs fostering in classroom: a behavioral perspective

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On purely practical terms, you know when you get directions from someone you don't respect? From someone who subtly undermines who you are as invalid? Well, BIPOC students do. And that's why many don't respect their teachers, and why so many are revolting in classrooms the only way they know how: disruptions. I have so much to say on the issue of classroom behavior and discipline, but suffice it to say, after taking a cold hard look at the majority of white educators in urban schools, often with little experience teaching and maybe a master's in education, I can't say I blamed my students. But I did understand the importance of teaching them other, more viable, ways of being heard.

In corporate America, we love disruptors. In education, we all but jail them.

What Can White People Do?

One of the questions that I get asked most often is, more or less, this: what can white people do? How can we “do better” without accidentally inflicting further harm?

I've written about this before, in my June 22 NSFS "What do we do with white privilege?" In my Jun 29 NSFS, "The Secret Power of Karens, Black Joy, and CRT" and "The Willful Blindspots of Whiteness, Teacher Gossip, Ethical Nerds, and Time Travel." Moving forward, I'll be exploring actual action items that we can all do in our minds and lives to decolonize and de-segregate our understanding of racial differences.

In the racially charged zeitgeist of the contemporary moment, when even well-meaning white people are called out for harboring (intentionally or not) bias or acting without an understanding of just why BIPOC folks are exhausted by us. 

The fact that so many white people turned out to protest the murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor last summer signals that we want a change. Our world, as constructed and run by white men (and a few token others), isn’t working all that great. None of us are content with the way things are, and we are all terrified of what the future may bring. Some white folks are recognizing that there should be other ways of being in the world, and this is the immense value of a diverse culture of exchange. 

Just as we are all cautious to be Karens or GWM (Generic White Men), I believe that there are some white people who genuinely want to investigate their privilege and expand their worldview.

One of the most frustrating things about segregation is that it keeps those labeled “white” from understanding the lived realities and struggles of BIPOC folks. We simply do not understand what we are not exposed to. This is why I believe that art, of all forms, is the most powerful way to instigate racial healing and, in so doing, restorative justice. But more on that next week.

For the next few weeks, I’ll be working through What White People Can Do Next: From Allyship to Coalition by Emma Dabiri

In solidarity,

Allison

Related Posts About Anti-Racism:

NSFS: Not Safe for School, your snark-filled antidote to racism and corruption in education. Follow @postphdtheblog on Twitter and @allisonharbin_postphd on Instagram