Anti-Racism

The author describes from their lived experience the ways that white teachers inadvertantly or explicitly bring racism into the classroom and makes suggestions on ways to dismantle racism. The ten ways are: lowering or raising expectations based on race; being "race neutral"; using racially coded language; mispronouncing names; enforcing harsh discipline practices that disproportionately impact students of colour; valuing whiteness; tokenizing students' cultures; culturally appropriating; devaluing non-teachers in the school community; not advocating for more teachers of colour.

Although this article describes teaching in primary/secondary education, it still provides useful guidance on methods of culturally relevant pedagogy with examples. The author defines culturally relevant teaching (CRT) as that which balances cultural integrity and academic exellence beyond indiviualistic notions of acheivement. CRT encourages the development of sociopolitical conciousness and recommends using the limitations of required curriculum and textbooks as subjects for critique. The author recommends fostering an equitable relationship between students and teachers, where students are encouraged to act as teachers, and teachers are encouraged to learn from students.

Describes how white silence that occurs in conversations about race is a tool to maintain white privilege. Uses whiteness scholarship and theories of anti-racist education to describe the effects of white silence: hides racial perspectives of white participates and shelters them from challenges to their views; can reduce resistance to problematic views of white peers; invalidates stories about experiences of people of colour. White silence can be constructive in some instances of mixed-race dialogue: during discussions of internalized racial oppression, when one generally takes up too much space; when other white people have already spoken; when trying to explain or add a point after a person of colour has spoken. The author dismantles common excuses for white silence and suggests that white people need to overcome their discomfort in order to not be complicit.

Scott Jaschik uses sociological studies to examine the fact that white people favour meritocratic university admissions systems only when they favour them. They prefer these systems if they further disempower Black folks, but turn away from meritocratic systems if they favour Asian students. This presents to the reader the fact that admissions systems are created in very precise ways to upkeep systems of oppression for people of colour and often to “neutralize” threats of POC success within higher education systems.--Sade Alexis

In this article David J Leonard discusses a study that was conducted concerning Racial differences in GPA and major choice. Leonard delves into the many ways that this study was racist and biased towards favouring the experiences of white students while slandering Black students. He uses the dangers and the pitfalls of the study at hand as a means of pointing to the ways that the university marginalizes Black students and then turns it around as a flaw on the individual Black student rather than the institution itself. Leonard points to the ways in which Black students statistically appearing to be less qualified for post-secondary education, is a replication of larger systems of oppression that make the success of Black folks significantly more difficult to achieve.--Sade Alexis

"In this article Pelster-Wiebe takes on a conversational tone to address white artists. She speaks to white artists about their desire to make art about racism by taking on the voice of marginalized people. She discusses that often times this art making only traumatizes people of colour. She calls this an act of ventriloquism that uses the body of another (people of colour) to emphasize their own (white) voice. She goes on to discuss the complexities of white people making art about racism and discusses the need for white people to investigate their own whiteness rather than attempt to experience racism, which will never be possible. Pelster-Wiebe challenges white artists, or rather, all white people to understand that they have at some point been an aggressor because of their whiteness. She asks white people to understand that in order to work against white supremacy white people need to understand that they are complicit in the upkeep of white supremacy and in order to change this, white people must work just as hard as people of colour have been. She warns white readers that in doing so, white people must be aware of when and how they are taking up space, she discusses that this process of stepping down from power is a lifelong and ongoing process."--Sade Alexis

Priya Kandaswamy discusses the power systems at play within the classroom. Specifically, she discusses the ways in which colour-blindness and multiculturalism act as a mask for the institutionalized racism that is rampant within the post-secondary education system. She discusses the tendency for multiculturalism to act as a presentation of an understanding of racism while the university simultaneously works to further marginalize students of colour. Along with this, she discusses the ways in which colour blindness acts to silence students of colour when they discuss experience of racism. Colour blindness poses students of colour as racist when they acknowledge the ways in which race affects their lives. Kandaswamy uses this essay to answer questions of how to critically engage students in anti-racist discourse, how to teach against privilege rather than to it and what do educators hope students can garner through a critical analysis of power. She does so by examining her lived experiences of teaching a class regarding race, gender, and the politics of social welfare. Using each anecdote as a point of critical analysis of how anti-racist pedagogy can create more critical classroom spaces. Most importantly Kandaswamy points to the fact that classrooms are not outside of society and that students and educators do not check their histories and socio-political contexts at the door, so because of this, the promise of a safe space for students of colour is impossible and misleading.--Sade Alexis

Goes over the five Ds of bystander intervention: distract, delegate, delay, direct and document.