Moving Beyond White Allyship:
Authentic White Antiracist Praxis in Education Today
In my personal and professional educational leadership experiences as a Black woman, I have increasingly had conversations with colleagues and students about the terms and conditions of white allyship. This is due to the upsurge of racial and social justice uprisings due to perpetual violence and dehumanization against people of color locally, nationally, and globally.
I’ve felt the need to sit down and reflect on all of this, and I’ve concluded that while we need to think about white allyship, white educators must also move beyond it to get to antiracism. White allyship means that a white person supports the work that BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) folx (gender inclusive term) have been doing to fight for our lives, while leaving space to exercise a cognitive dissonance with the white complicity that continues to uphold white supremacy. I know that last word is jarring, but please stay with me…
Rather, white antiracism assumes accountability to move past thoughts and prayers toward dialogue and action. This is not a title to self-proclaim, but instead an ideological and active framing to help guide a white educator’s praxis.
A driving force of white antiracism should not be to uphold a positive self-image or reputation, but to engage in the work because you know it’s the right thing to do. It’s not about doing the work because you have a spouse or child or friend of color, but because it’s about protecting and defending human and civil rights. This is not about leaning into a trending topic or political debate; it’s about our real lives.
This praxis can help you fulfill your commitment to education and to caring for all kids. This process can guide you to prioritize impact over intent, and to radically examine and (re)evaluate your role as an educator in public schools.
With that, white antiracism is not a checklist, but a series of guiding principles. Practicing white antiracism means to:
· Acknowledge past wrongdoings and critically think about how to do better next time.
· Partner with BIPOC students, families, and colleagues, and value our authentic presence and voice in educational spaces. This means seeing each person as a knowledge bearer and storytelling and embodied knowledge as credible. This also means making sure we can see positive images, depictions, and representations of ourselves and our identities in hallways, classroom walls, books, libraries, music, assignments, games, posters, projects, events, etc.
· Educate yourself on oppressive historical inputs that shaped the foundations of public education and are still perpetuated today.
· Learn about the intricacies of white supremacy and how they continue to infiltrate the education system, both overtly and covertly.
· Know that policies, procedures, curriculum, and cultural norms are not set in stone, but were created by oppressive people and ideologies. It’s about knowing that you have the power to disrupt and change these outputs.
· Shift from hierarchical power structures to horizontal political power, understanding that politics is the distribution of and access to power. This means asking yourself, “What forms of power and decision-making do I have and what do I need to let go of? How can I create spaces that nurture and value the knowledge that BIPOC folx have?” Horizontal power structures are decolonizing in that the value and credibility of people is not determined by Eurocentric standards of success, but by their authentic humanness and inherent worth.
· Critique the sources of your discomfort in critical conversations about race and reflect on how you can work through it to stay engaged. You might keep a notepad next to you to prompt yourself to take notes on why/how you’re feeling in the moment and come back to those notes later on. Naming these feelings is powerful and can help you productively identify the roots of your discomfort.
· Speak up rather than stay silent in conversations about racial and social justice, even if all you say in the moment is, “I stand with you, I value you, and I am reflecting on my own experiences and practice.” You might even encourage the whole group to take 5-10 minutes for individual self-reflection, then come back into the group with more gathered and processed thoughts.
· Cultivate the conditions for inclusive and healing tables to form, grow, and prosper. Remember these efforts are designed to lead to a collective sense of belonging and care for one another.
· Redefine academic achievement and metrics of success to make sure that each student’s forms of brilliance are honored and valued. Research how to grade, teach, and lead in this way.
· Start with, “Here’s what I know about [topic]” in discussions about race/racism that include BIPOC students, families, and colleagues, and follow that up with, “How can I better walk alongside you?”, or, “Where are my blind spots/what am I still missing?”, or, “In what ways can I leverage my positionality to better disrupt [x,y,z]?”, then, “My next action step is to work more on [this].”
· Decenter whiteness in conversations about race/racism. This means refraining from talking about personal/professional “wins” as a white individual, whether consciously or subconsciously to seek praise from colleagues. Instead, you can talk about how systems, policies, pedagogies, curriculum, leadership norms, etc. might continue to uphold white supremacy and critically think about what you can do to actively disrupt that. You can also reflect on experiences that you had in the past and what you can do differently next time.
· Ask BIPOC students, families, and colleagues, periodically and authentically, “How are you doing?”
· Create space for moments of silence and reflection in staff meetings and classrooms when national headlines surface. It is incredibly hard when I feel like I have to internalize local, national, and global happenings in workplace settings as a Black woman, so the acknowledgment from white colleagues goes a long way. It makes me feel like I don’t have to leave part of myself at the door or outside of the Zoom room.
· Make specific connections to racial and social justice in staff meetings and through teaching content. These are not separate topics, and should instead serve as an entry point into leadership, teaching, and colleague dialogue and action.
· Do the work. To advance your learning, you can read books, view video clips, and follow educational social media platforms by people of color because there are many forms of knowledge at your fingertips (thank you, technology!). Know that people of color are exhausted from (re)producing emotional and intellectual labor if we feel like we always have to start at chapter 1. We must do this work together, but we also want you to come to the book club prepared. For example, if I’m leading a book club and ask everyone to read chapters 1–5, I want you to show up having read those chapters. Please ask questions, and know that it’s a lot less laborious for me when those questions are informed and based on annotations and connections you’ve already made.
· Remember that the youth are our future and these futures must feel liberating and sustainable. These futures must allow antiracism and decolonization to thrive in and beyond education, and it’s up to us to build those conditions today.
Implementing an active antiracist praxis acknowledges past constructs, present happenings, and future trajectories. This is not an issue to debate, like pineapple on pizza, but a matter of humanity.
I want to leave with this: BIPOC people are not the burden; the legacies and contemporary adaptations of racism and white supremacy are. While we must continue to fight as a means of survival, we continue to work for futures that will include, value, and humanize us. We cannot jump out of the struggle for racial, social, and educational justice, so we urge you to jump in with us.
Together, we will rise.
