No, love will not fix institutional racism in education (Opinion)

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The Carroll Independent School District School Board in Southlake, Texas formally berated a teacher last month after a parent complained she had the teenage book This Book Is Antiracist: 20 Lessons on How to Wake Up, Take Action and Do the Work in his classroom library. Further demonstrating a lack of respect for teachers as qualified professionals who are equipped to make informed decisions about their work, the district has circulated a formula that teachers can use to select books for their classroom library.

This current iteration of the book ban is not unique to Southlake. Recently, the Pennsylvania Central York School District reinstated a list of previously frozen books related to diversity and racial equity only after student activists protested.

These actions reflect a broader attack on schools’ efforts to make education more representative of the cultures and histories of students of color, who are the majority of public school students in the United States. The conservatives behind these attacks aim to ensure that schools do not offer an education that encourages criticism and questioning of historical and current events.

At my current school, I teach literacy classes to primary education majors who read academic texts but also read the world. In other words, they pay attention to what is going on in the world, analyze current events and discuss how education policies can shape their teaching. In this climate, they rightly express concern about their ability to create a diverse classroom library and teach critical literacy. After hearing about the Pennsylvania book ban issue, a 20-year-old college student asked: Why do they hate us so much?

I listen to and validate their concerns, but I also caution them against attributing hatred as a justification for racist policies and encourage them to look beyond basic human emotions to an examination of the use of power.

It is important that those of us who want to build just education systems recognize that racism is built into the fabric of our institutions cannot be eradicated just by promoting love and friendship with people of different races. When I was a professor at my old institution in rural east Texas, my students said it was impossible for them to be racist because their religion teaches them to love everyone. I have heard many well-meaning educators argue that we need to erase hatred, love our neighbor, or come up with other clichés that reduce the complexity of racism to simplistic individual actions.

These naive responses show a lack of understanding of how institutional racism works. Despite what we have been led to believe, love is not enough. We don’t need another kumbayah moment. We need to confront institutional racism, and to do so, educators need to better understand its harmful roots and how they develop.

This attack on diversity and equity in education has a singular goal: to preserve white supremacy and domination.

Institutional racism is not supported due to a lack of emotional intelligence or interpersonal skills. It is backed by the political power given to public servants who set policies that dictate our practices. The Southlake teacher was punished because of the power held by elected members of the school board. Likewise, racist education policies tabled in state legislatures across the United States in 2020 that limit the freedom of teachers to teach the truth and that laundering programs are not enacted out of hate. This attack on diversity and equity in education has a singular goal: to preserve white supremacy and domination.

As Ibram X. Kendi wrote in Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America, hatred and ignorance have not driven the history of racist ideas in America. Racist policies have driven the history of racist ideas in America.

Racist policies like those in Southlake and other towns are implemented out of fear of the liberating potential inherent in racially fair education. Racially fair education is characterized, among other things, by teaching authentic and inclusive stories; promoting civic engagement which enables students to be politically engaged citizens; and the inclusion of ethnic studies that allow all young people to develop multicultural skills.

When students are exposed to anti-racist books, they learn to disrupt oppressive racist ideologies. When taught a specific story, they are endowed with a power that comes from the truth. When their cultures are validated and centered, they form strong cultural identities.

Educators who are committed to the success of all students must demand this type of education and must make their demands known. I urge my students to become civically engaged teachers who know how to impact education policy instead of just being impacted by education policy. Educators should not be deterred by the mess of our political processes and the weight of politics.

Anti-racist work is political activism. If one wants to be an anti-racist educator, getting involved in educational policy is crucial for this work. Specifically, educators can work to elect anti-racist representatives, advocate for legislation that reflects fairness, and even run for public office. The road to racial justice in education may begin in hearts and minds, but it crosses local, state and federal governments and ends in practices dictated by policy.

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