Changing the narrative about Black and Brown boys in K-12 education
My most recent experience has been serving as a K-8 principal in a large, urban, public school district in the Pacific NW. My school was (is) what is known as "diverse". This translates into: high poverty (90%), lots of kids of color (88%), lot of second language learners (49%) and lots of White flight. I, however, loved my little school. It was an honor to serve as the leader of a school full of children who looked like me, spoke like me and shared my cultural upbringing, belief, values, etc. There was nothing wrong with the school that so many of the White neighbors chose to run away from, they didn't know what they were missing.
I've spent my career focusing on the benefits of bilingual education. Since my degrees are in that field, I understand the detriment of language loss and the benefits of bilingual education on both identity and educational achievement. The 60% Latino, 50% second language learners student body was perfect for a Spanish immersion program. I lobbied for and was granted the ability to start such a program. One of the first steps to implementation was to sell the program to the English speaking, White families. If you know anything about critical race theory, you know that sometimes we have to work the interest convergence as a way to gain access (permission) to the systemic structures that will help yield the desired outcomes. So I sold the Spanish immersion program to the English speaking, White families that traditionally thumbed their nose at our school in favor of "better" schools. We gained amazing interest. Actually so much interest that we had three full sections of Kindergarten en espanol in our first year. That meant every second language learner (Spanish, Somali and Vietnamese) had plenty of access to a slot in the program that is considered the Cadillac model for second language learners. It also meant that we had more White families that held judgement about "those" kids and our school which they would not have attended had we not had a program they could benefit from long term. When these parents arrived, so did the narrative about our Black and Brown boys.
It wasn't long before our highly involved, highly educated, White parents began to express concern. Recess was "dangerous" they said. It was like Lord of the Flies. A free for all that was fit for survival of the fittest. As the principal, I was alarmed. I'd not heard that recess was that bad and of course I would look into it. I asked my recess staff about this and they said it was a bit much to supervise over 100 Kindergartners but no one was being physically hurt and they felt they had it under control. I trust my staff so I felt like we were good. I let the parents know everything that was being done for recess to be safer so that they felt they were heard.
Then came one of the first e-mails. A White grandmother was besides herself. A Native American boy (darker skinned, long black hair in a braid) had threatened to KILL her little White grand-daughter. Of course we jumped right on that one. It is not okay for one Kindergartner to threaten to kill another Kindergartner. Problem was he never did threaten to kill her. The little girl reported some play that she was an active and willing participant to but then ran with her grandmother's over reaction and, as we say in Spanish, le hecho mas salsa a los tacos...she made it up. With some very stereotypical details including how this young man was going to bring a rope and a knife to kill her. She left out the part where she sometimes instigated and teased the boy to the point that he chased her as she gleefully ran away. She left out the part about teachers having already spoken to both of them about not playing in such a manner and asking her not to taunt the boy. She became the victim of a dark skinned, dangerous boy out to get her. Have we heard this narrative before from White females? Have men of color had to suffer consequences before because White females cry foul while omitting their contribution to the situation? I don't blame the victim but this situation really pissed me off because the grandmother came in wanting us to persecute the little boy based off a lie. When told her granddaughter had lied (which the little girl admitted) she never once took responsibility for her own actions and what they could have meant for this young boy. She was more than willing to push him along the path that start the school to prison pipeline.
And there were more....Always the Black/Brown boys are dangerous, violent, out of control, angry. Always there is an alarm accompanied by a demand that I do something, that I "fix it". I was called to meetings with a mob of parents that were followed with "memorandum of understanding" and e-mails that read "we expect that....". I often felt like the parents were trying to supervise me (at best) or trying to run the school (at the most extreme) by expecting that we implement their demands overnight. Never with a consideration for the long term, averse affects to the young men of color they found so objectionable.
I then started to notice the behavior of the White boys. I wanted to understand if our Black/Brown boys were really that different from their White peers. They were not. When I pointed out to parents that their White boys also engaged in play sword fighting then the narrative became that their White sons were being "imaginative/creative" because they were reenacting Star Wars. If two White boys hit one another, they were having a "disagreement amongst life long friends" (because they've know each other since child care) rather than getting into a fight. If a White boy blew out of the classroom he was "frustrated" and "expressing himself" rather than disturbing instruction and negatively impacting his peers. In scuffles White boys hit or bite but Black/Brown boys "assault" due to the negative home environments they come from...what with all the domestic violence, drug abuse and gang activity. If a White boy bothers another child he is being "annoying" or "lacks social skills" while a Black/Brown boy is "harassing" or "bullying" or "targeting" their peer. Oh the hypocrisy of it all.
Of course I called these parents on their narratives. They cried, they said they weren't racist, we met and tried to have conversations to address their concerns. They still went right up to my supervisor to complain about my poor leadership and the dangers their children were subjected to that I wouldn't address. My Black male supervisor and I had many talks about everything that was being done and how we needed to treat these White parents in a way that made them feel validated. I had no patience for it or them. Instead I built an empowerment program for our boys of color that tells them everyday: you are perfect just as you are and just as you are not. You matter. You get to show up in a space that won't tear you down further, that won't start you down the path of school to prison, that will make you bilingual and help you achieve academically. Does this mean that White kids don't matter? Of course not! They matter just as much but not more and not less.
Just remember that words matter. And the words that we use to describe Black/Brown males in America right now matter more than ever before.
I've spent my career focusing on the benefits of bilingual education. Since my degrees are in that field, I understand the detriment of language loss and the benefits of bilingual education on both identity and educational achievement. The 60% Latino, 50% second language learners student body was perfect for a Spanish immersion program. I lobbied for and was granted the ability to start such a program. One of the first steps to implementation was to sell the program to the English speaking, White families. If you know anything about critical race theory, you know that sometimes we have to work the interest convergence as a way to gain access (permission) to the systemic structures that will help yield the desired outcomes. So I sold the Spanish immersion program to the English speaking, White families that traditionally thumbed their nose at our school in favor of "better" schools. We gained amazing interest. Actually so much interest that we had three full sections of Kindergarten en espanol in our first year. That meant every second language learner (Spanish, Somali and Vietnamese) had plenty of access to a slot in the program that is considered the Cadillac model for second language learners. It also meant that we had more White families that held judgement about "those" kids and our school which they would not have attended had we not had a program they could benefit from long term. When these parents arrived, so did the narrative about our Black and Brown boys.
It wasn't long before our highly involved, highly educated, White parents began to express concern. Recess was "dangerous" they said. It was like Lord of the Flies. A free for all that was fit for survival of the fittest. As the principal, I was alarmed. I'd not heard that recess was that bad and of course I would look into it. I asked my recess staff about this and they said it was a bit much to supervise over 100 Kindergartners but no one was being physically hurt and they felt they had it under control. I trust my staff so I felt like we were good. I let the parents know everything that was being done for recess to be safer so that they felt they were heard.
Then came one of the first e-mails. A White grandmother was besides herself. A Native American boy (darker skinned, long black hair in a braid) had threatened to KILL her little White grand-daughter. Of course we jumped right on that one. It is not okay for one Kindergartner to threaten to kill another Kindergartner. Problem was he never did threaten to kill her. The little girl reported some play that she was an active and willing participant to but then ran with her grandmother's over reaction and, as we say in Spanish, le hecho mas salsa a los tacos...she made it up. With some very stereotypical details including how this young man was going to bring a rope and a knife to kill her. She left out the part where she sometimes instigated and teased the boy to the point that he chased her as she gleefully ran away. She left out the part about teachers having already spoken to both of them about not playing in such a manner and asking her not to taunt the boy. She became the victim of a dark skinned, dangerous boy out to get her. Have we heard this narrative before from White females? Have men of color had to suffer consequences before because White females cry foul while omitting their contribution to the situation? I don't blame the victim but this situation really pissed me off because the grandmother came in wanting us to persecute the little boy based off a lie. When told her granddaughter had lied (which the little girl admitted) she never once took responsibility for her own actions and what they could have meant for this young boy. She was more than willing to push him along the path that start the school to prison pipeline.
And there were more....Always the Black/Brown boys are dangerous, violent, out of control, angry. Always there is an alarm accompanied by a demand that I do something, that I "fix it". I was called to meetings with a mob of parents that were followed with "memorandum of understanding" and e-mails that read "we expect that....". I often felt like the parents were trying to supervise me (at best) or trying to run the school (at the most extreme) by expecting that we implement their demands overnight. Never with a consideration for the long term, averse affects to the young men of color they found so objectionable.
I then started to notice the behavior of the White boys. I wanted to understand if our Black/Brown boys were really that different from their White peers. They were not. When I pointed out to parents that their White boys also engaged in play sword fighting then the narrative became that their White sons were being "imaginative/creative" because they were reenacting Star Wars. If two White boys hit one another, they were having a "disagreement amongst life long friends" (because they've know each other since child care) rather than getting into a fight. If a White boy blew out of the classroom he was "frustrated" and "expressing himself" rather than disturbing instruction and negatively impacting his peers. In scuffles White boys hit or bite but Black/Brown boys "assault" due to the negative home environments they come from...what with all the domestic violence, drug abuse and gang activity. If a White boy bothers another child he is being "annoying" or "lacks social skills" while a Black/Brown boy is "harassing" or "bullying" or "targeting" their peer. Oh the hypocrisy of it all.
Of course I called these parents on their narratives. They cried, they said they weren't racist, we met and tried to have conversations to address their concerns. They still went right up to my supervisor to complain about my poor leadership and the dangers their children were subjected to that I wouldn't address. My Black male supervisor and I had many talks about everything that was being done and how we needed to treat these White parents in a way that made them feel validated. I had no patience for it or them. Instead I built an empowerment program for our boys of color that tells them everyday: you are perfect just as you are and just as you are not. You matter. You get to show up in a space that won't tear you down further, that won't start you down the path of school to prison, that will make you bilingual and help you achieve academically. Does this mean that White kids don't matter? Of course not! They matter just as much but not more and not less.
Just remember that words matter. And the words that we use to describe Black/Brown males in America right now matter more than ever before.
