Author – Y. Morales

Everyone is “trying to make a difference.” It’s what we tell ourselves as educators every day. We really do want our kids to succeed in every way possible: financially, mentally, and academically to name a few. But how do we make that difference? Truly, what is the difference that we’re trying to make? What are we expecting from our students? It might be good to wonder perhaps, what are they expecting from us? 

I firmly believe that students want transparency. They want to know that they can trust their teachers to address the hard topics, to have difficult conversations about what occurs in their world. Between sports, extracurriculars, and after-school activities, some kids are with their teachers more than their own parents. Here at Elmont, some scholars are in the building for a 0 period before school even starts. Regardless of the demographics of your school, students want to know that their teachers are actively fighting for them; they want to know that their teachers are anti-racist through their lessons, teachings, and rhetoric. 

Being with fellow educators who are consistently focusing on this transparency has been uplifting. It’s affirming to be in a group of educators who want to talk about the “R” word and what it means. I remember the nervousness when we first started having book club meetings. Mr. Dougherty challenged us to read The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander. The topics being covered were heavy for a conversation, let alone amongst co-workers. In our initial Google Meet, we were all thinking the same thing, but we were all waiting for someone else to say it first. 

“What did you think about the facts discussed in the chapter?” Mr. Dougherty asked. Someone else speak please. Say it. Just say the words. We’re all just looking at each other. Smiling. Staring. Oh good someone turned on their mic. “Those policies were racist.” I exhale. Relief. 

And off we went, ready to have conversations about how to address these topics in the classroom and what to say to others when we encountered racism head on. Together, as a book club, we decided to read How to be an Antiracist. In it, Ibram Kendi encourages us to actively engage ourselves in anti-racist discussions and to continuously question our actions. As an English teacher, this is what I push my students to do in their own writings. Be reflective. Tell me the story of who you are. It’s okay that you don’t like certain parts of yourself, but what’s important is that you acknowledge that and work to change it. “You can’t go back to the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending.” – C.S. Lewis

In his book, How to be an Antiracist, Kendi is humble about his approach to us, and because of that, we feel affirmed in reading his first two chapters. There are clear cut definitions placed; not to insult the intelligence of the reader, but to level the playing field. You’re either a racist or an anti-racist, there is no inbetween. Some of the cloudy discourse about race in our society has to do with structural inequality. Once you cut through all the jargon it comes down to one thing: if you’re not working towards equality you’re working against equality. If someone says something racist to us or around us, it’s our responsibility to call them out. If not us, the educators pushing our students to be better, then who? 

After all, isn’t that what we want our students to do? To “make a difference” in the world they will inherit? To be the ones who show empathy, to fight for a better future, to stand up when they see something wrong. How will they, if we don’t? Together, our book club focuses on transitioning Kendi’s discourse, amongst other powerful sources, into rhetoric we can use within our classrooms. Our little collection of educators serves not only to empower ourselves, but to give strength to the students we help raise to “make a difference.”