Are We Finally at the Tipping Point?

[Karen Michele]

This is the opening paragraph to an article on the PSD Equity and Inclusion webpage:

Avoiding Racial Equity Detours

Students experiencing racism can’t
wait for schools to move at their
own pace and comfort level.

In schools committed to racial equity, educators who
resist anti-racist measures should feel uneasy, isolated
on the outskirts of their schools’ institutional cultures.
I mean this literally. The educators least invested in
racial equity should wonder whether they belong.

Sadly, research shows the inverse tends to be true in
many schools, even when leaders claim equity commitments.
Often, the educators most adamant about racial
equity are cast to the margins of institutional culture.
They are the ones feeling isolated, wondering whether
they belong (Kohli, 2018; Picower, 2011). Colleagues
call them troublemakers for naming what others refuse
to name. Some are shushed or encouraged to adopt a
color-blind perspective by equity-skittish leaders. They
are accused of being too “political” simply for pointing
out conditions that harm families of color. Educators of
color who raise these concerns tend to face even greater
hostility, as Kohli (2018) documented through the
narratives of racial-justice-oriented teachers of color.
They often are labelled “militant” or “angry” for telling the
racial equity truth.