By Chiamaka Ikpeze
Project Coordinator, Whole Child Connection, Children's Institute

On Thursday, October 22, 2020, I had the honor of tuning in to, "Relationships + Connection = Learning: A virtual Convening" by the Whole Child Connection Team at Children's Institute in partnership with America's Promise Alliance. While I am presumably biased because of my connection to Children's Institute, I still hold that my colleagues and the presenters did an extraordinary job and provided a necessary and timely event. From Dr. Dena Simmons’ presentation to our wonderful group of student panelists, everyone had something to chew on.

When I decided to write a reflective piece on the event it was difficult to choose which insights to pull from. From Dr. Simmons’ wisdom on what organizational accountability in anti-racism looks like, the necessity of self-care and the unacknowledged burdens black and minority educators carry, to our student panelists’ continuous emphasis on the importance of humility, openness, and curiosity when building relationships across cultures, there was so much to reflect on.

Ultimately I decided to pick from the insights of the student panelists and reflect on the unspoken steps of creating an anti-racist and cross-cultural classroom when you are a white educator.

What I found most interesting about our student panelists’ responses about how adults can build healthy, meaningful relationships with them across cultures is that none of them expressed expectations of teachers possessing cultural or anti-racist competence in order to reach them. They simply re-stated time after time that the character and willingness of the teacher mattered more than any inherent knowledge.

They wanted teachers that exhibited humility through curiosity, openness, and willingness to acknowledge harm if harm was caused.

They wanted teachers who wanted to teach and were willing to get to know them outside their identity as a student.

They wanted teachers who were unafraid to bring up race in the classroom.

All of this seems like the basics of good teaching and common sense in many ways yet we still find ourselves having conversations about how to create culturally inclusive classrooms year after year, especially when it comes to white educators who work with non-white students in any capacity.

Consequently, if students only require willingness and not expertise on topics of race and inclusion, what seems to be holding teachers back from breaching the topic in classrooms? I have a few guesses but I am still exploring this conundrum myself. I would like to reflect on one unspoken reality when it comes to conversations on race and cultural inclusivity in classrooms.

Oftentimes when it comes to white educators I’ve observed that many tend to only think of or apply the concept of race in the presence of a non-white person. Many white people do not view themselves as racialized beings or through the lens of their white identity and society does not require them to. Race affects the development, understanding, and experiences of every single person in America yet racism provides certain groups (i.e. white people) the privilege of not viewing themselves as part of this paradigm or understanding the power their racial identity holds.

People are afraid to bring race into classrooms when it is in fact already part of the classroom and dominates every aspect of student’s experiences no matter the race.

Moreover, when we talk about racial and cultural inclusion, we often think about including non-white cultures as opposed to naming the dominance of white identity and culture and how it affects the capacity for other cultures to be included. Would it be easier for teachers to initiate conversations on race while owning their racial identity and blind spots? And is it possible to have conversations on race without the facilitator acknowledging and owning their own?

I believe that the more teachers are willing to have open conversations with their students as our panelists suggest, the more tools they will have to come to the same conclusions I mentioned above. People avoid conversations on race for many reasons and fears, but they often forget that on the other side of those conversations are growth, awareness, and introspection. I hope all those who tuned in take our student panelists’ advice seriously; no one needs you to be an expert to discuss race in classrooms, we just need you to start the conversation.

For student-centered tips on how to do so, rewatch the suggestions provided by our student panelists!