"The Fire This Time: The Insurrection of American Public Education Is Being Fueled by Racism," by Street, M. & Garcia-Medina, W.

In total agreement that, as stated below, that "Now more than ever, we need for an accurate and comprehensive understanding of slavery." Kim Yancey's statement calling what's happening in curriculum an "insurrection" against public, inclusive education. It echoes Hakeem Jefferson and Victor Ray's perspective as posted earlier to this blog: "White Backlash Is A Type Of Racial Reckoning, Too."

Insurrection. Backlash. White racial reckoning. What's this all about?

I'm reading Heather McGee's book, The Sum of Us, right now. She points to the work of Kinder & Sanders (1996)  who offer an in-depth look at white racial resentment in the context of political opinion surveys. McGee's larger and quite compelling argument is that anti-black racism is not only harmful to blacks, but also to the U.S., as a whole.

-Angela Valenzuela

References

Kinder, D. R., & Sanders, L. M. (1996). Divided by color: Racial politics and democratic ideals. University of Chicago Press.

McGhee, H. (2021). The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together. One World Press. 

The Fire This Time: The Insurrection of American Public Education Is Being Fueled by Racism

by Sister Syllabus | Aug. 7, 2023 | Medium.com

By Mia Street, MEd and Dr. William Garcia-Medina

Insurrection: rebellion, revolt, uprising, mutiny, revolution, insurgence, rising, rioting, riot, sedition, civil disobedience, civil disorder, unrest, anarchy…

Pedagogy of the Oppressor…

In July of 2022, a group of nine Texas educators submitted an idea to the State Board of Education that would be the beginning of dismantling truth-telling in public education. The idea? Public schools in Texas would now begin to learn to describe slavery as “involuntary relocation” under new social studies standards proposed to the state’s education board. A few phone calls and social media posts later condemning this false interpretation of enslavement resulted in going viral. The responses made me feel like perhaps Texas would not fall to the erosion of truth-telling in schools. I was wrong. Since then, legislators across the country have created policies that tear down decades of equity gains in education work. Texas NAACP Education Chair, Councilwoman Kimberley Yancy quite accurately called this an Insurrection of Public Education and it is.

In recent years, a disturbing trend has been emerging within American public education — a surge of racist ideologies and practices that undermine the goal of creating inclusive and equitable learning environments. From anti CRT bills to anti DEI legislation- this insurrection has rolled back years of progress. The insurrection of public education is fueled by racism within schools and has far-reaching consequences that perpetuate systemic racism and hinder the progress towards a truly just society. Several incidents and policy decisions across the country serve as evidence of this vitriol permeating our education system.

One of the most egregious examples can be found in Florida, where Governor Ron DeSantis recently ignited a firestorm of controversy by attacking the teaching of slavery in schools. As reported by Politico, even Black Republicans were left livid and disgusted by DeSantis’ comments, which attempt to downplay the significance and effects of slavery in American history. This attempt to whitewash the curriculum not only erases the suffering and contributions of Black Americans but also perpetuates a distorted narrative that minimizes the impact of white supremacy and systemic racism.

The Guardian, in a scathing critique, highlights the harmful consequences of DeSantis’ stance on curriculum about enslavement in America. By refusing to acknowledge the full extent of the horrors inflicted upon enslaved individuals, Florida risks perpetuating a cycle of ignorance and denial. This insurrection not only undermines the education of students but also hampers efforts to foster empathy and understanding among future generations.

Echoing those concerns, The New York Times argues that DeSantis’ actions are part of a broader pattern of continuing to perpetuate lies to hide the aspects of American history that show how disgusting, degrading and dehumanizing slavery really was. Now more than ever, we need for an accurate and comprehensive understanding of slavery, as it is an essential pillar in comprehending the foundations of racial inequity in the United States. By denying this history, DeSantis and others contribute to a poisonous atmosphere that perpetuates racism via a manufactured erosion of democratic principles attributed to free-thinking institutions such as schools. To borrow a quote from David Berliner and Bruce J Biddle’s book titled The Manufactured Crisis (1996), “the American tragedy of racism poses serious problems for our public schools, problems that are less evident in other Western countries that have lower levels of prejudice (pp.230).” Although this quote was written during the 90’s, it remains true to this day. The January 6th insurrection of the White House is integrally connected to the nefarious legislation seeking to do away with truth-telling in public education and more generally, America.

Currently, we are facing extreme polarization fueled by direct acknowledgement and support for hatred against Black and Brown communities. DeSantis’ display of racism, for instance, takes shape via both direct racism and another subtle form of vitriol commonly known as color-blind racism.

Beyond the books…

The January 6th insurrection demonstrates how racism has shifted back into its direct racism while claiming to be saving the United States from wokeism and extreme leftism. While many politicians holding political power are behaving as ventriloquists, controlling uninformed folks across the country for political gain, far-right political groups are working hard to shift power to shape, distort and censor the curriculum that is taught to our students. The impact of this insurrection against inclusive education extends beyond Florida. Across the country, legislation is being introduced that seeks to limit diversity and equity efforts in schools. The Associated Press reports on the dangerous ramifications of such legislation, which undermines the progress made in creating safe and inclusive spaces for students who are marginalized. These policies disregard the needs of students from disenfranchised communities and also perpetuate systems of oppression and discrimination for the purpose of continued racial domination. Sociologists Matthew Desmond and Mustafa Emirbayer refer to racial domination being based on: 1) Institutional Racism: Systemic White privilege in institutions such as schools, corporations, universities, etc, and 2) Interpersonal Racism: Racism in everyday interactions. The impact of recent insurrections against inclusive education and the dismantling of affirmative action are prime examples of racial domination.

By using “wokeism” as an excuse to pass racist legislations against the teaching of inclusive history and ignoring the incitement of racial domination, it adheres to fallacies that garner support by many people in the country, thus increasing divisions and social mayhem. Beyond the books, the insurrection of public education is having detrimental effects on discipline practices and exacerbating racial disparities within the system. Dallas CORE Chief Executive Officer and Community Organizer, Jazmyn Ferguson stated, “when attempting to understand discipline, it is clear that those with power have a stake in ensuring that society functions as it does because it preserves their power and ability to survive and thrive.”

In a joint effort between the Intercultural Development Research Association (IDRA), Lubbock NAACP and families of Lubbock, Texas, demand for an end to school-based racial discrimination. One of the key concerns raised by these organizations and families is the disproportionate discipline practices being employed in schools. Historically, African American and LatinX students are subjected to harsher disciplinary actions compared to their white counterparts. After the district’s inaction and flat out lying and denial of receiving complaints, students and families of the Lubbock-Cooper Independent School District and Slaton ISD, along with the Lubbock NAACP and the IDRA filed civil right complaints against the school districts. The violation claims have been submitted to the US Department of Education.

The case of the Mamaroneck School District in New York, as reported by Gothamist, serves as a stark reminder of the consequences of inaction. Black students and other students of color were regularly the targets of racial epithets and sexually offensive harassment. According to OAG Leticia James:

The OAG’s investigation concluded that Mamaroneck UFSD’s failure to address student bullying and harassment constituted a violation of Title VI and Title IX. Black students and other students of color were regularly the targets of racial epithets and sexually offensive harassment. The OAG found that Mamaroneck UFSD, despite promptly investigating these incidents, failed to engage in necessary responses to limit this behavior in the future.

The district faced criticism for its failure to address racial bullying effectively, prompting calls for reform. Instances like these highlight the urgent need for schools and districts to prioritize the development of anti-racist policies and procedures that ensure the safety and well-being of all students. White denial from school administrators and policy makers reveal a return to Jim Crow ideologies in terms of surveilling and restricting disenfranchised communities via racial domination.

Similar to Mamaroneck, Carrollton Farmers Branch Independent School District (CFBISD), a suburb of Dallas, Texas has recently come under scrutiny, again, due to allegations of racial bias and discrimination. In a disturbing incident that went viral the spring of 2021, a middle school quiz administered in CFBISD contained derogatory anti-Asian stereotypes. Then in 2022, OCR complaints were filed because district leadership blatantly segregated their district administrators. Just last month, Wendy Eldredge, their new superintendent, was quoted saying derogatory statements about African American and LatinX students and their parents. Even after being brought to light, school leadership and the school board allowed for these clear acts of discrimination to go unchecked. The Texas State Historical Association reveals that the district was part of a segregated system until the late 1960s. This historical background (and most recent incidents) raise questions about how deeply ingrained and prevalent systemic racism is within the district’s policies and practices. Instances like these highlight the urgent need for schools and districts to prioritize the development of anti-racist policies and procedures that ensure the safety and well-being of all students.

The insurrection of American public education fueled by racism is not only attacking inclusive pedagogy, continuing unjust discipline practices but in some states, Black and Brown communities are fighting against the erosion of democracy of public education. This week, Texas Education Agency (TEA) imposed a state takeover of Houston ISD by dismantling local control, replacing the superintendent and elected school board members. Thus, diminishing the influence of parents, students and local educators who intimately understand the needs of their community. This top-down approach undermines the very essence of democracy and denies students, especially those from historically marginalized backgrounds, the chance to shape their own educational experiences. It perpetuates a cycle of inequity that hinders the progress of Black and Brown children, who already face systemic barriers within education. In response to the takeover, activist Lauren Ashley, in a now viral video, passionately expressed the concerns of her community with the newly appointed superintendent Mike Miles. Our “good sis” Lauren Ashley’s concerns included HISD falling into the same charter school pitfall that New Orleans went into after Katrina and the loss of the community being able to choose their school board. Also, another concern is that the takeover is a strategy executed by Texas republicans as a way to punish a very democratic leaning city and its Black and Brown majority. Additionally, Superintendent Mike Miles is also under fire for his recent decision to convert some school libraries into “team centers” where students placed in these centers for disciplinary actions will watch their class on Zoom and complete individual assignments. State takeovers, such as the one imposed on HISD, often lack evidence of their effectiveness in improving student outcomes.

Collective action…

At such challenging times, it is crucial for parents and supporters like Lauren Ashley to speak out against the actions of TEA and individuals like Mike Miles. By raising our collective voices and advocating for equitable policies and practices, we can push back against the erosion of democracy and demand a fair and just education system for all students. It is imperative for policymakers, educators and communities to confront the insurrection of education head-on by implementing anti-racist curriculum, supporting inclusive policies and creating safe spaces for all students, educators and parents. Only through collective action can we dismantle the structures that perpetuate racism within our schools and pave the way for a truly equitable education system.

We cannot fail to heed the warnings of the January 6th insurrection. If we do not take this time to atone as a country and work towards racial equity the chickens will come home to roost. As they always do.

About the Authors:

Mia Street, MEd

An award winning educator, her journey in education led her to teaching and eventually becoming a district administrator leading transformational work. Her work inside and outside of the classroom has helped to create equitable educational spaces. She currently consults with different organizations and specializes in leveraging partnerships with educational agencies and industry professionals to promote, create and increase equity in education. She currently holds the following roles: Kidada Education Design, Founder, BH365 Foundation, Executive Director, Dallas CORE Chief Growth Officer, NAACP Texas State Education Committee Member and co-author of the upcoming book entitled Sister Syllabus. Website KidadaEd.com

Dr. William Garcia-Medina

Dr. García-Medina is currently a Charles Phelps Taft Post-Doctoral Fellow at the University of Cincinnati. His research focuses on Black diasporic public humanities, AfroLatinx education, cultural studies, and museum studies. García-Medina has provided educational consulting,training, and workshops for numerous organizations, universities, school districts, and museums. He has taught courses in Latino Studies, American Studies, and Black Studies and has published in these fields in academic journals, blogs, and podcasts. García-Medina has contributed to Latino Rebels since 2015 and has been a guest on national broadcast radio such as Latino USA and NPR. He tweets from @afrolatinoed

How Can I Have a Positive Racial Identity? I'm White! | Ali Michael | TEDTalk

Great Ted Talk by Ali Michaels that addresses whiteness. Drawing on psychologist Janet Helm, she offer the following definition of what a positive racial identity means for white people:

“A positive racial identity [for a white person] is not about feeling good about being white.  It’s also not feeling bad about being white. It’s about understanding what it means to be white in this context of a heavily racialized society that has historically—still today—distributes resources and opportunities inequitably, favoring white people against people of color. Understanding what it means to live in a society that teaches people of color internalized oppression and teaches white people internalized superiority. And dealing with that sense of internalized superiority so that I can show up and be and live in a healthy multi-racial community with people of color in which we work against racism and other oppressions, knowing that all oppressions are connected.”

I like how she framed her own transformation as a result of taking an African American Studies course. This is why so many of us who are teachers advocate for Ethnic Studies. The criticality that such courses provide bring justice and new ways of knowing and being in the world that no longer reinscribe white privilege and white supremacist ways of knowing and being, helping us to live together peacefully in the world.

-Angela Valenzuela

Can 'White Resentment' Help Explain Higher-Ed Cuts? by Eric Kelderman

It would be good to pair this piece with the one I just posted on how school integration isn't happening even when white parents say that they would prefer diverse schools for their children.  In this piece, researchers Taylor and Cantwell found that Republican lawmakers' decisions to fund higher education is similarly impacted by the proportion of enrolled undergraduate white students relative to their minoritized peers.

The paper it titled, "Partisanship, White Racial Resentment, and State Support for Higher Education."

This should concern us all.  Whites, included.

-Angela Valenzuela

Can 'White Resentment' Help Explain 
Higher-Ed Cuts? by Eric Kelderman

Jan 27, 2020

Graduates turn their tassels at the Y. of Georgia' spring commencement in 2019. "Republican
officials may be more skeptical of higher-education funding when the presumed beneficiaries
of government spending are racially diverse, "says a new scholarly paper.
Joshua L. Jones, The Athens Banner-Herald via AP Images

Blunt discussions of racism are increasingly showing up in research of state higher-education issues. A recent study into state appropriations for public colleges is one of a growing number of efforts to try to understand how considerations of race are driving policy decisions.

Take state appropriations, for example. Most studies of the issue rely on the assumption that state lawmakers are seeking to make rational choices in doling out tax dollars. One common explanation is that higher education serves as a sort of “balance wheel” for the state budget: Money for higher education increases in good economic times and decreases when state revenues fall, according to a new paper by Barrett J. Taylor, at the University of North Texas, and Brendan Cantwell, at Michigan State University.

But Taylor and Cantwell eyed instead a more sinister explanation. They suspected that Republican lawmakers, who are overwhelmingly white, would be less generous to an increasingly diverse higher-education landscape. “Republican officials may be more skeptical of higher-education funding when the presumed beneficiaries of government spending are racially diverse,” they posit in their paper, published last week by The Journal of Higher Education.

Cantwell and Taylor looked specifically at places where Republicans controlled both the legislative and executive branches of state government. And they measured how state appropriations differed when the undergraduate enrollment is either more diverse or less diverse than the overall state.

They found that Republican lawmakers were more generous to higher education in places where there was a higher proportion of white students enrolled as undergraduates. “The findings are quite robust,” said Cantwell, an associate professor of educational administration.

People might interpret those results very differently depending on their political leanings, Cantwell said, because the study doesn’t establish that Republican lawmakers are actively choosing to spend less on diverse populations of college students.

Still, the value of this particular paper may be the approach as much as the specific results, said Taylor, an associate professor of counseling and higher education at the University of North Texas.

Most research into higher education has focused on improving practice and policy and assuming that policy makers are acting in good faith. “There’s another part of research that is very comfortable thinking about higher education as part of the culture war,” Taylor said, “and trying to combine those two is relatively new.”

‘To Punish the Opposition’

The researchers looked at two basic variables: state appropriations between 2006, before the Great Recession, until 2015; and the racial diversity of undergraduates at public colleges.

On average, higher-education appropriations were about $220 less per student in states where Republicans controlled state government, the study found. But cuts to higher education were less in those states when white students were overrepresented in public-college enrollments compared with the state’s overall population. And cuts were greater when white students were underrepresented compared with the state.

Importantly, the differences in appropriations were not shown in states with Democratic control of government and overrepresentation of white students, the researchers found.

Though the differences were not large, per student, they were consistent, Cantwell said. “Part of the thing that can be frustrating to people is that our framework was quite big and the findings were quite narrow.”

And the relatively small amounts of money add up when multiplied by the thousands of students that might be enrolled at public colleges in any single state, Taylor said.

Other issues may have affected some of the outcomes, the study says, but they largely point to resentment among white Republican lawmakers against students of color.

“Some political actors might take positions on higher education in an effort to win electoral support by stirring negative partisanship and White resentment,” the authors write. “The consequences for higher education might be irrelevant when policy positions are intended to win votes.”

Those political dynamics have been on display when past Republican governors like Scott Walker, of Wisconsin, or Rick Scott, of Florida, repeatedly questioned the value and purpose of higher education in recent years, Taylor said.

The Policies of White Resentment by Dr. Carol Anderson

Important, authoritative, and courageous piece in the New York Times authored by Emory University African-American Studies Professor Carol Anderson. She is the author of award-winning book, “White Rage: The Unspoken Truth of Our Racial Divide” on the policies and politics of white resentment in a Trump era. 

I quote from within:

"That so many of these policies are based on perception and lies rather than reality is nothing new. White resentment has long thrived on the fantasy of being under siege and having to fight back, as the mass lynchings and destruction of thriving, politically active black communities in Colfax, La. (1873), Wilmington, N.C. (1898), Ocoee, Fla. (1920), and Tulsa, Okla. (1921), attest. White resentment needs the boogeyman of job-taking, maiden-ravaging, tax-evading, criminally inclined others to justify the policies that thwart the upward mobility and success of people of color."

Do read it in its entirety.  It is not only powerful, but directly germane to my university, The University of Texas at Austin.  And do check Dr. Anderson out here [video] with Amy Goodman on Democracy Now!

-Angela

The Policies of White Resentment

By CAROL ANDERSON—AUG. 5, 2017 New York Times

 

White resentment put Donald Trump in the White House. And there is every indication that it will keep him there, especially as he continues to transform that seething, irrational fear about an increasingly diverse America into policies that feed his supporters’ worst racial anxieties.

If there is one consistent thread through Mr. Trump’s political career, it is his overt connection to white resentment and white nationalism. Mr. Trump’s fixation on Barack Obama’s birth certificate gave him the white nationalist street cred that no other Republican candidate could match, and that credibility has sustained him in office — no amount of scandal or evidence of incompetence will undermine his followers’ belief that he, and he alone, could Make America White Again.

The guiding principle in Mr. Trump’s government is to turn the politics of white resentment into the policies of white rage — that calculated mechanism of executive orders, laws and agency directives that undermines and punishes minority achievement and aspiration. No wonder that, even while his White House sinks deeper into chaos, scandal and legislative mismanagement, Mr. Trump’s approval rating among whites (and only whites) has remained unnaturally high. Washington may obsess over Obamacare repeal, Russian sanctions and the debt ceiling, but Mr. Trump’s base sees something different — and, to them, inspiring.

Like on Christmas morning, every day brings his supporters presents: travel bans against Muslims, Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids in Hispanic communities and brutal, family-gutting deportations, a crackdown on sanctuary cities, an Election Integrity Commission stacked with notorious vote suppressors, announcements of a ban on transgender personnel in the military, approval of police brutality against “thugs,” a denial of citizenship to immigrants who serve in the armed forces and a renewed war on drugs that, if it is anything like the last one, will single out African-Americans and Latinos although they are not the primary drug users in this country. Last week, Mr. Trump and Attorney General Jeff Sessions put the latest package under the tree: a staffing call for a case on reverse discrimination in college admissions, likely the first step in a federal assault on affirmative action and a determination to hunt for colleges and universities that discriminate against white applicants.

That so many of these policies are based on perception and lies rather than reality is nothing new. White resentment has long thrived on the fantasy of being under siege and having to fight back, as the mass lynchings and destruction of thriving, politically active black communities in Colfax, La. (1873), Wilmington, N.C. (1898), Ocoee, Fla. (1920), and Tulsa, Okla. (1921), attest. White resentment needs the boogeyman of job-taking, maiden-ravaging, tax-evading, criminally inclined others to justify the policies that thwart the upward mobility and success of people of color.

The last half-century hasn’t changed that. The war on drugs, for example, branded African-Americans and Latinos as felons, which stripped them of voting rights and access to housing and education just when the civil rights movement had pushed open the doors to those opportunities in the United States.

Similarly, the intensified war on immigrants comes, not coincidentally, at the moment when Latinos have gained visible political power, asserted their place in American society and achieved greater access to schools and colleges. The ICE raids have terrorized these communities, led to attendance drop-offs in schools and silenced many from even seeking their legal rights when abused.

The so-called Election Integrity Commission falls in the same category. It is a direct response to the election of Mr. Obama as president. Despite the howls from Mr. Trump and the Republicans, there was no widespread voter fraud then or now. Instead, what happened was that millions of new voters, overwhelmingly African-American, Hispanic and Asian, cast the ballots that put a black man in the White House. The punishment for participating in democracy has been a rash of voter ID laws, the purging of names from the voter rolls, redrawn district boundaries and closed and moved polling places.

Affirmative action is no different. It, too, requires a narrative of white legitimate grievance, a sense of being wronged by the presence of blacks, Latinos and Asians in positions that had once been whites only. Lawsuit after lawsuit, most recently Abigail Fisher’s suit against the University of Texas, feed the myth of unqualified minorities taking a valuable resource — a college education — away from deserving whites.

In order to make that plausible, Ms. Fisher and her lawyers had to ignore the large number of whites who were admitted to the university with scores lower than hers. And they had to ignore the sizable number of blacks and Latinos who were denied admission although their SAT scores and grade point averages were higher than hers. They also had to ignore Texas’ unsavory racial history and its impact. The Brown decision came down in 1954, yet the Dallas public school system remained under a federal desegregation order from 1971 to 2003.

The university was slow to end its whites-only admissions policy, and its practice of automatically admitting the top 10 percent of each Texas public high school’s graduating class has actually led to an overrepresentation of whites. Meanwhile, African-Americans represent only 4 percent of the University of Texas student body, despite making up about 14 percent of the state’s graduating high school students.

Although you will never hear this from Mr. Sessions, men are the greatest beneficiaries of affirmative action in college admissions: Their combination of test scores, grades and achievements is simply no match for that of women, whose academic profiles are much stronger. Yet to provide some semblance of gender balance on campuses, admissions directors have to dig down deep into the applicant pool to cobble together enough males to form an incoming class.

Part of what has been essential in this narrative of affirmative action as theft of white resources — my college acceptance, my job — is the notion of “merit,” where whites have it but others don’t. When California banned affirmative action in college admissions and relied solely on standardized test scores and grades as the definition of “qualified,” black and Latino enrollments plummeted. Whites, however, were not the beneficiaries of this “merit-based” system. Instead, Asian enrollments soared and with that came white resentment at both “the hordes of Asians” at places like the University of California, Los Angeles, and an admissions process that stressed grades over other criteria.

That white resentment simply found a new target for its ire is no coincidence; white identity is often defined by its sense of being ever under attack, with the system stacked against it. That’s why Mr. Trump’s policies are not aimed at ameliorating white resentment, but deepening it. His agenda is not, fundamentally, about creating jobs or protecting programs that benefit everyone, including whites; it’s about creating purported enemies and then attacking them.

In the end, white resentment is so myopic and selfish that it cannot see that when the larger nation is thriving, whites are, too. Instead, it favors policies and politicians that may make America white again, but also hobbled and weakened, a nation that has squandered its greatest assets — its people and its democracy.

Carol Anderson is a professor of African-American studies at Emory University and the author of “White Rage: The Unspoken Truth of Our Racial Divide.”

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