“The amount of nonblack people at KO that say the n-word on a regular basis is something that needs to change.” “When I decided to take my braids out and pick my hair all the way out everyone was asking to touch my hair.” “I’ve lost count of the times I’ve been told that I’m ‘white on the inside’ or ‘but you act white.’” These quotes are taken from the @blackatko Instagram, a page started in the summer meant to share and bring awareness to the experiences black students have faced at KO.
Alongside much of the country, after the death of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and countless others, the KO administration was awakened to these injustices that happen not just in the outside world, but right here on our campus. They released a plan as part of their goal to become an anti-racist community. The plan highlighted eight areas of growth: Board of Trustees, mission/core values, curriculum, strategic vision, faculty and staff, alumni, and survey. After posting this plan on Instagram, it resulted in an “unhealthy exchange,” forcing KO to disable the comment section. This only proves that not all students are ready to participate in appropriate civil discourse. Mr. Dillow asked that we remain conscious of this bias. “Let us remain focused on the ongoing task of confronting and dismantling systemic racism,” he said. In response to his wish and to further KO’s goal to be an actively anti-racist community, we need a required racial literacy course.
Other Founders League schools have tried to dismantle the systemic racism on their campuses as well. Similar to KO, Loomis Chaffee has tried to incorporate diverse authors into its English curriculum. Choate Rosemary Hall has offered clubs and safe spaces for its students to address microaggressions and has also held discussions and school meetings to better educate its student body. Ethel Walker has formed a Black Student Union to spread awareness and recently held a candle lighting to honor lives lost. Many schools in the area have taken similar actions as KO. However, if KO were to be one of the first schools to require a racial literacy course, it would let the community know that we are committed as an administration to our goal.
Right now, there is a shame surrounding the conversation about race. This has manifested from our own silence; we believe it is “polite” not to talk about it. We teach our kids to not see color. However, we need to learn to differentiate between race-based discussion and racist acts, because talking about race within itself is not racist. Our silence has kept alive the racial status quo, as without learning about race we can only rely on the racial stereotypes that we know. A course would allow us to become comfortable having uncomfortable discussions, and know that it is okay to be vulnerable. Why is it that black students have to learn how to deal with racist acts committed by white people? What if instead, we became actively aware of our own prejudices and developed ways to challenge them?
I recently talked to Director of Equity Joan Edwards and Chastity Rodriguez, counselor and member of the Equity Team, to hear their thoughts on adding this course. “A racial literacy class or racial literacy curriculum is what we owe you,” Ms. Edwards said simply. Ms. Rodriguez agreed and added that many of her students who have graduated from KO have felt unprepared to have these types of conversations in college. “[To better prepare students we need to] stop underserving our white students who are graduating from our school without a full understanding about systemic racism and white supremacy and don’t have a full understanding or a shared language that would make them equipped to jump into having these conversations at the next level,” Ms. Rodriguez said. Both agreed that the course would be discussion-based, motivated by the student’s questions and areas of interest. Ms. Edwards hopes that the course would provide students with actions they can take in their everyday lives to increase their racial tolerance and learn how to reject racist narratives. Ms. Rodriguez added that the course would hopefully begin in Upper Prep and go until Form Six. Each year the material would become more in-depth, while still forming connections from previous years.
KO should be a place that everyone feels they belong and can fully express themselves—a course like this would allow for that to happen. “All students deserve to feel like they can bring their full selves here and that they belong,” Ms. Edwards said, “and that they’re liberated from some of the things that they’re experiencing out in the world.” Schools, especially KO, could lead this sort of positive change. Right now, schools represent the mainstream identities that are accepted and exclude the marginalized ones that aren’t. “We could make schools incubators, not microcosms of the worst parts of society,” Ms. Rodriguez said. Graduates could then bring these new ways of interacting with and forming our community into the larger world.
The National Association of Independent Schools released a set of strategies for schools that want to proactively be a part of this change. It covers three strategies: messages, content knowledge, and skills. There are many messages surrounding race, but it’s about giving students the ones we want them to hear—schools have this power. This strategy emphasizes the importance of talking about race, understanding one’s racial identity, and creating a positive identity. Content knowledge is basic racial literacy. It covers the meaning of “race,” systemic racism, why antiracist action pertains to everyone, and racial stereotypes and how to counter them. Skills give students ways to discuss race, confront racism, form interracial relationships, and acknowledge racism. This takes place through becoming self-aware of one’s own beliefs, analyzing media, understanding how to intervene, managing racial stress, respecting racial affinity spaces, forming relationships with peers, and recognizing one’s own racist and antiracist identities. The future impact of this curriculum is that students are less likely to be passive towards our unjust system and instead will be able to shape it.
For anyone interested in furthering their education, I highly suggest reading “White Fragility” by Robin DiAngelo, which helped lead my own passions in writing this article. More broadly, with a required racial literacy course, students would be more equipped to go out into our changing society. Administrators need to take action, and students need to demand this change. If you want to be a part of making this happen, please reach out to Ms. Edwards (edwards.j@kingswoodoxford.org) or myself (buckingham.a.24@kingswoodoxford.org). The time is now! We are the future!
