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Review for Session 3: A Professional Development, Equity and Anti-Racism are More Than Just Buzzwords!

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              On December 2, 2020, I had the privilege of viewing an online recording of a professional development entitled Equity and Anti-Racism are More Than Just Buzzwords! The talk was given by Dr. Jay B. Marks who works in the education system in Oakland County. He began the talk by acknowledging the original indigenous people of this area of Michigan, whose land we are now occupying. He then acknowledged that it was National Hispanic Heritage Month and encouraged us to do further research into Hispanic culture in order to carry our acknowledgment of this culture past the current month. He mentioned that these two acknowledgments were important for many reasons, but one reason is that they decenter the dominant oppressive culture and put us in the right context. The meat of the talk began with several questions that he gave to his audience of educators. One of these questions was, “What if students didn’t segregate themselves by race and ethnicity in the cafeteria, hallways, parking lots and other open spaces in our schools?”

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              Dr. Marks continued his talk with an emphasis on love. He asked us to consider what love looks like in our equity work, and he asked us what love looks like in our antiracism work. This theme of love would be one that he came back to at the conclusion of his talk. Next, he introduced us to the five elements of culturally proficient teaching. The following elements are to be exercised in our classrooms and teaching practice: assess culture; value diversity; manage dynamics of difference, meaning expect conflict and learn how to respond to it; adapt to diversity; and institutionalize cultural knowledge, meaning that we naturalize the changes necessary to bring equity and justice. Dr. Marks then gave us antiracist actions we can take which originate from Dr. Dena Simmons. These actions are: engage in vigilant self-awareness; acknowledge racism and ideologies of white supremacy; acknowledge racism ideologies inside me; reflect on whether or not we’ve been complicit in our own racism; study and teach representative history broadly, meaning we should teach the history of multiple cultures in a way that doesn’t stereotype them; talk about race with our students; when you see racism, do something.

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              Dr. Marks continued with another set of tools; he gave us five ways to be an ally. These are: understand your privilege; listen, do your homework; speak up, but not over our minority friends; you’re going to make mistakes – apologize when you do; ally is a verb, not something we talk about. He completed the talk with a touching video that reminded us that love is not bound by specific race, ethnicity, age, gender, or any other difference; he reminded us to love a little more. He left us with the words of John Lewis, in which we were admonished to make good trouble, necessary trouble in our work for justice.

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              This was the most thought-provoking of the conference sessions I have attended this semester. The questions Dr. Marks gave us to ponder were truly challenging and inspiring. He didn’t leave us with questions, however. He also gave us several sets of tools to use in our antiracism work. These are tools, which if taken seriously, could deeply inform an educator’s teaching practice. To be sure, I will be refencing these tools in the years ahead. Additionally, Dr. Marks was very unassuming in his delivery; at no time in the talk did he accuse those of us whose ancestors have been the oppressor. He continually addressed the audience as “family.” He made sure to address history and the issues truthfully, but he was also clear that there was no indictment taking place. He challenged us to use the concepts that he was giving us to make a better world for our children, to improve our education system, and to love deeper.