“He called me dirty!” Anti-Racist Teaching in the Elementary Classroom
<p>As so happens in the heat of teaching, I was caught off guard and found myself hopeful that this incident was about something other than race. I scanned Paul’s body for signs of “dirty” — maybe the boys had been digging in the mud? My veteran teacher-of-color self quickly caught on to my own habitual wishing away of the realities of the impact of race in America, even on our most innocent youth. A welcoming, progressive school community is not an effective shield from the racist pollution we all inhale. In fact, the more confident we are that our institutions are places where children are accepted and differences are celebrated, the less able we typically become to see inequity staring us in the face. We become convinced that a racial incident couldn’t possibly happen in this lovely school community. I turned decisively away from the harmful fantasy of “colorblindness” and my responsive-teacher identity clicked in. I reminded myself to breathe. And then I remembered to ask the question that focused on the students in front of me: “How did that make you feel?”</p>
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