Beyond Book Club to Action

Last week was a very challenging week, both personally and as part of the wider community.

Personally, I struggled with finding purpose and motivation to continue remote learning - with the completion of the yearbook (see last week's post on avatars) and our school's community car parade on Thursday, May 21, it felt like it was "the end". We still have 5 weeks to go! In addition to this, several notifications about Redefined Expectations around Remote Learning had me doubting my contributions and effectiveness.

More importantly, several recent events that really highlighted how prevalent and powerful anti-Black racism is in our society had me discouraged and in despair. In Minnesota on May 25, George Floyd was murdered by police for using a fake $20 bill and his death was filmed by bystanders. In Florida last Wednesday, Tony McDade was shot by police and killed.  In Toronto, Regis Korchinski-Paquet fell from her balcony in High Park and sources indicate the police may have been involved.

I want to express my outrage but in a way that does not prioritize my feelings over those more directly impacted. I'll share my retweets, but this was one of my first ones, because it connected me to my book club.

This quote was mentioned by 1 of the incredible people in the How To Be An AntiRacist book club I'm in. https://t.co/dpzG8kC3tt

— Diana Maliszewski (@MzMollyTL) May 29, 2020

This Thursday will be the last meeting of our book club group for this particular title. We have been reading How To Be An AntiRacist by Dr. Ibram X. Kendi.

I am so grateful to the group of educators I've had the pleasure of learning alongside.

• Alicia Brown @albrown_tdsb
• Kelly Funston @kelly_funston
• Shalomi Bhoolai @SChinniah_
• Janis Castle Jones @jjecx
• Ken MacKinnon @leadingthechg
• Lanya Lewis @LanyaLewis12
• Debanjali Paul @debanjalipaul9
• Danielle Noel @DNoel_tdsb
• Tracy Halliday @TracyHallidayP
• Laura Shevtsov @laura_shevtsov

It's been difficult finding the ability to focus on reading and the subject matter isn't a breezy read, but having our weekly meetings and this great group of reflective professionals provides me with the accountability and support to persevere.

This group consists of educators from different boards and backgrounds. Some are administrators, some work centrally, and some are classroom teachers. All of us volunteered to be part of this group. Dr. Ken MacKinnon started the group with an open invitation. Ken did something similar in 2019 and we read White Fragility, but the difference was that back then we met face to face and never completed the book together. This time, due to the pandemic, we met virtually over Google Meets and Zoom calls. Pairs of us took turns moderating the conversation and creating questions we could discuss. These conditions made it possible for us to continue to participate, with most of us making the majority of the meetings. The conversations have been frank, honest, vulnerable, and thoughtful. Combined with tweets I've read online that have reinforced the message, I have a firmer idea of the steps I need to take to make a difference, instead of just virtue signalling. 

I felt compelled to comment on this incident but how? Answer: with this RT and an examination of myself. My dad often says “if you aren’t part of the solution, you’re part of the problem” https://t.co/DMgEBDvtYS

— Diana Maliszewski (@MzMollyTL) May 27, 2020

A reminder to educators entering anti-oppression work:

You don’t get to be anti-racist OR anti-colonial OR feminist OR anti-Islamophobic OR anti-homophobic

Anti-oppression work *requires* you to address *all* injustices & systems of power

Anything less is merely pretending

— DrawntoIntellect (@Drawn2Intellect) May 28, 2020

There is justice. There is injustice. There is no neutrality. No sideline. No bleachers. No exits.

We are all in the human rights struggle to save humanity from human tyranny. Black people, especially, are struggling for the right to live, for the right to breathe.

— Ibram X. Kendi (@DrIbram) May 28, 2020

We have to stop pretending that racism doesn’t happen in Canada. We must look in the mirror and confront our own biases instead of pointing fingers at others sanctimoniously https://t.co/F7hjdDkHXQ

— Diana Maliszewski (@MzMollyTL) May 30, 2020

Fellow non-Black folks: Every hour you spend on your own reading resources about allyship, practicing those skills, teaching them to your kids/family/friends, donating etc. is an hour Black folks can be resting, mourning, healing without praising you or educating you. /1

— Catherine Hernandez (@theloudlady) May 31, 2020

Let’s talk about the #AmyCooper Teacher in schools (thread)

— Joe Truss - Culturally Responsive Leadership (@trussleadership) May 27, 2020

what you as a non-black person can do to support #BlackLivesMatter : a thread.

— ‎ ᵇˡᵐ ً (@byersfilms) May 27, 2020

How are you processing the injustices of this world? Ladson-Billings shares that we must be critically conscious of our realities but this requires action. How will you respond? I share a list that may support courageous conversations with and for our learners. #reconcilation pic.twitter.com/AKl8m2ORb4

— Kenisha Bynoe (@booklamations) May 31, 2020

Listening to other book club members talk about how this book study has positively infiltrated their families, I felt inspired to initiate these conversations in my own family. This learning and unlearning must not just stay with me. So, I started a conversation while on our family walk.

Side note: March 27 was the last time I had been out walking with my family in our neighbourhood. I'm anxious about going outside now. For months, I had only ventured out in the car to drive my husband to collect groceries and my outside visits were limited to my back deck. May 30 was my first walk and this talk happened on May 31. I can tell I'm still nervous; I am masked and hooded and I withdraw into myself like a shell but I'm forcing myself to go out so that when restrictions are further loosened, I won't be ill-equipped to resume activities I never used to think twice about.

While walking, I mentioned something I had read, written by Shola M Richards, (thank you Rita Gill for sharing the story, allowing me to find it) about how he is apprehensive about walking around his own neighbourhood without his cute fluffy little dog or his sweet daughters, because he can be seen as a threat due to his race. I brought this up because our family was out on a walk and we stroll without any concern. My spouse questioned the specifics of story by asking how long he had lived in the area and whether his neighbours knew him. I said he had been there for over four years and that it was about racism, not recognition. My youngest commented that he gets suspicious looks when he walks by himself because he is a teenager and people think teens equal trouble. My eldest was silent. I have to confess that their responses disappointed me. I need to do more, discuss this more, and take action in my family and in my school, where I have spheres of influence.

Having said that, I want to add something from a private conversation with a good friend. If you want to engage in anti-racism and anti-oppression work, please do it SENSITIVELY. My friend described a recent experience that left POC in attendance re-traumatized. (Hint: maybe think twice before sharing video footage of violence against black people, even implied or threatened violence like the Amy Cooper incident). School yourself on how to to appropriately facilitate these conversations and free yourself from the notion that there is a "right" way for people to respond - silence may be due to shock or contemplation, not necessarily being complicit in oppression. This kind of work is not easy; it needs to be undertaken but it needs to be undertaken wisely.