February is African American History Month

 February is African American History Month

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I don't even think about it. The color of my skin is the same as 73.3% of the students who attend GP schools and 81% of the staff who work in our schools. So, I don't even think about the color of my skin, and I often have a hard time conceptualizing what it must be like to live each day being reminded that my skin is different from most everyone else. I also don't know much about what it is like to be stereotyped just for looking different. Sure, as a white male, I know I walk into a room with various elements of privilege and people make assumptions about me without ever really knowing me. No one would ever know that I grew up a child of poverty which has created an interesting lens through which I view life. And, if most everyone is of the same race around me, why do we even need to talk about how skin color impacts us differently? Is it such a big deal? Well, it is if you are a person of color--no question about it. And I believe it is a big deal to those of us in the race majority, too. We may just not know it. If our charge as educators is to educate all students and yet we only graduate about 78% of our students, we are clearly not helping everyone in our care.

So, as a white person, what are we really talking about? What is at the core of race issues and why is it important for everyone to lean into this issue? It boils down to something called implicit or unconscious bias. 

This is the most important thing to know about an unconscious bias: everyone has unconscious biases, regardless of what race they are. Everyone. When people associate White as being racist, this comes from not understanding that each of us has unconscious biases which influence how we view and interact with the world. As a White person, I may act in racist ways, but it isn't because I am White, it is because I have biases and patterns of behavior that influence my words and actions. If I have only been around a particular race, it is highly likely that I will be more comfortable with people who look like me. That is how our brains develop. What we practice regularly gets easier and more comfortable. Kind of like working out. The more I exercise my muscles, the better I get at lifting heavier weights or running farther distances. But I have to work at exercise in order to get better at it. It is the same with race issues. 

Not having experiences with people of color may make me more nervous about how to act because it is unfamiliar to me. It may be that my unconscious bias-influenced actions are discriminatory--even racist--but because they are unconscious, I am not aware of them. If I was, I would probably change how I acted towards others. At our core, if we could act well towards others, we would. If we are not, something happened to us or, our experiences are limited so we don't know how to act well. This is why it is important to both people of color and those in the majority to understand what our biases are and lean into new experiences. At the end of the day, I believe everyone wants to be treated well and wants to treat others well--regardless of our skin color or pasts. To feel love is universally human, but when we make assumptions about others because of something like skin color, we stop being our best human self and start being discriminatory.

How can we here in Grants Pass change to be the accepting community we want to be? Take time to find out what your unconscious biases are. Take the time to get to know the people of color around you. Rather than start with how different we are, start with what makes us similar. Hobbies, music, sports, art--there are so many ways to relate and connect.

This month is African American History Month. It is a great month to focus on doing our part to help everyone feel like they belong. It only takes a few minutes to say, "Hi!" and ask a couple of connecting questions. Before we know it, we are building strong relationships with everyone no matter what our skin color is. 

Even though I may not think about the impact of skin color, that doesn't mean I am not having an impact on those around me. I am. I need to lean into getting to know someone different from me. When everyone feels like they belong in our GP community, we will truly have changed the world. But it takes all of us. 

We Are GP! 

Stronger Together!

RESOURCES —Take a look at the resources below and feel free to add your own to the comments section below.

Implicit (Unconscious) Bias Tests

Want to know more about your unconscious biases? The Harvard Graduate School is providing bias tests that anyone can take. You can choose to be a part of their ongoing study, or just take one of the tests anonymously. Try the Skin Tone test first, but you are welcome to take others as you have time. It takes just a few minutes to find out and your results are private to you only. 

African American History Resources

• African American History Month is devoted to teacher resources

• Here is the National Education Association's page of resources

• Edutopia always is a good site for educators and here are their resources for this month

• We are Teachers has some great activities for classrooms