Courageous Conversations to Support Anti-Racism

by Mary Ellen Daneels, Civics Instructional Specialist

For the past few weeks, IllinoisCivics.org has partnered with the DuPage Regional Office of Education to respond to current events with a series of webinars to explore how to have courageous conversations about race, equity, justice, and progress in the classroom and the community. Experts discussed ways to support and train students to become socially responsible, empathetic allies of minority and marginalized groups as they strengthen our constitutional republic into “a more perfect union.”

The series began with an offering on How to Raise a Socially Conscious, Anti-Racist Kid. Panelists including Amber Coleman-Mortley from iCivics, Dr. Shawn Healy and Sonia Mathew from the Robert R. McCormick Foundation wrestled with questions about how families can:

• Building cross-racial coalitions
• Learning full and complete historical accounts
• Understanding how our justice system is experienced differently by different groups
• Eliminating the inequities that impact some groups disproportionately

Administrators took center stage in the second webinar of the series, A Schoolwide Approach to Centering the Lived Experiences of our Students: A Conversation with Democracy Schools Network Administrators. This webinar explored examples of schoolwide strategies that support belonging and inclusion to address the question, "What does it mean to center the lived experiences of our students and create conditions for our educators to do the transformative work that is necessary to ensure that our schools can be places that center relationships with students, families, and communities?" You may use the link above to watch a recording of this rich conversation at your convenience.

This week. Courageous Conversations in the classroom took center stage as Dr. Shawn Healy and Amber Coleman-Mortley explored Culturally Responsive Teaching to Promote Anti Racist Classrooms. In this webinar, participants probed topics including:

1. Where do culturally responsive teaching and anti-racism come together?
2. While most districts and schools have a stated commitment to diversity, they often fall short on matters of equity and inclusion. How can teachers help their schools live up to this mission?
3. How can teachers curate curriculum inclusive of communities of color and students’ lived experiences?
4. What role do teachers play in cultivating equitable classroom and school climates?
5. Can you have culturally responsive classrooms in homogeneously white schools?
6. What is the difference between culturally responsive and culturally sustaining pedagogy? How can we apply them to anti-racism?
7. How does color blindness serve as a barrier to culturally responsive teaching and anti-racism in the classroom?

To continue this work, IllinoisCivics.org has a toolkit of resources, tips, and strategies for Culturally Responsive Teaching to Promote Anti Racist Classrooms.

We hope all stakeholders will help join us for the final summer installment of the series with our Courageous Conversation Book Club Discussion of White Fragility by Dr. Robin DiAngelo on Wednesday, August 12th from 6-7:00 p.m. To prepare for the conversation, participants might consider watching a recent webinar hosted by the Family Action Network featuring Dr. DiAngelo and a recent critique of the book published in the Atlantic.

What kind of courageous conversations are you having about race, justice, and equity to support anti-racism? Please comment below. Together, we support and train students to become socially responsible, empathetic allies of minority and marginalized groups as they strengthen our constitutional republic into “a more perfect union.”