As we look to extend the reach of this education and development of antiracist White educators, we must have the organization and courage to bring more people into the work. Antiracism work cannot be done in isolation, you must work in community to have a meaningful impact.
We are consciously shifting our framing from thinking about “allies” to thinking about “coconspirators” as defined by Dr. Bettina Love, who writes “A coconspirator functions as a verb not a noun” (We Want to Do More Than Survive, 117). In other words, being a coconspirator is about action, not just conversation.
Within Your School or Organization
Now, you are going to make an “Antiracist Relationship Map” of your school or organization. In building your network, we want to work through the relationships of established leaders in your building. A leader is someone who is influential and respected enough to have followers. If you are able to engage and bring a leader into your BARWE group, then more people may follow.
We will continue to encourage you to keep your work accountable to your BIPOC colleagues. We do want to emphasize that BARWE is designed as a White affinity space, so BIPOC folks should certainly be welcome to attend, but should never be required to participate. However, in conjunction with this affinity space, it is important to connect with BIPOC folks in your school / organization and community as you start this work, so note them on the map as well. The best way to start this accountability is to build relationships with these colleagues so they trust that your commitment to antiracist action is real.
Step 1: Using a piece of paper or online mind mapping software, write out the names of the people in your school or organization. For each name, you can code them as “Open,” “Moderately Open,” or “Resistant” to antiracist work. You can organize the names by:
Step 2: Then, draw a line between the names of people who share some type of personal or professional connection.
Step 3: By doing this, you should be able to visualize who in your building maintains a lot of closer relationships and who is connected to whom.
Step 4: By targeting the more influential leaders in your school/organization, you have more of a likelihood to recruit more members to your BARWE work.
Beyond Your School / Organization
In order to support antiracist work inside your school / organization, it is important to also have co-conspirators in your broader community. Start by thinking about organizations that are already doing the work who you could possibly partner with. We recommend starting with BIPOC, especially Black led organizations - a local Black Lives Matter chapter is always a good place to start. It is also important to think about individuals in the broader community who might also support your work.
You can also think nationally about this work. The National Black Lives Matter Week of Action in Our Schools is a great movement to join, and you might find that there is already organizing around the week in your community. We encourage you to connect with other folks doing BARWE work across the country by joining our Slack discussion, particularly the #PromisingPractices channel, to share what is working for you and questions you might have.
We are consciously shifting our framing from thinking about “allies” to thinking about “coconspirators” as defined by Dr. Bettina Love, who writes “A coconspirator functions as a verb not a noun” (We Want to Do More Than Survive, 117). In other words, being a coconspirator is about action, not just conversation.
Within Your School or Organization
Now, you are going to make an “Antiracist Relationship Map” of your school or organization. In building your network, we want to work through the relationships of established leaders in your building. A leader is someone who is influential and respected enough to have followers. If you are able to engage and bring a leader into your BARWE group, then more people may follow.
We will continue to encourage you to keep your work accountable to your BIPOC colleagues. We do want to emphasize that BARWE is designed as a White affinity space, so BIPOC folks should certainly be welcome to attend, but should never be required to participate. However, in conjunction with this affinity space, it is important to connect with BIPOC folks in your school / organization and community as you start this work, so note them on the map as well. The best way to start this accountability is to build relationships with these colleagues so they trust that your commitment to antiracist action is real.
Step 1: Using a piece of paper or online mind mapping software, write out the names of the people in your school or organization. For each name, you can code them as “Open,” “Moderately Open,” or “Resistant” to antiracist work. You can organize the names by:
- Literal room location in the building
- Departments
- Some other organization pattern that makes sense for your school or organization
Step 2: Then, draw a line between the names of people who share some type of personal or professional connection.
Step 3: By doing this, you should be able to visualize who in your building maintains a lot of closer relationships and who is connected to whom.
Step 4: By targeting the more influential leaders in your school/organization, you have more of a likelihood to recruit more members to your BARWE work.
Beyond Your School / Organization
In order to support antiracist work inside your school / organization, it is important to also have co-conspirators in your broader community. Start by thinking about organizations that are already doing the work who you could possibly partner with. We recommend starting with BIPOC, especially Black led organizations - a local Black Lives Matter chapter is always a good place to start. It is also important to think about individuals in the broader community who might also support your work.
You can also think nationally about this work. The National Black Lives Matter Week of Action in Our Schools is a great movement to join, and you might find that there is already organizing around the week in your community. We encourage you to connect with other folks doing BARWE work across the country by joining our Slack discussion, particularly the #PromisingPractices channel, to share what is working for you and questions you might have.
