If this is your first year doing this series, we recommend starting with an orientation meeting using the August 2018 material before starting our current series with September.
Don't forget to give us feedback!
Overview:
The highly televised national uprising against police violence in Black communities this summer reminded us of the importance of having difficult conversations around race, racism, and antiracism. Yet it is too easy, especially for us as white educators, to focus on traumatic experiences of racism in these conversations while ignoring the need for Black joy in our schools. Furthermore, the constant under-resourcing of predominantly Black and Brown school districts guts arts and extracurricular programs that nurture Black joy. Bettina Love, in the portion of the interview that serves as our primary text this month, reminds us that we cannot have liberation without Black joy.
Chante Joseph writes: “To resist the omnipresent, intrusive and pervasive nature of white supremacy, we must also allow ourselves to be rebelliously joyous. Where society has told us to “be quiet”, and that we’re “too loud” and “too different”, it is an act of resistance to revel in the joy that they have spent much of history trying to take away from us”
Last month, our inquiry series invited you to identify the ways in which white supremacy culture shows up in your schools and teaching practices. One way we can resist white supremacy culture is by embracing Black joy in our schools. So, this month we encourage you to set clear and concrete goals for yourself so that you leave this inquiry series ready to make the necessary changes to elevate Black joy. We’ve included some additional resources that include poetry since writing, poetry, and visual art are all beautiful access points to Black Joy. Consider how you can center student voice and create space for them to control their narrative, share their stories, and celebrate who they are.
Next month, you will have the opportunity to both reflect on your white supremacy culture tracker we invited you to use last month and engage in accountability check-ins on the goals you set for yourself this month.
Primary Article:
Bettina Love Interview Clip on Black Joy (See extended clip in additional readings)
Guiding Questions:
Additional Readings:
If you feel one of these is better suited to your group, feel free to use as a primary. We have placed an asterisk next to readings with BIPOC authors.
Facilitation Reference Guide:
Feedback Form:
As we grow in year three, we hope that one person in your group can take a few minutes to fill out our feedback form to let us know how it went.
Here is a few takeaway from previous meetings:
Don't forget to give us feedback!
Overview:
The highly televised national uprising against police violence in Black communities this summer reminded us of the importance of having difficult conversations around race, racism, and antiracism. Yet it is too easy, especially for us as white educators, to focus on traumatic experiences of racism in these conversations while ignoring the need for Black joy in our schools. Furthermore, the constant under-resourcing of predominantly Black and Brown school districts guts arts and extracurricular programs that nurture Black joy. Bettina Love, in the portion of the interview that serves as our primary text this month, reminds us that we cannot have liberation without Black joy.
Chante Joseph writes: “To resist the omnipresent, intrusive and pervasive nature of white supremacy, we must also allow ourselves to be rebelliously joyous. Where society has told us to “be quiet”, and that we’re “too loud” and “too different”, it is an act of resistance to revel in the joy that they have spent much of history trying to take away from us”
Last month, our inquiry series invited you to identify the ways in which white supremacy culture shows up in your schools and teaching practices. One way we can resist white supremacy culture is by embracing Black joy in our schools. So, this month we encourage you to set clear and concrete goals for yourself so that you leave this inquiry series ready to make the necessary changes to elevate Black joy. We’ve included some additional resources that include poetry since writing, poetry, and visual art are all beautiful access points to Black Joy. Consider how you can center student voice and create space for them to control their narrative, share their stories, and celebrate who they are.
Next month, you will have the opportunity to both reflect on your white supremacy culture tracker we invited you to use last month and engage in accountability check-ins on the goals you set for yourself this month.
Primary Article:
Bettina Love Interview Clip on Black Joy (See extended clip in additional readings)
Guiding Questions:
- How can we as white educators center Black joy, without appropriating it, in our classrooms and schools?
- For those of us who do not teach in classrooms with Black students, what does embracing and elevating Black joy look like? Why is it important for white students and students of color who are not Black to see Black joy represented in the curriculum?
- In We Want to Do More Than Survive, Bettina Love writes that “white folx can embrace Black joy by helping, advocating for, and wanting Black folx to win.” What does this look like in your school or organization?
- After discussing the questions above, take the time to set a concrete goal for yourself. How will you elevate Black joy in your classroom and school? Next month, we will ask that your group take the time to check in with each other on progress towards your goals to hold each other accountable.
Additional Readings:
If you feel one of these is better suited to your group, feel free to use as a primary. We have placed an asterisk next to readings with BIPOC authors.
- Extended interview clip with Bettina Love on Black Joy*
- We Want to Do More Than Survive excerpt by Bettina Love *
- What is Black Joy?*
- Poetry selections by Eve L Ewing*
- Toni Morrison and Angela Davis Talk Beloved*
- A reading of M is for Melanin*
- "Me gritaron negra", poem by Victoria Santa Cruz * and a young girl’s performance
- "Ego Tripping" by Nikki Giovanni*
- Black Teens Want More Joy on Social Media - Teen Vogue
- #BlackGirlMagic and #BlackBoyJoy
- Dr. Yaba Blay's #Pretty365 Campaign Uplifts the Complete Beauty of Black Women (Find the PrettyPeriod instagram page here)
- Teaching to Transgress by bell hooks (particularly chapters 1, 7, and 10)
Facilitation Reference Guide:
- Set a day and time for your group to meet - Make sure to send reminders. If you’re meeting in person, snacks are always a good idea!
- Send this month’s Primary Article to your group. Look through the additional readings to see if there is another reading that might be better suited to your group and its interests.
- Prepare yourself to facilitate by reading through our Norms and Discussion Protocol.
- Pass the Hat and collect donations for Black Girl Freedom Fund this month.
- Complete the Feedback Form.
- Prepare yourself for October by setting a date and time, inviting colleagues, and looking out for our next Discussion Guide on November 1st.
Feedback Form:
As we grow in year three, we hope that one person in your group can take a few minutes to fill out our feedback form to let us know how it went.
Here is a few takeaway from previous meetings:
Pass The Hat:
In addition to being accountable to our colleagues and students of color, we believe it is important to be financially accountable to people of color who are doing this work on a daily basis. Each month, we will recommend an organization led by people of color, in education and beyond, doing the work of pushing for justice.
At the end of each monthly discussion, pass a hat (or a box) and collect donations for the designated organization. You can then have one group member go online and donate in the name of your school. If you want, you can add “Building Anti-Racist White Educators” after your school name.
This month, we encourage you to donate to the Black Girl Freedom Fund. The Black Girl Freedom Fund will support work that advances the well being of Black girls and their families, including work that centers and advances the power of Black girls through organizing, asset mapping, capacity-building, legal advocacy, and narrative work that seeks to shift structural violence enacted against Black girls.
This includes efforts like the Black Girls Dream Fund, a 10-year fundraising initiative launched by the Southern Black Girls and Women’s Consortium (SBGWC) to raise $100 million to financially empower the goals of Southern Black girls and women in the United States.
In addition to being accountable to our colleagues and students of color, we believe it is important to be financially accountable to people of color who are doing this work on a daily basis. Each month, we will recommend an organization led by people of color, in education and beyond, doing the work of pushing for justice.
At the end of each monthly discussion, pass a hat (or a box) and collect donations for the designated organization. You can then have one group member go online and donate in the name of your school. If you want, you can add “Building Anti-Racist White Educators” after your school name.
This month, we encourage you to donate to the Black Girl Freedom Fund. The Black Girl Freedom Fund will support work that advances the well being of Black girls and their families, including work that centers and advances the power of Black girls through organizing, asset mapping, capacity-building, legal advocacy, and narrative work that seeks to shift structural violence enacted against Black girls.
This includes efforts like the Black Girls Dream Fund, a 10-year fundraising initiative launched by the Southern Black Girls and Women’s Consortium (SBGWC) to raise $100 million to financially empower the goals of Southern Black girls and women in the United States.