Abstract
This paper amplifies the voices of Black youth based on findings from a study on schooling experiences of Black youth in the Region of Waterloo, a mid-size Canadian community. Data for the qualitative study was collected using elder-facilitated youth dialogue (adaptation of focus group and Afrocentric sharing circles) and in-depth individual interviews. The findings show that the Black youth participants did not feel their lives matter in the eduational system due to discrimination, alienation, non-inclusive curriculum, absence of Black teachers and failure of school leadership to address systemic racism. Framed by Afrocentric and critical race theories, these findings enabled recommendations on how teachers can take leadership for supporting Black learners by recognizing and mitigating the effects of anti-Black-racism through culturally responsive teaching, emancipatory pedagogy, and politicized caring. The study contributes to an understanding of the need for equitable outcomes, intentional inclusion, and culturally responsive pedagogy that celebrates identity of Black students and enhances their sense of belonging.
Keywords
Background
Educators, as leaders have the responsibility to nurture students’ love of learning, by promoting a sense of belonging and creating a safe learning environment. However, although Canada is becoming increasingly diverse, the school system remains dominated by white teachers, staff, norms, and curriculum that do not reflect current demographic shifts. Educators have a challenging but vital job supporting every student’s development and promoting their sense of safety and belonging, to optimize learning (Mckinney de Royston et al., 2021). Unfortunately, Black students’ experiences throughout North America suggest that the silencing of Black voices, and the failure to acknowledge these youths experiences, has left Black youth feeling alienated and marginalized. This systematic wearing down of Black youth causes disenfranchisement as the youth push back against the barriers, with some resorting to taking health breaks from the school system for their wellness (Oba, 2018). Thus, the system perpetuates inequitable outcomes for Black youth with far-reaching consequences for their identity, safety, health, and wellbeing. (Oba, 2018).
While racial hierarchies, white supremacy, and inequity are systemic across all levels of the education system, “teachers participate in the reproduction of racial inequality and … can mitigate or exacerbate the racist effects of schooling for their students of color depending on their pedagogical orientation” (Hyland, 2005, p. 429). Black youth experiences of alienation, intentional exclusion, and anti-Black racism in Waterloo region schools raise awareness of the impacts of racism and the adverse effects on their education. We begin by reviewing the literature on the role of school leadership recognizing that teachers, administrators, and school staff operate within public schools that are microcosms of larger systems. We explore scholarship on inclusive educational pedagogy and policy practices, including an overview of critical race theory (CRT) and Afrocentric theories that framed the qualitative research design and methods utilized in the research study. Lack of representation, cultural sensitivity, and safety for the youths emerged as themes in the findings and inform our recommendations. Educators and the wider school system maintain universalized and normalized Eurocentric focus. Afrocentrism broadens worldviews and engenders consciousness raising, honouring Black voices, realities, teachings, philosophies, and cultural capital which are key to disrupting white dominance and transforming the school system.
Literature Review
The literature reviewed in this paper explores issues of whiteness within education systems and critical pedagogies by which school leadership can advance social change and equity.
Current Educational Climate
Dei (2008) notes, racism is an “insidious reality in our social fabric. The school system is no exception” (p. 353), it continues in overt and covert forms. Anti-Black racism has been a peril in Canadian education systems with the lives of innocent young Black individuals being targeted by those charged with helping them (DasGupta et al., 2020). Operating within a neoliberal and neocolonial context, the education system, a microcosm of society, aids the reproduction of racist ideologies and anti-Black racism through its curriculum and pedagogical practices (Gorski, 2008; McKinney de Royston et al., 2021).
Scholarship suggests white teachers are complicit in the perpetuation of anti-Black racism through deficit views (McKinney de Royston et al., 2021) that deem Black youth as incapable of learning and excelling in school (Gorski, 2008). “Deficit-thinking can … cause teachers to lower their expectations” and “manifests as a preoccupation with … [Black] students’ differences and defining these differences as impediments to learning” (Henfield & Washington, 2012, p. 149). These assumptions contribute to a lack of safety for Black youth at school (McKinney de Royston et al., 2021). McKinney de Royston et al. (2021) ask, “what do we mean by ‘safe’, which spaces are ‘safe’ and ‘for whom is a place ‘safe’?” (p. 69), signaling that safety is subjective and dependent on the lived experiences of the students and educational leaders including teachers. White teachers must ponder these questions, interrogating the meaning of safety for Black students.
White teachers “can effectively educate culturally and racially different students” (Henfield & Washington, 2012, p. 148) but this requires racial consciousness about current interactions between white Canadian educators and Black students. To appreciate the role white teachers play in the lives of Black learners, white teachers must intentionally interrogate the white supremacist context in which they teach. Thus, teachers can play leadership roles in shifting focus away from disdaining the cultural capital Black students possess to enhance their own self-awareness about prevailing stereotypes and prejudice (Jean-Pierre et al., 2021; McKinney de Royston et al., 2021).
Reproduction of Whiteness, White Privilege, and Racism in Educational Settings
Few teachers would continue to act in ways that they believed would endanger the educational opportunities of their students. However, sometimes racism is inserted into schools simply by doing what is normal in those schools. (Hyland, 2005, p. 432.)
Whiteness is ubiquitous, underlying hegemonic beliefs, presuppositions, and attitudes projected as neutral and universal but which innately uphold white supremacy (Culver, 2017; Henfield & Washington, 2012). “Whiteness still carries a positive and coveted social preference” (Culver, 2017, p. 50) and has systematically created an in-group (and therefore out-groups) through political and economic factors operating within white supremacy (Henfield & Washington, 2012). “If white people cannot see their own racism, then they cannot change it,” (Culver (2017, p. 53) and if they cannot change it, they will continue to perpetuate the status quo that benefits them and harms racialized people (Hyland, 2005).
Whiteness in educational settings—enacted through Eurocentric curricula, colour-evasiveness, and perceptions of students of colour “playing the race card,” for example—invalidates Black students’ experiences while obscuring both systemic and structural racism, furthering racial erasure and/or silencing of Black students’ voices (Culver, 2017; Dei, 2008). Eurocentric curriculum privileges the dominant experiences/norms/and language of people of European origin (Duncan, 2020; Hyland, 2005). Colour-evasiveness includes ideologies which “downplay or ignore the existence of race and see issues of race and racism as artifacts of the past,” such as when educators don’t see colour (McKinney de Royston et al., 2021, pp. 81–82). Colour-evasiveness “has created an educational environment where notions of meritocracy and egalitarianism are … accepted” and students facing barriers to their learning and achievement are deemed inherently deficient (Henfield & Washington, 2012, p. 149). Colour-evasiveness normalizes whiteness by insisting that race is insignificant while dismissing other identities and realities in schools (Dei, 2008). Similarly, teachers who believe that their students are just “playing the race card” invalidate the experiences of Black youth by using “diversionary tactics that invalidate minority group members’ experiences with racism and discrimination” (Henfield & Washington, 2012, p. 185). Through these mechanisms, racism permeates the education system.
Alternative Inclusive Pedagogies
This section examines literature on inclusive pedagogies that mitigate white supremacy in the classroom, namely, emancipatory pedagogy, culturally relevant and responsive teaching, and politicized caring.
Emancipatory pedagogy, elucidated by Duncan (2020), is characterized by three essential elements: having high expectations for all students, expanding curriculum to include Black history, and fostering greater educator consciousness about root causes of anti-Black racism. These pedagogies underscore the irrationality of white supremacy and the injustices that it produces so that students do not internalize it (Duncan, 2020).
Culturally relevant and responsive pedagogies are essential to this approach, of which there are multiple components: promoting academic success and equitable student achievement, affirming identity/promoting cultural sensitivity, building interactions of trust through partnerships with students, and fostering spaces that interrogate the status quo of systemic racism through sociopolitical consciousness (Carlton Parson, 2005; Ladson-Billings, 1995). Teachers who operate through a culturally relevant lens see “themselves as a part of the community and teaching … to give back to the community. They encouraged their students to do the same” (Ladson-Billings, 1995, p. 163). Hyland (2005) states, “the roles and practices adopted by teachers identified as culturally relevant are not determined by the teacher’s race” (p. 430) but rather by understanding racism’s systemic roots in white supremacy and calling it out instead of staying silent. Having empathy in interactions with students is imperative to being culturally responsive (Warren, 2013). Although white teachers may experience discomfort when dealing with race issues, avoidance harms racialized students (Henfield & Washington, 2012).
Politicized caring entails consciousness of the political contexts of racism and its impacts (McKinney de Royston et al., 2021). Without this awareness, educators may consider themselves caring without recognizing that “whiteness shapes how teachers interpret and make meaning” of caring (Warren, 2013). Politicized caring uses political clarity, communal bonds, potential affirming, and developmentally appropriate spaces to ensure Black “youth’s identities, experiences, and practices are valued as integral resources to their personal development, their academic success, and to the advancement of the ‘race’” (McKinney de Royston et al., 2017, p. 7). Enacted through relationships between Black teachers and Black students, politicized caring framework challenges “a colorblind notion of care”, protects Black youth from further racial trauma, and views education as “a vehicle for racial justice” and “sites of resistance” (McKinney de Royston et al., 2017, p. 6). When teachers create [politicized] caring relationships with all students, they work hard to make Black students feel cared for, which in turn fosters their development and increases classroom awareness of racial disparities and inequities (Hyland, 2005; McKinney de Royston et al., 2017).
Emancipatory pedagogy, culturally relevant and responsive teaching, and politicized caring offer unique approaches to education but share similar values. They align with critical perspectives and enable Black lives, culture, history etc. to be centered, promoting high expectations for all, eschewing racism, and disrupting the Eurocentrism of the curriculum. Valuing cultural sensitivity by collaborating with communities and families is important as is encouraging educators to exhibit love, care, and joy towards their students (Duncan, 2020; Henfield & Washington, 2012; Hyland, 2005). Some of these pedagogies are also embodied by creating space for personal and non-academic sharing in the classroom, as explored in Warren’s (2013) research.
Theoretical Frameworks
Critical race theory (CRT) and Afrocentric Theory frame this study, aiding in the deconstruction of white supremacy, universalism, and normativity. CRT and Afrocentric theory align with this study as they originate from scholars challenging the flawed assumptions and euphemisms that perpetuate whiteness and justify the oppression of others through racialized systems and structures.
CRT interrogates the elevation of whiteness and minimization of Blackness (Bell, 1992) and uncovers hidden white supremacist structures that uphold racial hierarchies. These theories also shed light on white supremacist roots in hegemonic misconceptions and stereotypes. As Henfield and Washington (2012) note, “using CRT as a framework is useful for examining race, and how the meanings attached to race influence the educational context for students of color” (p. 150). Therefore, CRT promotes structural analysis of race as a social construct and understanding of Black youth schooling experiences through their own voices.
Afrocentric theory centers African philosophy, epistemology, and core beliefs including that “an individual is not superior to the collective” (Oba, 2018, p. 21) emphasizing the value of all. Afrocentrism broadens Eurocentric epistemology and praxis; it “centres, locates and contextualizes the collective experiences of African people historically, economically, philosophically, spiritually, and socially” (Oba, 2018, p. 21). Black people are frequently deemed “the other” and Africa is still seen as the Dark Continent, lacking valuable knowledge (Fanon, 1967). Afrocentric theory challenges Eurocentric universalism and myths about Africa (Asante, 2006) by showing that each epistemology has its own standpoint. This theory positions and honours Black people by disrupting ahistorical, decontextualized colonial discourses (Asante, 2006) by recognizing the cultural capital of Black people of African descent rather than blaming the effects of systemic racism on contrived racial proclivity.
Methodology
The main research question of the primary research was: What are the experiences of alienation among Black African Youth in Waterloo region? Data was collected through triangulated qualitative methods: reflective journaling, in-depth individual life stories, and elder-facilitated youth dialogue (EFYD), an approach created by the first author which combines Afrocentric sharing circles, focus groups, African ceremony, and town hall meetings. Each method provided access to nuanced in-depth data narratives. Understanding that not all spaces are safe for Black youth. The first author created an Afrocentric ambience using African wrappers, music, and empowering videos of Black youth to set the tone for authenticity, transparency, and intimacy (into-me-see), which is a key feature of the Afrocentric sharing circle.
Through purposive sampling, seventeen Black-identifying youth ages 16 to 24 were recruited. Everyone had completed at least 2 years of schooling in the region, regardless of whether they immigrated or were born in Canada. In keeping with African collectivity, elders were consulted throughout the research process and two elders helped to facilitate the Afrocentric circles as part of the EFYD. The youth were divided into two groups, ages 16 to 18 and ages 19 to 24, to discuss the main research question. Additionally, seven youth participated in storytelling interviews. The interviews and EFYD were recorded and transcribed with participants’ consent for analysis aided by the researcher’s field notes.
The first author analyzed the data through an ongoing iterative process, involving critical self-introspection while interpreting the data. Transcripts were thematically reviewed for emerging patterns which were then colour coded to identify key themes. The patterns were categorized into descriptive codes and further analysis of the codes and nuances underlying the youth responses led to an in-depth understanding of the youths’ meaning-making processes. The immersion with the youth, through follow-up interviews with three of the 17 youth in the original study, provided clarity and member checking which enhanced the trustworthiness of the analysis. The culturally affirming approach facilitated authentic in-depth sharing, resulting in rich and nuanced findings, which are presented below.
Findings
In response to the research question: What are the experiences of alienation among Black youth? The findings are divided into four themes, namely (1) schools as lacking representation, (2) schools dominated by whiteness, (3) schools as culturally irrelevant, and (4) unsafe schools. While the themes are distinct, lack of representation, white dominance, non-inclusive curriculum, and lack of safety are contributors to alienation and the relevant narratives overlap across all four themes.
Schools as Lacking Representation
One striking finding is that most of the participants in this study never had a Black teacher. One participant in the sharing circle reported having a Black teacher in their Toronto school, and one had a Black substitute teacher. Participant, Mandela, noted, I can’t remember any Black teacher. If there was, I would know. It would really stand out, because all you see is White teachers, and I also remember my Indian teacher so much because she was just like a mother, caring and letting you know she saw you, and you can do it.
Ebony also never had a Black teacher, noting, “In my school, there is one Black person, and she is in the café. That is all! I have never had a Black teacher, period.” Maya, another student in the study posited that Black people in the school system are seen as inferior and disposable: When you are a supply teacher, it’s hard, but you have to do it first before you can get a real job. Students feel you are not a real teacher. I had a Black substitute teacher. She was nice, but the students tried to take advantage of her. They do that to all substitute teachers, but why do Black teachers always have to be substitutes, never real teachers?
Only seeing Black teachers in temporary or substitute positions raised questions and Kwame stated: “It is the White principal deciding who can teach, and they already believe the Black teacher cannot teach.” Exclusionary hiring practices resulting in a lack of Black teachers reinforced the notion that Black people are incapable of being effective educators.
Similarly, Soyinka noted differences in teachers/administrator responses to Black students. That is why having a Black teacher matters. If you get in trouble, it is the White principal and White teacher who will judge the case, and you will get in big trouble. But the person who started the trouble is not in the office and will not get a suspension. Because we are Black, they start policing us, asking questions—is your father in the picture. Why won’t we be angry?
The participants’ responses illustrate the need for Black teachers in Waterloo region schools. Deeming Black teachers inferior denies Black students the role models, advocates, and supportive adults they need at school where they spend a significant portion of their lives.
Schools Dominated by Whiteness
In the EFYD, youth narrated experiences of pervasive silencing and erasure of their embodied experiences. Participants described how white fragility (the defensive reaction from White individuals when attempts are made to confront them about racism) deflected responsibility back onto those who report racist behaviour. This was also echoed in the interviews as Zik stated: If you call somebody racist, you will get in trouble. You can’t just go calling people racist. Can you prove it? The White girls will start crying and you better start packing your things. You are the one to get in trouble for calling somebody a bad name.
Across the EFYD and the interviews Black students felt teachers were not sensitive to their needs. Princess, a Black female student, recalled being shamed by teachers in front of other students: Teachers ask, “Why is your hair like this?” They touch my hair, say it’s too hard, my food smells, my name is too long, everything about me is bad. Teachers do this in front of students. They put all this into their heads. They don’t know that it makes them bully us.
Apart from teachers who did not fully understand how their actions contribute to peer bullying, Zik also noted the problem of feigned ignorance: Somebody said, “Climb the monkey bar, I’ll give you a banana.” I told the teacher on duty. She said, “but it’s called monkey bar, that’s the name.” They were all laughing and still, she pretended she did not understand and made me look like a fool.
This dominance of white supremacy was discussed in the EFYD and highlighted by Angel: It’s not only boys. You know, I’m also a girl and they always said they were afraid of me. You are stepping out of the bathroom, you open the door, and you expect to see people, right? Yet, you are afraid when you see me, so, am I not a person? My teachers said, “don’t be scary, be nice.” So, does she believe I am a monster?
Black youth reported that steps taken to remedy racist behaviours failed to hold perpetrators directly accountable for the harm done. Princess recalled such an experience after anti-Black graffiti was spray-painted onto her locker, The custodian cleaned the graffiti and the principal felt that once it is cleaned, that’s all. The custodian did not write it and he cannot clean it from my mind. I felt like, no justice.
The consensus among the youth was that teachers and administrators perpetuate racism by not getting to the root of racist actions, thereby reinforcing a culture of silence as Obafemi explained, Here, in the school, Black life does not matter. Their dog’s or cat’s life matters more. We don’t talk about Black Lives Matter in KW; they will be mad. Only in your family, you are somebody.
The students spoke about being made to feel as though they did not matter through white-centring practices and ignorance of Black realities. Zainab described one such instance: One day my teacher said, “You know in Waterloo Region, we help many refugees. They are not like us, they have nothing.” She might as well have told them [peers] to bully me. I’m not a refugee, I am an immigrant, and she doesn’t know the difference. Imagine, telling my classmates, they are not like us? I am a student like them, same age, same class, same neighbourhood.
Zainab found the teacher’s assumptions concerning as she feared the statements could alienate her from her peers.
Schools as Culturally Irrelevant
The youth reflections on the harm of cultural insensitivity by teachers, curriculum and teaching methods are captured Maya’s example: My teachers were good, but they are ignorant, sorry to say. This teacher asked me about the war in my country, Africa. But I was born in Canada. I don’t know about any war and Africa is not a country. When my family was going back home, my teacher asked if I would be safe in Africa, and said she felt sorry for me being from Africa. Everyone giggled. I felt so little.
Being reminded of the enslavement of Africans by descendants of the perpetrators was a harmful experience sustained by a lack of African history or materials on the contemporary realities of African nations as reflected in Moremi’s account of humiliation. The harm was compounded by the expectation that Moremi be grateful that she is not subject to the slavery era treatment: My teacher told me to stand up and told the class that there would have been a lock on my lips and continued talking about slavery. I wanted to die and have never forgotten.
The students also lamented that their parents, who could broaden educators’ knowledge, were frequently disdained by teachers. Maya recalled a teacher who felt she needed rescuing. This teacher said she liked me because I was doing well in her class, but she was always saying things like “your parents can’t understand; university is too expensive for people like you.” She said she wished she could take me home and give me a better life. That was awful. I felt sick, I wanted to run away and never see her. I don’t need pity. My family loves me, but I stayed and then I cried all night for three days. How can she be so mean to my family?
The white saviourism was worrisome for this student who almost ran away from school. Angel described another experience where she encountered culturally inappropriate attitudes: I told my teacher I need a new placement because my employer had me sweeping the floor every day. The other students said, tell the teacher, but she just felt I was not ready to work, and did not help me find a new placement. When my parents found me a really good placement, they started asking many questions because they did not expect anything good form my family
Participants expressed that apart from these anti-Black comments, insinuations, and actions were a they also faced culturally irrelevant curriculum and teaching. Angel describes the contradictions and gaps in the curriculum she experienced: In law class, they talked about justice and freedom, but they are always the heroes. It was in university that I learned to question. You know, Europe expanded by capturing other people and their resources. Young Black children waved empire flags, is that heroism? All of these experiences undermined their ability to trust the white teachers and school leadership, causing them to question and feel unsafe
Unsafe Schools
There was a general sense that Waterloo schools were psychologically and physically unsafe for Black students as participants in the sharing circled shared experiences of alienation and exclusion. In her interview, Rahila described the difference she felt upon transferring to a Waterloo region school: I never had a Black teacher here [in the Waterloo region], but in Toronto and Brampton I had Black teachers. They cared. Mind you, they were strict, but they understood us. They just know what you need, and they believe in you. They knew I was being excluded when people did not want to work with me in groups and they stepped in to help. After we moved here, I begged my mom to take us back. It was so hard because, in Waterloo, you are just “a nobody.”
Soyinka described how he left his school in response to the hostility, low teacher expectations, skewed policies, and streaming: I had to leave. No kidding. I left for my life. I felt, what am I gaining? I am a good student, but the teacher hates it when I do well. I just felt so angry all the time. They put me in the applied program and want me to play football, but I can choose my life. They give White students many chances because, eh, “they’re from a good family.” They insult our families and I feel like I can kill someone for that. I just had to leave before I do something bad. I don’t want to be in jail, I don’t want to shame my family.
Some students also emphasized feeling physically unsafe at school, in Zik’s words, I was afraid to walk in some places at school and at recess because the teachers do nothing. They [other students] spit at you, throw things at you, call you names, try to make you fight them on the way to the bus, but teachers said it was not on school property. But they take cyber bullying seriously even though it is also not at school. We just don’t even bother reporting anymore.
Miriam eloquently captures the visceral and physical effects of these experiences: I would wake up and my tummy would start to hurt when I think of going to school. At times, I would throw up so much; they would take me to the doctor. She said there must be something wrong at school, but it’s not one thing that is wrong. It is everything at school that is wrong.
The above findings illustrate the alienation, discrimination, cultural insensitivity, anti-Black racism, and ignorance Black students faced in Waterloo schools. These unsafe conditions sometimes require Black students to take “health breaks” (Oba, 2018) from the schooling system. In contrast to the widespread assumption that Black youth leave school due to laziness or lack of intellect, the notion of health break offers an alternative hypothesis for Black youth attrition. The concept allows for an exploration of youth self-efficacy in leaving a site of oppression, pushing back against oppression for their health and wellbeing (Oba, 2018). This leads us to discuss the implications of these findings that show Black youth are systematically deprived of their right to an education.
Discussion
The findings indicate that whiteness is endemic in policies and practices in Waterloo region schools and manifest in racism, alienation, and silencing of Black learners at schools. A range of factors include ignorance and racism of some educators, Eurocentric curriculum, and unchecked maltreatment from peers. The findings illuminate the gaps between diversity and inclusion rhetoric in schools and the lived reality. The following discussion is divided into four themes: (1) opening up your territory, intrinsically; (2) the operation of race within education; (3) undertaking emancipatory pedagogy to be culturally responsive and (4)
Opening Up Your Territory, Intrinsically
I cannot effectively enact authentic intercultural education so long as I, in mind and soul, am colonized; so long as I do the bidding of the powerful through well-intentioned, colonizing practice. (Gorski, 2008, p. 524.)
The findings of this study echo much of the reviewed literature and thus reinforce calls for school leadership to gain awareness of how social and political contexts impact Black students. Unless teachers and administrators understand the system of whiteness and white supremacy and take responsibility for dismantling it, dehumanizing power dynamics will continue and some Black students will continue to feel their lives are valued “less than those of cats and dogs” as noted by participants.
Jones (1991) offers a powerful metaphor in thinking about anti-racism efforts: “in attempting, in the name of justice, to move the boundary pegs of power into the terrain of the margin-dwellers, the powerful require them to ‘open up their territory’” (as cited in Gorski, 2008, p. 521). Gorski (2008) notes that having the margin-dwellers open up their territory “actually reifies power hierarchies” (p. 521). To counter this reification, we argue that it is white teachers, not those pushed to the margins who must open up their territory, and this starts with them recognizing the implicit power they have. Opening your territory intrinsically involves “undertaking shifts in consciousness that acknowledge sociopolitical context, raise questions regarding control and power, and inform … shifts in practice” (Gorski, 2008, p. 522).
Without fully understanding one’s power and privilege in the world, it is impossible to recognize the harm one can do through one’s actions or inactions. Multiple participants spoke about seemingly innocuous but harmful anti-Black assumptions about hair, food, and intellectual capacity. Those benefiting from the system often cannot see the harms it creates and therefore minimize and deny systemic anti-Black racism. As Princess noted, when white educators failed to understand the harmful impacts of their racist assumptions, they normalized the bullying of Black students by their peers.
Conversations about race are often avoided (Henfield & Washington, 2012; Culver, 2017; Lopez & Jean-Marie, 2021), and Canadians do not acknowledge the racist foundations or contemporary and ongoing injustices (Salloum, 2022). However, they are necessary to promote truth, cultural understanding, reconciliation, and equity. The students recognized that teachers and staff, however well intentioned, lacked the training to interrogate their whiteness and the racist assumptions they routinely make about Black families. For example, white supremacy manifests in the way Black students are streamed into non-academic courses and the desire expressed by educators to rescue smart Black youth from their families perpetuating the flawed notion that white is best.
While the students were gracious about their teacher’s ignorance about Africa, the deficit took a toll on them. Miriam dreaded going to school because her tummy would hurt. When the doctor asked if there was something wrong at school, she tellingly said, “its not one thing, … its everything.” Adaobi also felt fatigued and exhausted while attending high school, and not because of academic challenges. Rather, she highlighted the abuse she suffered: “Their words hurt, those 4 years killed me! I graduated with 90s and got university admission, but I crashed.”
“Educators must examine their positionality, engage in self-reflection, and come to understand what they need to learn and unlearn” (Lopez & Jean-Marie, 2021 p. 58). Therefore, to support Black African students, school leadership s must openup their territory by becoming better educated about the nature of race and systemic racism, or else they will continue to perpetuate racial “othering” and systems of whiteness (Gorski, 2008).
The Operation of Race within the Education System
School administrators and all educators must recognize and work to dismantle systemic racism which has benefited them at the expense the students in their care, who are oppressed by white supremacy in school policies and practices. Culturally relevant and responsive teaching “generally points to the idea that successful teachers of students of color identify the public school system as racist and see themselves as part of a larger political struggle for racial justice” (Hyland, 2005, p. 430). Without this systemic awareness, white teachers galvanize self-fulfilling prophecies propelled by stereotypes that in turn continue to inform racist actions that are denied and erased. It is important that otherwise nice and well-meaning white females who dominate the school system “examine how Black learners are impacted by systemic anti-Black racism and anti-blackness, and how these practices are perpetuated” (Lopez & Jean-Marie, 2021, p. 51).
Youth in the study discussed colour-evasive policies such as getting punished when they called out racist acts. The students described how white fragility and colour-evasiveness resulted in white girls crying when their racist behaviour was reported, and Black students being punished even though. they were the targets of racist acts. When being called “racist” is seen as an insult rather than a way of drawing attention to harmful behaviour, Black students face double jeopardy, getting blamed while their oppression is invalidated. “The politics of racial denial and oppression should be something of concern for educators” (Dei, 2008, p. 353).
Soyinka insightfully noted that White principals and teachers “judge the case” and assign disciplinary actions to students. The Black student is punished while the instigator who “started the trouble” is not. Black students are silenced, and other students learn that they can get away with racist behaviour, which has implications for adulthood. Schools should be incubators of learning, acceptance, and growth, not racism and the youth hoped educators would do their inner work to acknowledge white privilege, Eurocentric socialization, and ignorance. Demonstrating self and political awareness can mitigate the trauma Black Canadian youth face.
Antiracist schools must have more Black teachers (Oba, 2018; DasGupta et al., 2020). The participants in our study reported they rarely encountered racialized teachers, but when they did, they empathized with them and took leadership in offering meaningful, culture-informed, non-patronizing care, Their leadership approach helped Black students feel seen, and accepted, which freed them to focus on learning. The youth indicated that they would hire more Black teachers if given the chance - reflecting their self efficacy, vision and hope for transformation. Furthermore, they demonstrated through their resistance and self advocacy in the school system, that Black youth are not lazy or incapable but need an enabling inclusive environment where they can thrive.
Undertaking Emancipatory Pedagogy and Being Culturally Responsive
Emancipatory pedagogy, culturally relevant and responsive teaching practices require educators to understand whiteness, racism, and white supremacy at personal, institutional, and systemic levels (Hyland, 2005). Insensitivity and exclusion can be unlearned and replaced to avoid repeating the harms Black students described in this study. For example, Moremi will never forget her teacher asking her to stand in class to illustrate what slavery looked like historically. With appropriate training in emancipatory pedagogy, culturally relevant and responsive teaching practices, such harm could have been avoided. Better still, improved cultural awareness could have led this teacher to denounce racism, colonialism, oppression and rather celebrate the social and cultural capital of Black people (Yosso, 2005).
Emancipatory pedagogies also require having high expectations of Black students. Many educators hold low expectations of Black students (DasGupta et al., 2020; Duncan, 2020; Hyland, 2005) and in this study, deficit perspectives led to Soyinka being streamed into non-academic programs undermining his capabilities.
Opening Up Your Territory Extrinsically Through Politicized Caring
Opening up one’s territory extrinsically involves taking tangible actions to stand in solidarity with Black youth and their communities. Learning from and integrating a politicized caring framework into one’s teaching practices is one way of doing so. While politicized caring was developed by analyzing relationships between Black teachers and Black students, “non-Black teachers can create relationships of politicized caring” (McKinney de Royston et al., 2017, p. 22). If white teachers critically deconstruct their thinking and biases through opening up their intrinsic territory, there is potential to embody tenets of the framework and develop “authentic, aesthetic, moral, and political” forms of caring for their Black students, as is integral to the framework (McKinney de Royston et al., 2017, p. 6). Of course, most white teachers do care for their students, but politicized caring recognizes Black students' humanity and the complexity of living in systemic and global hierarchies of race and power. Teachers who have adopted this framework can lead by actively working to protect Black students and continuously deconstructing the systems which harm them (McKinney de Royston et al., 2021).
As McKinney de Royston et al. (2021) argue, teachers must recognize the power they wield and their own contributions to the racial trauma and adverse childhood experiences that racism represents by actively working to redress the harm. Too often, in the name of caring, white teachers further harm Black students through paternalism, patronizing, and lack of humble self-examination (Gorski, 2008). Maya’s teacher, for instance, demeaned her parents and expressed her wish to give Maya a different life in the mistaken belief that a Black child is fortunate to be raised ina white home and that Black children desire to escape their culture (Guess, 2006). Maya vehemently disagreed with this demonstration of white messiah complex that can result in overrepresentation of Black children in foster care. Maya said “I felt sick” expressing her discomfort with the idea that white is best and the thought of being removed from her pasrents, her family and her culture by a system that devalues her cultural heritage and the parenting capacity of her parents.
School leadership must recognize the injustice of such actions and policies that fail to recognize the strengths and assets of all learners. Students can tell when their teachers believe in them and see their families as possessing cultural and social capital through which they can contribute to the school. Many African proverbs currently being co-opted by the mainstream depict the wealth of wisdom in the Black community. Warren (2013) found that one teacher had immense success in building supportive relationships by having a space for non-academic discussion in the classroom known as “family business” (p. 188). The students would talk about serious subjects in their lives, allowing the teacher to harness knowledge on the students, their perspective, their families, and their community, “perspective taking in action” for later interactions with these students (Warren, 2013, p. 188).
Exclusion from group work by white students is injurious to black students especially when teachers ignore these patterns or blame them for their exclusion by peers. One participant recalled an instance when their Black teacher in another school board stepped in to address exclusion of Black students by their white peers. The experience of Black students in Waterloo schools sharply contrasts with the care exhibited by this Black teacher as participants reported that they did not receive the needed support. Undertaking politicized care means becoming aware and intervening to disrupt both the actions and the racism driving them. White teachers practicing politicized care will recognize racism at work without invalidating Black students concerns or requiring them to relive their hurt or prove the racist intent, but rather offer support. School leadership must seize such teachable moments to inculcate authentic understanding of the ills of racism and work to enhance- thesafety of those experiencing racism (Duncan, 2020), by intentionally building caring relationships through which Black students feel safe and heard (McKinney de Royston et al., 2021).
Recommendations
The recommendations for school leadership are divided into two sections. Recognizing that this is a systemic issue, the complicity of white educators, social workers and administrators who deny systemic racism, insensitivity, and privilege in Canada is highlighted. White educators as leaders must become catalysts promoting social justice and the best interests of Black students and others. Black students do not need white saviours, leadership does not mean rescuing Black students from Blackness, they need self-aware, culturally responsive teachers, open to learning, reflecting, acting, and gaining the community’s trust as genuine allies
The second section is for administrators regarding changes needed to support Black youth, Black teachers and other teachers involved in culturally responsive approaches.
For Educators
Educators and administrators can tangibly act by using Lopez and Jean-Marie’s (2021) Name, Own, Frame, and Sustain (NOFS) framework to address racism in the education system. NOFS helps white teachers to recognize policies or pedagogy rooted in white supremacy. The teacher must name and understand the issue comprehensively and then examine their own silence and complicity in order to reframe the issue and deliberately take purposeful actions to challenge anti-Black racism and decenter whiteness. Plans to create and sustain lasting change must include ongoing education, consciousness raising, and accountability (Lopez & Jean-Marie, 2021). This aligns with creating trusting relationships through meaningful and empathetic relationships that are imperative for student success and relationship building (Warren, 2013). These practices are not fostering guilt for past evils because guilt paralyzes, but rather developing responsibility (response - ability) for addressing what is ignored or condoned today.
For the System
But if our response simply individualizes the problem and leaves the system off the hook, we are nowhere near finding solutions. (Dei, 2008, p. 357, p. 357)
Conclusion
Our findings point to alienation of Black students in the Waterloo region of Ontario. This alienation stems from an education system dominated by white teachers and Eurocentric pedagogies that exclude Black students. Covert or overt racism, lack of representation, pedagogies that are not emancipatory, contribute to Black students feeling unsupported and unsafe at school. Black students’ experiences of school in the Waterloo Region of Ontario differs immensely from their white counterparts, and sadly this is a finding that spans the research on education settings across North America (Duncan, 2020; Jean-Pierre et al., 2021).
Teachers are central to the educational experiences of their students. Teachers are often caring people that want what is best for their students, but socialization into whiteness, racial hierarchies and racist beliefs inform differential caring toward Blackness and by extension Black students. This paper is a call-to-action for educators who by their very calling are leaders to act to improve conditions for Black students in the public and Catholic school systems across Canada. The streaming and bullying, Black students experience and the mistrust and lack of safety they feel must be acknowledged. Educators must be intentional in their efforts to create and maintain a safe environment that facilitates belonging and effective learning for all students. Although there is no quick fix to entrenched white supremacy, racism can be unlearned by bringing antiracism to the fore intentionally in teacher hiring, training, school policies, and practices. School leadership must first direct their passion for helping students inward to overcome deeply ingrained biases and then deploy their passion outward to affect authentic lasting change through politically aware institutional leadership.
Footnotes
Acknowledgments
The authors acknowledge the contributions of Ms. Halima Fuller and Mr. Muntu Omnyama, two respected Black elders who co-facilitated the Afrocentric sharing circles as part of the Elder Facilitated Youth Dialogue method utilized in this research study.
Declaration of Conflicting Interests
The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Funding
The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
