- Stage 3:Written analysis for anti-bias curriculum
- Write briefly about the book as an anti-bias text.
- Explain which social justice issue it is relevant to.
- Explain why that social justice issue matters, using concepts from the unit, and referencing these concepts.
- Explain how the book addresses that issue.
- Write this up in about 300 words
- Use references from the unit and reference appropriately.
Moving Forward and Sustaining Hope The justice journey can be overwhelming on every level: personal, classroom, organizational, and in the greater society. This chapter will identify ideas for staying connected, energized, and hopeful for the long haul. Hint: One of the keys is staying in tune with children’s natu- ral sense of curiosity and joy in learning about differences and their inclination towards fairness and justice. We live in a world and a time when cynicism and pessimism could be easy partners in our path. When I fi rst joined the movement for social justice, I was a bright-eyed teenager who believed we might eradicate racism by the time I had grandchildren. My oldest grandchil- dren are now teenagers, and my greatest hope is that they are prepared and passionate enough to carry on with the struggle. My greatest joy comes from knowing the people I have met along the way who share this vision of a kinder, more just world: the people who have given me glimmers of the deepest human connections across differences, that place referred to in the Civil Rights Movement as the Beloved Community. In the Beloved Community, poverty, hunger, and homeless- ness will not be tolerated because international standards of human decency will not allow it. Racism and all forms of 10 146 ◆ Moving Forward and Sustaining Hope discrimination, bigotry, and prejudice will be replaced by an all-inclusive spirit of sisterhood and brotherhood. (King, n.d.) Beloved community is formed not by the eradication of differ- ence but by its affi rmation, by each of us claiming the identities and cultural legacies that shape who we are and how we live in the world. To form beloved community, we do not surrender ties to precious origins. We deepen those bondings by connect- ing them with an anti-racist struggle. (hooks, 1995) I believe we can create Beloved Community every day in our early childhood environments. Anti-bias/anti-oppression efforts are at the heart of Beloved Community. Young children remind us of how curi- osity and authenticity sound and feel. They teach us every day what it means to notice, wonder, and ask about our similarities and differ- ences as human beings. They have not yet been hushed or shamed into silence. Staying Connected Even if you are unable to participate in a support or study group for anti-bias work, you will need to stay connected in some way to at least one or two other people you know in your life who are willing to travel this journey with you. Isolation from other people committed to work- ing for change can lead to despair and burnout. This is a challenging task, and as we looked at in Chapter 9 , can be full of barriers. When we can share the company and comradeship of other people who are also passionate about social justice, we are much less likely to get discouraged and side-tracked. Ask yourself: Who is someone in your life who might want to spend time with you reading, refl ecting, and struggling with these issues? If you can fi nd another person in your same early childhood program or school, that is ideal for strategizing together and supporting each other’s efforts. Having at least one ally in your place of work will make a huge difference in your ability to stick with anti-bias/anti-oppression work for the long haul. As I have said many times in this book, we are all in this together. When we can fi nd Moving Forward and Sustaining Hope ◆ 147 people along the way who also see and want to share the experience of anti-bias/anti-oppression study and awareness as a life-long learning process, we will not have to travel this long path alone. Support Groups Thirty years ago, I taught a weekend workshop in the winter titled “How Children Develop Attitudes About Race.” Five white women came to the session. I remember that we met in the basement of a big, old church and when it got freezing cold, we turned on the oven in the kitchen and sat our chairs in a circle near it to keep warm. At the end of the workshop the group wanted very much to continue our discus- sions and learning with each other so we decided to form an ongoing study group. We called it the “Anti-Racism Advocacy Group.” Later, it was fondly referred by us as ARAG. We met once a month for about six years and added a few new group members here and there. As I have mentioned in earlier chapters, I currently attend a local anti-bias support group for early childhood teachers in the Portland area. That group has been instrumental in keeping me connected to everyday challenges and joys in the implementation of anti-bias/ anti-oppression education in early childhood classrooms. It has also been useful in providing stimulating questions and shared investiga- tion of the new frontiers of our work, like gender justice and the Black Lives Matter movement. We meet once a month and occasionally share emails and resources in between the face-to-face meetings. I believe the value of support and study group work lies in the fol- lowing elements. ◆ Informality: Meetings are informal in process, in language, and in the expectation that you come as you are in this shared journey. ◆ Shared leadership: The roles of convening the group and facilitating the conversation rotate; anyone can suggest direction or topics for the group. ◆ Current issues and feelings: There is consensus that anyone can raise issues with urgent need for processing or bring up feelings about recent experiences or events related to anti-bias/anti-oppression work, even if we had previously identifi ed a different focus for the meeting. 148 ◆ Moving Forward and Sustaining Hope ◆ Respect and accountability: Group members hold respect for one another as allies in the anti-oppression journey, which also means that we hold each other accountable for what we say and do. ◆ Shared resources: Group members make an effort to share resources for classrooms, for reference, and for continued study. ◆ Collective strategizing: Group members support each other by working together to identify strategies for continued action and exploration in anti-bias/anti-oppression work with children, families, and ourselves. Inquiry to Action Groups Inquiry to Action Groups (ITAGs) are used by many progressive teacher action groups around the country. One such group is the New York Collective of Radical Educators (NYCORE). This is the way they describe an ITAG: “It’s similar to a study group, but the goal is that after the group inquiries into a particular topic, they will together cre- ate action around their area of study, making it a true community of praxis” (NYCORE, n.d.). NYCORE chooses topics and themes that are consistent with their “points of unity,” which have to do with issues of education and social justice. The group’s website explains that ITAGs are spaces for teachers to build community and develop as activists, and that educators can participate in linking social justice issues with classroom practice. The small groups meet weekly (for a total of six, two-hour sessions plus a kick-off and possible conference workshop) to share experiences, respond to readings, exchange ideas, and develop action plans. Other local groups hosting ITAGs for teachers include: ◆ Teachers’ Democracy Group Baltimore ◆ Teachers’ for Social Justice Chicago ◆ Teacher Action Group Philadelphia, which listed this year’s ITAG topics as: – African American History Curriculum – Countering Racial Capitalism for a Just City – Creating Grassroots Curriculum Moving Forward and Sustaining Hope ◆ 149 – Cultivating a Mindful Classroom – Feminism Is for Everybody – History and Memory of the 1981 Teachers’ Strike – Math and Social Justice – Questioning the World – Reclaiming Assessment, Classrooms, and Leadership: Responding to High-Stakes Testing and the Future of Assessment Reforms The ITAG model seems mostly to be used by teacher action groups in the K–12 arena, but there is no reason why this would not also work for teachers in pre-K classrooms and schools. We formed an ITAG here in Portland for early childhood educators that attracted mostly kindergarten, fi rst-, and second-grade teachers, plus a few preschool teachers. The challenges are somewhat different in those contexts, but the connection and quality of spending time with other educators who care deeply about anti-bias/social justice/anti-oppression work is powerful. One of the very positive outcomes for me of attending this group was meeting and feeling inspired to know grade-school teachers doing this work. A National Gathering of the Local Groups For about four years, I participated on the board of a national organiza- tion called the Early Childhood Equity Alliance (ECEA). One effort of ECEA was to identify and then build a national network of local early childhood groups that are organizing for social justice and change in the lives of children and families in their communities. I had the privi- lege of helping to coordinate this effort. In the fall of 2003, we had a face-to-face gathering (funded by the Peppercorn Foundation) includ- ing 18 participants representing 10 local groups. The local groups had varied models for their work, including non-profi t organizations structured to support early childhood educators and providers, local networks informally structured to come together to impact systems, support groups organizing for action, and committees formed to create resources and/or address institutional oppression. We met for three days to hear each other’s stories, and to strategize and organize. Although the groups had a variety of structures, there was consen- sus around many of the strategies being used to impact change and 150 ◆ Moving Forward and Sustaining Hope promote equity and justice in early childhood arenas. The strategies highlighted in our time together included reaching and nurturing diverse voices in early childhood, fi ghting for quality care that pro- motes social justice, working to transform early childhood institu- tions, providing training and technical assistance related to anti-bias/ anti-oppression education, developing internal group skills and pro- cess to refl ect equity and justice, and writing and publishing about our anti-bias/anti-oppression work. Our time together was magical. One of the participants in that gathering described the experience like this: “It’s like connecting a circuit of bulbs that could light the world” (Kissinger, 2004). These diverse local groups represented Alabama, Mississippi, California, Illinois, Louisiana, Minnesota, Oregon, and Washington. One thing we all had in common was our commitment to these shared goals: ◆ Promoting healthy identity development for all children (addressing bias) ◆ Supporting early childhood educators and care providers in opportunities to heal from bias and oppression ◆ Creating processes where communities (particularly those marginalized in our society) help to defi ne and create quality care I have included more information about some of these state and regional organizations in Chapter 11 . Amazing Grace—Ally-Ship and Activism: Tedious, Incremental, and Repetitive The movie Amazing Grace is one of my favorites because it depicts the story of the anti-slavery activist, white ally, and abolitionist William Wilberforce. Wilberforce, who lived from 1759 to 1833, was an English politician and a leader of the movement to abolish the slave trade in Britain (Apted, 2007). The reason I love this movie and story so much is because it chronicles critical elements of ally-ship and activism: It is not glorious; it is tedious. Wilberforce and his allies worked for more than 20 years on the passage of the Slave Trade Act in 1807. Then, they continued to work another 20 years on the campaign to completely abolish slavery, which was fi nally accomplished in Britain in 1833. Wilberforce died just three days after hearing that the passage of the Moving Forward and Sustaining Hope ◆ 151 Act through Parliament was assured. This is important history for us to know. These are important lessons for us to aspire to, and these are footsteps for us to take courage from and follow. There are many such struggles for freedom and justice. Part of staying hopeful is knowing about them, learning from them, and teaching children about the long legacy of people of every skin color, language, culture, gender expres- sion and sexuality, able-ness, age, religion, and economic status that have resisted injustice and oppression. Be a Provocateur Be the person who speaks up. Be the person who asks questions. Be the person who will tell people the truth about hard topics. Be the