Diversity, equity and inclusion. Three words that, for most of us, embody a moral rightness and imperative. Diversity means including people from a variety of social, cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds and of different genders, sexual orientation, etc. Equity means providing all people with the tools they need to enjoy and take advantage of the equal opportunity provided by inclusion. Inclusion means providing equal access and resources to all people who might be excluded or marginalized.
Education seems a very logical place to develop a culture and curriculum of diversity, equity and inclusion, and schools seem logical places to cultivate an attitude that embraces the meaning of all three words.
However, there seems to be some major misunderstanding about the advantages of children working toward these imperatives when it comes to improving their education. This misunderstanding is reflected in the current campaign for the at-large Cape Henlopen school board seat. There is no logical reason for race to become a focus of this election. Yet, because of misrepresentation of The 1619 Project, because House Bill 198 has been equated with critical race theory and also misrepresented, and because the Oregon Department of Education’s new course offering about equitable math instruction has been decried, it is critical for the Southern Delaware Alliance for Racial Justice (SDARJ) to address the implication that tending to our Black and Brown brothers and sisters would dumb down curriculum and harm our children.
The suggestion that the arrival in 1619 of enslaved Black people is just a small part of our nation’s background fails to recognize that the impact of Black enslavement resounds throughout our history, past and present. The United States gained its economic prosperity and global superiority on the backs of enslaved Black people, first harvesting sugar and then picking cotton. Even after Black people were given the right to vote, southern states found many ways to limit their voting, an effort that continues today. This is fact. If we are to teach both the bad and the good, we cannot sugarcoat our history. The 1619 Project illuminates the experiences of Black people from slavery to now in ways never before included in our children’s history education. Understanding that racism is a major part of our history creates the possibility of not continuing it.
It is for this reason that HB 198 is being considered. HB 198 would require the inclusion and integration of Black history into Delaware’s public school curricula. It is not critical race theory. Critical race theory is an ongoing examination and critique of ways that racism, from the very beginning, permeates every level of our society. The goal of this examination is to develop understanding and, through understanding, implement change. HB 198 echoes that goal. CRT does not encourage people to hate one another. Rather, it encourages dialogue, conversation and listening, all aimed at working to eliminate racism from our society.
The equity mathematics course offering in Oregon suggests that more important than focusing on the right answer is gaining an understanding of mathematical concepts, thereby encouraging critical thinking about math, rather than rote learning. The goal of the teaching practices discussed in equity mathematics is to meet the needs of all learners, recognizing that people learn in a variety of ways. While the document highlights the need to make math more equitable for Black and Brown learners, the suggested changes would benefit everyone.
Clearly, all of the above involve diversity, equity and inclusion. Broadening our understandings and meeting the needs of all can only benefit and empower all children and improve their outcomes. Some argue that it only calls attention to Blackness and Whiteness. Since children don’t see color anyway, why should they suddenly become aware of it? Of course children see color; we all do. It’s ridiculous to deny what is right in front of our eyes.
But children don’t attribute any meaning to that color or judgment based on it; they only move in that direction through their interactions with adults, the media, their schools. Is it that we are afraid that children might come to wonder at the racial prejudices of their parents, of the media and in their schools? Might they begin to question the flaws in our country or our historical inability to live up to the true ideals spoken daily in the Pledge of Allegiance and named in the Constitution? Indeed, might our children become the catalyst of change? And if so, why do we continue to resist the concepts of diversity, equity and inclusion and oppose and prevent that change, which can only make life better for all?
Sara Ford writes for the Southern Delaware Alliance for Racial Justice and lives in Lewes.
