As an educator creating antiracist classrooms, I have wrestled with how to teach children about race and race relations since far before our country’s recent racial reckoning.
I’m also a curriculum designer, as well as a Black Cuban immigrant, and the mother of two Black daughters.
And I believe that to catalyze systemic change and create a better world for our children, we need to elevate race education, not restrict it. The typical net worth of white households is about 10 times that of Black households. The poverty rate for Black Americans is more than double that of whites.
Black people have higher rates of chronic illness, like diabetes and high blood pressure, yet Black workers are 60 percent more likely to be uninsured than white workers. Unarmed Blacks are killed at three times the rate of unarmed whites. Black students account for 47 percent of preschool children receiving one or more out-of-school suspensions but represent only 19 percent of preschool enrollment.
And since George Floyd’s murder, more than 270 Black men, women, and children have been killed at the hands of police across the country. By the time this op-ed is published, that number will — likely, horrifyingly — be higher.
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Maria Underwood is a senior educational consultant and director of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion for Teaching Matters. She is an expert in literacy and has 30 years of experience in education.
This story about antiracist education was produced by The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education. Sign up for Hechinger’s newsletter.
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