Raza De Mil Colores: Anti-Blackness in the Latinx Community

In 2001, Marta Cruz-Janzen wrote "Latinegras: Desired Women: Undesirable Mothers, Daughters, Sisters, and Wives"  for the Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies. In this article Cruz-Janzen interrogates Whiteness as reflected in the Latinx experience by naming the tensions experienced by Afro-Latinx people. Cruz-Janzen writes of being both Black and Latinx noting how years of colonialism have resulted in the internalization of racism within the Latinx community, a racism that is manifested through the perpetuation of and desire for Whiteness. Though this issue has received some attention over the years through discourse related to colorism, the issue of racism in the Latinx community has not had the opportunity. Because Laitnx racism manifests most acutely in the guise of colorism it becomes an acceptable form of communal culture. 
Our racism connected to colorism is more nuanced and complex, it is cultural, marrying up (lighter) versus marrying down (darker). It's the way in which abuelas rub on an infants nose to try to straighten it. It's the way tias y hermanas check a baby's ears and knuckles to confirm how dark/light the child may be. This mentality and subsequent activity exists as an outgrowth of the subjugation and colonization of indigenous populations within the Latinx community. Some would argue that Latinx is an ethnicity, separated by land and culture. And that Latinx people have only recently been racialized in America. I would assert that the racial hierarchy that currently exists here in the United States, has existed in Latin and South American countries, as well as in the Caribbean which speaks to a racial caste system pre-dates the migration of Latinx people to the United States. The purpose of this is to say explicitly and unapologetically that racism exists in the Latinx community, we perpetuate it towards each other. More recently I experienced if from a fellow Puerto Rican at a racial equity conference (the irony of that...)

So it's time... really, past time, for the Latinx community to interrogate the role racism has played in creating a colonial mindsets that have become an embedded part of our culture. The creation of a racial caste system within the Latinx community shares roots and experiences with that of enslaved Africans in America and like African Americans in this country, our perpetuation of anti-Blackness within the Latinx community is a part of a collective pain and harm we visit upon each other. We can use colorism, however, a "nicer" word does not mitigate the harm cause or the problem.

Among some Latinx, there is a duality in simultaneously reaping the benefits that being considered “of color” brings in the context of creating “diversity” while working hard to distance themselves from other people of color, namely Black people and specifically African Americans and Afro-Latinx people. The irony of some Latinx people benefiting from adding to the “diversity”  pot within White spaces while existing in a privileged position of “Whiteness” based on skin color in the Latinx community is not lost on me. There is a contradiction in espousing a collective pride (orgullo) of our Latinxness while simultaneously holding up a racial hierarchy that is the bedrock of settler colonialism and imperialism. 

The challenge here is that many Latinx people proclaim a resistance to identifying within racial category while enacting the very tenants of white supremacy towards members of our community. They use colorism to define our hierarchy through a lens of Whiteness; mestizo, moreno, blanquito, etc. have served to classify one in a racial hierarchy based on an association or proximity to Spain. More so, the term colorism is used to avoid having explicit conversations around racism while politely acknowledging in some ways that we engage in a racialized hierarchy.  It is not discussed. It is why my "Aunt" purchases gifts for my younger sister's children who's father is White (German/Scot/American) and not my Brown child or my oldest sister's children, both of whom have African American or Black fathers. But it appears more polite to not mention it, rather it is said, "You know how she is, it's what she does." No one calls Margarita out on her explicit racism regardless of how harmful or painful it may be to the kids.

Similarly, in an article published by Hip Latina, a Dominican woman who self-identified as an Afro-Latina, experienced racism within her household and noted,  “Colorism has always felt to me like an elephant in the room that would not be directly addressed or acknowledged, but its presence was strongly felt,“ she explains, adding, “Especially in family settings like mine where the skin tones of family members represent all colors of a broad racial spectrum.”

            The outcome of racism/colorism is implied language sends explicit messages in which those darker complexion know that it is better to be lighter. In turn, we internalize these messages and seek spaces and places where we can find true acceptance. Some engage in self-destructive behavior such as skin bleaching, others accept toxic relationships where they feel a sense of acceptability, and others find proximity to lighter/whiter people with the hope we can produce lighter children. For some, like myself, there is a rejection of our roots, for example, I  spent many years immersed within and connected to my Barbadian (Bajan) and Black family members and the majority of my friends were Black, African Americans, and Caribbean American.

And for many Latinx people who enactment Whiteness towards others in the Latinx community, there are broader implications of this colonial mindset relative American socio-political realities, like the census. Taking a moment to reflect on the 2020 census and considering the immigrant history of the United States where Italians, Russians, Jews, Irish, and many others were able to ascend into Whiteness, it makes sense that Latinx people who have proximity to Whiteness would take the opportunity to fully do so. According to a recent Brooking report, White people in the United States, are slated to become a minority group by 2045. It is therefore timely that some Latinx people will have an opportunity to ascend into Whiteness per the census and grow the number of Whites in America. But what is given up to engage in this type of explicit racism? What is given up to become White?

            Ultimately, Latinx people need to reflect on this dynamic through an intersectional framework and lean into holding intra-racialized conversations. While many Latinx do not like to think of ourselves as racist or racialized people, the realities are that as long as we are manifesting the behaviors of our colonizers, we will continue to engage in racialized behavior and uphold racist ideals. This is both isolating those among us who are “of color” and dehumanizing our own people. The notion of Latinx coupled with the intersection of being both Black and Latinx requires that as a community we engage in a deep analysis of our own anti-Blackness.

© Akilah Rosado and Musings from a Brooklyn Chick, 2018. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Akilah Rosado and Musing from a Brooklyn Chick with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Public Education: The Impact of White Teachers on Student Achievement

New York City (NYC) is home to the largest and most segregated school system in the country. It is tasked with providing educational instruction to more than 1.1 million students from diverse racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic groups. There are 1,842 public schools, which are inclusive of the 227 existing charter schools, spanning across 32 school districts throughout the five boroughs. 

According to the 2017 student demographic data collected by the city's Department of Education, the current racial composition of the student population in public schools is as follows: 

Hispanic	40.5%
Black/African American	26%
Asian	16.1%
White	15%

This translates to a student population that is comprised of over 80% students of color. According to the 2015 student data, 77% of public school students came from homes that met or exceeded the federal guidelines for poverty (this information is no longer collected). Though NYC's public schools are overwhelmingly comprised of Black and Latinx students, it employs a teaching force that is nearly 60% White and overwhelmingly female; and statewide, one-third of New York schools have no Black or Latinx teachers. Based on the existing data, many of the teachers in NYC schools have had little or no experience with the communities and cultures from which their students come and have had uneven teacher preparation across the board.

Let me repeat this because its important:

(1) NYC's student population is over 80% children of color. (2) 77% are identified as living in poverty. (3) These children are being taught by a population of teachers who are primarily White who have had little understanding of their students' cultural or community realities. (4) Teachers in schools have had uneven preparation prior to entering into classrooms that exist in the largest and most segregated school system in the nation. 

When we talk about the achievement gap in schools, let's not forget these statistical realities. This data is important is because there is a correlation between a student's classroom/school experience and achievement. Many educators and educational policy analysts have wrestled with identifying and attempting to resolve the numerous factors that prohibit children from educational success. This included identifying "barriers to achievement" that name a host of factors that are associated  with being "high-risk". This translates to identifying and tagging those students who come from under-served and under-resourced communities; who's families experience a lack of access to educational resources, poverty, language barriers, a prevalence of drugs, family incarceration, abuse, etc. But this is not the whole story for all children who experience toxic stressors. These factors do assume that achievement gaps are correlated with external factors that do not include the influence and impact of teachers, unless a student is able to excel. For these reasons it is important to assess the barriers to achievement that exist inside schools.

Schools are a microcosm of our society and serve really to indoctrinate children into society - I realize that may not be widely accepted but that is the history and tradition of America's school system. A school's culture includes the intersection of race, class, culture, gender, and power dynamics within its walls - these factors matter greatly in the context of student/teacher relationships and how a child experiences the school/classroom. A recent Chalkbeat article discussed the severe lack of teachers of color in classrooms and the implications of this for all students noting that this its not only a New York phenomena, but an American problem. 

According to a 2008 study, researchers began to unpack the impact of Black students who were educated by teachers who did not share their ethnic, racial, or cultural background. It was noted that discussions about the achievement gap for Black students too often focused on external factors as reference above. They discussed the impact of implicit bias on students noting that a teacher's ability to connect with students supports their academic achievement. But most importantly, what was found is that Black students did not fare as well as their White peers with White teachers. This is not to say that White teachers cannot teach Black students, rather, White teachers have to be trained, developed, and supported to actively work to ensure their bias does not harm Black students.

Scholars Ed Morris (2007) and Jamilia Blake, etc. (2017) have produced rich research that highlights the role that implicit bias plays in shaping attitudes towards Black girls in schools. The phenomena of "adultifying" Black girls for not displaying or engaging in heteronormative characteristics or behaviors can lead to a host of issues for them in school. A consequence of this includes seeing Black girls as needing less protection, less nurturing, and less support or comfort while simultaneously seeing them as more independent and aware of adult topics including sex. According to Blake's work, adults see Black girls in this way as early as 5-years-old. The impact of these biases on developing children may have huge implications for Black girls including disparities in disciplinary practices in schools. This is often replicated when these students come into contact with the criminal justice system. So what are the ways in which we can help children? 

Adults need to be made aware and mindful of how they impact the children they work with. All teachers actively interpret student behavior, however, White teachers do this without having a clear understanding of cultural differences and bias that may influence their interpretations. This can lead to misunderstandings that with huge implications for those students. 

Recently, NYC's education chancellor, Richard Carranza, called for a financial investment towards implicit bias training for every public school teacher. I commend him and think this is a right step but does not go far enough. Implicit bias is a phenomena that is constructed through a lifetime of socialization and therefore undoing it must be intentional and ongoing work. This type of work must take place before teachers enter into classrooms. Instead, teacher preparation programs must be more robust and intentional in training teachers. Teachers should be allowed to spend a year, similar to a residency model, learning their craft and being developed in significant ways during their preparation process. They should be partnered with a master teacher, given feedback, and afforded opportunities during their learning process to unpack issues of bias and racism. They should be able to learn about restorative justice practices and mindfulness so that when they enter their classrooms, both students and teachers are given the best opportunities to excel in their collective learning and growth.

Under our current system, students who are regularly disciplined in schools become disengaged from their own learning and achievement. The results are higher dropout rates and greater contact with the criminal justice system for Black and Latinx children. This equates to more than just an achievement gap - its an opportunity gap, its a life gap - one that can lead to underemployment, unemployment, or worse, incarceration. The day to day experiences for students in schools are connected to student achievement. We know the impact of external stresses like abuse, poverty, and toxic environments on students but we cannot discount the impact of teachers - positive and negative - on their students. There is a critical need to have a teaching force that is not just reflective of the student population here in NYC but that one that is substantially prepared to enter into classrooms and engage all children as human beings.

© Akilah Rosado and Musings from a Brooklyn Chick, 2018. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Akilah Rosado and Musing from a Brooklyn Chick with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Race & Gender: The Criminalization of Black Girls

In 2015, educator and researcher, Dr. Monique Morris published, The Pushout, a powerful piece of research literature that examines the intersection between race, gender, and the criminalization of Black girls in public education. The Pushout occurs, in this case, when a Black girl becomes disengaged from her own educational attainment, leaves school, and finds herself in juvenile confinement. 

There are a number of external factors that may promote the Pushout such as an unsupportive household environment, abuse, trauma, or an undiagnosed learning disorder. However, for the purpose of this piece, I will focus on the internal environments of public schools; specifically how disparities in disciplinary practices as well as biases support the creation of conditions that result in the Pushout. 

Recently, I wrote a piece on the impact of White teachers on students of color. In this piece, I explained the role of implicit bias as it relates to the perception of student behavior by teachers who  often lack the cultural, racial, or community identification with their students. I also stated how troubling it is that these same teachers are often the first line in school disciplinary processes. The dynamic these conditions create in urban public education results in a population of children of color being taught by adults who are likely White. The lack of understanding of intersectionality in this situation can create very real cultural misalignment between teachers and their students. Under zero-tolerance policies and rigid disciplinary practices, students of color are often disciplined for minor transgressions, most notably, disobeying authority. 

Let's take a moment to consider the premise behind disobeying authority.  When White feminists called on women to put on their pink pussy cat hats, nasty woman t-shirts, and march together in major cities across the country to protest 45, misogyny, sexism, and pay inequity (in spite of the fact that it was White women who put Trump in office), it was considered a peaceful protest. We named it activism. This was held up as a show of female empowerment and sisterhood. As a society, we told these activist women they were being principled and fighting oppression. We called it feminism. This seemed to capture the notion of the American spirit, what our founding fathers fought to create and establish... Protests and activism in the face of oppression and tyranny. (Sidebar: I feel so motivated right now - and yes, there is both truth and sarcasm in that statement).

When Black people have engaged in similar activities at various moments in history, it doesn't quite turn out the same way for us - for an analogy, look no further than Philadelphia after the recent Eagle's Superbowl win. While they were said to have had a "raucous celebration," Black people are labeled aggressive, angry, emotional, dangerous, and disrespectful. In short, we are seen as disobeying authority. We have officers and authorities at our rallies seeking to control, silence, and discipline us disproportionately to how they have engaged White feminists at rallies. We are arrested at higher rates and often blamed for any violence that ensues in spite of the fact that police behave more aggressively at these rallies and are more likely to engage in combative behavior (Double sidebar: Now, I don't feel so moved or empowered anymore - there is absolute truth in that statement).

But do you see how that works right there? So how does that translate to school environments, especially in NYC? (Triple sidebar: I reference NYC a lot because I attended public schools here, my daughter attends public schools here, and we live here - but we could argue similar experiences across the country for Black girls.)

Many private schools across NYC practice progressive pedagogy; the students who are engaged in experiential learning are also encouraged to be opinionated, engaged, inquisitive, curious, outspoken, thinkers and learners (its actually a pretty fantastic thing and I wish I could have given my daughter that type of opportunity). The children are expected to be the next generation of leaders in this country and therefore their minds and spirits are intentionally nurtured to remain intact during their formative learning years. So when a girl excitedly blurts out, "I disagree!", in class, she is asked "Why?" and encouraged to think and say her truth. A conversation commences with other children chiming in with their respective thoughts. The majority of the time, in these classroom environments, the children are White; this isn't the experience of most children of color.

In NYC, over 80% of the public school student population is non-White and nearly 60% of the teaching force is White. Given the dynamics outlined above between how White people are encouraged to behave and how Black people are expected to behave in this country, the classroom experience for Black girls often creates the conditions where being outspoken, excited, empowered, or an activist is often viewed negatively by teachers and administrators.  Instead, too often that same student may be viewed as aggressive, angry, emotional, dangerous, and disrespectful. And under these conditions where she is being perpetually silenced and disciplined, a Black girl will get lost in the school, she will become disengaged, until she ultimately gives up and leaves - the Pushout occurs. And teachers and schools often do not recognize their own complicity in this scenario - thus they bear no responsibility for their part.

According to a 2016 study by the Center for Intersectionality and Social Policy Studies and the African American Policy Forum, nationwide Black girls comprise of 16% of the student population (K-12) compared to their White peers who are roughly 57%. However,  in NYC, Black girls account for 34% of the public school population (compared to 13% of White girls) and 56% of the disciplinary cases (compared to 5% for White girls). Additionally, Black girls are 53x more likely than White girls to be expelled, 10x more likely to be suspended, and if New York City schools eliminated the disobeying authority rule, school suspension rates would be reduced by 20%.  

Instead, we are seeing increases in disciplinary against Black girls based on policies that do not consider the daily experiences of girls. As an example, a girl unexpectedly gets her period at school, she asks to use the bathroom, the teacher won't let her, he's male, he's White. She's 12 or 13, Black, he doesn't resemble the men in her family, her comfort level in disclosing is cause for embarrassment, so she just gets up and walks out. Or if she doesn't leave, she ties her sweater around her pants and is told to remove it because it does not comply with school policy. In both instances, this girl is seen as disobeying authority while seeking to live in her own humanity - again, see how that works? 

This translates to a need to examine the interplay between school culture/environment, disciplinary policies/practices, and types of bias that exists in classrooms that perpetuate the Pushout. The data points to the fact that Black girls are having a different experience than their White, Asian, or even Latina peers in public schools here in NYC. And we just need to listen to them, Black girls will willingly share their experiences with the hope of being heard and having their experiences changed. Focus groups have reported that many Black girls are adultified by teachers and administrators because they are perceived as having strong personalities. Some Black girls experience school environments as oppressive and a waste of time, the presence of law enforcement and metal detectors feels intrusive and devaluing, they wonder why they are so easily disciplined for behavior yet claims of sexual harassment and bullying yield no response. Ultimately, because they cannot meet White hetero-normative expectations of behavior, Black girls punished for it. In short, many feel unsafe, disregarded, and disconnected from the school experience; in their disengagement, they leave.

In a 2017 participatory research study conducted by Girls for Gender Equity, girls ranging in age from 9-23  where asked about their daily school experiences. The girls described school environments oppressive and expressed a desire for culturally and ethnically diverse curriculum so that they could see themselves reflected in their learning. The girls expressed anger over being disciplined for disobeying authority while their claims of bullying and sexual harassment in school were disregarded. Under these conditions, many girls begin to show signs of "acting out" and become disengaged from their learning environment. This is an example of some of the conditions that can lead to the Pushout.

A 2016 report by NYC Comptroller, Scott Stringer, found that while graduation rates had improved overall since 2010 in New York City, during this same period, a cluster of about 110 high schools experienced an 11 point decline in graduation rates (from 60% to 51%). It will not be surprising to some that these schools are clustered in the Bronx and have a student population that is predominantly Black and Latinx. With additional time and research, I am sure we can find a correlation between graduation rates, prevalence of discipline, and school enviroment within this cluster.

As a country, if we really care about quality education, educational attainment, closing the achievement gap, and improving our standing on the global stage, we must begin to address the disparities and inequities within our systems and institutions whose mission it is to educate and socialize children of color. Through the use of critical race theory and intersectionality in our analysis, we can begin addressing the achievement for children of color K-12. We need to:

• Include culturally responsive practices, along with anti-racist/anti-bias curriculum as a requirement for teacher preparation;
• Establish a clear, reflective understanding of implicit bias and its manifestations in classrooms;
•  Schools should require ongoing inquiry and engagement as a condition of professional development for teachers; 
• Create on-site mental health supports for children in public schools. This is based on the fact that 77% of the public school student population in NYC meets or exceeds the federal poverty line and there is trauma associated with pervasive poverty;
• Establish opportunities for Black girls to see themselves positively reflected and affirmed; and
• Review and assess the purpose of certain disciplinary policies that disengage students and create oppressive environments.

If we can humanize and engage the learning experiences for Black girls in schools, we can create a pipeline for them to enjoy their humanity, learning, individuality, and success and in this context, all girls can find empowerment and success.

© Akilah Rosado and Musings from a Brooklyn Chick, 2018. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Akilah Rosado and Musing from a Brooklyn Chick with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.