![]() ![]() ![]() We internalized our beliefs about people of color, ourselves, other white people and about being white. Our conditioning filled us with fear, suspicion and stereotypes that substituted for true knowing of people of color. We resisted the lies, the deceit and the injustice of racism, but we did not have to skills to counter the poisonous messages. We did not choose to learn those lessons. Our generous child wisdom told us racism was wrong, but there was no escape from the daily catechism of racist teaching. “From the day I was born, I began to learn my lessons… we learned the dance that cripples the human spirit, step by step, we who were white and we who were colored… These ceremonials in honor of white supremacy, performed from babyhood, slip from the conscious mind down deep into muscles and glands and become difficult to tear out.” (1) My WWII generation watched “Bugs Bunny” outwit evil Japanese cartoon villains. All of us knew the Indians were bad and had to die. r by his toe…” We played cowboys and Indians. Our childhood games, rhymes and media conspired: “Eenie, meenie, minie, mo Catch a n. That early “training” was comprehensive and left little room for question, challenge or doubt. As white infants we were fed a pabulum of propaganda. Most of us first became aware of racial prejudice and injustice as children. Racism, the system (of oppression) and advantage (for white people) depends on the collusion and cooperation of white people for its perpetuation. Indeed, we have been carefully taught the opposite: how to maintain our white privilege. No white person has ever lived in a non-racist North America.) None of us has ever been taught the skills of anti-racist living. This journey sends us into unfamiliar territory we have never been here before. In the face of society’s and our own resistance, sustaining the will to continue this journey takes bold and stubborn effort. We are constantly tempted to change course by the racist propaganda of society and our own guilt and denial. There is little social or political encouragement for this journey of re-education. I need knowledge, guidance and experience to avoid the detours and traps waiting for me on this journey. I must unlearn the thorough racist conditioning to re-educate and re-condition myself as an anti-racist. Let’s lift each other up, students and colleagues alike, instead of tearing ourselves down.For white people living in North America learning to be anti-racist is a re-education process. How do we do this? In my opinion, Positivity over Negativity. Maybe if we really begin to celebrate our Assets and all that comes with, the issue of inequities will subside. This resonates with me on so many levels but particularly on the notion that all of us, educators and students alike, come with deficits, but WHY DO WE HIGHLIGHT them? Why do we believe it is important to FIX everything and everyone? Why can’t we focus on what we do bring, leverage our assets! These strategies locate the source of educational outcome disparities within communities of color while often ignoring the role of racism-the clearest sign of deficit ideology.“ “If we spend any of our equity efforts attempting to “fix” students of color-fortifying their grittiness, modifying their mindsets, adjusting their emotions-we need a reaccounting, not only of our equity understandings, but also of our equity intentions. Paul states that detour 3 is the Deficit Ideology Detour and that, ![]() Paul Gorski wrote an article, Avoiding Racial Equity Detours and it has been one of those articles that just keeps resonating with me as I go back and re-read it. I tend to save and read articles a few times so that I have the opportunity to absorb and reflect on how the ideas and messages that are being written about by the author fit into either my personal or professional life.
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