21 Day Equity Challenge

“The developing world is full of entrepreneurs and visionaries, who with access to education, equity and credit would play a key role in developing the economic situations in their countries.” — Muhammad Yunus

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In spite of the structural barriers that have been institutionalized by our governmental policies and systems in order to prevent Black people from accessing equal education, Black people have excelled academically and contributed immensely to our nation’s prosperity. In 1879, Harriett Beecher-Stowe observed that right out of slavery, Black people rushed not to the grog shop but to the school room. They cried for the spelling book as bread and pleaded for teachers as a necessity for life.

There is no racial achievement gap at birth. However, due to structural racism, there is an opportunity gap, meaning resources and opportunities are unequally or inequitably distributed and may therefore produce unequal outcomes. In addition to this, due to implicit bias and “deficit thinking,” Black children are more likely to be viewed as intellectually inferior or inept because of their race.

Children begin to notice racial differences from a very young age and begin forming racialized judgements not long after, largely depending on the behavior of the adults and other children in their lives. By intervening early and having honest discussions about racial differences, children will grow up with a firmer understanding of what race is and, eventually, where racism comes from.

More than 65 years after the landmark Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education declared racial segregation in public schools to be unconstitutional, studies show that public schools across the United States—including in Suffolk and Nassau County—are still incredibly divided by race. For example, even though Long Island’s public school population has become more racially diverse at the aggregate, the number of intensely segregated school districts (meaning schools with 90-100% non-White students) has more than doubled in the last fifteen years.

Racial segregation in public schools occurs at three levels: within schools, between schools within a district, and among school districts. Such segregation at any of these levels results in disparate access to resources between White students and students of color, such as the number of AP and IB courses offered in a given school or school district or the ability of students of color to enroll in these courses not available currently at their school. Disparate access to resources then leads to disparities in academic outcomes among students by race, including higher graduation rates for predominantly White school districts or higher disciplinary rates for Black students.

Given the decades of housing discrimination that have caused racial inequities and racially segregated communities, school districts reflect the composition of their neighborhoods and become as racially segregated, if not more in some cases. This means that, even though it is illegal to explicitly use race in the designation of school attendance and/or district zones, race continues to shape these zones and the students in them.

Because education segregation is a product of structural racism, especially in housing, we can’t address one without addressing the other. Strengthening fair housing and rethinking about the big and small steps we can take to create a diverse student body in our classrooms, schools, and districts are great ways to move towards a more equitable education for students in our region.

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TODAY’S CHALLENGE: Do one or more of the following…

WATCH:

WATCH: Ibram X. Kendi Discusses His New Book "Antiracist Baby"

LISTEN:

LISTEN: Bias Isn’t Just a Police Problem, It’s A Preschool Problem

WATCH:

WATCH: How America’s Public Schools Keep Kids in Poverty

READ:

READ: Breaking Borders: Students Discuss Long Island's Racial/Cultural Issues

LISTEN:

Listen: A Lesson In Humility: Diving into Anti-Racist Early Education Practices and Policies

WATCH:

WATCH: Inside the AC360 doll study

READ:

READ: How to Be an Antiracist Educator