Antiracism and Students’ Experiences

Often in their writing, students reflect on moments of discernment and realizations about unfairness, inequality, or indifference—moments that change their lives. These include marked racism, color hierarchies, sexism, and ableism, among other forms of bias and bigotry. Invite students to write about a moment when they felt different, indifferent, mistreated, or underestimated. My student Javier faced forms of discrimination in the presence of his peers. In his journal entry and in response to the prompt about a moment an adolescent faced or perceived forms of bias, bigotry, discrimination, or prejudice, he expressed how he coped with the circumstances directly affecting his schooling (see below). Javier’s experience was raw and detailed. This was the first time he had put down the experience on paper for anyone to read.

Transcription of Javier’s microessay:

|| Everyone experiences their own trials and tribulations around discrimination. Throughout my life personally, I have faced quite a bit of discrimination from my peers, especially in elementary [school].

I went to an elementary far from my where I am now. It was roughly 25–30 minutes away from home and the culture was very dissimilar and different from my side of town. Since my mom was a teacher in the same [school] district, I was provided the privilege to attend almost any elementary school in the district. However, this “privilege” of attending one of the best and most high-functioning schools in the district was shortly overcome by a cloud of discrimination and exclusion.

There was a point in 5th grade that altered my well-being and somewhat paved a passageway for me to be the person I am today. One lunch in 2018, I was eating my PB&J sandwich on the school bench outside. A much smaller and fair-skinned little girl approached me with such annoyance and irritation written on her face. If her wrath of visible outrage didn’t already shock me, her command to leave my seat did. I was told by the little girl that her friends usually sat where I was sitting, that I needed “to move” and give up the bench for her and her friends. When I decided to defend myself by questioning her, I was immediately interrupted and told, “You don’t even belong here,” as if I hadn’t already felt like the black sheep surround by “normal people” that attended the school. She then proceeded to pour a Capri-Sun drink and squeeze the juice though the straw onto my head.

Of course the school [staff] was on my side about this incident . . . but the fact of the matter is that I experienced a form or way of discrimination that stuck with me to this day. For a great deal of time, it felt as if I needed to live up to her standards through race, finances, personality, and expenses. For a great deal of time, I felt left out and excluded because of the person I was. From them on, I never wanted to eat, swim, ride my bike, or even go over to a friend’s house around other kids. It felt sickening and criminal to be different from the other “normal kids.”

That single little 2 minutes in my 5th grade year matured me and taught me a little about how people perceive me. Later on I came to the realization that nothing had ever been wrong with me the entire time, and that I had carried so much useless excess selfhate, judgment, and stress for the couple of years that I did. This experience was to somewhat of an extent traumatizing, but also a transition in maturing me into the person I am and still am becoming. ||

After completing the assignment, students read and annotated a narrative poem titled “Bildungsroman of a Disadvantaged Brown Kid” by Jose Hernandez Diaz (2023). The poem sets the stage around coming of age, maturity, privilege, and race/ethnicity in the United States. Students’ responses to the poem varied, and their annotations and reflections were revealing of their experiences at making meaning of the expectations and disadvantages that can be shared by people of color. The poem provided various entry points for students to relate to and reflect on how they cope with and compartmentalize their daily experiences associated with minoritized groups of people—inside and outside of school.

The Scribe’s Studio: Antiracism & IBPoC

It is important to understand the definitions of racism and antiracism, especially for both students and teachers to adopt a scribal identity and antiracist stance. As I design my microlessons, I remind myself of creating a scribal community that demonstrates antiracism and equity in action, permitting scribes to write and to be heard as they analyze literary works and practice academic writing. There are three key elements to each lesson.

• First: consider different angles that invite students to write and express their perspectives about antiracism. Teachers play a significant role by informing students of an antiracist stance as they cooperate and collaborate to form their own scribal identities. Specifically, your lessons should challenge ideas in order to create a more humane, antiracist society. Many IBPoC and multiracial students regularly hear comments that are hurtful. As teachers, we can work to create more learning experiences that value the humanity of our students and their love of writing.
• Second: the teaching approach should honor students’ background and prior knowledge. At the same time, the lesson should advance students’ thinking to gain scribal identities that affirm them through expressiveness and inventiveness. Select specific readings, assignments, and projects that remind students about how racism, antiracism, and scribal identities influence how we see and value ourselves. In our scribal invitation, collaboration, and interaction with our students, we can find connections shared across scribal cultures, experiences, and expressiveness in the presence of racism and ethnocentrism to adopt an antiracist stance for a just society. Overall, the microlessons guide students and teachers toward deeper thinking about race, ethnicity, and diversity in our schools and country through varied texts and scribal roles.
• Third: the microlessons are designed to utilize writing to examine how racism, antiracism, and equity are part of a scribal life. Gholdy Muhammad notes, “Skills need to be cultivated for the enhancement of the mind” (2020, 97). The first microlesson focuses on antiracism and equity for a scribal life. The second microlesson examines the scribal identities associated with race, ethnicity, and language. Last, the microlessons are interconnected to SITE and ways that teacher and student acts, ideas, and stances can advance scribal identities.

Additionally, the lessons are mindfully delivered. Before reading the text, share with students some background on the authors or artists who communicate a scribal life. Take advantage of multimedia tools that are available to you to enrich the experience. Allow students to access the text through digital and nondigital formats. Present the lesson through a multiliteracies approach that advances the scribal elements of literacy in action. Model for students the scribal acts, behaviors, and habits to develop their selfhood as they explore antiracism in their writings. Examine literary works and share their own writings for a more equitable and just society. Cultivate students’ scribal lives as they discuss and write on their own and with their peers.