The legacy: People of color are still locked out
By Nelver Brooks
Editor’s note: In October 2019, the AFT sent 15 members to the Legacy Museum in Montgomery, Ala., on a professional development field trip to inform educators of the legacy of racism in this country — from slavery to Jim Crow and over-incarceration — and help them integrate that knowledge into classrooms. Several participants wrote about the impact of the trip and how they’ll use what they learned to make their schools safer and more welcoming for all students.
My visits to the Legacy Museum and the National Memorial for Peace and Justice were life-changing: They brought me face to face with the work that still must be done to educate a new generation against discrimination, and they forced me to reexamine my concept of society and provided me with insights into how individuals should be educated to create a more just society.
The Legacy Museum sheds light on our ugly history of racism, discrimination, unfairness and inequality, and allows opportunities for courageous conversations about our future. I learned how important it is to have critical, historical knowledge about one’s society, and to understand the role schools play in perpetuating the ideologies of those in power, educating minority groups, preparing new teachers and connecting history with current problems and events in a way that standard curriculum does not. I was also reminded of the many ways people of color are portrayed in degrading, stereotypical and fear-inducing ways in the media, on television and in the movies — a fact that makes our work to undo that damage that much more necessary and powerful.
Most of us would like to think we have turned the tide and that people of color have caught up. Do not be mistaken, the boundaries keeping people of color out have been firmly maintained. Immigration policies and quotas consistently favor Europeans and much of the time exclude people not considered to be white — even when they arrive here legally. People of color are routinely asked where they come from and told to go back or to give up their unique histories, primary languages, accents, distinctive dress, family names and cultural expressions. These precious parts of our histories are just too much to ask a person to give up and are reminiscent of all that enslaved people lost when they were stolen from Africa and forced into a country so foreign to their own.
Most of us would like to think we have turned the tide and that people of color have caught up. Do not be mistaken, the boundaries keeping people of color out have been firmly maintained.
Discrimination varies in forms and ranges, from mild to severe, depending on one’s skin color, ethnicity, level of education, location, gender, sexual orientation, physical activity, age, and how people and institutions respond to these factors. As I saw at the Legacy Museum, and as I have experienced in my own life, the costs of racism to people of color can include personal insults, harassment, discrimination, economic and cultural exploitation, stereotypes and invisibility, as well as threats, intimidation and violence. All depreciate African Americans and make us appear ignorant and low. To this day, as a person of color, I have to be ready to respond to teachers, employers and supervisors who have stereotypes, prejudices or lowered expectations about me.
We have to take personal inventory. The only way to treat people with dignity and justice is to recognize that racism has a profound negative effect on our lives. Noticing color helps to counteract that effect. Instead of being color neutral, we need to notice much more acutely and insightfully exactly the difference that color makes in the way people are treated.
We have to take personal inventory. The only way to treat people with dignity and justice is to recognize that racism has a profound negative effect on our lives.
Touring the Legacy Museum and memorial reminded me that a lot of the rhetoric against racial justice stems from the misconception that each of us are all given equal opportunities and start from a level playing field. It further reminded me of the benefits of racism that are still being enjoyed and the disadvantages of being a person of color. Our students must be taught — and we must remember — that one form of oppression intersects and is compounded by others. The museum and memorial reminded me of all this and more — and the visits will no doubt inform countless discussions in my school district, moving the needle closer to racial justice and equity.
Nelver Brooks is an English language learners teacher in St. Louis Public Schools and a member of AFT St. Louis. Want to read more stories like this? Subscribe to AFT e-newsletters.
