Does white fragility exist in Aotearoa? Helen Kinsey-Wightman
A few years ago I was at an excellent workshop on communication, led by a facilitator I respect. Our task was to give an impromptu speech – I spoke on racism. I talked about my grandfather – whom I adored – who had been in the British Army in Malaya and my father who, at the age of 18, spent 2 years in Kenya quelling the ‘MauMau rebellion.’ If you have not heard of this particularly shameful episode of British history, I would direct you to Harvard historian Caroline Elkin’s writing on what she calls Britain’s Gulag. In 2013, her work led to compensation for 5,228 Kenyans tortured and abused and an apology in Parliament – the first admission that Britain had carried out torture anywhere in its former empire. Hence, I gre w up lo oking at photographs and listening to stories, told by men I loved, about their army adventures, involving their participation in colonial atrocities they had never been taught to question. I went to school in 1970’s Britain, described by Indian born writer Kenan Malik as ‘an age in which “Paki-bashing” was almost a national sport’ hence ‘Paki’ was an insult I grew up hearing daily. ‘Cheating Arab’ was a phrase my grandmother used often, poorly constructed houses like ours were ‘Jap-built’ and Viz comic ran a cartoon called ‘Thieving Gypsy Bastards.’ In my speech I acknowledged that racism was part of my childhood, role-modelled by my friends and family and deeply embedded in societal structures. I talked about the steps in my thinking I still have to take to over-ride the associations that come to my mind as a result of this early socialisation. The course leader gave me some excellent feedback on my speech and techniques I could work on to improve its delivery. She also suggested I reconsider the content of my speech as it sounded as though I was admitting to being racist. And yet, I was. The conversation left me with a feeling of discomfort I have struggled to articulate – even writing these things down today is uncomfortable. Reading Robin DiAngelo’s book ‘White Fragility: Why it’s so hard for white people to talk about racism’ I now have a framework to talk about my discomfort. But first some definitions: DiAngelo defines prejudice as prejudgements every human makes based on our socialisation; discrimination as individual actions taken by some on the basis of prejudice – such as ignoring, excluding, threats or violence.
According to DiAngelo, racism ‘occurs when a racial group’s prejudice is backed by legal authority and institutional control.’ As a (white) social justice and racism trainer and lecturer at the University of Washington, DiAngelo works with organisations actively trying to address racism within their HR systems. She
found that a predictable range of defensive actions, feelings, and behaviours, such as anger, fear, and silence were commonly displayed when talking with workshop participants about their behaviour and she began to call them ‘white fragility’. In New Zealand, in recent years we have become somewhat comfortable talking about racism – providing we call it ‘unconscious bias’. In the past I have expressed the opinion that young people are growing up with less overt racism in their world and that this results in them being less racist. DiAngelo disagrees. She says that in the past it was possible for individuals to express racist views and still be considered a good person. In these more enlightened times we consider racism to be inherently bad and immoral . . . but this means that we cannot talk about racism and examine our own socialisation in a colonised country for fear we may admit to a thought or a deed which we, or someone else, could label racist. As a result, liberal, educated white people often claim not to see colour, or that their experiences ‘on their OE’ or ‘working in a diverse environment’ have led them to understand and celebrate racial differences. “One of my best friends is Māori,” serves this function too. Have New Zealanders been socialised in a society with racist structures? Yes. Have I ever seen white fragility in action here in New Zealand? The simple answer is yes. If you haven’t, then invite Dr Ann Milne to speak in your staffroom or school community. I can guarantee there will be offence caused and probably some
strongly worded emails coming your way. Following the March 15th attack in Christchurch Dr Milne (awarded the NZ Order of Merit this year) reflected; ‘I talk about racism, about Whiteness, White privilege and supremacy, colonisation and assimilation, about oppression, about naming these and how they are directly connected to our Māori children’s experience of learning and achievement in our classrooms. I talk about urgency and ask how much more time do we need? How many more reports and research do we have to read to show us that racism permeates every corner of our education system? But now, I am asking myself, is that enough? What else can I do?’ DiAngelo’s contention is that if we have been socialised in a colonised society we have to confront our racist assumptions. Her book concludes, ‘our institutions were designed to reproduce racial inequality and they do so with efficiency. Our schools are particularly effective at this task . . . Interrupting racism takes courage and intentionality . . . we must never consider ourselves finished with our learning. Even if challenging all the racism and superiority we have internalised was quick and easy to do, our racism would be reinforced all over again by virtue of living in the culture.’
until it is faced.’
DiAngelo describes this as a ‘messy, lifelong process.’ I often confront my assumptions – my challenge is to consider how I can do this out-loud in my professional life. If Martin Thrupp has inspired you to search out a book for the Christmas break, buy 2 copies of White Fragility, read one yourself and give the other to someone you respect and commit to an honest conversation in the New Year. Finally, in the words of James Baldwin, ‘Not everything that is faced can be changed. But nothing can be changed
References https://www.theguardian.com/news/2016/aug/18/uncovering-truthbritish-empire-caroline-elkins-mau-mau https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/dec/01/i-know-allabout-being-bullied-by-rascists https://www.annmilne.co.nz/blog
g n i c u d Intro new our tool InterLEAD is pleased to announce the newest tool in the InterLEAD Suite…
SLEUTH SLEUTH™ is a developmental tool. It allows teachers to identify their pedagogical strengths and weaknesses and provides solutions to implement and track progress to improve the identified pedagogical areas.
GOO
N
D
S EW
!
If you are an InterLEAD Connector customer you will get access to SLEUTH™ as part of your subscription, or alternatively your school will be able to subscribe to SLEUTH™ plus get access to InterLEAD Connector free of charge… Win Win
History shows us that Schools focus on Assessment and Curriculum because it’s easier and it’s in their face on a daily basis. Teachers are drowning in assessment data – it finds them. Curriculum is also easy because it is what teachers are required to teach, it’s found online, in books and in school documentation. You can understand why focusing on these areas has been the path of least resistance and currently occupies teachers’ and leaders’ time and energy. The unfortunate truth is that Pedagogy is the most important and significant factor influencing student learning over which teachers have influence (it accounts for around 30% of variation in student achievement – students’ ability is the biggest at around 50%), but improving pedagogy can be challenging and until now it has been an arduous and time consuming process as schools don’t have systems that capture the school’s expertise in these areas.
Pedagogy
Curriculum
Assessment
(How teachers teach)
(What teachers teach)
(The result)
SLEUTH™ – (Version 1) aims to change this by matching pedagogical capabilities within your school, by surveying and collecting valuable pedagogical skills data to identify those that can offer help in an area with those who need help – using your Internal Capabilities – ultimately to grow the pedagogy in your school.
In a nutshell SLEUTH™ is designed to help teachers grow their pedagogy and ultimately advance the progress of their students.
If you would like to know more about SLEUTH™ please contact either Tony / Andrew or any of the team as they will be more than happy to provide further details. Tony Burkin
021 729 008 t.burkin@interlead.co.nz
Andrew Ormsby
+64 3 420 2800 ext1 a.ormsby@interlead.co.nz