A Personal and Professional Challenge
Today I purchased two books that I am very excited about. They are Covenant with Black America and Through Ebony Eyes: What Teachers Need to Know But Are Afraid to Ask About African American Students. I searched for a book like Through Ebony Eyes and found it on Amazon.com. It turned out that it was available at the local Borders bookstore.
My conscience has been challenged since last week. I sat in on a meeting that totally pissed me off. I became so angry that my thinking became cloudy. I could feel the heat rise in my head. A team of educators discussed a student who sucks her thumb, chews on her braids, and puts her thumb after sucking on it on other students or on their papers/books. She snickers after she does it like she gets some satisfaction out of it. She also hugs teachers when she sees them...sometimes too hard they said. The consensus minus ME was that this child should be reevaluated for special education because she must be Emotionally Disturbed. I think my blood pressure hit the ceiling. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. The most stigmatizing label that anyone can give any child at any age is Emotionally Disturbed. This child is in the 1st grade. They say she's very immature. There has been no interventions to address the concerns besides classroom regular classroom management techniques that the teacher employs with all the students. The special education teacher working with her does not see the same behavior or sometimes not to the same degree as the classroom teacher. How has this child become a potential candidate for the Emotional Disturbed label/program?
This child is the only African American child in her class. This is her first year at this school. She is the 2nd to the youngest of 5 children. The only girl with 5 brothers. I have noticed that other students, white students are given time (years) and intervention (counseling) before a label such as Emotional Disturbed is slapped on them. Our county has been cautioned about the overrepresentation of African-American students identified as emotionally disturbed. The NAACP filed a complaint against the county a few years ago. So, they are actively trying to lower the numbers of students who are labeled as such unnecessary or prematurely.
I was a little ticked at myself because I didn't speak up. I didn't say that I thought that it's premature to plan to reevaluate this child for an ED label. My brain, heart, emotions immediately went to the race of this child, the unfairness of it all and I was angered. My anger left me silent. I didn't want to be emotional and personalize it. I didn't want to bring up the issue of race. It's the eleohant in the room that I didn't want to acknowledge because I didn't want to be pegged as someone who was playing the race card. My coworker helped me realize that race aside no child should be labeled as such without time and intervention. Why was it so easy to go there with this child? Is it socio-economics/class, race?
There is one black teacher on staff at the school. I am a black itinerant social worker. We are the only black professional staff in the building. I've struggled with being the only one on the special ed eligibility committee. I've struggled with feeling like I was in a foreign land. I've struggled with not having my values reflected in the building. Nothing that affirms me or my cultural heritage. I've tried to keep things separate. But there is no way that a person cannot be expected to take themselves with them whereever they go. I've felt close to insane attempting to not be Black. I've struggled with code switching... Wishing, hoping, praying that it was okay to talk like I talk and still be view as competent. No I'm not talking about using slang in meetings. I just haven't found my peace... my comfort zone.
We, black people, are supposed to act like racism doesn't exist. How can anyone say that it doesn't?
This post has been cathartic. I need to get my thoughts out. Maybe I can make sense of it as I write it out.
I do plan to address the committee when I return from Spring Break in a week. I have to share my thoughts on prematurely identifying the 1st grade student Emotionally Disturbed inappropriately and/or without adequate interventions. I can't live with myself without speaking up and out.
I watched Tavis Smiley's PBS show the other day. His guest was Ben Kingsley, the actor who played Ghandi in a movie. Kingsley and Tavis talked about being angry, and how it's okay to be angry. Smiley said it's what you do with that anger...how you focus it. That was a message that I needed to receive. Every since then my thoughts have been on acknowledging how I felt, why I felt that way, AND what I plan to do about it...the action.
I'm excited about the books because I feel that they will help me understand what I'm feeling as well as assist me in formulating my thoughts as I prepare to share with my white colleagues.
My conscience has been challenged since last week. I sat in on a meeting that totally pissed me off. I became so angry that my thinking became cloudy. I could feel the heat rise in my head. A team of educators discussed a student who sucks her thumb, chews on her braids, and puts her thumb after sucking on it on other students or on their papers/books. She snickers after she does it like she gets some satisfaction out of it. She also hugs teachers when she sees them...sometimes too hard they said. The consensus minus ME was that this child should be reevaluated for special education because she must be Emotionally Disturbed. I think my blood pressure hit the ceiling. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. The most stigmatizing label that anyone can give any child at any age is Emotionally Disturbed. This child is in the 1st grade. They say she's very immature. There has been no interventions to address the concerns besides classroom regular classroom management techniques that the teacher employs with all the students. The special education teacher working with her does not see the same behavior or sometimes not to the same degree as the classroom teacher. How has this child become a potential candidate for the Emotional Disturbed label/program?
This child is the only African American child in her class. This is her first year at this school. She is the 2nd to the youngest of 5 children. The only girl with 5 brothers. I have noticed that other students, white students are given time (years) and intervention (counseling) before a label such as Emotional Disturbed is slapped on them. Our county has been cautioned about the overrepresentation of African-American students identified as emotionally disturbed. The NAACP filed a complaint against the county a few years ago. So, they are actively trying to lower the numbers of students who are labeled as such unnecessary or prematurely.
I was a little ticked at myself because I didn't speak up. I didn't say that I thought that it's premature to plan to reevaluate this child for an ED label. My brain, heart, emotions immediately went to the race of this child, the unfairness of it all and I was angered. My anger left me silent. I didn't want to be emotional and personalize it. I didn't want to bring up the issue of race. It's the eleohant in the room that I didn't want to acknowledge because I didn't want to be pegged as someone who was playing the race card. My coworker helped me realize that race aside no child should be labeled as such without time and intervention. Why was it so easy to go there with this child? Is it socio-economics/class, race?
There is one black teacher on staff at the school. I am a black itinerant social worker. We are the only black professional staff in the building. I've struggled with being the only one on the special ed eligibility committee. I've struggled with feeling like I was in a foreign land. I've struggled with not having my values reflected in the building. Nothing that affirms me or my cultural heritage. I've tried to keep things separate. But there is no way that a person cannot be expected to take themselves with them whereever they go. I've felt close to insane attempting to not be Black. I've struggled with code switching... Wishing, hoping, praying that it was okay to talk like I talk and still be view as competent. No I'm not talking about using slang in meetings. I just haven't found my peace... my comfort zone.
We, black people, are supposed to act like racism doesn't exist. How can anyone say that it doesn't?
This post has been cathartic. I need to get my thoughts out. Maybe I can make sense of it as I write it out.
I do plan to address the committee when I return from Spring Break in a week. I have to share my thoughts on prematurely identifying the 1st grade student Emotionally Disturbed inappropriately and/or without adequate interventions. I can't live with myself without speaking up and out.
I watched Tavis Smiley's PBS show the other day. His guest was Ben Kingsley, the actor who played Ghandi in a movie. Kingsley and Tavis talked about being angry, and how it's okay to be angry. Smiley said it's what you do with that anger...how you focus it. That was a message that I needed to receive. Every since then my thoughts have been on acknowledging how I felt, why I felt that way, AND what I plan to do about it...the action.
I'm excited about the books because I feel that they will help me understand what I'm feeling as well as assist me in formulating my thoughts as I prepare to share with my white colleagues.
posted by Blackgold at 7:29 PM
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