Dear white teacher: this black history month, take a knee

Abstract

U.S. education is built upon a system of Whiteness, entrenched in White supremacy culture, and defended by White fragility. Within this framework, even a publicly-recognizable event intended to center Blackness, the celebration of Black History Month, reinscribes White supremacy. Through the decontextualized presentation of select Black heroes and the use of pedagogies that position White teachers as authority figures who regulate the presence of Blackness, and without drawing attention to the White supremacist cultural norms that are the foundation for U.S. society, students can walk away from Black History Month with a reinforced belief in White supremacy. In order to disrupt White supremacy, White teachers must be grounded in the principles of critical race theory. White teachers must take a knee against normative Whiteness and develop as ‘abolitionist teachers’. Those teachers who choose to persist with pedagogical approaches that devalue Blackness and support White supremacy cannot claim good intentions; choosing to center and celebrate Blackness is the path to racial justice.