White Parent and Caregiver Perceptions of, and Resistance to, Equity and Anti-Racism Work in an Independent School

Abstract

Background: Between early 2020 and today, our society has experienced a distressing global pandemic, horrifying brutalities committed against BIPOC individuals and communities, uprisings for racial justice, and a violent attack on our nation’s capital. While these events and phenomena have been challenging and traumatic, they have also inspired calls for equity-focused action within and beyond schools. Purpose: Many schools have intensified their diversity, equity, inclusion, justice, and anti-racism (DEIJA) work by revising their curricula, providing equity-focused professional development for educators, offering extracurricular programs like affinity and accountability spaces for BIPOC and white students, and many other initiatives. However, this work has occurred against a contentious backdrop, including parent and caregiver resistance to DEIJA work and attacks on schools for allegedly teaching critical race theory. Research Design: Between the summer of 2020 and the spring of 2022, we conducted research with one independent school, called the Waterford School, in a metropolitan area as it engaged in intensified DEIJA work. During this time, we surveyed and ran focus groups with caregivers, students, faculty, staff, and administrators to capture their experiences with and perspectives on school DEIJA work. White caregivers were the most vocal and resistant constituent group, and in this article, we examine the perspectives that they brought to these conversations on Waterford’s DEIJA initiatives. Conclusions: This analysis shows how, in both their support of and dissent to the DEIJA work, white caregivers’ perspectives often reflected and reinforced characteristics associated with white supremacy culture (WSC). We also show how caregivers’ perspectives on the DEIJA work and pressure on Waterford often posed racial equity detours, which created an illusion of progress toward racial equity while obscuring ongoing racial inequity.