Looking through an Anti-Racist Lensby Enid Lee

When examining cases of racism and inequity inschools, we often explain them in terms oflackof individual effort, bad luck, human nature

or the inevitability of inequality. These explanationsare not grounded in a social understanding of eventsand processes. In contrast, viewing the same casesthrough an anti-racist lens allows us to see how the useof power by individuals, communities and institutionshas brought about the current situation. We can seehow power is used to make change or to keep thingsthe way they are, particularly with regard to the issuesof rights, respect, resources and representation basedon skin color. An anti-racist lens leads us to look at thehistorical roots for both explanations and solutions.

I work in many schools throughout the United Statesand Canada assisting teachers, students, parents, supportstaff and administrators to confront and dismantlesystems and structures which promote racism. Thesestructures contribute to inequitable educational out-comes for all children. Over the years, I have developedthe practice of looking at the situations I find in schoolsthrough an anti-racist lens. Whether we are aware of itornot, each of us looks through a particular set of lenses. Iprefer to usea lens instead of a checklist since a checklistcan sometimes be too linear, not sufficiently sensitive tocontext. A lens, on the other hand, with its curved sides,has the capacity to disperse light rays into the many darkareas which always surround cases of racism.

I will outline what I see when I look through ananti-racist lens and invite you to use this lens when youlook at situations in your school.

When looking through an anti-racist lens, I am ableto see how skin color, shade, texture of hair and shapeof eyes influence the opportunities we have in life, therights we enjoy, the access we have to resources andthe representation and respect we receive. The anti-racist lens helps me to bring a historical and politicalperspective to solving problems and to understandingthe roots of these problems. I can see how the waysin which we have organized our lives and our institu-tions. around race and other identities, have brought us

to our present positions. These other identities includelanguage, nationality, immigration status, culture andfaith. which are often racialized.

The anti-racist lens helps me to get at the ideasthat support and justify practices which treat somepeople, based on their skin color, as superior and moredeserving. while treating other people as inferior andless deserving.

The most important feature of the anti-racist lens isthat it leads me to see how situations can be transformedand how injusticescan be reversed. It draws my attentionto the ways in which power can be used and is used at theindividual,community and institutional levelsfor change.It reminds me that educational failure is not inevitableandthat we can bring about justice in our classrooms.

Signposts

T here are several signposts I see when I look throughthis lens. They are:

1. Representation and roles in terms of racial groupmembership~• Appearances and accents of those engaged in any

activity.• Leaders and supports in terms of racial group

membership.• Absences in terms of racial group membership.

2. History and human agency.• The official and unofficial versions of the actions

undertaken by individuals, communities andinstitutions which brought about this state ofaffairs.

• The accounts of resistance to injustice.

3. Ideology and interests.• Images, statements, accounts and beliefs that are

evoked to justify and maintain current situations.• Identification of those who benefit and those who

lose from current situations.

404 BEYOND HEROES AND IiOLlDAYS ITALKING BACK

• Structures, systems and sources of power.• Arrangements, patterns, processes, policies,

procedures and traditions in organizations, andschools in particular. These are the concrete waysin which things happen.

• People and committees responsible for makingdecisions. When you look at these places andthese people racism ceases to become a mystery.We see how it happens.

4. Hope and human agency.• Accounts of the ways in which human beings

have used and are using the power they have asindividuals, as members of groups and as em-ployees in institutions to bring about racial jus-tice, to maintain that justice once it is achieved,and to encourage others to join them to work inthis area.

Inorder to deal with the particular situations inschools and other organizations in light of the sign-posts listed above, I have developed a cluster of

questions and actions which help me work with strate-gic competence in the contexts in which we encounterracism. These questions and activities have been usedby teachers, parents and students as they look throughan anti-racist lens to critically analyze and act uponsituations in their schools.

It is important to note that we can also apply otherlenses when looking at issues of equity in schools. Forexample. sometimes the lenses of class or gender mustbe brought in focus because of the context. I have foundin my work. however. that even when I work with thelenses of gender and class, I often gain a greater under-standing of the situations before me when I insert therace lens over the lens of gender or class. For instance.when I am trying to understand why negativity is beingexpressed against working class parents and theirassumed lack of interest in their children's education,I discover that those parents are African American.African Canadian, Native American. Native Canadianor Latino. I can raise the delicate question of race andhelp the discussion move forward to a more positiveplace.

Using the Lens:Questions for Reflection and Action

Critical Analysis

I. What is the specific issue being addressed? Whois involved in terms of race. language, class. genderand other aspects of identity?

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2. How did things get to be the way they are? Whatwere some of the needs and strengths identified?Who identified them as needs and strengths? Whatactions were undertaken or not undertaken by in-dividuals, community and institutions in the recentpast and in the distant past which brought aboutthis situation? What were the terms under whichactions were undertaken? Who established thoseterms? Who knew about them and who did not?

3. What are some of the beliefs (prevailing ideolo-gies) that have led to this situation? What are thebeliefs that are held by those in power and by thosewithout the power about the ability and worth ofpeople of particular racial backgrounds?

What are the explanations that are presentedto justify actions and the positions of privilegeor disadvantage that members of different racialgroups enjoy or endure?

4. What are some things that keep the situationthe way it is? Has there been a conscious exami-nation of the experiences of people of color withrespect to the issue? Has there been an examina-tion of the impact of school policies and practices(connected with communication, for example) onparents and students and faculty of various racialbackgrounds?

How has the institutional silence on these mat-ters helped to maintain the status quo? How has thelack of material, financial and/or human resourcescontributed to the situation? How has an inadequatetime commitment resulted in the situation remain-ing unchanged?

S. Which groups in society benefit or lose from thepresent situation? Which individuals' and com-munities' resources (cultural. spiritual. intellectualand financial) increase or decrease because of thissituation?

Where and how are the voices and views ofmembers of various racial groups represented orexcluded in this present situation? How are therights to self-determination of racial communitiesensured?

How are we challenging the pattern andpractice of one community or member of a racialgroup speaking for and determining the activitiesand direction for another community or member ofanother racial group?

Who in terms of racial group membership isfeeling respected and validated and treated with hu-man dignity? Who in terms of racial group member-ship is experiencing a sense of inherent superiorityand of deserving all the privileges they enjoy?

BEYOND HEROES AND HOLIDAYS I LOOKING THROUGH AN ANTI-RACiST lENS 405

Strategic Action

6. What would I have to change in order for thesituation to be different? Based on the responsesto the questions above, I develop a strategic plan toaddress the roots of the problem. I gather informa-tion about the experiences of those who have beenmarginalized and those who have been validatedby the processes. I disseminate that informationthrough all technologies at my disposal. I, alongwith others, expose the sources of power and deci-sion-making.

With all concerned constituencies, especiallythose who have been formerly excluded, we redefineneeds, strengths and resources. Together we redefineand redistribute roles, responsibilities and resourcesfor greater equity to the extent that we are able,well aware that facing resistance and reversals arepart of the process of making change toward racialequality.

We publicize and celebrate whatever gainswe make along the way as a means of encouragingoursel ves and others.

"l, Where can I find allies? I cast about with myanti-racist lens and I see that allies are everywhere.I make a list of all the people who have a vestedinterest in addressing the situation. I look to my col-leagues who say they want our organization to workwell, who say they want all students to succeed. Iturn to those who work for social justice. I appeal tothose whose reputation for excellence makes themlikely partners in the struggle for equality. "If youare good at what you do, let everyone experienceit"

I look to parents of color and all of those whowant their children to have access to the best qual-ity education. I also look to parents who are Whitewho see the situation as a matter of justice and whoalso feel that their children's lives are enriched byracial, cultural and linguistic diversity. I see alliesamong those parents, students and teachers whohave been victimized because of some form of dif-ference-gender, sexual orientation, class, etc.

I turn to the grassroots, race-specific and aca-demic organizations in the community.

I see as some of my greatest allies those whohave gone before and have struggled and resistedracism. As a woman of African descent workingbetween Canada and the United States, I turn oftento my ally Harriet Tubman who did much anti-racist

work between these two countries. She led Africansout of one kind bondage from the United States intowhat others might describe as another kind of bond-age in Canada. Nevertheless, as my ally, I feel herlegacy of perseverance.

8. What kind of work can we do in the many spheresofinftuence in which we operate?• Interpersonal basis with one person: colleague to

colleague, student to student, parent to parent.• Class level with all students through formal cur-

riculum.• Department or facuIty-Ievel at a faculty or staff

meeting.• Parent gatherings and student gatherings.• Meeting with administration and other authori-

ties.• School community: unions, associations and clubs.• People in other schools through networks includ-

ing chat lines and e-rnail connections.• Organizations, institutions and individuals outside

the schools.• Lawmakers: school trustees, city councilors.• Media: newsletters, newspapers, television, tapes,

CD-ROMs, web sites in various languages.

9. How can we institutionalize this change? How canwe prevent this situation from reoccurring?

• Monitor, monitor, monitor!• Keep good records.• Check ail systems to ensure that outcomes are

realized.• Ensure that the issue is inserted at the policy and

procedural levels.• Remind everyone that intent is not what counts;

it is outcome that matters.

• Remind everyone that until every person regard-less of racial background is experiencing equalityin the areas of respect, rights to self-determinationand full humanity, representation and resources,we still have a job to do.

• Keep hopeful by looking at and learning fromothers who have worked on and are working onthese issues all around the world.

• Always celebrate what has been accomplished todate.•

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