Race/Racism

Beyond Jaded And Disillusioned

/ Dawn Kasal-Finley / 1 Comment

The essence of passion is an engagement and willingness to change.  There is little honor in holding back, limiting participation, accepting mediocrity, and finding comfort in the status quo.  With passion, we engage our soul and our being in this work, along with our mind and our body.  With passion, we reclaim our hope and belief in the possibility of a future devoid of racial injustice–a future governed by equity and anti-racism.  With passion, we survive the conflict, the lack of support, and the passive resistance that comes with challenging institutionalized racism in our schools.  And with passion, we will have the strength not only to stand up for what is right for our children, but to what is right for them as well.–Singleton and Linton, Courageous Conversations about Race.

I have been at work at my job for 7 full weeks now and I can say, that while I was excited about the job and the prospects for it and for making a change in education–I am not depressed by the way my hands are tied by those who I work under.  My job as Charter School Liaison to to hold our schools accountable both to the law and to education.  But really, we only care about the law–as we as an institution are not interested in finding our passion–I am not even sure those above me have the passion for education.  This depresses me beyond belief. I have a passion for education–the whole of my doctoral work and MA work was about ways to give a better education to the disadvantaged and under-served students.  I have a really hard time sitting by and accepting less than mediocrity.

The whole purpose behind the charter school movement was to offer options for parents who had few.  But not just options–better options, more innovative options.  What we have ended up with in education is a bunch of charter schools that function just like our traditional schools.  Our charter school (we have three more schools opening this fall) has less than 30% of its students proficient in English and math.  Yet because they are the highest performing charter school in the city and they are better than the majority of the public school options for students, we hold them up on this pedestal as though they are doing a fantastic job.  They aren’t.  But because parents keep signing their kids up and are not questioning the education their kids are getting and we as their sponsor are not willing to say–hey these scores suck–I am left feeling dissatisfied and guilty for allowing this to continue.  I want/need to be making a difference.  I am not and it sucks.

What also sucks is that the black kids in our more affluent districts are scoring just as bad at the high school level–anywhere between 13.6%-36.7% proficient in English and 14.9%-56.8% in math.  Compared to 58.7%-74.3% proficient in English and 75.8%-87.7% proficient in math for white students.  The discrepancy is horrid and I am so tired of the status quo being allowed to continue because we look at scores in aggregate and don’t bother to read the fine print.

These numbers are enough to support my reason for not wanting my minority children in a public school.  I need to be out there making a change and not in my cube checking off statute compliance.  This year needs to move fast so I can maybe get to the work of educating kids and then to educating teachers about the biases we hold and how that hurts the minority.

Past, Present, Future

/ Dawn Kasal-Finley / 1 Comment

There is so much to say about today–inauguration day.  I have spent a great deal of time since before the election and then after thinking about how amazing this moment is for America and for my African American children.  What I have neglected to recognize for give much thought to are those of the last two generations whose sacrifices, suffering, and struggles have made it possible for Barak Obama to become the 44rd president of these united states.  It sees fitting that he is being sworn in on the bible of the man who is responsible for keeping us united.  I am not an Abe Lincoln fan–he was not the enlightened man history has made him out to be but a pragmatic man who saw he needed freed slaves to defeat the south. Okay, that is a entire different subject. 

I was watching GMA this morning and a few of the remaining Tuskegee Airmen were on.  These men broke down barriers that had long kept our society’s perception of African Americans low and somewhat degrading.  It wasn’t that long ago that blacks were not allowed to fight alongside whites, to be educated in the same school as whites, to eat at the same counter, to sit in the same section of the bus, etc.  Those who struggled through these times and fought to prove their humanity, intellect, and value have helped shape a world where we can sit here in our homes and watch a black man take the oath of the highest office in the land.  It moves me and hopes that this small step–because in the grand scheme of color equality it is small–helps to wash away some of the pain endured by those who made this path possible. 

I hope that we all celebrate this moment today and relish the emotion it will bring.  I want to soak up the momentous occasion and savor the history of it. 

I want us to remember that this historic moment is just that a moment and does not mark the end of racism and hate.  It is a signal that we are making progress but we just have to look at our Congress, Governor’s mansions, boardrooms, jails, colleges, and professional coaches–to name just a few instances–and see that there has been progress but it is not nearly enough.  We have to work harder as a country and do better.  We owe it to those who sacrifices, suffered and struggled for this moment and all of those that have yet to come.

Black In America

/ Dawn Kasal-Finley / Leave a comment

What it means to be Black in America has changed with the election of Barack Obama as 44th president of the United States.  What it means to be Black in America has also reluctantly remained the same since Barack Obama was elected 44th president of the United States. 

The fact that we have elected an African-American as president speaks to how the landscape of America’s ideals have changed.  But we must look at the flip side of this.  Millions of people came out and cast votes against a black man.  I know this because I live in a state where sadly he has already be referred to as the N word.  Racism is our country is not over and we cannot look at this election as a signally of the end of the systematic racism that run through our country.  We still have few blacks in the senate or congress.  Having a black man in the white house does not and cannot erase the blatant absence of them in other sectors of our society. 

I am proud that the day has come and I think of my students past who never thought this day would com in their lifetime.  I think of them and wish they would have believed.  It would have given them hope that their voice matters and that they could/would be heard.  I am happy that we have elected a president that will give hope to many who believed their voice was ignored.  That there plight did not matter.  Obama will serve as inspiration for generations of minorities to come and for that I am thankful.

This summer, CNN ran a special called Black in America.  It was a startling look at the realities of what it means to be black in America.  These are things that the election of Obama cannot erase and does not change. 

  • AIDS leading cause of death for black women ages 25-34.
  • 2/3 of all new HIV cases are black women.
  • There are 1million more working black women than men
  • 1 in 3 black kids live in poverty
  • 1 in 10 white kids live in poverty
  • 60% of black kids live in a single parent home
  • 38% of white kids live in a single parent home
  • 50% of blacks don’t graduate high school vs. 30% national average of non-graduates
  • 49% of murder victims/violent crime victims are black men–only 13% of population is black males

There were many more startling stats present over the three episodes in this special.  These are issues that have not changed.  These are issues that still undermine the potential success of many African Americans. These are the issues that concern me as a white parent of brown skinned children.  Children who will not only get to celebrate the election of a black president but who have to make sense of the hate and marginalization of people who have the same color skin. 

I caution making too much of Obama’s election and infer that it means racism is coming to an end.  On March 20, 1981 Michael Donald, a black man, was walking home in Alabama when he was grabbed, beaten and lynched.  Yes, you read that right lynched.  Only 27 years ago.  I was 10.  That isn’t that long ago.  We cannot ignore the old sentiments that coarse through the veins of our past deep in the southern dirt. 

The work is not done.  With the election of Barack Obama, the work is only now beginning.

It’s Okay To Say That My Son Is Black

/ Dawn Kasal-Finley / 10 Comments

Well, because he is and so is my daughter.  I haven’t really thought about how his blackness might make others uncomfortable especially when it comes to describing him.  I know this is something that I am going to deal with forever–people describing him as black in a negative way and in a positive way and having to determine the tone, etc.  But, he is black (really brown, but…).  

We were at a coffee house/cafe today that is totally kid friendly–they have a playroom with tables for eating lunch while the moms and some dads can eat and socialize while their children play.  This place gets very crazy–upwards of 30 kids under age 4 playing and running around with lots of mom’s and it’s kind of crazy. 

I am sitting with my mom friends talking and one of the employees comes over to see if anyone is missing a child.

We all look around–but it is utter chaos and so we stare blindly waiting for a description…

“curly hair.” 

we all still stare at her blankly

“blue jeans.”

we all still stare

“navy shirt.”

“Sounds like mine.” I say but still not sure.

Sure enough it is Minnow and he is playing up front with another little boy in the window.  I question why she didn’t use the obvious descriptor.  My two children are the only brown children in the entire place.  It just amazes me how hypersensitive people are about offending others. 

It wouldn’t have bothered me if she has asked if someone was missing a little black boy–it wouldn’t have taken so long to figure out whose child was missing…I guess it bother me because we cannot ignore color.  Ignoring color makes it the 800lb gorilla in the room.  Minnow and Peepers will know that they are black and I will never ignore their color and don’t want other to ignore it either.  I don’t want it to be more important than it is, but I also don’t want it to be ignored.  It just makes everyone involved uncomfortable. 

So, those of you of color or with kiddos of color–what’s your take?

Racism Is Everywhere–Even When All The Same “Race”

/ Dawn Kasal-Finley / 3 Comments

I just read an interesting information pieceby the University of Washington about the tribal roots of both of my children. Minnow and Peepers are both of Oromo descent.  Sadly, my son and daughter would have been second class citizens with no political autonomy in their own country because of their Oromo heritage.  I had no idea that there was such a system of overt oppression in place and it reminds me a great deal of our white society’s own systematic oppression of blacks.  I am sad that this “racism” or tribalism is part of my children’t heritage and that part of the reason there are so many poor Oromo in Ethiopia is because they are discriminated against.  Did Minnow and Peepers moms’ feel they had no choice but to give up their children because they would be doomed to a life of living at the bottom of the social hierarchy?  I will sadly never know their reasons.  I can only hope to teach my children that “racism” is real and painful and something we must work to change–something we must never accept as okay.  We must speak up and work to change the relegation of whole populations of people to the lower strata based on their skin color or heritage. 

I am glad that Obama is the Democratic Nominee for President and I accept and realize what an important step it is.  We cannot become complacent in our fight for equality because a black man has achieved what was once deemed impossible.  There is racism lurking in every corner of our society.  We must work to bring it to an end and arm our children with the tools and intellect to be able to bring about change.