What exactly is "anti-racism"? How should "anti-racism" be taught in schools, if it should?

The article is very tough to get through and very confusing. So, I’m not sure I can speak to the specifics of this school.

Anti-racism most often refers to action taken to fight against racism. This shouldn’t be controversial.

Regarding parents accusing the school of “indoctrination”: That’s the entire purpose and function of any school. People tend to take the current dominant mythology, ideology, and framing as the baseline or unbiased starting point. Any calls to push back against this are often looked at as “political” or “ideological”. But this is a complete rejection of the reality that the current way is most definitely “political” and “ideological”.

I think we should teach children basic sociology, empathy, what cognitive biases are, communication basics, susceptibility to propaganda, and warn against stereotyping and discrimination.

@hello321 Anti-racism most often refers to action taken to fight against racism.

That’s fair. What specific actions have you taken or would like to see others take to fight racism? How do you think anti-racism translates to school curriculum?

And your point about “indoctrination” is certainly valid. There seems to be assumption that what has been traditionally taught in schools is “neutral” and has no political or ideological agenda, but that is rarely the case.

Again and again and again, you can teach whatever you want in school but in the end they will adopt the views of their parents and culture.

I’m sceptical about teaching anti-racism. It is drawing attention to what it is trying to prevent. It is like running a course to stop students thinking about tigers. They will end up thinking about nothing else.

@flutherother That is some of my concern as well. Anecdotally, I have heard of some students being compelled to think of things in terms of race that they hadn’t before and being punished for not doing so. Is anti-racism revealing racism or creating racial issues where none existed before?

^^I worry about that too, ESPECIALLY for the minority children. I just don’t want it pointed out at a young age that they have the system working against them in some way. Hopefully, the education system would know better. Nothing I listed above has to do with specifically teaching about race, except maybe stereotyping, but with that I was just thinking about the experiments where they say people with blue eyes aren’t as smart or people who wear blue shirts aren’t as nice and then within minutes the children are told it’s just an example and not real.

@flutherother – The term doesn’t mean what you think it does. Your answer is exactly why anti-racists feel that non-racists are part of the problem.

I’m assuming the difference between those two is one of passivity vs. activity?

@JLeslie Another concern. If you’re told over and over that you can’t succeed because of your race (your caste, “stamped from the beginning”) might it not become a self-fulfilling prophecy?

@Demosthenes Yes! I worry about that too. That’s why I’m all for delaying history education regarding slavery and Jim Crow until Jr. High. Elementary should be children being told they can try anything they are interested in and seeing people of all colors, genders, nationalities, doing everything, all careers, all hobbies. Normalize these things.

I do think it’s important at a young age to teach the golden rule, to respect each other, to think how they would feel of someone teased them or hurt them, to encourage teamwork, etc.

There are way too many issues that are being completely rolled over here with sloppy terminology. This is a huge topic. But it does bother me to see people not ready to join the public discourse because they somehow don’t know what basic terminology and concepts mean and are unwilling to put in 5 minutes to do a Google search before providing their opinion on a topic. We just went through this regarding systemic racism. So many people had strong opinions about something that they hadn’t even bothered to look up. They thought it meant personal bias.

My question literally asks “what is anti-racism?” If you know more than you’re sharing, go ahead and share it.

Yes, users bring up related things in the comments and I respond to them and it starts conversations about tangential topics. But I’m happy to engage with any answers that directly address the question.

I specifically didn’t answer the “what is anti-racism”, and probably should have sat this one out. I did, however want to comment on anti-racism and school curriculum. If someone asks, “What is milk, and should it be served in school cafeterias?”, I’d like to think by the time the person asked the question, they would have looked up what “milk” is, so we could discuss whether it should be served in school cafeterias.

If you don’t know what anti-racism is, maybe it deserved its own question. The additional stuff about the school implies that this is about something else.

I brought up schools because that is the context in which I encountered the term “anti-racism” today (in the linked article). It reminded me of other discussions I’d heard about “anti-racism” being taught in schools (and being labeled “indoctrination”) and that reminded me that I didn’t really know what the term meant.

I know you like to question my reasons for asking questions and ascribe an ulterior insidious motive to them, but I’m genuinely asking. Do I shout down people’s answers? Do I insult people who disagree with me? Then why am I treated (by you and a few others here) like my questions are never sincere?

@Demosthenes: “I know you like to question my motives and ascribe an ulterior insidious nature to the questions I ask, but I’m genuinely asking.”

I’m not questioning the motive to your question here, and I apologize to derail. But I’m shocked that you haven’t even done a Google search. I’ll try.

The first result is I got is this. I just skimmed it. Looks ok and should be easy enough to understand.

@hello321 And, you think all school systems are going to define and develop anti-racism curriculum in the same way, with the same ideas and goals? I think you are being naive. Just the word racism is defined many ways let alone anti-racism.

^ What the fuck are you talking about? Did I propose anything to do with schools or anything? Huh?

@hello321 To be quite honest, I don’t always find Google searches helpful. (I remember trying to look up “whiteness” and still being stumped as to what it really is). I ask here because I assume that many here already know what it means and can contribute. If I wanted a Google search, I would do so.

I know it’s frustrating to see so many people misusing a term (I happen to think “white privilege” is a valid term but people just think it means “all white people are rich”). That’s why I asked what it meant to try and ensure we don’t have that problem here.

From that first link, there are a couple of points that are relevant:

“Anti-racism is a process of actively identifying and opposing racism.”

“Why Anti-Racism is Important
The problem with systemic racism is that it is all around us. We are born into it. It is deeply embedded in our culture and our communities including our schools, the justice system, the government, and hospitals. It is so pervasive that people often don’t even notice how policies, institutions, and systems disproportionately favor some while disadvantaging others.

People often mistakenly believe that simply being “not racist” is enough to eliminate racial discrimination. The problem with this perspective is that White people are often unaware of their own unconscious biases. People often don’t fully understand the institutional and structural issues that uphold White supremacy and contribute to racist behaviors, attitudes, and policies.

Saying “but I’m not racist” also allows people to avoid participating in anti-racism. It’s a way of saying “that’s not my problem” while failing to acknowledge that even people who are not racist still reap the benefits of a system that is biased against other people.”

The Q is about school.

@Demosthenes – You’re a fairly young guy, so I’m assuming you are engaged in discussions about race, and the term “anti-racism” likely comes up quite often. What do you do in those cases? I’m an old man (49) and in the early 1990s we knew the difference between being anti-racist and “not racist”. I also have the luxury of living with young people, who are better than us olds in every possible way. They are not confused about these concepts.

@hello321: “Regarding parents accusing the school of “indoctrination”: That’s the entire purpose and function of any school. People tend to take the current dominant mythology, ideology, and framing as the baseline or unbiased starting point. Any calls to push back against this are often looked at as “political” or “ideological”. But this is a complete rejection of the reality that the current way is most definitely “political” and “ideological”.”

@JLeslie: “And, you think all school systems are going to define and develop anti-racism curriculum in the same way, with the same ideas and goals? I think you are being naive. Just the word racism is defined many ways let alone anti-racism.”

Um….what? How many assertions that I did not make are you attempting to refute?

It’s not a term I started to hear until I spent more time on the internet. I don’t think I’ve ever heard someone say it in person. The topic that I study in grad school doesn’t lend itself to much talk about it. I’m sure many of my friends use it (and I do think I’ve seen it in one friend’s Facebook feed). But it is not something I encounter regularly. “Systemic racism” is something I am much more familiar with and have discussed with friends. “Anti-racist” seems to have been gaining popularity just within the past few years. I did not misunderstand the recent question about systemic racism.

So then let’s go to the next question: what should anti-racism in school look like?

@Demosthenes: “So then let’s go to the next question: what should anti-racism in school look like?”

I have absolutely no idea. There are people who are qualified to answer this. Not me.

However, it’s important to keep in mind that if school doesn’t currently teach about systemic racism (currently, the in the US) and implications of such things, it’s indoctrinating children by teaching them things about the world that are untrue. It’s injecting this status quo ideology directly into the veins of children.

The ideal situation would be if race was not talked about anymore, that a person’s race was no more significant than being left-handed. Toward that end, schools should set an example by treating everyone equally. Beyond that, I don’t know how you can teach anti-racism. The more that the topic of race is discussed, the more that it remains an issue.

ugh. This is becoming an “all lives matter” thread.

Systemic racism is taught in school, unless things have changed. It’s part of our history and lingers into present day. Anti-racism in regards to systemic racism is partly about awareness, and inspiring young children to be self aware and system aware and to help change the system. That’s how I see it. I just want it not to be dealt with at a very young age.

A lot of the people I grew up with became more race aware, and even developed some negative stereotypes in adulthood not from their parents or school. No one ever wants to talk about that. I don’t even want to talk about that in any depth online.

“Anti-racism” is still racism, no difference. But some may like to think there is.

It’s pretty obvious some of you don’t spend quality time with black people.

^^Care to expand? Are you Black? I’m not Black, but grew up around a lot of Black people, a lot of every group, my town and High School was extremely diverse, and I’m a religious minority myself.

What do you think should be taught and how?

I think sociology should be taught better/expanded in high school.
What opened my eyes after watching free college courses on iTunes around 10 years ago (I never went to college, but I wanted to learn more as a working adult when I was younger) was how sociology approached race. There are studies showing how people are basically subconsciously racist, and people need to be aware of this. Racism and sexism are so deeply ingrained in the smallest ways that people simply aren’t aware or are afraid to confront it.
This will also help the kids that are being taught racism at home.
I had a friend in middle school tell me his dad literally told him “black people have no shame”. This was in probably 1998 or ‘99 in Oregon. His dad told him to turn basketball off the TV by saying “turn that (n-word)ball off”. Imagine actually using the nword as an insult in front of your preteen…..so that was 1 american blue collar family….and I’m supposed to believe this never happens behind other closed doors around the world? Who is going to teach anti-racism if a parent is not?

OMG. That’s horrible @Blackberry.
My husband’s best friend’s wife was unabashedly racist.
One time she said “I remember when the white boys played basketball. Now they’re all black.” The contempt was just dripping out of her. Needless to say, I didn’t care for her.
It pissed her off when I said “Well generally speaking, black men are better than white at basketball.”

@katiesunrise How would you describe “quality time with black people?” There aren’t too many black people around here. Would it do any good? Could it make any kind of a difference in my normal every day life? Am I missing something?? Should I go out of my way to find some black people? How can I be sure they want to spend some “quality time” with me? So many times I have passed a black person on the street and they won’t even look at me. What am I supposed to do??