Listen & Learn
If the commencement speaker, Kimberlé Crenshaw, is any indication, this conference is going to blow up our thinking and understanding of the experiences of people of color, not only in schools but in this country and within our communities.
Kimberlé Crenshaw is a professor of law at UCLA and Columbia. She is also an American civil rights advocate and the leading scholar of critical race theory. I have been obsessed with Kimberlé Crenshaw over the past three years of my doctorate work at Virginia Commonwealth University. Her work on critical race theory and intersectionality has deeply informed the work that I am doing on racial justice reconciliation pedagogy. She is a thought leader and an incredible black woman who works tirelessly to hold up and empower black women in this country.
In her 45-minute presentation, Crenshaw said many provocative things. But when she said “white males are the root of all the “isms”, she could have dropped the mic. There were 6,000 people in the room, and you could hear a pin drop as she was speaking. I was in awe.
Crenshaw’s presentation led us into the entire first thought-provoking day. The session that was the most interesting and relevant for me was Recruiting, Retention, and Recognizing Faculty of Color. I found this session, by Ashley Bradley and Brandon Jacobs, to be helpful when thinking about diversifying the faculty make up within independent schools. I appreciated the research around the disconnect between the “want” to create inclusivity and equity and the actual reality within independent schools. Certainly, independent schools want to diversify their faculty and student make up, but the problem comes when schools have to put the “want” into action. In the past decade, neither group has increased in diversity with much significance, and I fully appreciate the desire to begin to really understand the why. We have moved past the “talk” and are fully into the “walk” of diversity and inclusion in most schools, and I think we can all agree that it’s about time.
Overall, the first day of this conference was incredible with lots of great human connections. There is something about being at PoCC that feels very intentional. I have had multiple conversations with people today, at random, which resulted in deeply rooted conversations to achieve greater understanding and clarity around race and equality…with STRANGERS. What if all of our daily interactions with everyone were so intentional and powerful?! I want to soak up every minute of this magic while I am here, as I listen and seek to understand the experiences of everyone else. It is a strange but welcome position to be in, as an outsider, where my voice is welcome, but not needed, to steer or even contribute to the conversation. I am here to listen and to learn and for me, right now, that is enough.
— Shayna Cooke, Director of Educator Development, World Leadership School
