Demonstrably False and Pedagogically Classist

  This podcast episode by Muhammed and Gonzales tells us a lot about the American Education system. Muhammed makes her primary critique of the education system quite clear, though: the American Education system was created by male white supremacists bent on holding back black and brown people. The worst part is that, despite reform, the system has hardly changed. Due to this, it becomes abundantly clear that the only way to reform the system to be anti-racist is to tear the whole system down and build a new one. Dr. Gholdy Muhammed Further, muhammed has provided a framework to start rebuilding the system using the layers "Identity," "Skills," "Intellect," and "Criticality." Identity: Students' identities are incredibly important to individual students, as identity is important for students to both learn about and understand themselves as well as each other. As an English teacher, incorporating identity into education can be as simple as usin...

The documentary, I Am Not Your Negro , which is focused on James Baldwin's unfinished novel of the same name, is probably one of the most influential pieces of anti-racist media I've come across. Baldwin and the documentary are discussed in Robin DiAngelo's book White Fragility . In terms of specifically anti-racist teaching, Baldwin thinks we, as white people, should re-examine how people of colour are depicted in media and popular culture, "Because Uncle tom refused ... movies were simply a reflection," (15:25). This also challenged my current view of people of colour in the media and popular culture I consume, particularly their portrayals in media made by white people. For potential English teachers, this could mean one of two things. Either one, they can teach new material that isn't racist and is actively anti-racist, or with the same racist material that came from a white dominated society and use that material to have discussions on how we can ultimate...