When we speak we are afraid our words will not be heard or welcomed.
But when we are silent, we are still afraid.
So it is better to speak.
-Audre Lorde
Today I speak for those who are afraid that their words will not be heard or welcomed. Silence is no longer an option!
The Black community is hurting. The homicides of unarmed Black men and women like George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbry, have pulled open the painful and ugly wound of racism even wider.
The Black community is hurting. The Black community is succumbing to COVID -19 substantially higher than that of any other ethnic groups due to the inequities in health care and institutional racism.
The Black community is tired. The Black community is tired of being aggressively and violently accosted for sitting in parks, watching birds, playing music too loud, jogging, going to church, delivering goods and services, getting a normal traffic ticket, resting in common rooms in our dorms, sleeping in our own homes, and protesting peacefully.
The Black community is tired of hearing that race doesn’t matter. Race matters.
For over 48 years ETE has courageously spoken about the need to validate, recognize, and understand the needs of Black children in Hamilton Township. The youthful experiences of the Civil Rights Movement motivated the early trailblazers (Mary Wade, Gary Gray, Georgianna Harris, Sam Holmes, Patricia Vincent, Darlene (Baker) Mincy, James Stevenson, and Charles McKinzey) of ETE to become an influence within their educational community so that they could motivate students of color to recognize their potential and to set goals for excellence. As educators, it is our ethical duty to employ our capacities toward worldly problems, perform them well to the benefit of others – and Do Good Work!
Our professional ethos is founded on common action and mobilization.
Where do we begin as educators?
Where are we along the continuum of teaching and learning about race?
Unaware Stage
Are you reluctant to change? Are you aware of your own biases and prejudices? Are you afraid of the unknown? Are you resistant to change? Are you making little effort to make the curriculum relevant for Black students? Are you ambiguous about the need for change?
Conscious Stage
Is there a gap in your “knowing”? Are you making excuses for the problems you experience? Do you consistently collaborate with colleagues with differing perspectives and backgrounds? Do you motivate your students and apply your pedagogical knowledge about race in your classrooms?
Action Stage
Do you accept responsibility for the success of all your students? Do you reflect upon your teaching of Black students? Do you believe that there is only one way of solving a problem? Do you seek and receive feedback from students, parents, and colleagues well? Will you build on this experience to help and strengthen those who are suffering during this time?
Refinement Stage
Do you reflect before, during, and after taking action? Do you engage in research about race, social justice, and equality as a common practice? Do you pursue opportunities to learn about the effects of racism? Does your thinking about race go beyond the classroom? Are you encouraging long-term growth and continued reflection about race?
The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King noted, “We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools”.
ETE is challenging you to become a part of the solution by changing the direction collectively.
We must not remain silent and face the fact that there is work to be done.
Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.
- James Baldwin
Respectfully Submitted
Dr. Charisse Smith
President
ETE – Excellence Through Education
But when we are silent, we are still afraid.
So it is better to speak.
-Audre Lorde
Today I speak for those who are afraid that their words will not be heard or welcomed. Silence is no longer an option!
The Black community is hurting. The homicides of unarmed Black men and women like George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbry, have pulled open the painful and ugly wound of racism even wider.
The Black community is hurting. The Black community is succumbing to COVID -19 substantially higher than that of any other ethnic groups due to the inequities in health care and institutional racism.
The Black community is tired. The Black community is tired of being aggressively and violently accosted for sitting in parks, watching birds, playing music too loud, jogging, going to church, delivering goods and services, getting a normal traffic ticket, resting in common rooms in our dorms, sleeping in our own homes, and protesting peacefully.
The Black community is tired of hearing that race doesn’t matter. Race matters.
For over 48 years ETE has courageously spoken about the need to validate, recognize, and understand the needs of Black children in Hamilton Township. The youthful experiences of the Civil Rights Movement motivated the early trailblazers (Mary Wade, Gary Gray, Georgianna Harris, Sam Holmes, Patricia Vincent, Darlene (Baker) Mincy, James Stevenson, and Charles McKinzey) of ETE to become an influence within their educational community so that they could motivate students of color to recognize their potential and to set goals for excellence. As educators, it is our ethical duty to employ our capacities toward worldly problems, perform them well to the benefit of others – and Do Good Work!
Our professional ethos is founded on common action and mobilization.
Where do we begin as educators?
Where are we along the continuum of teaching and learning about race?
Unaware Stage
Are you reluctant to change? Are you aware of your own biases and prejudices? Are you afraid of the unknown? Are you resistant to change? Are you making little effort to make the curriculum relevant for Black students? Are you ambiguous about the need for change?
Conscious Stage
Is there a gap in your “knowing”? Are you making excuses for the problems you experience? Do you consistently collaborate with colleagues with differing perspectives and backgrounds? Do you motivate your students and apply your pedagogical knowledge about race in your classrooms?
Action Stage
Do you accept responsibility for the success of all your students? Do you reflect upon your teaching of Black students? Do you believe that there is only one way of solving a problem? Do you seek and receive feedback from students, parents, and colleagues well? Will you build on this experience to help and strengthen those who are suffering during this time?
Refinement Stage
Do you reflect before, during, and after taking action? Do you engage in research about race, social justice, and equality as a common practice? Do you pursue opportunities to learn about the effects of racism? Does your thinking about race go beyond the classroom? Are you encouraging long-term growth and continued reflection about race?
The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King noted, “We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools”.
ETE is challenging you to become a part of the solution by changing the direction collectively.
We must not remain silent and face the fact that there is work to be done.
Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.
- James Baldwin
Respectfully Submitted
Dr. Charisse Smith
President
ETE – Excellence Through Education
