The Power and Tensions of Teacher of Color Organizing in a Predominantly White Profession

• In Event: Critical Professional Development and the Racial Justice Possibilities of Teachers of Color in K–12 Schools

Abstract

Teachers of Color lack space and place to connect and validate one another as we combat racism, prejudice, and varied acts of violence in a predominantly white profession (Author, 2018). An auto-ethnographic reflection of my struggles organizing in a predominantly White district in the Pacific Northwest, this paper is guided by the questions: what is the best way to support teachers of Color? How do teachers of Color engage in spaces to heal and sustain ourselves through the stress and trauma of White dominated schools?

Throughout my teacher preparation program and during my practicum, I was one of a few men of Color and I encountered several situations in which Latinx culture was co-opted, misrepresented, and disrespected. These interactions were hurtful and left me feeling isolated in a program that proclaimd to be committed to social justice. We gathered as students of Color in weekly lunch meetings to share our experiences, which was validating. As we began teaching in our classrooms, my colleagues again were almost exclusively white and did not reflect the demographics of the students we taught. I reached out to teachers of Color and proposed a similar idea of informal monthly meetings to support each other, share our experiences, and problem solve.
After my first-year teaching, I attended the CPD and was introduced through a keynote talk to the concepts of racial microaggressions—conscious or unconscious forms of everyday racism (Perez Huber & Solorzano, 2014)—and secondary trauma—indirect exposure to trauma through a firsthand narrative of a traumatic event. So much of what I had experienced my first year as a male teacher of Color in an elementary school was reflected in this talk and I felt tremendous relief and validation. I brought this knowledge back to my school and shared with other teachers to encourage establishing a more formalized group of support for teachers of Color. As we began organizing teacher of Color gatherings in our school district, we struggled to get support from our union and our school district. Most of their efforts were guided by system initiatives to diversify the teaching profession by recruiting without considering support for retention or growth.

My second year at the CPD, with two colleagues, I launched an organized effort to more purposefully curate a space for teachers of Color. With the CPD as our template, and support from the leadership and network of educators, we designed and facilitated monthly home meetings where we shared food, stories, engaged in scholarly readings, and left with validation and new knowledge to combat racism and hostility in our workplaces. As critical teachers of Color, many of them were leading initiatives in their schools, local union, and school districts, and thus, over time, were stretched too thin—decreasing their capacity to participate. This paper highlights the power of collective organizing for teachers of Color, as well as the tensions they experience, particularly as we seek spaces and community to sustain ourselves through the stress, trauma, and isolation of disrupting racism.

Author

• Juan Cordova