SWS - You are only invited if you’re Black

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why are you so angry that black families are coming together to support each other? Is this hurting your child? Do you feel like you are lacking support? I know it sounds snarky, but I'm asking seriously.

+1! This is an affinity space for Black families to get to know each other. It’s not about exclusion of other races. Honestly, if you are not from a minority group (race, religion or ethnicity), I guess you just don’t get it.

—POC (not Black).

Should a public school school-sponsored event on school grounds exclude members of the school community on the basis of race?

Well there is Girls on the Run that is a school-sponsored activity based on gender. Are you also offended by that?

Race is different from all other classes of people. The government must adhere to a “strict scrutiny” test when using race as a factor; that is, the government must demonstrate a compelling interest in using race. This pretty basic legal knowledge. Race is different.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why are you so angry that black families are coming together to support each other? Is this hurting your child? Do you feel like you are lacking support? I know it sounds snarky, but I'm asking seriously.

+1! This is an affinity space for Black families to get to know each other. It’s not about exclusion of other races. Honestly, if you are not from a minority group (race, religion or ethnicity), I guess you just don’t get it.

—POC (not Black).

Should a public school school-sponsored event on school grounds exclude members of the school community on the basis of race?

Well there is Girls on the Run that is a school-sponsored activity based on gender. Are you also offended by that?

Race is different from all other classes of people. The government must adhere to a “strict scrutiny” test when using race as a factor; that is, the government must demonstrate a compelling interest in using race. This pretty basic legal knowledge. Race is different.

Thank you. And would this meeting pass "strict scrutiny"?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The invite is for people raising Black kids. You can be any color caregiver and attend. The invite centers children and helps create a positive cohort for the child. ultimately all of this is based on research in order to create better learning outcomes and narrow the educational achievement gap in elementary school. Is it so far fetched to understand that a good school for your kid might not be as good for a POC because of prejudice and biases coming from fellow students and their families as well as from staff? I can understand that black and POC families need some reprieve and support here.

People who labeled the invite as hostile, aggressive, or amped up, wouldn’t use those same words for another group. Whoever said that these groups are only needed if the numbers are very small just sounds afraid. What if Black kids ‘catch up’ and (gasp) surpass your kid’s achievement because they had a play date without you?

Not afraid. Just want parity. Let everyone have their groups to meet, connect, and talk about their issues. If it's clearly beneficial, why are some groups afraid to let other groups meet, connect, and find support? What's the problem?

How did you conclude this parent group is afraid of others meeting? Advocate hard, drum up interest and commitment, and meet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The invite is for people raising Black kids. You can be any color caregiver and attend. The invite centers children and helps create a positive cohort for the child. ultimately all of this is based on research in order to create better learning outcomes and narrow the educational achievement gap in elementary school. Is it so far fetched to understand that a good school for your kid might not be as good for a POC because of prejudice and biases coming from fellow students and their families as well as from staff? I can understand that black and POC families need some reprieve and support here.

People who labeled the invite as hostile, aggressive, or amped up, wouldn’t use those same words for another group. Whoever said that these groups are only needed if the numbers are very small just sounds afraid. What if Black kids ‘catch up’ and (gasp) surpass your kid’s achievement because they had a play date without you?

Not afraid. Just want parity. Let everyone have their groups to meet, connect, and talk about their issues. If it's clearly beneficial, why are some groups afraid to let other groups meet, connect, and find support? What's the problem?

We get it, you want your whites-only social club.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The invite is for people raising Black kids. You can be any color caregiver and attend. The invite centers children and helps create a positive cohort for the child. ultimately all of this is based on research in order to create better learning outcomes and narrow the educational achievement gap in elementary school. Is it so far fetched to understand that a good school for your kid might not be as good for a POC because of prejudice and biases coming from fellow students and their families as well as from staff? I can understand that black and POC families need some reprieve and support here.

People who labeled the invite as hostile, aggressive, or amped up, wouldn’t use those same words for another group. Whoever said that these groups are only needed if the numbers are very small just sounds afraid. What if Black kids ‘catch up’ and (gasp) surpass your kid’s achievement because they had a play date without you?

Not afraid. Just want parity. Let everyone have their groups to meet, connect, and talk about their issues. If it's clearly beneficial, why are some groups afraid to let other groups meet, connect, and find support? What's the problem?

We get it, you want your whites-only social club.

It already exists at SWS! At the whites-only group, the Principal invites you to: “unpack your own personal internalization, experiences, and perpetuation of whiteness and racism.”

[Anonymous]

This is such a clear distraction from the weak academics at SWS.

[Anonymous]

The principal isn’t wrong About offering the opportunity to unpack white privilege in a majority, historically black city. White privilege is basically the benefit of the doubt or hall pass afforded to you because you’re white so you can bypass the barriers of systemic racism. It is the byproduct of white supremacy. Racism is the manifestation of your belief in black inferiority. Systemic racism exists because of conscious or unconscious individual racist beliefs. I imagine that people who have joined this WAG might have really close, authentic relationships with Black people, children or adults. I’m an SWS parent, not black or white, and don’t know how any of the affinity groups are going for folks, how many attend, and how many drop out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The principal isn’t wrong About offering the opportunity to unpack white privilege in a majority, historically black city. White privilege is basically the benefit of the doubt or hall pass afforded to you because you’re white so you can bypass the barriers of systemic racism. It is the byproduct of white supremacy. Racism is the manifestation of your belief in black inferiority. Systemic racism exists because of conscious or unconscious individual racist beliefs. I imagine that people who have joined this WAG might have really close, authentic relationships with Black people, children or adults. I’m an SWS parent, not black or white, and don’t know how any of the affinity groups are going for folks, how many attend, and how many drop out.

I'm going to quibble with "historically black" because that was not the case before 1950. "Majority" black is probably no longer true today.

[Anonymous]

Please quibble away. The point is, unpacking is a helpful exercise and may be of particular interest for those who have Black people in their lives that they are especially close to to ensure that they aren’t unintentionally, unconsciously mistreating the group as a whole. If one wants to be an ally or even neutral, you have to invest in learning, so you can first just be safe to be around.

[Anonymous]

This is a weird bit of concern trolling. People like OP so worked up about DEI programs and then … complain when they feel excluded from a DEI program?

FWIW I don’t even read the original email as being exclusionary. Just read it that the program content was focused on those concerns.

Also, it’s worth pointing out that there are a fair number of white and Arabic people of African descent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is a weird bit of concern trolling. People like OP so worked up about DEI programs and then … complain when they feel excluded from a DEI program?

FWIW I don’t even read the original email as being exclusionary. Just read it that the program content was focused on those concerns.

Also, it’s worth pointing out that there are a fair number of white and Arabic people of African descent.

Same.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Please quibble away. The point is, unpacking is a helpful exercise and may be of particular interest for those who have Black people in their lives that they are especially close to to ensure that they aren’t unintentionally, unconsciously mistreating the group as a whole. If one wants to be an ally or even neutral, you have to invest in learning, so you can first just be safe to be around.

I'm not opposed to affinity groups, but I think everyone at the school should be encouraged to form them according to any of the ways they want to slice themselves. There are a lot of communities that need to be able to advocate for their interests in our schools. DC has been used to thinking only in terms of black/white, but as the city became a little more cosmopolitan in the last couple of decades, that's no longer the extent of who is here and who has concerns about, among other things, the tunnel vision fixation on black/white.

I am opposed to top-down re-education movements that proceed according to rigid ideologies intended to oversimplify and elide complicated issues to deliver the "correct" conclusion, however.

[Anonymous]

I’ve seen a lot of anti Latino/immigrant discrimination and a ton of Asian hate. But that’s not addressed here. It’s a pandering move designed to distract from a school which used to be good.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The principal isn’t wrong About offering the opportunity to unpack white privilege in a majority, historically black city. White privilege is basically the benefit of the doubt or hall pass afforded to you because you’re white so you can bypass the barriers of systemic racism. It is the byproduct of white supremacy. Racism is the manifestation of your belief in black inferiority. Systemic racism exists because of conscious or unconscious individual racist beliefs. I imagine that people who have joined this WAG might have really close, authentic relationships with Black people, children or adults. I’m an SWS parent, not black or white, and don’t know how any of the affinity groups are going for folks, how many attend, and how many drop out.

Black people are experiencing systemic racism in a city where they are the largest demographic group and where Black people hold many of the controlling positions?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The principal isn’t wrong About offering the opportunity to unpack white privilege in a majority, historically black city. White privilege is basically the benefit of the doubt or hall pass afforded to you because you’re white so you can bypass the barriers of systemic racism. It is the byproduct of white supremacy. Racism is the manifestation of your belief in black inferiority. Systemic racism exists because of conscious or unconscious individual racist beliefs. I imagine that people who have joined this WAG might have really close, authentic relationships with Black people, children or adults. I’m an SWS parent, not black or white, and don’t know how any of the affinity groups are going for folks, how many attend, and how many drop out.

Black people are experiencing systemic racism in a city where they are the largest demographic group and where Black people hold many of the controlling positions?

Go ask your Black friends and colleagues, surely you have some right?