Black educators at Blair push back on MCPS's ham-fisted antiracist PD

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oof so Clara Shalaby is not black enough to talk about racism.

No, she's not credible enough to equate the bad behavior of an emotionally dysregulated child in the classroom with freedom fighter Rosa Parks.

If you watched that PD video and thought Dr. Shalaby emerged from it as credible on race, then I question your judgment and analytical skills.

I’m just quoting the article since they specifically say she is not credible because she is White passing.

And that is racism in itself and offensive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would not want this teacher teaching my child if they don’t understand white people can experience racism too. What about all the antisemitism right now?

White people can experience discrimination, but racism requires institutional power in addition to individual prejudice. Besides, that's not the point. The point is whether it is appropriate for a white woman to compare a dysregulated child to Rosa Parks. The point is also whether a professional development training aimed at elementary school is a good use of time for our high school educators.

Of course it’s a waste of time but that’s mcps for you. And, yes white people have experienced racism. Let me guess, you don’t believe the holocaust happened? Or, the Japanese internment camps?

Are you calling Japanese Americans white? Wow. Way to erase Asians, I guess.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oof so Clara Shalaby is not black enough to talk about racism.

No, she's not credible enough to equate the bad behavior of an emotionally dysregulated child in the classroom with freedom fighter Rosa Parks.

If you watched that PD video and thought Dr. Shalaby emerged from it as credible on race, then I question your judgment and analytical skills.

I’m just quoting the article since they specifically say she is not credible because she is White passing.

And that is racism in itself and offensive.

Ironic, isn’t it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oof so Clara Shalaby is not black enough to talk about racism.

No, she's not credible enough to equate the bad behavior of an emotionally dysregulated child in the classroom with freedom fighter Rosa Parks.

If you watched that PD video and thought Dr. Shalaby emerged from it as credible on race, then I question your judgment and analytical skills.

I’m just quoting the article since they specifically say she is not credible because she is White passing.

There are white people who are credible on race. Dr. Shalaby is not one of them, as her presentation quickly demonstrated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
It's outrageous that Central Office is wasting their time on these virtue-signaling productions instead of actually directing children's learning and education.

Focus on academics.

Racism will never go away, but it can be addressed and managed by decreasing poverty in target populations - which you do by increasing their level of education! Not the other way round.

Get your priorities straight, MCPS.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

As I sat there, I was going through so many different emotions. I was going through anxiety. I was going through PTSD. I almost felt like I was going through Stockholm Syndrome. I'm listening to someone who looks like my captor telling me about racism,” he says.

How does this snowflake make it through the day? He shouldn't be teaching our children if listening to a "white passing" woman causes him such distress. Jesus H. Christ.
I am will be bet this dude mansplains to women on the regular without realizing the real threat women experience from men.

The fact that you don't see the problematic parallels of a white woman explaining the institutional harms and history of racism to people of color in the same way you chafe at a man "mansplaining" gender discrimination to women is depressing and pathetic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oof so Clara Shalaby is not black enough to talk about racism.

No, she's not credible enough to equate the bad behavior of an emotionally dysregulated child in the classroom with freedom fighter Rosa Parks.

If you watched that PD video and thought Dr. Shalaby emerged from it as credible on race, then I question your judgment and analytical skills.

+100 Also, in social justice circles and discussions, positionality is important. It is common for people to make positionality statements. Shalaby's positionality as a white or white-presenting person is absolutely relevant.

Interestingly, Shalaby's official portrait on her website would suggest a different positionality than her video: https://marsal.umich.edu/directory/faculty-staff/carla-shalaby

Can you use words that those of us not in “social justice circles” might know? Also, who gets to decide if she’s “white enough?” She possibly has Egyptian ancestry if I had to guess based on etymology her last name, which is the only info I have. Would you say that folks with Egyptian ancestry (or ancestry of adjacent nations) are not credible to enter the conversation? Particularly right now?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would not want this teacher teaching my child if they don’t understand white people can experience racism too. What about all the antisemitism right now?

White people can experience discrimination, but racism requires institutional power in addition to individual prejudice. Besides, that's not the point. The point is whether it is appropriate for a white woman to compare a dysregulated child to Rosa Parks. The point is also whether a professional development training aimed at elementary school is a good use of time for our high school educators.

Do you mean institutional power like an all-female, nearly all-POC BOE and black female Superintendent? Like that?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Then you should see what they make us watch in higher education. Recently sat though an anti racism presentation where the presenter, in a half hour timeframe, used a derogatory and racist word for white people 9 times. And her inflection when she used the word was quite nauseating.

Mcps is ok with that kind of racism and actively supports it. Look how they do nothing against antisemitism, hate against Muslims and other groups.

Or check out the MCPS equity unit's twitter feed sometime. You'll find all kinds of anti-white hate and racism there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would not want this teacher teaching my child if they don’t understand white people can experience racism too. What about all the antisemitism right now?

White people can experience discrimination, but racism requires institutional power in addition to individual prejudice. Besides, that's not the point. The point is whether it is appropriate for a white woman to compare a dysregulated child to Rosa Parks. The point is also whether a professional development training aimed at elementary school is a good use of time for our high school educators.

Do you mean institutional power like an all-female, nearly all-POC BOE and black female Superintendent? Like that?

Perhaps it’s their way of saying we don’t want any White, Asian or Hispanic families in their schools or community.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would not want this teacher teaching my child if they don’t understand white people can experience racism too. What about all the antisemitism right now?

White people can experience discrimination, but racism requires institutional power in addition to individual prejudice. Besides, that's not the point. The point is whether it is appropriate for a white woman to compare a dysregulated child to Rosa Parks. The point is also whether a professional development training aimed at elementary school is a good use of time for our high school educators.

Of course it’s a waste of time but that’s mcps for you. And, yes white people have experienced racism. Let me guess, you don’t believe the holocaust happened? Or, the Japanese internment camps?

Are you calling Japanese Americans white? Wow. Way to erase Asians, I guess.

MCPS considers Asians white because Asians destroy the whole "wHiTe SuPrEmAcY" myth by outperforming whites in every academic metric.

[Anonymous]

I love Blair for this. They were the school that did “an experiment “ to prove black student were treated differently by staff.

Always the contrarian

[Anonymous]

I'm surprised people are still using the term white passing. It implies the person is trying to pass themselves off as white. White presenting is a more neutral term that doesn't imply the person is trying to be something they are not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm surprised people are still using the term white passing. It implies the person is trying to pass themselves off as white. White presenting is a more neutral term that doesn't imply the person is trying to be something they are not.

It’s extremely offensive and lots of mixed race families today and these racists are sending messages to kids that it’s not ok to be mixed race, white, Asian or anything except the group they belong to. The harm they are doing far outweighs the good.

[Anonymous]

I teach at a different high school and we all thought it was a terrible PD. Complete waste of time. Thinking of how much money is wasted by MCPS on stuff like this PD + Leader in Me literally makes me want to cry.
When I ask my school to go to a highly regarded content PD that costs money, I’m told that sorry, we don’t have the money to cover stuff like that