Reply to Empowerment Club for black girls?!

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Reply to "Empowerment Club for black girls?!"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]

We had this issue several years ago when one of our kids was in a classroom with a teacher who heavily favored the black kids. Like overtly and by a lot. I cannot tell you how awkward those conversations were.[/quote]

This is common enough in all directions everywhere. Principals are in my experience pretty flexible and move your kid (especially if you’re a UMC parent who they’re desperate to keep, regardless of race). You will not fix the teacher, every teacher has some issues with some kids- even good kids and good teachers can be oil and water. The problem is when the admin tries to gaslight you about the issues. [/quote]

Yes but 90% of the time the admin and the teacher WILL gaslight you about the issues. I'm sure it happens in both directions -- I'm sure plenty of black kids have been ignored or mistreated by white teachers and then if the parent complained they were told up and down that it had nothing to do with race and actually it was the child's fault for misbehaving or the parent's fault for some parenting oversight.

But also I've been the white parent whose kid is clearly being ostracized in class because the black teacher prefers the black kids, and the exact same thing happened to me. I was told to get my kid evaluated (I did, no diagnosis) and that my kid was "immature for the grade" (my kid is close to the age cut-off, and DCPS is rigid and does not allow redshirting, so my child is definitionally immature for the grade but there's nothing I can do about that). The truth was that the teacher didn't want to teach a white kid and made that very clear in the classroom. But there's no recourse.

Also we are not UMC (were firmly MC) but simply by being a white family at a majority black school, we are privileged and as a result getting a classroom change is viewed as "look at the privileged white family getting their kid moved because they think they are so special." It would be looked at differently if we were a black family at a majority white school. I'm not saying it would be easier or better for the black family -- I know we do have white privilege. I'm saying the issues for a white family at a majority black school are unique because no matter what the dynamics are, we are the presumed oppressor. It makes it a mine field.[/quote]

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