‘Our stories, our narratives matter.’ Black Town Hall talks race equity in local education.
.png "Miami-Dade black leaders discussed solutions to racial inequality in Miami-Dade County Public School teaching in the Re-envisioning Black Education Town Hall.")
The racial divide in education is a long-discussed struggle among teachers, activists and community members. Now, a handful of Miami-Dade’s Black leaders have taken on finding solutions to the county’s educational racial disparity.
On Wednesday night, the Re-envisioning Black Education Town Hall was held virtually for an audience of about 100 on YouTube and Zoom. The two-hour panel aimed at discussing Black student education disparities and addressing learning gaps across all races.
Among the viewers were students across Miami-Dade. The entire town hall can be watched on BlackEdu305 YouTube channel.
Kalyn Lee, Miami-Dade Rookie Teacher of the Year, and Zahirah Calloway, founder of Young Women of Empowerment Mentorship Program Inc., created the forum.
The town hall featured five speakers: Marvin Dunn, author of A History of Florida: Through Black Eyes; Alexandria Martin, United Teachers of Dade vice president of high schools; Makiba Foster, African American Research Library and Cultural Center Regional manager; Valencia Gunder, co-founder and co-Director of Smile Trust Inc.; and Dewayne Martin, a Posse scholar and Miami-Dade Public Schools alumnus.
Panelists answered questions in different categories.
Foster talked on why it’s important to have more Black history in the curriculum.
“In this country the default is always whiteness. We have to be intentional on how we challenge that default,” Foster said. “Ways we challenge that default is by adding those counter-narratives to the curriculum.”
Foster said it’s essential to add Black narratives because it is “well past time” for them to be part of the American story. “Our stories, our narratives matter and they give you a fullness you would not get with half the story.”
Dunn said it’s hard to find Black curriculum partly because there are hurtful and violent stories that “white flocks would not want ...in books kids would read.”
But without it?
“We will have generation after generation of kids who don’t understand each other’s history, pain and obligations we have as a society to correct the ills of the mass,” Dunn said. “You’ll have an insensitive generation followed by an insensitive generation that will be at war with each other over our various ethnic conflicts that have survived for centuries in this country.”
Dunn advised giving teachers more training and resources to tell these stories and by looking at what textbooks are offered to students.
The panel also tackled whether there should be more emphasis on coronavirus preparedness and on cultivating diversity and equity in education.
“America is a first world country that creates second-class citizens that have to deal with third world situations,” Valencia Gunder said. COVID-19 “has shown that to be true over and over again inside the educational system and the community, when it comes to food and housing safety.”
Gunder offered several solutions to solve the racial disparity gap that is being increased by the pandemic. She suggested a racial equity analysis for all curriculum, holding teachers accountable when they violate racial and gender boundaries, and implementing social justice learning in the school.
“I believe that these are some of the things that need to happen and [COVID-19] isn’t going anywhere December 31,” Gunder said. “We know [COVID-19] will take us years to bounce back from....”
This story was originally published October 15, 2020 at 6:59 AM.
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