This opinion piece is by Cynthia Liu, founder of K-12 News Network.
UPDATE 7-9-14: the person whose ugly tweet was reproduced below has apologized for his behavior and BATs co-founders insisted he do so. In addition the National BATs released the following message on Facebook (responses also at the link) following this incident:
“Official BAT Statement on Racism, Discrimination, “Color Blindness” and Privilege”
The Badass Teachers Association categorically condemns all attacks on people for their race, gender, sexual orientation; and welcomes a dialogue with anyone about how to reduce the impact of historic discrimination and marginalization on our students, their families, and everyone in our society. We also recognize that we are not “over” race; that “color blindness” and “difference blindness” are not acceptable posture in the face of differences in power and position, whether of individuals or group. We also urge our members to interrogate their own positions of privilege be it of race, gender or class, and critically examine their own words and actions in heated debates on these issues. We do not say these things to stifle debate, or suggest we have answers to all important questions, but to make sure that historically marginalized people feel comfortable in all our BAT spaces and activities.
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Like many, I came back from July 4 celebrations to hear of a horror show unfolding on Twitter involving many respected voices in the #edujustice community. I read what I could of the tweets that were public and felt sick to my stomach that people in a profession I respect were savaging one another. I am appalled that Melinda Anderson, and now Sabrina Stevens, two women of color whose work I respect and who’ve gotten my back numerous times in many locations and situations, and who I know are deeply committed to public education and the children served by it, are still targets of vitriol for simply calling out bad behavior by the self-identified Bad Ass Teachers who piled on to the fray.
Here’s one example of many recent personal attacks on Sabrina made by @sobronxteacher, with whom she’s documented many years’ worth of disturbing and inappropriate Twitter exchanges:
As best as I can piece things together, a conflict broke out on Twitter between @gatorbonBC*, an NEA delegate from Florida, and @MDAwriter (Melinda Anderson), a communications staffer and writer for the NEA’s social media channels. I’m still not entirely sure what the original conflict was about although it seems Melinda Anderson’s employment at the NEA may be in jeopardy as a result of the words they exchanged, and it seems that @GatrobonBC escalated the situation to the NEA. In any case, it’s deteriorated to the point where personal attacks using racist and sexist language by online bystanders and rubberneckers have come to dominate Twitter exchanges about the original incident, as in the example above when Sabrina tried to speak up in defense of Melinda’s dissenting comments.
It’s come to the point where we cannot ignore it, nor should we, and original acts of calling out disrespectful, abusive language have been answered by more instances of misogyny, name-calling, and racist language.
I want to therefore CALL IN all BATs who are committed to anti-racism, who embrace and champion cultural competency, decry misogyny and sexist language in addressing each other, and who seek to model the very kinds of justice and right conduct we aspire to ourselves and want to impart to students. If these things matter to you, I want to hear from you. What solutions do you see here?
If bullying is a problem, let us look to our own behavior first. If harassment and relational violence — exacerbated by a medium limited to 140 characters — target individuals who dissent (and illustrate, in an ugly way, WHY teachers need due process protections in what can be a highly-charged and political environment), then let us short-circuit the sniping. If Twitter is the medium that facilitates sniping, then let’s have the dispute discussed or resolved by the original participants either by phone or (it’s probably too late), in person.
I believe that there comes a time that bitter public disputes should be taken offline and mediated by an independent party — in this case, the NEA.
I also believe that calling out members of a coalition can serve a purpose, just as calling in serves a purpose. Calling out marks the boundaries of unacceptable behavior, marks injury sustained, flags the danger that intersectional fabric is about to be torn, perhaps permanently. Calling out is a way to make the transgressor own the transgression, instead of having the person transgressed carry the burden of injury in isolation and silence.
Ngọc Loan Trần says this in their brilliant piece, “Calling IN: A Less Disposable Way of Holding Each Other Accountable”:
I don’t propose practicing “calling in” in opposition to calling out. I don’t think that our work has room for binary thinking and action. However, I do think that it’s possible to have multiple tools, strategies, and methods existing simultaneously. It’s about being strategic, weighing the stakes and figuring out what we’re trying to build and how we are going do it together.
So, what exactly is “calling in”? I’ve spent over a year of trying to figure this out for myself, and this practice is still coming to me daily. The first part of calling each other in is allowing mistakes to happen. Mistakes in communities seeking justice and freedom may not hurt any less but they also have possibility for transforming the ways we build with each other for a new, better world. We have got to believe that we can transform.
When confronted with another person’s mistake, I often think about what makes my relationship with this person important. Is it that we’ve done work together before? Is it that I know their politics? Is it that I trust their politics? Are they a family member? Oh shit, my mom? Is it that I’ve heard them talk about patience or accountability or justice before? Where is our common ground? And is our common ground strong enough to carry us through how we have enacted violence on each other?
I start “call in” conversations by identifying the behavior and defining why I am choosing to engage with them. I prioritize my values and invite them to think about theirs and where we share them. And then we talk about it. We talk about it together, like people who genuinely care about each other. We offer patience and compassion to each other and also keep it real, ending the conversation when we need to and know that it wasn’t a loss to give it a try.
Because when I see problematic behavior from someone who is connected to me, who is committed to some of the things I am, I want to believe that it’s possible for us to move through and beyond whatever mistake was committed. [emphasis in bold mine]
Perhaps both @GatorbonBC and @MDAwriter made mistakes. Are the mistakes irrevocable? Is it worth shredding or destruction of each person? I am unwilling to see either person as “disposable.” We who support public education are overmatched and need every single person who can be effective working to full capacity in order to win against powerful and entrenched interests. But these calls to a higher goal can’t be a reason to quash dissent or evade deeper issues, like the latent -isms that permeate all of our interactions. I truly hope there can be personal reconciliation in this damaging encounter between two people, @GatorbonBC and @MDAwriter, both of whom have a great deal to give to the public education movement.
I’m CALLING IN, instead of calling out, all BATs who believe that disagreement among people who support public education can be discussed without resorting to epithets, threats over jobs, or social media pillorying or shunning. I try to say online what I would say to a person to his or her face, with all the responsibility and sensitivity that implies. Likewise, do you own what you say online? If so, how will you own the responsibility to promote cultural competency — anti-racist, anti-misogynist language and actions — that must be what our youth also learn going forward? I am heartened by the support for Melinda and Sabrina on Twitter, but I have not seen anyone urge @sobronxteacher to make an apology for unacceptable behavior.
So, when will a genuine apology or other meaningful gesture toward redress be forthcoming? We who are against the school-to-prison pipeline point to restorative justice to repair injury and mend conflict. Is this lip service or are we trained, aware, and able to enact this ourselves? I believe the ball is in @sobronxteacher’s court.
If you believe that #educolor IS #edujustice, then come and make community over here. Talk to me. Let’s see if we’re worthy of each others’ trust. Let’s earn that trust through reciprocal actions.
It may seem as if the details of the conflict between two women, or even a bigger group, is limited to personality difference. But this is larger than what transpired July 4 and 5.
This is about student organizer Stephanie Rivera’s attempt to open a conversation about the inadequacy of “colorblindness” as a framework for cultivating K-12 students who now make up the majority of students in American public schools — and how many vocal BATs on the National BATs page shut down the student Stephanie was trying to help be heard, as well as Stephanie herself.
If we are not agreed that teachers should be as diverse as the communities they teach, then what sort of coalition is this? If women of color continually get shut down on a more frequent basis if they dare to challenge the lack of intersectional process and face exaggerated vitriol for doing so, can we really call this “random”? We know better than this disingenuousness.
What kind of Badassery is it that cannot find a way to establish a working coalition that has people of color at its core? Where is the Badassery that moves beyond simple ignore/tokenize cycles to recognize and support the work of colleagues and peers of color who have equal value and standing?
This isn’t only about what went down July 4 and 5, this goes back to at least two difficult listserv discussions I’ve been privy to regarding the wisdom of “allying” with mostly white Tea Party people who oppose Common Core (which generated excellent, thoughtful posts from allies), and likely several others I’m not privy to. This has to do with leadership of the National BATs who leverage the power of “49,000 voices” in aggregate but are far less successful defining boundaries of acceptable and unacceptable behavior by individual BATs and seemingly unwilling to exert influence they might have to stop problematic attacks like the example I posted above during these flareups.
The friction over women of color as leaders and definers of progressivism on their own terms goes back centuries. It won’t be solved this summer. But we have models of powerful coalitions that did work well together in Freedom Summers and Freedom Rides that lent mass protest power to eventual passage of Civil Rights legislation. We know the struggle to make public education a liberatory experience harkens back to Brown v. Board of Education, and the reality, described so powerfully by the same Melinda Anderson that was trashed on Twitter, that the price of integrating black and white children in the 1950s and 1960s was the widespread loss of jobs among African American teachers when all-black schools closed.
It harkens back to the Chicano desegregation Supreme Court case, Mendez v. Westminster, struggles to reclaim Native children from boarding schools set up to strip them of their language and heritage, and slaves actively acquiring literacy despite possible mutilation or death by slaveholders. And the struggle includes an eight year old Chinese girl named Mary Tape who simply wanted to attend school in 1884, and the California legislature passed a law specifically barring Chinese American children from the schools. Education justice has always been centrally about people of color trying to get access to the same resources and quality of education as the dominant group.
If our vexed history of race and racism in public education is ever to end, simple demographic changes won’t be enough. A true end will have to start with a public commitment to consciously and explicitly embrace anti-racist/anti-misogynist/homophobia-free ethics by advocates for education justice. A new beginning will require that under new rules of intersectional engagement, no one who truly works to strengthen public education as a means for liberation can be disposable, and the first step toward that is to end the racist/misogynist trashing of others.
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It isn’t only the Badass Teachers who wrestle with issues of race, gender/sexuality, and class and intesectional struggle, it’s the feminist blogosphere as well. A women’s blogging conference I’ll be attending later this month has set aside space to discuss the increased frequency of these flareups on Twitter and elsewhere, and how it is white feminists/women of color are persistently targeted for abuse and attack when they assert a point of view that isn’t deferential, soothing, or agreeable.
*Disclosure: Prior to the begininng of the NEA RA meeting, I had asked @GatorbonBC and many other NEA RA attendees to report back for K12NN, which @GatorbonBC did and for which I’m grateful. I’ve temporarily suspended the postings from these teachers to make a statement about uncalled-for personal attacks on Melinda and Sabrina and will resume NEA RA reports soon.
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I’m over WOC using the ‘racism’ card to control/stifle others.
I’m tired of being told – over and over again by the same small group of WOC – that my recognition and acknowledgment and ownership of my privilege is a sham and that I have no right to any opinion or participation in ‘race’ discussions, that POC get to control the discussion and any disagreement on any part of that issue is more racism on my/society’s part. How are we going to work together, build movement, if some won’t accept ‘mea culpas’ AND THEN continue to call ‘racism’?
When I ‘admit’ my privilege, I am attempting to acknowledge historical and current damage done to other people, to show understanding. I don’t want to be absolved nor do I wish to re-establish domination. I am looking for a way to have dialogue, to move forward.
With these people, I’m damned if I do, and damned if I don’t. I don’t think they actually WANT to build a real, inclusive movement for change – it’s much easier to just huddle together, bitching about those nasty racist whites over there , than to deal with the every day reality that we have to work this out, together.
I’ve been watching this particular small corner of the education reform world for six years now. These two particular WOC have both made very large, unprofessional mistakes that hurt the credibility of the organisations they (used to) work for AND the push back against ed reform, and then used the racism card to hit back at whoever ‘calls’ them on their mistakes. Neither owned that what they did was an error of judgment, apologised and tried to fix what ever negative outcomes eventuated and then moved on – which is a core precept in restorative justice, no?
Sabrina’s epic judgment fail was in that December 3 2013, TV (Chris Hayes) appearance she made with Randi Weingarten, pretending she wasn’t an employee of the AFT. What a PR disaster. No mea culpas from Sabrina who, by the way, has even less PR training than she does teaching experience, but managed to elbow/slide her way into what was basically a PR-management job at AFT union HQ.
Instead of acknowledging poor professional judgment for tweets made while on the clock in her job as an NEA staff writer, Melissa Anderson pulls the victim card and slams her critics as racist. Tell me, are there different rules for writers of different races/skin colours? Does being a WOC give a person the right to say/do/tweet whatever to whomever, and then to pull the race card to deflect the critical response? Oh, and by the way – it’s really poor form AND terribly bad strategy – personally and for your organisation – to out yourself in social media, as your boss’ ghostwriter.
Perhaps my ‘cultural sensitivity’ training that was a compulsory component on my journalism training programme didn’t take, but I don’t get why telling someone her rude (on the job) tweets are inappropriate, is racism
Talking to this small clique of POC/WOC – you get pissy when whites don’t own and try to make things right, but then you don’t want to live by your own values? C’mon… You are trapped so deep in your victimhood that you will not take personal responsibility for your own mistakes; it’s heartbreaking to see. Sobronxteacher, by the way, tried to post an apology to Sabrina.
I have a hard time giving respect to WOC who tell other WOC that they are not entitled to their opinion because their skin colour is too light and they have “skin privilege’ – Sabrina Stevens to GatorbonBC, whom she referred to, in a tweet as a “white skinned Latina”…
Until POC get their act together and stop their own infighting, it’s hypocritical for them to turn around and point the finger at others of us who are trying our damnedest to ‘do the right thing’ with sincere hearts and genuine good intent, only to be continually running into walls we have no idea are even there because POC still haven’t got it all figured out for themselves what they want/need – and then we get slammed because we were somehow, magically, supposed to know these walls/needs were there.
I am tired of these particular WOC falling back into victim mode every time things get sticky, projecting onto others intent that is not there.
I have learned, through a long and very hard road with racism – yes, there is white on white racism, just as there is black on black and black on brown and yellow on black etc, etc – with sexual abuse and multiple generations of domestic violence and breaking free of that, that at a certain point, it doesn’t help me to be/stay/come from victim mode any longer; that in all forms of oppression, it doesn’t really stop UNTIL I/we stop identifying as the victim. That doesn’t mean to stop confronting the oppression and working to change it, but it does mean stopping holding onto the story, letting it be part of my definition of me. UNTIL I have done that, I am not free and the oppressors are still in control, still winning. But if I try to express that point of view/hard won understanding, these WOC and their clique say I am coming from privilege and am racist, that I am walking away from my part in the oppression, asking people to accept past oppression and to undergo more.
And no – I will not bend over backwards to flagellate myself and make myself a victim to these women’s demands that I negate and abuse my own humanity, to make up for historic and current racist wrongdoing. Two wrongs don’t make a right…
None of this has been about racism. It’s about ego – two women attempting to move into the arenas where they will be able to wield the maximum personal and professional power and being angry they’ve been called on lapses of professional conduct. If a white person had made these very public errors, we wouldn’t be having this storm in a tea-cup. That person would have been pilloried as having no integrity and would have been fired.
Finally, I have no patience for any of the ‘poor me’ stuff any more. You want to operate within a hierarchy of oppression (which is what you keep telling/showing me you do)? Acknowledge and deal with the problems faced by First Peoples, THEN come tell me your story.
For all of us – white, black, yellow, brown and every skin colour permutation in between – we all, every single one of us – are living in and enjoying the benefits of this land on the backs of that Original Sin – the genocide of, and land theft from, the indigenous people of this country. ALL else comes from and after that. I/we/you get up every day and enjoy whatever quality of life I/we/you have – the food you eat, the clothes you wear, the shelter you have, the education you got, the leisure you enjoy – all FIRST on the backs of the First People of this land, followed then, and only then, on the backs of slaves. You want to transact/operate in a world of hierarchy of oppression, talking about who suffered/suffers the most? Look around you – at and within the indigenous community – and tell me again who is suffering the most. How many of us – black and white – are focused on doing what can be done to right that first wrong? If as a POC, a WOC, you’re not, stop being a hypocrite – you come from privilege also.
Sahila, don’t I know you from the first go-round of trying to elect some better anti-Gates Seattle school board candidates? I know your name is familiar.
Anyway, I disagree with much of what you said. And in fact, I think women of color would much rather focus on their own concerns, like it says in this piece here: http://www.blackgirldangerous.org/2014/07/de-centering-whiteness-radical-accountability-qtpoc-community/
Just like Smoky the Bear who says “only YOU can stop forest fires,” think about how little racism poc would complain about if white people stopped being racist! If poc stopped being bigoted toward each other or stopped competing in Oppression Olympics!
We could all save a lot of time and energy.
I am a black woman and I have been a BATs admin since the first month that the group was founded. I have never been silenced by anyone in BATs and often I am asked to step in help the group see beyond their blind spots when it comes to issues of race, privilege, and discrimination, In the beginning, I will admit that the way we handled conversations on race was a mistake. We were trying to deal with a fast growing group and keep the peace so we decided to delete conversations that were divisive and did not allow us to do the work we wanted to do. Although I understand why we did it, as I reflect back I can see that this choice made us complicit in silencing the voices of teachers of color. Since those early days we have tried to allow more of these conversations but it is difficult because we have so many members who do not share our core views and this can lead to contention and even more problems.
Becoming aware of how race and racism affect all our daily lives is a process. I grew up in an all white suburban community and I used to believe that if we ignored race racism would go away. As I got older I realized that no one could ignore my black skin and I should not want them to. But this took years for me to realize and I am a black person! If we expect white people, especially teachers, to change their views on race over night then we have set ourselves up to fail. I wish all teachers would develop cultural competence, understand how privilege works, and abandon any beliefs in a colorblind society, but the fact is there are teachers who prefer to be colorblind and even some who are flat out racist. BATs has never tolerated racist statements and now we are working to educate members who still use colorblind language and victim blaming in our group. BATs is also working to welcome conversations on race and inequity into the group in a way that gives voices to teacher of all colors who want to discuss these issues without alienating those who feel as though these conversations are an attack on them.
I have studied race and racism and taught courses on diversity and I am committed to social justice education for all. But I, cannot force every person who joins our group to feel the same way. What I can do is educate them and hope that they learn something. And that is what all of the BATs founders, managers, and admins do every day, Do we make mistakes? Of course we do but we are willing to learn from those mistakes.
I tried to catch up on exactly what happened between Sabrina, Melinda, and Bonnie. The best I can tell from reading the twitter feed is that Bonnie felt Melinda was attacking BATs who were at NEA on Twitter and asked her why as a person paid by NEA using members dues would she attack another member. This quickly escalated with friends of Bonnie and friends of Melinda (including Sabrina) chiming in to support their friends. Other people who might be members of BATs made insensitive comments to Sabrina and Melinda but Bonnie was also attacked by supporters of them. Bonnie felt as though calling her a light skinned Latina was an insult. And although Sabrina thought she was pointing out the truth, the fact is that a light skinned Latina experiences racism because of her light skin. She might have skin privilege when dealing with white people who assumes she is one of them, she also has to deal with other Latinos who will not accept her because of her light skin. I don’t understand how any women of color who understands how race and racism work do not see how this can be a problem. Latino’s have a long history of colorism just like African Americans do. We should all be aware how we address other women of color and not just assume that because she is light skinned she doesn’t have to deal with race and racism.
Sabrina felt attacked because someone, another BAT called her a media whore. This was denounced by one of the BATs founders and an apology was given from the person who said this. If that statement was made in BATs group you can trust and believe that it would have been deleted and the admins would have considered banning that person. But he said it on his own twitter page and is not a BAT admin so all we could do is denounce what he said and demand that he apologize. We did and he did. If you do not accept his apology that’s fine. But Mark Naison demanded that he apologized.
I appreciate this CALL IN because I believe BATs has been unfairly categorized as a racist group that silences people of color. I read Stephanie Rivera’s blog and I have nothing but respect for Stephanie and the work she does, but those comments were not representative of the group. They were individual members who lack the cultural competence to understand why a black man might feel as though we need more black teachers. But those are the voices of a few members not the group. I remember after the Trayvon Martin verdict being touched by how many BATs quickly struck down any member who tried to defend George Zimmerman or blame Martin for his on death. There were a few comments that made me sick to my stomach, but overall there were more that were supportive or calling out this blatant case of racial profiling that lead to the death of an innocent young man.
I understand why there are some people out there who feel as though BATs is not doing the best job they can. Many people were banned from the group because they argued with admins and founders. I get that people want to be able to say what they want in our group and not be stopped, but this is not an open democracy. It’s a secret FB group. We do not allow people to come the page and say whatever they want. We do not all teacher bashing, student bashing, parent bashing or admin bashing. We do not allow racist, sexist, homophobic, and other insulting comments. We do not allow members to disparage each other of their political views. This has been an amazing work in progress. And I committed to helping BATs continue to evolve into a powerful organization that supports all teachers and fights for the preservation of public education. So count me IN!
-^o^
Denisha,
I had meant to reply to you earlier, as your thoughtful response deserved an equally thoughtful one from me. I appreciate that you’re “on the inside” of BATs and doing the work of bringing intersectionality to bear in more and more places.
I also appreciate your honesty here, in saying this:
“In the beginning, I will admit that the way we handled conversations on race was a mistake. We were trying to deal with a fast growing group and keep the peace so we decided to delete conversations that were divisive and did not allow us to do the work we wanted to do. Although I understand why we did it, as I reflect back I can see that this choice made us complicit in silencing the voices of teachers of color. Since those early days we have tried to allow more of these conversations but it is difficult because we have so many members who do not share our core views and this can lead to contention and even more problems.”
You went through a fast learning curve and are not social media professionals. The depth of response probably surprised you all. However, as someone who has some experience in the social web and online community engagement, maybe it’s time to consider if growth for growth’s sake is enabling you to do the advocacy you want, or if greater focus and mission is worth the tradeoff of alienating a small percentage of current people who identify as BATs.
You say:
“I wish all teachers would develop cultural competence, understand how privilege works, and abandon any beliefs in a colorblind society, but the fact is there are teachers who prefer to be colorblind and even some who are flat out racist.”
But it seems to me that with this entering year’s kindergarten class the first to be majority-minority across the entire nation, that cultural competency is a bare minimum requirement alongside understanding the social, emotional, and cognitive development of children. There’s no better time for the teachers we have now to get up to speed with cultural competence if they haven’t before, and I suspect that most experienced teachers already have a deep reservoir of experience in dealing with a wide range of children from non-white cultures and might welcome the opportunity to embrace new language that codifies and refines that depth of experience.
To imagine that some teachers prefer to go on with unreconstructed views about race, gender identity, class, ethnicity and so on is troubling from the student and family perspective. Why isn’t cultural competency an automatic part of every teacher credentialing program — and perhaps a part of the selection/intake process? We hear so often about the interviews Finland’s education schools conduct with prospective teachers prior to acceptance to sought-after education programs. Maybe we agree in that demonstrating a certain baseline of cultural competency should be required if teacher credentialing programs currently lack this, and that ongoing professional development should enable the acquisition of these skills asap.
We both realize how education systems can be machines that reproduce the broken existing social order OR places where true self-actualization and liberation through education can occur. I take the BATs at their word that they are invested in elimination of CCSS, high-stakes testing, and narrowing of the curriculum for social justice reasons. But displaying cultural competency and fostering it among youth is increasingly urgent for the new demographic of schoolchildren who are already in our classrooms today; letting it fall by the wayside would be to risk reproducing the broken social order that works against social justice goals.
Thank you again for reaching out. I’m glad to continue this discussion with you and everyone else who has taken the time to comment.
–Cynthia
Thank you for your thoughtful response. As a teacher educator I agree wholeheartedly that all teacher education programs must be steeped in cultural competency training but I also know that, that is not the reality. I taught in a Midwestern predominantly white university and for your years another professor had tried to get the state to add cultural competency as a required standard for all teacher education programs and for years they refused. We offered one required course on teaching in a pluralistic society, which I taught but that was all the students got. Few students wanted to even take the class but it was a requirement. Most of them did not want to address issues of race, class, privilege, oppression, and other difficult subjects. My job was to make them see how these issues would be central in their ability to teach all children.
Now I teach at an HBCU and the mission of our School of Education is steeped in a social justice commitment to stop abusing communities of color through research that consistently defines them in a negative lens. It’s one of the reasons why I love my job because we are committed to developing teachers that are culturally competent.
Given the changes in the demographics of school children and the fact that the teaching profession remains mostly white, we must make cultural competence training for all teachers a requirement. But it must go beyond one course one semester. Teachers need constant professional development and support so that they can make their classrooms a space where all children feel valued and appreciated. But given our society’s insane focus on test scores and accountability, it is difficult to argue that STEM and CCSS are not going to make educating children who do not look like you or come from where you come from any easier. And I believe some teachers resist this type of work because they feel it is just one more thing they have to do instead of viewing it as something every teacher should do.
I have met many teachers through BATs who are committed to social justice and being culturally competent. They are the ones whose voices we need to hear because they are doing the work. Unfortunately they get drowned out by the small minority who is resistant to change. BATs is doing everything they can to help all of our members understand the need to embrace cultural diversity into their classrooms, but it is a process and will take time.
Thank you again for this thoughtful dialogue.
Denisha
I love this: “And then we talk about it. We talk about it together, like people who genuinely care about each other.” The language of care and desire to really listen and communicate can be difficult for some people, but we as a community must insist on civility from ourselves and others in all communications. These standards should be clear and unquestioned, adults should be able to debate issues and even disagree without resorting to insults of any kind. I’m not only Twitter and I’ve only just found out about this past weekends’ debacle, but still I feel shame over it. Healing must begin and it must begin with apologies. We must turn to one another with genuine care and concern, with open ears and faces, ready to do the work on ourselves and our organizations.
Thank you, Shawna. That’s one of my favorite parts of the “calling in” piece as well. Anger is understandable and so is the desire to trash in the process of “calling out,” but among allies and coalition members (and family and friends) we should think twice about who we consider disposable.
There’s humility in thinking that one day it’ll be my turn to make a mistake and be called out for it. How does that process become something I learn from as opposed to one that hardens me to necessary evolution?
–Cynthia
Can you state your name? This post is signed as “Admin”. Not sure who wrote this.
Hi Martha,
I changed the post to reflect my name and that I wrote it.
Thanks for pointing out the omission.
–Cynthia