"Anti-racist work means acknowledging that racist beliefs and structures are pervasive in all aspects of our lives... Those beliefs and structures don’t just exist in primarily white/and or privileged institutions—they thrive there." https://www.tolerance.org/magazine/all-students-need-antiracism-education via @biblio_phile 1/

I keep rereading this piece and the sentence above in particular. Most of my school and teaching career has been spent in predominantly white and very privileged institutions. I grew up being one of a handful of Black students at school and an even rarer bird as Black faculty. 2/

For a long time, I think I felt special. I thought maybe I was truly exceptional. I "got in" but never understood that the point of those elite schools was to build networks for the future. I thought I was there to work hard and prove that I belonged. cc: @cathocon 3/

Yes, I received a fine education with some positive highlights but I was not at all clued in to the social ladders being climbed and merged and made to order among my privileged white peers whose families built and sponsored these institutions. 4/

I stood watching while fashioning my own plans for building a life in Europe, cut off from most of the connections I might have made in those years. Europe wasn't a premeditated step but when I finally chose it, I never looked to return stateside. 5/

At any rate, all those institutions and their messaging about merit, achievement, and success. They talked about fairness but not equity. Diversity was held up as desirable but not as tool to dismantle the existing social order. I took this all in. But I did not question it. 6/

The racist ideas that thrive in such privileged, majority white enclaves are pernicious and persistent. For ages I could not see it that way. I learned to consider myself lucky and to keep any complaints to myself. To usher sincere antiracist action into these spaces... 7/

...is much more than a notion. I need to be a part of the process while attending to my personal reckoning. Folks have been demanding this of these institutions for a long time, yet here we are in 2020, finally saying *now* is the time. *sigh* 8/

I welcome all the developing white antiracists who will champion equity in their predominantly white institutions and communities; who will teach their children that antiracism is more than 'find a Black or brown friend.' Really. I'm ready. 9/9