Racial Injustice Education

Teaching about culture is one of the primary goals of teaching a foreign language. As language accompanies culture, so does cultural education accompany language acquisition. Tognozzi (2010) claims that “[f]or students to increase their cultural knowledge, teachers must introduce students to the way of life in the target culture, including values and attitudes” (ibid., p. 70). The way of life in the target culture, values and attitudes include the discrimination of certain groups, meaning that while teaching an English class, the target cultures are mainly the United Kingdom, the United States of America, Canada and Australia. There is no doubt that the USA has a considerable history of racism, some of which is still present, and it is being brought to attention through various movements, the most prevalent of all being the Black Lives Matter movement.

17 It is not only the social customs of culture that must be considered, but also how these can be interpreted and understood in meaningful ways. […] As students and instructors alike come to better understand cultural constructs and to grasp more fully the social relevance of cultural markers, the opportunities for classroom enrichment begin to multiply. Students will learn factual knowledge but should also learn about the "hows" and "whys" of culture.

(Tognazzi, 2010, p.70) The inclusion of education about racial injustice is extremely important, especially when hoping the younger generations will deal with said issues in a more qualified manner and be more accepting of all people than the past generations. As we teach cultural acceptance and spread awareness of societies different to ours, we create a future that is tolerant and welcoming to foreign cultures.

Teaching race and racial injustice brings its own problems and does not come without challenges. Harbin (2019) states that “it is [not] possible to teach race and racism without conflict or confusion, or without emotional or intellectual discord” (ibid., p. 3).

As the topic of racism is by itself difficult and complex, bearing the history of slavery, genocide, lack of human rights and discrimination, teaching about it induces emotional responses from students as well as teachers. “Much can be learned in moments of confusion and conflict, an instructor can and should never fully avoid the difficulties of teaching racial issues” (ibid.). By being emotionally invested in the topic, students develop interest and motivation, which then furthermore aids in developing critical thinking and recognition of injustices. Avoiding any difficulties not only harms the teaching process, but could potentially teach students to avoid and ignore any discussion about challenging and difficult topics in their future lives.

No matter the teaching method we select when we want to discuss racial issues in class, there are certain preconceptions we have to be aware of. Every student comes to the classroom with their own ideas and beliefs of race and racial injustice, ranging from being a member of a segregated group, or in the worst-case scenario being aware or unaware of themselves having racial prejudice.

For instance, students may believe race is a fixed biological concept or subscribe to monolithic characterizations of racial groups. Students also may believe race

18 demands merely a focus on Otherness, or developing cultural literacies about non-white groups, rather than on race relations and studies of racial privilege, including the scholarship on whiteness. Finally, students may subscribe to individualist interpretations of racism that focus on individual manifestations of racial prejudice or discrimination rather than the complex institutional, cultural, and macro-social processes that can create racial inequality and injustice behind the backs of well-meaning individuals.

(Kandaswamy, 2007 and Bonilla-Silva, 1997 as referenced in Harbin, 2019, p. 5).

Facing students with racial injustice that surrounds them personally as well as institutionally and culturally, may make students uncomfortable while being forced with the reality they might have ignored, avoided or were the target of. This may “generate feelings of trauma and resentment, guilt, and pride” (ibid., p. 7). When confronting students with ongoing racism, they may resort to seeing themselves as bystanders who do not get involved, claiming that “success is a matter of mere effort” and thus either insinuating that the discriminated groups brought the problem onto themselves, or assuming only extreme racists are the problem, or believing that racism is a “regional problem” (ibid., p. 6). Due to these feelings, beliefs and opinions, teachers may not know how to intervene when these opinions do emerge during the classroom discussions (ibid., p. 7).

Harbin suggests four principles for course planning around topics of race, racism, and racial justice to help teachers deal with emotional reactions, unjustified blaming, guilt, trauma and consistently create an overall better understanding of the problem.

Anticipating preconceptions

“Instructors must anticipate preconceptions and ideologies students may hold about race and proactively structure assignments” (Harbin, 2019, p. 9). Many students come to class with preconceptions about race, some even harboring negative feelings towards other races, and as teachers, we have to be prepared to deal with students not wanting to accept the topic of racial injustice. As seen from the survey, some students even believe teaching about racial issues is “political propaganda” and teachers trying to impose their beliefs on students. This thinking has to be approached carefully, as students can perceive any blame as an “attack” and it, therefore, nullifies

19 the learning process. “Addressing misconceptions proactively and in an intentional order is more likely, both to motivate student learning, and to transform their racial preconceptions, thus making them more receptive to critical race studies” (ibid.).

Selecting diverse course materials

Diverse course materials can aid the teaching process, as well as help to develop critical thinking when it comes to racial problems and injustice. By focusing not only on lecturing, but instead choosing materials that range from films, stories, (auto)biographies, documentaries, interviews and even conversations with real people who can illuminate the issues by sharing their own experiences, helps students to understand the topic more clearly. By using diverse materials, students can see that racial injustice is not only something that is happening elsewhere but that it is also present in their lives even though they may not be aware of it (ibid., p. 10).

Concept-based curriculum

Creating a concept-based curriculum can help students to acquire the topic of racial injustice in a broader sense. “The concept-centered model uses key ideas such as colonialism, prejudice, and discrimination to examine broader social processes and understandings of the socio-historical significance of race and ethnicity” (Downey and Torrecilha, 1994 as references in Harbin, 2019, p. 10). Using this model, the teacher presents the topic of racism and racial injustice as a broad spectrum of issues.

Therefore, the students do not only view racism as a historical occurrence, or as police violence, or pay-gap between the races, etc., but view racism also as an overall problem of society and institutions, which is still excessively present in the world (ibid.).

Diverse forms of assessment

When assessing the knowledge of racial injustice and discrimination, it is best to use various assessment methods. Harbin suggests self and peer reflections for an objective assessment, which will in turn help students to express their views and beliefs on racial issues, develop their critical thinking and grasp the understanding of how to accept others’ opinions, beliefs and views, even when they might not fully agree with them (ibid., p. 11).

No matter what kind of teaching method the teacher decides to implement, students – regardless of their belief and background – need to feel safe and respected. Harbin

20 (2019) emphasizes how important it is to lead respectful and conflict-free lessons to their best abilities. Teachers are required to intervene whenever a conflict begins to arise that would threaten the safety or dehumanization of other students or other people in general. Some students were raised to believe certain misconceptions and stereotypes about different races (e.g., “Black people are more violent”), making it the job of the teacher to address these misconceptions and educate students to be accepting and non-judgmental. Whenever a student is targeting other races, an intervention is needed, because failing to address this violence, whether it be verbal or physical, will let students know that the teacher will not uphold what they teach. The teacher has to “maintain norms of civility and cope with the social challenges that difficult topics present” (ibid., p. 17). For an adequate education on racism and racial injustice, teachers need to be trusted and respectful, as well as careful and vigilant, prepared to intervene at conflicts, emotions and trauma, otherwise, their students will not engage in the discussions and participate during the lessons.