Open Discussion Forum

  • 1.  Let's talk about whiteness in ECE

    Posted 10-19-2019 02:42 PM
    Hi everyone,
    Here are a few final questions we could talk about in the lead up to Ijumaa's webinar "Let's Talk About Whiteness in ECE"  
    • Who taught you about positive racial identity when you were young, either explicitly or through how they moved in the world? 
    • If you are white, did you have models of positive white racial identity when you were growing up?
    in response to the first question I think about my mother's friend Cleo.  She had moved to our northern Wisconsin town to attend college and was one of the first black women I knew who talked openly and comfortably about race.  It made a huge impact on me. 
    Later, I began to see my parent's  and older sibling's efforts to move against racism as a role model for how to be white in a positive way in  the world.  I remember when I was an older teen, my dad came home from a meeting that had been attended by a group called something like "equal rights for all" .  The title sounds great, but it was a group working to deny treaty rights to Anishinaabe (also known as Chippewa) tribes in the area.  Everyone seemed to be in agreement with this group, so finally my Dad stood up and said, "It sounds like everyone here is in agreement with this policy.  If that is true, I need to leave the group, as I cannot be a part of this".  When he did that, the majority of the group stood with him, saying that they couldn't be a part of it either.  I had never thought of my father as an activist and he wasn't- but that day he stood up in a meaningful way.  I saw him in a new way when he came home to tell us about it.  Since then I've seen that integrity as a white man as a part of my heritage and tried to live up to it.  
    I hope others will share their stories here as well.  I'd love to hear about positive ways to think about white racial identity that aren't based in superiority.

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    [Meg] [Thomas]
    [Early childhood consultant
    Co-facilitator for Diversity and Equity Interest Forum
    [St Paul ] [MN]
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  • 2.  RE: Let's talk about whiteness in ECE

    Posted 10-20-2019 11:06 AM
    Could you please provide the registration information for this event? Thank you!

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    Jane Zink
    Leadership Director
    Idaho AEYC
    Boise ID
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  • 3.  RE: Let's talk about whiteness in ECE

    Posted 10-20-2019 11:18 AM
    Hi Jane,
    Here's the link to the on-line sign up sheet.  We're not posting the GoToMeeting link here because another interest forum had problems with disruptions after doing that.  

    https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeTQ8waoxCbUYi8xpq3hUV9-AxpxboYjXXJ4ZjlqcEI-905Og/viewform?usp=sf_link



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    [Meg] [Thomas]
    [Early childhood consultant
    Co-facilitator for Diversity and Equity Interest Forum
    [St Paul ] [MN]
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  • 4.  RE: Let's talk about whiteness in ECE

    Posted 10-20-2019 10:24 PM

    Hello Margaret and all,
    I hope this finds you well. My parents were the first who instilled in me and my siblings a positive self identity and a sense of pride. I can remember my parents kept us home to celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday before it was a holiday. We were (my self and siblings) taught to take pride in being Black and not to let anyone make us feel anything different. 

    Look forward to hearing other experiences,
    Nicole



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    Nicole Porter
    Fairfield CA
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