#educolor Calling *IN* All Anti-Racist, Anti-Sexist BATs: Your Voices and Actions Are Needed
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 inserves 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 #educolor Calling *IN* All Anti-Racist, Anti-Sexist BATs: Your Voices and Actions Are Needed: