WEBVTT - Beyond Back to Normal 0:00:11.840 --> 0:00:15.080 Greetings and welcome to wok a F with me Danielle Moody. 0:00:15.240 --> 0:00:18.280 This week on my Patreon, I shared conversations that examined 0:00:18.280 --> 0:00:20.480 how we can reverse the damage that the last four 0:00:20.560 --> 0:00:22.919 years have done on our country and what can be 0:00:22.960 --> 0:00:25.920 done to create a better future for everybody. Today, I'm 0:00:25.960 --> 0:00:29.000 bringing you thoughtful taste from two of those interviews, looking 0:00:29.040 --> 0:00:32.199 at the structural inequities in the public school system and 0:00:32.280 --> 0:00:36.440 the continued fight for lgbtqequality. As always, to hear these 0:00:36.479 --> 0:00:40.000 full discussions and get full one hour shows every single week, 0:00:40.280 --> 0:00:42.800 head over to patreon dot com, slash woke a F 0:00:42.960 --> 0:00:45.640 and subscribe For now. Take a listen to my talk 0:00:45.640 --> 0:00:50.080 with educational scholar Bree Pickhour, author of Reading, Writing and Racism, 0:00:50.159 --> 0:00:54.200 about how teaching race evasiveness to educators only deepens the 0:00:54.320 --> 0:00:59.520 racial divide in our schools. What kind of pushback do 0:00:59.600 --> 0:01:03.200 you yet when you're telling people like, oh, we're doing 0:01:03.200 --> 0:01:06.560 this work, but we have to undo this work in 0:01:06.600 --> 0:01:09.840 our classrooms, Like it isn't just a you know, an 0:01:09.880 --> 0:01:13.080 exercise in like growth in our democracy, but it's like, 0:01:13.240 --> 0:01:17.040 how do we do that? I'm so glad to hear 0:01:17.120 --> 0:01:19.520 that that was your experience because it certainly isn't the 0:01:19.560 --> 0:01:23.559 norm in teacher education programs. I think most teacher educators 0:01:23.600 --> 0:01:28.160 consider themselves specialists in the subject area that they're preparing 0:01:28.200 --> 0:01:32.680 people to teach. So I'm elementary education, my specialty of 0:01:32.800 --> 0:01:35.639 social study, so that's what I'm supposed to prepare people 0:01:35.680 --> 0:01:40.040 to do. Instead of thinking about that we are preparing 0:01:40.400 --> 0:01:42.920 a whole person that is going to be sitting in 0:01:42.959 --> 0:01:46.160 front of a whole room full of people, and that 0:01:46.360 --> 0:01:50.600 what teachers teach is not just their subject matter. We 0:01:50.720 --> 0:01:54.680 teach our beliefs, and so if we're not giving our 0:01:54.920 --> 0:01:58.160 future teachers an opportunity to unpack what it is that 0:01:58.200 --> 0:02:02.560 they believe, particularly around race, then they're going to go 0:02:02.640 --> 0:02:08.440 in and teach mainstream, dominant racial ideology to their students. 0:02:08.520 --> 0:02:10.959 And that's what the first part of my book is about, 0:02:11.160 --> 0:02:15.040 is the kind of racist curriculum that is going viral 0:02:15.240 --> 0:02:19.320 right now that is sort of seen as one off 0:02:19.960 --> 0:02:24.920 bad teachers or bad apples, but that really point to 0:02:25.000 --> 0:02:30.640 the permanence of racism and education because, like most of society, 0:02:30.800 --> 0:02:34.919 teachers have not necessarily done that deep work to understand 0:02:36.360 --> 0:02:38.320 they're the way that they think about race, the way 0:02:38.360 --> 0:02:43.519 that they think about difference. You know, I've often believed, 0:02:43.639 --> 0:02:47.560 you know, we did such a grave disservice to everyone, 0:02:47.720 --> 0:02:52.080 not like not just teachers when we said, oh, you know, 0:02:52.480 --> 0:02:56.639 be blind to race, right, like, let's let's let's ignore it, 0:02:56.720 --> 0:03:00.600 let's tolerate it. Right. I grew up in a schooling 0:03:00.639 --> 0:03:03.440 system that was ninety six percent white. I was the 0:03:03.480 --> 0:03:06.960 only black kid most of the time in my classes, 0:03:07.560 --> 0:03:14.079 and that wasn't acknowledged. Andy by the not acknowledging it, 0:03:14.080 --> 0:03:17.320 it was like it was a way to basically say, 0:03:17.400 --> 0:03:20.400 you need to assimilate, right like you are supposed to 0:03:20.480 --> 0:03:24.359 assimilate to be like everybody else, and that the uniqueness 0:03:24.360 --> 0:03:28.000 and the experiences that you're bringing into this place, we 0:03:28.120 --> 0:03:32.680 don't care. Yeah. Yeah, you know for teachers that sort 0:03:32.680 --> 0:03:35.240 of with pride have that I don't see a color. 0:03:35.360 --> 0:03:38.280 I see blue, purple, yellow. You know, it's really based 0:03:38.320 --> 0:03:42.640 in a deficit notion of people of color when you 0:03:42.680 --> 0:03:46.080 hear white teachers say that, because what they're saying is 0:03:46.360 --> 0:03:50.240 if I acknowledge your race, then there's something negative that 0:03:50.320 --> 0:03:53.880 I'm doing. There's some reason why I'm not supposed to 0:03:53.920 --> 0:03:56.119 notice it. And if I'm not supposed to notice it, 0:03:56.120 --> 0:03:59.000 it must be because there's something wrong with it, and 0:03:59.080 --> 0:04:01.960 so there's this fear that really, what I think is 0:04:02.000 --> 0:04:05.000 underneath that is a fear of being called racist. You know, 0:04:05.960 --> 0:04:08.839 that's the fear underneath a lot of white teachers, and 0:04:08.920 --> 0:04:16.279 so they espouse this race evasive kind of mentality. I've 0:04:16.279 --> 0:04:18.840 been moving away from color blind because I'm trying to 0:04:18.880 --> 0:04:21.880 move away, I know, and I actually when you, I know, 0:04:22.000 --> 0:04:26.080 and when you just said race a vase, I'm like, oh, 0:04:26.120 --> 0:04:28.720 that's a better term, right. Yeah, we've been working on 0:04:28.760 --> 0:04:30.840 that one in the field for a while. But I 0:04:30.880 --> 0:04:35.599 think that it's it's really what's underneath that is deficit 0:04:35.920 --> 0:04:39.240 understandings about race. I had a student once who was like, well, 0:04:39.279 --> 0:04:42.039 it's not that I don't want to acknowledge their race, 0:04:42.320 --> 0:04:44.479 but I also, you know, I don't want to be 0:04:44.520 --> 0:04:47.640 making assumptions. It's like, what is the assumption you're afraid 0:04:47.680 --> 0:04:51.040 that you're making. What was the assumption that they were 0:04:51.080 --> 0:04:53.840 afraid that they were making. Well, it was actually very 0:04:53.880 --> 0:04:57.359 confusing when she actually started to talk about when she 0:04:57.440 --> 0:04:59.600 started to get into it, she had a lot of 0:05:00.040 --> 0:05:03.240 confusion around race period. I Mean, there's so much right 0:05:03.279 --> 0:05:06.719 beneath the surface, you know, she started talking about how, well, 0:05:06.720 --> 0:05:10.960 if she gets a tan, then she's darker than some 0:05:11.040 --> 0:05:14.840 of her students, and so I think she was wondering 0:05:14.880 --> 0:05:18.159 if that if she's still white. I mean it was Look, 0:05:18.680 --> 0:05:23.920 this stuff is unexamined and it's well and so if 0:05:23.960 --> 0:05:26.480 we're not giving them a place to talk about this, 0:05:27.000 --> 0:05:30.680 then the classroom is the place where they're experimenting, and 0:05:30.880 --> 0:05:33.560 we see the results of what that looks like when 0:05:33.600 --> 0:05:36.839 we see these, you know, pieces of curriculum that are 0:05:37.160 --> 0:05:39.840 floating around it. You know, as recent as three days ago, 0:05:40.000 --> 0:05:44.560 there was a curriculum out of Wisconsin around I think 0:05:44.600 --> 0:05:49.239 the words were something like something about an escaped slave yep, 0:05:49.279 --> 0:05:52.599 and how would you how I could? I like, for 0:05:52.720 --> 0:05:56.800 the life of me breathe When these stories come out, 0:05:57.200 --> 0:06:00.880 I'm like, how how I know that each sit down 0:06:01.080 --> 0:06:04.240 and they plan out their week, they plan out their unit, 0:06:04.480 --> 0:06:07.520 and I'm thinking to myself, how how does something like 0:06:07.640 --> 0:06:10.520 that happen? And that's where this book came out of, 0:06:10.680 --> 0:06:14.320 really was I was just I started collecting these examples 0:06:14.360 --> 0:06:17.760 like this because I have students, white students who don't 0:06:17.800 --> 0:06:21.279 necessarily believe that racism is still a problem, at least 0:06:21.360 --> 0:06:27.120 pre forty fifth president, I was like pre insurrection and 0:06:27.680 --> 0:06:29.560 you know, this sort of post racial. So I had 0:06:29.600 --> 0:06:33.960 started collecting these examples to show no, this actually is 0:06:34.279 --> 0:06:37.719 a problem. And so after some point it got beyond 0:06:37.800 --> 0:06:41.920 the like shock value and the disturbing value of them, 0:06:41.960 --> 0:06:46.839 and I really started to question, you know, these aren't anomalies, 0:06:47.040 --> 0:06:50.480 These aren't going anywhere, and so what is their function? 0:06:51.000 --> 0:06:56.400 How are these examples actually functioning to a maintain white 0:06:56.400 --> 0:07:03.400 supremacy and be teach the next generation dominant ideology without 0:07:03.440 --> 0:07:07.080 them necessarily even knowing the history. How is it still 0:07:07.120 --> 0:07:12.200 teaching the mainstream ideas around race to the next generation. 0:07:12.320 --> 0:07:15.800 How is it reinvesting in whiteness? And so that's really 0:07:15.840 --> 0:07:20.120 where the book started, was to analyze these examples to 0:07:20.200 --> 0:07:24.120 move past the like disturbing shock value, to see that 0:07:24.200 --> 0:07:26.880 these actually do have a purpose, and their purpose is 0:07:26.880 --> 0:07:34.760 to maintain racial hierarchies. My conversation with Bree resonated with 0:07:34.840 --> 0:07:37.960 me for days after we talked, so I definitely recommend 0:07:37.960 --> 0:07:41.120 taking a listen to the entire conversation. Just five dollars 0:07:41.160 --> 0:07:43.680 gets you access to a growing library of hundreds of 0:07:43.680 --> 0:07:46.880 shows at patreon dot com. Slash woke f with five 0:07:47.000 --> 0:07:50.360 new episodes going up every single week. Another discussion I 0:07:50.440 --> 0:07:53.560 found residence in was with my friend Kiera Johnson, who 0:07:53.600 --> 0:07:57.160 is the new executive director of the National LGBTQ Task Force. 0:07:57.280 --> 0:08:00.560 We'll jump into this conversation with me asking Kiera direction 0:08:00.640 --> 0:08:03.760 she is guiding the task force in after four disastrous 0:08:03.880 --> 0:08:08.480 years of anti LGBTQ policy from the previous heinous administration. 0:08:10.960 --> 0:08:13.480 I'm trying to move away from Trump, but it seems 0:08:13.480 --> 0:08:16.040 like I'm never going to be able to. So, you know, 0:08:16.080 --> 0:08:20.200 what are some of the things entering into this position 0:08:20.320 --> 0:08:23.440 now that you've had to deal with, you know, over 0:08:23.480 --> 0:08:25.720 the last four years. The last four years of the 0:08:25.720 --> 0:08:30.320 Trump administration have been traumatic for so many marginalized communities, 0:08:30.520 --> 0:08:34.880 but particularly for the LGBTQ community. We were the target 0:08:34.920 --> 0:08:38.480 from the beginning, right it was like inauguration in twenty 0:08:38.520 --> 0:08:41.440 seventeen and then boom, right like, we're going to let 0:08:41.480 --> 0:08:43.680 you know exactly what we think about you. We're going 0:08:43.720 --> 0:08:46.320 to remove you from the website right from the White House. 0:08:46.360 --> 0:08:50.200 We're going to you know, rescind protections for LGBTQ youth 0:08:50.240 --> 0:08:53.839 in school. We're going to ban transgender people from the military. 0:08:54.040 --> 0:08:57.440 We're going to take away, you know, any right right 0:08:57.559 --> 0:09:00.800 that had been one we're rolling back. So what are 0:09:00.840 --> 0:09:05.040 some of the things, like the big tackle things that 0:09:05.080 --> 0:09:07.280 came out of the last four years that you're focused 0:09:07.280 --> 0:09:11.560 on now in terms of repair. Yeah, I mean, and 0:09:11.720 --> 0:09:13.880 you named a you know a lot of those things, 0:09:13.880 --> 0:09:20.520 and I think the overarching impact of that is fear 0:09:21.200 --> 0:09:26.040 right depression a whole. You know, I think about people 0:09:26.200 --> 0:09:29.480 like young people who were fourteen years old when he 0:09:29.640 --> 0:09:34.600 came into office, that were perpetually hearing messages that you're 0:09:34.760 --> 0:09:39.760 not human, you don't deserve civil rights, It is okay 0:09:39.800 --> 0:09:43.840 to bully you because you are, you know, you are 0:09:43.960 --> 0:09:50.120 undeserving right of compassion and joy and particularly to participate 0:09:50.440 --> 0:09:54.199 in community and society. And so I mean, honestly, one 0:09:54.240 --> 0:09:59.600 of the big things you're tackling is hopelessness rightful. I mean, 0:10:00.080 --> 0:10:03.960 it was literally sanctioned by the state where you could 0:10:04.040 --> 0:10:09.120 harass and jail trans black women, right like. It was 0:10:09.160 --> 0:10:11.760 just it was like the new norm of the land. 0:10:12.280 --> 0:10:14.280 And so you know, those are the things we're trying 0:10:14.320 --> 0:10:18.360 to undo while also you know, working to be proactive 0:10:18.679 --> 0:10:21.720 in our campaigns and actions. So you know, it was 0:10:21.800 --> 0:10:25.640 really heartening, right to see the repeal of the ban 0:10:25.760 --> 0:10:28.480 of transgender folks in the militancy. You know, one of 0:10:28.480 --> 0:10:31.120 the questions that has been sitting with me is does 0:10:31.160 --> 0:10:36.199 that also mean that people who were discharged do they 0:10:36.240 --> 0:10:38.880 now have access to their pensions? It's like the trickle 0:10:38.960 --> 0:10:42.520 down effect, right, they don't necessarily need or want to 0:10:42.559 --> 0:10:47.079 be reinstated, but do they have access to VA benefits now? Right? So, 0:10:47.160 --> 0:10:49.080 you know, I think we're still trying to figure those 0:10:49.120 --> 0:10:52.800 things out, and I do want to see and I'm 0:10:52.840 --> 0:10:55.160 hopeful that the Biden administration is going to take some 0:10:55.320 --> 0:10:59.920 real concrete action to eradicate this violence against trans women. 0:11:00.080 --> 0:11:03.120 I mean, it's a real epidemic in our country right now. 0:11:03.679 --> 0:11:07.679 And you know, every year, Kia, the numbers are worse 0:11:08.120 --> 0:11:11.600 than the year before, and you know, it is so 0:11:13.240 --> 0:11:18.040 the word disheartening doesn't even begin to describe what is happening. 0:11:18.440 --> 0:11:21.000 Right That to leave your house as a black trans 0:11:21.040 --> 0:11:24.360 woman is in fact taking your life in your own hands, 0:11:24.520 --> 0:11:29.560 you know, Like we have lost so many stalwarts of 0:11:29.600 --> 0:11:32.480 our community as well as those that just are just 0:11:32.520 --> 0:11:34.920 trying to live their life, like just trying to exist. 0:11:35.800 --> 0:11:38.400 And I don't think that we talk about that enough. Yeah, 0:11:38.440 --> 0:11:40.800 And so I think that that should be of top 0:11:40.840 --> 0:11:44.280 of mind for the new administration. Well, and it's just 0:11:44.320 --> 0:11:48.280 a restoration of our humanity, right, like a simple is. 0:11:48.520 --> 0:11:51.200 It's as simple as that. And one of the things 0:11:51.880 --> 0:11:54.679 you know, the movement and the task words in particulars 0:11:54.920 --> 0:11:58.920 is working to further right now, is ensuring federal protections 0:11:59.160 --> 0:12:02.160 right for lgb TQ people. I think a lot of 0:12:02.200 --> 0:12:07.360 folks you know around the country don't know that discrimination 0:12:07.440 --> 0:12:11.640 is still legal based on sexual orientation and gender identity. 0:12:12.000 --> 0:12:14.559 People can be kicked out of housing, right like people 0:12:14.559 --> 0:12:17.280 can be denied healthcare. They can still have their children 0:12:17.360 --> 0:12:20.559 taken away, turned away from a church when that's your 0:12:20.600 --> 0:12:23.360 place of worship, and it's a matter of life and 0:12:23.480 --> 0:12:27.040 death for a lot of people, right. And it's time. 0:12:27.960 --> 0:12:33.360 It's time that we own and acknowledge LGBTQ people as 0:12:33.520 --> 0:12:38.319 full humans deserving of civil and human rights. And it's 0:12:38.360 --> 0:12:42.320 exciting because I think this is the first time in 0:12:42.400 --> 0:12:45.960 recent history where it feels like that might actually be possible, 0:12:46.320 --> 0:12:49.280 right and definitely in the last four and a half years, 0:12:49.360 --> 0:12:53.760 it's the first time I think hope outweighs the fear 0:12:54.200 --> 0:13:02.200 right that people have about what's possible We've got a 0:13:02.200 --> 0:13:04.600 lot of work ahead of us, folks, and it's intelligent, 0:13:04.720 --> 0:13:07.800 vocal leaders like Bree and Kiera who will guide us 0:13:07.800 --> 0:13:10.840 through this turbulent moment in our nation's history. We need 0:13:10.880 --> 0:13:13.959 to stand strong together and fight for what's right and hopefully, 0:13:14.120 --> 0:13:17.800 hopefully we will not just get back to normal, but 0:13:17.920 --> 0:13:20.920 create a better society for ourselves and each other. Thank 0:13:20.960 --> 0:13:23.640 you so much for checking out Woke AF once again. 0:13:23.720 --> 0:13:27.240 You can hear five new hour long episodes every single 0:13:27.280 --> 0:13:30.160 week for just five dollars a month, with extra video 0:13:30.280 --> 0:13:34.040 and written content from yours truly at Patreon dot com 0:13:34.120 --> 0:13:37.319 slash woke AF. We're building a network, a woke a 0:13:37.440 --> 0:13:40.120 f nation, and I would love love for you to 0:13:40.200 --> 0:13:43.080 join us and tell all of your friends. The bigger 0:13:43.120 --> 0:13:45.640 our Woke family gets, the more people we have on 0:13:45.640 --> 0:13:48.600 our side in this fight. As I say every week, 0:13:49.120 --> 0:13:51.960 power to the people and to all the people. Power, 0:13:52.280 --> 0:13:54.480 get woke and stay woke as fuck.