This week we’re releasing a two part series because this cultural moment has had us listening and reflecting on our work. In honor of Juneteenth, we want to ask hard questions about our history and our future.
PART 1: A NEW DEFINITION
Growing up in Georgia in the 60s and 70s, I learned about white supremacy from parents who had lived through WWII. “White supremacy” was related to neo-Nazism, believing that white people were superior to all other races, and it was most associated with KKK members - violent people full of hate. There was no way that I would ever be considered associated with white supremacists or any organizations that could be considered “white supremacist” I thought.
But over time, definitions can change. Here’s a newer definition of white supremacy that first arose after I finished college. Critical Race Theory describes white supremacy this way:
A political, economic and cultural system in which whites overwhelmingly control power and material resources (money), conscious and unconscious ideas of white superiority and entitlement are widespread, and relations of white dominance and non-white subordination are daily reenacted across a broad array of institutions and social settings (David Gillborn).
George Floyd’s horrific death and continuing anger over hostile policing of Black Americans should force us to assess which systems are harbingers of white supremacist thoughts as described in this newer definition. Josh Singer, for example, includes America’s public school systems in his definition of white supremacy saying, “A symptom of white supremacy… A school system that is three times more likely to suspend black students than white students for the same infractions.”
And suspension rates are just the tip of the iceberg. So, it’s no wonder that the Black community in America is significantly more likely to endorse charter schools and education savings account programs than white Americans. Sadly, this opinion is rarely heard or recognized by the larger white-majority culture.
Considering these facts, I wanted to know more about my local context. Am I supporting systemic racism with my tax dollars here in Raleigh, North Carolina? In the Wake County Public School System, white students are 2.9 times more likely to be allowed to enroll in AP classes than Black students. Black students are 5.6 times more likely to be suspended than white students! And Black students trail about three academic grades behind white students.
In response to these outcomes, I know many will defend the school system by arguing that at least part of the differential outcomes between Black and white students is due to factors outside of the school system - such as family structure or growing up in concentrated poverty. And I recognize that there is some truth to this argument. After all, our mission is to address the connection between schools and neighborhood poverty. But, almost everyone agrees that at least some of the achievement gap and the unequal discipline rates are systemic. So, it should be no surprise that Black parents are suspicious of a system that produces such large racial differences.
Of course, the modern definition of white supremacy that we are working with here is about more than these symptoms - discipline and achievement gaps. It’s also about who exercises power and control over the money in the system. So how does Wake County stack up? Find out as I address Wake County Schools’ white power structure in Part 2 this Friday.