A suggestion I would make to educators who would like to dedicate class time to discussions about race is to do just that: create a discussion. Of course people are going to immediately shut down and create defenses against an idea 1. if that idea goes against everything they’ve learned up until this point, but more importantly 2. if they don’t come to that idea at least partially on their own. I looked this article up online and the first quote mentioned – the quote meant to summarize in essence what was being lectured about in that classroom – was “To be white is to be racist, period.” Even knowing what we know, knowing that there is some truth to that statement, we also know that the problem is more complicated than that and deserves an explanation. We also know why so many people were outraged when hearing this and it’s because it was declared so bluntly without warming anyone up to why that could be true. All everyone heard was “you’re white, you’re racist, and you deserve to be reprimanded simply because of the color of your skin.”

That’s why I think race talk might be best as an organic discussion where students realize the injustice, their own conscious or unconscious participation in the injustice, and changes they can make within themselves to help eradicate these injustices on their own with the teacher as a moderator, fact checker, and maybe they will even take part in introducing more specific subjects. There will still be discomfort and pain but there might not be a wall of defense against the topic, especially if classrooms can dedicate time to creating ground rules about discussion like the ones we have in our own class.