Antiracist Education

This book combines theory, practice, and ethnography in an exploration of how teachers can fully implement diversity and antiracism as a foundation of their teaching approach. The author, a white mother of children of color, whose work is influenced by her own experience being raised in an antiracist, activist family, developed her curriculum over many years of active involvement with parents and teachers in schools. She presents her curriculum along with ethnographic reports of the processes of change that teachers experience as they fully explore the realities of race relations, its history, and the lived experiences of others. Kailin shows how immersion in this exploration enables teachers to develop curricula and teaching practices that are effectively antiracist and fully connected to students' lives.

The manner in which Julie Kailin analyses classroom observations, using an ethnographic methodology, is quite interesting. Any teacher can watch him/herself while teaching and become aware of implicit covert racism. This is the first step towards confronting racism in one's background and in one's backyard., Kallin's proposal of long-term antiracism education for educators is the best first step in cinfronting racism in educational institutions., Like Paulo Friere, Julie Kailin stresses the necessity for critical consciousness and for an ability to reflect upon the assumptions that underlie and perpetuate racism, 'othering,' racial profiling, and the rest. Never taking refuge in old idealism, never depending upon blank materialism, Dr. Kailin remains true to important political and economic theories of social structure and social change; but she never condemns those of us who are teachers to the helplessness induced by determinism. Readers cannot help but become personally involved and engaged through their encounter with Dr. Kailin. We can help realize the hopes she arouses through our own deliberate action for decency, social justice, and —if we come together—ongoing change.

Julie Kailin is assistant professor in the Department of Educational Policy and Community Studies at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee.