Understanding

Racism and
Racial Literacy
Session 1
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Equity within the School and Classroom

Today’s tasks
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 UNDERSTANDING
RACISM
AND
RACIAL LITERACY
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 DID
Building racial literacy is
essential to thriving within the

YOU
world as it is, while
simultaneously striving to

KNOW?
building an antiracist world.
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 Racial Literacy is:

DID YOU
● the knowledge, skills, and awareness needed to talk thoughtfully
about race and racism; this naturally includes having a rich
vocabulary including terms such as race, racism, prejudice, ally,

KNOW?
upstander, and so on.

● the ability to identify racism when it happens.

● having strategies to counter or cope with racism.

● understanding the role racism plays in society.

● building children’s sense of self and self-worth, it’s best for all
families, regardless of skin color, to begin early.
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 Learning from Sesame Street
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 “
Here are some racial literacy strategies to use with students:

● Talk about skin color (“We all have something called melanin in our bodies.
People who have more melanin have darker skin than people with less
melanin.”).
● Acknowledge unfair behavior (“When people treat others unfairly because of
their skin color, that’s called racism. And that’s hurtful.”).
● Encourage and celebrate children’s optimism for a better society. (“Everyone
should be proud of who they are, inside and out. The way other people treat us
doesn’t change who we are.”)
● Ask questions. When children make observations about race, ask “Why do you
think that?”
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 Resources
available to
Teachers
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 Reflect:

● What are the learning needs of educators, school and system leaders in understanding
anti-Black racism and its impacts on Black student mental health?
● How are Black and racialized students and families engaged in conversations about
their experiences with anti-Black racism in school (online or in person) and in the
community?
● What specific steps will you take to address the concerns identified by students,
educators, and families?
● How prepared is the school system to provide culturally relevant school mental health
services, including access to Black self-identified regulated mental health
professionals?
● Which Black self-identified and allied community organizations might you partner with
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and engage to support Black and racialized student mental health?

 SOMETIMES IT
ONLY TAKES
ONE PERSON
...to start the change that is needed. Be
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that person!
THANK YOU
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