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Anti-racism is not a one-time conversation

| Categories: Events & Celebrations
anti-racism resources

Today, March 21 marks the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination — an annual United Nations observance that encourages people everywhere to raise their voices against all forms of racial discrimination and injustice. 

Across the District, educators continue to engage in conversations about how to embed anti-racism practices into the curriculum. On Friday, February 17, teachers and support staff from several school communities participated in a workshop called ‘From SHHHH to let’s talk about it: Anti-Racism in the primary classroom’.  

Attendees explored topics such as privilege and bias and learned what it means to be an ‘active witness’. This term comes from the Anti-Discrimination Response Training (A.R.T) model developed by Dr. Ishu Ishiyama, an associate professor in the Faculty of Education at UBC. Ishiyama describes an active witness as someone who chooses to act upon and appropriately respond to racist or discriminatory incidents. 

“In the way that school communities practice fire drills and earthquake drills, it's important that students practice Active Witnessing responses” says workshop facilitator Angela Brown. "An active witness develops skills, courage and confidence to safely intervene and to break the code of silence that cloaks racism and discrimination.” 

In addition to these topics, the workshop also included a mix of hands-on learning activities and explored several resources geared towards building confidence when talking about race and racism in the classroom with younger students. Kim Buttedahl, a student support worker from Maple Grove Elementary says she plans to bring back the resources to her school community to apply in the classroom and in her everyday life. 

“This workshop was a real eyeopener,” says Buttedahl. “As a woman of colour, I’ve been discriminated against and have memories of racism when I was younger. This work on anti-racism has altered my perception as an educator and has reminded me how actions and words can affect others.” 

Nassim Elbardouh, workshop facilitator and District resource teacher for Diversity and Anti-Racism says another key takeaway from the workshop is that “anti-racism is not just a one-time conversation, it is an ongoing process that requires all of us to engage in learning, unlearning and collective action.” 

As Elbardouh says, conversations about racism and discrimination need to be ongoing – both inside and outside of the classroom. The International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination is an important reminder of that. 

These professional development opportunities are also a key part of the District’s commitment to eliminating racism and discrimination in all its forms — and to ensure our school communities are safe, caring, welcoming and inclusive places for students.   

Missed the workshop? Check out some of the professional learning resources below: 

Here are a few of the children’s books that were discussed during the Pro D:  

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