In the days of segregation, White teachers taught White students and Black teachers taught Black students. bell hooks has suggested that in some ways Black people were better off within this situation. We were able back then to educate our children as we saw fit and serve as appropriate role models.
After de-segregation and "white-flight" to suburbia, inner city schools districts find themselves re-segregated! In the school where I work as an elementary teacher, there is not one white student out of 500. It's the same in thousands of schools across the country, and has been for at least the passed 30 years. Throughout this time period, the teachers and administration were a majority of White people.
Corruption and miseducation became rampant. After all, what interest did these White teachers and administrators have in Black children, other than to train them to either work under their own White children, or to justify the creation/maintaintenace of jobs in criminal justice/law enforcement? But as cities have become Blacker, the faculties and administrations have also come full circle.
Great, right? We now have control of our own children's learning again, right? WRONG. The corruption and miseducation taking place in our inner city public schools are worse than ever now! It is really depressing and sickening to witness how Black children continue to be shortchanged, now at the hands of our own sisters and brothers.
The district where I work is controlled mostly by Black women. Never before have I experienced such back stabbing, back biting, lying, cheating, and politics. Prior to my tenure with this district I worked for several years in another innercity district where the majority of staff was still White. There were, of course, the typical problems faced by poor Black/Latino students. However, where I work now could be the subject of a tv show entitled, "Extreme Segregation Do Over, School Edition".
The sad thing about it is, when I first accepted the job I came with a naive outlook, that being surrounded with people who looked like me in the work place would be a warm, cozy, home-like experience. It has turned out to be quite the opposite.
Does anyone else have a similar experience of work place negativity in an all Black, or majority Black setting? If so, how do you cope and manage to successfully do your job?