This Book is Anti-Racist: Q and A with Author Tiffany Jewell

Daisy: Hi Tiffany! Congratulations on completing and sharing this incredible book with the world! For those who are new to meeting you, can you tell us about yourself?

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Tiffany: I’m a Black, biracial, cisgender woman, a mama, and a Montessori educator. I’ve been working in Montessori spaces for fifteen years! I also love to read, bake bread and macarons, and drink as much Earl Grey tea as I possibly can.

All of my different social and personal  identities have given me a lens to see how the American school system is quite inequitable. Both our public and private schools are not meeting the needs of our children; they never have.

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I participated in the Embracing Equity pilot and I really appreciate the strong sense of community we can form with our intimate cohorts and the larger alumni group.

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We have a shared language to look at Montessori, education, and ABAR critically and that is so vital for us to move forward.

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Daisy: What would you like to share about your book?  

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Tiffany: This book is for nine-year-old me. And it’s for everyone. This book is an invitation to engage and use your power now.

In third grade, I had an overtly racist teacher that would often uplift her own white suburban sons and what they were doing in their schools. She juxtaposed their experiences with our predominantly Black and brown selves in our neighborhood school in the inner city of Syracuse. She made us feel like we were less. One day, she spelled Asia incorrectly with three a’s. My friend and I often took turns correcting her. One day when my friend who is darker than I am corrected her she yelled at him. She told him to “Shut up!” And then followed that calling him the name of an African animal. It was so ugly. We were horrified and scared. And, even though we told our parents we were surprised we showed up to school the next day to find she was still there.  How were we supposed to feel safe in that room? How were we to learn from her?

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This experience made me hyper aware of the micro and macro-aggressions around me. I address this experience in my book and reflect on how I would have engaged knowing what I know now.

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The things I do now are a reaction to what I’ve learned and a reflection on how to grow into myself.

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I learned about racism in school, but it wasn’t empowering. My hope is that all schools and folks who work with children and families will have the tools necessary to teach our students the truth about racism and support them in moving to dismantle it. We can do this.

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Daisy: How do you see the impact of your work?

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Tiffany: I see it in so many of my former students, their parents and families, with my co-workers, and my own children. Former students are entering into high school and college ready to address racism and injustice! I have former students working on creating equitable policies in government, working with children and families, and actively standing up against unjust systems.

This is the power of the ripple effect when engaging in anti-racism from a young age.

Daisy: Do you have any advice for your younger self or for us?

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Tiffany: I’d encourage myself to keep asking questions and not rely so much on the adults. Be curious and engage in liberatory consciousness.

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Over the past ten years I have been intentionally reading books written by Creators of the Global Majority. It keeps me energized and inspired for a future of solidarity and liberation.

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Daisy: Thank you for your work, Tiffany! This Book is Anti-Racist is beautiful, earnest, and inspiring.

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Purchase your very own copy of This Book is Anti-Racist by following this link!

To learn more about Tiffany’s work, head over to her website and subscribe to her Patreon page.