Wake the F$#k Up

Forward

When I first started writing this piece, it began as a vent that I softened up with humor to make tolerable for the white colleagues that I care about. Because I am sometimes more interested in my mental health, at times I mindlessly make the work I do (diversity, equity, and inclusion) about my survival. Humor makes my tonic a little easier to swallow, because telling you how it really is could be social suicide. Not to mention that they (the white folx that I care about) wouldn't recognize me behind my rage.

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Daisy (CEO & Founder of Embracing Equity) convinced me that taking the sugar out would be good for said white folx and, more importantly, good for every other co-conspirator who takes on the burden of liberating themselves and a culture of its vices; who become vectors for cultural temper tantrums and bankrupt promises borrowed against your steadfast patience and commitment to building better communities. I have often caught myself swallowing the grenade, to avoid suffering through microaggressions for the next four days 'cuz I pumped the brakes on a couple extra thousand to the school endowment. The urgency with which one can be disinvited from a standing weekly meeting can make your head spin. It is sometimes easier to take the hit now and veg-out to soul-sucking, reality tv to help forget that you sold out, yet again. I was in love with the community but suffered under its institutionality. The cycle continued for me for three years. Until I finally built the courage to excuse myself from its dysfunction and go on about my business, only to wonder if I withstood it all for naught.

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For all the times I knew better but chose to be passive, I commit to keeping it 100 now. Here it is.

In Solidarity,

Jimmy

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Wake the F$#K Up

As a DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) practitioner at a PreK-8th grade school, I have the honor and privilege of hearing parents and colleagues articulate some pretty riveting stuff. Curated fresh from the archives are three things I wish folks wore on a t-shirt and the laminated response I would give them in service of ending the meeting on time.

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(#1) "I don't understand why we keep talking about race."

You probably meant to say: 'I don't understand why YOU keep making ME talk/think about race." Typically this comes out of the mouths of people who actively do not want to be a race. This presupposition makes it hella hard for anyone to 'see' the realities around you. Not being racist is a little bit like a benign tumor. You're not outright cancer, but you sure ain't helping. With growth either by mass or by quantity, a 'not-racist' tumor can quickly become a problem. The bottom line: this requires remedial attention.

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SUGGESTIONS:

• Learn some stuff you never knew before on your own. Once you get the scope of how much you don't know and why you don't know it, you'll begin to understand why the word co-conspirator is not as problematic as it sounds.

• Join a critical friend group: A critical friend is a trusted person who asks provocative questions, provides perspectives for examination, clarifies your vantage point/problem, and inspires your potential outcomes. Essentially, a group of friends who hold each other accountable, keep it 100, and are comfortable doing so. Some folx call 'em cohorts or adult-learning groups. My homie Daisy Han puts on a good one for building stamina for conversations that bring about stress around race & identity.

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(#2) "It seems like this is all about race."

This is headway from, "I don't understand....", but by degree NOT by quality and warrants half a gold star on the star chart. Congratulations! You're on the board! If you don't 'have' a race or want a racial identity, this sentiment makes total sense. I won't tell you what this pivot means, but I will say what it tells me. Maybe you were hoping that we didn't spend quite so much time on race or might tune-out early and reference the cliff-notes because gender & sexuality is really your jam right now.

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Centering your own comfort means distancing yourself from your ability to imagine how your liberation might be wrapped up in mine. As long as you commiserate with other bodies of the same species that look and think differently, race is worth examining. Talking about race exhausts you because to do so requires accountability for what you've taught yourself and refraining from the temptation of the weak logic of antiquated norms. It takes a strong stomach to come to terms with the fact that we just weren't paying enough attention to notice how immoral it was. In the meantime, I’ll just sip my appropriated matcha latte.
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(#3) "Shouldn't we Just focus on math."

Free your mind.

The diversity of humans who subscribe to the idea that learning is exclusively academic (either by silent permission or by advocacy) is pretty vast. This perpetuates a tradition of our culture that reinforces a colonized mindset. We compartmentalize life into mundane categories, making 'legitimacy' only achievable by approval from a colonizing culture.

In a culture like ours, institutions of education are strictly for facilitating technical skills, like math. So keep the math over on that side of the plate and social sciences on the other, cuz it's creepy when my mash potatoes and scarcely seasoned-steak touch.

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I have been doing the work of de-compartmentalizing as an educator and consultant for what feels like a long time.

Sometimes my approach is a gentle, Socratic hug, and other times it resembles a blaxploitation film. One thing that has often been true is the pace at which most folx come into the awareness that any systemic-ism is overwhelmed by the compounded ramifications of its existence. The average white person has rolled their eyes twice and is ready for a nap by the time you've got to the end of the word 'racism,' let alone consider how they might transform their naive participation.

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The impact is magnanimous! So when I think about the parents and administrators who move at a molasses' pace to build strong, progressive, and inclusive curriculum, I say good luck teaching your kids about race amid at-home learning. Pandemics (COVID-19) disproportionately affect folx with melanin and folx with limited financial resources. All while piggy-backing on a recession and the most volatile racial tensions post the civil rights movement.

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I am not one for traditionalist analogies, but it seems negligent not to exploit...

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The bell rang a while ago, you are late to class, and you would have done better coming empty-handed. But instead of No. 2 pencil, you've made yourself a display by brandishing a ball-point pen for good measure. Lastly, your excuse is lame. No one sleeps through the alarm on their phone. They straight-up tune it out. For those looking to do better, I got you. We got you. Like we always have.

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4 Tips for The Game:

1. Google is your friend. You get in the way of your own learning when you reduce transformative work into an arbitrary exercise in the timeline of history. Without the corresponding context, complex ideas will sound far-fetched and inadvertently reinforce devastating ignorance. Flashcards are helpful.
2. When you don't get it or feel agitated, keep listening.
3. Know that your perspective and everyone else's is limited. Together we will expand each other's awareness.
4. Wake the f$3k up!

About the Author

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Jimmy Juste is always looking for new spaces to ask hard questions and cause a bit of a ruckus. He has had the privilege of being welcomed into Montessori spaces for the last nine years and is grateful for the opportunity to disrupt and transform its culture through consulting for diversity, equity, inclusion and creative thinking.

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Jimmy served as the founding Director of Equity and Inclusion at the Inly School in Scituate MA 2015, where he fostered a knack for facilitating authentic and audacious conversation. After attending the Montessori for Social Justice conference in 2017 & 2018, he began conceiving Innerve Consulting. Standing on the shoulders of giants, his years as a performance artist, actor, background vocalist and writer gives him insight into what it means to take on the vantage point of others in service of getting free! Currently, Jimmy is excited to be a part of Embracing Equity’s Leadership Residency and to finally be pursuing his AMI administrators certificate!!!