Education News | Page 13
" Even if the literature uses racial slanders, I feel there is no ground that teachers should feel comfortable to say it. When the teachers say that word, the students think it is okay to use it. Some of my friends would just say the first three letters of the " n " word and say, ' Oh, you ' re just that.'"
Kiah ' s curly hair also became an issue when she went to school: " I had a huge curly afro. I didn’ t see a problem with it until I went to school where I was in a predominantly White community and I was the only one with curly hair. I started straightening my hair in Grade 1 or 2. It has taken me 20 years just to start to be comfortable with that part of me and letting it be curly sometimes," she says.
In high school, Kiah began to find her voice and to relate with many of her teachers, to feel empowered: " A lot of my teachers really saw my potential and they didn’ t look first at the colour of my skin, or who I was on the outside, they saw what I could do. I remember one teacher in particular believed in me so much, she pulled me out of my English class one day and she said, ' Kiah, I believe in you, you are so good at public speaking, I want you to come and be part of this Business CASE competition at the U of R.' Giving me that opportunity, she understood my strengths, and let me shine. It was so amazing. Instances like that were so empowering, where teachers just believed in me for what I could do rather than seeing the front. But the opposite happened too."
These experiences inform Kiah ' s teaching and her vision for creating environments of empowerment: " I had different privileges than someone who isn’ t as White-passing as me. So I definitely learned where that got me in life. But there was also a battle between people who didn’ t see me as White – passing, who saw me as Black, and then from others, somedays I would hear, ' Oh, you don’ t even seem Black, you don’ t even talk like a Black person.’ What does that even mean? Hearing that I’ m not Black enough, and not White enough meant I was constantly trying to figure out where I fit in. All youth are trying to figure out where they fit in. This experience really gave me the foundation to ensure that my classroom was a space that no matter who you were, you would fit in, you would have a place, feel safe and feel brave, and that you could have a conversation about these things."
" Brave " is a word Kiah adopted from an ESS PD series on anti-racism with Dr. ABC: " Teachers are always talking about creating a safe space, and that’ s great, but the idea of a brave space where you feel safe enough and then brave enough to actually go and do something— that just stuck with me, and will stick with me forever. I just really want students continues on page 14