Which type of Anti-Racist Bilingual Teacher are you?
It’s Black History Month (BHM), and in many bilingual ed circles, teachers are engaging in Anti-Bias, Anti-Racist work (ABAR). ABAR asks teachers to examine teaching practices around themes of equity, visibility and social justice. A fundamental principle of ABAR is reflexivity: nudging us to turn our gaze inwards around such themes. So rather than deflecting or defending positions we may hold, might we begin to build an awareness practice around some unpleasant deficit views about MLLs? We at Language Matters support this shift in the national conversation and endorse teachers leading the charge to help our next generation of Americans become Anti-Racist. For my part, I have (and continue to) examine moments of my teaching career where I said and did things that perpetuated harmful policies, even and especially when I acted under the guise of allyship and awareness. While my own reflexivity work continues, I draw upon it to reflect on the many conversations I’ve had with bilingual teachers who are similarly navigating their own ABAR journeys. Whether speaking directly to me or overhearing their chatter with colleagues, I have heard moments of insight that were quite moving juxtaposed with other cringe-worthy comments.Whenever I cringe, I take a moment to say: “yep… blind spots are so tricky precisely because they are invisible to the speaker! How can I leverage my own ABAR journey in a way that supports them to acknowledge their misconceptions with grace and courage?” To this end, I outline three kinds of bIlingual teachers who reflect different orientations towards ABAR pedagogies. Do any of these tropes resonate with you, and if so, in what ways?
Resisting Rosie
Rosie is relatively new to conversations around ABAR and hasn’t entirely bought into the idea that white privilege is real. Privately, she may wonder whether teaching in this time-in-age is even right for her, since she chose to pursue a “nice field like education” (h/t Gloria Ladson-Billings) because it wasn’t political. Then again, Resisting Rosie is fearful of being labeled as a racist, so she silently nods her head during Diversity & Inclusion conversations while feeling deeply ashamed of her Whiteness.
When I meet with resistant teachers like Rosie, I gently remind them of why they came to this profession: they love children and care deeply about their futures. Helping to make the country they will inherit a kinder, more humane place to live as People of Color means grappling with some unpleasant demons in our culture today, right now. It takes courage to change the world. So to Rosie I ask: are you willing to be brave? Inside?
Doubting Delia
Delia is anxious: she wants to find balance addressing the myriad expectations to meet testing requirements, catch her students up as a result of the Pandemic Learning Gap, while also celebrating moments of Black joy in the Afro-Latinx culture. Delia’s problem centers on wanting to do it all… with an eye towards the future world her mostly Dominican/Puerto-Rican heritage students will inherit. For Doubting Delia, that is a world where speaking proper American English will grant them more access to more competitive colleges and salaried jobs. 
In seeking to resolve some of these tensions in Doubting Delia’s mind and heart, we can support her efforts to integrate Spanish literacy work if she is willing to take up a translanguaging pedagogy. Indeed, research suggests that steps taken to bolster her students’ home language practices coupled with opportunities to develop their identities as they endeavor to see themselves, her MLLs will make college and career choices that align with their desired futures. I often ask the Delias of my group to use ABAR principles to help them re-imagine what American culture could be in 20 years. What new skill-sets around language and literacy might there be and what can we do today to prepare them for that new kind of tomorrow?Equity Elena
Elena is a luchadora: her sleeves are rolled up, and she’s ready to tackle any school policy, mandate or curriculum that carries the stain of White Supremacy. She became a bilingual teacher precisely because she sees education as a site for political struggle. Ever vigilant about her allocation of languages so that English and Spanish get an equal split of instructional time, Elena flouts any standardized testing initiatives for the English-only messaging it conveys to her students and their families. Equity Elena often feels tired and alone in her plight, wondering how so many of her colleagues can be complicit in upholding status-quo policies and practices that she sees as harmful to her MLLs. 
I see a lot of myself in Equity Elena and just want to give her a hug and a cup of decaf tea to help settle her nervous system. Elena would be wise to do a bit more listening and journaling: listening to the moments when her body is on alert and journaling about some small, medium and reach- goals with some measurable outcomes. In my response to Equity Elena I encouraged her to seek out colleagues who approach this work with curiosity and quiet humility. She can do great things in a collaborative spirit, only if and when she listens.At Language Matters, we have a PD series on teacher language ideologies designed to support each teacher-type along their journeys in ways that honor their orientations to ABAR with a built-in system of accountability. Meanwhile, Rosie, Delia and Elena show up every day in a profession that pays them too little, are literally putting their health and safety at-risk by teaching in person, and STILL they clock in every day to get the job done. At Language Matters, we fundamentally believe in a teacher’s resolve to make the change they hope to see in the world: with any luck and some patience, they will find their ways towards more moments of insight.
I know I have.
Thank you to docta-in-training Dorsa Fahami, and Dr. Karis Jones for their help conceiving of the three teacher types.