AFTER WORKING THROUGH THIS MODULE, YOU WILL BE ABLE TO:

• Describe the various racial and ethnic identity development models and frameworks.
• Explain the connection between positive racial and ethnic identity development and resiliency, academic achievement, and engagement of youth of color and Native youth.
• Act in your library or classroom to integrate racial and racial identity development frameworks and models to increase the engagement and learning of youth of color and Indigenous youth.

INTRODUCTION

In her groundbreaking work, Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?: and Other Conversations about Race, Dr. Beverly Tatum argues that youth of color and Indigenous youth develop their racial and ethnic identity through socialization. In other words, their lived experiences shape how they come to understand what it means to be Black, African American, Latinx, Asian American, Native, or biracial in the United States, and to interrogate how their racial identity impacts their current and future lives. Their lived experiences are informed by their experiences at home, in their communities, and in school, but also by the messages and images sent by the media, books, curriculum, social institutions, and political leaders.

Tatum contends that many BIYOC, unless they grow up in homes and communities (including schools), that are race-conscious – “that is, actively seeking to encourage positive racial identity by providing their children with positive cultural images and messages about what it means to be a [BIPOC]” – often absorb the beliefs and values of the dominant Eurocentric culture (134). This includes that whites are the preferred group. This leads some young children of color to value the beliefs, lifestyles, and images of beauty held by the white dominant group more highly than those of their own racial and ethnic group.

During adolescence, youth of color and Indigenous youth begin to develop a new understanding of their race and ethnicity as they are confronted by the personal and collective impact of racism on people of color and Native people.  They begin to reject the beliefs, lifestyles, and images of beauty held by the dominant white culture, turning to members of their own ethnic and racial group to find the answer to questions like: “What does it mean to be a [Black, Latinx, Asian, Native, or biracial] person? How do I act? What should I do?” (143). During this period some adolescents of color or Indigenous teens will adopt an oppositional stance, rejecting school activities associated with academic success that they perceive as “acting white.”  This is most often true for those who attend schools “where only whites (usually wealthy whites), or disproportionately few [youth of color] have the opportunities to participate in higher-level programs and courses” (Tyson, 2006, 41). Some BIYOC will adopt a resistance stance, making a conscious decision to challenge the dominant school culture as a way of safeguarding themselves from potentially painful or damaging interactions (Kinloch, 2017). This might include behaviors such as eye-rolling, silence, sharp verbal responses, absence, and disinterest. There are other BIYOC who will embrace academic success. They know that education is their right and they see it as a way for them to create change in their communities.

It is also important for educators and librarians to consider two additional concepts related to racial and ethnic identity formation – essentialism and intersectionality.  Essentialism is “the belief that all people perceived to be in a single group [in this case racial, ethnic, or tribal group] think, act, and believe the same things in the same way” (Ladson-Billings, 2013, p. 40).  BIPOC do not relinquish their individual perspectives, lifestyles, likes/dislikes, etc. just because they belong to the same racial or ethnic group. Librarians and educators need to guard against essentializing the perspectives and experiences of BIYOC and to instead view them as individuals whose identity formation is impacted by a plethora of factors, not just their race or ethnicity.

This brings us to intersectionality, a term coined by Kimberlé Crenshaw (1989)¹, to refer to people’s overlapping identities. Intersectionality recognizes that identity markers (e.g. “female” and “Latina” and “lesbian”) do not exist independently of each other. Instead, each informs the other.  Overlapping identities of race, class, gender, sexual orientation, and so forth create a complex system that impacts identity formation and helps to explain the complexity of prejudices and oppression BIYOC face.

As this short introduction to racial and ethnic identity shows, understanding how educators and librarians can support the positive racial identity of BIYOC is critical to helping them achieve their full potential.

READ

Read these essays in which four youth of color discuss their lasting memories of a first encounter with racism.

WATCH

Watch this video, created by WNYC, of a diverse group of 12-year-olds from New York City schools talking about their racial and ethnic identity.

Next, watch the documentary When Your Hands Are Tied to the 0:24:15 mark. It explores the unique ways in which Native youth are finding to express themselves in the contemporary world while maintaining strong traditional lives. Watching the full film is recommended, but if time is limited, please watch as much as you can.

REFLECT

READ

Read the transcript of the EmbraceRace webinar, Understanding Racial-Ethnic Identity Development, in which Dr. Sandra “Chap” Chapman provides an overview of racial-ethnic identity models — how and why they were developed, and how to use them to understand our own racial-ethnic identity journeys and to support the happy, healthy and just development of the children or teens in our lives.

Read pages 8-9 of this research study, which is an overview of the themes for culturally responsive pedagogy. 

Read this article which provides specific advice about what teachers can do to help their students of color not just survive, but thrive in the classroom, with a fully developed, strong sense of pride in who they are, where they came from, and what they’re capable of. The article contains a TED Talk video that is recommended, but not required.

IMAGES OF PRACTICE

Multnomah County Library (MCL), headquartered in Portland, Oregon, is committed to the goals of equity, inclusion, and sustaining a workforce that reflects the community it serves. As one strategy for recruiting diverse library staff to engage with the many communities served by the MCL, the library administration created a designation called Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities (KSA) that allows them to focus on hiring staff that have specific knowledge, skills, and a passion for providing linguistically and culturally specific services. This strategy has allowed them to recruit for a Bilingual Chinese Regional Librarian, a Youth Librarian with African American cultural competency, Library Assistants with African American cultural competency, and Bilingual Library Assistants with Spanish, Vietnamese, Chinese and Russian cultural competencies, among others.

Kirby McCurtis, who has an African American KSA designation, was recruited and hired to provide outreach to the Black and African American community served by MCL. As one form of outreach, Kirby started Black Storytime, a way for families to experience and celebrate Black and African American culture at the library. Listen as Kirby describes the program in this short video.

“Black Story Time is our Saturday morning ritual. We plan our day around it. We’ve been going since Davide was two. Now, every time I see my 4 and a 1/2 year old point to the little boy in one of his books he got to take home from Black Story Time and say, “Mommy, is that me? He looks like me!” I smile as big as he does. I think to myself, finally, maybe he won’t have to constantly convince himself that being Black and at a mostly White school, White neighborhood, and White city is ‘OK.’ Instead, he will know as innately as he knows how to run or play, that he is valuable, he is beautiful, and he is worthy of being seen and heard. Just like the kids his books. I just love it. And for my 2-year old who is the only black child in his daycare, Black Story Time is huge for us. It’s his time to connect with people little and big who come in all shades and all hair types. For once he is not the different one. He’s just his perfect little self. And he LOVES books.” -Raina Croff Mbaye (Parent)

REFLECT

ACT

Brainstorm what you can do in your library to build the positive racial identity development of youth of color and indigenous youth.

Select one change you want to make in your library or classroom to support the positive racial and ethnic identity development of BIYOC. Make a plan; now implement it.

BUT WAIT!

In this section, we address common questions and concerns related to the material presented in each module. You may have these questions yourself, or someone you’re sharing this information with might raise them. We recommend that for each question below, you spend a few minutes thinking about your own response before clicking “Show more” to see our response.