JEDI Language 1: Color Brave

 As an educator in Colorado I get a lot of different newsletters so that I can stay aware of what is going on and what the trends are in all education levels and not just in higher education. One of the ones I get is Denver Public Schools’ “What’s Going On This Month?” and it keeps me in the loop as to what that district is focusing on. One of the things in each issue is Equity Term of the Month. Some of these I agree with and some I do not.

In February it was:

 

I disagree with the Color part. As Whoopi Goldberg found out race does not always equal color when she talked about white on white violence between Nazis and Jews. The Nazis saw the Jews as an inferior race and they used that to justify what they did. Most of the differences between these two were cultural. Using the term color is a form of bias that makes someone’s physical appearance based on the color of their skin the only thing that matters. This subtracts from everything that makes a person a person. Instead of using the word Color Brave a term Ethnicity Brave would be much more fitting. Ethnicity can take in more than just the color of a person’s skin and starts taking in things like culture. 

By printing this it shows that DPS is behind on its understanding of topics around diversity equity and inclusion. Much of this comes from current hiring practices at companies where they do not require their “Diversity Experts” to have any educational or work background in cultural studies, ethnic studies, social sciences, or even basic history. Most of the time the people may have a background in HR that included work with Title IX if you’re lucky or they may have done some consulting work for their own consulting business. Being a consultant for your own consulting business does not make you an expert. It just allows you to preach your own biases to anyone with money. To be in JEDI (Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion) work people should have work experience with diverse populations and an educational background that shows intensive study on related subjects.

If you are going to be in this line of work here are some fields that you should have at least one degree in to work: 

Anthropology, Ethnic Studies, Sociology, History, Criminal Justice, Psychology, Specific Cultural Studies (like Asian Studies or African Studies) that you are not a part of that cultural group (If you just study your own cultural group you are missing out on the larger picture). 

I will be doing a breakdown of degrees you should have going into JEDI work in a future post.

If you do not have an educational background in these subjects more than likely you are only sharing a biased opinion, but it is only because you do not know what you do not know. This post will actually be the first where I take a look at the language around JEDI and break it down so that people can get a better idea of what is really important vs. what is just shaped by bias.

Picture was a screenshot from the February 2022 DPS Newsletter.