Becoming an Equity Influencer

My TEDx Talk is my story — the story of one minoritized girl educated in the Midwest in the 1970s, the story of a teacher, the story of a mommy, and the story of an Equity Influencer™.

Schools have the potential to be brokers of hope and great equalizers. I will always believe in our heroes on the front line. They are our most promising partners for creating equity. As a young professional, I tried to fight racism one student and educator at a time. On my leadership journey, I have learned that systems minoritize people to control their potential. Yes, schooling as a system is a mechanism for control and a maintainer of the status quo. It uses socially created lies of inferiority to minoritize certain kids: those who are not wealthy, White, straight, able, etc. It exacerbates difference by exemplifying deficits.

Schools minoritized me, chose not to focus on my joys or assets, and made “my normal” feel incredibly abnormal. I am neither a “minority” nor a problem to be solved. There’s nothing minor about me or my experience. Though I lived through some adverse childhood experiences, I am not a label or a statistic. I never wanted to be tolerated, accommodated, pitied or coddled. I wanted to be understood and to have access to opportunity. I felt smart, but schools refused to see it or grow it. I wanted to thrive in STEM and become an ultrasonographer. I wanted the adults in my life to conspire together for my success. I want this for my children and our nation’s children.

My Blackness was my talk’s focus because it is the social identity most salient to my journey in education and to the racial control I witness. But let’s be clear: racism, sexism, classism, xenophobia, homophobia, ableism and other forms of oppression should not exist in spaces where we proclaim the right to learn for all. Educational institutions are not immune to social toxicity, but they should not perpetuate it.

My focus has shifted to empowering a new critical mass of Equity Influencers™ to create systemic change. In equity, diversity, and inclusion work, we tend to focus on individual-level fixes — for internalized and interpersonal oppressions. We should continue that. Self-determinism and self-efficacy are vital. Let’s also commit to cross-sector collaboration for fixing or creating new policies and practices to repair the systemic-level brokenness of schooling — institutional and structural oppressions. We must create a new narrative and be change agents at both levels.

My story and the Anti-Racist Education Equation I proposed (even in my nervousness delivering it) is intended to inspire all of us to ensure that schooling isn’t debilitating for entire populations of kids. Let’s leverage our influence and mobilize to change the conditions that create advantage for some to the detriment of others.

Ask me how to become an Equity Influencer™ through the September/October 2022 educators workshop cohort or right now through leader coaching for DEI professionals, entrepreneurs, intrapreneurs, and sidepreneurs.

NOTE: This talk was given at a TEDx event in Omaha, NE using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx.