Exercise Creative Courage
May 25, 2021
It’s been 14 months since the world was turned upside down by COVID-19. In the U.S. we are starting to feel its grip loosen as more people are vaccinated every day, including children as young as 12. We honor and celebrate the extraordinary efforts of the scientists and public health professionals who bravely treated us, cared for us, and paved the path toward reopening.
Today, May 25, 2021, is the one year anniversary of George Floyd's murder. We send loving care to the Floyd family who honor his life and legacy by holding our political leaders accountable to their promises.
Much has changed over the past year, and yet so much remains the same when it comes to systemic inequity and injustice. Across the country, schools are reopening and many students are returning to their classrooms: 14 states have mandated a return to in-person instruction and many more have left it up to districts to decide when and how they will reopen. The pressure to return to “normal” is strong.
Can we resist going back to what was, when we know that school as normal wasn’t working for many of our children and families?
Dr. Cornel West said, “it takes courage to look in the mirror and see past your reflection to who you really are when you take off the mask, when you’re not performing the same old routines and social roles.” As we begin to literally unmask ourselves, there are routines and social roles we can take a hard look at and reimagine.
We can and must exercise creative courage to dream and design new approaches to school and schooling. This Liberatory Design mindset asks us to “act courageously to imagine possibilities beyond the confines of dominant culture.” It takes courage and perseverance to hold the mirror up to entrenched systems and structures that devalue BIPOC students and families. It takes courage to create change, and it takes courage to change.
The BELE Network essential actions describe necessary moves toward system transformation; the first essential action is listening to, understanding, and being responsive to the experiences of BIPOC students to ensure they have real voice, agency, and choice in education transformation. Equity-driven reopening plans should center the creative energies of young people and the needs of their families.
Last summer, our colleague Hugh Vasquez asked What if We… Don’t Return to School as Usual? “Let’s be clear. When the COVID-19 crisis is over, we do not have to go back to business as usual in our educational system, or any other system for that matter. We just don’t. The question confronting us at the moment is not can we prepare to come back differently but will we?”
That choice is before us and it is all of ours to make. We have the creative courage within ourselves and our communities to bravely co-create our collective future - a world that works for all of us.
“Only those who have already experienced a revolution within themselves can reach out effectively to help others.”