By Mawahib Ismail
(Seattle Times) Education Lab is a Seattle Times project that spotlights promising approaches to persistent challenges in public education.
I am a Black Muslim woman and throughout my years in education, I have had one Black teacher. I can only speak for myself here and tell you that it is the hardest obstacle I have had to go through. Every day there is a new microaggression to face. For years, I endured classmates calling me slurs without a single teacher protecting me. During my whole time at Shorecrest High School in Shoreline, I never had a single teacher who looked like me, who could understand me.
Black teachers
are rare to see and Black teachers in Washington state are even rarer. A database from the Washington state Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction shows that 86.8% of the teachers in Washington are white, while 1.5% of educators are Black.
I am studying social sciences at the University of Washington and I can see that after all these years of education, not much has changed. When I ask my Washington state friends how many Black educators they have had, they usually say one or none. In predominantly white institutions (PWIs) like the UW, it can be incredibly difficult to be a Black student and go through your entire college career without having one Black professor.
I do not speak for the Black community but speak for myself as a Black person & I know if there were more Black faculty in PWIs that my college experience would be better.
I wouldn’t have to deal with constant ignorance of non-Black faculty speaking on Black issues that they have no authority on.
I would have more access to mentors and faculty who can show me what it would be like to work in the fields I am majoring in as a Black person, and who would know how to advocate for me and create a more inclusive and safe space for their Black students.
But that can’t happen unless the administrations of PWIs change the culture of their campuses to make it a more safe, productive environment for Black staff.
