It doesn't show much yet, because Burr absolutely cannot tip his hand without spooking Everett, but the eventual plan is to put Everett in a position of authority by letting him develop whatever classes he thinks will help his students. You'll see more of that as I post the later poems.
One tricky part about breaking tokenism is that many disadvantaged people are gunshy about authority, not just over them, but holding it too, because of imposter syndrome. That means if you offer it up front, they often panic and refuse. Ideally, you want to create a situation where you have several teachers of color so you can say, "The students want to start a book club about authors of color, who wants to lead that?" and one or more of your teachers will volunteer. Or the department head retires, and you tell people you're taking applications, then you discreetly find each qualified teacher of color and encourage them to apply.
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dancing_serpent
Thank you!
Date: 2020-05-20 08:46 pm (UTC)One tricky part about breaking tokenism is that many disadvantaged people are gunshy about authority, not just over them, but holding it too, because of imposter syndrome. That means if you offer it up front, they often panic and refuse. Ideally, you want to create a situation where you have several teachers of color so you can say, "The students want to start a book club about authors of color, who wants to lead that?" and one or more of your teachers will volunteer. Or the department head retires, and you tell people you're taking applications, then you discreetly find each qualified teacher of color and encourage them to apply.