Posted on 02/14/2024 2:12:27 PM PST by Impala64ssa
As I drove down the lengthy driveway of Mercy Montessori Center, I called my great aunt from Athens, Georgia, whom we lovingly call Aunt Puddien. Aunt Puddien is like another mother to me and I trusted her wisdom. She always introduced me to a relative or friend of the family as the teacher to which they responded with praise and affirmation. To them, loving and teaching our youth was a great honor despite the devaluation educators often experience.
As an educator, I work within and around systems that are designed to lock out historically marginalized communities; this is why I lead and educate through a DEI lens. My passion for DEI did not change once I transitioned from the classroom to school leadership. If anything, the more I engaged in systems change work, racial equity training and audits, the more pronounced my passion and investment in DEI became. The opportunity to lead this work full-time in a K-12 setting felt like a natural next step.
Last year, I interviewed with multiple organizations for a new role that would focus on DEI initiatives and had just finished my third interview of the day at Mercy Montessori in Cincinnati. Shortly after the interview, I had a phone conversation with Aunt Puddien: “Hey, Suga! How did it go?” Aunt Puddien answered the phone. I had just participated in three interviews for a DEI role.
“Well…” I began. “I connect most with Mercy.”
“Mmm. Why do you think that is?”
“The school seems most committed to supporting and doing the work,” I responded.
“Well, baby, you have to go where they take it seriously,” Aunt Puddien encouraged. “You’ll be called where you’re meant to be.”
After witnessing companies and organizations renege on their commitment to DEI after the police murder of George Floyd, I promised myself that I would not work with an organization or a company that treated DEI as a trend or an item on a compliance checklist.
Since becoming the inaugural director of diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging (DEIB) at Mercy Montessori and leading the DEIB strategy for the school, I’ve found that progress can happen in the face of social opposition, political polarization and targeted campaigns that we are experiencing in our larger society. In fact, it is in this climate of fear and misinformation that DEI is critically necessary.
You can be sure that if she ever rises to a level of authority over any part of an agency, group or organization her first priority will be to hire only black people. Seen this too many times, too many places. No wonder she loves DEI. It gives her an excuse to be racist without blame.
Yeah, sure.
5. Never mind! She’s beyond salvation.
12 Transformative Storyteller is MARXIST talk for “lying racist propagandist”.
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