Racial Trauma-Informed Pedagogy Strategies for Educational Professionals

Introduction

Many marginalized groups of color living within the United States have experienced historical racial trauma and still experience racial abuse, trauma, and violence today (Chavez-Duenas et al., 2019; Williams et al., 2018). Namely, the televised shootings of unarmed Black men, women, and children have led to additional trauma. Members of the Latinx community also experience increased trauma related to the unsafe and often deadly missions many have made to the United States while seeking asylum to escape poverty and brutality in their home country. Once detained, these individuals are often met with deplorable holding conditions while being held in immigration detention facilities in the United States (Comas-Dias et al., 2019). Further, unaccompanied minors are often separated from their families enroute to the United States or upon arrival once their parents are taken into police custody (Comas-Dias et al., 2019). More recently, the Asian community has experienced increased violence during the COVID-19 Pandemic, with some Americans blaming the origin of this deadly on China (Batalova & Zong, 2016; Chiu, 2020; Mangan, 2020). Moreover, Indigenous Americans are still fighting for the rights to their reservations and the eradication of racist sports teams’ names and school mascots. Racial trauma extends to Arab Americans as well. They often face discrimination through the recent implementation of the “Muslim Ban,” which effectively prohibits travel to and from certain Muslim countries (Alsultany, 2012; Audi, 2008; Kira, 2010; Kite & Whitley, 2016).

These examples illustrate racism and the issues plaguing cultures as a whole, including the impact on children within those cultures. The trauma faced by children of minority groups is often felt in their schools and classrooms. However, membership in these racial groups does not automatically mean that children and teens experience these traumatic events themselves. Educational professionals need to be aware of the potential that either the children they work with, or their families may have personally been a witness or victim of this trauma.

The purpose of this chapter is to provide both educators and educational leaders with information about how schools can unwittingly re-traumatize students of color through biased teaching curriculums, unfair disciplinary practices, and personal racial biases. The end of this chapter lists twenty easy-to-implement strategies for educational professionals to put into practice in their buildings to help eradicate institutional and systemic racism towards students of color (SOC).