It's been over a month since I last wrote. The discipline of writing every day gets tough when you are leading other efforts, especially a school.
Today was probably one of the best days in the last month or so. Leading the effort of trying to reframe diversity and multiculturalism at the Wesley School in North Hollywood (Los Angeles).
As I prepped for the work on Thursday night (May 10, 2007), I had flashbacks from my very first time in LA as an actor. I was staying at the Beverly Garland Hotel, which was the same place that I stayed when I first auditioned for and was hired to be on "A Different World." This time the news was different. After a little less than a week dealing with a major fire in Griffith Park, the new reports were that a fire was raging out of control on Catalina Island and fire fighters were battling a war on two fronts. People were being evacuated from near the area known as Avalon.
I, on other hand, was going through a bit of a fire storm in my own mind. Embarking on yet another transition in my career, this time as a Respectful Warrior, I began prepping for the day ahead. Surfing on line for what would give me material for the day ahead. While looking for what I could say about being in a respectful culture, I came across the text of Lightfoot's speech that had so transfixed me based on her book, Respect: An Exploration.
This was the agenda for the day:
---
The Wesley School
Brian Thomas
May 11, 2007
R-E-S-P-E-C-T
New lessons of inclusion, diversity, multiculturalism, and privilege:
Objective:
1.) To understand the “Good.”
2.) To get students to examine and reflect on their place at the Wesley School as it relates to who they are and what is respectful.
Materials:
White Board or butcher paper (6 sheets), three different colors of post it notes, computer speakers, three colors of white board markers
Procedure:
1.) As students enter the room, music plays from the computer. [Bob Marley’s “Three Little Birds’]
2.) Introductions: BT and students/faculty. Explain the concept of “justice” and “the good.” Also, talk about why I came.
3.) Explain the day and the ground rules. WRITE ON THE BOARD: Respect self, respect others, and respect personal property, one person speaking at a time (even in groups), make “I” statements, give the speaker your whole attention, listen with your whole self, silences are okay.
4.) Students are asked to do an exercise that requires concentration, teamwork, and listening. (Birthday line—no talking, count off by groups of five or six) [Robbins, Illinois]
5.) [Bruce Springsteen’s Thunder Road] In their groups of six, family group, students are asked to think of two truths and a lie. They go around the circle and reveal their truths]
6.) Brian talks about how it’s not what is shown in schools that matters, but what lies hidden.
7.) Dialogue #1: What part of yourself do you never show at school (the real you)? Perhaps it’s because people would laugh at it, or it just isn’t cool, or because you think it would not be accepted at Wesley. On the white board or butcher paper, using the post it notes, students write the parts of themselves that they do not show anyone. Example: When I was in middle school, I never let anyone come to house…vicious dog..smelled like dog…ashamed of my father and mother… [Play John Mayer’s “Daughter’s”]
8.) Dialogue #2: What can the Wesley School do to help you bring more of yourself to school (The real you), especially the part that remains hidden. Also, what can you do to bring more of yourself to Wesley? Example: “I can spend some time listening to others. The school can give us more time for team building. [Play John Mayer’s “Clarity”]
9.) Discussion: How does the person you bring to school everyday influence and effect Wesley being a respectful school? How can we be more respectful to each other? How can Wesley be a more welcoming and respectful school?
10.) Thank people for giving their whole selves to this dialogue. [Play Bill Whithers “Lovely Day”]
---
The students and staff took to the ideas that we were able to generate by seeing that whatever remains hidden can and will come back to bite a school in the butt. Schools are often like family systems, particularly smaller schools, whereas larger schools replicate the feel of a large company or corporation. They often have the expense and revenue lines that look like small companies, too.
Yet, issues of common decency and respect can derail the work that goes on in schools, since people expect a certain thing from a school. Parents expect that their children--and hence they themselves--will be taken care of. If for whatever reason, they aren't taken care of, then a raging storm can and will happen. Oftentimes, these raging firestorms can be accusations of racism, sexism, and other forms of hurt and discrimination. Lawsuits can and do occur when people feel disrespected.
So, how is this a reframing of the work of diversity practitioners?
In diversity, multiculturalism, inclusion, and white privilege work, people begin to unearth pieces of the organizational system that looks at the parts or people who make up those pieces. It's very much like post-modernist literature, where pieces of an entire work are dissected for the cancerous problems. If there are problems, they will be rooted out. If there is racism, homophobia. sexism, ageism, or other -isms, those things will be exposed. The story of the target or dispossessed takes on a meta-narrative of its own (witness Howard Zinn's The People's History of the United States).
However, when respect is the modus operandi, it's not about the greatest pain or the biggest historical losers. People who have been excluded from history must stand for and by the very principals that have excluded them. It's more truth and reconciliation and less about reparations. Let Caesar keep what belongs to Caesar.
So, the day of teaching at the Wesley School was quite wonderful and healing. The highlight of the day was being able to work and teach, as happened ten years ago when I was at Marin Academy. Ten years ago seems like an eternity. Teaching four classes per day for forty-five minutes every day three days a week. Then two ninety-minute classes. The sheer energy of being able to get passionate about not just a text, but also their very own existence. That's the new challenge: To find relevance in the life of the common person. Not everyone will grow up to be Dr. King or David Beckham or Angelina Jolie. That's okay. Perhaps just the quiet of an afternoon walk or the attempt to put out the fires that rage in our minds may give some comfort here. My hope is that the connections are happening all around us and that people are taking the work they do with students, all students, with some degree of seriousness, self-reflection, and humility.
Namaste,
Brian
