Many teachers of color are used to being in a room full of white coworkers. They鈥檙e used to being looked at in staff meetings when issues of race are brought up. And they鈥檙e used to feeling like it鈥檚 their responsibility to lead schools toward anti-racist education.
It can all be exhausting, teachers of color say. And these responsibilities might be amplified in the fall as schools resume, in some capacity, amidst a national reckoning on race spurred by the police killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and other Black men and women.
Grassroot groups have emphasized the importance of self-care for teachers of color. To do the sometimes-grueling work of leading on racial justice, experts say, minority teachers need to take time for themselves to recharge and refuel. And a big part of that is finding a community with others from similar backgrounds鈥攚hether that鈥檚 within teachers鈥� own schools or on a national level.
After all, teachers of color make up just about 20 percent of the national teaching force. Nine percent of teachers are Hispanic, about 6 percent are Black, and about 2 percent are Asian, . Less than 1 percent of teachers are American Indian, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian, or Pacific Islander. While there have been many state and local efforts to hire a more diverse teacher workforce to teach an increasingly diverse student population, those numbers have remained mostly unchanged for the past decade. That鈥檚 largely because teachers of color leave the profession at higher rates than their white peers.
鈥淚 think in general, on a day-to-day basis, it can be a little isolating to be a teacher of color,鈥� said Michael Espinoza, a Chicano high school English teacher in San Jose, Calif. 鈥淲hether it鈥檚 the curriculum I teach, or my own background, oftentimes it鈥檚 not in connection with the other teachers. Even as a new teacher, making friends can be a little more difficult.鈥�
Espinoza went into teaching in 2017 knowing that he wanted to fight for social justice. He joined as many committees as he could鈥攎ost of which was unpaid work鈥攁nd volunteered to help redesign the school鈥檚 Advanced Placement Literature curriculum to make it more culturally relevant. But by year two, he felt depleted.
鈥淚 noticed myself crashing, burning out already,鈥� he said. 鈥淸I would think], 鈥業 don鈥檛 know how long I can do this. I don鈥檛 know if this is the right choice for me.鈥欌��
Espinoza鈥檚 mentors told him to take a step back and focus on himself and his students. He started saying 鈥榥o鈥� more. Having more free time and fewer commitments has helped his mental state, he said鈥攂ut he sometimes worries that he should be doing more.
鈥淭he balance between this burden [of being one of the few teachers of color in a school building] and well-being has been on my mind a lot, and trying to figure out the right amount of pushing for social change and fighting for what鈥檚 right and not trying to burn out,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 feel like sometimes if I don鈥檛 do it, no one else is going to do it. No one else is going to step up and do the things that I feel are necessary to do.鈥�
In interviews, teachers of color echoed the difficulties of this balancing act: It鈥檚 taxing to constantly be in a room surrounded by white people and asked to lead conversations about race and racism. But at the same time, many feel a sense of responsibility to themselves, their students, and their communities to take charge of this work.
鈥淚 feel on one hand, 鈥� we shouldn鈥檛 be the only ones. The burden shouldn鈥檛 be on us,鈥� Espinoza said. 鈥淥n the other hand, I feel like, 鈥榃ho better to do that work?鈥� I would want it to be done right, I want it to be done in a way that鈥檚 coming from an authentic place. I do feel like we have to be on the front lines of doing this work, but at the same time, it has to be done at our own pace. There are times when it can be overwhelming.鈥�
鈥楿nending鈥� Racial Stress
Scholars say there鈥檚 an 鈥溾�� on teachers of color, in which they鈥檙e asked to take on unpaid roles that are outside the job they were hired to do, such as translating for parents who speak other languages, acting as school disciplinarians, or serving as mentors for students from their backgrounds.
At the same time, teachers of color are often questioned in their pedagogy, undermined or ignored when they have suggestions, and overlooked for formal leadership positions, said Rita Kohli, an associate professor in the Graduate School of Education at the University of California, Riverside, who has studied the struggles, assets, and possibilities of teachers of color.
鈥淭here is this exhausting, unending engagement of racial stress,鈥� said Kohli, who is South Asian. 鈥淭eachers of color start to feel anxiety, they start to feel like they are hyper-visible or they鈥檙e invisible. It starts to affect their engagement, their drive. Sometimes they feel like they have to be a superhero. ... Feeling undervalued, invisible, and under-mentored has led to teachers leaving that school or the profession.鈥�
Those feelings are amplified when teachers feel like they can鈥檛 do the work they set out to do, said Doris Santoro, a white professor of education at Bowdoin College who studies teacher dissatisfaction and resistance.
鈥淚f you go into teaching saying, 鈥極K, at least I鈥檓 going to do what I can to make school a place that is safe, engaging, and meaningful for students of color,鈥� and then you have to witness ongoing examples of racial bias and racism in your work鈥攂oth in terms of choices of policy, but also in terms of the ways it鈥檚 expressed by your colleagues, especially white colleagues鈥攖hat is a form of secondary trauma that can lead to demoralization,鈥� she said.
Honoring the Work
As school districts are now planning anti-racist trainings in the wake of mass protests and the Black Lives Matter movement, school leaders must make sure the work is thoughtful and ongoing, Kohli said鈥攂ecause that hasn鈥檛 always been the case.
Teachers of color are thinking, 鈥淚 want to use this moment and engage with the work I want to do, but it鈥檚 hard to trust this,鈥� she said. 鈥淭he performative nature of it can be taxing and exhausting for teachers of color.鈥�
Teachers of color, Kohli said, should be invited to share their expertise and lead this work鈥攁nd they should be compensated for their labor. Otherwise, educators say they feel like they鈥檙e pigeonholed into an unpaid, unacknowledged role.
Takeru Nagayoshi, an Advanced Placement English teacher in New Bedford, Mass., was once in a professional-development session on race that was led by an older white woman. He felt like her talking points were outdated, and then a teacher raised her hand and asked if it was OK to call Asian people 鈥淥riental.鈥� Nagayoshi felt like the facilitator didn鈥檛 go far enough in explaining the term is offensive.
鈥淚f we鈥檙e not in these spaces, these are the folks who are leading conversations on race, so we feel frustrated and like we need to step up,鈥� said Nagayoshi, who is Japanese American and the 2020 Massachusetts Teacher of the Year. 鈥淏ut if we do, we feel like that鈥檚 all we鈥檙e validated for. I felt a little reluctant to be dismissed as the teacher who only talks about race and diversity because he is a person of color. It鈥檚 kind of a can鈥檛-win situation.鈥�
As Frank Mata, a Filipino high school English teacher in Riverside, Calif., put it: 鈥淵ou鈥檙e totally seen as 鈥榯hat guy,鈥� and no one wants to have 鈥榯hat guy鈥� around,鈥� he said.
This fall, teachers of color might want to opt out of some of the initial conversations on race and let white teachers confront their own biases alone, Santoro said, adding that leaving the room can be a form of self-care.
鈥淚 think that鈥檚 a very strategic choice鈥攖o not have to ... listen to forms of ignorance that are dehumanizing and demoralizing to you,鈥� she said. 鈥淥ur teachers of color don鈥檛 need to be sitting in a room where we鈥檙e saying, 鈥極K, racism鈥攊t鈥檚 a thing.鈥欌��
And who鈥檚 leading the trainings matters, too. Gemayel Hazard, a Black 6th grade social studies teacher in Fairfax County, Va., has stopped going to districtwide equity trainings altogether because they are almost always led by white women.
鈥淲ho is this for?鈥� he said, adding that these trainings center whiteness. 鈥淭his is clearly not to make my life better; this is to make other people comfortable with their BS.鈥�
Other teachers will tell him that they want to hear his voice in these meetings, but he feels as if those trainings are not authentic, especially because there are such systemic issues with race in the district. There are just a handful of Black principals in the 196-school district, and Hazard said he has been passed over time and again for leadership positions.
鈥淚鈥檝e had my administration degree and license for [more than] 10 years, and I watch as people who I have more experience than, am more qualified than, and have more training than get opportunities that I don鈥檛 even get interviews for,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t makes me feel like, 鈥榃hy even try anymore?鈥� You feel like you can do more, you know you can, but you just don鈥檛 get the shot.鈥�
Finding a Community
Those systematic barriers can take a toll on mental health and the desire to stay in the classroom, teachers of color say. That鈥檚 why Kohli co-founded the , an annual three-day professional-development conference. The national gathering is meant to foster a sense of community and support that is lacking in many minority teachers鈥� workplaces.
鈥淚 consider one of the most important ingredients for self-care, self-preservation to be finding a critical community,鈥� said Dara Nix-Stevenson, a Black middle school teacher in Greensboro, N.C. 鈥淚TOC is my critical community that I go to for mental nourishment, spiritual nourishment, check-ins.鈥�
Said Espinoza, the San Jose teacher: 鈥淚t鈥檚 really rejuvenating to be yourself, to be completely your authentic self and talk freely and not have to watch what you say because you might hurt someone.鈥�
Other spaces created for and by teachers of color exist on local and state levels. In the Austin area, for example, Coral Zayas, a 6th grade teacher in the Leander Independent school district, recently launched an affinity group for teachers of color across the area as part of her fellowship for Teach Plus, a nonprofit group that supports teacher leadership. Zayas, who is Latina, said she wanted to build a community where teachers can find mentorship and support among people who can relate to what they鈥檝e experienced in schools.
鈥淭his kind of space has never existed for me, and I鈥檝e been in public schools for seven-plus years,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 think it is critical for us to be able to express our emotions and be able to talk about that in a safe space. 鈥� Otherwise, we鈥檙e internalizing it, and stress builds up.鈥�
And having a safe space to process their own experiences in school can refuel their commitment to fighting for their students of color, teachers say.
鈥淚 didn鈥檛 choose to be the messenger, but because I have the message to share, I鈥檓 not going to keep it to my chest,鈥� Nix-Stevenson said.
