By Heidi Beveland-Dalzell, teacher and founder of Black Educators BC Network, Maple Ridge
Black Educators BC Network (BlackEd) is a network of prospective, current, and retired Black educators in public and private K–12, post-secondary, community educational spaces, and counselling offices in BC. We are a collective of individuals, of different nationalities, ages, genders, and years of experience working in education, with unique experiences of what it means to be Black in BC within our educational systems. This space does not exist to exclude other races from dialogue around anti-Black racism but provides an affinity space for raw learning and understanding to happen around common experiences of being a Black educator within the BC context.
Existing as a Black person within our school system, experiencing racism (both systemic and overt), supporting racialized students with their experiences, while teaching from an anti-racist lens, is too much for any one person to take on in isolation, and yet for years we have.
While our experiences are diverse, allow me to share my own to provide more context. My entire education has taken place in the Lower Mainland, and I did not see another Black educator until I began teaching. There, in School District 42, I met the late and legendary Henry Fair and for the first time grasped the impact of the lack of Black educators in my own educational experience, and our importance within our province.
Most Black youth are growing up in our school system without seeing themselves represented as educators in the classroom, and I have learned while administrating this network that most Black educators are the only ones within their schools. Many outside the Lower Mainland are the only Black educator they are aware of within their district. Each of us works within our sphere, from an anti-racist perspective born out of necessity and survival, to empower students, develop curriculum, engage in challenging dialogue and advocacy, and create spaces of enrichment to support equity within our school communities. The Black Educators BC Network provides a space to create linkages across our province that allow for a larger sharing of the struggles and successes of each individual and collective celebration.
BlackEd started as a grassroots response to the murder of George Floyd in 2020. I found myself engaging in conversations around race, identity, and civil rights with colleagues and students, moving through my workday while integrating personal experience with learned histories. I was emotionally and mentally exhausted at the end of each day, and would often debrief with my sibling and fellow educator, Aaron Beveland-Dalzell, and colleague-turned-mentor, Kenneth Headley. Through our check-ins it became apparent that the same conversations were happening across our schools, and as the (often sole) Black educator in the space, the individual burden was heavy.
With the encouragement of Aaron and Ken, I put out a call for membership, and we pulled together a small group of educators from the Lower Mainland to meet on June 19 (Juneteenth) of 2020 over video conference.
The resultant, apparent necessity for this affinity space led to a commitment for continued connection, and since then the group has grown through word of mouth, networking at professional development events, and a public sharing of our joy through the Instagram page @blackeducatorsbc.
Have these conversations, not just with people of other races … you should be having these conversations with people of your own race as well. – Ijeoma Oluo, So You Want to Talk about Race
Connection was the first goal of BlackEd. I wanted to know where Black educators were teaching, at what levels of education, and how they were doing. The initial hope was to conduct our first meeting in person, but during the COVID-19 pandemic we opted for a video conference. This pivot allowed for an unforeseen diversification of connection. Through a digital platform, BlackEd BC has gained members across the Lower Mainland, on Vancouver Island, and through the interior as far as Prince George, and connected with the Black Teachers Association of Alberta. After each meeting new connections and opportunities are collectively shared.
“Affinity groups” … support recruitment, retention, and heightened productivity. – Beverly Daniel Tatum, Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria
Uplifting is the natural outcome of connection. In meetings, members seek guidance and advice from each other. Educators may be engaging in difficult conversations with colleagues and students about systemic racism, supporting students or themselves when overt racism occurs, or navigating the creation of anti-racist curriculum. Educators may be looking for opportunities to connect themselves or their students with further support or learning opportunities. They may wish to find a new collaborator or simply connect with others who understand our current educational climate. BlackEd members connect monthly to ask guidance from others who have navigated similar experiences, find emotional support, and leave the meetings with advice and strategies to carry them through.
It may be necessary for us to have spaces where [these feelings] can be expressed so that we can trace its roots, understand it, and examine possibilities for transforming internalized anger into constructive, self-affirming energy. – bell hooks, Teaching to Transgress
Empowerment has followed organically out of the conversations within the network. As educators share about considering new positions, leadership opportunities, and public speaking events, the network is along for the journey, cheering them on, and creating a space where each individual win is a gain for the collective.
BlackEd has become a hub for sharing highlights of opportunities for students and educators alike, as well as a space to invite further celebration of the individual wins of the collective. Witnessing and sharing in the wealth of innovation of Black educators across the province has been a highlight of my past five years as an educator.
When a youth in Port Coquitlam needs a mentor who speaks French, when a teacher is considering taking on leadership responsibilities in their school, when an educator is navigating microaggressions in the workplace, when a grassroots educator network needs an artistic designer for a logo (Nigel Amenu-Tekaa), BlackEd provides. Every month, when the meeting starts, “our strangers-turned-family” builds a force for positive change and more demographically reflective representation for our students.
Going forward we have goals of creating a larger space to connect families and students to educators, counsellors, advisors, and funds to support increased success for Black students within our province. Black youth need to see them-selves as educators within their schools. As Marian Wright Edelman said in the 2011 documentary Miss Representation, “You can’t be what you can’t see.” Not only is our presence necessary, but the students need to know that we are here, with and for them. The deeper truth is that the additional responsibilities that come along with being a Black-bodied educator are heavy ones to bear.
Providing space for Black educators to support one another decreases the burden and elevates the joy. We strive to do our part toward a future where all educators and students are empowered to show up authentically within their educational spaces.