The Danger of the Liberal White Educator: Does All Really Mean All?

Have you heard or used the phrase: ＂Well-intentioned/well-meaning white person＂? What about ＂white liberal＂? What do those phrases mean to you? And what do they have to do with education in America?

Before she was an author of paranormal romance and urban fantasy novels, N. D. Jones was an educator. In her essay, ＂The Danger of the Liberal White Educator,＂ she reflects on her twenty-plus years as an educator in a field where most public school teachers and administrators are middle-class white women responsible for the academic future of more than 20 million students of color. Jones’ insights into the liberal, white educator mindset come from her years of facilitating cultural proficiency professional development for employees in a white-dominated public school system where all is supposed to mean all, yet racial inequity and disproportionality persist.

In the hashtag era of #BlackLivesMatter and #SayHerName, what role should white educators play in promoting equity and equality in their classrooms and school buildings? More, what should they commit to doing differently to build their cultural, social, and emotional intelligence? N. D. Jones explores these questions in her essay.