"Nice White Parents" - Ep. 1 Podcast Review

Episode 1 - The Book of Statuses

This podcast story starts out with the reporter following a group of administrators for the New York City Public Schools in 2015, they were showing off a schools' programs to a bunch of white parents. These were the affluent, white parents of the affluent, white children that would the school administrators hoped would opt to stay in their district. By getting more white and affluent families into these schools, the public schools will begin to receive more funding for programs that hopefully affect both students of color and students of white folks equally. Throughout the description of this school tour, the white parents would take notes, ask curriculum and skills based questions, raise their concerns of safety around students of color, it was basically a pitch for why the white parents should to come to their public school.

I noticed that the adults in this podcast mentioned the phrase "gifted kids" a lot and I think that this is another important piece of racial segregation and racial stereotyping. There were a few moments where they describe these "gifted kids", the white parents noticed their students are generally placed in programs for "smarter" kids and were asking where these other kids (the students of color) placed in comparison to their kids. I could tell that a few of the concerns being raised were because the white folks had a negative image in their head about what this school was like based on the racial demographics of the school. We need to stop directing our questions around the deficits of people outcasted by the white, dominant society. We can't continue this deficit mindset about students and communities of color, we have to start thinking and treating these people like human beings that are no less than ourselves. Teaching European colonial history is not going to help white students understand the inequities that they place (knowingly or unknowingly) on their classmates, but teaching history correctly and truthfully will.

The administrators were looking to gain new parents, especially those wealthy enough to give donations because SIS was in trouble of being shut down by the city. This was due to not having enough kids in the school to qualify for funding, another way that the city can continue to keep schools and communities segregated with fewer and lower quality resources. The SIS middle school is in a wealthy Brooklyn, white neighborhood and they needed the local families to start sending their kids to this public school instead of opting to send their kids to the schools that these families viewed as superior. They have more resources and of course, more white people.

10:10 - Rob, a parent of one of the new white students at SIS, raises money for nonprofits and different organizations as a living. He announces his plan to raise $50,000 for the school, now keep in mind that this is an incredibly large amount of money but it's important to note the inequity here. A lot of the kids at this school live in public housing and some of their parents would struggle to even donate $5 to their children's school, and in walks the white parents who are able to donate $50,000 like it was nothing. Think about that for a minute, how would that feel if you were involved in this situation...then continue reading.

At this point, Rob pitches the idea for French, duo-language program to SIS and spreads the word to his fellow, white families. He calls it a “collective action issue” because a program won’t receive funding or get started if there’s one kid interested, but the school will be more likely to listen when if there’s 15 students.

Extension question: How many programs could we get started in public schools that would allow students to work with older students for tutoring and/or research purposes? Enacting changes like these programs would allow students in all grades to play a bigger role in their school community and learn through collaboration.

11:56 - “Did you think of yourself as integrators?" “No, we were participants in the school.”

***If you are not familiar with the term "redlining", watch this video before continuing.***

---

The white families who came from from high socio-economic backgrounds decided to come into this school for the sake of doing the right thing. They thought of diversity as being at a school with more kids of color, which was a good thing...how could this be a bad thing? However, all the students of color noticed the increase in the amount of rich white folks allowing their kids to come into these schools after they were deemed as "safe". Otherwise known as gentrification and white saviorism.

29:00 - “Donor Intent” was mentioned here in relation to fundraising and the donations that Rob was able to get as part of his promise to get $50,000 for his new school. Now the problem here with that is that this is helping to support the vision of white saviorism by supporting the French program that will be serving primarily only their kids. Not only is this an issue of segregation, but most of the students at SIS did already speak another language other than English. Where was their program? Why wasn't the money going to provide new textbooks or uniforms? The concept of needing new textbooks and uniforms wasn't ever an issue for these white folks at their old school, but now they are confronted with a reality much different than theirs. Why does donor money ensure that white kids get their language and not the kids of color who have been here?

In the second part of the podcast, the new French program mostly serves the students who came into the school knowing French. A few of the previous SIS students are enrolled in the program but it is difficult for them, like I mentioned earlier, this is a sensitive subject for all the other families, especially those for whom French might be their 3rd language. The white students however are excelling at a language they had in their previous school. This creates an “off balance” experience from the students’ perspective. The students of color learned through this French program that Spanish and Arabic are not considered reasonable programs to be funded, their languages are being devalued. French and English are the only languages promoted, what does this say about how the students are treated who already know how to speak Arabic or Spanish?

In an interview with one of the newer white students, he mentions the directory of schools or the as he calls it ,book on statuses. Prior to the white families arrival, SIS was considered a "bad" and incompetent school as a result of racial profiling and neighborhood segregation. I found out that 26% is the "bliss point" for the amount of white students that other white families want to see in any given school district. When schools have less than 26% other white students, the affluent white families will move to another part of town or opt to send their kids to different schools where they feel “safer”.

Continued in my next podcast review.....