Greg Galemore

On Becoming an Antiracist Educator Greg Galemore

As all eyes are focused on brutal racist acts by the police, one of the critical areas that we are ignoring is the life-strangling effect of racism in education. Black and Brown children are being taught that they have no value not only by the educational system but by teachers -- 80 percent of whom are White -- who fail to understand the bias brought on by their White privilege. Greg Galemore, a 10-year veteran of teaching in urban settings, shares his experiences in his memoir, On Becoming an Antiracist Educator: Difficult Lessons Learned by an Urban Teacher Who Passes as White. In the same vein as Ibram X. Kendi's best-selling treatise, How to be an Antiracist, Galemore uses stories, research, and his knowledge of American history to challenge the essential institutions for our future - public education. Born to a White mother and Native-American father, Galemore quickly learns that his ability to pass as White gives him preferential status as a student in his urban school. He documents his gradual understanding of racism after one of his closest friends is expelled from school and killed right in front of him. He then moves to a suburban school where he excels in soccer and goes to college as a White student. When his sports career ends, he decides to become an urban teacher and quickly realizes that his students suffer because of his racist habits and training. He sets upon a quest to become an antiracist educator to change how he and fellow teachers interact with their Black and Brown students.