itisessentialtorecognizeEurocentricbiasintheclassroom.Withstatemandatedstandardsandprescribedcurriculum
theschoolmayalreadybepromotingaracialhierar-chythatprioritizeswhiteandupper-classhistory
valuesandperspectives(PerezHuber
JohnsonandKohli2006).Teacherscanproactivelypreventorminimizetheincidentsandharmofracialmicroaggressionsbyacknowledg-ingplacesintheschoolorclassroomthatoverlooktheexperiencesandcul-turesofracialminorityyouth.Educatorscanalsoutilizemethodsofculturallyrelevantpedagogyandvalidatestudentsâculturesthroughtruemodelsofmulti-culturaleducation(Ladson-Billings2001;Nieto1994)
aswellasspeakfranklyaboutracismandinternalizedracismwithyouth.Second
itisalsofundamentalthatteachersbothidentifyandexpandtheirculturallimits.Weallcomefromaparticularculturalandlinguisticbackground
andaseducators
wemayhaveneverrolledanr
orseenthelettersngytogetherinaname
andthuswemaynotsayastudentâsnamecorrectlywhenweseeitfortheï¬rsttime.However
itisimportanttonotgiveupinoureffortsandchangeorshortenaname
butratheraskforhelpandremindtheclassthatthisisourlimitation
notanyfaultofthestudent.Itisessentialtodoourbesttolearnthenamesofourstudents
nomatterhowlongittakesorhowfaritisoutsideourcomfortzone.Ifwecreateclassroomsthatcelebratedifferencesandreciprocallearningbetweentheteacherandstudents
youthofanyraceorethnicityshouldbothretainanddevelopprideintheirculture.Lastly
itisimportanttohonorthepowerthatteacherscarrytoinï¬uenceastudentâssenseofselfandworldview.Aconfusedorfrustratedlookoralaughofembarrassmentmaybecommonresponseswhenapersonencoun-terssomethingnewandchallenging.However
asdemonstratedinthisarti-cle
whenteachersreactinthesewaystothenamesoftheirstudents
itcanhavealastingimpactonthewaythatchildseesthemselvesandtheircul-ture.Teacherscarryagreatdealofresponsibilityinshapingthemindsoftheirstudents
anditisfundamentalthattheytreatthatpowerwithcare.Inadditiontothesepedagogicalsuggestions
thereareresourcesthatcanbeusedtobringawarenesstotheissueofnamesandschooling
aswellastoteachchildrenalovefortheirnamesandtheirculture.3StudentsofColorencountermanyformsofracismwithintheirschool-ing.Someofthisracismisblatant
andothertimesitismoresubtleorcov-ert.Nomattertheform
however
itcanbedamagingtothewaystudentsseethemselves
theircultureandtheirfamily.WewritethisarticletoheightenawarenessoftheimpactofracialmicroaggressionsonYouthofColorwiththehopeofimprovingtheracialclimateandconditionsofK-12schools.AcknowledgingthatracialinequalityisastructuralproblemwithintheUS
teachersarenottheoriginators
northerootcauseofinstitutional-RaceEthnicityandEducation459
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