Relevant Resources

Juniper Networks is a technology company based in Silicon Valley and their CEO, Rami Rahim is committed to social justice work within the company. We thought to include this video conversation because it happened in late October, 2020 and former Education Secretary, Dr. John B. King Jr. references implicit bias during the conversation that we believe adds value to the overall understanding of bias and systems.

As an educator, there are really three things that I hope you would take from this conversation:

1. YOU SEE THE POWER OF RELATIONSHIPS

How important it is to see young people with someone who believes in them, who cares about them, who has a sense of hope for them. You hear from young people and men reflecting on their life’s journey and how important that was. Hopefully educators are thinking about the centrality of relationships.

2. THE CONFRONTATION OF IMPLICIT BIAS

In this conversation, we are confronted with our own implicit bias and the way in which assumptions about Black boys and Black men often drive our behavior. I think about the fact that in our schools, Black students are more than 3 ½ times as likely to be suspended from school as white students. I think about the disproportionate incarceration of African-American men in our society. So much of this reality is driven by assumptions that people make about behavior. This movie really pushes you to consider those assumptions and will hopefully push the audience and educators to do the same.

3. WE NEED MORE BLACK TEACHERS IN AMERICA

The majority of the kids in the nation’s public schools are students of color. Only 2% of our teachers are African-American men. And so we desperately need more Black men to decide to be teachers. When you watch this film, at least for me, as a former teacher, I was thinking a lot about the impact that Black male teachers, mentors, and role models have on boys and young men.

We are all embedded in these systems and it’s important for each of us to reflect on that.