White Women Getting Real About Race: Their Stories About What They Learned Teaching in Diverse Classrooms

Abstract

In their edited volume, White Women Getting Real About Race, Judith James and Nancy Peterson have assembled eleven narratives from White women who are not afraid to share their racial missteps as educators. The authors span the K-12 landscape, including teachers of elementary, middle, and high school; teachers of the arts; a special education teacher; and teachers who are nontraditional educators. I entered this text with skepticism; I was concerned that I would be reading the experiences of White women who viewed themselves as saviors. After a rocky initial chapter that emphasized stereotypes and reminded me of Michelle Pfieffer’s character in Dangerous Minds, the second chapter by editor James named the paternalistic nature of wanting to save someone, and I did not put the book down again until I had finished the final chapter. This volume overall avoided stories of White women with savior complexes; rather, the purpose of this collection was to invite readers to examine White privilege at work in education. In assembling narratives that exposed the sordid underbelly of White privilege, the editors have compiled a volume that inspires dialogue. Recognizing the work of building inclusive schools as an obligation for all educators, the editors sought stories that would “challenge the security of silence by White women in schools” (p. 1). James and Peterson provided structure for their readers to engage by including journal questions at the end of each chapter, and a final chapter of exercises to continue asking critical questions and learning about race and racism. While the context