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Our Role as School Counselors in Advocating for Racial Justice

Writer's picture: Counselor's CircleCounselor's Circle
Jun 1, 20204 min read

Updated: Jun 14, 2020

Hello everyone,


With the recent racial injustices that have taken the lives of #GeorgeFloyd, #BreonnaTaylor, #AhmaudArbery, and countless others, we at Counselor's Circle felt compelled to discuss our ethical responsibility as emerging school counselors of color to use our relative privilege, our voice, and our platform to address racism head on. In this post, we will discuss some contextual background and data regarding the policing of Black bodies, our ethical duty to speak out and advocate for change, and resources for counselors navigating this difficult time.


Context Regarding Policing of Black Bodies:

While this may already be common knowledge to our audience, it is worth reiterating that Black communities are disproportionately policed and killed by police brutality in America. In 2019, 24% of the 1,009 people that the American police killed were Black, while Black people only make up 13% of the population (source: https://mappingpoliceviolence.org/).


We see this policing of Black bodies occurring in our educational system, where we often see schools more likely to hire school police than mental health providers (source: https://www.aclu.org/report/cops-and-no-counselors). The ACLU reported that more than 14 million students in America attend schools that have school police but no counselors, nurses, social workers, or school psychologists. With this presence of law enforcement in schools, we are more likely to see Black students policed due to "heightened surveillance and misinterpretation of black male behaviors" as overly aggressive, intimidating, disrespectful, and defiant (Allen & White-Smith, 2014). As a result, Black students are 3.5 times more likely to be suspended or expelled than their white peers, contributing to the school-to-prison pipeline especially for Black students (Elias, 2013).


We provided these statistics so that they can be shared with stakeholders within your schools, in the hopes of gaining their buy-in to actively support the #BlackLivesMatter movement and any initiatives aimed to teach anti-racism in schools or advocate for less police in schools.


Our Ethical Duty:

As school counselors, we also serve as advocates and change agents on behalf of our students, especially in condemning violence and the systemic and institutional racism affecting the Black community (ASCA Anti-Racism Statement). We cannot allow ourselves to be silent on this matter, as our students and communities are looking towards us for support and solidarity. With our relative privilege, we need to speak up against injustices that occur in our community and call out policies, practices, and behaviors that may reinforce inequality or oppression for our students, preventing them to succeed. In order to help our students who are dealing with intergenerational trauma, we cannot simply give our students the tools to cope but we need to actively work on breaking down the systems that are traumatizing them.

For Black counselors, we stress the importance of taking the time you need to heal and care for yourself. Lean on the colleagues you trust, whether they can help support your workload or provide a space to process and heal. Giving yourself boundaries and distancing yourself from sources of trauma and stress is key. Your mental health is priority over work, always.


For non-Black counselors, this is a time where we should be actively committing to anti-racist work, amplifying the voices from the Black community, holding space for healing, and educating ourselves regarding the Black experience. This work should not place any additional burden on people of color, as there are plenty of resources available to educate ourselves.


Resources:

We have linked some helpful resources created by a variety of activists, educators, and organizations. We will continue to add to the list as we find more.


School Counseling

Educational

Grief/Healing

Advocacy


Lastly, we will leave you with these beautiful graphics by OhHappyDani about how to be a better ally.


- Counselor's Circle


Citations:

Allen, Q. & White-Smith, K. A. (2014). “Just as Bad as Prisons”: The Challenge of Dismantling the School-to-Prison Pipeline Through Teacher and Community Education. Equity & Excellence in Education, 47(4), 445-460.


Elias, M. (2013). "The School-to-Prison Pipeline: Policies and Practices that Factor Incarceration over Education Do Us All a Grave Injustice. Teaching Tolerance, 43, 39-40.

 
 
 

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