- I think kids from minority families
don't necessarily get a fair shot all the time
at building relationships, in terms of their family.
Teachers aren't comfortable with parents
and parents aren't comfortable with teachers.
You can see it in the kids.
There is a lot of teachers, I would say white teachers,
who are uncomfortable, still, with black families.
And so when you have, let's say, a white parent coming in,
another white parent, you see a really positive, fun interaction
between those two.
And then you look at another situation
where another parent of color comes in
and a white teacher maybe is not as, I don't want to say open,
but they just maybe don't understand
the culture or the mannerisms,
or even just that friendliness maybe isn't the same.
The kid picks up on that as well and is always wondering why,
you know, and kids are a lot more perceptive than we think.
And I'm not saying it's the teacher's fault
because parents come in as well with a chip on their shoulder
and very distrustful because of their school experience.
It makes people, kids feel uncomfortable.
They don't understand why, necessarily, but they sense it.
I personally know that having an all African-American team,
and having families come in of color
that there is a comfortability there
that I feel like white families and white teachers
share all the time,
and this might be their first time really seeing that.
You know like, “Oh wow, she looks like me.
"She looks like my family.
"She's talking to my mom the way my aunt does.”
And so, there's something there.
So, it's really important that we get teachers of color
to mix and mingle with the student population, for sure.
[gentle music]