GREENFIELD — Author Tiffany Jewell was in town last week for a pair of speaking engagements to address the struggle for anti-racism and to discuss her newest book, “This Book Is Anti-Racist: 20 Lessons on How to Wake Up, Take Action and Do the Work.”
A self-described biracial writer, first-generation American, cisgender mother of two and anti-bias/anti-racist educator, Jewell visited Greenfield High School to talk about how to chisel away at the foundation of discrimination this nation was founded on. The program was supported in part by a grant from the Greenfield Cultural Council.
“Even though most of us are adults, we’re not done growing — we still have a lot of growing up to do,” she said in the school’s auditorium.
She explained one does not need to be hateful to have racist feelings. She said many well-intentioned people acknowledge racism is real but deny the omnipresence of systemic racism, irrationally believing that a mindset they freely admit is real has not bled into society’s institutions.
She said an example of systemic racism includes private schools excluding people from minority groups. Jewell also mentioned how, starting in 1959, Prince Edward County in Virginia closed its schools for five years to avoid complying with the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling that racial segregation in public schools violated the 14th Amendment of the Constitution.
She mentioned that students at an all-school assembly that morning asked her if she donates money to charitable organizations. She said she does, having not had the means to do so for much of her life. Jewell said family decisions are made over how to redistribute the family’s wealth, and her children are particularly passionate about helping people receive an education.
“They’re really upset that schooling isn’t fair and just to everybody,” she said. “So we do redistribute our funds to … schools that are revitalizing Indigenous languages.”
Jewell, who now lives near Northampton, mentioned she grew up in Syracuse, New York, never understanding that she “lived on stolen land cultivated by stolen people,” referring to the fact that Indigenous tribes had settled throughout North America before European colonists came and forced enslaved Africans to work for free to fuel the new nation.
“Often I hear, particularly from white folks … that children are too young to learn about racism,” Jewell said. “But here’s the thing — our children are not too young to observe the world around them; they’re not too young to ask questions; they’re not too young to make decisions of who they’re going to play with or who they’re not going to play with; they’re not too young to learn from us.
“And not all children get to have that innocence placed upon them,” she continued. “Because, you know, there are different ‘talks’ in families, depending on your race and your neighborhood and where you live and where you have a job. And so I like to remind white folks that there is no preservation of innocence. It’s not a thing until everybody is afforded that immunity.”
Before Jewell spoke, Glen Franklin with Community Action Pioneer Valley’s Family Center introduced himself and explained the purpose of the event. He said American society is largely unequipped to handle difficult conversations about race and racism. He also acknowledged the evening’s conversation might cause discomfort among audience members.
“The goal is not to make anyone feel guilty or defensive, but rather to give us those tools we need in order to build a more just and caring community together,” he said.
David Brule, of the Nolumbeka Project, a nonprofit that fights to preserve Indigenous cultures and protect land and sacred sites, also spoke, conducting a land acknowledgement, a formal statement that recognizes Indigenous peoples as traditional stewards of the land, which he said is customary “at the beginning of a gathering such as this.”
“This is Indian land. For thousands of years this has been Pocumtuck land. This is still the homelands of the Pocumtuck people and their descendants,” he said. “They are still here. Their voices are still here in the air we breathe. They are not gone.”
Reach Domenic Poli at: dpoli@recorder.com or
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