Active Witnessing
What is an active witness and how can they disrupt racism? It is important to understand the difference between being a bystander and an active witness. A bystander is someone who is present but does not get involved during a racist incident. An active witness sees the racist incident and finds an appropriate way to get involved.
Calling in or calling out are some of the ways an active witness can get involved. Another option is to document what you saw or heard and share your documentation with a supervisor, a district/school leader, a union representative, or a colleague who can support you to get involved. It is always important to seek assistance and support when you are unsure about how to get involved.
Active witnessing empowers the witness to act instead of passively watching the harmful situation unfold. Read an example of this on the Resources page.
Reflection
Racism happens every day in schools and communities. It is likely that everyone will encounter racism and/or be an active witness at some point in their lives, so it is important to consider how you will respond when this happens.
Think (and/or share ideas with your colleagues) about what you would say or do in each of these scenarios.
You are participating in your school district’s hiring committee. During the interview process, your colleague is particularly impressed by the candidate you are interviewing and tells the person: “I know you are not from here, but you are so articulate, and your English is perfect!”
While brainstorming activities for an upcoming Professional Development Day, a colleague suggests that staff create a book/podcast club to learn and share responses about anti-racism topics. Another colleague makes this comment: “Ugh, why does everything always have to be about race? I don’t understand why everyone is getting so worked up about being politically correct.”
You are attending a work meeting to hear about a new software program that will be piloted in your department, and then later used across the school district. As you walk into the meeting, your co-worker laughs quietly to you: “Of course they hired her to be the tech lead...those people are great at tech stuff.”
