This week, I turn my column over to my friend and colleague Micia Mosely, Ph.D., founder and director of the Black Teacher Project, an organization committed to supporting Black teachers in transforming schools. She provides some much-needed context about the role of racial affinity groups in schools and the workplace.
In 2020, we found ourselves in a humanitarian and racial reckoning. COVID-19 and Derek Chauvin’s murder of George Floyd saw many white folks with money focus their tax-deductible giving to support Black-led organizations and initiatives to seemingly soothe centuries old racial guilt. Even schools and workplaces began to support the call for people to gather in racial affinity groups—to meet in race-alike structures. For many Black people, these spaces offered a respite; a safe space from the experiences of racism and other forms of oppression. At the same time, many Black folks discovered that if these healing spaces were not held with the right combination of purpose, structures, and practices, the spaces could quickly turn toxic.
It’s important to note that affinity space is a natural way of gathering. Family reunions are common affinity spaces that provide structures and practices to support the purpose of connection and legacy-building. We eat, play games, celebrate accomplishments, and share stories to honor and remember our elders and ancestors. Enlisting the right guides to assist us in staying focused on the intention of coming together can help prevent misunderstandings and potential drama. Gathering in racial affinity in schools and other work environments must be undertaken with the same intentionality. There are three primary reasons to gather in racial affinity: healing, learning, and organizing.
Racism has hurt us all, and we all need to understand how to heal from its harmful effects. Learning is embedded in the healing process. Racial affinity helps us understand our own racial context, our communities, and those who are racially different from us. Deep learning takes humility and vulnerability—just ask any Black adult learning how to play Spades. Gathering to organize demands we prioritize our healing journey. Without such a commitment, affinity spaces can become a location for lashing out in our trauma responses.
Using affinity groups as a space to organize requires leadership and clarity of purpose. They must also offer ways to acknowledge small wins on the way to a larger goal. I’ve watched racial affinity spaces transform the lives of the Black teachers I work with, as well as their students. This was possible when we moved beyond seeing them as spaces to kiki (gather with friends for gossiping and chit-chat) and instead, rolled up our sleeves and began the work of connecting as diverse groups of Black people.
Yes, racial affinity groups can help us address racism, but like most things, it’s not what you do, but how you do it.
Christina Greer, Ph.D., is an associate professor at Fordham University; author of “Black Ethnics: Race, Immigration, and the Pursuit of the American Dream”; and co-host of the podcast FAQ-NYC and host of The Blackest Questions podcast at TheGrio.