At the first presidential debate, former president Donald Trump remarked of immigrants that, “They’re taking Black jobs and they’re taking Hispanic jobs and you haven’t seen it yet but you’re going to see something that’s going to be the worst in our history.”
His comment prompted myself and other Black people to ask themselves and others what exactly is a Black job. Of course, Black folks are always here for the jokes and social media had a field day, with various comments and a song to boot.
But as I really got to thinking about the concept of a Black job… namely in education, I thought about the numerous Black jobs that Black people have… which led to me defining what a Black job is in education—not what I or other Black people think a Black job is, but rather what racists, like Donald Trump, think a Black person can do in a school. Here is the list:
- Janitor
- Secretary
- Cafeteria Worker
- Teacher’s Aid
- Teacher (of predominately Black children)
- Administrator (at a predominately Black school)
- Controller of Black children
- The Code Switch Whisperer
- Teacher of White People All Things Black
Those last three aren’t formal positions, but somewhere in the positions mentioned before them is where you can find them. I can tell you from experience that “Black jobs” in education have to do with the invisible tax; jobs where controlling Black children, helping them to code switch, and being a resource for white people on Black culture and Black norms are the hidden (and often more important) purpose of their job title.
The idea of a “Black job” in education runs deeper than simply the job itself. It speaks to what some believe about the abilities of Black people in education spaces. According to the statistics, I am unsure if many think Black people can do the work of educating children. Only 6% of teachers and 10% of principals are Black. I suspect the percentage is higher for principals because the role has a major disciplinary function. I guess that is a “Black job” for sure.
The statistics say something else. More Black teachers work in cities and higher-poverty schools more than anywhere else. Fewer Black teachers work in private schools, yet when they do, it is likely a city and high-poverty school.
Black teachers teaching Black students is important. However, all students can learn from Black teachers and it’s important that Black students teach them as well. But do people think that it’s important for Black teachers to lead classrooms with a majority of non-Black students? Is it that only Black students can learn from Black teachers? I can say from personal experience that’s not true. So then why would anyone think it to be true?
It’s not because Black students are considered the most gifted or the most talented students. If it were so, white teachers would trip over each other to teach Black students. Don’t believe me? Welp, many do that in urban schools… trip over each other to teach honors and AP courses rather than teach the “rank and file,” but I digress.
For the most part, public schools remain segregated, regardless of the Brown decision. If true integration were a priority, integration would be part and parcel of the decisions white people make when choosing where they live, which determines where their children go to school. Not only do white people not choose to live in majority Black neighborhoods, but they also do not want their children to be a minority in a predominately Black school.
Rather than address the racism that shapes the circumstances that enable the existence of “Black jobs” in education, society has “Black jobs” in education.
Clearly, a “Black job” isn’t a real thing. It’s no more real than Black people and white people. The idea of it is a construct. Nevertheless, it is a real thing because socially constructed designators, like race, come with real-world consequences. A “Black job” is a marker of incompetence, subservience, and beneath something that a white person would do. It’s a racist term created by racists like Donald Trump.
Black people know what a job is, or what a career is. An occupation has nothing to do with how one identifies racially.
It’s one thing to be in a position as a Black person while utilizing the cultural experiences of being Black to influence and impact how you perform in that position. My Blackness impacts how I work as an educator… as it should. However, that’s something completely different from a “Black job.” The majority of Black educators do their jobs through the lens of their experiences and culture within an anti-black system of education and society. This is a good thing.
And yet, we often leave education spaces because white people believe that there are only certain jobs that Black people can do. When we go beyond the scope they’ve placed on us, too many of us receive pushback. That’s the invisible tax; Black teachers are only expected to do certain things in their role as educators, namely disciplining Black children.
If recruiting and maintaining Black teachers is a priority, education leaders and policymakers must move away from the kind of mindset and rhetoric that expresses asinine ideas on what Black people can and cannot do. They must move away from making Black educators Black student whisperers. They must move away from making Black educators’ gurus for white teachers of Black children.
Those education leaders and policymakers must truly value the Black educator.
Valuing black educators means not harboring any preconceived notions or presuppositions as to what Black people can do or what they should do. It means not being afraid of making your school and district faculty as Black as it can be, whether in the city or the suburbs. It means taking the focus off the perceived “Black job” and focusing on Black people; ensuring that Black children are best educated and providing Black people the opportunity to educate all students.
The focus on Black jobs is why we have the inequality and injustice that exist in the first place.
