N’Kengé Robertson was a student at Detroit Cass Technical High School in 2015 and felt the curriculum there was not intentional enough for her; the textbooks and assignments did not relate to her as a Black student. Now a student-teacher at her alma mater and founder of Accountability Counts, Robertson is on a mission to rid negligence and disregard of Black and brown children in the classroom.
The 22-year-old recent Michigan State graduate is hosting a teach-in titled, “Addressing Racial Violence in Educational Spaces Through Teaching With Tenderness” on Saturday, October 12 from 9-1 p.m. at the MSU Detroit Center in midtown (3408 Woodward Ave). The event is free, but those interested must RSVP.
The teach-in will include critical discussions around how race and racism are situated in English language arts classrooms and in the media, how these spaces can become sites for racial justice, analyzing the idea of what it means to “teach with tenderness,” and provide hands-on experience on how to create texts and resources that are rooted in Blackness and uplifting. The event will include a slam poetry, racial narratives, workshops, and a panel discussion to achieve the goal of racial healing.
“I have always been passionate about education since I was younger. So this wasn’t something that just came about, but more so, who I really am and who I aim to be,” said Robertson, who has spent eight years in the educational field, ranging from East Lansing, Michigan to San Ignacio, Belize. “I realized the major issue for Black and brown youth all over is the lack of empathy and over-representation of Eurocentric paradigms. It is unfair, to say the least, but more so leaves our youth with ideas that their being and humanity are not worthy enough to be addressed and in turn, creates a space filled with racial and linguistic violence.”
The panel discussion will include three panelists: Siritta Darby, educator and founder of Wanderlust Revolution; Michael Payne, president at Black Male Educators Alliance of Michigan; and India Young, founder of Fostering Our Future. The event is open to anyone invested in curing the crisis of anti-Black racism in the classroom.
“If you’re into education, youth mentoring or have an education program, this event is for you,” said Robertson. “This will be the place to be for anyone dealing with youth in the urban community, willing to learn or interested in working in education.”
Robertson’s organization, Accountability Counts, is an educational consulting enterprise that is geared toward building on the knowledge, experiences, and identities of Black and brown youth in urban communities. Its goal is to debunk social-constructs that hinder success due to pedagogies that are embedded in anti-blackness, anti-browness, and whiteness.
Around the country, Black and brown students experience racial violence in the classroom, ranging from a lack of access to appropriate reading materials, supportive relationships with teachers and administrators, and adverse treatment by their teachers and peers, including regular use of the “n-word.”School boards and teachers are not meeting the educational needs and interests of Black and brown students and parents, contributing to a sense of “un-belonging” and a schooling environment that makes learning problematic, tough, and challenging.
“I’m trying to promote the idea of teaching with kindness,” said Robertson, whose ultimate goal is to become a program director for an urban school district. “Teacher development goes well beyond creating curriculum. Teachers need to be empathetic and sympathetic to what goes on as a Black or brown youth, what it means for them as a student, and looking at the student as a whole.”
For more information, contact N’Kengé Robertson: NKENGE@ACCOUNTABILITYCOUNTS.ORG
COVER PHOTO: Quenton Ross
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