Race, Allyship, & Child Care

We are living in a moment when the centering of race equity has become a central theme in how organizations aspire to work and exist. However, in working with The Alabama Movement for Child Care™ (TAMCC™), AISJ’s child care movement, we understand that real freedom comes only through the dismantling of systems that keep individuals trapped in poverty. Child care continues to be one of AISJ’s core platforms, dating back to 1972 when a group of Black women in Selma, Alabama, wanted equitable child care.

Today, through TAMCC™, we are clear about the conditions providers face, as well as how they arrived at this point. It is plain and simple: racism. If one is shocked at the idea of linking “racism” with “child care,” that may mean one is not paying attention, as racism permeates every aspect of American life, including child care. Most recently, our friends at Parent Voices California did an outstanding presentation that speaks to the racist roots of child care.

For decades, child care providers have accepted the crumbs that have been given to them to provide one of the most significant and meaningful services across the state. And, outside of the groundbreaking work our organization did when we were known as FOCAL (Federation of Child Care Centers of Alabama), under the leadership of Sophia Bracy Harris, a Black woman, very little has been done across the state to solve this problem, and certainly not in a way where race and structural racism are seen as central components of this issue.

Growing up in the Black church, I used to hear my grandmother say, “If you love the Lord, you oughta show some sign.” Well, with regard to race equity in child care: If you say you love child care and child care providers, then “you oughta show some sign.” In our daily engagement with providers, there is a seeming disconnect between those “running” child care versus those who are actually “delivering” child care. While efforts have certainly been made to swiftly distribute federal resources

to providers as they have come available, there seems to be a lack of understanding between what providers actually need versus what is often offered to them. For example, it is disheartening when I witness subtle (and sometimes not so subtle), condescending comments regarding providers seemingly not chomping at the bit to take advantage of resources that may suddenly become available.

The real truth is that there is often insufficient engagement around truly listening to providers. Targeted, self-serving attempts to get providers to fill out surveys to meet organizational funding goals do not meet providers where they are or reveal their true needs. Providers actually find this process frustrating; they are overwhelmed with life and see a survey as simply another thing being asked of them. However, if more meaningful and continuous engagement were in action, it would be understood that providers are consistently lamenting increased regulations and severe limitations of administrative capacity, combined with the fact that they legitimately feel helpless as they try to orchestrate the day-to-day challenges of not only running a child care center, but effectively managing their operations in a COVID-19 world. If this were better understood, then elitist remarks about what providers are not doing would be nonexistent. And circulating PSAs/articles/blogs about the “millions of dollars” that have been raised and distributed to child care providers means little to nothing if those resources are insufficient and not tied to what providers express are their priorities. In essence, it should be about THEM, and NOT about us. Whether these results are deliberate or the outcome of a system that is profoundly broken, it is, in fact, child care providers who bear the heaviest brunt of this process.

It must be understood that we are all part of a racialized society and racism inevitably hurts everyone. Knowing this, we should all work to take into account what it means to exist and operate in a world that was not set up for minorities and women to succeed. This is what should guide our actions and responses, including in the way that we speak about providers, how we use our various positions to support them, and how we advocate on their behalf.

On the merit of allyship, I am often asked, “How do I become an ally in this work?” Similarly, on March 6th of this year, as I spoke on a panel that was part of the Selma Bridge Crossing Jubilee 2021 commemorating the 56th anniversary of “Bloody Sunday,” the Selma-to-Montgomery March, and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, Southern Poverty Law Center’s Tafeni English, the panel’s facilitator, asked me, “What does it meant to be an ally in this work?” It was a valid question, given AISJ’s work and purpose, and one to which I am always prepared to respond. I said, “What it means to be an ally in this work is that those in power must be willing to not only embrace truth but consistently demonstrate their commitment to anti-racism and race equity over time, through both word and deed.” I would also add that one must not be void of empathy, as its absence makes it impossible to become a true ally.

Additionally, there must be a recognition of what racism looks like in the 21^st century. Believing that the use of racial epithets or legal segregation are the primary signifiers of racism is a less-informed way of understanding how racism often plays out today. What racism looks like in child care is that it is an excessively underfunded system that has historically used an artificial infrastructure, in the form of a market rate survey, that does not take into account what it actually costs to run child care. This challenges many providers to stay competitive and keeps them struggling just to make ends meet.

This is what racism looks like. It is wholly consistent with our country’s foundation of slavery, on which our entire capitalist system is built, and results in the continuing exploitation of child care labor today. At the core of racism is an essential desire for power and control. However, if one is serious about becoming an ally, they must first relinquish the idea that they are the authority in the room. Instead, listen to those that are marginalized, and then use individual and collective power and influence to drive equity and systems change, based on PROVIDER needs. Anything less, is merely attempting to actualize our own agendas. And, likely, once again…racism.

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