Morning of the Inauguration

On the morning of the 2021 Inauguration, I’m watching the news wondering if the transfer of power will go smoothly? Will the next 4 years bring us positive change? Will the country come back together stronger or will division continue to haunt us? So many questions. So much fear of the unknown. But still, hope. 

I’m not usually someone who discusses politics in a public forum, but I’m going to break from that for a minute here. If you look at Trump’s team, they are mostly white men. Not really surprising there. When we look at Biden’s team, we see diversity. President Elect Joe Biden has picked an extremely diverse cabinet to lead with him. In what will be the most diverse cabinet in US history, half of those Biden has picked are people of color. Biden didn’t just choose people of color; white people are also part of his cabinet. He chose the best people for the job, all the while, keeping the importance of diversity in the forefront of his mind. Regardless of where you stand on political issues, this is a big deal. 

The men and women about to lead our country for the next 4 years are actually representing and reflecting the people they will lead. Our divided nation, which is home to people of so many ethnicities and races, will have a leadership team that understands the perspectives and points of view of many, not just the few. Biden and Harris will come into office with the seemingly insurmountable task of healing a broken country.  The men and women who will serve with them know what it feels like to be people of color in the United States, to be the minority. This might not feel like a big deal to some people, but it is.

To the people of color who turned out in droves for this election, it matters. To the black and brown kids sitting in classrooms across this country, it matters. To single moms, it matters. To the hard workers making minimum wage, it matters. Knowing that people can rise up out of their situations to become people of power, especially when those people look like you, is important. 

Before we get the notion that this diverse team is the answer to all of our problems, let me be clear. It is only the first step. It is the baseline. Joe Biden was intentional about surrounding himself with people of color and building his leadership team with that in mind. We should all be intentional in building our own teams. We should be thinking about how to best represent the populations we serve. Diversity fosters different perspectives. This is increasingly important in all industries, in particular the field of education where innovation and problem-solving are critical.

In our schools, how many of our teachers and leadership teams are representative of the children we educate? The diversity of our educators is sorely lacking. People of color are largely not choosing education as a career path. Young people today want to make a difference but don’t know how. They want to change the world. We need to help them see education as a way to do that. 

Students benefit from having teachers who are highly engaging and committed to building real relationships with them. Now imagine if more of these teachers were people of color. Imagine if all students had some teachers who looked like them. Who had backgrounds and cultures similar to theirs. How powerful would that be? As we begin the next 4 years filled with anticipation, fear, and hope, we should think about Biden’s cabinet picks and how we, as educators and leaders, can try to replicate that within our schools.