Learning and Unlearning Racial Prejudice: The Role of Schools

Implicit and unexamined prejudice learned within a culture of systemic racism undoubtedly contributed to the fact that George Zimmerman saw a young Black male as a threat to his gated, townhouse community. This is not an isolated incident, and racial attitudes do not seem to be improving. An Associated Press poll released in October 2012, reported that racial prejudice has increased since 2008 and that over half of White Americans express “explicitly anti-Black sentiments.” We draw on scholarship in education to examine the role that schools and school systems play in reinforcing racial prejudice, particularly as related to Black boys. We present strategic actions that school systems, schools, and teachers can take to counter stereotyped messages about Black youth, messages that are so powerfully communicated within schools and the broader society that even those who question their validity are impacted implicitly