What began as a school leadership development program ended with the question of how to eliminate systemic racism in a public school system. While this issue was top of mind for quite some time, I’d yet to find an opportunity to address it. Having a long history of experiencing the presence of inequality during my own formative years as a student, no one needed to caution me that this was a volatile conversation to raise. I elected to remain quiet, sighting that, like mastering figure skating in which timing means everything, calling out structured racism may fracture relationships rather than build them.

Instead, the topic was brought into sharper focus from within the pedagogical world of education. This particular occasion inspired me to take notice that the time had finally come for us to give voice to the silent past and raise awareness of the loud approaching future. As I see them, the facts are, that virtually all structured organizations inherited this issue through generations. The institution of education cannot escape. Eventually, the topic would surface, and I looked forward to one day creating the space to open what feels similar to an old war chest left forgotten in a musty attic to be discovered by someone willing to call foul and allow the unpleasant smell to be aired out for all to become aware.

Considering my work coaching executive women, I’m well aware that primary and secondary educators are historically female. Thus, the backbone of education is low salaries and high expectations, where women are often marginalized. I see power struggles and people staying in their plight. I witness the emotions and circumstances that often trigger the ills of racism to rise up like a rainbow after a rainstorm. Only it’s not as pretty a sight as the diversity of color we think of following rain showers. Here is yet another institution where women struggle to find their place and deal with the challenges of an environment where racism and sexism rises to meet their makers. This confrontation leaves people historically excluded from society to defend themselves with less than adequate means.