Canaries and Bellwethers: What Can We Learn About Racial Justice from Studying Ethnic-Racial Identity Within and Across Groups?

Advancing a Science of Learning and Development That Can Promote Dignity-Affirming Educational Environments: Some Considerations for the Field

“…Although racial identity and context are always interacting in dynamic ways, we should be documenting when and how educators are able to construct opportunities for young people to experience such dynamicity in ways that align with dignity—that is, value and worth—rather than erasure, dehumanization, and devaluation (e.g., McGovern et al, 2023). In this sense, understanding when and how racial identity promotes engagement and motivation in school can be understood as a bellwether of the health (or toxicity) of the learning environment (Rivas-Drake et al, 2022, 2023). Furthermore, if we consider agency to be possible in all circumstances, the key task seems to be to support youths’ engagement and understanding of their racial identities even in contexts that are actively denying, erasing, and negating the histories and lived experiences of the groups to which they belong (López et al, 2021); when educators are constrained by limited access to power, some of this work is likely to be occurring in a subversive or fugitive manner.…”

When the personal is political: Ethnic identity, ally identity, and political engagement among Indigenous people and people of color.

“…Consequently, psychologists are questioning the extent to which Indigenous People and People of Color (IPPOC) view each other as being in the same boat (Rivas-Drake & Ba ˜nales, 2018). Is there a politicized, collective identity among ethnic-racial minorities stemming from a sense of shared oppression?…”