New documents released under the Freedom of Information Act show DC public schools hosting racially segregated “affinity groups” for staffers to process “white supremacy.”
“Remember, the goal of these affinity groups is to create a safe space among colleagues to process the impacts of racism and white supremacy within our school community and identify collective actions to take as individuals and as groups,” Katie Lundgren, the principal of Marie Reed Elementary school, penned in a May 17, 2021, letter to DCPS “race and equity leaders.”
“We will also have periodic cross racial dialogues in which we learn from each other,” she wrote.
“One way to process in a safe space is through affinity,” explains the district’s Affinity Group Interest Form for staff. “Affinity spaces are gathering opportunities for people who share a common identity. This space will be organized based on the racial identities represented in Central Office as we aim to lean into the Courageous Conversation condition of isolating race.”
Read the full report here.