HONORING CULTURAL TRADITIONS THROUGH SCHOOL ATHLETICS

By Cecilia J. Robinson-Woods, Superintendent, Millwood Public Schools

As superintendents, we are committed to ensuring all students get the best education possible and one that is customized to meet their needs and honor their experiences and differences. We work tirelessly to provide resources and teacher training to build capacity in our students to be critical thinkers, readers and writers.

The need to create a safe environment where students respect and honor each other’s differences is paramount. But often this need receives less attention due to time constraints, as well as increasing politicization to minimize our recognition of diversity in schools or even to acknowledge the differences in our racial past. Perhaps we should consider the opportunities that interscholastic sports provide to highlight and promote the diversity of others.

Cultural displays are innate and need no invitation to show up in everyday life. Researchers of culturally responsive practices aver that practitioners grounded in sociocultural consciousness recognize and accept cultural beliefs and attitudes that students bring to school.

Pronounced Differences

Likewise, students bring these displays of culture and traditions to interscholastic sports. These displays are more pronounced when teams are composed primarily of a homogenous culture, such as our community of Millwood in Oklahoma. The Millwood Public Schools is 96 percent African American, one of the few predominantly Black school districts in the Midwest. As superintendent, I try to ensure that, in the face of heightened racial tensions during interscholastic competitions, we do not mute our traditions.

As a host for interscholastic athletic events, our district carries responsibility to provide safe and welcoming venues for competitors. This includes recognizing and honoring cultural displays of tradition. Just as among churches and other places of worship, different denominations have different displays of worship or prayer.

Some denominations kneel and pray, some pray silently, and others pray in a call-and response fashion. All are prayers germane to their denomination. All are valid.

Similarly, cheerleading routines, band performances and even player interactions Iook different across cultures. If we understand and accept displays of varied worship, we should be able to accept that schools’ cultural displays during sports activities also may differ.

An Authentic View

Why is this important? Who cares about student displays during athletic competitions?

We should! Few opportunities are available to see in real time these types of unsolicited displays or to get a glimpse into an authentic cultural space. Openness to recognizing our differences can lead to acknowledgment regarding cultural differences in learning.

When spectators of the Millwood band or cheerleaders hear our chants, it yields one of two responses. We hear a “wow” or a “why.” The wow is an acceptance that one should enjoy the celebration and recognize our display as an authentic representation of our culture. The why is a closed-minded response that questions why we would dare break from their tradition as well as a non acceptance of different forms of expression.

The why fuels negative bias and perceptions regarding our celebrations as a lack of structure. Non-acceptance of cultural displays in something as innocent as interscholastic sports helps cement the mindset there is only one way to learn, one way to celebrate and one way to be American. The U.S. Constitution’s preamble “We the People” sets the expectation of a pluralistic union.

Validating Diversity

In today’s socio-political climate, superintendents face a monumental challenge to ensure the communities we represent are validated and supported. When we take our students into the world, we want the world to know they carry diverse thoughts, gifts and talents. Displaying this through interscholastic sports gives us a low-stakes opportunity to present pride and unity in our unique ways.

As community leaders, we owe it to one another to recognize and support each other in this endeavor. United we stand.

Divided we fall short in opportunities to educate our students. ■

E-mail: crw@millwoodps.org

Twitter: @crobiwoods