Anti-racism and Activist Education: Empowering the Next Generation

The Changemaker Mindset: Shifting for Justice

At the heart of anti-racist education is a commitment to having a changemaker mindset. Such a focus is critical for developing students’ activism in ways that are personally meaningful and that do not reproduce white-centric approaches. With this mindset, students can see themselves as agents of change, capable of making a difference in their schools, communities, and beyond.

Nurturing students’ own identities and experiences plays a crucial part in anti-racism education. To affirm the lived realities of racialized young people, Emily’s diverse Grade 5/6 class read a series of narratives called “First Encounters with Racism,” which were written by high school students and published in The New York Times. Emily’s students then used video interviews from the Canadian Museum of Human Rights to brainstorm ways to support each other when having difficult, meaningful conversations about what allyship looks like.

The class also identified their own personal strengths and ways they could stand up for justice by reading case studies and participating in activities from the Canadian Museum of Human Rights resource, “Be an Upstander.” Each of these learning experiences allowed students to explore stories of individuals who have stood up against injustice, and helped them understand that they, too, have the power to make an impact.

In another classroom activity, Emily’s students researched historical and contemporary changemakers such as Martin Luther King Jr., Viola Desmond, Malala Yousafzai, and Autumn Peltier. They reflected on how these figures’ actions related to current issues of racism, then students took their learning one step further by thinking about what they themselves could do to make change happen in their own communities.

By connecting past struggles with contemporary realities, not only did the students learn about history, but they also felt inspired to take action in their own lives. This was the changemaker mindset at work: shifting students from passive learners to active participants in the fight for justice.

Student-Led Projects

A powerful way to cultivate anti-racism in the classroom is through student-led projects. Such projects not only give students ownership over their learning, but they also foster a sense of collective responsibility.

For instance, in an effort to shape students’ activist goals, the older students in Emily’s mixed-grade class guided younger ones in engaging with the principles of equity and inclusion through peer mentorship. They had recently learned about the impacts of racism at school, as well as what it meant to be a bystander and an ally. Through an inquiry-based approach, the students considered their responses to racist incidents, including how they might think, question, listen, or learn, and what they could say to interrupt when racism shows up in a school setting.

This collective, multi-aged effort taught both grades that they had a role to play and that their activism and mentorship was critical in creating a welcoming and inclusive community. Taking what they had gained from this learning, the older students even went on to lead workshops with younger students in order to co-create anti-racism statements and commitments using prompts. Such statements included:

“When I see racism at school, I will think…”

“I will question…”

“I will listen/learn…”

“I will say…”

They then worked together to turn these commitments into a visual display.

Addressing Hate Speech (and Misinformation)

Teachers have always played a critical role in creating a classroom culture of respect and inclusion. Nowadays, the need for this is more acute, given the increasing prevalence of online disinformation. Sometimes they may even be challenged by the need to address hate speech in the classroom. In such cases, it is crucial for teachers to show students how to have courageous conversations.

One day, Emily and I observed a white student telling a Black student that their experience with racism on a bus was a one-time incident—that it was not “typical.” While not outright hate, the comment reinforced white privilege. Emily addressed the situation calmly with the white student, modelling how to affirm the Black student’s experience and citing examples of systemic oppression and the history of racism.

Following the incident, Emily then presented her class with news articles and statistics that demonstrated the harm Black students and marginalized students experience. One set of statistics was a school board report of graduation rates of Black students, which allowed students to see how racism and oppression led to the structural exclusion of marginalized students.

Addressing such issues directly is both necessary and urgent. When teachers do not acknowledge the media landscape that surrounds young people today, the curriculum can unintentionally reinforce the spread of misinformation. However, by scaffolding these discussions safely and thoughtfully in the classroom, teachers can bridge the gap between students’ media exposure and academic knowledge. This approach not only counters disinformation but also fosters opportunities for deeper, more meaningful conversations that confront social divisions and cultivate critical thinking.

Spectrum of Resistance

Activism comes in many forms. Not every student will feel comfortable leading protests or speaking publicly, but that doesn’t mean they can’t contribute meaningfully to a cause that matters to them. We’ve seen students express their activism through art, writing, and community projects, along with signing petitions, actively participating in classroom discussions about race and racism, and so on.

On a tour of the grounds of Queen’s Park, the location of Ontario’s provincial government, an Indigenous student in Emily’s class noticed a monument. It commemorated the soldiers who killed hundreds of First Nations and Métis people in the North-West Rebellion/Resistance that took place in Saskatchewan during 1885.

The student wondered why there wasn’t a monument for the Métis and First Nations people who had also died, so she asked Emily. Then she decided to take action. She wrote a letter to her local member of provincial parliament and encouraged other students in the class to sign it.

The MPP then responded with instructions on how to create a formal petition that could be read in the legislature, and the class followed through, creating and submitting the petition. They later received a supportive letter in response, which they found very empowering. Although a monument was not erected, the students felt heard and encouraged by the show of support in provincial parliament.

Later that the semester, the class learned about “counter monuments”—grassroots responses to historical monuments. Inspired, they decided to make their own counter monument to honour the Indigenous people whose lives were lost during the Resistance/Rebellion. They came up with the idea of making plaster moustaches, an homage to trailblazing Métis leader Louis Riel. In the end, the class created 51 moustaches, one for every Indigenous person who died during the uprising.

Students’ activism can show up in different ways, and sometimes they need support to recognize that they too can contribute to the fight for justice. It’s important to remind them that there is no one “right” way to be an activist. By offering a spectrum of resistance, every student can find a meaningful way to engage critically with social justice issues that are important to them. This approach also acknowledges that anti-racism is a lifelong journey that requires sustained effort and reflection over time.

Moving Forward…

Through working with young people to promote racial literacy and belonging, we’ve found that anti-racist education is more than just teaching students to recognize racism. It has to be about empowering students to be activists, cultivating a changemaker mindset, and encouraging diverse forms of activism that are student-led. At the same time, we must provide strategies (and modelling) for how to address hate speech, while also promoting empathy. These elements are all part of the equation for centring justice and equity. This is work that requires a collective effort from all of us.