Consultant Dr. Darnisa Amante (pictured) allegedly told New York City public schools educators and staff that resources should be devoted to middle class black students over poor white ones
A consultant working with New York City public schools on its implicit bias training allegedly told educators and staff that resources should be devoted to middle class black students over poor white ones.
A person present at the training in question told the Post that educational and racial equality strategist Dr. Darnisa Amante said:
'If I had a poor white male student and I had a middle-class black boy, I would actually put my equitable strategies and interventions into that middle class black boy because over the course of his lifetime he will have less access and less opportunities than that poor white boy. That’s what racial equity is.'
DailyMail.com reached out to Dr. Amanta to confirm the quote and seek additional context, but did not immediately receive a reply.
Dr. Amante is said to have made the statement during a workshop as part of New York City Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza's mandatory anti-bias training program for all Department of Education (DOE) employees, according to the New York Post.
The comment was said to have been made during recent implicit bias training, as part of a $23 million program implemented by New York City Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza (shown)
The $23 million program has come under fire from some including New York City Parents Union president Mona Davids, who said she was appalled by Dr. Amante's directives, calling them 'completely absurd.'
Davids took issue with this idea, saying the approach is racist in itself.
Parent leaders are divided on the approach to eradicating racial bias and inequality. New York City Parents Union president Mona Davids (pictured) told the New York Post she was appalled by Dr. Amante's directives, calling them 'completely absurd'
'It’s completely absurd,' Davids said. 'They want to treat black students as victims and punish white students. That defeats the purpose of what bias awareness training should be.'
DOE spokesperson Will Mantell said, 'Anti-bias and equity trainings are about creating high expectations and improving outcomes for all of our students. These trainings are used across the country because they help kids, and out-of-context quotes and anonymous allegations just distract from this important work.'
Other parent leaders like Shino Tanikawa, a parent in Manhattan’s District 2 and member of Mayor de Blasio’s School Diversity Advisory Group, support the campaign began by Carranza.
'We agree with the chancellor that those who do not see the value in this work are the ones who must look inward harder,' Tanikawa said.
'This work requires everyone, including people of color, to look inward and confront prejudices we all harbor. For some of us, this work also requires us to acknowledge the privilege bestowed upon us by the power structure. It creates a great deal of discomfort but that is the nature of the work. Disrupting the system is difficult and sometimes painful.'
Dr. Amanta, who is a lecturer at Harvard’s Graduate School of Education and CEO of The Disruptive Equity Education Project (DEEP), has previously said her organization 'works together to change mindsets around equity and dismantling systemic oppression and racism.'
DEEP has a $175,000
