I Am Not Your Educator

By Nyles Pollonais

I Am Not Your Educator comes from my own experiences dealing with non-Black peoples during my undergraduate and graduate studies. “The Educator” is often responsible for explaining, justifying, clarifying, or enlightening the folks who aren’t fully aware of the topics on which they speak. I argue that the role, often taken on by the Black person in those situations, is not healthy, nor required. When put into those scenarios, Black bodies can either feel the push to stand firm in the beliefs they understand and become a sort of martyr; or, pull back and avoid anything to do with the belief (Uncle Tom) because of a shaky understanding of the concept. Avoiding the educator role allows the individual to accept that they are not responsible for what the others have chosen to disregard or to not know, and places the burden upon the willfully ignorant to engage with the material they claim to know or simply lack.