Guided by our commitment to self-empowerment, the mission of AAERO is to improve access of African Americans to education and information about teaching and learning.
We are learning and teaching about teaching, learning and racism, until race is irrelevant!
AAERO is a nonprofit organization, tax exempt as a 501(c)3 public charity, whose mission is advanced by volunteers.
We are led by a working Board of Directors.
We invite participation in the following relationships: AAERO Associates, AAERO Anchors, or AAERO Affiliates.
CORE VALUES
- Education that fosters liberation and lifelong learning
- Listening to the voices of elders
- Mutually respectful cross-generational communication
- Tangible and intangible resource sharing
- Awareness of policies impacting racial equity
- Restorative relationships across the African Diaspora
We focus on how African American people can help one another in two important ways: (1) dismantling internalized oppression, and (2) dismantling the distinctions that unfairly allocate advantages and disadvantages among African Americans.
Understanding Internalized Oppression
“When people are targeted, discriminated against, or oppressed over a period of time, they often internalize (believe and make part of their self-image – their internal view of themselves) the myths and misinformation that society communicates to them about their group.” (To learn more, see University of Kansas, Center for Community Health and Development, Community Tool Box, about internalized oppression).
Carter G. Woodson (1933) described the impact of internalized oppression: When you control a man’s thinking you do not have to worry about his actions. You do not have to tell him not to stand here or go yonder. He will find his “proper place” and will stay in it. You do not need to send him to the back door. He will go without being told. In fact, if there is no back door, he will cut one for his special benefit.
Dismantling distinctions that unfairly allocate advantages and disadvantages among African Americans
Some of us have achieved a measure of “success” in spite of racism; most African Americans have not. Based on many indicators of well-being, African Americans have the least desirable circumstances. A critical attribute that creates relative advantage or disadvantage among African Americans is socioeconomic status. This term combines social class and economic status. “Socioeconomic status is the social standing or class of an individual or group. It is often measured as a combination of education, income and occupation. Examinations of socioeconomic status often reveal inequities in access to resources, plus issues related to privilege, power and control” (American Psychological Association online).
To learn more reasons for this initiative, read “Words Matter!”
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