The Importance of Feeling Seen: Why Representation Matters and Why It’s Not Enough
My husband is a filmmaker and he eagerly keeps tabs on the industry’s latest releases. When Monkey Man premiered to critical acclaim at SXSW in March, it immediately caught his attention. He shared his excitement with me but our differing cinematic preferences often lead to playful disagreements, with me leaning towards uplifting genres like romantic comedies, and him favoring artsy films or the darker allure of action-packed thrillers.
Initially hesitant due to my aversion to violent films, I was intrigued when I learned that the film’s star, director, and fellow South Asian, Dev Patel, drew inspiration from the Hindu god Hanuman in creating the film. Watching the trailer, set to JAY Z’s remix of Punjabi MC’s legendary “Mundian to Bach Ke,” left me torn between curiosity and apprehension.
My reservations shifted, however, when I saw Dev Patel on Jimmy Fallon recounting a powerful encounter at the SXSW premiere. A middle-aged Indian-American man expressed gratitude to Patel, stating, “I’m jealous of my 14-year-old son because I never had someone like you expressed in a movie like this.” His words resonated deeply, evoking memories of my own struggles with representation growing up, from enduring hurtful stereotypes to feeling isolated in my cultural identity.
Despite its violence, which pushed the boundaries of what I’ve seen, the film reignited memories of chanting the Hanuman Chalisa for hours on end, reconnecting me with the devotional aspect of my spirituality, a wellspring of strength and resilience. Let me be clear, this isn’t a review of Monkey Man; there are much more qualified people who can do that justice. What the film did do was spur some thoughts I have on representation especially as it relates to my work in the field of education.
Why Representation Matters
Many South Asians of my generation who grew up in the US can relate to the limited representation we saw on TV and in movies during our formative years. There was Apu from The Simpsons, and I still remember the sting I felt the day after an airing of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, where I endured intense ridicule on the bus ride to school. Kids mocked me, asking if I ate monkey brains, unaware that I hailed from a vegetarian community with a lineage of thousands of years of vegetarianism. Never Have I Ever is not without its flaws but I binged every season of it as an adult because seeing my identity represented has a profound impact. It validates my existence and experiences, which is something I never had growing up.
This lack of representation extended to my education as well: It wasn’t until I was in college that I had a teacher that looked like me, and when it finally happened, I FELT the difference. When I became a teacher myself, I experienced first hand the power of cultivating relationships with my South Asian students, and those connections were so meaningful I’m still in contact with many of them close to 20 years later. Yet the moment that truly made me appreciate how important that sense of being seen can be came recently when I was giving a keynote. A woman of color came up to me to share how meaningful it was for her to see me on stage and how she never sees other women of color speaking and leading in professional spaces. As she shared we both broke down in tears.
This isn’t just a personal anecdote: research has repeatedly suggested that when students have teachers of the same race as them, they tend to feel more cared for, exhibit greater interest in their schoolwork, and demonstrate increased confidence in their teachers’ ability to communicate effectively with them. However, while 55% of all public school students in the United States are students of color, only 20% of teachers and school leaders identify as being of color. (NCES, 2022). Systemic inequity in our education system means that people of color are historically underrepresented in leadership positions.
These are issues we aim to address through Transformative Educational Leadership (TEL), an organization I co-founded and lead. At TEL, we are working to support teachers and leaders of color, partnering with organizations like The Asian American Foundation, The Rare Impact Fund and the NoVo Foundation to increase representation. We aren’t alone in these efforts either, as organizations like the Black Teacher Project and NEMNET have also dedicated themselves to diverse recruitment and retention in the education space.
Why Representation Alone is Not Enough
With all of the experiences I’ve shared, I don’t want to undersell the importance of representation. Yet for how important it is, representation alone isn’t enough if we want to meaningfully support students and educators of color. For one, even as efforts to encourage more diverse leadership in education pick up, a disproportionate percentage of Black (62%) and Hispanic/Latino (59%) educators are thinking about leaving the profession earlier than they had planned. These departures are undoing many recent successes some schools have had in bringing in more teachers of color. If we want to see lasting change in terms of representation in education, we need to go deeper, providing the resources and support teachers and leaders of color need to thrive.
This is what motivated the creation of the TEL Fellowship. When we first launched in 2018, we were the first leadership development program in the US to integrate equity, SEL, and mindfulness into a year-long learning journey. Even as more development programs are prioritizing diversity and equity, the Fellowship continues to be unique by offering an intensive and sustained cohort experience that intentionally enrolls a majority of teachers and educational leaders of color. The vision for the Fellowship was to create a space for educational leaders to practice, heal, and transform together, serving as a Beloved Learning Community that operates as a microcosm of the diverse, multiracial communities educators operate in.
So while we should never forget how important representation can be, if we want to create a future where children and educators of color can thrive and feel seen in their identity, we must go further. Not only must we encourage representation and diverse hiring practices in the education field, but we must also build the type of environment that empowers and supports educators of color. Through TEL, we are committed to offering a supportive multiracial learning community that can serve as a microcosm of the racial, ethnic, and cultural diversity of all school communities. Let’s continue to work together to ensure more children of color can see themselves reflected in their daily lives.
Author Bio: Meena Srinivasan is a contemplative leader, celebrated speaker, accomplished author, and visionary edupreneur. She is an educator-activist at heart, consistently championing the fusion of Mindfulness, Emotional Intelligence, and Belonging. Meena was featured as one of 2022’s 10 Powerful Women of the Mindfulness Movement in Mindful Magazine and is the Executive Director of Transformative Educational Leadership (TEL)™ an organization that supports educational leaders in building more compassionate and just schools. A former public school administrator and National Board Certified Teacher, Meena is the creative force behind the SEL Every Day Online Courses, an instructor of graduate level Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) courses at UC Berkeley and the CEO of Karuna Consulting, LLC, an organization that takes its name from the Sanskrit word ‘Karuna,’ signifying compassion. Karuna Consulting is a certified Minority Business Enterprise (MBE) driven by a profound mission: to foster a more compassionate world through Meena’s keynotes, professional learning, coaching, and consulting services. She is the author of numerous publications including Teach, Breathe, Learn and SEL Every Day. The latter was honored as one of 2019’s Favorite Books for Educators by the Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley. Her TEDx talk on Tenderness is one of the most popular TEDx talks of 2024 (with over 2 million views). Meena has been practicing yoga and meditation for over 25 years, is an ordained Zen Buddhist and serves on the Board of the Thich Nhat Hanh Foundation. Learn more at meenasrinivasan.com.
