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Jason Reynolds on what it means to be antiracist

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What Anti-racist Teachers Do Differently

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What Anti-racist Teachers Do Differently

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I have seen some of these very same students walk into another teacher's classroom, go to the last row of desks, and put their head down. I have seen them sit frozen in their seat, staring at an assignment-when earlier I had heard them make jokes, talk excitedly about the content of their history class, celebrate solving a vexing algebra equation, or shake a test tube with authority, waiting for a result. Their report cards often reveal this disparity in classroom experiences: A's and B's in classes where they feel valued and C's, D's, or even F's in classes where they don't.

When black students' academic strengths are overlooked, black students are marginalized. They are kept out of advanced courses, given bad grades, and sent to the dean's office. Over the years, the power that they initially bring to school is siphoned off by educators at every level of the educational system who do not respect, and in some cases do not wish to respect, the intellectual contributions of black students.

Anti-racist teachers take black students seriously. They create a curriculum with black students in mind, and they carefully read students' work to understand what they are expressing. This might sound fairly standard, but making black students feel valued goes beyond general "good teaching." It requires educators to view the success of black students as central to the success of their own teaching. This is a paradigm shift: Instead of only asking black students who are not doing well in class to start identifying with school, we also ask teachers whose black students are not doing well in their classes to start identifying with those students.

I spent the majority of my career in the classroom, and I loved it because-to do it well-it required that I call on all aspects of my humanity. Standing in front of my black students, I knew that it was my responsibility to invite them into the classroom and then to see, push, and protect them once they were there. Over the years, collaborating with other anti-racist educators, I co-developed an approach that was successful-and it showed in the students' attendance, grades, and quality of work.

We read articles and books, and we attend workshops centered around black pedagogy. That helps us examine cultural differences in discourse styles, so we can better understand black students' analytical approaches in essays. We learn how to integrate oral language into our curriculum, such as adding a debate unit or a poetry-recitation assignment, and to provide ample opportunities for students to work together. And we learn that nothing goes without saying and that praise and direction should be plentiful. In essence, we do what works for black students, which also works for all students.

Educators who are committed to black students use evidence in their own classrooms to find ways to improve. They analyze the assignments handed in, identifying ways in which their teaching reached-and didn't reach-all of their students. They recognize the brilliance of a black student's contribution to a class discussion and seize on it. They disaggregate data such as grades and attendance by ethnicity, look for patterns, and problematize their own practice-rather than assume that their students weren't motivated or sufficiently prepared to engage with challenging material. They ask themselves: Why did Taylor get a C on the final when he earned an A or a B on all of his other assignments, many of them equally demanding? Why is Vince silent in his group? What inspired Hile to write multiple drafts of her essay, each time asking for more detailed feedback? They seek support from colleagues who are effective teachers for all of their students, including black students, because they know that the changes they make to their teaching practice will have an impact on their students' achievement. All of this makes them better educators.

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What Anti-racist Teachers Do Differently

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I have seen some of these very same students walk into another teacher's classroom, go to the last row of desks, and put their head down. I have seen them sit frozen in their seat, staring at an assignment-when earlier I had heard them make jokes, talk excitedly about the content of their history class, celebrate solving a vexing algebra equation, or shake a test tube with authority, waiting for a result.

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Racial Equity in Education

Across race and place, educators, parents and allies are coming together to ensure that every Black student and educator can live, grow and thrive with support, love and joy. The goal of Black Lives Matter at School is to spark an ongoing movement of critical reflection and honest conversation and impactful actions in school communities for people of all ages to engage with issues of racial justice. Find stories, resources and ideas highlighting Black Lives Matter at School from across the country.

Get a Black Lives Matter at School poster here!

VIDEO: An Uprising for Educational Justice

Jesse Hagopian and Denisha Jones, editors of Black Lives Matter at School, discuss antiracist education with contributor Brian Jones.

Black Lives Matter at School - Resources

Talking About Race

Check out resources to help facilitate conversations about race, including classroom appropriate lesson plans, guides on how to have tough conversations with peers and students, and more.

Standing Together

See how cities like Milwaukee, Rochester, and Seattle have passed community and union resolutions - and then mobilized to support Black Lives Matter at School.

Art and Activism

Art and video, and ideas to engage classrooms and communities to support racial and social justice.
READ MORE

Find 2022 Black Lives Matter at School Events Near You

Seattle, Portland, Los Angeles, Chicago, Milwaukee, Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore... these are just a few of the scores of cities and communities across the country where educators, students and community organizations are participating in 2022 Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action events.

Click on the map below to find details on local events and actions!
Red pins on the map indicate 2020 events, blue indicates 2021 events and green indicates upcoming events for 2022.

Portland Educators Engage Community Through Black Lives Matter at School

Thousands of teachers and students participated in Black Lives Matter at School events and actions around the country last month. In Portland, Ore., educators both celebrated progress they made around racial justice in education over the past year, and highlighted the hard work that remains in their schools and communities.

"Teachers want more culturally responsive curriculum, especially for black and brown students," said Nichole Watson, who teaches 5 th grade at Rosa Parks Elementary. "We want to be able to plan, organize and create safe spaces for educators of color. And we want to help our union to be proactive when it comes to racial equity - rather than defensive."

Read More

As in many U.S. communities, the Portland week of action took place in the context of a local police shooting and death of a young black man, as well as disparities in school resources that too often correlate to race and ethnicity, and rates of disciplinary actions that are disproportionately higher for students of color."Our school district has some pretty significant inequities in resources and staffing," said Suzanne Cohen, the president of the Portland Association of Teachers (PAT). "Educators have known about it for it forever. The neediest schools are not always getting what they need."In the 2010 census, Portland was 76.1% white (non-Hispanic: 72.2%) and 6.3% Black or African American."Black Lives Matter is not just because we have a population of black kids," said Watson. "It's as much for kids who are not black - we need to be having these conversations and discussions."

Pledge to grow the movement for racial justice in education. CLICK HERE ›

Adolfo Garza-Cano, who teaches at Woodlawn Elementary School, said Portland educators were inspired by educators in Seattle who pushed for a Black Lives Matter Week of action and wore Black Lives Matter shirts at school. He said many Portland educators wanted to take part in a similar show of solidarity. "There was pushback from administrators, parents and the districts," said Garza-Cano.

PAT surveyed its members. "The response was HUGE," said Cohen. "They really wanted to focus on curriculum, especially how you discuss what is happening with police shootings."

PAT educators formed a Black Lives Matter committee and came up with specific goals and event ideas. They also began gathering existing lesson plans and developing some of their own.

Cohen says other key issues PAT and the committee wanted to look at included:

More professional development for all teachers, including how to identify and understand their own implicit bias,

Restorative justice and what that looks like when done right, and

How to recruit teachers of color from the Portland area.

Watson responded to the PAT survey. She quickly became active in the formation of the committee, which in turn created a PAT Racial Equity Task Force focused on supporting and connecting educators of color.

"We have affinity groups and mixers and social hours," said Watson. "We debrief and we strategize. And under that task force umbrella, we organize around celebrating Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action."

Rather than developing a Black Lives Matter at School plan of action and then asking the community for support, Watson said the task force reached out to community organizations and asked what they needed.

"We reached out to as many black community organizers as we know," said Watson. "And we asked: What are you doing that you need help with that a teachers' union like ours could help with? Especially if has to do with students, or student work, or student art, etc."

"We are talking to nonprofits and leaders in the community who are already doing the work, locally, statewide and nationwide," said Garza-Cano. "We shouldn't have to reinvent the wheel when there is already so much talent and experience out there."

For this year's week of action, PAT focused on three core activities and events: Developing and sharing lesson plans and curriculum, a film series and an art show in partnership with a community organization.

Early in 2019, PAT leadership and the Racial Equity Task Force worked with members of the Portland School Board on a resolution that would include language endorsing Black Lives Matter at School. The process broke down.

"They took our language and made their own edits and revisions and asked if it was satisfactory for us," said Garza-Cano.

Garza-Cano, Watson and other PAT leaders felt the language was too watered down. They asked the board to table the issue.

"Black Lives Matter is very politicized and triggers a lot of conversation," said Watson. "We wanted to make sure the conversation was positive.... We aren't giving up because we don't yet have common language."

Moving forward, Watson said PAT wants to work more with parents and community organizations. "Let's have a community event where we sit down and provide food and child care and say, 'Let's see what kind of resolution YOU would like to bring before the board?' "

Read Less

INTRODUCTION TO THE YEAR OF PURPOSE - BLACK LIVES MATTER AT SCHOOL

In addition to the BLM at School Week of Action (that is organized during the first week of February), educators, students, and parents are encouraged to participate in ongoing activations and reflection throughout the school year.
​
In the wake of the murders of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, and others named and unnamed, a great Uprising for Black Lives has swept the nation and the world, inciting new urgency and radical possibilities for advancing abolitionist practice and uprooting institutional racism. The uprising has helped create a national discussion about what public safety could be. For too long public safety has been defined as spending more money on the legal punishment system and funding for more police in schools and communities. We believe it is vital to redefine public safety in terms of the holistic social and emotional wellbeing of students and educators. During this time of the coronavirus pandemic, public safety has to also mean not opening schools until the science supports it can be done safely, COVID-19 testing at schools and in communities is widely available, personal protective equipment is funded and supplied for educators and students, schools are provided functioning ventilation systems, and so much more.

The Uprising for Black lives has prompted the Black Lives Matter at School movement to expand its proposed activities to a "Year of Purpose," in addition to the annual Week of Action held during the first week of February. The centerpiece of the Year of Purpose is asking educators to reflect on their own work in relationship to antiracist pedagogy and abolitionist practice, persistently challenging themselves to center Black lives in their classrooms. In addition, educators will be asked to participate in intentional days of action throughout the school year uplifting different intersectional themes vital to making Black lives matter in schools, communities, and beyond (see the days of action below).
READ MORE

NEA activists launch series of video "primers" for anti-racist white educators

Luke Michener and Terry Jess are both white, male educators who teach at Bellevue High School in Washington state. They feel they have little to add to conversations about race with students and colleagues of color that those students and colleagues don't already know themselves, based upon their own experiences.

On the other hand, Terry and Luke feel they do have a lot to offer other white educators who are committed to racial equity in education but may not know where to begin.

Inspired by their own work with students, as well as conversations they had at the 2017 NEA Conference on Racial and Social Justice, Terry and Luke set about creating a series of YouTube videos they hoped could provide other white educators with ideas, insights and tools to better engage in racial equity work in their own schools and communities.
READ MORE

Take Action

Racial Justice in Education

Pledge to take actions that will address access and opportunity for all students by highlighting inequities, increasing awareness, and organizing for change.

Show Your Support

Resources

Talking About Race

Resources to help facilitate conversations about race, including classroom appropriate lesson plans, guides on having tough conversations with peers and students, and more...

Learn More

Lesson Plans

Black Lives Matter at School resources for educators, including books, videos, K-12 lesson plans and a 2020 curriculum resource guide.

Learn More

School Board Activism

Tips on working with school boards and making your advocacy for students the best it can be, including a step-by-step guide to getting a resolution passed in your school district

Learn More

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Black Lives Matter at School - NEA EdJustice

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Racial Equity in Education Across race and place, educators, parents and allies are coming together to ensure that every Black student and educator can live, grow and thrive with support, love and joy.

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National Black Lives Matter at School is an organization struggling for liberation and racial justice in education for Black youth, educators, and all youth of color. We are a Black-led and multi-ethnoracial collective of educators, parents, organizers, youth, and community folx who are committed to creating a more just world so that all people may be able to access their full humanity. We work to address racial justice in education by promoting restorative justice, advocating for mental health support, increasing Black teaching staff, ending police presence in schools, and mandating Black history and ethnic studies. We encourage all educators, students, parents, unions, and community organizations to join our annual week of action during the first week of February each year.​

Our collective is guided by core principles that are grounded in a Black Feminist framework. Political views that have brought us together in doing this work, deep revolutionary transformational politics, opposition to neoliberalism, corporate reforms in education, defend and transform unions, Black Queer feminist anticapitalist politics, abolitionist politics and approach to restorative and transformative justice.

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National coalition organizing for racial justice in education.

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Visual Storytelling of victims of police brutality

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Everyday AntiRacism: Getting Real About Race in School

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everyday antiracism: getting real about race in school

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anti-racism; diversity; education; educator resources; social justice; race politics; professional growth; k-12; college classroom; theories and applications; equity; pedagogy; dominant culture; poc; racism; teacher resources

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education / administration / school superintendents & principals

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education / educational policy & reform / general

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education/student life & student affairs

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educational equalization - united states

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education / administration / school superintendents & principals

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education / educational policy & reform / general

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education/student life & student affairs

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Everyday Antiracism: Getting Real About Race in School

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Everyday Antiracism: Getting Real About Race in School [Pollock, Mica] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Everyday Antiracism: Getting Real About Race in School

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Music for Social Change

Musicians have always used their art to unify, to resist, and to educate. This module invites students to engage with three different songs and music videos that do just that, providing an opportunity for in-depth analysis, combined with ELA skills of identifying literary elements and annotating a text. It is written with distance learning in mind, although discussions and direct instruction throughout are highly recommended. Be aware that some of the lyrics and videos contain profanity.

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Curriculum and Resources - Lit C.I.R.C.L.E.

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Musicians have always used their art to unify, to resist, and to educate. This module invites students to engage with three different songs and music videos that do just that, providing an opportunity for in-depth analysis, combined with ELA skills of identifying literary elements and annotating a text.

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Welcome to the Healing Racism Toolkit Project

Welcome to the Healing Racism Toolkit Project

Repairing the World - Tikkun Olam

"Tikkun olam," often translated as "repairing the world", is the idea that the spiritual essence created the world by forming vessels to hold Divine Light. But as this Light entered the vessels they catastrophically shattered, tumbling down to the material plane. Thus, our world, including ourselves, consists of countless shards of the original vessels which contain Divine Light. Humanity's great task involves freeing, reuniting and raising these separated sparks back into Divinity and restoring the broken world. Nothing keeps these sparks and each other more separated then racism. Regardless of the particular creation story, healing racism is a critical part of the process to heal a broken and fractured world.

"TO Some, especially if you are new to this work, engaging in this website might feel like a "gut punch" that knocks you to your knees when you learn about the injustice of things people take for granted as "just the way things are." However, the good news is that becoming aware of injustice means we can change. Even tiny changes, like those that occur when people read the website, can make a small but positive difference. How marvelous is that? How often in life do we really have a chance to make something better?

Repairing the World - Tikkun Olam

"Tikkun olam," often translated as repairing the world, is the idea that the spiritual essence created the world by forming vessels to hold Divine Light. But as this Light was poured, the vessels catastrophically shattered, tumbling down toward the realm of matter. Thus, our world, including ourselves, consist of countless shards of the original vessels which contain Divine Light. Humanity's great task involves freeing, reuniting and raising these separated sparks back into Divinity and restoring the broken world. Nothing keeps these sparks and each other more separated then racism. Regardless of the particular creation story, healing racism is a critical part of the process to heal a broken and fractured world.

T he work to address racism can seem daunting yet the wisdom teaching of many different cultures have similar ways of addressing wrongs. One such example is Alcoholic Anonymous' 12-step process. Specifically, when we do something wrong, we need to understand and acknowledge the harm, apologize and listen to grievances, make amends and move forward.

A first step is always to show up, show up then listen .

Listen without preconceptions or judgement.

Listen without mentally replaying white cultural values or myths.

Listen without expectation.

One way of doing this is to use this Toolkit starting with the Beginnings section, then Understanding, Acting, Becoming. Then read further down this page, to "Dear White People" letters and Important Resources. After listening to the perspectives and experiences that are shared within this Toolkit, it becomes time to fearlessly acknowledge the wrongs, both inwardly as well as outwardly without justification, being careful about timing and audience so not to re-stimulate past trauma.

Becoming a true ally does not happen because of our intention or self-identification. It requires consistently showing up and being useful over a long period of time in a way that creates non-superficial relationships. We can't be in right relationship if we don't have a real relationship to begin with. Being an ally requires accepting the validity of people of color shutting the door and saying no. No matter how much this might feel like rejection and how much it hurts, centering ourself and our white feelings and ingrained behavior are not helpful. Being an ally requires being willing to be accountable without reservation. A true ally follows, does not take over. We are there to take blame if things go south, to make the coffee and do the clean-up afterwards. Only then can a real apology be meaningful coupled with the ability to hear an honest response and the possibility of making amends.

"Dear White People"
Click here for letters and articles written by people of color and/or proven allies that people concerned about racism should read.

Let Us Post Your Major Events or Time-Sensitive Campaigns Here
We invite anyone to consider sending announcements of important events, actions or other activities that you think would be helpful. Examples are regional or national conferences, workshops or events. Please do not send notices about a local meeting, book club, etc. Contact us at info@tools4racialjustice.org

August 4 - September 25 - Online Event
Becoming Antiracist Part II: A Learning Series for White "Liberal" Teachers
This is a professional learning series and community for white educators who see ourselves as "liberal" or "progressive," but who know that's not enough. We want to do better when it comes to racial justice.

The series includes four 75-minute webinars and discussions with educator-activists of color about the impact of white liberalism on racial justice efforts, which will meet Tuesday evenings, 7-8:15pm Eastern Time, in August 2020.

August 10-12, 2020 - Online Virtual Conference
National Anti-Racism Teach-In
A national conference and global movement designed to identify, analyze, and challenge racism and White supremacy.

Presenters:
Dr. Joy Degruy, Author of Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome: America's Legacy of Enduring Injury and Healing. Robin Diangelo: author of White Fragility. Paul Gorsk: author of Reaching and Teaching Students in Poverty. Ibram X. Kendi: author of How to be an Antiracist and Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America. Paul Ortiz: author of An African American and Latinx History of the United States. Anneliesse A. Singh: author of The Racial Healing Handbook: Practical Activities to Help You Challenge Privilege, Confront Systemic Racism & Engage in Collective Healing.

June 5, 2020

Message from Chairman Cromwell
Court Rules in Favor of Tribe

"Today, the DC District Court righted what would have been a terrible and historic injustice by finding that the Department of the Interior broke the law in attempting to take our land out of trust." ...
________________________

Our Land is Sacred #standwithmashpee
(it might seem over for now but keep paying attention)
The Mashpee Wampanoag reservation on Cape Cod is being threatened with disestablishment of their tribal recognition.

May 26, 2020

The Time Has Come:
Change the Massachusetts Flag and Seal
Barnstable Friends Meeting is working on this and asks you to join:
For 35 years, bills supported by Indigenous leaders to change the Mass Flag and Seal have been continuously blocked in the state legislature. Now, in 2020, H.2776 and S.1877 , the legislation to change the flag and seal, is advancing with strong support amid a growing grassroots campaign from the Berkshires to Cape Cod. Your help is needed to make 2020 the year we finally pass this long-stalled racial justice legislation

-Moving Forward in Love

More Resources

As Audre Lorde said " the master's tools will never dismantle the master's house." It is our hope is that the wide variety of annotated links in this section will provide tools to build perspective.

Knowing that these resources are only a tiny fraction of the writing on racial injustice, and that everything written is a tiny fraction of the actual events or thinking, gives the reader a fuller perspective on the extemely wide breadth, depth and diversity of thought and experience, primarily from people of color. Hopefully this will expand our understanding of the extent, connectedness, serious and deep spiritual consequences of racism and white supremacy culture."

Get Involved - building beloved community

There are people who have demonstrated a deep commitment to racial justice who come together to make things better, to move things toward a peaceable world. Below are links to such places and particular organizations that would appreciate your donations.

Adam, Eve, and Lilith

(Majolica plate by Eve Carey) "Adam, Eve, and Lilith," is a derivative of "Adam and Eve," a Majolica plate by Eve Carey.

Lilith's name is not included in the creation story of the Bible but she appears in several texts. There are multiple origin stories for Lilith but the most popular speaks about Lilith as the first wife of Adam. According to the "first Eve" story, like Adam, Lilith was created by God from dust and placed to live in the garden with him until problems arose between them when Adam tried to exercise dominance over her.)

Let's bring LiIith back into the garden.

We are all part of a whole, called by us the "Universe," a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings, as something separated from the rest - a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty. Nobody is able to achieve this completely, but the striving for such achievement is in itself a part of the liberation and a foundation for inner security. - Albert Einstein

Please Visit "The Journey of Healing" [Coming Soon]

The Journey of Healing is a separate component of the Tools for Racial Justice which deals with issues facing Indigenous People of the US and how white folks can begin the process to travel toward healing past wrongs.

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Welcome to the Healing Racism Toolkit Project Welcome to the Healing Racism Toolkit Project "Tikkun olam," often translated as "repairing the world", is the idea that the spiritual essence created the world by forming vessels to hold Divine Light. But as this Light entered the vessels they catastrophically shattered, tumbling down to the material plane.

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The Zinn Education Project is my compass in a sea of corporate textbooks, packaged common core curriculum and standardized testing. My entire curriculum is based on lessons that can be found on the Zinn Education Project.

High School Social Studies Teacher, Portland, Ore.

Your support is needed to help more students learn people's history. 100% of Zinn Education Project funding comes from individuals like you. Donate today.

By Ursula Wolfe-Rocca

From voter ID laws to voter-roll purges, gerrymandering to poll closures to the deadly in-person voting conditions during a pandemic, the right to vote is under attack and the stakes are high. It is critical that students learn about the fight for voting rights, past and present.

Nov. 30, 1924: Shirley Chisholm Born...

Teaching About the Violence in Palestine and Israel...

I can UNDERSTAND pessimism, but I don't BELIEVE in it. It's not simply a matter of faith, but of historical EVIDENCE. Not overwhelming evidence, just enough to give HOPE, because for hope we don't need certainty, only POSSIBILITY.

-Howard Zinn

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Zinn Education Project: Teaching People's History

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The Zinn Education Project promotes and supports the teaching of people's history in middle and high school classrooms across the country. Based on the lens of history highlighted in Howard Zinn's best-selling book A People's History of the United States, the website offers free, downloadable lessons and articles organized by theme, time period, and reading level.

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Building Post-Pandemic Culturally Relevant Schools Webinar

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Building Post-Pandemic Culturally Relevant Schools Webinar

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Are you overwhelmed with planning for what a post-COVID-19 school might look like, while also feeling a renewed sense of urgency to create more culturally relevant lesson plans and learning environments to connect with your students?

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Building Culturally Relevant Schools Post-Pandemic with Dr. Gloria Ladson-Billings

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NCTE member Valentina Gonzalez talks about culturally responsive teaching in today’s classrooms. |

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Culturally Responsive Teaching in Today’s Classrooms

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Valentina Gonzalez offers a number of recommendations to ensure a culturally responsive classroom and respecting each student’s unique culture.

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Teaching: When Students Resist Learning About Racism