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On this edition of In Black America, producer/host John L. Hanson Jr. speaks with Mary-Frances Winters, founder and president of The Winters Group, Inc., and author of Black Fatigue: How Racism Erodes the Mind, Body, and Spirit.

Black fatigue is the physical and psychological toll on African Americans' daily lives as a result of systemic racism. The damage wrought by racism isn't only the atrocities so powerfully condemned in the demonstrations and protests around the world.

Winters talks about African Americans being middle class and that being from a two-parent family does not protect them from systemic racism; how millennials and Generation Z continue to suffer under the hand of systematic oppression; and how, as a baby boomer, she lived through three different generations of racial discrimination and unrest in North America.

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'Black Fatigue: How Racism Erodes the Mind, Body, and Spirit' With Author Mary-Frances Winters

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On this edition of In Black America, producer/host John L. Hanson Jr. speaks with Mary-Frances Winters, founder and president of The Winters Group, Inc., and author of Black Fatigue: How Racism Erodes the Mind, Body, and Spirit. Black fatigue is the physical and psychological toll on African Americans' daily lives as a result of systemic racism.

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In recent months, state lawmakers and education policymakers have waded into the ongoing debate over how to teach the nation's complicated history-and make sense of its present.

A slate of new bills proposed by Republican legislators this session attempt to regulate how teachers can discuss racism, sexism, and issues of equality and justice in the classroom. And some state boards of education have adopted rules that would similarly dictate teachers' practice.

Many of these lawmakers say their proposals are designed to keep critical race theory out of schools. The academic framework, created by legal scholars in the 1970s and 80s, posits that racism isn't just the product of individual bias-but embedded in legal systems and policies.
Twenty-nine states have introduced bills or taken other steps that would restrict teaching critical race theory or limit how teachers can discuss racism and sexism, according to an Education Week analysis. Thirteen states have enacted these bans, either through legislation or other avenues.
Over the past year, the idea of critical race theory has become a political flashpoint. While in office, former President Donald Trump pushed for "patriotic education" and accused teachers who discussed racism and bias with students of "left-wing indoctrination." Last fall, he issued an executive order banning certain types of diversity training for federal employees. Seventeen of the state bills recently introduced use language from this order.

The topic has seen continued attention at the national level, as well:

In June, Republicans in Congress introduced legislation that would cut federal funding for schools that use lessons based on the 1619 Project, a New York Times series that reframes United States history by centering the enduring effects of slavery.

Later that month, Rep. Glenn Grothman, a Republican from Wisconsin, introduced a bill that would dictate how D.C. public school teachers can discuss racism and sexism.

In July, Rep. Vicky Hartzler, a Missouri Republican, proposed legislation that would prohibit the teaching of critical race theory in schools operated by the Department of Defense Education Activity.

Lawmakers who have authored these bills claim that teachers have adopted the tenets of critical race theory, and are teaching about race, gender, and identity in ways that sow division among students. But opponents claim that such legislation will stifle discussion of how racism and sexism have shaped the country's past and continue to affect social, political, and economic systems. Some administrators have already said laws like these would halt their efforts to root out racism in schools. And scholars of critical race theory have argued that the laws mischaracterize the framework.

See the map and table below for more information on the measures and variations from state to state.

Related

How to Cite This Page

Map: Where Critical Race Theory Is Under Attack (2021, June 11). Education Week. Retrieved Month Day, Year from http://www.edweek.org/leadership/map-where-critical-race-theory-is-under-attack/2021/06
Data compilation and reporting: Sarah Schwartz
Data visualization by Emma Patti Harris and Eesha Pendharkar

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Map: Where Critical Race Theory Is Under Attack

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In recent months, state lawmakers and education policymakers have waded into the ongoing debate over how to teach the nation's complicated history-and make sense of its present. A slate of new bills proposed by Republican legislators this session attempt to regulate how teachers can discuss racism, sexism, and issues of equality and justice in the classroom.

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Conservatives and liberals are at loggerheads over what critical race theory is, if it's taught in schools, and whether it should be permanently banned from classroom discussions.

While the debate over critical race theory has driven the passage of laws restricting how teachers talk with students about America's racist past, only eight of the 26 bills actually refer to critical race theory, according to an Education Week analysis of proposed and passed legislation and state school board policies.

Portions of many states' bills are vague and myopic about what will and will not be allowed in schools. But other sections lay out in sweeping language exactly what administrators and teachers will no longer be allowed to do.

Many of the bills, for example, would drastically curtail how districts conduct anti-bias training for teachers and severely limit schools' ability to offer ethnic studies courses, or partner with outside advocacy organizations.

Although the wave of state legislation has been dubbed as having to do with "critical race theory" by the mainstream media and by civil rights advocates, many of the classroom discussions that will ultimately be affected this fall don't have anything to do with race, in fact. Several of the bills will also shut down teacher-student discussions having to do with sex, gender discrimination, and LGBTQ identity.

The punishment, spelled out in the bills, is steep. In Arizona's pending legislation, if teachers talk about racism or sexism in the classroom, they could be fined $5,000. In Tennessee, these lessons will cost the school district state aid money.

Advocates for the bills say "divisive" classroom discussions can politically indoctrinate students and be demoralizing for white children.

But because the language in the bills is so broad, many social justice advocates fear that it will put a chilling effect on teachers discussing with their students any aspect of American racism, sexism, and homophobia.

"Teachers are already overstressed, as a result of the pandemic and teaching online," said Amanda Vickery, an associate professor of social studies and race in education who teaches a course on critical race theory at the University of North Texas and trains teachers on how to incorporate Black women's voices into curriculum. "But now there is this heightened fear that I feel like these bills are causing for teachers."

Here are concrete things that the laws will affect.

Discussions of racism will be limited

What's most well-known by the general public to be under attack through these bills is the way teachers talk to students about the history of American racism.

But what's lesser known is that instead of banning teachers' use of critical race theory in the classroom, the laws proposed in most of the states prohibit anyone from making a student at school feel "discomfort, guilt, anguish or any other form of psychological distress on account of his or her race or sex."

Administrators who have closely read the bills or laws in their states say this sort of broad ban will make it difficult for teachers to talk about the day's news, most American social justice movements, and many historical events that involved explicit acts of white supremacy.

"If any child in the classroom at any point feels [discomfort], then the teacher essentially is violating this law," said Cecilia Robinson-Woods, superintendent of the predominantly Black Millwood school district in Oklahoma. "This law essentially, is saying that if you don't feel comfortable with it, you don't have to talk about it."

Anti-bias training and other anti-racism efforts could be curtailed or canceled

In recent years, some school districts with shifting racial demographics have launched multi-pronged efforts to better serve students of color. They've formed diversity, inclusion and equity committees made up of students, teachers, and administrators, hired equity officers, and offered ongoing training for teachers to recognize and rid themselves of their unconscious biases, which many experts argue lead to, among other things, disproportionate suspensions and expulsions for Black and Latino students.

Now, in least nine states, those efforts, advocates and district administrators say, would effectively come to a halt.

The Texas law, for example, makes it illegal for teachers to "be required to engage in training, orientation, or therapy that presents any form of race or sex stereotyping or blame on the basis of race or sex."

Oklahoma's law similarly bans diversity training "that presents any form of race or sex stereotyping or a bias on the basis of race or sex... ."

Districts across the country often partner with local community organizations to assist with efforts to make diverse groups of students such as English-language learners or homeless children feel more welcomed in the classroom.

But school districts in Texas and Iowa will have a difficult time hiring outside advocacy organizations to conduct this sort of training or offer lessons on anti-racism under their new state laws.

Iowa's law, for example, says "the superintendent of each school district shall ensure that any curriculum or mandatory staff or student training provided by an employee of the school district or by a contractor hired by the school district does not teach, advocate, encourage, promote, or act upon specific stereotyping and scapegoating toward others on the basis of demographic group membership or identity."

Administrators will have to change their curriculum

A few years ago, the Dallas school district started offering courses on Black and Latino studies. Now, according to Superintendent Michael Hinojosa, it will have to stop offering those classes because the law in Texas requires teachers to teach social studies "without giving deference to any one perspective."

In Oklahoma, school leaders were unsure whether teaching about the Tulsa Race Massacre-in which a white mob, with the assistance of the local government, murdered hundreds of Black people and burned down dozens of businesses-on its centennial is allowed, though officials disagree about this interpretation since the Tulsa massacre is in the state's standards.

Teachers and administrators will have to restrict conversations about sexism and gender identity

The bills also aim to restrict how schools can teach about sexism and gender identity.

Most bills would prohibit educators from teaching students that "an individual, by virtue of the individual's race or sex, is inherently privileged, racist, sexist, or oppressive, whether consciously or subconsciously."

The language in some states' bills is even more explicit and bans classroom discussions about gender identity. For example, the proposed bill in Ohio would prohibit teachers from being required to "affirm a belief... in the multiplicity or fluidity of gender identities or like ideas, against the teacher's sincerely held religious or philosophical convictions."

To read the complete language of the bills and the laws already approved, visit Education Week's Critical Race Theory tracker.

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Four Things Schools Won't Be Able to Do Under 'Critical Race Theory' Laws

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Conservatives and liberals are at loggerheads over what critical race theory is, if it's taught in schools, and whether it should be permanently banned from classroom discussions.

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The concept of critical race theory, or CRT, has recently been vilified by politicians as a "radical," "un-American," and "racially divisive" concept. Several states have even banned schools from teaching critical race theory, with more states debating doing the same. For example, if I taught at a public university in Idaho rather than in Washington, recent legislation would prohibit me from applying a CRT lens in my classroom.

To be clear, CRT is not itself a substantive course or workshop; it is a practice. It is an approach or lens through which an educator can help students examine the role of race and racism in American society. It originated in the legal academy-I first learned about it as a law student-and has since been adopted in other fields in higher education.

In the K-12 classroom, CRT can be an approach to help students understand how racism has endured past the civil rights era through systems, laws, and policies-and how those same systems, laws, and policies can be transformed. But the vocal opposition to critical race theory-coming from predominantly white states and school districts-will undoubtedly have a chilling effect on its use in the K-12 classroom.

Banning the use of CRT robs teachers of a valuable teaching tool. And, perhaps, that is the point. But I have seen how applying critical race theory as a framework for understanding the educational inequities harming students of color can help my students trace the trajectory from the origins of inequities to their current manifestations.

In the course about racial inequality in K-12 public education that I designed and teach for graduate public-policy students, CRT is a valuable framework for helping students identify how law and policy can either entrench or eradicate historic racial inequities in education.

Like many academic theories, CRT is complex and constantly evolving. However, it can be characterized by a few tenets, which challenge many traditional understandings of race and racial inequality. The Human Genome Project found that humans share 99.9 percent of the same genetic makeup, despite our different appearances. Critical race theory recognizes that our ideas of racial difference-which run counter to this scientific evidence-have been socially constructed. It acknowledges how that social construction of race has shaped America and how systems and institutions can do the bulk of replicating racial inequality.

These tenets require a departure from the popular idea that racism is perpetrated solely by individual "bad actors." If we confine racism to individual bad actors, we ignore the ways that systems and institutions can replicate racial inequality.

This framework is particularly relevant to education. Gloria Ladson-Billings, a leading scholar in applying critical race theory to education, explains how racial inequality can be replicated in education: Curricula that largely exclude the history and lived experiences of Americans of color are the norm. Deficit-oriented instruction often characterizes students of color as failures if a one-size-fits-all approach doesn't work for them. Standardized-test scores from assessments detached from what students learn in the classroom are widely used to confirm narratives about the ineducability of children of color.

Critical race theory helps us recognize how many contemporary policies that perpetuate racial inequality can seem innocuous or even logical. School discipline policies that prohibit the wearing of hair in locs might seem neutral, but they disproportionately impact Black students who are most likely to wear locs. Critical race theory helps us recognize that even policies not explicitly predicated on race are not objective-they can actively function to reproduce racial inequality.

In addition, CRT recognizes the value of centering the voices of people who have historically been marginalized. My graduate students are primarily well-educated professionals, including former educators. Nevertheless, over the few years that I've taught the course, many of them express surprise about their limited prior exposure to the history of racial inequality in American education.

In my graduate course, my students read about how Native American children were forcibly removed from their families and placed in boarding schools where they were subjected to forced assimilation, forbidden from speaking their languages, and barred from wearing traditional dress. One student remarked, "How have I arrived at this point in my education and this is the first time that I am learning about this?"

Students in my course also read an excerpt from Frederick Douglass' narrative describing his various covert and creative strategies to learn how to read and write in the face of anti-literacy laws targeting enslaved Black persons. One student expressed surprise at how "actively" the prohibition against teaching enslaved people to read was enforced.

I teach students history not to cast anyone as an "oppressor" or a "victim" but to demonstrate how these past inequities inform contemporary ones. A CRT lens helps students recognize how racial inequality can be maintained through laws and policies-spanning the "Slave Codes" that prohibited Douglass and other enslaved persons from learning how to read or write to the Jim Crow laws and de facto policies that maintained school segregation to contemporary policies like exclusionary admissions policies or discriminatory school discipline policies.
But systems, practices, and policies can also help to eliminate racial inequality. Next week marks the centennial of the Tulsa Massacre in which as many as 300 Black residents of the Greenwood district in Tulsa, Okla., were massacred by an enraged white mob. The massacre was shrouded in secrecy for many years, but historians, activists, and survivors have recently brought this painful history to the fore. Just last year, the Oklahoma board of education added the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre to its curriculum. But the state's recent passage of H.B. 1775, a bill aimed at barring the teaching of critical race theory in classrooms, robs educators of a lens through which to examine the conditions, laws, and practices that fueled such racial terror.

Many people hope that ignoring the existence of racial inequality will make it go away-it doesn't. Instead, we must do the work of identifying the policies, practices, and conditions that allow it to persist. Before critical race theory is "canceled" or further mischaracterized, it is important to recognize how this framework helps educators examine historic and contemporary racial inequality and to equip students with the tools to help eradicate it.

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Critical Race Theory Isn't a Curriculum. It's a Practice (Opinion)

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The concept of critical race theory, or CRT, has recently been vilified by politicians as a "radical," "un-American," and "racially divisive" concept. Several states have even banned schools from teaching critical race theory, with more states debating doing the same.

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Thousands of educators will dive into the national debate on what should be taught in history class this week as the nation's largest teachers' union holds its annual gathering.

The National Education Association will host its 100th Representative Assembly to determine its policy and initiatives for the next fiscal year. The annual convention is the world's largest democratic deliberative body-nearly 8,000 delegates will debate and vote on where to direct the NEA's money and attention.

In a break from a nearly 40-year tradition, however, the NEA has closed much of its representative assembly to the press. An NEA spokesman said the decision to restrict access was made due to security concerns with the virtual platform that will be used for voting, and that the 2022 representative assembly would once again be open to the press.

The representative assembly will take place from June 30 to July 3. Here's what to expect:
1. There will be a lot of discussion about critical race theory in the classroom.
Several of the proposed new business items ask the NEA to oppose efforts to regulate what students learn about the history of race in America and to support the teachers who are doing anti-racist work. Half of states have taken steps to restrict teaching critical race theory-which is an academic framework that says racism is embedded in legal systems and policies and is not just the product of individual bias or prejudice-or limit how teachers can discuss racism and sexism. Nine states have enacted these bans, according to an Education Week analysis.

Kumar Rashad, an NEA delegate from Louisville, Ky., introduced a new business item that calls on the union to publicly express its "support for the accurate and honest teaching of social studies topics, including truthful and age-appropriate accountings of unpleasant aspects of American history, such as slavery and the oppression and discrimination of Indigenous, Black, brown, and other peoples of color, as well as the continued impact this history has on our current society."

The measure also says that the NEA should publicly say it's appropriate for curriculum to be informed by critical race theory. Rashad said he feels like so far, the union has only been "loosely associated" with the battle over how to teach the racist aspects of United States history.

"The NEA has to take that explicit stance, because then that protects those of us who are doing the real work in the field," said Rashad, who teaches a course on developing Black historical consciousness at an alternative high school. "I want to know that my union has my back when I'm doing nothing but spreading the truth, which is empowering a group of people to be independent-which is our ultimate goal of education."

The NEA has to stand behind its members who are doing anti-racist work in schools, said Stephen Siegel, a delegate and a high school special education teacher in the Reynolds school district near Portland, Ore. He introduced a new business item that would have the NEA research the organizations "attacking educators doing anti-racist work" and then put together a list of resources and recommendations for school districts and individual educators to use if they find themselves under the spotlight.

Parents Defending Education criticized the training as "shaming" teachers "into accepting ideas rooted in the controversial ideology of critical race theory." The story was then picked up by conservative news outlets, like Fox News and the Daily Caller.

"One of the things that [the experience] highlighted for me ... is that our school districts didn't seem particularly prepared for the kinds of attacks that were coming from these right-wing media, and also our unions seemed [caught] a little off-guard-not quite sure how to best respond," Siegel said. "These attacks are going to keep happening."
2. Delegates will vote on a nearly $371 million budget that anticipates $13 million in new revenue.
Here are some of the key areas where the membership dues will go in the coming year:

$5.8 million to increase member capacity as leaders and activists, which includes recruiting and training educators to run for local office and school boards;

$7.5 million to create and provide training, resources, and programming for members on racial and social justice and how to implement those practices in the classroom;

$36.2 million to "protect and defend" against legal attacks directed at the union and to support the nomination of pro-labor judges;

$6.9 million to recruit more new and early-career teachers to join the union; and

$32.9 million to elect union-friendly candidates, engage members ahead of the 2022 midterms, and "develop and utilize strategic research to shape debate in states about education funding, taxes, and revenue."

The president, vice president, and secretary-treasurer will also each get a 3.1 percent raise. Pringle will make $320,783 this fiscal year.
3. Delegates will discuss the role of police in schools.
The NEA board of directors-the union's top decision-making body-has introduced a new business item that would establish a task force to explore the role of law enforcement in education. The task force would consult with leaders of police-free school movements to provide recommendations to amend the union's existing policies and language around school discipline. The task force would also collect data on school discipline and compare "the impact of on-site or community-based programs and personnel with the use of law enforcement on campuses."

The board of directors has also recommended that the NEA amend its legislative program-which represents the union's agenda and priorities for federal action-to say that the NEA opposes "the use of law enforcement personnel or private security in the school discipline process; criminalizing school-age behaviors; ... [and] the hiring of private security in the place of school resource officers or sworn law enforcement officers."

These proposals represent the latest in the national union's evolution in how it views school police. For years, the NEA published positive features on school police officers, with headlines like "More Than 'Campus Cops:' School resource officers are also role models for students and staff" and "Promoting School Safety With a Badge and a Smile." (These articles are no longer on the NEA's website.) And in 2013, the NEA supported federal efforts to fund more armed police officers in schools.

In an address to delegates, Theresa Mitchell Dudley, a member of the NEA board of directors and the president of the Prince George's County, Md., teachers' union, said the union's legislative committee held a listening session in February to hear from educators.

She said people asked questions like, "Why do 14 million students have a law enforcement presence on campus but no counselor, nurse, school psychologist, or social worker? Why are simple childhood behaviors being criminalized? Why do we have zero-tolerance policies?"

The resulting proposals will help the NEA fulfill its duty to protect students, Dudley said. "Time and time again, research shows that students of color are disproportionately impacted by law enforcement presence in schools, and at the same time, are sitting in underfunded schools," she said.

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Union Members to Discuss Critical Race Theory, School Police at 100th NEA Assembly

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Thousands of educators will dive into the national debate on what should be taught in history class this week as the nation's largest teachers' union holds its annual gathering. The National Education Association will host its 100th Representative Assembly to determine its policy and initiatives for the next fiscal year.

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From the recent establishment of Juneteenth as a federal holiday to the backlash against critical race theory, many educators are now uncertain how to teach about racism in our country's history. On the one hand, Juneteenth is a perfect example of Black joy. On the other, legislatures in many states have passed or are considering laws restricting the teaching of critical race theory in K-12 classrooms.

What is the significance of Juneteenth? Many enslaved persons knew about the Emancipation Proclamation, but it wasn't until Union forces arrived in parts of the South that freedom could actually be enforced. June 19, 1865, was the date Union Gen. Gordon Granger issued General Order No. 3 to residents of Galveston, Texas, freeing the remaining people still enslaved in the state. That date was celebrated as Juneteenth in future years.

As of this writing, more than 25 states have taken steps to restrict how schools can teach critical race theory or discuss racism and sexism. Five states, including my home state of Texas, have already passed laws to this effect. As educators, I can understand the concern some may have about increased scrutiny going into next year.

Do these laws mean we can't teach about racism in U.S. history? No. If you live in one of the states that have passed such a law, be sure to read it closely. The new Texas law that prohibits teachers from being compelled to discuss "a particular current event or widely debated and currently controversial issue of public policy or social affairs" does still require students be taught primary sources related to the Founding Fathers and of the United States, specifically including about Ona Judge (who escaped enslavement by running away from George Washington's home during dinner), Sally Hemings (who was enslaved and impregnated multiple times by Thomas Jefferson), and the history of white supremacy.
Six of the first eight presidents held human beings in bondage. There is no way to teach an accurate American history without teaching about issues related to race. Check your content standards; it's there. Look at street names, school names, and historical markers in your communities. Critical race theory isn't required to help students understand the past.

Most K-12 teachers aren't teaching critical race theory to begin with. Critical race theory is a theoretical framework introduced in legal studies during the late 1970s and 1980s. I first encountered the approach during my doctoral studies. As University of Southern California law professor Ariela Gross has argued, these laws are part of a backlash against movements for racial justice. I agree.

Telling students what happened in the past will not teach them to hate this country. In fact, quite the opposite has been true in my experience. When students learn more about the past, they are better able to recognize current injustices and the need for improvement. To continue teaching history without breaking new rules introduced in your state, read the law and familiarize yourself with the content standards for the subjects you teach.

While the laws only apply to public schools, educators in other schools will likely face pushback. I've worked in a private school since 2014 and have received my share of criticism surrounding my teaching of slavery and related issues. I fully expect that to continue. If you anticipate the pushback you may receive, you can prepare measured and informed responses. For example:
"Why do you have to make everything about race?"
If you have specific questions about my curriculum, please let me know. My goal is to help students use knowledge of the past to understand the present.
"Slavery is over; why do you talk so much about it?"
Chattel slavery ended in the 19th century, but we are living with the effects today. It's important for students to understand that.
"I don't want my kids learning critical race theory; why can't you just teach history?"
Critical race theory is an academic approach taught in graduate schools. In this class, I teach about key events in American history to help students understand America today.

Even if you receive pushback from members of your school community, there are people in the trenches all around the country with whom you can build community. If you have an online network already, use it. If not, build one. We'll need each other more now than ever.

And if these state laws aren't a clarion call for integrating primary sources into your teaching, I don't know what is. For example, I do not tell students the Civil War started over slavery. We read excerpts from state secession declarations, and the kids tell me why it happened.

As a teacher, your job is to help students use information about the past to understand, and improve, the present. That means you should never stop learning. I cannot, with a clear conscience, teach kids about the Civil War without drawing their attention to the current-day controversies over Confederate memorials in many states.

Listen to podcasts like Teaching Hard History, Anti-Social Studies, Seizing Freedom, Teaching While White, 1619. (The 1619 Project, has been specifically banned as a teaching tool in several states, but I still recommend teachers engage with it for background.) Read books like How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America by Clint Smith, Vanguard: How Black Women Broke Barriers, Won the Vote, and Insisted on Equality for All by Martha Jones, and The Sword and the Shield: The Revolutionary Lives of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. by Peniel Joseph.

The point of these laws is to scare teachers away from talking about hard history. The people passing these laws know that K-12 teachers aren't teaching kids about critical race theory. Those that have a vested interest in maintaining the status quo do not want students to know the truth. I'm on the other side, and my teaching reflects that. Where do you stand?

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Juneteenth Meets Anti-Critical Race Theory Laws: Where Do Teachers Go From Here? (Opinion)

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From the recent establishment of Juneteenth as a federal holiday to the backlash against critical race theory, many educators are now uncertain how to teach about racism in our country's history. On the one hand, Juneteenth is a perfect example of Black joy.

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Social Justice Belongs In Our Schools | Sydney Chaffee | TEDxBeaconStreet

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A school district in Minnesota has pulled To Kill a Mockingbird and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn from its curriculum, arguing that the classic novels' use of racial slurs risked students being "humiliated or marginalised".

The Duluth school district will keep the titles in its libraries, but from the next school year, they will be replaced on the curriculum for ninth and 11th-grade English classes, according to local newspaper the Bemidji Pioneer.

Duluth's director of curriculum and instruction Michael Cary told the Pioneer that his department wanted to be considerate of all its students, and that there were other literary options that "teach the same lessons" as To Kill a Mockingbird and Huckleberry Finn without containing racial slurs. The N-word is used frequently in both titles - more than 200 times in Mark Twain's 19th-century novel - but both are widely considered anti-racist texts.

"We felt that we could still teach the same standards and expectations through other novels that didn't require students to feel humiliated or marginalised by the use of racial slurs," said Carey.

According to the Bemidji Pioneer, there was no specific complaint from students about the titles, but their use "created an uncomfortable atmosphere" in the classroom.

The Duluth move was supported by the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People, with president of the local chapter Stephan Witherspoon saying the books were "just hurtful" and use "hurtful language that has oppressed the people for over 200 years".

"It's wrong. There are a lot more authors out there with better literature that can do the same thing that does not degrade our people. I'm glad that they're making the decision and it's long overdue, like 20 years overdue," he said. "Let's move forward and work together to make school work for all of our kids, not just some, all of them."

But the move was strongly criticised by the National Coalition Against Censorship, which said it was "deeply disturbed" by the decision, and urged the district to reconsider. While the NCAC said it was "understandable that a novel that repeatedly uses a highly offensive racial slur would generate discomfort among some parents and students", the anti-censorship organisation argued that "the problems of living in a society where racial tensions persist will not be resolved by banishing literary classics from the classroom.

"On the contrary, the classroom is where the history, use and destructiveness of this language should be examined and discussed. It is there that the books' complexities can be contextualised and their anti-racist message can be understood," it said. "Rather than ignore difficult speech, educators should create spaces for open dialogue that teaches students to confront the vestiges of racism and the oppression of people of colour."

The decision in Duluth is not the first time that US schools have wrestled with how to teach two classic novels that nonetheless regularly feature on the American Library Association's list of most challenged titles. Following a complaint from a parent in 2016, schools in Virginia pulled both novels from their curriculum, although they were later reinstated. And in 2017, schools in Mississippi removed Harper Lee's novel over its "uncomfortable" and racially sensitive subject matter, although it was later returned to an "optional" reading list.

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'Hurtful' Harper Lee and Mark Twain dropped from Minnesota curriculum

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A school district in Minnesota has pulled To Kill a Mockingbird and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn from its curriculum, arguing that the classic novels' use of racial slurs risked students being "humiliated or marginalised".

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Vernā Myers: How to overcome our biases? Walk boldly toward them

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Our biases can be dangerous, even deadly - as we've seen in the cases of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, and Eric Garner, in Staten Island, New York. Diversity advocate Vernā Myers looks closely at some of the subconscious attitudes we hold toward out-groups. She makes a plea to all people: Acknowledge your biases.

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First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out-because I was not a socialist.

Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out-because I was not a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out-because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me-and there was no one left to speak for me.

-Martin Niemöller

This quote is attributed to the prominent German pastor Martin Niemöller. It is sometimes mistakenly referred to as a poem.

After World War II, Niemöller openly spoke about his own early complicity in Nazism and his eventual change of heart. His powerful words about guilt and responsibility still resonate today.

Niemöller's Quote at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

The quote "First they came for..." has been part of the permanent exhibition at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum since its opening in 1993. Initially, Niemöller's words were part of a text panel. Today, they are prominently featured on a wall as the final words of the exhibition. They serve as an indictment of passivity and indifference during the Holocaust.

Origins of the Quote

This Martin Niemöller quote originated after the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II. After the war, Niemöller was well-known for his opposition to the Nazi regime and as a former victim of Nazi persecution. In 1946, he traveled on a lecture tour in the western zones of Allied-occupied Germany. In his lectures, Niemöller publicly confessed his own inaction and indifference to the fate of many of the Nazis' victims. He used phrases such as "I did not speak out..." or "we preferred to keep quiet." He explained that in the first years of the Nazi regime he had remained silent as the Nazis persecuted other Germans, especially members of leftist political movements with whom he disagreed.

Niemöller considered his fellow Germans as the primary audience for his confession. In his lectures, he lamented that individual Germans failed to accept responsibility for Nazism, German atrocities in German-occupied countries, and the Holocaust. According to him, individual Germans were passing the blame onto their neighbors, superiors, or accept personal responsibility for Nazi organizations like the Gestapo. Through his confession, he wanted to show Germans how to complicity in the Nazi regime.

Why are there multiple versions of Niemöller's quote?

There are multiple versions of the quote "First they came for...." Some versions include a different list of victims. This is because Niemöller often presented his lectures impromptu and changed the list of victims from lecture to lecture. At different times and in different combinations, Niemöller listed: communists, socialists, trade unionists, Jews, people with mental and physical disabilities, and Jehovah's Witnesses.

Some printed versions of the quote include Protestants and Catholics in the list of victims. 1 Given the history of the Nazi regime and Niemöller's personal experiences, it was highly unlikely that he included either group in his confession of complicity. In his post-war lectures, Niemöller specifically focused on groups that the Nazis targeted prior to his arrest in 1937, and for whom he could have advocated in the 1930s, but did not.

Regardless of his exact words, Niemöller's message remained consistent: he declared that through silence, indifference, and inaction, Germans had been complicit in the Nazi imprisonment, persecution, and murder of millions of people. He felt that it was particularly egregious that he and other German Protestant church leaders, whom he believed had positions of moral authority, chose to remain silent.

Today, the quote has entered public discourse and popular culture. It is variously referred to as a poem, a confession, or an aphorism. The quote is also frequently adapted and rewritten as a political tool, often in ways that are not in keeping with Niemöller's original intentions.

Who was Martin Niemöller?

Martin Niemöller was born the son of a Lutheran pastor in the German Empire on January 1 4, 1892. At age 21 he started his career in the Imperial German Navy as an officer. During World War I (1914-1918), Niemöller served as an officer on a U-Boat (a submarine). For his role in sinking Allied ships he earned the high honor, the Iron Cross First Class, in 1917.

Niemöller was a fervent nationalist and anti-communist. He was devastated by Germany's defeat in World War I and the collapse of the German Empire. He also strongly opposed the new postwar German government called the Weimar Republic (1918-1933). Unwilling to serve the new government, Niemöller resigned from the Navy in 1919.

In 1920, Niemöller began seminary training at the University of Münster. He was ordained as a Lutheran pastor in 1924. During the 1920s and early 1930s, he participated in right-wing and antisemitic political parties and organizations.

How did Niemöller react to the Nazi regime?

In keeping with his right-wing, antisemitic outlook, Niemöller enthusiastically welcomed the Nazi regime in 1933. He voted for the Nazi Party in March of that year.

Niemöller's enthusiasm for the new government led by The German Christians portrayed Jesus as an Adolf Hitler quickly waned, however, when the Nazi regime began to interfere in church policy. In 1933, Hitler threw his support behind a radical faction within the Protestant churches known as the Aryan and denied that he was Jewish. They rejected the authority of the Old Testament and sought to alter parts of the New Testament. Their goal was to remove what they called "Jewish elements" from Christianity. This included prohibiting pastors with Jewish ancestry from Deutsche Christen (in English, the German Christians). serving in the Protestant church. Niemöller led the opposition to the German Christians and Hitler's church policy.

Niemöller's attitude toward the Nazi regime further transformed in January 1934 after a meeting with Adolf Hitler. Niemöller and other prominent Protestant church leaders met Hitler to discuss the relationship between church and state. At this meeting, it became clear that the Gestapo (the Secret State Police) had tapped Niemöller's phone. The Pastors Emergency League ( Pfarrernotbund), which Niemöller had helped found in 1933, was also under close state surveillance. Hitler's hostility made it clear to Niemöller that the Protestant Church and the Nazi state could not be reconciled unless Protestants were willing to compromise their faith. Niemöller was not willing to do this.

As a result, Niemöller became an outspoken critic of Nazi church policy. On July 1, 1937, the Gestapo arrested and imprisoned him as a political prisoner for the next eight years. A number of international religious leaders made calls for his release. However, Niemöller was not freed until May 1945, when the Allies defeated Nazi Germany and liberated him and other concentration camp prisoners.

An Enduring yet Controversial Legacy

After the end of World War II, Niemöller's prominence as an opposition figure gave him international stature. He was often at the center of controversy for his outspoken views. For example, he opposed the postwar denazification policies of the Allied powers. He believed these policies caused more harm than good. He also refused to side unequivocally with the United States in the Cold War. As a result, some of his critics called him a communist.

Despite these controversies, Niemöller is remembered as one of the more prominent Germans to publicly acknowledge his moral failures committed during the Nazi era, as well as the moral failures of his nation and church. And he continued to speak publicly about the relationship between inaction and Germans' responsibility for the persecution and murder of Jews in the Holocaust.

Last Edited: Apr 11, 2023

Author(s): United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington, DC

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Martin Niemöller: "First they came for the Socialists..."

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Learn about the origins and legacy of Pastor Martin Niemöller's famous postwar words, "First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out..."

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Social Justice Belongs In Our Schools | Sydney Chaffee | TEDxBeaconStreet

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The free, downloadable "Anti-Racist Art Activity" for ages 7-14 was launched in February of 2021! Free related curriculum is available.

Two printable activity pages are provided for each Black historical figure featured: Malcolm X, Ella Baker, Bayard Rustin, Fannie Lou Hamer, and Harriet Tubman. The first page is for research and writing, and the second is for coloring/art.

The illustrations for the coloring pages were created by Jessica Wood, an African American artist based in Los Angeles.

Use the activity during Black History Month and throughout the year!

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Free, downloadable "board" games for justice and joy. Racism and white privilege are addressed in the Road to Racial Justice "Board" Game. Screen-free, fun stuff for kids is offered in the Blobber game-creative time for families during the covid-19 quarantine, and beyond! Parenting can be fun, even

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Our systematic approach to anti-bias, social justice and civil rights education makes complex topics easier to understand-and teach.

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Course Bundle: Unpacking Internalized Racism (for BIPOC)

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This self-guided 12 chapter course helps Black, Indigenous, and people of color understand, recognize, and challenge white-dominant culture and conditioning.

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Social justicework has to exist beyond social media.

Amidst widespread grief, tragedy, and hardship, 2020 was a year of momentum. After the killing of George Floyd in May, an estimated 15 million to 26 million people took to the streets to protest, making the Black Lives Matter demonstrations the largest movement in U.S. history.

While not everyone was on the frontlines fighting for racial justice, increased time spent at home and online meant most people were watching the protests take place-and many were searching for ways to get involved. The 2020 Google trends report shows that "how to help" was searched more last year than any year prior. Additionally, in a year when more than 4 in 10 households faced serious financial problems-the term " how to donate" was searched twice as much as "how to save money."

However, as we settle into a new year and, as of this week, a new presidency, it's hard to know if this momentum for social change and community support will continue. There was a stretch of time last year when it seemed like every social media post was connected to a social cause, with people sharing information about how to fight for rent relief, where to donate money for protesters' bail funds, and why we need police abolition. But as many predicted, our timelines have largely returned to brunch updates and OOTD posts, making it seem like some of the collective urgency for change was left behind in 2020.

As Jacquelyn Ogorchukwu Iyamah, a UX designer and founder of the racial wellness platform Making the Body a Home, explains, the fight for racial justice wasn't born in 2020, and it won't end there either. "It's important to note that Black and Brown change-makers have been doing this racial justice work for years, decades, and centuries, many of us from an incredibly young age," she says. "This is not a trend for us, this is our lives. The only thing that changed is that more white people started paying attention in the summer of 2020."

"Black and Brown changemakers have been doing this racial justice work for years, decades, and centuries. This is not a trend for us, this is our lives. The only thing that changed is that more white people started paying attention in the summer of 2020."

Jacquelyn Ogorchukwu Iyamah

Ogorchukwu also runs the account @ogorchukwuu on Instagram, where she shares informational graphics in clean designs, unpacking topics such as white supremacy, power-hoarding, and racial gaslighting. Her post on the latter went viral and garnered nearly 253,000 likes in June of last year. "What was important for me to highlight with my racial gaslighting post is the fact that racism is a form of abuse," she says. "People often fail to see the relationship that racism has on the mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual health of Black, Indigenous, and people of color."

As thousands of Instagram users engage with her posts online, Ogorchukwu hopes people will take the time to reflect on the topics of her content within their own lives. "I want people to examine themselves, examine their communities, and examine society at large," she says. "I hope that these posts encourage people to learn more about racial trauma, racial healing, and ultimately, move towards racial wellness."

However, moving toward racial wellness and away from internalized forms of white supremacy can't happen solely through Instagram infographics. This work of racial learning has to get personal and be intentional, which sometimes means taking a class on the subject. Ogorchukwu has developed specialized courses on Making the Body a Home, which are designed to "help BIPOC and white communities understand, unlearn, challenge, and heal from racist systems."

"But the work for Black, Indigenous, and people of color is different from the work for white folks," she explains. "I call racism a multifaceted abuser, and in any abusive power dynamic, the healing needed for the person being harmed is not the same as the reparations that the person doing the harm needs to make."

The course " Unpacking Internalized Racism" is designated for BIPOC, while the course " Unpacking White Superiority" is for white people. "It can be difficult for BIPOC to fully heal if white people do not do the deep healing work of unpacking their shadows selves," Ogorchukwu says. "My advice is that more white folks sign up for this course on unpacking white superiority. When we say, 'Do the work,' this is what we mean."

"I call racism a multifaceted abuser, and in any abusive power dynamic, the healing needed for the person being harmed is not the same as the healing needed for the person doing the harm."

JACQUELYN OGORCHUKWU IYAMAH

The owner of the Instagram account @SoYouWantToTalkAbout, who goes by Jess, also hopes that her content will push people to take action outside the bounds of social media. Per the bio, the account focuses on "dissecting progressive politics and social issues in a graphic slideshow form"-and 2.2 million people, including the likes of Colin Kaepernick, Ava DuVernay, and U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, follow along.

Jess collaborates with individual experts and relevant organizations to compile information for bite-sized explainers on topics ranging from the death penalty to sex-positivity to impeachment. "I'm deeply motivated by the idea of keeping people informed about the things that are important and giving them the tools to take action," she says. "...The more people are informed, the more likely they are to take action." The Instagram page features an archived "Action Items" story, which shares links to petitions to sign, places to donate, and numbers and emails of legislators to contact.

Jess wants to remind her millions of followers and anyone who became more politically engaged or informed over the past year that now isn't the time to get comfortable. "Just because the keys to the Oval are swapping hands doesn't mean that everything is magically okay," she says. "Trump was not the cause, he was just a symptom. We need to continue to focus on social justice issues-demanding accountability from our elected officials and demanding justice for those who have yet to receive it."

"Just because the keys to the Oval are swapping hands doesn't mean that everything is magically okay," she says. "Trump was not the cause, he was just a symptom.

For many activists, the change of presidency doesn't change the work they're doing much if at all. As the decentralized communications coordinator for Sunrise Movement-a youth movement for climate change-Neha Desaraju says she hasn't slowed down just because a climate change denier is out of office. Instead, she and a number of young activists are refocusing on holding President Joe Biden accountable for the promises he made during his campaign. Aside from rejoining the Paris Agreement and working toward a carbon neutral society, Desaraju hopes to see the president utilizing the framework of the Green New Deal to enable green jobs, a just transition, and economic justice, "which doubles as Covid-19 relief." Ultimately, though, "I don't think it's going to be Joe Biden who does any of that," she says. "I think it's gonna be the work of thousands of activists across the nation who are going to make sure that their communities step up and pressure this administration to really provide for Americans."

As a 17-year-old working as both a full-time high school student and climate activist, though, Desaraju knows how much strain activism work can put on the individual. "[Fatigue] is very real. I feel it a lot," she says. So, she wants to remind both herself and others that organizing for change doesn't always have to be a Herculean feat, but instead can build from daily efforts. "I think that organizing has always been sustained by little acts and integrating it into your life and really finding the time to connect and build relationships with your community," she says.

One form of organizing that Desaraju thinks everyone can do is to participate in mutual aid, a system of voluntary exchanges that is "about giving what you can and taking what you need," as she explains. "Anyone can start a so-called mutual aid network," she says. "It doesn't even have to be that formal, but all it takes is talking to your neighbors, talking to your friends and talking to people in your community and figuring out how you and others in your community can help them." Whether this involves donating food to a community fridge, contributing rent money for someone in need, or delivering PPE to underserved communities-these are all answers to that common Google query "how to help."

Even when all the political news dies down and the mask mandates have dropped, that 2020 motto "protect yourself and others" should be a guiding principle in 2021 and beyond.

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It's Not the Time to Get Comfortable: 3 Activists Share How We Can Continue Pushing for Change in 2021

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Social justicework has to exist beyond social media. Amidst widespread grief, tragedy, and hardship, 2020 was a year of momentum. After the killing of George Floyd in May, an estimated 15 million to 26 million people took to the streets to protest, making the Black Lives Matter demonstrations the largest movement in U.S.

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How should educators respond to an unprecedented popular effort to remake American history?

First, they need to understand that such a movement exists, what it wants, and how it operates. The history-reform movement calls for moving U.S. history beyond a focus on elite white males, exposing and analyzing systemic racism, and telling inclusive, complex stories across time. A broad spectrum of street-level protestors, teachers in grassroots networks, civil rights groups, academics, journalists, and social-media influencers are all working to remake the usable past -what we collectively remember, commemorate, learn in school, omit, forget.

The recent successes of this movement are impressive. Advocates of reform have produced bold revisionist curricula (for instance, The New York Times "1619 Project"), put pressure on the U.S. military to rename bases honoring Confederate leaders, persuaded authorities to remove statues of Confederates, encouraged NASCAR to excise the Confederate flag from sport-sanctioned iconography, and spawned hundreds of courses devoted to racism and civil rights.

Educators should expect reformers to make similar demands of them. Parents, activists, and students are already insisting on curricular reforms. They will expect diversity hiring and training. They are challenging statuary, researching the histories of persons for whom public buildings are named, objecting to questionable mascots, and publicizing racism in schools. In our home state, Connecticut, over the last few weeks Black graduates of several elite private high schools have created Instagram accounts titled @blackat[school name] to document their experiences of racism. Students at other schools across the country have been similarly exposing past racist incidents on social media.

School leaders should welcome these actions, and their history curricula is one place to take initiative on racial justice. Studies of history education in the United States make for dismal reading. James Loewen's classic, Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong, lays out how textbooks provide a highly distorted image of the American past. The history taught in high schools, long dominated by "great white men," emphasizes relentless progress for all and avoids nuanced discussions of race, class, or gender. Almost every year, new studies (some themselves controversial) expose Americans' poor history awareness.

The traditional approach to history has failed.

There are certain curricular red flags. Historians Fred Anderson and Andrew Cayton observe that schoolbook history is anchored by three "good wars for freedom": The Revolutionary War birthing Americans' commitment to liberty; the Civil War extending freedom to enslaved people; World War II exporting American freedom worldwide-so goes the sanitized classroom (and Hollywood) story.

Wars not fitting the freedom theme-including Vietnam, Korea, Spanish-American, and hundreds of nameless conflicts against Indigenous peoples-get relegated to the margins or glossed over. The expansionism and imperialism that have driven many American wars deserve a far more complex treatment, argue Anderson and Cayton. The cautionary lesson is to avoid oversimplifying the past into hyper-patriotic narratives. If your curriculum trends that way, it needs rewriting.

Yet, some cultural forces conspire to shape history into hyper-patriotic narratives. As Gary Nash, Charlotte Crabtree, and Ross E. Dunn discuss in their 1999 book on the creation of national standards for American history, roiling conflicts exist between historians who dislike the politicization of their subject and conservative politicians and pundits who prefer a narrative of American exceptionalism. Exceptionalists embrace the idea that America is inherently superior to other nations and so normal rules of history do not apply here. They depict America as a "land of opportunity" for all, praise capitalism, downplay imperialism, and characterize protest as misguided, dangerous, or deranged.

Scholars have challenged, and largely destroyed, this upbeat schoolbook tradition. Prize-winning studies of race, gender, foreign policy, war, capitalism, unions, immigration, cities, and politics paint a more inclusive, conflict-oriented picture of the past. But academic history rarely reaches high school history classrooms.

Primary and secondary educators contemplating curricular reform would do well to partner with academic historians to bridge that gap. Curricular design must also acknowledge that history has a methodology. Too often, history gets taught and tested as facts. Standards might pay lip service to "historical thinking," but teachers themselves often lack fluency in such skills.

Challenging statues, activists have exposed troubling legacies. When students campaigned for Oxford University to remove a statue of British colonialist and apartheid architect Cecil Rhodes in 2015, some high-profile historians derided their efforts. Cambridge classics professor Mary Beard called the campaign "a dangerous attempt to erase the past," urging Black students to view the statue "with a cheery and self-confident sense of un-batterability."

That same year, Beard's university accepted only 38 Black students-just over 1 percent of Cambridge's student body-and had not a single Black professor in a senior position. Accomplished white historians like Beard suspended their own critical faculties about that statue while ignoring the effects of Rhodes' violent legacy-and the fact that he garnered moral condemnation and mass protest in his own lifetime.

Americans can learn from these historians' myopia. America today is a product of the past and not immune from its racist legacy. Combating racism, now, requires suspending overly optimistic narratives of its demise.

This moment is an opportunity for white educators (as are the authors) to do critical work with our students, institutions, and ourselves. White readers are reaching for Michelle Alexander's The New Jim Crow, Ta-Nehisi Coates' Between the World and Me, and Ibram X. Kendi's How To Be an Antiracist. Young protesters are demonstrating their vividly present understandings of the words of Malcolm X and Angela Davis and the complicated history of the raised fists of Black Power and labor unionists.

These impulses exemplify a mass desire to act. White educators must now go beyond reading and private discussions to embody organizer Leslie Mac's insistence that "being anti-racist is a verb." Students are getting an extraordinary, vital insight into the doing of history, one absent from American history textbooks: a scholarship of activism. We have an obligation to meet them where they are, teach, listen, and learn from them.

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How Should Teachers Handle the Movement to 'Rewrite' High School History? Embrace It (Opinion)

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How should educators respond to an unprecedented popular effort to remake American history? First, they need to understand that such a movement exists, what it wants, and how it operates. The history-reform movement calls for moving U.S. history beyond a focus on elite white males, exposing and analyzing systemic racism, and telling inclusive, complex stories across time.

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Alfred Current is not a historian. But on what was supposed to be a pleasant April weekend dedicated to a YMCA fundraiser, here he was, tapped to make a judgment on whether four social studies textbooks in his local school district contained anything not "accurate, objective, or balanced."

Under a Florida law put into place in 2017, any resident can challenge curriculum on those grounds, triggering a review by an independent hearing officer; and through Rotary connections, Current had been chosen by the district to assume the role in Charlotte County. So in preparation, Current took a marathon journey through thousands of pages on law, U.S. history, and global history.

Of the variety of questions this raised, there was the most humbling one of all.

"Who am I as a trained insurance professional to start judging an entire textbook as to its merit, its integrity, to its truth, and to its facts when it covers a tremendous span of topics?" he said in an interview.

You'll learn in due course how Current responded to the task. But at its base, this is a story that goes far beyond just one school district, one hearing officer, and four textbooks.

It's a small example of the continuing tensions over what students learn about U.S. history and how that affects civic attitudes. And it's an illustration that even the process of determining the best way to reach consensus on what history should be taught can be fraught with complications.

Building an Army of Reviewers

The Florida Citizens Alliance is an outfit devoted to the defense of "individual rights." The group was instrumental in writing the 2017 law and its members filed the petition in Charlotte County, with help from a textbook-review nonprofit based in Boerne, Texas, called Truth in Textbooks.

Textbook criticisms are nothing new in Texas, as anyone who remembers the husband-wife team of Norma and Ed Gabler or their protégé, Neil Frey, can attest. They exerted much influence by advancing textbook changes from what critics said was generally a conservative viewpoint.

What separates the Florida Citizens Alliance and Truth in Textbooks from earlier mom-and-pop approaches to reviewing materials is that these groups are trying to significantly expand their reach, training local activists in districts across many states. The approach is powered by some of the same populism that has boiled up in both political parties, in the sense that activists are relying on local citizens rather than professional historians to review the books.

"All of these folks were mostly solo individuals," said Roy White, a former Air Force Lieutenant Colonel who now runs Truth in Textbooks. "But nobody had ever said, 'Hey, let's train average citizens to review social studies textbooks.' "

The Florida group now sends advocacy emails to about 20,000 people and maintains a network of activists in about seven of the state's counties who keep tabs on local classroom materials adoptions; they are trying to build that number up to 15.

About 60 Florida activists have been trained through the Truth in Textbooks' training process, now conducted mainly online, to look for bias, "half truths," factual errors, and omissions in the books.

The groups' main critiques are driven by the belief that historians and publishers are too liberal, the picture they paint of America is too negative, and the historical questions for students to think about are too agenda-driven.

"Pearson has no motivation to follow these state laws, unless we get local school districts to demand that they follow them, and stop indoctrinating students," Florida Citizens Alliance Managing Director Keith Flaugh said, referring to the well-known education publisher. "The professors who write them are very progressive, and every couple of years they reinterpret history to sell the books."

Throughout the Florida reviews, common themes emerge in what the textbook groups are looking to change: The United States is not a democracy, they argue, but a constitutional republic. The books minimize the "Judeo-Christian" roots of the country and aren't critical enough of Islam. They don't highlight free-market principles enough, and over-emphasize "European socialism" and government programs. (On one textbook's assertion that the New Deal showed how spending and low taxes could boost employment, a reviewer wrote crisply: "It did not and instead it created enormous debt.")

Although Flaugh prefers to be called a strict constitutionalist rather than a conservative, it is not difficult to see deeply held political and religious beliefs animating some of his group's critiques. But several of their concerns also are directly civic in nature.

Both Flaugh and White expressed a fear that if the theme of American exceptionalism, especially its founding values, isn't explicitly highlighted in textbooks, then students won't develop a love of the country or understand why the principles outlined in the Bill of Rights are still so remarkable today.

"If we don't adhere to basic founding values, how can we expect our kids to believe that the United States is an exceptional form of government that has uplifted the whole world? Instead, we're teaching them that it is an abusive, oppressive government," Flaugh said.

A 'Chilling Effect' for Schools?

That the first history challenges under the law occurred in Charlotte County, a conservative district north of Fort Myers with a large influx of retirees, isn't exactly a surprise. But it's often hard to know exactly how community values filter down to classrooms.

Textbooks and standards don't teach themselves, after all, and teachers use their professional judgment to decide what and how they present topics. (Charlotte County officials would discuss the book challenges there only on background and would not permit a reporter to observe any history classes.)

One reason the Florida situation merits attention is that, in itself, it's an object study about how the civic process works. A small group of passionate citizens used lobbying and advocacy to secure the ear of a sympathetic state legislator to back the legislation. No other state has a law that goes as far as Florida's in curriculum challenges, according to the Education Commission of the States, a Denver-based research group.

Whether the law will lead to better outcomes for students remains an open question, however.

It was opposed by many groups in the state, who argued that its proponents created it to substitute one supposed ideology or bias in the textbooks for another.

"The bill may lead to a chilling effect whereby those responsible for selection are deterred from selecting books which may be objectionable to some members of the community," says the Florida Library Association in a 2017 letter opposing the new requirements.

Curriculum officials in the county's districts hate the law, saying that a proliferation of challenges could interfere with procurement timelines and delay school boards' ability to get new books to students on time.

But the law has gotten an unexpected boost from some scholars, like Jonathan Zimmerman, a professor of history of education at New York University.

In the mid-20th century, he pointed out, local activists from the NAACP and the Urban League successfully lobbied to get school boards and publishers to remove overtly racist textbooks in a similar way.

Of course, there is a potential downside to Florida's approach: It's easier for individuals to lobby for students to learn unsound or untruthful ideas. The Florida Citizens Alliance has also challenged science textbooks that teach about climate change and evolution-issues on which there is overwhelming scientific consensus but ripe ideological dispute.

Indeed, the ACLU of Florida warned during debate over the law: "Will history textbooks that include accounts of the Holocaust or the moon landing be yanked from classrooms because a resident believes those are fake events and has compiled extensive internet research in support of his objection?"

Regarding history specifically, Truth in Textbooks claims that it has found thousands of errors in the Texas books it has reviewed, and records show that publishers have accepted some of those critiques.

But an Education Week examination of its reviews, both in Florida and in other states, found that they suffer from some problems, too. Sometimes, reviewers cited suspect sources in their corrections: think-tank reports, online encyclopedias, and in one instance, language from the website of a clothing vendor.

The potential for errors "is a huge danger," Zimmerman said. "But the answer to that danger is not to eliminate people's voices; it's to elicit more voices.

"There are so many angry and erroneous voices out there that to try to restrict public dialogue will feed the kind of paranoia and knee-jerk anti-expert, anti-authority narrative that we're hearing," he said.

'Beyond My Comfort Level'

This is one reason why it's ultimately heartening to read what Current, the resident tapped to serve as the hearing officer in Charlotte County, wrote in his recommendation to the school board about the books. He simply and quietly acknowledged the complexities of the situation.

Current discussed the bias he brings to the judging table. Some of the social studies textbooks made him uncomfortable, he noted, because they were so different from what he remembers from school. "Having been reared in a politically conservative, Southern Methodist family with a Baptist grandmother, I found some of the materials over the edge and beyond my comfort level. However, ... I realize that there is a challenged world in which we live," he wrote.

He noted, too, that issues like equity and teacher quality are also part of the debate about what students learn but are also "well beyond the scope of my duties." And he was troubled that petitioners acknowledged during the hearing that they hadn't actually read the textbooks, since they'd relied on Truth in Textbooks' notes.

His conclusion was to recommend the county keep the books.

"My observation is that there are strong political and religious ideological differences present. To stop one or the other represents a censorship that may have unintended consequences for our community," he concluded.

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Citizen Activists Push to Revise History Textbooks

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Alfred Current is not a historian. But on what was supposed to be a pleasant April weekend dedicated to a YMCA fundraiser, here he was, tapped to make a judgment on whether four social studies textbooks in his local school district contained anything not "accurate, objective, or balanced."

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A Brief History of Slavery That You Didn’t Learn in School (Published 2019)

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A child’s shackles, a West African legacy, a black sergeant in the Union Army — these are stories you need to hear.

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106 Things White People Can Do for Racial Justice

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Note 1: This article was last updated on February 5, 2022.
Note 2: Our work is to fix what we broke and left broken. The work isn’t done…

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On Monday evening, George Floyd was murdered by Minneapolis police. Video surfaced of a white police officer holding his knee to Floyd's neck for eight minutes while Floyd pleaded with police saying "I can't breathe." Floyd became unresponsive and died shortly after at Hennepin County Medical Center. This brutal killing follows the death of Breonna Taylor in her bed at the hands of police in Louisville, Kentucky, the murder of Ahmaud Arbery in a Georgia suburb and centuries of police abuse and violence.

In this moment, w know there are thousands of white people who are looking for direction and a way to show up alongside Black communities and communities of color. Welcome. You are needed. Here are a few ways to start showing up - not just in words but in action.

1. Come out as anti-racist and invite others to join you. Be public and vocal about which side you are on, share details of the actions you are taking to make this commitment real, and invite others to join you. Join SURJ to build a mass base of people breaking white silence by signing up here and share this graphic on your Facebook and social media pages to invite others to sign up as well.

2. Join fights to defund the police. It's local budget season and right now across the country towns and cities are deciding how your community will spend its resources. Join your local group already doing this work or plan an action to tell decision makers what your community really needs - like mental health services and affordable housing - instead of more funding for police. In Los Angeles, when the Mayor proposed giving 54% of the budget to the police, SURJ's affiliate White People for Black Lives showed up alongside Black Lives Matter to push back and they've won the first round of the fight. Many local SURJ chapters are already engaged in these fights alongside their partners - click here to see if there is a chapter in your community.

Minneapolis based Black Visions is asking folks to call Minneapolis Mayor Frey and the City Council to "stop making statements on social media and start holding MPD accountable in the only language they speak: money. Call Mayor Frey and tell him: 'Cut MPD's budget. We need money to keep our communities healthy during the pandemic, not murder them in the streets.'" Make this call today and share their post on Facebook.

3. Make a commitment to "organize your own" for the long haul. White communities are used to uphold the power structure and business-as-usual. When we break away and join movements for justice, this can help tip the balance of power and win real change. For too long, those at the top have relied on the silence of white folks to keep things as they are - and then we all lose. Our work is to organize in our own communities to bring more white people into struggles for justice, and to support the efforts led by people of color.

Police departments and white supremacists have been emboldened under the Trump administration. The head of the Minneapolis Police Union has sold "Cops for Trump" t-shirts, has been applauded by the President on Twitter, and even spoke at a Trump rally. White voters elected Trump, which has led to an escalation in racist scapegoating of and violence against communities of color. We need to show up big this election year to ensure white voters don't re-elect Trump. Sign the Collect Your Cousins Pledge to join us in calling white voters in critical battleground states. SURJ is calling white voters on June 4th at 6:00 EST. Click here to sign the Collect Your Cousins Pledge to join the phone bank and help us call in thousands more white people into the work.

4. Focus on building our numbers, not being right. To end police brutality, white supremacy, and to build a movement to get us all free, we need to move people with us - namely people who are conflicted or watching from the sidelines. This means calling in our folks - people in our families, faith communities, neighborhoods, and workplaces - inviting them to join a movement and be on the right side of history. It might feel good to just yell at other white people in the short run. But when we spend time with those who are awakening in this moment and are wanting to show up, as imperfect as they are, that helps us all. This is the work.

5. Help resource the work of Black-led groups that are fighting for police accountability and abolition. Find and support a local group in your community or move your money to the front lines in Minneapolis. Make sure folks most impacted have the resources to stay in the streets and dream up the most powerful, transformative pathways forward. Make a donation today to Reclaim the Block and Black Visions who are on the frontlines in response to the murder of George Floyd.

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5 Ways White People Can Take Action in Response to White and State-Sanctioned Violence

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On Monday evening, George Floyd was murdered by Minneapolis police. Video surfaced of a white police officer holding his knee to Floyd's neck for eight minutes while Floyd pleaded with police saying "I can't breathe." Floyd became unresponsive and died shortly after at Hennepin County Medical Center.

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Style Hatch - http://stylehatch.co | @stylehatch / Jonathan Moore - http://jonathanmoore.com | @newezra

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Have a question/comment/similar experience to share? Email us or fill out our contribution form. Note: The comments section provides a space for people to LEARN from one another.

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Several years ago, during a tenure-track search, I asked two questions - two questions which I ask of every scholar applying for a position with our institution. The first is innocent enough: "How important is racial/ethnic diversity in your scholarship and teaching?" Not surprisingly, all enthusiastically answer in the affirmative. Then I ask my second question: "Which scholars and/or books from racial and ethnic minorities do you include on your syllabus and why?" Here is when the squirming begins, revealing the candidate's lack of academic rigor.

During one particular search, two of the candidates from different Ivy League schools provided problematic responses. The first replied that regardless of a strong commitment to diversity, they were unable to think of any scholar of color at the moment. The second, grasping for straws, offered the name Paul Ricœur, and then proceeded to convince me why this white scholar should be considered as representing communities of color. While these two particular individuals illustrate the depth of ignorance among many white academics concerning scholarship emanating from what will soon be - combined - the largest U.S. demographic group, others have provided slightly better, but no less uninformed answers. They have, for example, provided the names of scholars whose works were well known in the last century or have mentioned Latin American scholars as if they are representatives of the entire U.S. Latinx context. While these scholars of color are fundamental to the discourse, there use by the white candidate demonstrates a lack of in-depth knowledge concerning current contributors to the discipline.

Scholarship can never be cutting-edge if one is ignorant of all aspects of their discipline. As a Latino man, my teaching must not just include the thoughts and writings of Eurocentric and Latinx scholars, but also to the voices of Indigenous, Black, Asian-American, Queer, and Feminist authors. Lacking familiarity with the contributions from all marginalized communities does a disservice not only to my scholarship but, more importantly, to the students in my classroom as well. Many white scholars fall short of academic rigor because they can succeed, be published, and thus paraded as the fatted calf at the expense of better qualified and more knowledgeable scholars of color. They can do so because institutional racism continues to support a white affirmative action that protects their current positions and provides job opportunities while their counterparts of color must adopt a "double-consciousness" to not only understand the dominant culture's discourse, but also their own.

Many white scholars fall short of academic rigor because they can succeed, be published, and thus paraded as the fatted calf at the expense of better qualified and more knowledgeable scholars of color.

Gaze upon your own academic department. How many Latinxs represent your core faculty? Our presence may be requested to demonstrate a politically correct diversity; nonetheless, our scholarship remains confined to our barrios. The voices of marginalized scholars must be kept at bay, for if they participated in shaping the academic discipline, they might reveal that a discipline that has been upheld for centuries as universal is in reality a privileged Eurocentric method of theoretical contemplation.

Students sitting in the classrooms of white professors are often prevented from obtaining a cutting-edge education because of the strategies employed by so-called top schools, either consciously or unconsciously, to maintain and sustain Eurocentric academic supremacy. And yet, every so often I receive a call from some well-meaning white colleague who considers themselves woke on issues dealing with diversity soliciting advice on how best to attract faculty of color. "We can't find any scholars of color to hire," is the excuse used to justify maintaining white academic supremacy. I don't believe them. The reason most academic departments lack faculty of color is not because they can't find any, but rather because they lack the will to hire any.

Academic departments, for decades now, have employed three strategies to maintain and sustain Eurocentric academic supremacy:

First strategy: Seek the darkest face with the whitest voice. Institutions prize scholars of color with colonized minds to reinforce and perpetuate Eurocentric thought. Quotas can be met without ever having to deal with perspectives being generated from minoritized communities. And if the scholar does hold students, colleagues and the institution accountable for their complicity with racist structures, they are labeled as hostile or angry so that everything they say can be easily dismissed for being too emotional, and thus void of academic rigor.

Second strategy: Deny tenure. Rather than seeking well establish scholars of color, a nontenured junior scholar can teach the diversity classes and then be denied tenure. Denying tenure is easy to achieve because 1) student evaluations for faculty of color and women (as multiple studies demonstrate) will always be lower when compared to the ideal (white men); and 2) because the person of color will be placed on every possible committee and/or situation dealing with diversity. Because they automatically become the unofficial mentor for every student of color in the department (and beyond), they lack the research time to meet publication tenure requirements. After seven years, the institution can find a new junior scholar of color to use, misuse, and abuse ensuring they will never amass the power to challenge, influence, or change the discourse at the institution.

Finally, the third strategy: Be radical for a limited time. When the institution begins to realize they lack academic rigor and excellence because they have systematically muzzled the voices emanating from disenfranchised communities, the rush is on to present these "exotic" perspectives in a way which may very well be uncomfortable but does not jeopardize Eurocentric dominance of the discipline. A popular tactic is to invite a recognized scholar of color in the field to serve as a visiting professor. While issues concerning diversity may be explored, when the appointment comes to an end, the scholar leaves and the institution need not fear the implementation of structural changes. Regardless as to how radical the scholar might be, after they are gone, the institution can quickly forget whatever challenges may have been raised and get back to "normal".

Students sitting in the classrooms of white professors are often prevented from obtaining a cutting-edge education because of the strategies employed by so-called top schools, either consciously or unconsciously, to maintain and sustain Eurocentric academic supremacy.

Ironically, because whites by 2050 will cease to be the majority, any academic institution which continues to ignore the nation's changing demographics do so at their own peril. Why? Because the U.S. context faced by communities of color will soon be the context of the majority of Americans. Continuing to ignore these voices ensures an absence of cutting-edge academic analysis. Indeed, academia is posed to lose its relevance for the emerging majority of Americans.

Now gaze again at your academic department. Maybe your institution is racist? How would you know? Well, your school might be racist if . . .

. . . white colleagues advise white PhD students they shouldn't apply for tenure-track positions because of the existing discrimination against white men, even though the majority of professors at the school are white males.

. . . books written by scholars of color are absent from the class syllabus, and the token listed was published in the last century.

. . . students of color are unofficial spokespersons for their race or ethnicity, constantly asked what their community thinks about the issue being discussed in class.

. . . white faculty are eager to have students of color in their classroom so they can learn from them (even though faculty is being paid and not the student).

. . . a white adjunct professor informs you they too applied for the position for which you were hired but didn't get it because they were white.

. . . the scholar-activist methodology employed by many scholars of color is dismissed, perceived as social work - not real scholarship.

. . . when discussing hiring a scholar of color, phrases like "maintaining academic excellence" or "not lowering the academic rigor of the school" are bantered around.

. . . when considering an Asian woman for a position, the Latino male colleague is informed they already have him to teach all that diversity stuff, thus no need for another one.

. . . you are asked to share your struggles and hardships from the hood, even though you grew up upper-middle-class.

. . . when discussing an offensive incident, your white liberal colleague assures you when it comes to racism, they "get it."

. . . your fellow student or colleague assures you they "get it," because they dated a person of color back in college.

. . . white students ask what credentials you hold that equip you to be their professor.

. . . colleagues question why you are teaching Kant instead of something more indigenous to your culture; while no one questions the white scholar who teaches Buddhism or Hinduism.

. . . the light-skinned Latina, during a faculty interview, is told she doesn't look Hispanic, and hides it well; or when this same scholar is denied employment elsewhere because she does not look Latina enough.

. . . interviewees of color, during site visits, are placed in cheaper hotels and taken to less expensive restaurants than white interviewees.

. . . during faculty interviews, not all members of the search committee attend your presentation and fewer faculty showed up.

. . . you consistently make the short list at top schools due to your major contribution to the discourse; but, applicants with almost no publications - usually white - are hired because the "fit" is better, while the search committee continues to moan about the need to diversify.

. . . diversifying faculty is no longer limited to racial and ethnic diversification.

. . . adjunct and lecturer posts are over-represented by professors of color.

. . . as a student you mention a leading scholar of color working within your professor's discipline; however, the professor confesses never having heard of the scholar.

. . . white female faculty define confident men of color as being too macho.

. . . white female colleagues possess a messianic need to save their sisters of color from what they imagine is a worse sexism than what exists among whites.

. . . when setting academic standards, white colleagues paternalistically offer to lower the criteria for students of color to get them through the program.

. . . your contribution to the discourse is an interesting perspective as opposed to the contributions of white colleagues, which are accepted as universal.

. . . when your presentation is praised for being articulate.

. . . when your presentation is met with awkward silence.

. . . when your presentation is attended by few if any white scholars.

. . . PhD students of color are told they will have no difficulties landing an academic tenured post.

. . . you out-published all your colleagues, yet the academic rigor of your books is questioned by the dean; but when you ask which books, the dean confesses to not having read any of them.

. . . you out-published all your colleagues, and rather than recognizing that you out-produce them, rumors spread you must be plagiarizing the work of your students.

. . . you out-published all your colleagues, and rather than a critical engagement, white colleagues question if you really understand the issue.

. . . white students and faculty maintain the right to touch your body, especially your hair if you are black.

. . . Indian faculty hear from students and colleagues who claim they too have Indian blood; and those not making such a claim still insist Native communities have accepted them as one of their own.

. . . white colleagues and students perform sacred Indian rituals as part of their "new age" spirituality without having to be Indian.

. . . the vast majority of the students in a course germane to a community of color are of color.

. . . during faculty evaluations of professors of color, the one or two negative student comments raises red flags in considering promotion or wage increases; while the one or two negative evaluation of white scholars are dismissed as an aberration.

. . . white students express gratitude that you are their professor thanks to affirmative action; although it's a shame some more deserving white scholar lost their seat to you.

. . . classes taught by scholars of color conflict on the schedule; while during evaluations, the dean expresses concern few students are signing up for your class.

. . . the focus for hiring scholars of color is outreach, recognizing many of the institution's students come from that particular community instead of recognizing the need for white students to be exposed to a higher level of academic rigor.

Unfortunately, all these comments were either heard by me or were retold to me by a colleague of color.

Since obtaining his doctoral in 1999, Dr. Miguel A. De La Torre has authored over a hundred articles and published thirty-five books (five of which won national awards). He is Professor of Social Ethics and Latinx Studies at the Iliff School of Theology in Denver. A Fulbright scholar, he has taught in Indonesia, Mexico, South Africa, and Germany. Within his guild he was the 2012 President of the Society of Christian Ethics and co-founder/first executive director of the Society of Race, Ethnicity, and Religion . Also, he was the founding editor of the Journal of Race, Ethnicity, and Religion. A scholar-activist, Dr. De La Torre has written numerous articles in popular media. Recently, he wrote the screenplay to a documentary on immigration ( http://www.trailsofhopeandterrorthemovie.com/ ).

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Academic Racism: The Repression of Marginalized Voices in Academia

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Several years ago, during a tenure-track search, I asked two questions - two questions which I ask of every scholar applying for a position with our institution. The first is innocent enough: "How important is racial/ethnic diversity in your scholarship and teaching?" Not surprisingly, all enthusiastically answer in the affirmative.

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Since the world watched Minneapolis resident George Floyd die at the hands of a police officer named Derek Chauvin and learned police in Louisville, Ky., shot and killed Breonna Taylor in her own home, an outpouring of attention has focused on anti-racism and equity. Countless anti-racism book clubs were formed; books addressing America's racism shot up The New York Times bestsellers list; big-name corporations with feeble track records on diversity and inclusion made public statements in support of the Black Lives Matter movement. And the field of education saw a resurgence of calls for anti-racism and equity.

School districts and colleges around the country formed task forces, committees, and working groups to address what they already know: that despite good intentions for racial justice, the work is at best elusive without substantive commitment from the institutions and is dead on arrival without significant structural changes that address systemic racism.

Much of what goes by the name "equity work" is a collective hoping for racial justice. This hope too often hinges on the idea that before we change policies, we must change hearts and minds. So equity work becomes trying to help white people learn to be less racist. The work is dependent on the level of commitment of white people-especially white people in power-and their awareness of racism.

In education, too often change happens when white people are ready for change, and until then, directors of diversity, equity, and inclusion wait, teach, and create reports that tell the story of racism at the very place they work. Under these conditions, the promise of equity is ultimately empty.

Real equity work is attempting to undo and heal generations of violence, trauma, and racial and economic inequities. In the current environment, it relies heavily on the ingenuity and brilliance of Black, Brown, and Indigenous people to fix problems people of color did not create. Equity workers of color are the backbone of equity work.

We are asked to chair diversity committees with little to no compensation, as if we should be honored to help fix the problems of racism. Our voices are now valuable but only in conversations surrounding diversity, equity, and inclusion. We are asked to speak at conferences and gatherings because organizers see diversity as a conference theme-not necessarily an institutional value. As feminist writer and scholar Sara Ahmed reminds us, "The diversity worker has a job precisely because diversity and equality are not daily practice." Even in the midst of all this talk focused on equity work, we must remember Ahmed's words.

In his brilliant speech "A Talk to Teachers," the American essayist and novelist James Baldwin told educators that we are trying to undo "many generations of bad faith and cruelty, when it is operating not only in the classroom but in society." This type of truth telling is needed in equity work because yet another task force or another report is hollow without taking direct aim at the generational harm done by whiteness.

Anti-racism work is all too often done as a performance-to be popular and look "woke." It can be painstakingly ornamental. It needs instead to embed community efforts, organizers, and the actual people who live with America's oppression. It needs to make structural changes that dismantle centuries-old, racist institutions from the ground up in order to rebuild with a commitment to community, safety (without police), justice, diversity, and actual equity. For equity work to work, it must be handed to the community. We have to actually trust the people we say we want to empower to make structural changes, not just tinker at the edges of injustice.

The contemporary abolitionist movement I am part of does not focus on the edges; abolitionists want to create communities free of systemic oppression. We are watching reform that will not address racism, as school districts widely are implementing anti-racist curriculum with no structural changes to how racism functions in their districts. According to a 2019 report by EdBuild, a nonprofit organization that focused on school funding issues, predominately white school districts get $23 billion a year more in state and local funding than predominately nonwhite districts despite serving the same number of students. What good is anti-racist curriculum that does not address racism right under its nose?

Abolitionist and anthropologist Savannah Shange rightly tells us we have to work "within, against, and beyond" for collective liberation. In the current push for anti-racism and equity, some long-fought battles in education have recently been won. The Boston school committee voted unanimously to suspend admissions tests to the city's three most prestigious schools in favor of an analysis of grades and test scores along with affording priority to students who live in the city's poorest ZIP codes. The San Diego school district unanimously approved a grading system that will assess students on mastery of a subject, a change intended to make grades more equitable. Additionally, ethnic-studies courses will be a graduation requirement in the district. After backlash against these structural changes and the move toward anti-racism, the district doubled down on its commitment to equity, a bold move that takes leadership and community support. These systemwide wins are due to years of parents, community members, teachers, and equity workers fighting for and demanding justice.

While the wins are important, we cannot stop here. There will inevitably be white pushback and resistance that will undoubtedly find a way to continue to allow white parents to hoard resources so they are not available to Black and Brown students. (See, for example, Amanda E. Lewis and John B. Diamond's book Despite the Best Intentions.) This cycle is why we must fight for equity and move toward abolition of all oppressions because reform is not liberation. Nonetheless, the shifting of ground by equity leaders and communities does give me hope.

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How to Make Anti-Racism More Than a Performance (Opinion)

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Since the world watched Minneapolis resident George Floyd die at the hands of a police officer named Derek Chauvin and learned police in Louisville, Ky., shot and killed Breonna Taylor in her own home, an outpouring of attention has focused on anti-racism and equity.

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Too often, teachers, a majority of whom are white, are coming into classrooms without being fully prepared to teach students of color.

Research shows that teachers are just as likely to have racial biases as nonteachers. Those biases can manifest in everything from curriculum choices to discipline disparities and who gets called on in class. And in this moment, giving teachers a crash course on diversity is no longer enough.

Instead, scholars of race and racial-justice advocates say, teachers must learn from the start of their professional education what it means to be anti-racist in the classroom. They need to understand how students of color are treated in schools now and take proactive measures to make their own classrooms a more just place.

"We need to free ourselves from the mindsets that exist in schools-the policing of [Black students'] bodies, what they're wearing, how loud they are in the hallway, how they're sitting in class," said Yolanda Sealey-Ruiz, an associate professor at Teachers College, Columbia University. Otherwise, teachers are "not really free to see the excellence of the children before them."

Yet white teachers in particular, who make up about 80 percent of the teaching force, often don't have the help they need in understanding their own racial identities and the privilege it confers or the way race shapes just about every aspect of American society.

"If [teachers] do not have a level of consciousness, they're not going to talk about race because they don't think it belongs" in the classroom, Sealey-Ruiz said. "Deciding we're not talking about issues that impact millions of children . . . it's unfair to the teachers and to the students who they're teaching."

Teachers say they want to do better for their students of color. A nationally representative EdWeek Research Center survey of 415 teachers found that most teachers said they'd be comfortable running an anti-racist classroom. Eighty-two percent of white teachers would consider themselves to be anti-racist educators, compared with 95 percent of teachers of color. (The survey sample size of teachers of color was by too small to break down race and ethnicity.)

Still, only 16 percent of teachers said their preparation program offered them anti-racist training, and 30 percent said they received that training from their districts or schools. Often, experts say, teacher education programs offer just a single course on diversity that merely scratches the surface. The gap between who identifies as an anti-racist teacher and who got any training to be one shows a need for more explicit education in this sensitive work.

I've talked to dozens of teachers of different races and ethnicities over the years who say they make sure they're empowering their students of color and are teaching with an anti-racist mindset and curriculum. With preparation and resources so slim, many have resorted to finding their own materials and cobbling together support networks on Twitter and through professional organizations. Even for teachers of color, who usually start with greater understanding and knowledge, the way forward is fraught with the potential for burnout.

Keziah Ridgeway is a Black high school teacher in Philadelphia who has been teaching for eight years, African American history for three. She has worked to decolonize the curriculum in her classroom, moving beyond the Eurocentric focus of her own education, to make sure she is reaching and engaging all her students.

Realizing that other teachers were coming into the classroom without a strong foundation in anti-racism, Ridgeway and a group of other like-minded educators in Philadelphia created a 20-hour anti-racist and bias training for classroom teachers, school administrators, and other community leaders. They have provided the training for educators across the city and the broader region, including the Baltimore Teachers Union.

There's an appetite for this kind of training, Ridgeway told me. But in order to make lasting change, we need more than isolated efforts from individual teachers. We need a systemic overhaul of how diversity, equity, and inclusion is taught in teacher preparation and in-school professional development.

What would that look like? I asked Ridgeway to share some of her thoughts on her own career and what teacher-preparation programs can do to better train teachers to work with all students but especially students of color.

Read "Before We Can Have Anti-Racist Classrooms, Teacher Preparation Needs an Overhaul" by Keziah Ridgeway.

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Teachers Can Take on Anti-Racist Teaching. But Not Alone

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Too often, teachers, a majority of whom are white, are coming into classrooms without being fully prepared to teach students of color. Research shows that teachers are just as likely to have racial biases as nonteachers. Those biases can manifest in everything from curriculum choices to discipline disparities and who gets called on in class.

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What Is Social Justice Education Anyway? (Opinion)

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It’s easy to agree that education should be the great human equalizer, but implementing social justice pedagogy takes work, writes Crystal Belle.

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NEA has a vision for a Great Public School for Every Student. We know that institutional and structural racism are barriers to achieving our vision. We will leverage the power and collective voice or our members to end the systemic patterns of racial inequity and injustice that affect our Association, schools, students and education communities.

RACIAL JUSTICE IN EDUCATION FRAMEWORK PRINCIPLES

Our collective work promotes a vision for public education that advances inclusion, equity,
and racial and social justice in our schools, Association and society.

Our collective work must dismantle white supremacy, and ensure that bigotry and discrimination based on gender, sexual orientation, disability or national origin are not part of our Association, classrooms, educational curricula, classroom management, school policies, and discipline practices.

Our Association and schools must be safe for all students, and free from state-sanctioned, racialized, and gender-based violence. Our work must actively divest from prison cultivation and invest in counselors and positive discipline practices.

Our work must result in action - programs, campaigns, policies, and capacity-building efforts for local NEA members that dismantle institutional racism now and into the future. Initiatives should create sustainable infrastructures that can continue to create systemic change and hold decision-makers, elected officials, and institutions accountable.

Our current governance leaders must recruit, engage, and promote leadership by educators of color to share the ladder of opportunity because we are stronger together.

Programs, campaigns, and projects must be driven by goals that are clearly outlined, tracked, and measured, and that have account- ability systems that explicitly promote racial justice.

Our work must promote education policies, professional practices and curricula which highlight and honor the histories and cultures of people of color and indigenous peoples.

We must work to ensure that all students have access to a safe and quality education, regardless of their country of origin or immigration status.

Our work must promote and support the engagement of students of color and LGBTQ students in shaping policies that directly impact their educational experience, and foster safe and inclusive schools.

We must work to dismantle discipline systems that create the School to Prison Pipeline and replace them with practices that encourage inclusion and are free from racial and ethnic bias.

APPLYING A RACIAL EQUITY LENS

Racial equity and justice in education is a critical element to achieving our mission and vision. It demands that we view our collective work through a Racial Equity Lens. Racial Equity Lens, when applied authentically, enhances choices, decision-making and allocation of resources.

Our ability to apply a Racial Equity Lens, means that we are:

effectively and more thoroughly analyzing what is not working around racial equity in public education;

identifying and actively supporting solutions that are working to increase racial equity and preventing racial injustice in public education;

shifting our choices and decision-making about racial equality in public schools;

transforming and healing ourselves, the structures within the public education system and our own institution.

EQUITY TO JUSTICE

Throughout our history, the NEA has joined in partnership to move policies that would address inequities in education, but we understand now that racial justice in education requires movement beyond racial equity which is where we find ourselves; at the precipice of doing a lot with limited ability to sustain it.

That movement will require that:

We have a deep understanding of racial history and the trauma caused and are able to acknowledge its presence throughout systems, cultural norms, practices and policies.

We focus on solutions that will build power (political, economic, civic, community) for the most sharply impacted communities and people.

We effectively use racial impact assessment tools and develop racial justice action plans

We shift and share power, program, and resources

We adopt anti-racist and racial justice protocols & practices

Culture and narrative shift

Data is used to drive results/impacts

RACIAL JUSTICE IN EDUCATION FRAMEWORK

The NEA Racial Justice in Education Framework was developed in conjunction with the principles and concepts embedded in the "Wheel of Change" model. This framework centers and guides our systems change work, which includes our behaviors/practices, organizational culture and our strategies to impact the hearts and minds of the people. The framework also identifies the organizational "levers" that must be engaged to create transformational change to develop and build a more knowledgeable, more skilled racial analysis and a deeper commitment towards racial justice and equity.

Three Elements Of The Framework

AWARENESS

Goal: to develop and strengthen our collective awareness and understanding of the causes and impacts of systemic (institutional and structural) racism in education and the necessity for racial justice and the centrality of racial justice in achieving NEA's mission.

Build racial equity awareness and analytical capacity across our Association

Fostering understanding of key concepts such as systemic (institutional and structural) racism, implicit bias, racial equity and multiracial systemic solutions.

Develop shared knowledge and conceptual clarity that supports normalizing explicit and constructive conversations about race.

CAPACITY BUILDING

Goal: equip and prepare members and leaders with skills to use the strategies to take action to advance racial justice.

Equip members, leaders, staff and partners with the skills, tools, strategies, resources and relationships to be effective leaders and advocates in the fight for racial justice in education.

Develop tools and resources to support organizational and cultural change through policy, practice and behavior changes.

ACTION

Goal: to engage members and stakeholders to advocate, organize and mobilize to combat institutional racism and advance racial justice in education.

Engage and activate members, leaders and stakeholders in on-the-ground efforts to combat institutional racism and advance racial justice.

Support external organizing efforts to advance changes in our schools and communities

Support internal opportunities to implement equitable practices that positively impact the Association's work and promote culture change.

Analysis & Intervention: Identification & Implementation

WHEEL OF CHANGE

A systems approach to organizational change and impact.

Connecting Framework Elements

AWARENESS

Hearts & Minds:

Purpose/Vision

Values/Beliefs

Emotions/Feelings

Community Analysis

CAPACITY BUILDING

Behaviors:

ACTION

Structures:

Organizational Change and Impact Levers

ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE (OC): Shared values and beliefs (National, State and Local Affiliates)

LEARNING CLIMATE & ENVIRONMENT (LC&E): Development and investment in staff and leader capacity. (National and State Affiliates)

DATA, ASSESSMENT, EVALUATION & STRATEGIC RESEARCH: Comprehensive strategy to develop assumptions, test, assess and evaluate outcomes. (National)

SENIOR STAFF LEADERSHIP (SL): Individuals in formal staff leadership roles (NEA, State Affiliates and Local Affiliates)

GOVERNANCE-OFFICERS/EC/BOARD OF DIRECTORS/COMMITTEES, COUNCILS, CONSTITUENCIES & CAUCUSES (GOV): Governance structure of the organization (NEA, State Affiliates and Local Affiliates)

MANAGEMENT (MGMT): Staff that oversee the operationalizing of budgets, programs and teams. (NEA, State Affiliates and Local Affiliates)

MEMBERS (MEM): Association members, across all categories

COMMUNITY/PARTNERS/ALLIES (CPA): Education and community stakeholders (National, State and Local)

MEASURING IMPACT: ORGANIZATIONAL PROGRESS TO CHANGE

Based on the choices and decisions we make as an organization, we can measure and monitor how we move through phases of becoming a racial equity and justice focused organization. It should be

Equity-Silent/Colorblind

Ignores race, denies racism

Ignores equity

Marginalizes People of Color

Equity-Ineffective/Diversity-Inclusion Committed

Race is not centered or is watered down

Embraces diversity or DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) at least on paper - but all talk, no action

Reactive, not proactive, on race

Change happens at a turtle's pace

Equity-Centric/Racial Justice-Focused

Elevates and centers racial justice as a strategic priority and mission imperative

Prioritizes equity in internal and external work

Implements Racially Equitable Systems Change (visualize, normalize, organize and operationalize)

Organization-wide operations, program, and culture change

MEASURING IMPACT: ORGANIZATIONAL SYSTEMS CHANGE

Visualize

Agreements that racial justice is a strategic imperative

Normalize

Shared analysis, definitions and key concepts

Ongoing learning and capacity-building

Relevant and routine race-explicit conversation about daily core work

Organize

Develop internal equity infrastructure

Racial Equity Core Team

Authentic/active stakeholder engagement

Equity leadership development

Build external partnerships, allies

Commitment to racially equitable systems change

Mission, vision, and values address racial justice and equity

Operationalize

Racial Equity Action Plan

Use data to drive results/impacts

Use Racial Equity Tools

Adopts racial equity protocols and practices

Power, program, and resource shift

Culture and narrative shift

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Racial Justice in Education Framework | NEA

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NEA has a vision for a Great Public School for Every Student. We know that institutional and structural racism are barriers to achieving our vision. We will leverage the power and collective voice or our members to end the systemic patterns of racial inequity and injustice that affect our Association, schools, students and education communities.

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We've changed our name to better reflect our mission and our work.

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Justice is the concept of fairness. Social justice is fairness as it manifests in society. That includes fairness in healthcare, employment, housing, education and other areas of society. Learn what social justice means in different contexts and how it can be promoted and claimed.

Related topics: United Nations | Amnesty International | Humanitarian Action | Diversity and Inclusion | Refugees and Migration | Social Justice | International Law | Peace and Conflict | Sustainable Development | Global Health | Human Rights

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Social Justice Courses | Human Rights Careers

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Justice is the concept of fairness. Social justice is fairness as it manifests in society. That includes fairness in healthcare, employment, housing, education and other areas of society. Learn what social justice means in different contexts and how it can be promoted and claimed.

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The phrase "social justice" has become more mainstream in recent times, but it's existed for hundreds of years. As a concept, social justice gained more importance during the 19th century due to the Industrial Revolution and civil unrest in Europe. People started standing up to dangerous labor conditions, exploitation, and other unfair systems. At its core, social justice is about the fair distribution of opportunities and privileges as they apply to individuals within a society. While at first social justice centered mostly on wealth and property, it now encompasses more areas such as the environment, race, gender, and education.

Why social justice in education matters

Social justice in education takes two forms. The first is social justice in action and the level of equality within the actual education system. When factors like wealth, gender and/or race determine what kind of education an individual can receive, that's an example of social injustice. Students not privileged enough to receive an education on par with more privileged students are given a poor foundation for the rest of their lives. Their ability to earn a certain income can suffer, which in turn affects access to healthcare, good housing, and safety. When the education system isn't committed to providing equal opportunities and privileges, it negatively impacts a society both culturally and economically.

The second form of social justice in education is how social justice is taught within the school system. In a social justice framework, curriculum is specifically chosen to broaden students' worldviews through incorporating different ideas and challenging opinions. Instead of ignoring very real-world issues such as sexism, racism, poverty, and more, a social justice education framework addresses it and encourages students to exercise analytical thinking. Schools committed to social justice in education pay close attention to their choice of curriculum and how it can be used to expand their students' minds.

Criticisms of teaching social justice

Many believe schools should take a fairly passive stance when it comes to more political issues, but according to educators like Zachary Wright (a national finalist for the United States Department of Education's School Ambassador Fellowship), the education system has always been political. In a system that punishes poor schools with a lack of funding, outdated books, and decaying buildings while rewarding the wealthy, it's impossible for education to be a politically-neutral environment. Within this system, choices about curriculum, school fees, and sources of funding are all political choices.

Another common criticism is that teaching social justice in education is a form of indoctrination. J. Martin Rochester, a professor of political science, wrote in a commentary piece for the Fordham Institute that social justice educators "seem to promote only a politically correct, left-leaning perspective." There are many who feel that a social justice framework is too blatantly one-sided. However, in his rebuttal to Rochester, Zachary Wright explains that in his classes, he always gives students both sides of an issue. Social justice in education done right doesn't force kids to believe in something specific, but rather to think for themselves and nurture their analytical skills.

How to promote social justice in education systemically

Since social justice in education takes two forms - within educational structure and within the classroom - there are two ways to promote it. The first is to build a school system that promotes equality. This can be done using methods such as better tracking to find out what the economic makeup of students is. When schools collect more knowledge of the inequalities within their system, they're better equipped to deal with it. Tracking is also important when it comes to identifying struggling students at risk of dropping out. Resources for these students should be a priority, while tracking can help inform schools of how practices are helping or hindering.

Resources for parents can also help implement social justice within the educational system. Programs like after-school homework clubs and extracurriculars can help parents who work long days or speak different languages. Programs also help students who simply lack good home support. Educational systems can also strongly-consider scholarships and financial aid, so income doesn't become a barrier when accessing certain schools.

How to promote social justice in education within the classroom

As for adopting a social justice framework within the classroom, the responsibility falls on the administration and the teachers. Schools that commit to social justice must also commit to frequent self-reflection. This can include regular workshops and conferences, but there should also be an understanding that there is no finish line. It's a continuous process.

Teachers can promote social justice in a variety of ways, such as making sure to provide students with multiple perspectives and encouraging them to think beyond themselves. Bringing in current event stories and making history relevant to the present are both great ways for students to exercise their analytical thinking skills and expand their minds. Teachers should be cognizant of their own bias and be sure that the materials allow students to develop their own opinions. Outside the classroom, teachers should also commit to continuously researching and studying the best ways to incorporate social justice.

Benefits of social justice in education

The goals of social justice in education include more empathy, more justice, and more equality. Students taught with this framework will ideally have a stronger sense of what's just and fair, and choose careers and lifestyles that support their communities. Since social justice in education is relatively new, there isn't a lot of research into the benefits, but what there is is very promising.

A recent Pennsylvania State University study examined transformative social-justice education looked at the long-term impact that a social justice course had on black adolescents. The study revealed that even after many years post-graduation, former students expressed that the class changed their sense of justice and even their own identity. 11 out of the 13 said that as a result, they began exploring careers that would help their community. While the sample size was small, it's compelling evidence in support of the benefits of social justice in education.

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The phrase "social justice" has become more mainstream in recent times, but it's existed for hundreds of years. As a concept, social justice gained more importance during the 19th century due to the Industrial Revolution and civil unrest in Europe. People started standing up to dangerous labor conditions, exploitation, and other unfair systems. At its [...]

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The Importance of Social Justice in the Classroom and Curriculum Design -

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Merrimack College's Master of Education and Curriculum Design helps students learn how to include topics on social justice in the classroom.

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Racial Equity Tools offers tools, research, tips, curricula, and ideas for people who want to increase their own understanding and to help those working for racial justice at every level –in systems, organizations, communities, and the culture at large.

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NEW YORK - There are 50.7 million children in school in the United States, and the majority of them are non-white, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. Still, because of a centuries-long history of white dominance in American culture, as well as the outsize influence of certain states over American education overall, the takeaway for many students is overly simple, and dangerously racist, according to some prominent historians.

In fact, "The Story of the White Man," is not only a longstanding narrative in U.S. history texts, but they're also the first six words of a widely-used history textbook from the 1930s, according to Harvard University historian Donald Yacovone.

Yacovone came across it as part of his research for his upcoming book, "Teaching White Supremacy: The Textbook Battle Over Race in American History." The professor at Harvard's Hutchins Center for African & African American Study and Research ended up reading some 3,000 textbooks from the 1830s to the 1980s as part of his research.

He said that at least one thing was evident throughout his readings.

"If you leave people out of a narrative, they suddenly become invisible," Yacovone said.

People of African descent, Yacovone said, have been largely left out of historical narratives for much of U.S. history.

Even as recently as 2015, a high school textbook's omission of key details about African American history cast light on a shortcoming of history writing.

A mother in Texas, Roni Burren, posted a video on Facebook of her reading a caption from a map in her son's 10th grade textbook.

"Under this section, called 'Patterns of Immigration,'" Burren said while holding the book, "World Geography," to the camera, and reading from the text, "'The Atlantic slave trade from the 1500s to the 1800s brought millions of workers from Africa to the southern United States to work on agricultural plantations.' So it is now considered immigration," Burren said, clearly appalled.

The video was viewed millions of times, and ultimately publisher McGraw Hill made a very public apology, and revised the text.

However, oversights like that, in a country where a majority of people only get a kindergarten through 12th grade education, inform a strong message that most Americans receive about our country, according to Yacavone.

"That whiteness is what matters," he said.

One reason for that may be the process in which textbooks, and lesson plans connected to them, are created and distributed.

Major publishers, such as McGraw-Hill, Pearson and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, all have highly-promoted policies of countering racism and promoting diversity.

That still doesn't mean that there can't be shortcomings, as the "World Geography" case makes clear.

It's also part of a larger challenge involving inclusiveness and accuracy in school textbooks, as Carisa Lopez, political director of the Texas Freedom Network, an advocacy organization for education and other issues in the Lone Star State, explained.

"Because Texas is such a large state," she said in an interview, "other, smaller states are forced to purchase textbooks that have to adhere to Texas standards."

Texas and California have more K through 12 students than any other U.S. states. California's state textbook curricula standards tend to be more focused on California-specific history and subjects.

Texas's standards, by contrast, tend to be more general. However, the state board of education, which approves or disapproves textbook content, is not made up exclusively of educators. Politicians, religious leaders, and others have served.

As a result, said Lopez, "Too often what students learn is based on distortions, myths and just plain politics and personal biases."

Another issue is instruction.

"They're still relegating history classes to gym teachers," Yacovone said.

Some research bears that out. Analysis by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences found that of all school subjects, history has the highest rate of teachers who didn't major or get certified in it.

Martha S. Jones, historian at Johns Hopkins University, said that when it comes to issues like slavery, Jim Crow, and other topics involving African American history, "The number one question I get is, 'why didn't I learn this in school?'"

Jones is among many scholars of African-American history who say that white supremacy is built into American education.

An historical look here in New York supports their claim.

Among the earliest American textbook writers was Noah Webster. The contemporary of the founding fathers published the new nation's first daily newspaper, from his office on Wall Street.

Webster is certainly most famous for publishing Webster's Dictionary.

Through it, and a spelling book that he published, Webster invented American English, differentiated from how British subjects speak and spell the language.

As for his attitude toward people of African descent, Webster was clear, and his point of view influenced his textbooks as strongly as he influenced American culture.

"'For the woolly-haired Africans, who constitute the principal part of the inhabitants of Africa, there is no history,'" Webster said, as quoted by Yacovone.

"And that attitude," Yacovone continued, "was perpetuated in almost every single textbook, until the 1960s."

One reason that it persisted, was a New Yorker named John Van Evrie, Yacovone said.

"I call him an evil genius of white supremacy," Yacovone said.

From his office across the street from City Hall, Van Evrie published newspapers, pamphlets, books - including a textbook - all specifically arguing that Americans aren't black. Instead, Van Evrie wrote, America is white.

It united the various European ethnic groups that comprised the majority of the American population in the 1800s, and in the process, it put African Americans in a position of non-citizenship in the eyes of many whites.

"His books were read in Congress," said Yacovone. "His books were read in state legislatures. It was impossible to escape him. Even Lincoln read Van Evrie."

His work formed the foundation that American education and culture are built on, even though it's a false narrative.

"We must change our identity as Americans as white," Yacovone said. "We must change that to one of being multi ethnic. It's much better."

Martha S. Jones, the Johns Hopkins historian, supported that assessment.

"The example I'll offer," she said, "is that of our new Vice President-elect Kamala Harris."

"We need to understand the history out of which she has emerged - African American women's political history, the history of the discrimination against African American women in politics, and when it comes to voting rights," Jones said, "so that our students can be smart citizens in real time."

Classroom instruction is finally beginning to change, where a wider variety of Americans are now part of the history lesson.

For example, the 1619 Project, the New York Times's detailed examination of how slavery has influenced American life, is now being taught in thousands of classrooms across the country.

One organization using it as a classroom tool is the history nonprofit Facing History and Ourselves.

Its program director, Laura Tavares, laid out why non-textbook learning aids are vital to a full understanding of history and other classroom subjects.

"You can't teach what you don't know," Tavares said, "and 80% of teachers in the United States are white.

"One of the things that we understand about being white," she continued, "is that we are allowed to move through the world often with the lack of consciousness about race, with the lack of conversation about race, and racial identity."

As for her organization, she said, "We create classroom resources. So that's lesson plans, unit guides, multimedia films, to teach in more equitable and inclusive and engaging ways."

It's part of a new, evolving way to teach. Instead of using history textbooks, teachers are taking students - and adults - online, where getting the education narrative right is more important than ever, as Martha S. Jones pointed out.

"My students, this semester, have been editing and creating Wikipedia sites related to African American women," she told PIX11 News.

"We are making sure that folks who have questions about that when they come to a space like Wikipedia, find not only good, accurate facts, but they find links to excellent secondary sources," Jones continued. "They might even find links to primary materials where they can read the history firsthand."

Her students' Wikipedia entries include histories of such prominent African American figures as Frances Harper, Shirley Chisholm, Ida B. Wells and Crystal Bird Fauset.

Wikipedia has now formed a foundation that helps fund the writing of entries by scholars in an effort to ensure that Wikipedia is a teachable resource.

Meanwhile, textbooks aren't going away. While there's no shortage of experts who say that racism in some of the latest textbooks persists, they also say that there's been improvement over time.

"There still are problems, but they're much, much better," Yacovone said.

Martha S. Jones pointed out that "there are very important, distinguished... African American scholars who now produce their own textbooks."

Those books are starting to make a difference, by influencing how textbooks are written and produced generally, nationwide, as Tavares, from Facing History and Ourselves said.

"When there's demand from parents, perhaps, and communities, even textbooks can tell a more complete and inclusive story," she said.

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How textbooks, classroom resources have racism built in, and how to make education more inclusive

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NEW YORK - There are 50.7 million children in school in the United States, and the majority of them are non-white, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. Still, because of a centuries-long history of white dominance in American culture, as well as the outsize influence of certain states over American education overall, the [...]

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"While much has been said about the racial achievement gap as a civil rights issue, more attention needs to be paid to the measurement tools used to define that gap," explains Young Wan Choi, manager of performance assessments for the Oakland Unified school District in Oakland, CA. "Education reformists, civil rights organizations, and all who are concerned with racial justice in education need to advocate for assessment tools that don't replicate racial and economic inequality."

Testing Pioneer - and Eugenicist

"To tell the truth about standardized tests," Kendi said, "is to tell the story of the eugenicists who created and popularized these tests in the United States more than a century ago."

As the U.S. absorbed millions of immigrants from Europe beginning in the 19th century, the day's leading social scientists, many of them White Anglo-Saxon Protestants, were concerned by the infiltration of non-whites into the nation's public schools.

In his 1923 book, A Study of American Intelligence,psychologist and eugenicist Carl Brigham wrote that African-Americans were on the low end of the racial, ethnic, and/or cultural spectrum. Testing, he believed, showed the superiority of "the Nordic race group" and warned of the "promiscuous intermingling" of new immigrants in the American gene pool.

Furthermore, the education system he argued was in decline and "will proceed with an accelerating rate as the racial mixture becomes more and more extensive."

Brigham had helped to develop aptitude tests for the U.S. Army during World War I and - commissioned by the College Board - was influential in the development of the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT). At the time, he and other social scientists considered the SAT a new psychological test and a supplement to existing college board exams.

The SAT debuted in 1926, joined by the ACT (American College Testing) in the 1950s. By the 21 st century, the SAT and ACT were just part of a barrage of tests students may face before reaching college. The College Board also offers SAT II tests, designed for individual subjects ranging from biology to geography.

Brigham also pioneered the Advanced Placement examinations. These marathon four-hour Advanced Placement (AP) examinations-which some universities accept for students who want to opt out of introductory college-level classes-are widespread across the country: In 2019, more than 1.24 million public high school students took an AP exam.

Entrenched in Schools

Brigham's Ph.D. dissertation, written in 1916, "Variable Factors in the Binet Tests," analyzed the work of the French psychologist Alfred Binet, who developed intelligence tests as diagnostic tools to detect learning disabilities. The Stanford psychologist Lewis Terman relied on Binet's work to produce today's standard IQ test, the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Tests.

During World War I, standardized tests helped place 1.5 million soldiers in units segregated by race and by test scores. The tests were scientific yet they remained deeply biased, according to researchers and media reports.

In 1917, Terman and a group of colleagues were recruited by the American Psychological Association to help the Army develop group intelligence tests and a group intelligence scale. Army testing during World War I ignited the most rapid expansion of the school testing movement.

By 1918, there were more than 100 standardized tests, developed by different researchers to measure achievement in the principal elementary and secondary school subjects. The U.S. Bureau of Education reported in 1925 that intelligence and achievement tests were increasingly used to classify students at all levels.

The first SAT was administered in 1926 to more than 8,000 students, 40 percent of them female. The original test lasted 90 minutes and consisted of 315 questions focused on vocabulary and basic math.

"Unlike the college boards, the SAT is designed primarily to assess aptitude for learning rather than mastery of subjects already learned," according to Erik Jacobsen, a New Jersey writer and math-physics teacher based at Newark Academy in Livingston, N.J. "For some college officials, an aptitude test, which is presumed to measure intelligence, is appealing since at this time (1926) intelligence and ethnic origin are thought to be connected, and therefore the results of such a test could be used to limit the admissions of particularly undesirable ethnicities."

By 1930, multiple-choice tests were firmly entrenched in U.S. schools. The rapid spread of the SAT sparked debate along two lines. Some critics viewed the multiple-choice format as encouraging memorization and guessing. Others examined the content of the questions and reached the conclusion that the tests were racist.

Eventually, Brigham adapted the Army test for use in college admissions, and his work began to interest interested administrators at Harvard University. Starting in 1934, Harvard adopted the SAT to select scholarship recipients at the school. Many institutions of higher learning soon followed suit.

The Triumph of Pseudo-Science

In his essay "The Racist Origins of the SAT, " Gil Troy calls Brigham a "Pilgrim-pedigreed, eugenics-blinded bigot." Eugenics is often defined as the science of improving a human population by controlled breeding to increase the occurrence of desirable heritable characteristics. It was developed by Francis Galton as a method of improving the human race. Only after the perversion of its doctrines by the Nazis in World War II was the theory dismissed.

"All-American decency and idealism coexisted uncomfortably with these scientists' equally American racism and closemindedness," Troy writes.

Binet, Terman, and Brigham stood at the intersection of powerful intellectual, ideological, and political trends a century ago when the Age of Science and standardization began, according to Troy.

"In (those) consensus-seeking times, scientists became obsessed with deviations and handicaps, both physical and intellectual," Troy states. "And many social scientists, misapplying Charles Darwin's evolving evolutionary science, and eugenics' pseudo-science, worried about maintaining white purity."

Decades of Racial Bias

By the 1950s and 1960s, top U.S. universities were talent-searching for the "brainy kids," regardless of ethnicity, states Jerome Karabel in "The Chosen: The Hidden History of Admission and Exclusion at Harvard, Yale, and Princeton."

This dictum among universities to identify the brightest students as reflected by test scores did not bode well for students from communities of color, who were-as a result of widespread bias in testing-disproportionately failing state or local high school graduation exams, according to the National Center for Fair and Open Testing (FairTest).

According to Fair Test, on average, students of color score lower on college admissions tests, thus many capable youth are denied entrance or access to so-called "merit" scholarships, contributing to the huge racial gap in college enrollments and completion.

High-stakes testing also causes additional damage to some students who are categorized as English language learners (ELLs). The tests are often inaccurate for ELLs, according to FairTest, leading to misplacement or retention. ELLs are, alongside students with disabilities, those least likely to pass graduation tests.

African-Americans, especially males, are disproportionately placed or misplaced in special education, frequently based on test results. In effect, the use of high-stakes testing perpetuates racial inequality through the emotional and psychologicalpower of the tests over the test takers.:

Andalthough most test makers screen test items for obvious bias, their efforts often do not detect underlyingbias in the test's form or content.

These biases have long-ranging and damaging consequences not only for students, their families but also the economic well-being of their communities.

There is a clear correlation, for example, between test scores and property values.

Popular private school ratings systems such as GreatSchools.org (40 million unique visitors every year) may be accelerating existing patterns of racial and socioeconomic segregation. Their rankings are based largely on standardized test scores and are fed into national real estate web sites. According to a 2019 study of GreatSchools ratings, a reas with highly-rated schools usually see increases in home prices.

"Affluent and more educated families were better positioned to leverage this new information to capture educational opportunities in communities with the best schools," the authors wrote. "An unintended consequence of better information was less, rather than more, equity in education."

A Chalkbeat analysis found that GreatSchools ratings effectively penalize schools that serve low-income and Black and Hispanic students, "generally giving them significantly lower ratings than schools serving more affluent and more white and Asian students."

More Effective Assessment Systems

The National Education Association believes that the guidance offered by the Department of Education in February doesn't go far enough in providing the necessary flexibility schools need to support their students. Moving forward, the focusshould be on promoting authentic assessments that reflect the broad range of students learning and skills, including creativity, leadership, critical thinking, and collaboration.

This was a conversation that drove many of the educator-led victories in the years before the pandemic. Joining forces with families and other allies, educators worked diligently to reduce the over-reliance and misuse of testing and shift the focus to fairer, more effective assessment systems that actually support the academic, social and emotional needs of their students.

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The Racist Beginnings of Standardized Testing | NEA

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"While much has been said about the racial achievement gap as a civil rights issue, more attention needs to be paid to the measurement tools used to define that gap," explains Young Wan Choi, manager of performance assessments for the Oakland Unified school District in Oakland, CA.

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Cultural Children’s Books | Lee & Low Books

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Offering cultural children’s books, Lee & Low is proud to publish books that are about everyone, for everyone. View our selection of multicultural books.

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Middle school is a time of transition where important learning takes place. As students develop identities and strengthen literacy and analytical skills, it is crucial to make sure that they have access to both "mirror" and "window" books-that is, books that affirm their identities and experiences, and books that allow them to build empathy for others. Lee & Low Books offers a wide range of diverse middle grade books for struggling, grade level, and advanced readers. Our authentic, award-winning book collections support culturally responsive teaching and embrace a range of complexity to meet all students' needs and explore a variety of interdisciplinary content, including:

Leveled classroom libraries

Books to support social and emotional learning (SEL)

Social studies and history books

Spanish and bilingual books

STEM books

We regularly work with schools and districts to create customized collections based on your needs and budget. To get started working with us, get in touch with this quick form.

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Middle school is a time of transition where important learning takes place. As students develop identities and strengthen literacy and analytical skills, it is crucial to make sure that they have access to both "mirror" and "window" books-that is, books that affirm their identities and experiences, and books that allow them to build empathy for others.

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Lee & Low Books offers great books to engage high school readers, featuring diverse characters and settings. With books that span many genres including mystery, science fiction, fantasy, realistic fiction, and nonfiction, we offer the right book for every reader. Our middle grade and young adult novels can be used for independent reading or included in curriculum. With a range of reading levels, both reluctant readers and advanced readers will find something to love in our collection. Lee & Low Books takes pride in our culturally relevant texts and cultural authenticity. These books truly are about everyone, for everyone!

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Diverse Books for High School | Lee & Low Books

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Lee & Low Books offers great books to engage high school readers, featuring diverse characters and settings. With books that span many genres including mystery, science fiction, fantasy, realistic fiction, and nonfiction, we offer the right book for every reader. Our middle grade and young adult novels can be used for independent reading or included in curriculum.

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I Know My People Are Strong: Black Lives Matter At School

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"The historical contributions of Black people need to be integrated into the curriculum," Morningside staff developer Dionne Grayman told USA Today's N'dea Yancey-Bragg.

Before the country can move past racial harm, Dionne added, there needs to be "truth, then accountability and then maybe reconciliation." In our classrooms, that truth needs to be told every day throughout the year.

We also need to provide students with tools they need to discern the truth. TeachableMoment writer Teresa Willis notes in a recent article that we educators should be prepared to teach "skills that equip students to critically analyze and evaluate history by reviewing primary sources from multiple perspectives.... Trained in historical thinking, students will determine for themselves the validity of claims like, 'there was no Holocaust' or 'slavery wasn't really that bad for African Americans' or 'the election was stolen.'"

Our staff developer Nicole Lavonne Smith suggests that after 400 years of centering whiteness, we could try centering Blackness. See Nicole's essay on centering Blackness, along with a range of activities that explore Black lives and Black history, below. We also invite you to read our call to action to white educators here.
Lessons & essays below.

BLM protest, 2016. Photo by Johnny Silvercloud.

This Year, Try Centering Blackness. Centering diverse cultures can strengthen community and sense of belonging for everyone, writes Morningside Center staff developer Nicole Lavonne Smith.

Black History Month: How Do We Change History? Students explore the origins of Black History Month and consider where we stand today in creating a more inclusionary history in classrooms across the country.

Decades of Organizing: Georgia Elects its First Black Senator. The election of Raphael Warnock to be Georgia's first Black senator was the result of decades of organizing by voting rights activists. Students discuss that history and the news.

Dreaming Big: Kamala Harris & Us. Students (grades 3-6) find out about Kamala Harris's background and her election as vice president - and reflect on their own dreams for the future. Also see our MS/HS lesson.

Dr. King and the Ongoing Fight for Economic Justice. Students watch videos with Martin Luther King III and Rev. William Barber, co-founder of today's Poor People's Campaign, and discuss the continuing fight for economic and racial justice.

A Gathering to Honor the Life and Legacy of John Lewis. Students deepen their knowledge of the civil rights icon and listen to and share their thoughts and reflections.

Celebrating Ella Baker and Her "Group-Centered Leadership." Ella Baker, who helped build many of the most important organizations of the civil rights movement, defied traditional gender roles. She deprioritized charismatic leadership from above and instead empowered people to take charge of their own struggles for freedom.

Black History Month & the Danger of a Single Story, Students explore why it is important for people to be able to tell their own stories and relate that to Black History Month.

Civil Rights History & Mythology. Did the Civil Rights Movement only involve the South? Was it the product of a few great leaders? In this lesson, students deepen their understanding of the civil rights movement, explore some mythologies surrounding it, and consider how sometimes "history" distorts the truth.

A Reading List on Race. Black History Month was our excuse for asking our co-worker Daniel Coles, who is coordinating Morningside Center's racial equity initiatives, to share some books he recommends to educators to raise our awareness on issues related to race. Behold the list below, in alphabetical order by author.

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"The historical contributions of Black people need to be integrated into the curriculum," Morningside staff developer Dionne Grayman told USA Today's N'dea Yancey-Bragg. Before the country can move past racial harm, Dionne added, there needs to be "truth, then accountability and then maybe reconciliation."

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To the teacher:

February is Black History Month, a time when teachers around the country seek out materials and initiate projects that acknowledge and celebrate African American contributions to our society. It can also be a time to pause and question why we dedicate a month to teaching material that should be incorporated in our teaching throughout the school year. Though curricular materials may have gotten better at including the contributions of African Americans since the 1960s, black history is still a largely neglected part of mainstream American history.

It was for this reason, back in 1926, that Carter G. Woodson, an African American historian and scholar who dedicated his life to the study of black history, pioneered the celebration of "Negro History Week." Woodson wanted to uncover and preserve the history of African Americans in the US, hoping to instill in African Americans a sense of self-esteem and confidence that would fuel the quest for justice. A history manipulated by white mainstream culture, he said, has resulted in "No systematic effort toward change..., for, taught the same economics, history, philosophy, literature and religion ... the Negro's mind has been brought under the control of this oppressor. ... When you control a man's thinking you do not have to worry about his actions."

A more inclusive history, Woodson hoped, would also foster understanding between whites and blacks. "Race prejudice," Woodson said, "is merely the logical result of tradition, the inevitable outcome of thorough instruction to the effect that the Negro has never contributed anything to the progress of mankind." Learning about black contributions to American history would engender greater respect among whites, Woodson believed. And though we've made progress toward teaching history in a way that fully represents the contributions of African Americans (as well as other excluded groups), we still have a long way to go.

Ironically, the history of Black History Month itself is often neglected and misrepresented. Most Americans don't know who Carter G. Woodson was or that he, a black man, originated what became Black History Month. Another little known fact is that February was picked to be Black History Month (and the original "Negro History Week") to coincide with the birthday of African American abolitionist Frederick Douglass (as well as President Abraham Lincoln).

In today's lesson we'll explore the origins of Black History Month and where we stand today in creating a more inclusionary history in classrooms across the country.

Ask student if they know what the month February has been designated to celebrate. Elicit that it's Black History Month, which was created to combat the underrepresentation of African American contributions to our history.

Ask students to share the name of an African American who has contributed to American history and how.

You might consider challenging your students to each come up with a different African American, which might lead to a reflection about how few African American historical figures are known to us.

Check Agenda and Goals

Reasons for Having Black History Month

Ask students in pairs to discuss reasons why Black History Month is important. Give them a few minutes before bringing everyone back to the large group. Ask students to share out their various reasons. On a T-chart, list these reasons on the left side titled "reasons to have Black History Month." If students need material to enrich their discussion, have them read the following excerpts before discussing in their pairs.

Excerpt 1 (Jeffrey L. Boney, January 2014, in the Forward Times Online)

As we approach the beginning of another Black History Month celebration, I can't help but think about its origination. I can appreciate Black History Month's foundational roots, in that one of my favorite African American authors was responsible for its inception.

In 1926, Carter G. Woodson pioneered the celebration of "Negro History Week", which he designated for the second week in February, to coincide with marking the birthdays of President Abraham Lincoln and African American abolitionist Frederick Douglass. After "Negro History Week" became widely accepted, it was extended to a full month; which we now celebrate as Black History Month ...

Excerpt 2 (Theodore Johnson, January 2014, in the Huffington Post

Black History Month is upon us once again, and with it comes a parade of facts to enlighten the nation on the contributions blacks have made to America. There will be children reciting famous lines from "I Have A Dream," high school students writing about George Washington Carver and his peanuts and probably some game shows questions on African-American inventors. Once March arrives, the nation will collectively pat itself on the back for having done its due diligence in paying homage to a few heroic black figures ...

Excerpt 3 (Carla Beauvais, February 2014, in Huffington Post)

Black History Month began Saturday. Officially celebrated in the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada, Black History Month ... is a time to pay homage to members of black communities who have distinguished themselves in various walks of life. ....

Black history is rich and vast; it doesn't simply belong to blacks, but has universal significance. Be it in the sciences, in politics or in human rights, all of humanity has benefited from the contributions of black communities. Nonetheless, these contributions, as impressive as they may be, remain under-represented, both in our children's school curricula and in our daily lives.

Conversely, stereotypes and prejudices against blacks continue to be reinforced in the media. Thus, Black History Month is an opportunity to counter this unidimensional vision of our societies and to offer a competing vision that more accurately reflects a reality where individuals of different origins see themselves represented and feel respected. In this manner, this celebration of difference becomes a celebration of belonging for us all, on equal footing, as members of the human race.

Reasons against Having Black History Month

Of course there are those who argue against Black History Month. Ask students what the arguments against Black History Month may be. Chart them on the right side of the T-chart under the heading "reasons to not have Black History Month."

Next split your class in two, asking one group to read the Jeffrey L. Boney excerpt below while the other group reads the Theodore Johnson excerpt.

After reading their (respective) excerpts, ask students in their two groups to discuss the article.

What are your thoughts and feelings about the article?

What was the point that Jeffrey L. Boney and Theodore Johnson were trying to make in their respective articles?

Have a representative from each group summarize the article for the other group. Then go back to the T-chart, asking students to add to the right side of the chart some reasons to not have Black History Month.

Having added the various reasons against Black History Month, ask students to look at the chart to see what the notice about the two sides.

What are the differences?

Are there similarities perhaps? Discuss.

Closing

Let's go back to this question of whether to celebrate Black History Month. Poet and civil rights activist Maya Angelou thinks that Black History Month

...is important as long it's necessary. I long for the time when we don't need one month set aside for black history, but until that time it's wonderful to have all children - black children, white children, Asian children, Spanish speaking children - realize that only equals can be friends. We're all looking for civil rights for everybody: for men, for women, for children - for fat people and thin people, and pretty ones and plain ones, and gay ones and straight ones. That's really what civil rights is an attempt to do.

Now let's also think back to Theodore Johnson's. He argues that history

...should explore many and varied journeys" of our citizens. The kind of century-long journeys that evinces the faith of a family, even when it presents harsh realities. ... the forced immigration of my male African ancestor to this land and the forced removal of my female Native American ancestor from this land is equally American.

Think about those two quotes together and about the purpose of history. Ask students:

What changes do you think we need to make to teach history in a way that fully recognizes the contributions of people from all walks of life and from every background?

By Jeffrey L. Boney January 2014

... Black History Month is acknowledged by some and ignored by others; and while it's acknowledged by most people in this country, I believe it's a travesty that anyone, especially members of the Black community, have chosen to limit their historical focus to the shortest month of the year.

Black history should be celebrated and acknowledged in America, 365 days a year-7 days a week-24 hours a day; the very same way the founding fathers are heralded and celebrated daily.

Carter G. Woodson devoted the majority of his life to historical research and towards working to preserve the history of African Americans in this country.

Woodson believed that, "Race prejudice is merely the logical result of tradition, the inevitable outcome of thorough instruction to the effect that the Negro has never contributed anything to the progress of mankind."

Woodson accumulated a collection of thousands of artifacts and publications because he felt that the contributions of African Americans in this country were being overlooked, ignored and even suppressed by the writers of history textbooks and the teachers who use them.

Black history should be highlighted in all of the standard textbooks that are distributed to students in schools, colleges and universities across this country.

I know that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Harriet Tubman and a few other Black historical figures are briefly mentioned in textbooks across the country; but there are so many other Black Americans who've made major contributions to our society and they deserve the same top-billing that Christopher Columbus gets for finding a land that was already inhabited by people.

Why should the contributions of Benjamin Banneker who helped survey the city of Washington, D.C. or the discoveries of hundreds of new uses for fruits and vegetables (particularly peanuts) by George Washington Carver, be limited to one month?

Why should Charles Drew, who pioneered the techniques for Blood Banking and Blood Transfusions, be limited to only 28 days of discussion in February and then get archived until the next year?

Why shouldn't all students in the U.S. know about Edward Alexander Bouchet, the first African American to earn a Ph.D. in Physics from Yale and the 6th American to earn a Ph.D. in Physics in the U.S.; and yet with all of those credentials couldn't even get a job because he was Black?

These are but a few of the many contributions these Black Americans had on our wonderful country, and these Black Americans should be embraced and exalted to the highest level of significance year-round, not just in February.

I will never accept the premise that I, as a Black man, should be thankful that I am "given" an entire month to celebrate Black history, when I know Black history is such a major part of American history.

By Theodore Johnson

... The rote recitation of black achievements is an abridged version of a rich history presented as a sloppily composed slide presentation. Facts are important, of course, but they are wholly insufficient. If this is indeed the extent of the celebration, we will have missed another opportunity to bring the black American experience to life and render from it its true, intrinsic value.

The current aim of Black History Month should not be the construction of a mere timeline of events and personas. Instead, it should be to explore the many and varied journeys of our black citizens today. This approach will inherently intersect with the seminal moments in black history while also providing an accompanying personal narrative that commands a deeper appreciation. In this way, facts in textbooks leap off the page and become life-changing inspirations more accessible to all Americans.

National African American History Month began in 1926 as Negro History Week by historian Dr. Carter G. Woodson. ... renowned historian Allen Ballard wrote that its purpose was to give blacks "an intellectual and emotional anchor in the midst of overt racism, legal segregation and the attendant myths of white superiority."

If it was initially an anchor, it should now be a vessel; one that sets sails and takes the country on a journey through the troubled waters of the African-American experience.

In the early years, it made sense for the celebration to be a simple introduction to the black characters and achievements left out of white and black segregated classrooms. But since then, the remembrance has not evolved with society's progress. The month still has the feel of a series of "did you know" trivia questions with little context or exploration of its deeper meaning. History is a quest, not a list of dates and names.

Besides, as others have noted, there is simply no extracting black history from American history. For example, why must we wait until February to talk about Carver's development of crop rotation methods that tremendously increased yields and continues to be central to the farming industry? This fact is integral to any serious discussion about the American agrarian capitalism that predated the Industrial Revolution and still persists in today's agribusiness.

Carver did not make contributions solely intended for black America; he was a black man who made contributions to all of America. Let's discuss his path instead of relegating him to the peanut gallery. There may be interest in the fact, but there is power in the story.

This isn't an abstract concept; it's personal. Black History Month taught me that Booker T. Washington was the first black man to have dinner with the President at the White House. Interesting, sure. But the more compelling context is that the event touched my great-grandparents and forged my family's path for the next century when they named their son after the president, Theodore Roosevelt. Through lynchings, Jim Crow, the Civil Rights Movement, black power and the mainstreaming of black celebrity, this latest chapter in our story concluded with my dinner with the first black president of the United States.

Black history is this sort of century-long journey that evinces the faith of a family, even when it presents harsh realities. While the above may sound especially American, the forced immigration of my male African ancestor to this land and the forced removal of my female Native American ancestor from this land is equally American. This month should focus on the exploration of these hard truths.

My story isn't special. The exceptionality of the black experience is common. Our country's black citizens have incredible stories of resilience and belief in the American dream that are worthy of national focus. Every single one of them.

The White House will once again make a national proclamation that formally designates February as the month to focus on the history of black Americans. This year, and for years to come, we should all explore our own stories and share them with the world. This is the best way to appreciate the unique African-American journey and celebrate Black History Month.

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Black History Month: How Do We Change History?

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To the teacher: February is Black History Month, a time when teachers around the country seek out materials and initiate projects that acknowledge and celebrate African American contributions to our society. It can also be a time to pause and question why we dedicate a month to teaching material that should be incorporated in our teaching throughout the school year.

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Students of every race, background, and zip code deserve the freedom to learn and pursue their dreams. NEA engages and mobilizes activists in the effort for racial, social, and economic justice in public schools and on campuses.

We are building and growing a community of activists committed to advancing social justice policies in public education.

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NEA is growing the movement to win education justice for our students, schools, and communities.

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Background

NEA has a vision for every student. We know that institutional and structural racism are barriers to achieving our vision. We will leverage the power and collective voice of our members to end the systemic patterns of racial inequity and injustice that affect our Association, schools, students and education communities.

Implicit bias is a mental process that stimulates negative attitudes about people who are not members of one's own "in group." Implicit racial bias leads to discrimination against people who are not members of one's own racial group. Implicit bias operates in what researchers call our "implicit mind," the part of the brain that we commonly call the "subconscious" or the "unconscious." This means that implicit bias can operate in an individual's mind without a conscious awareness of this process.

Microaggressions are verbal, behavioral, or environmental slights that are the results of an individual's implicit bias. They are often automatic or unintentional and occur on a daily basis. Microaggressions communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative viewpoints. The use of microaggressions perpetuate a worldview of White Supremacy Culture.

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Implicit Bias, Microaggressions, and Stereotypes Resources | NEA

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NEA has a vision for every student. We know that institutional and structural racism are barriers to achieving our vision. We will leverage the power and collective voice of our members to end the systemic patterns of racial inequity and injustice that affect our Association, schools, students and education communities.

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The NEA was founded on the belief that every student deserves a great public education. But in too many communities, years of systemic racism and unconscious bias have limited opportunities for many students and contributed to a growing education gap.

In response, NEA's Center for Social Justice has created a professional development program designed to help educators identify and correct explicit and implicit discrimination in their classrooms. Student-centered, research-based, and educator-driven, our trainings and resources are helping educators across the country adjust their practice to better serve students from diverse cultural and ethnic backgrounds, promoting racial and social justice in their communities.

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Every student deserves a safe, welcoming, affirming learning environment. We provide the tools for educators to make it happen.

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There is a direct correlation between how many black and brown students have been pushed out of school, with how many black and brown adults are in our criminal justice system. We can no longer perpetuate institutional racism, oppression, and be silent about what's really happening around race in our country. The most important piece in education is the child. I want to tell young people, 'You are important. You are loved and cared for, and I'm here to fight and help you reach your highest potential.'

Several years ago, I was frustrated with my own district's discipline policies, and so I led an effort to persuade the district to incorporate restorative practices into its Student Behavior Handbook and host restorative practices professional development training for educators.

If schools continue to enforce punitive discipline policies, schools will never provide equitable learning environments for all our students. I realized I was contributing to the school to prison pipeline and once I realized that, I started to devote my time to dismantle it. First, I started with me and then by training other educators.

There has been progress-but what I'm seeing as school systems take up the fight, many tend to push out programs and initiatives that are rushed and don't take the time to properly explore where and what the needs are. We have to be deliberate and intentional in our work, regardless of how long it may take.

We need to acknowledge the realities our students face-all voices need to be at the table. We have to create a space for students to share their stories.

Much of what has contributed to the school to prison pipeline has a lot to do with our implicit basis. We need to work together to talk about these biases and learn where they come from. And be able to check them before they have a chance to surface. Then maybe we can talk more honestly about racism, equity, and social justice and how it affects our students."

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Robin McNair: It's Time to Replace Punitive Discipline Policies | NEA

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There is a direct correlation between how many black and brown students have been pushed out of school, with how many black and brown adults are in our criminal justice system. We can no longer perpetuate institutional racism, oppression, and be silent about what's really happening around race in our country.

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Multicultural and Social Justice Books - Social Justice Books

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Curated Booklists Teaching for Change has carefully selected the best multicultural and social justice books for children, YA, and educators on 70+ topics. Reviews of Children's Literature Critical reviews of children's books from a variety of sources, compiled by See What We See. Anti-Bias Book Talk Explore children's literature through an anti-bias, anti-racist lens in this [...]

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Graphic Novels Addiction, Mental Health, Disabilities Environment Gender / LGBTQIA Immigration / Displaced People Intellectual Freedom Racism Rape / Sexual Abuse War

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Priya Vulchi and Winona Guo: What it takes to be racially literate

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Over the last year, Priya Vulchi and Winona Guo traveled to all 50 US states, collecting personal stories about race and intersectionality. Now they're on a mission to equip every American with the tools to understand, navigate and improve a world structured by racial division.

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​In 2014, the Maryland State Board of Education (State Board) passed a sweeping reform of the state's student discipline regulations. Five years following statewide implementation of these regulations, the State Board believed it was timely to examine the impact of these regulations and whether the intended intent has been achieved, and determine what modifications, if any, may be needed.

During its December 4, 2018 meeting, the State Board decided to form the Task Force on Student Discipline Regulations (Task Force). The Task Force will:

Consider the impact that current discipline regulations have on Maryland students, teachers, classrooms, learning environments, and schools;

Identify patterns of practice in implementing State regulations/policies;

Determine best practices in student discipline inside and outside of Maryland, including, but not limited to, restorative justice and Positive Behavioral Intervention Supports (PBIS);

Evaluate recommendations and findings from other groups and commissions, including, but not limited to, the Kirwan Commission and the Commission on the School to Prison Pipeline;

Based on consideration of the foregoing and the understanding that all students in Maryland should receive an education in a safe school, make recommendations to the State Board on any regulatory, policy, or guidance changes that should be adopted to improve the disciplinary environment in Maryland schools in order to provide every student with a safe school and a world class education.

The work of the Task Force will be accomplished through large group discussions; by gathering information and input from stakeholders and subject experts; through presentations, panel discussions, surveys and/or focus groups; and by reviewing relevant research and reports. Members of the public are also encouraged to submit input to Dr. Vermelle Greene, Task Force Chair, and/or to the State Board via email at stateboard.msde@maryland.gov or U.S. mail to the Office of the State Board, 200 West Baltimore Street, 7th Floor, Baltimore, Maryland, 21201.

The Task Force will use the information gathered to make recommendations for regulatory, policy, and/or guidance changes for the State Boards' consideration.

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Task Force on Student Discipline Regulations

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​In 2014, the Maryland State Board of Education (State Board) passed a sweeping reform of the state's student discipline regulations. Five years following statewide implementation of these regulations, the State Board believed it was timely to examine the impact of these regulations and whether the intended intent has been achieved, and determine what modifications, if any, may be needed.

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In June 2003, Maryland's K-16 Leadership Council established a Blue Ribbon task force, the Task Force on the Education of Maryland's African-American Males. The purpose was "to evaluate and report on the State's efforts and progress to address the continuing school performance and educational achievement problems that so seriously imperil the future of many of our African-American males." (excerpt from the Task Force Report). After years and hundreds of hours of research and discussion, the final report was issued in March 2007. Those recommendations were assembled and distributed. However, the implementation of those plans have failed to translate into the desired gains for black male students in Maryland.

Based on consideration of the previous statements -- and the understanding that all students in Maryland should receive an education that is both equitable and excellent - the Task Force is charged to make recommendations that should be adopted to improve the learning environment for every black male student in Maryland public schools.

Task Force recommendations to the State Board should be in the following areas: Regulatory, policy, or guidance changes; curricular changes; adoption of instructional materials and resources; professional development; financial and human resources; and where appropriate, recommendations for legislative actions.

It is further charged that the Task Force on Academic Equity and Excellence for Black Boys will report its findings, recommendations, and a suggested implementation plan (including assignment of lead offices and departments within MSDE, an implementation timeline, and responsibilities regarding progress monitoring) to the State Board on or about February 23, 2021.

MEMBERSHIP AND DEADLINES:

Two members of the State Board will head the Task Force: Dr. Vermelle Greene, Chair and Dr. Joan Mele-McCarthy, Co-Chair. There will be at least six additional members. These individuals will be selected based upon their background in education, with preference given to those who have experience working with black boys.

Interested parties will submit their resumes and a brief statement describing the skills and experiences they would bring to the team. The Chair and Co-Chair will select team members. The final selection of the Task Force members will be on or before July 15, 2020, with the list presented to the Board at the July 28th meeting.

Thirteen years later, scores on state assessments for black boys have remained at the bottom, while their suspension and expulsion rates are consistently high. These are not indicators of either educational equity or excellence for these children. The perpetuation and tolerance of low academic performance of our black boys deny them the same opportunities available to their well-educated peers. Denying them the education and skills necessary to prosper in this technology-based society demonstrates systemic racism in our public schools.

As stated in the recent letter from the Maryland Association Boards of Education, "... education provides the foundation to change perceptions and attitudes." And it is those negative perceptions and attitudes that continue to plague our boys of color.
Our State Superintendent, Dr. Karen Salmon, has eloquently written, " We have a call to action to work together to tackle the inequities and systemic racial barriers that persist for our black students......" The purpose of this task force is to answer that call.

CHARGE:

The Maryland State Board of Education provides the following charge to the Task Force on Academic Equity and Excellence for Black Boys (Task Force):

Consider the impact that discipline policies have on black boys in the classroom; determine best practices to minimize disciplinary problems and correct behavior without discouraging academic achievement.

Evaluate the availability and effectiveness of teacher preparation and professional development for culturally responsive teaching and cultural literacy as it pertains to black boys.

Identify opportunities to improve current curricula and instructional techniques, strategies, and methods to educate black boys.

Review current research and identify effective, research-based practices for educating boys of color inside and outside of Maryland; best practices can include but are not limited to, single-sex classes, mentoring, rites of passage programs, male-specific pedagogy, and phonics-based reading instruction.

Evaluate current hiring methods and identify obstacles to the recruitment and retention of black male teachers; identify organizations that could form partnerships to support the Department's efforts to recruit black male teachers.

Examine the reports of other MSDE task forces and commissions, including, but not limited to, the Kirwan Commission, the Commission on the School to Prison Pipeline, the Task Force on Student Discipline Regulations, and the Task Force on the Education of Maryland's African-American Males (March 2007); review those reports' findings and determine to what degree the recommendations have been successfully implemented.

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Task Force on Achieving Academic Equity and Excellence for Black Boys

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In June 2003, Maryland's K-16 Leadership Council established a Blue Ribbon task force, the Task Force on the Education of Maryland's African-American Males. The purpose was "to evaluate and report on the State's efforts and progress to address the continuing school performance and educational achievement problems that so seriously imperil the future of many of our African-American males."

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Happy Social Work Month!

NASW Metro DC Chapter will be celebrating the 2021 Social Work Month throughout March in recognition of the diverse ways that social workers contribute to their communities. Look for stories to roll out on social media and elsewhere from members about why they love social work and how they know that "Social Workers Are Essential," the theme for this year.

It's also the theme for the NASWVA Annual Conference that all Metro DC social workers are invited to attend virtually March 25-27. Thank you all for your hard work and commitment!

You're Invited! Earn Up to 70.5 CEs at the Virtual 2021 NASW Virginia Annual Conference March 25-27

Meet your District of Columbia social work license requirements-including all ethics and LGBTQ CEs-by registering now for the virtual 2021 NASW Virginia Chapter Annual Conference March 25-27!

Under the theme "Social Workers Are Essential," the three-day conference features a wide range of relevant and timely breakout sessions, workshops, keynotes, small-group virtual networking opportunities, and fun events such as a pet parade, virtual ecotherapy hike, sunrise yoga, and Hygge night.

You can earn 18.5 CEs live and an additional 52 CEs on-demand for 60 days afterward or, if you prefer, you can access all conference content completely on demand.

Among the practice-based and social justice topics on the schedule are LGBTQ issues, ethics, telehealth, pandemic lessons, aging, trauma, grief, ecotherapy, dance/movement therapy, racial justice and equity, addiction, working with first responders, and more.

You'll also hear and engage with four nationally known keynoters: Jim Donovan, Platinum-award-winning drummer of Rusted Roots and a music professor, Frank Warren, creator of the phenomenally popular website, PostSecret.com, and a suicide prevention advocate, Adios America, a spoken-word performing duo who use their slam poetry to comment on social issues such as racism, sexism, and Afro-Latina life in America, and Betty Mae Fikes, lifelong civil rights icon and songster/storyteller.

NASW, NASW Metro DC Chapter Appalled and Angry at Rioting on Capitol Hill

"The National Association of Social Workers strongly condemns the unlawful storming of the U.S. Capitol by pro-[President] Trump rioters," announced NASW CEO Angelo McClain, PhD, LICSW, in a statement January 6. "Their violent, riotous behavior is seditious and forced the evacuation of Congress and halted the declaration of Joe Biden's presidential victory.

He urged people to "trust that the guardrails of democracy will hold, and Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will be sworn in on January 20" and called "on all elected officials to condemn this unlawful attack on our democracy."

NASW Metro DC Chapter Executive Director Debra Riggs, CAE, echoed McClain's outrage.

"What the country witnessed yesterday in Washington, DC, was not peaceful protesting as enabled by our Constitution. It was nothing less than an insurrection by domestic terrorists determined to overthrow the democratic electoral processes that have sustained our great country for 244 years," said Executive Director Debra Riggs, CAE, of the NASW Metro DC Chapter. "We urge all citizens, especially social workers, to vocally oppose these dangerous displays that threaten lives and our democracy."

Noting the chapter's deep concern for local DC social workers during the riots, Riggs encourages members and other social work professionals to contact her (driggs.naswmetrodc@socialworkers.org) if they want to share their emotions or ideas of how the chapter can help return communities to a culture of civility, respect, and tolerance.

NASW Seeks Comments on "Clinical Social Workers in Private Practice" Manual by Jan. 4, 2021

NASW's Task Force for Private Practice Guidelines is seeking public and member comments for the document, Clinical Social Workers in Private Practice: A Reference Manual. The manual provides a useful set of guidelines for clinical social workers starting a private practice and for seasoned clinical social workers seeking specific information related to the practice and business side of a private practice. The public comment period began Friday, Dec. 4, and ends January 4, 2021. Please review the manualhere. Questions about the manual can be sent to mcoleman.nasw@socialworkers.org.

NASW Metro DC Chapter Congratulates President-Elect Biden, Vice President-Elect Harris on Historic Wins

The NASW Metro DC Chapter applauds NASW-endorsed President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris for winning their historic congressional and national elections.

"The election of a woman, especially a woman of color, to the top ticket of the United States is long overdue and is a huge moment of pride for all who embrace equality," says NASW Metro DC Executive Director Debra Riggs, CAE. "I want to thank all of DC's social workers who voted, volunteered, and encouraged their clients to vote. Voting truly is social work! Now, as the state and nation try to heal from this brutal campaign season, we look forward to finding ways to reunite and refocus on the social justice and practice-related issues that NASW Metro DC has prioritized for the next few years."

Read NASW's news release congratulating Joe Biden

NASW Metro DC Supports Texas Social Workers Fighting Code of Ethics Changes That Enable Potential Discrimination

The NASW Metro DC Chapter stands in solidarity with Texas social workers who are fighting their Governor's removal of protections against discrimination for disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression from the Social Work Code of Conduct! The Texas State Board of Social Worker Examiners (TSBSWE) accepted the language from the Governor, whose rationalization is that agency rules cannot be more expansive than those in state law. However, the board has the explicit statutory authority to propose and adopt rules regarding "the scope of practice of and standards of care and ethical practice for social work." This includes defining anti-discrimination protections under the Code of Conduct, which "should receive protected status," says the chapter. "Social workers already have the ability to decline to provide services to a client based on their competencies and training, but they cannot discriminate based on selective personal values ... [the new language] could send the erroneous message that [discrimination] is allowed. This might deter a client from coming in for services or cause a social worker to withhold a service they are ethically obligated to provide." Sign the petition to show Texas social workers you oppose any changes to their Code of Conduct!

Metro DC Chapter Applauds NASW Coalition Calling for CDC to Slow High Rate of COVID-19 in Jails, Prisons

NASW has co-signed a letter with a coalition of 100-plus medical experts, human rights organizations, and faith-based organizations that calls on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to revise its current COVID-19 guidance for adult and juvenile correctional facilities to restrict the use of punitive and prolonged solitary confinement as a form of pandemic response at the federal, state, and local levels. Learn more here.

NASW Releases Statement Opposing Executive Order on Combating Race and Sex Stereotyping

NASW has released a statement voicing 'deep disappointment' in President Trump's Executive Order on Combating Race and Sex Stereotyping. 'The order distorts our nation's history and broadly understood concepts such as 'systemic racism' and 'White privilege.' And it is a thinly veiled attempt by Trump to stoke racial division in an already-fractured country for his own political purpose.' Read the full statement: https://bit.ly/3j4njGn

NASW Metro DC Mourns Death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg

NASW Virginia is deeply saddened at the death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, an icon of the movement to protect and secure human rights for immigrants, women, and LGBTQ citizens. An unflagging champion for gender equality and a trailblazer for equal justice under the law, Justice Ginsburg was only the second woman to be appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court, and she served until her final living day. She lies in repose at the Supreme Court on Sept. 22 and 23, and will be buried next to her husband Sept. 29 at Arlington National Cemetery. We will miss you, Notorious RGB, and we will continue to honor your legacy through our advocacy work and our individual votes! In her own words: "If you want to be a true professional, do something outside yourself."

National Suicide Hotline Designation Act Heads for Presidential Signature into Law

The U.S. House of Representatives unanimously passed the bipartisan S. 2661, the National Suicide Hotline Designation Act, September 22, marking a legislative victory for NASW and its members nationwide who advocated strongly for it.

The bill is an important step to making operational a nationwide three-digit dialing code for mental health crises and suicide prevention: 988. The legislation passed the Senate earlier in 2020 and will now go for signing by President Trump to become law.

National Suicide Prevention Month Resources for September

September is National Suicide Prevention Month, which comes at a critical time this year during the pandemic and national racial reckoning. Thanks to the lobbying of NASW and its mental health allies, preparations continue for the federal government's transition to an easy-to-remember three-digit (988) national suicide hotline, which goes into effect in 2022. Meanwhile, the National Suicide Prevention Hotline remains 800-273-TALK (8255) or call 911 immediately.

Get more resources at NAMI.org

NASW Metro DC Celebrates Women's Equality Day

Women's Equality Day, celebrated every August 26, commemorates the passage of women's suffrage in the U.S. and reminds us of the hurdles overcome by the heroic women who faced violence and gender discrimination to propel the women's movement forward. When we reflect on the long battle to get the 19th Amendment ratified, we cannot ignore the fact that the movement largely excluded Black women. For example, the National American Woman Suffrage Association prevented Black women from attending their conventions. Black women often had to march separately from white women in suffrage parades. To this day, Black voters still face aggressive attacks on hard-fought voting rights. Some jurisdictions are using intimidation or threats to accessibility in order to discourage Black people from voting.

Women aren't done fighting for equal rights. Today, the wage gap between men and women, especially women of color, still impacts women's economic power, and gender-based discrimination still plagues workplaces and business transactions. Celebrate Women's Equality Day by registering to vote, helping others register to vote, and advocating for access to absentee ballots and early voting for every election. For ways #socialwokers can play a role in voter turnout visit https://votingissocialwork.org/

NASW Practice Alert on Home Health: Telehealth During COVID-19 and New Payment System

The Medicare home health benefit, which includes medical social services, has long been essential to beneficiaries living with acute, chronic, and advanced health conditions. Access to home health services is of utmost importance during the COVID-19 pandemic.

A new NASW Practice Alert provides an overview of the Medicare home health benefit, describes NASW's advocacy on behalf of both home health social workers and beneficiaries served during the COVID-19 pandemic, and clarifies the status of home health social work under the Patient-Driven Groupings Model.

NASW Metro DC Mourns the Death of Civil Rights Leader Rep. John Lewis

NASW Metro DC Chapter members are grieving the death of Rep. John Lewis (D-GA), whose leadership and sacrifice led the nation through the early days of the civil rights movement right up until the recent protests against the murder of Black Minneapolis resident George Floyd.

Lewis always said he hoped his legacy would focus around voter rights and voter access, and he spoke often about the need to ensure all Americans-especially people of color-could easily vote. NASW is already involved in voter registration campaigns, coalitions, and advocacy, and social workers in Metro DC will be supporting those efforts. We will miss you and your "good trouble" leadership, Rep. Lewis!

Emergency Telehealth Regs Extended to October 25

Health and Human Services is extending the public health emergency (PHE) period by 90 days-the second announced extension, according to a June 29 HSS tweet by spokesman Michael Caputo. Currently scheduled to expire July 25, the new expiration date is October 25, 2020. Telehealth flexibilities under Medicare are attached to this federal PHE. NASW is reaching out to commercial and self-funded plans to advocate for telehealth permanence. Some plans stopped paying for out-of-network telehealth already.

NASW Social Work Talks Podcast Focuses on Successful Telehealth Transitioning, Racism

Recent NASW Social Work Talks podcasts take on both telehealth and racism. Listen to Tips for Successfully Implementing Teletherapy for guidance from Pat Spencer, LCSW, who moved her practice to teletherapy during New Jersey's stay-at-home order.

Facing Racism, Moving Forward explores the racism pandemic and how the social work profession can advance progress. The recording features Dion Lassiter, MSW, executive director at the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission and president of the Black Men at Penn School of Social Work, Inc. at University of Pennsylvania.

Find a Wide Variety of Training Through the Social Work Online CE Institute

Looking for training on a specific topic? Need to find a class fast? Want to train from the comfort of your own home or office? The Online CE Institute is a great option, because it offers hundreds of options, many free to members, that can be accessed quickly and easily. To find training, visit the Social Work Online CE Institute.

One More Supervision Course Offered in 2020

As you know, a training to become an approved supervisor for your license is not required in the District. However, consider registering to help you better support your supervisee. NASW Metro DC is offering one more (virtual) training that will earn you up to 14 CEUs toward relicensing this year.

Full course descriptions of each program are available here. An access code and manual PDF will be sent the day prior to training:

November 13-14: Foundations of Supervision. 14 CEUs. Instructor: Delores Dungee-Anderson, PhD, LCSW CTST, Prof. $275 members, $350 nonmembers. Registration deadline: November 11.

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Be a Part of Something Bigger

Join the NASW DC Metro chapter.

Learn how to join >>

https://naswmetrodc.socialworkers.org/Membership

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NASW Metro DC Chapter will be celebrating the 2021 Social Work Month throughout March in recognition of the diverse ways that social workers contribute to their communities. Look for stories to roll out on social media and elsewhere from members about why they love social work and how they know that "Social Workers Are Essential," the theme for this year.

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NASW - National Associacion of Social Workers

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Social Justice Priorities

Five social justice priorities serve as guiding principles for NASW's national office and Chapters:

Learn more about NASW's social justice priorities >>

Social Justice Briefs

Policing in America has a long history of preserving the violent legacy of slavery and upholding white supremacy. The tragic and unjust murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Aubrey, Tony McDade, Eric Garner, and so many other Black and Brown Americans by police officers has led our nation to reexamine the systems that we look to for safety and justice.

COVID-19 has quickly spread in many of the nation's jails and prisons. Policymakers, correctional staff, and public health service providers can play an important role in responding to the prevention and urgent service needs of people impacted by incarceration who are particularly vulnerable to the effects of COVID-19.

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic is exponentially increased among those on the margins of our society. Therefore, it is critical that these families and individuals included in federal and state governments' efforts to fight the spread of COVID-19, and that they are protected from related social and civic disruptions that will occur as the virus spreads.

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National Association of Social Workers (NASW)

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Founded in 1955, the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) is the largest membership organization of professional social workers in the world, with more than 120,000 members. NASW works to enhance the professional growth and development of its members, to create and maintain professional standards, and to advance sound social policies.

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Introduction

Some injustices are mandated by law. Others exist either because they are not specifically outlawed or because they persist despite the fact that they are illegal. The first category of injustice is called "de jure"-sanctioned by law. The second group, injustice that exists "in fact" albeit not by law, is called "de facto" injustice.

The American civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s took on both kinds of injustice. Students who sat in at lunch counters challenged Jim Crow laws that made segregated public facilities legal. They were protesting against de jure segregation, or segregation that was allowed by law. Other activists protested against segregation that was against the law, but that persisted nonetheless. In 1961, segregation of interstate bus travel was illegal. But in the South, interstate buses and bus stations continued to segregate black people and white people. Despite the fact that segregation was against the law, challenging it was dangerous.

In 1961, the Freedom Riders, an integrated group of college students, boarded buses in Washington, D.C. and headed south. Their aim was to challenge de facto segregation. Because segregation on interstate buses was against the law, they wanted the federal government to enforce that law if segregationists challenged their right to ride the buses together. In this lesson, students analyze a photograph from the freedom riders' protest.

Activities

1. The handout defines two terms: "de facto segregation" and "de jure segregation." Working with a partner, take turns explaining the definitions and discuss them to be sure you understand what they mean. Make a class T-chart on chart paper, with a column labeled "De facto Segregation" and a column labeled "De jure Segregation." (Note: Distribute sticky notes so that each student has one or two.) With your partner, draw on your knowledge of American history, textbooks or the Internet and come up with one or two examples of each type of segregation. Write each example on a sticky note and put it on the class chart in the appropriate column. (Note: Read the examples that students have posted, asking after each one if it is in the correct column. To ensure all students participate, consider thumbs up for yes and thumbs down for no. When there's a discrepancy, encourage further discussion: Why or why not?)

2. One instance of de facto discrimination was the segregation of interstate buses. The Supreme Court ruled in Morgan v. Virginia in 1946 that such segregation was illegal. Read about Morgan v. Virginia or watch a video about it. With a small group, answer these questions about the case and its impact:

What law did Irene Morgan break?

What did the Supreme Court rule in Morgan v. Virginia?

What practice did the ruling outlaw?

Why did segregation continue on interstate buses?

Based on your knowledge of Morgan v. Virginia, explain why the Freedom Riders' actions were an example of protesting de facto segregation.

3. With this understanding of de facto segregation and the civil rights movement, look at photograph A. It was taken in Anniston, Alabama on May 15, 1961 after a white mob attacked the bus and its riders. Read the relevant section of this web page to learn more about the Anniston attack.

Read the questions below and write down short answers to them. Then, with your group, take turns answering the questions. Each student in the group will share an answer to one of the questions.

Describe the photograph.

Based on the photo and your knowledge of the events at Anniston, describe what happened before the photograph was taken.

What is most shocking to you about the photo? What makes it shocking?

The photograph is black and white, as were most photos at the time. How does that affect you as a viewer? How might you respond differently if the photo were in color?

4. Return to what you read about the Anniston attack. Compare the description of what you read and the photograph, using a Venn diagram. When you're done, list with your group what is valuable about each type of communication. Use your list to contribute to a class discussion based on this question: How do photographs compare with written communication?

5. Although the civil rights movement succeeded in ending many forms of discrimination, some still exist. Choose one of the following forms of de facto discrimination: racial profiling, anti-Muslim discrimination or linguicism (discrimination based on a person's language or accent). Research your topic, using at least three sources. Present your findings in a poster or web page. Include one or more relevant photographs and a statement about what makes this an example of de facto discrimination.

Caption for photograph A: 15 May 1961, Anniston, Alabama, USA-"Freedom Riders" sit beside a burnedout Greyhound bus they had ridden which was burned by a mob of white people who attacked it on the highway. The Freedom Riders were testing laws desegregating bus terminals. Image by © Bettmann/CORBIS.

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Using Photographs to Teach Social Justice | Confronting Unjust Practices

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Some injustices are mandated by law. Others exist either because they are not specifically outlawed or because they persist despite the fact that they are illegal. The first category of injustice is called "de jure"-sanctioned by law. The second group, injustice that exists "in fact" albeit not by law, is called "de facto" injustice.

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Fueling Young People to Change the World | DoSomething.org

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Are you passionate about making a difference in teaching?

Join me (Greg Curran) as I chat to educators and community leaders who are challenging systemic inequity and bigotry, along with privilege and silence.

Not content with traditional approaches to diversity and inclusion they're re-making their environments, supporting and uplifting the voices and worlds of those students and communities who've been sidelined for far too long.

Find Show Notes and Resources at: pushingtheedge.org

Are you passionate about making a difference in teaching?

Join me (Greg Curran) as I chat to educators and community leaders who are challenging systemic inequity and bigotry, along with privilege and silence.

Not content with traditional approaches to diversity and inclusion they're re-making their environments, supporting and uplifting the voices and worlds of those students and communities who've been sidelined for far too long.

Find Show Notes and Resources at: pushingtheedge.org

Resonating excellence

Greg's ability to create a truly brave space and invite guests who share his honesty, insight, and vulnerability makes for a podcast that always leaves me doing slow, deep nods and making mental bookmarks for the future. Both accessible and important, "Pushing the Edge" is among my very favourites.

Pushing the Edge is a MUST LISTEN

As a person of color it's very refreshing to hear that there are allies all over the globe. I'm passionate about making the world a better place for kids and Greg gets it. I've shared his podcast with my friends who want to help but dont know what to do. The first step is education and Greg's podcast gently and wonderfully shows us how to advocate for diversity by educating us on ways that others are doing it. I cannot thank Greg enough for having the conversations that need to be had.

The perfect podcast

The is currently my favorite podcast. It's the perfect mix of inspiration and honesty. Listening to Greg and his guests honestly did push my edge. I was recently about to take a pretty big step in my life. I'd been thinking about it for awhile but afraid to do it. Can you relate? I used Greg's blog to help me "push my edge". And you know what, I did it! I took a new leap in my life. If your an educator (or just a regular person even) looking for a way to push your edge, this is blog is for you.
Thank you Greg!

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‎Pushing The Edge with Greg Curran on Apple Podcasts

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‎Are you passionate about making a difference in teaching? Join me (Greg Curran) as I chat to educators and community leaders who are challenging systemic inequity and bigotry, along with privilege and silence. Not content with traditional approaches to diversity and inclusion they're re-making...

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Kendall Bailey: Don't Ask, Don't Tell

Five years later he was a sergeant assigned to a recruiting office in Virginia and was considering becoming career military. At StoryCorps, Kendall told his friend, Don Davis, how because of Don't Ask, Don't Tell those plans changed.

David Barr: The Early Days of the HIV/AIDS Epidemic

David Barr was a young man when the first cases of AIDS were diagnosed. While many people he knew were getting sick and dying, Barr began working in the community to fight the epidemic. The work of Barr and his colleagues changed the response to AIDS in the U.S. and galvanized the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community.

Terry Boggis: LGBT Family Rights

Terry Boggis was one of the founding members of Center Kids, Center Families, a New York City based LGBT families program, in 1988. That same year, her son, Ned was born. Here, Boggis talks about parenthood.

James Dale: Takes on the Boy Scouts of America

In 2000, the United States Supreme Court ruled that the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) could refuse membership to people who

identify as gay. It was a ten-year court battle. The plaintiff in the case was James Dale, who began scouting when he was eight years old. By the time he entered Rutgers University he had achieved the rank of Eagle Scout. Here, James remembers how he ended up as a lightning rod for gay rights in the United States.

Jamison Green: Transgender Activist

Jamison Green is an activist and writer who has worked on behalf of transgender men and women for more than 20 years. Jamison transitioned from female to male in 1988. Here, he speaks with his daughter, Morgan Green, about what life was like for him as a child.

Michael Levine: The Stonewall Rebellion

Michael Levine was at a popular gay bar in New York City in June 1969 when it was surrounded by police. At the time, the vice squad routinely raided and emptied gay bars. Patrons usually complied with the police - frightened at being identified publicly. But this

particular Friday night was different because patrons at the Stonewall Inn stood their ground.Here, Michael Levine reflects with his friend, Matt Merlin, on what happened that night.

Phyllis Lyon: The Daughters of Bilitis and the Homophile Movement

Phyllis Lyon has been a gay rights activist for over fifty years. She was one of the founding members of the Daughters of Bilitis - a group named for a lesbian character in French poetry. Formed in 1955, it was the first lesbian rights group in the United States. Here,

Phyllis tells her friend, Margie Adam, about coming of age in an era when sexuality was rarely discussed.

Charles Silverstein: Declassification of Homosexuality as a Mental Illness

Between 1952 and 1973, homosexuality was classified as a mental disorder by the American Psychiatric Association. Gay men and women across the country were subjected to a variety of treatments aimed at curing their "condition." During that era, Dr. Charles Silverstein was in graduate school training to become a psychologist. Here, he talks about his role in changing the medical

community's ideas about homosexuality.

David Wilson: Struggle for Marriage Equality

David Wilson and his partner, Rob Compton, were two of the plaintiffs in Goodridge v. Department of Public Health - the landmark state appellate court case in Massachusetts that awarded marriage equality to samesex couples in the state. Ten years before the

lawsuit, David Wilson was living with his first partner, Ronald Loso, outside of Boston, until November 29, 1994. Here, Wilson remembers that day.

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Unheard Voices: Stories and Lessons for Grades 6-12

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Five years later he was a sergeant assigned to a recruiting office in Virginia and was considering becoming career military. At StoryCorps, Kendall told his friend, Don Davis, how because of Don't Ask, Don't Tell those plans changed. David Barr was a young man when the first cases of AIDS were diagnosed.

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The Two Dollar Challenge is an educational exercise designed to dismantle our HERO-complex. Below we have outlined a Code of Conduct to act as a guideline for behavior in situations that may arise during your Challenge.

Avoid using images and language that reinforces stereotypes of the poor as powerless. Ask yourself "Would I give consent for someone to use this image of me or my child?"

Before sharing another person's or community's story of material poverty, get their permission. Please, NO MORE STOLEN STORIES.

If you build shelters, know that you have created a non-universalistic and inaccurate representation of poverty. Spend time reflecting upon and discussing this aspect of the Challenge. And, always leave a place better than you found it. Clean up after yourself.

Participants will face physical and emotional hardships. And, if you are a student you are still expected to participate in all class work and other assignments. Do not use the Challenge as a reason for an extension on a class assignment.

Begging from others is allowed, but you must beg first and explain the Challenge later. By begging first a participant experiences the emotional process involved. And, by explaining the Challenge next, a participant allows for those whom she is begging from to rescind their assistance and reserve it for someone that is truly in need.

At all times participants must respect those nearby who are truly in need. If at any time those taking the Challenge are using resources which are valuable for indigent residents in the area this action must be re-evaluated.

You may get pushback from non-participants who say you're "playing poverty." You are. Accept the critique and spend time discussing the limitations and drawbacks of the Challenge.

You may get interviewed by reporters. They may say that you are courageous for taking on this Challenge. You are not. Local leaders solving poverty in their own communities are courageous.

The Two Dollar Challenge is largely an exposure of contrasts between our daily life within and outside the exercise. You control how dedicated you are and how much you get out of it.

There are so many moments where each person can choose to break a rule - take a sip from a water fountain, turn on a light after sunset, or use your cell phone. In those moments, you must decide whether to adhere, bend, or break a rule. Whatever your decision, it is all right. We just ask that you recognize that you have a choice. For nearly half the world's population there is no choice, there is no immediate exit.

The Two Dollar Challenge is not about strict adherence to the rules. It is a personal journey towards becoming a more empathetic and humble member of the global community. We will not end poverty by living on $2 a day. But, we may end our HERO-complex.

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The Two Dollar Challenge is an educational exercise designed to dismantle our HERO-complex. Below we have outlined a Code of Conduct to act as a guideline for behavior in situations that may arise during your Challenge. Avoid using images and language that reinforces stereotypes of the poor as powerless.

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At the 2019 AASL National Conference, I attended the session "Include Everyone: Exploring Social Justice in the Library" presented by Erika Long , Metro Nashville Public Schools, and Susan Polos , school librarian at Fox Lane High School. The session presenters started the session by framing our learning and explaining how the content directly relates to the AASL Standards' Shared Foundations of Explore, Include, and Collaborate.

Their collaboration started with a meeting in Phoenix of Erika, Susan, and Liz Phipps-Soeiro , who wasn't there for the presentation. Erika and Susan both shared that the three of them connected through their mutual interest in social justice.

Erika led with her approach to activism. She talked about how she interacts with her students by creating social justice experiences. She brings in experts and builds a common language with her students by exposing them to social activism by asking these questions:

Approaching Activism

What is social justice?

What does your advocacy look like?

What are you passionate about?

Use your voice?

She shows the students different sources and lets them come up with a definition for social justice on their own. Erika tells her students to be good users of their voices. She has them define social justice and advocacy in their own terms. What is an advocate? Who are you advocating for?

Erika's students write letters to people of importance; for example, one student wrote to the Department of Defense because their grandfather was a veteran who is suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. Her students also made posters for the movie The Hate U Give by replacing the word HATE with positive words. She also had a student who came out about their sexual assault experience. "Kids are super passionate about these issues, and they want to talk about them," she said. In addition, Erika has students participate in all-school projects where they research global issues and choose their own topics to research. This helps them understand that so much is happening outside of Nashville. She involved students in both World Hijab Day and the GLSEN Day of Silence .

In her library, Erika also makes the topic of social justice approachable by encouraging her students to read widely. She started a ProjectLit Community Book Club . The #ProjectLit Community aims to eliminate book deserts and promote a love of reading. Project Lit believes wholeheartedly in the power of reading and in its ability to bring people together and transform lives. The books the Project Lit Community recommends are selected by students, for students. They have both young adult and middle grade book selections. Erika believes these books allow students to see outside themselves. She is working to incorporate these books into the curriculum and classroom. She openly talks about successes and failures, and she said, "It doesn't matter what my numbers look like, it matters what the students get out of it."

Susan Polos said activism is often initiated by choice, but too often initiated by necessity. Her personal activism started in protesting "the test" (referring to standardized tests) and when Mount Kisco threatened budget cuts . She made it clear that even if you have a really good library program, it can still be cut. It's really important for school librarians to go to conferences that are not library conferences to have a presence there too.

Susan also encouraged participants to think globally through all school projects and inquiry-based learning by using Cambridge Global Perspectives. In a previous school community, she was committed to inclusiveness through respect for diversity in libraries. Their community had many Guatemalan refugees and immigrants, which contributed to their school and library program losing support. They had a rich tradition of a banquet for their Mock Newberry, where she said the kids are drawn to diverse books because "they relate to them."

Susan's advice is to identify authenticate challenges and initiate social justice efforts. In her high school library, the kids wanted to give back to the elementary school. They partnered with second grade because as ninth graders, they would graduate high school and the elementary kids would graduate at the same time. For another event, Susan partnered with the local movie theater so students could see The Hate U Give. As the Gender and Sexuality Alliance, adviser she sponsored student-led work there as well. She also brought in Jerry Craft, author of The New Kid, where he talked about microaggressions . Of her new school in an affluent community, Susan said, "The privileged need to learn too."

They both encouraged participants to use books to lay the foundation of social justice issues. Here is the bibliography from Erika's Social Justice Unit that she shared on Twitter. They concluded the session with questions to think about and share out which resulted in a rich discussion!

1. Where does social justice fit into your library?

2. How can you include students in advocating for social justice issues important to them?

3. Who can you collaborate with to explore social justice issues and discover possible solutions?

Nancy Jo Lambert is a Google Certified Trainer and HS teacher-librarian in Frisco, TX at Reedy High School. She is a presenter advocating for libraries by telling the story of the learning happening in her library. She holds positions in TLA, TCEA, ALA, AASL, and TASL. She was named TCEA Library Media Specialist of the Year the American Association of School Librarians Social Media Superstar Curriculum Champion in 2019. She co-founded #TeachPride, EduPrideAlliance. She is also a #FReadom organizer. She is known for sharing her professional work on Twitter @NancyJoLambert and nancyjolambert.com and her library website reedylibrary.com.

Categories: AASL National Conference & Exhibiton, Community

Tags: #AASL19, #AASLstandards, AASL National Conference, advocacy, diversity, school librarians, social justice

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Include Everyone: Exploring Social Justice in the Library - Knowledge Quest

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At AASL 2019 I attended the session Include Everyone: Exploring Social Justice in the Library presented by Erika Long, Metro Nashville Public Schools and Susan Polos, School Librarian Fox Lane High School. The session presenters started the session by framing our learning and explaining how the content directly relates to the AASL Standards Explore, Include, and Collaborate.

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NAIS - Using a Social Justice Framework to Guide Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Work

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Despite increased efforts to create and sustain diverse learning communities, independent schools often fall short of building communities that are also equitable and inclusive. Merely attracting and admitting students and families with diverse backgrounds and experiences doesn’t necessarily lead to the equitable and inclusive environments we desire.

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The virus has already hit the Navajo Nation especially hard, with more than 830 cases and 30 deaths as of April 21.

As the number of COVID-19 cases and deaths continue to rise across the United States, the pandemic is hitting some tribal communities especially hard, underscoring existing health disparities, crowded housing conditions and water access issues that health experts fear could facilitate a devastating spread of the virus among Native Americans.

The virus has already hit the Navajo Nation especially hard, with more than 830 cases and 30 deaths as of April 21. In New Mexico, where Native Americans now make up more than 30 percent of the state's COVID-19 cases, two pueblos of the Zuni Nation have some of the highest infection rates in the United States.

For tribal communities, the legacy of colonization - including racism, a systemic undermining of indigenous traditions, broken treaties, lack of federal government support, and the weakening of self-reliance regarding food, water and housing - casts a long shadow, leaving many particularly vulnerable to COVID-19.

Many tribal governments now face unique challenges during the pandemic, including:

Lack of access to clean water
More than 175,000 people live on or near the Navajo Nation reservation, making it the largest tribal nation in the United States. Many residents lack access to clean water for drinking, let alone for frequent hand-washing, and must rely on purchased bottled water. "One of the hardest things right now is being able to wash your hands in the Navajo Nation," Navajo activist and artist Emma Robbins told Democracy Now in April.

A higher risk of COVID-19 complications
Native Americans already suffer higher rates of disease and ailments that put them at risk of serious COVID-19 infections, including diabetes, cardiovascular disease and cancer. Even before the pandemic, the life expectancy of Native Americans in some U.S. states was 20 years shorter than the national average. Oglala Lakota County in the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota has the lowest average life expectancy among all U.S. counties - 66 years.

Inadequate access to health care
The Indian Health Service is a federal agency founded 65 years ago that serves 2.6 million people who are members of 573 federally recognized American Indian and Alaska Native tribes. For decades, the agency has faced sustained criticism about mismanagement and underfunding. A 2019 report by the Office of Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services identified major deficiencies in management and policies that led to severe quality and safety problems. In addition, many Native Americans live in rural areas, with relatively few health care providers. Given that COVID-19 has yet to hit many rural communities, public health experts fear the worst is yet to come.

Housing and demographic challenges
The pandemic is also underscoring a severe housing crisis in many tribal communities. Due to a lack of affordable housing, two or three families, often with multigenerational households, may share small homes, which makes social distancing even more difficult. "Those kinds of living conditions, when you introduce a virus like this, could be catastrophic," Kevin Allis, the CEO of the National Congress of American Indians, told Wyoming Public Radio in early April.

Taking action to support Native American communities during the COVID-19 pandemic

Native American activists, including educators, are mobilizing to collect and distribute resources to frontline Native organizations working to address resource gaps and help those highly vulnerable to the virus. In addition, Senate Democrats, in particular Minority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer (NY) and Sen. Tom Udall (NM), have worked hard to ensure that COVID-19 stimulus packages included resources and improvements explicitly intended to meet the unique COVID-19 needs of Native communities. These efforts and resources include:

The NDN COVID-19 Response Project
On April 9, the NDN Collective, an indigenous-led grassroots organization, launched the "NDN #COVID-19 Response project." The project aims to "distribute $10 million across Indian Country to support those on the front lines of this global pandemic." Grants are available to support essential services and relief efforts, including providing medical supplies, food delivery, youth and/or elder care, shelter and housing and more.

Federal Emergency Stimulus Package Relief
An $8 billion Tribal Government Relief Fund, part of the third COVID-19 emergency relief package known as the CARES Act, will help ensure tribes have direct "one-stop" access to COVID-19 resources for economic recovery and and continuation of essential tribal government services. In addition, $2 billion in emergency supplemental funding is available for tribes, urban Indian health programs and Native communities, including $1 billion for the Indian Health Service and $69 million for the Bureau of Indian Education.

Ready to learn more?

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Native Communities Disproportionately Affected by COVID-19 Pandemic - NEA EdJustice

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As the number of COVID-19 cases and deaths continue to rise across the United States, the pandemic is hitting some tribal communities especially hard, underscoring existing health disparities, crowded housing conditions and water access issues that health experts fear could facilitate a devastating spread of the virus among Native Americans.

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While it might not seem like it, COVID-19 shall pass. What remains constant, however, is the need for learning and community resources related to social and racial justice, a statement made all the more relevant in light of the inequities laid bare by the pandemic.

Here are some resources for your students, your community and yourself:

COVID-19 & IMMIGRANT COMMUNITIES COVID-19 doesn't discriminate on race, age, gender, or immigration status. Smart public health and immigration policy responses are critical. NEA's Center for Social Justice has compiled some key questions and answers about how COVID-19 is affecting students, educators, DACA recipients and our schools, as well as additional information and resources.

COVID-19, LGBTQ STUDENTS & DISTANCE LEARNING Recent data support the need for educator action and focus on how to provide a safe and affirming online learning experience for LGBTQ students who are more at risk due to the pandemic. Educators are uniquely positioned to provide support and resources. Learn more.

COVID-19 TAKES HEAVY TOLL ON NATIVE AMERICANS Lack of access to clean water, a higher prevalence of illnesses that contribute to COVID-19 fatalities, inadequate health care and a severe housing crisis are among the factors making COVID-19 especially lethal among Native American communities. Here's more information about efforts and tools to address resource gaps.

STANDING UP TO COVID-19 HATE AND BIAS The rising number of COVID-19 cases has been accompanied by a spike in hate crimes targeting Asian Americans. NEA Ed Justice has compiled a regularly updated list of national and state organizations and governmental agencies where you can report hate or bias incidents related to COVID-19. Some of the reporting forms are in regular and simplified Chinese, Korean, Japanese and Thai.

MISSING, MURDERED NATIVE WOMEN AND GIRLS From 1979-92, homicide was the third-leading cause of death of Indian females aged 15 to 34, and 75 percent were killed by family members or acquaintances. In some tribal communities, murder rates of females are more than 10 times the national average. The National Indigenous Women's Resource Center will host a webinar May 5 to honor missing and murdered Indigenous women, increase national awareness and demand change at the tribal, federal and state levels.

LESSON PLANS FOR WELCOMING SCHOOLS The Human Rights Campaign has released three lesson plans embracing all families, supporting transgender and non-binary students, preventing bias-based bullying and creating LGBTQ and gender inclusive classrooms. The lesson plans, referenced in a webinar, are Design a Welcoming Toy Store, Social Justice Acrostic Poems and What is a Family.

WHY FREDERICK DOUGLASS MATTERS Abolitionist, writer, and civil and women's rights champion, Frederick Douglass shone a piercing light on the horrors and brutality suffered by African American slaves. In "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?," he extolled our young nation's strides toward liberty but bemoaned the "mournful wail of millions! whose chains, heavy and grievous yesterday, are, to-day, rendered more intolerable by the jubilee shouts that reach them." Here are lesson plans, classroom resources and readings.

A NATION OF IMMIGRANTS has played an indispensable role in building the United States, yet the nation has not always welcomed all new arrivals. Its history is marked by periods, like the present one, of hostility, restrictions, repatriation, internment and deportation. Take, for example, the coerced repatriation during The Great Depression of more than a million people of Mexican descent to Mexico; 60 percent were U.S. citizens. Or the relocation and incarceration in concentration camps during World War II of about 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry, the majority of whom were U.S. citizens.

Following are examples of lesson plans and classroom resources on the historical context of immigration, detention, deportations, and reparation:

U.S. Commission on Civil Rights: Trauma at the Border: The Human Cost of Inhumane Immigration Policies
Investigative Report to the U.S. President, Vice President and Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives.

Additional advocacy tools and partner sites:

NEA CONFERENCE ON RACIAL JUSTICE POSTPONED The NEA Conference on Racial and Social Justice, slated for June 30-July 1 in Atlanta, has been postponed in light of COVID-19 restrictions and ongoing health and safety concerns. Stay tuned for additional information in the coming weeks as we reimagine working for the advancement of justice in education under our new reality. Do you have questions? Email them to CRSJ@nea.org.

HAIRSTYLE DISCRIMINATION A growing number of cities, counties and states are making it illegal to discriminate against people based on their natural hairstyle. One popular legislative solution is known as the CROWN Act, Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair. Nevertheless, hairstyle discrimination still occurs, as African Americans and Latinos in schools, workplaces and other settings are subjected to dress codes based on Eurocentric standards of beauty and grooming.

Here's more information:

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Social and racial justice classroom, community resources: COVID-19 & more - NEA EdJustice

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While it might not seem like it, COVID-19 shall pass. What remains constant, however, is the need for learning and community resources related to social and racial justice, a statement made all the more relevant in light of the inequities laid bare by the pandemic.

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Our schools. Our stories. Our future.

No matter our race, background, or zip code, most of us want our neighborhood public schools to inspire imagination, cultivate curiosity and critical thinking, and ensure our children can live fulfilling lives. Students should not have to look much further than their own classes to find mentors or materials with roots in their own community. Ethnic studies draws upon many disciplines to foster cross-cultural understanding. Educators, students and parents are coming together to include voices and stories of the diverse ethnicities that have contributed to the history and culture of the United States to prepare students for understanding and impacting our complex world.

Movement Grows to Require Ethnic Studies in Public High Schools, Despite California Veto
January 22, 2021 A national movement grows
A few large public school districts like Philadelphia and San Francisco created ethnic studies courses before the Arizona ban. But between 2013 and 2018, districts up and down the West Coast like Seattle, Portland, Oakland, Sacramento, Los Angeles and San Diego adopted courses and established departments. In some cases, these school systems made taking ethnic studies classes a graduation requirement.

During the same period, ethnic studies programs and courses also began popping up in Austin, Atlanta, Chicago, Bridgeport, Connecticut and Providence, among other cities.
State legislation
The current struggle in California highlights how K-12 ethnic studies has become a matter of state policy too. Since the 2012 ban in Arizona, nine U.S states- California, Connecticut, Indiana, Nevada, Oregon, Texas, Vermont, Virginia and Washington-and the District of Columbia have passed laws or policies that establish standards, create committees or authorize courses for K-12 ethnic studies specifically, or multicultural history more generally.
READ MORE

Educators push back locally against invisibility of Native Americans in schools
February 25, 2020 By Félix Pérez, photo above of Alaska Native teacher Kristi McEwen with Native dance paraphernalia.
Information about Native Americans is either completely absent from public schools or relegated to brief mentions, inaccurate portrayals or negative stereotypes, concludes a groundbreaking analysis of state efforts to deliver high quality, contemporary and tribally specific educational content about Native peoples into K-12 classrooms.

"The invisibility of Native peoples and the erasure of contemporary Native Americans' contributions, innovations, and accomplishments in K-12 education fuels harmful biases in generation after generation of Americans who grow up learning a false, distorted narrative about Native Americans in most schools," according to the report by the National Congress of American Indians.
READ MORE

Ed Dept. Threat to Middle Eastern Studies Program Deprives Educators, Students, Says Teacher

October 4, 2019
By Félix Pérez

In what is being described as an "overly ideological" overreach that could stifle academic freedom, the U.S. Education Department has threatened to strip the funding of the Duke-University of North Carolina Consortium for Middle Eastern Studies.

Tinisha Shaw, a member of the first cohort of teachers to go through the yearlong program, says the criticism by Betsy DeVos' department that the consortium didn't present enough "positive aspects" of Christianity, Judaism and other religions reflects a lack of understanding of the program.

"Never in one conversation or in any of the sessions - because I am a Christian and my grandmother's a preacher and my momma's a preacher - never, not once, was there anything said against Christianity or Judaism," says Shaw, a 13-year teacher granted a consortium fellowship during the 2016-17 school year along with 20 other teachers from North Carolina. "A lot of times there were even discussions about how Christianity and Judaism and Islam work together," adds the Greensboro educator.
READ MORE

What's in a school name?

More than 100 schools across the country are still named after Confederate leaders, and over a quarter of those have predominately African American student bodies. In many communities, students, educators, parents and community activists are increasingly challenging whether Americans should continue to honor in public places people who fought to perpetuate human slavery.

These efforts gained momentum in the summer of 2017, as pressure mounted in state after state to remove Confederate monuments. Many students and educators took inspiration from these efforts, and began to look at the names of their schools.

In Jackson, Mississippi, a mother and daughter sparked an effort to change a school name from honoring the president of the Confederacy; students voted overwhelmingly to name the school after Barack Obama. In Minneapolis, students are driving an effort to rename Patrick Henry High School, after learning that the school's namesake and revolutionary leader was also a slave owner.

Read More

In some instances, rather than re-naming an existing school, activists have organized to influence the process for naming a new school. In April 2018, the Montgomery County, Md., Board of Education voted to name a new elementary school after Bayard Rustin, a gay African-American activist who worked alongside Martin Luther King, Jr., making the school the first in the state to be named after an openly gay person.
Additional Info:

Maryland Names New School After Gay African-American Civil Rights Activist
NEAEdJustice.org, June 7, 2018

Debate brewing over whether to change the name of Patrick Henry High in Minneapolis
Minneapolis Star-Tribune, April 27, 2018

Inspired by national movement, student organizes school name change campaign
NEAEdJustice.org, January 25, 2018

Daughter and mother spark change in Mississippi school's name: The president of the Confederacy's out and Barack Obama's in
NEAEdJustice.org, November 3, 2017

School honoring Confederate icon to be renamed after Barack Obama
CBS Evening News, October 19, 2017

Whose heritage? A Report on public symbols of the Confederacy
Southern Poverty Law Center

Read Less

Community Campaign Key to Passage of Bill Requiring Ethnic Studies Curriculum in CT High Schools
August 5, 2019
By Michael Blain

All Connecticut high schools will be required to offer an elective course in African American, Puerto Rican and Latino history by 2022 under a bill passed by the state General Assembly and signed into law by Gov. Ned Lamont in June.

Passage of the bill follows months of organizing and mobilizing by students, educators and advocacy groups, including impassioned testimony by more than 200 people at a public hearing in March. The hearing featured testimony from dozens of students; no one testified in opposition.

"This bill is important to me because knowing your history gives importance and a sense of identity and self worth," testified Shane Brooks, a student at the Science & Technology Magnet High School and New London High School in New London, CT. "Going to a public school with a lack of African American studies being taught in the school system made me feel irrelevant and unheard."
READ MORE

EDUCATOR ACTIVISM MAKES THE PROMISE OF ETHNIC STUDIES POLICY A REALITY
By Kate Snyder
One of the great opportunities in education is to find a way to challenge students to critically think about their own experiences and about the experiences of others. One of the main tenets of Ethnic Studies curriculum is to have students understand different systems of oppression, not just race.

"Ethnic Studies and social justice are a critical lens through which we can get a new perspective on history, so we are not doomed to repeat it," said Ivan Viray Santos, who, with his colleagues from the New Haven Unified School District in California, was instrumental in developing high school curriculum for Ethnic Studies Departments, including an Ethnic Studies/Social Justice pathway with some classes available as early as the 7th grade.

Take Action

Building Power in Our Communities

Ready to get active and be the superhero our students deserve in the fight for racial, social and economic justice in public education? Then join the NEA EdJustice League!

Join Us!

Resources

Ethnic Studies Toolkit

Check out the resource toolkit at EthnicStudiesNow.com that was helpful in campaigns to make ethnic studies a graduation requirement at two of the largest school districts in California.

View the Toolkit

1619 Project

Links to the New York Times #1619 Project and related resources to guide discussion around this touchstone journalism.

More Info

Correct(ed)

This series by James W. Loewen, emeritus professor of sociology at the University of Vermont, tackles problems in history that we often teach wrong - and how these are barriers to racial justice.

Read the Series

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Support Ethnic Studies Programs - NEA EdJustice

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Our schools. Our stories. Our future. No matter our race, background, or zip code, most of us want our neighborhood public schools to inspire imagination, cultivate curiosity and critical thinking, and ensure our children can live fulfilling lives. Students should not have to look much further than their own classes to find mentors or materials with roots in their own community.

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By F élix P érez
In what is being described as an "overly ideological" overreach that could stifle academic freedom, the U.S. Education Department hasthreatened to strip the funding of the Duke-University of North Carolina Consortium for Middle Eastern Studies.

Tinisha Shaw, a member of the first cohort of teachers to go through the yearlong program, says the criticism by Betsy DeVos' department that the consortium didn't present enough "positive aspects" of Christianity, Judaism and other religions reflects a lack of understanding of the program.

"Never in one conversation or in any of the sessions - because I am a Christian and my grandmother's a preacher and my momma's a preacher - never, not once, was there anything said against Christianity or Judaism," says Shaw, a 13-year teacher granted a consortium fellowship during the 2016-17 school year along with 20 other teachers from North Carolina. "A lot of times there were even discussions about how Christianity and Judaism and Islam work together," adds the Greensboro educator.

I have a personal connection to the said program that is being targeted. I was a teacher fellow of the UNC and Duke Consortium on Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies. It was the gateway for me becoming the educator that I am today. My world was expanded because of @UNC_CMEIS. https://t.co/1LL1MIQBPk

- Tinisha.Shaw (@TiRoShaw) September 19, 2019

The department's criticism has become a flashpoint among academics who worry about the chilling effect it could have on academic freedom and viewpoint diversity. Others say the dispute reflects the department's "overly ideological tones under [Betsy] DeVos' guidance."
In a letter to the department, UNC's research chiefpushed back against accusations of bias, saying the program has been a longtime leader in Middle Eastern language studies.

For her part, Shaw warns of the loss to educators and students if programs such as the Duke-UNC consortium disappear or change their mission to appease federal officials.

"I think that that would limit the resources and the opportunities that enable teachers to grow and to be better at their craft and to expose our students to so many different things."
Educators, adds Shaw, "need to have opportunities where we can reflect on our practices and reflect on different perspectives in the world. The thought that that is questioned instead of encouraged goes against what it means to be a teacher. Why would you challenge that?"

Asked what she took away from the program, Shaw says, "It really blew the door open for me as an educator, but more than that, just as a person thinking about how I take in certain narratives and perspectives."

Educators "need to have opportunities where we can reflect on our practices and reflect on different perspectives in the world. The thought that that is questioned instead of encouraged goes against what it means to be a teacher. "

The consortium, she continues, not only introduced her to multiple facets of Islam, but it caused her to examine her approach as an educator, historical narratives and teaching practices. "First, I started thinking about the resources that I use in my class. Was I really bringing diversity and nuance to my students? And what was I asking them to do in my class? Am I asking students to really go into depth and have a deeper knowledge? Or am I just kind of guiding them through - 'I am going to need you to know this date, this time and then we're going to move on?' "

Shaw says educators need more, not fewer, programs that question their perceptions. "I had to say to myself, 'If this is what has challenged me, then I need to think about a lot of things.' And I think that's powerful for teachers in particular because we have diverse students come into our classrooms. We need to have opportunities where we can reflect on our practices and reflect on all the different perspectives in the world and not be handed a single story just because we get it from a textbook."

In an op-ed titled "DeVos should leave Duke-UNC program alone," the Greensboro, NC, News & Record, argued, "Duke and UNC have better educational reputations than the Department of Education, which has taken on overly ideological tones under DeVos' guidance. . . And, given the well-known antipathy toward Muslims of her champion, President Trump, we suspect her department is not exactly unbiased in its judgment."
Editorial Note: The U.S. Education Department abruptly announced without explanation Oct. 10 that it will release funding for the Duke-UNC Consortium.

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Ed Dept. Threat to Middle Eastern Studies Program Deprives Educators, Students, Says Teacher - NEA EdJustice

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By Félix Pérez In what is being described as an "overly ideological" overreach that could stifle academic freedom, the U.S. Education Department has threatened to strip the funding of the Duke-University of North Carolina Consortium for Middle Eastern Studies. Tinisha Shaw, a member of the first cohort of teachers to go through the yearlong program, says the criticism ...

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Information about Native Americans is either completely absent from public schools or relegated to brief mentions, inaccurate portrayals or negative stereotypes, concludes a groundbreaking analysis of state efforts to deliver high quality, contemporary and tribally specific educational content about Native peoples into K-12 classrooms.

"The invisibility of Native peoples and the erasure of contemporary Native Americans' contributions, innovations, and accomplishments in K-12 education fuels harmful biases in generation after generation of Americans who grow up learning a false, distorted narrative about Native Americans in most schools," according to the report by the National Congress of American Indians.

Based on a literature review, interviews and a survey of the 35 states with federally recognized tribal nations, analysis results included:

Less than half of the states reported that they require Native American curricula that is specific to tribal nations in their state;

Two-thirds of the 28 states that responded to the survey do not allocate funding for Native American curricula;

Less than half (43 percent) of the states surveyed reported that Native American curriculum is required to be taught in K-12 schools; and

Two-thirds of states stated they receive no funding to implement Native American curricula.

"I came straight from the village, with a very heavy native accent and a strong sense of cultural identity. In the new school, I did not see a single teacher or person of Alaska Native descent."

- Kristi McEwen
Alaska Native teacher

Fairbanks, Alaska, elementary school teacher Kristi McEwen, was not surprised at the report's findings. McEwen, a Yup'ik, recalled the culture shock she underwent when she moved as a child from a predominantly Yup'ik school in Bethel, a village, to a school in Fairbanks, the state's second-largest city.

"When I was a kid, our village was mostly Alaskan Natives, mostly Yup'ik people. My classmates were mostly Native Alaskan students. Every week we'd have Yup'ik class, which was taught by an Alaska Native teacher. My grandmother worked in the kitchen, and she was a baker, and our lunch was homemade food. There was never a feeling of not belonging," she said.

"I came straight from the village, with a very heavy native accent and a strong sense of cultural identity. In the new school, I did not see a single teacher or person of Alaska Native descent in my school," she continued.

"In Yup'ik culture, the community comes first. It's very group minded. The skills that you're developing are skill sets that will benefit the group, the whole. In western culture, it's very individualized, and it's very self-promoting. To be successful you have to have that strong drive to promote yourself. You know, lots of independent work, lots of standing up and doing reports in front of the whole class. And for an Alaskan Native student, that can be very, very scary because that is not a part of your culture."

Another educator, Danielle Riha, the 2019 Alaska Teacher of the Year, knows all too well the lack of a curriculum that incorporates a contemporary and accurate view of the Indigenous people of Alaska. Her response: "I helped write the curriculum for seventh and eighth grade, and for our whole school," said Riha, who helped to develop and open the Alaska Native Cultural Charter School in Anchorage, a public charter school.

Riha, a Texas native, first encountered the absence of culturally relevant curriculum when she began teaching 19 years ago in a remote subsistence community in rural Alaska. There, she said, she learned the value of culturally responsive teaching that incorporates indigenous knowledge. She developed a reading program that included Yup'ik elders in the classroom. "I just put away the boxed curriculums, and brought elders into the classroom to teach oral storytelling. That's how I taught the elements of literature, through oral stories.

"I just put away the boxed curriculums, and brought elders into the classroom to teach oral storytelling. That's how I taught the elements of literature, through oral stories."

- Danielle Riha
2019 Alaska Teacher of the year

"What drove me to do that was that we were reading stories and doing math problems and word problems about things that my students had never experienced. For instance, the kids had never seen or been on an elevator or an escalator. They didn't know what a curb was, or a screen door. And I didn't have an internet link to show them."

The result, recalled Riha, was seeing students "completely checked out. They weren't connected to the curriculum. They didn't see themselves in the curriculum. Their history was not in our books. Their history was not being taught to them. It made it seem like they didn't have any value."

The title of the National Congress of American Indians' report, "Becoming Visible," has a particular resonance for Jeremy Rouse, an achievement gap intervention specialist for Spokane, Wash., schools, where more than 126 tribes are represented.

A member of the Ihanktonwan Nakota tribe in South Dakota, Rouse recounted his experience as a student.

"I remember in 11 th grade having an argument with my social studies teacher because we had been studying the Civil War and we had gotten behind in the unit. So he was just going to skip over the westward expansion period of time.

"I think those kind of experiences have a deep, deep impact on our students in a way that they aren't even necessarily aware of. They're always surrounded by all these false images of who Native people are. That isn't reflective of who they are, and they think that somehow the fault lies with them that they don't look Native enough, or that they haven't been to their homelands, or they don't speak their language."

He continued, "People don't mean it in a negative way, but when a student shares that they're Native, and a teacher looks - you know there's a face they kind of make, like how they turn their head a little bit - 'Oh I didn't know you were Native' or 'Oh I didn't know they were Native.' " And that seems innocent enough, but what that is loaded with is that they have a stereotype in their head of what a Native person is.

"They're always surrounded by all these false images of who Native people are. That isn't reflective of who they are, and they think that somehow the fault lies with them..."

- Jeremy Rouse
Achievement gap intervention specialist
Spokane, Wash.

"Contemporary Native people aren't just long black hair, high cheekbones, and brown skin. Native people come in all shapes. And those stereotypes cause a lot of struggle with our students in terms of figuring out who they are."

To counteract the negative images, Rouse, like fellow McEwen and Riha, looks for ways to celebrate and value students' culture. One example he points to is a yearly dinner open to Native and non-Native students, their families and the community.

'We do it intentionally the week before Thanksgiving. We just had our fourth one. The idea is to put forward foods that are indigenous to this continent, foods that are pre-European expansion."

Rouse added, "We don't have beef or poultry. We only use natural sweeteners, very, very little salt. Every year I have to explain there's not going to be frybread, because the origin of frybread comes from when we didn't have access to traditional hunting and gathering, and agricultural practices, and we were reliant on the government food rations.

"So a big part of the dinner is breaking those stereotypes. The students drum, and we offer a prayer. It causes them to rethink their ideas about Native people and what Native foods are. And it exposes kids - especially these kids who are living in an urban environment, who don't have access to their homeland, or haven't been to their homelands, or have severed connections with their culture for a number of reasons - to really doing something hands-on that connects them to their history and their culture, and causes them to think about, 'Where do I come from?'

"Also, I always try to get the kids out to do some gathering too, because that's where a lot of the learning happens. The community partners will donate elk and moose and bison and salmon and squash.

"It's been really important to me to have it at the school. We really indigenize that space, dictated by our own culture and our own norms. Even if it's just for a few hours, those students see it, know that the space belongs to them."

The extraordinary efforts taken by educators such as Rouse, McEwen and Riha to connect their students to their culture through the curriculum, their history, their contributions and their traditions have made a difference. But as the "Becoming Visible" report points out, "Even though some exceptional efforts are happening around the country to bring accurate, culturally responsive, tribally specific, and contemporary content about Native Americans into mainstream education systems, much works remains to be done."

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Educators push back locally against invisibility of Native Americans in schools - NEA EdJustice

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By Félix Pérez, photo above of Alaska Native teacher Kristi McEwen with Native dance paraphernalia. Information about Native Americans is either completely absent from public schools or relegated to brief mentions, inaccurate portrayals or negative stereotypes, concludes a groundbreaking analysis of state efforts to deliver high quality, contemporary and tribally specific educational content about Native ...

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Our schools. Our stories. Our future.

No matter our race, background, or zip code, most of us want our neighborhood public schools to inspire imagination, cultivate curiosity and critical thinking, and ensure our children can live fulfilling lives. Students should not have to look much further than their own classes to find mentors or materials with roots in their own community. Ethnic studies draws upon many disciplines to foster cross-cultural understanding. Educators, students and parents are coming together to include voices and stories of the diverse ethnicities that have contributed to the history and culture of the United States to prepare students for understanding and impacting our complex world.

Movement Grows to Require Ethnic Studies in Public High Schools, Despite California Veto
January 22, 2021 A national movement grows
A few large public school districts like Philadelphia and San Francisco created ethnic studies courses before the Arizona ban. But between 2013 and 2018, districts up and down the West Coast like Seattle, Portland, Oakland, Sacramento, Los Angeles and San Diego adopted courses and established departments. In some cases, these school systems made taking ethnic studies classes a graduation requirement.

During the same period, ethnic studies programs and courses also began popping up in Austin, Atlanta, Chicago, Bridgeport, Connecticut and Providence, among other cities.
State legislation
The current struggle in California highlights how K-12 ethnic studies has become a matter of state policy too. Since the 2012 ban in Arizona, nine U.S states- California, Connecticut, Indiana, Nevada, Oregon, Texas, Vermont, Virginia and Washington-and the District of Columbia have passed laws or policies that establish standards, create committees or authorize courses for K-12 ethnic studies specifically, or multicultural history more generally.
READ MORE

Educators push back locally against invisibility of Native Americans in schools
February 25, 2020 By Félix Pérez, photo above of Alaska Native teacher Kristi McEwen with Native dance paraphernalia.
Information about Native Americans is either completely absent from public schools or relegated to brief mentions, inaccurate portrayals or negative stereotypes, concludes a groundbreaking analysis of state efforts to deliver high quality, contemporary and tribally specific educational content about Native peoples into K-12 classrooms.

"The invisibility of Native peoples and the erasure of contemporary Native Americans' contributions, innovations, and accomplishments in K-12 education fuels harmful biases in generation after generation of Americans who grow up learning a false, distorted narrative about Native Americans in most schools," according to the report by the National Congress of American Indians.
READ MORE

Ed Dept. Threat to Middle Eastern Studies Program Deprives Educators, Students, Says Teacher

October 4, 2019
By Félix Pérez

In what is being described as an "overly ideological" overreach that could stifle academic freedom, the U.S. Education Department has threatened to strip the funding of the Duke-University of North Carolina Consortium for Middle Eastern Studies.

Tinisha Shaw, a member of the first cohort of teachers to go through the yearlong program, says the criticism by Betsy DeVos' department that the consortium didn't present enough "positive aspects" of Christianity, Judaism and other religions reflects a lack of understanding of the program.

"Never in one conversation or in any of the sessions - because I am a Christian and my grandmother's a preacher and my momma's a preacher - never, not once, was there anything said against Christianity or Judaism," says Shaw, a 13-year teacher granted a consortium fellowship during the 2016-17 school year along with 20 other teachers from North Carolina. "A lot of times there were even discussions about how Christianity and Judaism and Islam work together," adds the Greensboro educator.
READ MORE

What's in a school name?

More than 100 schools across the country are still named after Confederate leaders, and over a quarter of those have predominately African American student bodies. In many communities, students, educators, parents and community activists are increasingly challenging whether Americans should continue to honor in public places people who fought to perpetuate human slavery.

These efforts gained momentum in the summer of 2017, as pressure mounted in state after state to remove Confederate monuments. Many students and educators took inspiration from these efforts, and began to look at the names of their schools.

In Jackson, Mississippi, a mother and daughter sparked an effort to change a school name from honoring the president of the Confederacy; students voted overwhelmingly to name the school after Barack Obama. In Minneapolis, students are driving an effort to rename Patrick Henry High School, after learning that the school's namesake and revolutionary leader was also a slave owner.

Read More

In some instances, rather than re-naming an existing school, activists have organized to influence the process for naming a new school. In April 2018, the Montgomery County, Md., Board of Education voted to name a new elementary school after Bayard Rustin, a gay African-American activist who worked alongside Martin Luther King, Jr., making the school the first in the state to be named after an openly gay person.
Additional Info:

Maryland Names New School After Gay African-American Civil Rights Activist
NEAEdJustice.org, June 7, 2018

Debate brewing over whether to change the name of Patrick Henry High in Minneapolis
Minneapolis Star-Tribune, April 27, 2018

Inspired by national movement, student organizes school name change campaign
NEAEdJustice.org, January 25, 2018

Daughter and mother spark change in Mississippi school's name: The president of the Confederacy's out and Barack Obama's in
NEAEdJustice.org, November 3, 2017

School honoring Confederate icon to be renamed after Barack Obama
CBS Evening News, October 19, 2017

Whose heritage? A Report on public symbols of the Confederacy
Southern Poverty Law Center

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Community Campaign Key to Passage of Bill Requiring Ethnic Studies Curriculum in CT High Schools
August 5, 2019
By Michael Blain

All Connecticut high schools will be required to offer an elective course in African American, Puerto Rican and Latino history by 2022 under a bill passed by the state General Assembly and signed into law by Gov. Ned Lamont in June.

Passage of the bill follows months of organizing and mobilizing by students, educators and advocacy groups, including impassioned testimony by more than 200 people at a public hearing in March. The hearing featured testimony from dozens of students; no one testified in opposition.

"This bill is important to me because knowing your history gives importance and a sense of identity and self worth," testified Shane Brooks, a student at the Science & Technology Magnet High School and New London High School in New London, CT. "Going to a public school with a lack of African American studies being taught in the school system made me feel irrelevant and unheard."
READ MORE

EDUCATOR ACTIVISM MAKES THE PROMISE OF ETHNIC STUDIES POLICY A REALITY
By Kate Snyder
One of the great opportunities in education is to find a way to challenge students to critically think about their own experiences and about the experiences of others. One of the main tenets of Ethnic Studies curriculum is to have students understand different systems of oppression, not just race.

"Ethnic Studies and social justice are a critical lens through which we can get a new perspective on history, so we are not doomed to repeat it," said Ivan Viray Santos, who, with his colleagues from the New Haven Unified School District in California, was instrumental in developing high school curriculum for Ethnic Studies Departments, including an Ethnic Studies/Social Justice pathway with some classes available as early as the 7th grade.

Take Action

Building Power in Our Communities

Ready to get active and be the superhero our students deserve in the fight for racial, social and economic justice in public education? Then join the NEA EdJustice League!

Join Us!

Resources

Ethnic Studies Toolkit

Check out the resource toolkit at EthnicStudiesNow.com that was helpful in campaigns to make ethnic studies a graduation requirement at two of the largest school districts in California.

View the Toolkit

1619 Project

Links to the New York Times #1619 Project and related resources to guide discussion around this touchstone journalism.

More Info

Correct(ed)

This series by James W. Loewen, emeritus professor of sociology at the University of Vermont, tackles problems in history that we often teach wrong - and how these are barriers to racial justice.

Read the Series

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Support Ethnic Studies Programs - NEA EdJustice

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Our schools. Our stories. Our future. No matter our race, background, or zip code, most of us want our neighborhood public schools to inspire imagination, cultivate curiosity and critical thinking, and ensure our children can live fulfilling lives. Students should not have to look much further than their own classes to find mentors or materials with roots in their own community.

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Jacqueline Novogratz: Inspiring a life of immersion

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We each want to live a life of purpose, but where to start? In this luminous, wide-ranging talk, Jacqueline Novogratz introduces us to people she's met in her work in "patient capital" -- people who have immersed themselves in a cause, a community, a passion for justice.

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Youth Trailblazers Leading the Way to Social Justice

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Having started the Seattle Youth Trailblazers Movement and gains enormous success, Theresa shares the practical steps she took, challenges she faced, and outcomes she produced in her TEDx talk. Her passionate talk encourages youths to become agents of change and motivate educators to provide that platform.

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Radical Social Justice Education Through High Fives

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Athletics is the perfect place to practice radical social justice education. It is critical coaches, staff members, and administrators learn to work with student-athletes on uncomfortable topics such as identity and understanding their biases. The student-athlete setting is consistently a diverse environment, and addressing inclusion is necessary to improve the student-athlete experience and their well-being.

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How to Go Beyond Diversity and Inclusion to Community and Belonging | E'Ula Green | TEDxOU

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How to Outsmart Your Own Unconscious Bias | Valerie Alexander | TEDxPasadena

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On Diversity: Access Ain’t Inclusion | Anthony Jack | TEDxCambridge

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From Empathy to Equity - The ebb and flow of reciprocal leadership | Ebony Green | TEDxNewburgh

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Lets stop talking about diversity and start working towards equity  | Paloma Medina | TEDxPortland

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Are you biased? I am | Kristen Pressner | TEDxBasel

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The NEA was founded on the belief that every student deserves a great public education. But in too many communities, years of systemic racism and unconscious bias have limited opportunities for many students and contributed to a growing education gap.

In response, NEA's Center for Social Justice has created a professional development program designed to help educators identify and correct explicit and implicit discrimination in their classrooms. Student-centered, research-based, and educator-driven, our trainings and resources are helping educators across the country adjust their practice to better serve students from diverse cultural and ethnic backgrounds, promoting racial and social justice in their communities.

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Every student deserves a safe, welcoming, affirming learning environment. We provide the tools for educators to make it happen.

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Implicit Bias -- how it effects us and how we push through | Melanie Funchess | TEDxFlourCity

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Let's get to the root of racial injustice | Megan Ming Francis | TEDxRainier

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The systemic inequities that are laid bare by COVID-19 increase the stressors on our students, our families and the most vulnerable in our communities. As we organize together for a better tomorrow, we are sharing ways that educators and allies are addressing the challenges and keeping us connected and caring for each other.

School Reopening: Ensuring Safe, Just and Healthy Learning

If we're serious about making sure every child can learn safely and pursue their dreams during this pandemic and beyond, let's get serious about doing what works. As the COVID 19 pandemic continues to intensify, parents, educators, and communities are waiting to see how schools will be able to reopen safely this fall.

By joining together across race and ZIP code, we can rewrite the rules to ensure that school districts are asking the right questions and ensuring that no matter where students are learning this year that every school has the materials, up-to-date strategies, healthy meals and emotional support to set kids up to be all that they dream.

Black Communities on the Frontlines: The Inequality Crisis and COVID

How states, localities and educators are responding

Across the United States, the coronavirus pandemic is hitting many Black communities especially hard, revealing a stunning difference in the COVID-19 death rate of Black Americans and the rest of the country. Consistently, evidence shows that our society fails to protect and nurture Black people the way it cares for others.

Educators, advocates and community members are mobilizing to pressure elected officials and government agencies to acknowledge and address these disparities.

Native Communities Disproportionately Affected by COVID-19 Pandemic

As the number of COVID-19 cases and deaths continue to rise across the United States, the pandemic is hitting some tribal communities especially hard, underscoring existing health disparities, crowded housing conditions and water access issues that health experts fear could facilitate a devastating spread of the virus among Native Americans.

The virus has already hit the Navajo Nation especially hard, with more than 830 cases and 30 deaths as of April 21. In New Mexico, where Native Americans now make up more than 30 percent of the state's COVID-19 cases, two pueblos of the Zuni Nation have some of the highest infection rates in the United States.

COVID-19 & Immigrant Communities: Your Questions Answered

Every significant immigration issue that might affect students or educators, from DACA renewals to federal support of immigrant workers and their families, is impacted by the current COVID-19 pandemic. At the same time, more than 200,000 DACA recipients - including nearly 15,000 educators and 29,000 health care workers - are working to protect our health and safety, ship critical products, staff grocery stores and ensure children are still being educated.

As the federal government and states come together to protect all communities struggling with the pandemic, smart public health and immigration policy responses are critical. Below are some key questions and answers about how COVID-19 is impacting students, educators, and our schools, as well as links to additional information and resources.

In Response to COVID-19: A Checklist to Support LGBTQ Students During Distance Learning

During the COVID-19 quarantine, educators across the country are learning how to continue to provide a safe and affirming experience for LGBTQ students via distance learning. Recent data supports the need for educator action and focus:

67% of LGBTQ students hear their families make negative comments about LGBTQ people.

While some students are open about their LGBTQ identity at school, only 21% are out at home.

Privacy and confidentiality are critically important for LGBTQ youth, especially for those who do not have supportive families. Extreme rejecting behaviors can have dire consequences: Approximately 40% of the homeless youth population in the United States identify as LGBTQ, most as a result of rejection by immediate family members.

Additionally, LGBTQ youth of color often face additional stress and adverse impacts on their health and well-being as a result of bias around their intersecting identities.

Community groups allied with educators adapt in COVID-19 reality
By Félix Pérez
Black, Latino, Indigenous and low-income communities have been hit especially hard by COVID -19, laying bare a host of longstanding structural and institutional inequities. But physical distancing and other COVID-related restrictions are not stopping local groups allied with educators from organizing and improvising in their communities.

"The COVID-19 pandemic has really shown the importance of schools as vital hubs for our students and families. They're the social and emotional centers of our communities," said Keith Brown, a middle school teacher and president of the Oakland Education Association in California. OEA members have made videos for parents and translated them into multiple languages, as well as created a curriculum on how to do wellness checks on students and families.

Take Action

Building Power in Our Communities

Ready to get active and be the superhero our students deserve in the fight for racial, social and economic justice in public education? Then join the NEA EdJustice League!

JOIN US!

Resources

LGBTQ Youth

From the Human Rights Campaign: Resources for school counselors on supporting LGBTQ youth during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Read More

Sick Days & Paid Leave

Information from the National Women's Law Center on expanding paid sick days and paid family & medical leave in response to COVID-19.

View the PDF

Immigrants

From the National Immigrant Law Center: State and local advocacy for an immigrant-inclusive response to the COVID-19 crisis.

Learn More

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COVID-19 & Our Communities - NEA EdJustice

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The systemic inequities that are laid bare by COVID-19 increase the stressors on our students, our families and the most vulnerable in our communities. As we organize together for a better tomorrow, we are sharing ways that educators and allies are addressing the challenges and keeping us connected and caring for each other.

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No matter where we come from, what our color, or how we worship, most of us work hard for our families. But today, certain politicians are trying to distract us from their failure to address our hard times by pointing the finger at new immigrants. These politicians support overly harsh policies that harm all of us by criminalizing families for wanting safety and a better future. We are joining together with people across racial differences to demand fair and safe immigration processes for all families, just like we won civil rights in our past. We can make this a place that honors all families, no exceptions.

EDUCATORS SHARE INFORMATION AND RESOURCES WITH THEIR COMMUNITIES

All students have the right to a free public K-12 education in this country regardless of their immigration status. NEA is actively engaged in numerous efforts to protect and advance that right and to ensure that all schools provide a welcoming and supportive environment to their entire school community. In recent months, many NEA members have been approached by students who are anxious about the termination of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and aggressive immigration enforcement.

Read the full advisory for NEA members, on legal parameters for educators to consider in safely and effectively advocating for immigrant students' rights.

In addition, the NEA, together with Education-Austin, has developed a PowerPoint training for educators that details how we can support immigrant students and their families:

Read More

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Do Not Punish Innocent Children

Immigration issues are complicated. But some things are simple. Since the beginning of the immigration debate, the National Education Association has fought for a framework that has to include three simple things:

Do not punish children for decisions they didn't make.

Do not separate families.

Provide a trusted path to citizenship for immigrant Dreamers.

The Center for American Progress released an issue brief in July 2018 detailing how Trump's family detention plans would be detrimental to children's mental, physical, and emotional health. As we continue to see the chaotic and slow reunifications of young children with their parents, this analysis makes it clear that "detention centers are not suitable or humane places for parents to care for their children."

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RELATED NEWS:

4 Ways that the Trump Administration has targeted immigrant children during COVID-19
First Focus on Children, Sept. 15, 2020

Lawyers say they can't find the parents of 545 migrant children separated by Trump administration
NBC, Oct. 20, 2020

Hundreds of separated children not reunited by court-ordered deadline CNN. July 27, 2018

Government scrambles to reunite immigrant children as deadline passes
NBC, July 27, 2018

The new US policy of separating immigrant children from their parents has chilling historical echoes
Vox.com. June 4, 2018

The Daily 202: Cops are called when a senator tries to see kids taken from their immigrant parents
Washington Post. June 4, 2018

Detention of Immigrant Children
Pediatrics, March 2017

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Historic teach-in to end Trump's incarceration of immigrant children energizes teachers
By Félix Pérez
Sarahí Monterrey's daughters felt unsettled about the trip that would take their mom 1,600 miles from them and their daily routines together. Monterrey comforted them by counting aloud - "one, two" - the number of nights before she returned.

"Mommy's going to help and be a voice for children," she explained.

Reassurances to her children aside, Monterrey, the 2019 Wisconsin Teacher of the Year, was not quite sure what to expect at last month's national teach-in in El Paso, Texas. But when she met another teacher on her outbound flight to the daylong event, the chance run-in reinforced her decision.

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The goal of Monterrey, other Teachers of the Year, fellow educators, community leaders, and students is to raise awareness and demand an end to the Trump administration's incarceration of more than 11,000 immigrant toddlers, children, and teens, some as young as 5 months old. The event was organized by Teachers Against Child Detention, a group founded by Mandy Manning, the 2018 National Teacher of the Year.

There have been more than 4,500 complaints from October 2014 to July 2018 about sexual abuse of incarcerated immigrant children by adult staff, including fondling, kissing, and rape, the U.S. Justice Department revealed last week. The complaints spiked when the Trump administration hastily introduced its "zero tolerance" policy of separating migrant families at the border.

In December, two children - a 7-year-old girl and an 8-year-old boy - died from illness while detained.

Monterrey, an English Learner teacher at Waukesha North High School, gathered with the other educators on a mostly sunny and brisk day less than half a mile from the U.S.-Mexico border. They took turns delivering lesson blocks related to immigration and immigrant children, including one about long-lasting emotional trauma caused by incarceration and family separation.

Monterrey said:

"To feel the energy, the camaraderie that day, was very powerful. It wasn't a protest, it wasn't a march. It was an opportunity to educate others."

Monterrey added, "I am very passionate that we as educators can be a voice. It's in our DNA. If not us, then who?"

During her lesson block at the teach-in, Monterrey recounted her experience coming to the United States from El Salvador as a young child. She drew upon an incident that occurred this past summer with her 5-year-old at a local pool to underscore the harm inflicted on separated children. "I went to get a towel and could see the panic in her eyes when she turned around and didn't see me. That was one split second that my daughter was separated from me. I can't imagine what these children are feeling who are separated from their families for months."

Monterrey used her trip as an opportunity to engage the female students in a club she created at her school called Girl Talk. They collected books to donate to children in detention centers. The students wrote an inspirational note for each book.

For Monterrey and the others involved in the teach-in, each is determined to continue to raise awareness and serve as advocates in their schools and communities until detained immigrant children are no longer exposed to conditions that harm and traumatize them. Among the changes they seek:

The U.S. government must never separate children from their parents.

Immigrant children must receive at least six hours of language-appropriate classroom instruction every school day.

Detention centers must be open to visits by doctors, teachers, social workers, clergy, and other children's advocates.

Monterrey said her students, friends, and community "have been so supportive and eager" to learn about her teach-in experience. She sees those types of conversations - in schools, churches, communities and among families in town after town - as crucial in dispelling inaccurate information and seeing immigrant children "no differently than our children, our students."
Are you ready to help put an end to the incarceration of immigrant children and family separations? Become a member the NEA EdJustice League, a rapid response text program where we organize to win. RELATED NEWS:

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Educators step up their defense of students as immigration raids escalate
By Kate Snyder
Immigrant students and their families are confronting a variety of challenges as raids across the country by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement not only escalate but place a greater focus on non-criminals. To help educators develop strategies to advocate for these students, the Tennessee Education Association recently hosted a racial justice training.

NEA EdJustice had the opportunity to talk to Genny Petschulat, a training participant and kindergarten teacher in the Metro-Nashville area, about the current climate for immigrants, the role of educators as advocates, and how trainings help support the resistance efforts.

EdJustice: Since January ICE raids have increased nationwide. Nashville was in the news recently for a related reason. Can you tell us about the situation?

Genny: In Nashville a climate of fear has taken hold in many of our communities. We are home of the nation's largest Kurdish population, as well as sizable numbers from other countries such as Somalia, Sudan, Egypt, Eretria, Bhutan, Iraq, Mexico, Honduras and dozens and dozens of other countries.
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U.S. has moral obligation to protect beneficiaries of Temporary Protected Status

In January 2018, the Trump administration announced its reckless decision to terminate Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for about 200,000 Salvadorans, effectively putting at risk of deportation thousands of families who have legally worked and resided in the United States for decades.

TPS allows immigrants from other countries to live and work in the United States due to war or natural disasters in their home countries. The Trump administration ended TPS protection for Haitian and Nicaraguan immigrants in November 2017.

Many Salvadorans fled during the country's decade-long civil war, which saw deliberate terrorizing of civilians by "death squads," targeted executions, and widespread violations of human rights - most perpetrated by the US-backed and supplied Salvadoran military.

"Those who benefit from the TPS program are our friends, neighbors, and, yes, our students. They fled some of the world's most dangerous places and survived some of the worst natural disasters," said NEA President Lily Eskelsen García. "They deserve the protection and the ability to stay in our country and continue to contribute to our nation's economic well-being."

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RELATED NEWS AND RESOURCES:

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Take Action

Incarceration of Immigrant Children

Pledge to call on the U.S. government to end the detention and criminalization of immigrant children and their families!

Sign the Pledge

Resources

Tools for Educators

Resources include a PowerPoint training for educators seeking to support immigrant students and their families, and a series of NEA "Know Your Rights" guides on DACA, schools and immigration.

Learn More

Safe Zone Schools

Find out how to make your schools and school districts Safe Zones for immigrant students. View an interactive map to see which school districts have passed or are considering Safe Zones policies.

Put Your School District on the Map

ACLU: 'We Have Rights'

The ACLU has a series of videos based on true stories offering advice on what to do when ICE is outside our doors, in our homes, stops us in our communities, and/or arrests us.

Watch the Videos

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Families Belong Together - NEA EdJustice

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No matter where we come from, what our color, or how we worship, most of us work hard for our families. But today, certain politicians are trying to distract us from their failure to address our hard times by pointing the finger at new immigrants.

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During the COVID-19 quarantine, educators across the country are learning how to continue to provide a safe and affirming experience for LGBTQ students via distance learning. Recent data supports the need for educator action and focus:

67% of LGBTQ students hear their families make negative comments about LGBTQ people.

While some students are open about their LGBTQ identity at school, only 21% are out at home.

Privacy and confidentiality are critically important for LGBTQ youth, especially for those who do not have supportive families. Extreme rejecting behaviors can have dire consequences: Approximately 40% of the homeless youth population in the United States identify as LGBTQ, most as a result of rejection by immediate family members.

Additionally, LGBTQ youth of color often face additional stress and adverse impacts on their health and well-being as a result of bias around their intersecting identities.

Educators are uniquely positioned to provide support and resources to LGBTQ students who are now more at risk due to the pandemic.

Educators are uniquely positioned to provide support and resources to LGBTQ students who are now more at risk due to the pandemic. NEA EdJustice and HRC Foundation's Welcoming Schools have joined together to offer a checklist and resources to help educators and allies navigate how to best support LGBTQ students as schools make this unprecedented pivot to distance learning.

Maintaining inclusivity and safe spaces for LGBTQ students is more important than ever during this period of emergency online learning.

Ask yourself how you are supporting LGBTQ students today:

Does your virtual classroom include visible signs, like Zoom backgrounds or posters, showing that you are LGBTQ affirming?

Are you normalizing pronoun sharing by sharing your pronouns, verbally, or by adding your pronouns to your name on your virtual platform if you have the option? Are you creating spaces for students to share their pronouns?

Are you establishing trust with LGBTQ students by using gender-inclusive and non-heteronormative language such as "students" instead of "boys and girls" and "family" or "caring adult" instead of "mom and dad"?

Can you confirm a private, virtual connection with an LGBTQ student that is not supported at home, so you can check-in with them about their family dynamic and brainstorm self-care strategies?

Have you addressed the greater risk for LGBTQ cyberbullying - as students overall spend more time online during this period of social isolation - by utilizing teachable moments to not only stop negative anti-LGBTQ language and behavior, but also to educate about LGBTQ terminology, history, and current events?

With LGBTQ drop-in centers closed and LGBTQ student clubs (i.e. GSA's) no longer in session, are you sharing direct, online LGBTQ resources with your students that provide affirming support and connection for LGBTQ youth in virtual settings day or night - including the Trevor Project which offers 24-hours-a-day, 365-days-a-year confidential and online support for LGBTQ youth?

Ready to learn more?

Visit Human Rights Campaign, for more resources on how COVID-19 impacts LGBTQ Communities.
Join us at NEAEdJustice.org to get active in the movement for racial and social justice in education and to find more ways to support LGBTQ youth and address hate and bias.

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In Response to COVID-19: A Checklist to Support LGBTQ Students During Distance Learning - NEA EdJustice

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During the COVID-19 quarantine, educators across the country are learning how to continue to provide a safe and affirming experience for LGBTQ students via distance learning. Recent data supports the need for educator action and focus: According to HRC's 2018 LGBTQ Youth Report: 67% of LGBTQ students hear their families make negative comments about LGBTQ ...

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On June 15, 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court announced that LGBTQ employees - including all LGBTQ educators - are protected under federal law from discrimination at work based on sexual orientation or gender identity.
View video of the "Why the LGBTQ Supreme Court Decision is so Historic" webinar with NEA Senior Counsel Eric Harrington:

Q&A: Momentous Supreme Court Decision Supports LGBTQ Rights
This Q&A addresses key questions about the decision, its consequences, and how we can work to guarantee full LGBTQ equality.
Model school board resolution FACEBOOK WATCH: The LGBTQ Education Town Hall

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Pride Wins: LGBTQ Rights Victory Resources - NEA EdJustice

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On June 15, 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court announced that LGBTQ employees - including all LGBTQ educators - are protected under federal law from discrimination at work based on sexual orientation or gender identity. View video of the "Why the LGBTQ Supreme Court Decision is so Historic" webinar with NEA Senior Counsel Eric Harrington: Q&A: ...

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Balancing appropriate discipline with school safety, classroom effectiveness, and positive outcomes for students is a daunting task for teachers and administrators everywhere. Many schools continue to rely on exclusionary discipline, removing students from the classroom through suspension or expulsion for various innfractions. The damaging long-lasting effects of "zero tolerance" has gotten more attention over the past few years, sparking a movement among many schools to move away from these practices and focus more on social-emotional learning, restorative practices, and positive behavioral interventions.

The Center for Promise, the research institute of America's Promise Alliance, recently analyzed how and why students become disconnected from school after facing harsh disciplinary action. The findings can be found in a new report, Disciplined and Disconnected: How Students Experience Exclusionary Discipline in Minnesota and the Promise of Non-Exclusionary Alternatives.

"The reality is that exclusionary discipline practices do not make schools more conducive to learning, do not help improve student behavior, and do not make schools safer. But these practices do force youth off-track," says Dr. Jonathan Zaff, executive director of the Center for Promise.

The Center studied three school districts in Minnesota that had previously relied on suspensions and expulsions, interviewing 38 middle and high school students who had experienced these exclusionary practices. What the researchers found was that kids wanted to be engaged in school, but felt that the administration and penalization methods inhibited them from doing so.

"When students don't feel heard or understood, that leads them to check out and disconnect not only from school, but their future. That is a terrible and unnecessary result," explained John Gomperts, president and CEO of America's Promise

Students who faced exclusionary treatment, the study found, felt silenced, undervalued, and misunderstood.

"All you got to do is get suspended one time and you're labeled," said one student interviewed for the study. "I see it, like they follow the same kids around, like everybody knows, hey, those are the bad kids...."

Another student commented, "It's really dumb, 'cause my grades dropped because of it. I missed a lot of school. It was really stupid, and it didn't even happen during school... They didn't give me any of my work... I got suspended on finals. I didn't get to take them..."

When students don't feel heard or understood, that leads them to check out and disconnect not only from school, but their future. That is a terrible and unnecessary result."

In analyzing student and administrators' thoughts on the matter, the Center concluded that kids who were suspended or expelled were more likely to drop out and disconnect from their education for three reasons: the true root of the problem was not addressed, their learning was interrupted, or the students did not feel valued or connected to their school community. Additionally, students of color are disproportionally targeted by the exclusionary practices.

To reform their disciplinary system, the Minnesota districts decided to listen to students' perspectives on discipline, make sure they know their rights and school rules, build trust between administrations and family, provide opportunities for students to make academic progress while disciplined, and invest more in research on non-exclusionary discipline.

As in many other districts across the nation, the communities in Minnesota found that students were being suspended for infractions that were not serious enough to warrant harsh discipline.

"Not only have suspensions and expulsions been disproportionately applied in Minnesota, but nearly half of suspensions and exclusions in schools are for minor, non-violent student behaviors that did not endanger others," said GradMinnesota Director Alexis Goffe of the Minnesota Alliance With Youth. "What we've learned is that, without clear and objective standards, students may be subject to individual school personnel biases about what constitutes disruption."

The National Education Association is a vocal proponent of improving disciplinary policies and has promoted bringing restorative justice programs to more schools. At the 2016 NEA Representative Assembly, educators approved a policy statement calling for a campaign of awareness and advocacy to address and end the school-to-prison pipeline.

In 2016, Dallas-NEA worked with the Dallas school districts to implement restorative programs in six of the schools across the city. They used methods like "circling,"which brings students and teachers together to discuss behavioral problems and lets the kids explain themselves and be heard.

Dallas educators found that when students feel heard, they are more likely to abide by the rules and engage in their learning process.

"This effort has focused on students building relationships with teachers in the hopes that in these relationships, problems can be addressed and solved before they become bigger issues" says David Griffin, a teacher in Dallas.

In Dallas, the rates of in school suspension dropped by 70%.

School districts across the country are following suit, turning to restorative justice and other programs that foster understanding and communication over excluding students from classrooms.

"If we want more students to stay on a path to graduation," says John Gomperts, "schools should consider a non-exclusionary approach to their discipline practices and policies to make sure they're not doing more harm than good."

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How Exclusionary Discipline Creates Disconnected Students | NEA

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Balancing appropriate discipline with school safety, classroom effectiveness, and positive outcomes for students is a daunting task for teachers and administrators everywhere. Many schools continue to rely on exclusionary discipline, removing students from the classroom through suspension or expulsion for various innfractions.

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Nathan Young and Bennett D. Bennett first connected on Twitter in late May, during the weekend of protests and unrest that followed George Floyd's death in Minneapolis.

Periscope; Bennett as principal at New York creative consultancy Aerialist - and "we shared very similar experiences ... of what it was like to be a Black man in advertising," Young said.

They started talking about how awkward work calls would be that Monday. Then, privately, Young sent Bennett a video he'd made, trying to process the pain and strangeness of the moment.

"It was a really surreal feeling ... to be watching live video [of the protests] on Facebook Live and Instagram Live," Young said. "And then at the same time being so close to it that I could smell the smoke."

In his video project, Young cut together graphic, violent footage into an "unflinching look at

"I couldn't last more than 20 seconds watching that video," Bennett (left) said.

But it started a deeper conversation between the two. They decided that there were two potential reactions to the moment. They could focus on the racism and police violence of the present, or they could focus on the potential for change in the country.

And in their industry.

Read More About Diversity & Inclusion 14 Tips for Building a Socially Responsible Company

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An Open Letter Snowballs

That conversation turned into Bennett and Young's first collaboration: an open letter, addressed to advertising industry leaders.

"Over the past week, we have seen messages of solidarity sent out by several agencies and agency leaders," they wrote in the letter, which requests 12 industry-wide policy changes. "Though we are encouraged by these messages, their words ring hollow in the face of our daily lived experiences."

"Though we are encouraged by these messages [of solidarity], their words ring hollow in the face of our daily lived experiences."

Published June 9, the letter was signed by 600 Black advertising professionals. Many more approached Young and Bennett afterwards, wishing they had signed.

So to keep the "burst of energy" going, as Young put it, he and Bennett founded a non-profit - 600 & Rising - within a few days of the letter's rollout. The open letter became the group's founding text; its mission is to dismantle systemic racism in the advertising industry. Young is president; Bennett is vice president.

The project grew quickly. Today, 600 & Rising has 18 officers, board members and advisory council members - plus an email list of about 3,000.

The past month or so is "the biggest blur in my memory," Bennett said.

"The reason it feels like a blur is it just seems like we were in the right place at the right time," Young said.

Image: Shutterstock

Advertising's Anti-Blackness Problem

Together, Young and Bennett had spent 16 years in the advertising industry, and they'd seen firsthand how agencies marginalized Black professionals.

For Young, what stood out most was the way colleagues treated him when differences of opinion arose.

"Whenever I would disagree with the direction of a campaign, or an idea or strategy, it always seemed like people were taken aback by the fact that I would voice that," he said. "It would be perceived as overly aggressive."

"Whenever I would disagree with the direction of a campaign, or an idea or strategy, it always seemed like people were taken aback by the fact that I would voice that."

When his white counterparts did the same, though, he saw productive debates unfold. Young smelled a double standard.

Bennett, meanwhile, felt trapped by a dearth of advancement opportunities.

"I was a diversity hire," he said, of his first agency job. He was an early hire in a program designed to give creatives of color a foot in the door.

He got his foot in the door - but that was it. He had trouble getting staffed on projects, and because he was hired as part of a special program, he had a title that other employees had trouble parsing. Even though he was "a full-time, W-2 hire," he was often mistaken for an intern.

It might have been better for his career if he had been.

"I saw interns who came up after me get promoted twice over, while I sat there," he said of his four years at that company. "The structure of the agency was never set up for us to succeed."

This smothering of Black talent shows in the advertising industry's creative output. Young pointed out that advertising professionals tend to cast Black people in stereotypical roles - "athletic roles, or working roles, but never as a lawyer or a doctor."

That's not to mention a tendency to cast Black talent in one-dimensional roles, to favor lighter-skinned Black talent, or to erase Black people altogether,

"It really just comes down to: [Leaders] don't understand Black culture," Young said.

This would be a problem in any industry, but it's particularly counterproductive in an industry that aims to engage with culture and create culture.

On occasion, Bennett has seen what a truly inclusive advertising industry could do. Take , the mixtape Wendy's released in 2018, or the Popeye's tweet that started the "chicken sandwich wars" between Popeye's and Chick-Fil-A - both came from multicultural teams.

Those were "blips," though, he said - not the industry norm.

Through 600 & Rising, though, Young and Bennett have begun shifting the industry's norms.

Image: Shutterstock

Real Inclusivity Starts With Diversity Data

In the month or so since its inception, 600 & Rising has focused on item two on the 12-item list of requests in its open letter: getting agencies to share their employee diversity data, broken down by gender, race and ethnicity, seniority and department.

So far, more than 90 agencies have answered their call, including Camp + King, Wongdoody and Young's own agency, Periscope.

Though breakdowns vary, Black people - 13 percent of Americans, according to the United States Census - tend to be underrepresented. Several agencies have no Black leaders.

Once demographic data is more public, advertising leaders can track it at an industry level, quantifying changes and, hopefully, improvements.

"We want to make transparency in diversity data the new norm," Young said, "because we know that you cannot change what you cannot measure."

Even improving transparency, though, hasn't been completely smooth sailing.

"There's always a tendency, when you have the opportunity to release data, to release it in the most flattering way possible," Young said.

He ran into this at his own office. Though his colleagues at Periscope supported 600 & Rising, the agency's parent company, Quad, dragged its feet.

At first, Quad wanted to release "only two cherry-picked data points," Young wrote in a Twitter statement. Then, Young said, they released inaccurate data.

"It's very painful for me as a Black man to have written the words 'Black lives matter,' making the statement basically, 'My life matters,' and have that be overruled."

It only added to employee frustrations that Quad had banned the phrase "Black lives matter" from agency communications. The CEO insisted that Young delete it from Periscope's statement on Floyd's death, Young said.

It was only when he and his Periscope colleagues staged a walkout, which swelled from nine employees to the agency's entire team, that Quad relented. The company released corrected diversity data and relinquished editorial control over Periscope's public statements.

"Ultimately, they recognize the error in their ways," Young said. "And it's all good now."

But the incident was a reminder that systemic change is difficult and necessary.

"It's very painful for me as a Black man to have written the words 'Black lives matter,' making the statement basically, 'My life matters,' and have that be overruled by somebody who's uncomfortable with that," Young said.

Image: Shutterstock

Up Next: A Creative Renaissance

Currently, Young and Bennett work long hours to do their advertising jobs and push their industry forward.

Young, 600 & Rising's president, said he's putting in 70- to 90-hour weeks, which he calls "brutal." Bennett, the vice president, works about 60 hours a week.

When they're not calling on agencies to release diversity data, they're building out new projects. Eventually, Young said, each 600 & Rising board member will lead a committee devoted to a request in the open letter.

Data transparency is just one request; the letter's overall vision is much broader. It asks agencies to tie leadership bonuses to DEI successes, improve bias training for HR employees, recruit at a more diverse array of colleges and art schools, and more.

"What does a modern agency look like?"

"We are assembling some of the greatest minds in advertising and some of the greatest minds in diversity, equity and inclusion, and really starting to rethink how agencies as organizations should function," Young said. "What does a modern agency look like?"

It doesn't just have great adtech, he said. Modern agencies have to innovate on a human level, too, creating cultures of inclusion. Without that, he argues, the industry's output will suffer.

Bennett agreed. Advertising could follow in the footsteps of other companies in the culture industries, he said, like Netflix and Twitter. He was impressed by Netflix's Strong Black Leads initiative, which signal boosts content for and about Black people, and Twitter's recent billboard campaign highlighting tweets from Black Lives Matter supporters.

"Why can't ad agencies have that level of intentionality?" Bennett asked.

Young, meanwhile, looks to the movie industry as an example.

"They are further ahead of the ad industry in terms of doing some bold experiments and seeing what happens," he said.

So far, Hollywood has conducted two particularly successful experiments in inclusivity, Young noted: Black Panther, the first movie in the massively popular Marvel franchise with a predominantly Black cast; and 2019's Crazy Rich Asians, the first film with all-Asian leads since 1993's The Joy Luck Club.

Worldwide, they brought in nearly $1.5 billion and $238 million at the box office, respectively; Crazy Rich Asians, though it had a smaller box office haul, was the highest-grossing romantic comedy in a decade.

Since then, "we've seen a really rapid adjustment to the way that they staff and cast films," Young said. He and Bennett hope that 600 & Rising can trigger "that same sort of renaissance in advertising."

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The Advertising Industry Can't Stay This White

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Nathan Young and Bennett D. Bennett first connected on Twitter in late May, during the weekend of protests and unrest that followed George Floyd's death in Minneapolis. Periscope; Bennett as principal at New York creative consultancy Aerialist - and "we shared very similar experiences ...

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When you ask Siri a question or request a song through Alexa, you're using automated speech recognition software. But uses of that technology go far beyond consumer electronics.

Companies use AI services to screen job applicants. Court reporters use speech recognition tools to produce records of depositions and trial proceedings. Physicians use software by Nuance and Suki to . If you have a physical impairment, you might use speech recognition software to navigate a web browser. YouTube uses it to create automatic captions dictate clinical notes , whose malaprops inspired a parody series called Caption Fail. I used an automated transcription service to cross-check notes for this story.

Yet for many Black users, the speech-to-text services of the world's biggest tech companies appear to be fundamentally flawed.

The error rate for Black speakers was 35 percent, compared to a 19 percent error rate for white speakers.

"We think the disparity is largely due to the lack of diverse training data," said Allison Koeneke, one of the study's authors and a doctoral candidate in Stanford's computational and mathematical engineering department.

Miriam Vogel, who is president and CEO at Equal AI, an organization that helps companies and policymakers address bias in AI, said the findings published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences could have far-ranging implications for Black speakers using these systems, from being shut out of automated ordering or delivery systems, to being unfairly evaluated in job candidacy and promotion decisions.

"A lot of companies are using AI for key functions like hiring and firing, and don't realize they could be spreading the discrimination; doubling down," said Vogel, who formerly served as acting director of justice and regulatory affairs at the White House and led President Barack Obama's Equal Pay Task Force. "In particular, I've talked to a lot of law firms and they want to address their diversity problems. And so they're using AI [in the hiring process] with this concept that it's neutral."

But that's far from the truth, Koeneke said. Few people besides the engineers and developers who create these systems know how they work, because they are proprietary. But the lack of representation for Black speakers in training data that likely contributes to the problem goes back to the early days of speech recognition as a field.

Early voice corpuses, such as Switchboard, Koeneke said, were largely derived from recorded phone calls and skewed heavily toward white speakers in the middle of the country. When these data sets were adopted by large tech firms as they built out their automated speech-recognition engines, the biases carried over .

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Common Speech Patterns Are Underrepresented in Training Sets

Trevor Cox, a professor of acoustical engineering at the University of Salford and author of Now You're Talking, said that even today, voice AI struggles with regional dialects and the dialects of non-native English speakers, as well as women voices.

"We've seen this in machine learning in lots of areas, where, essentially, if you don't give the data to the machine learning engine to learn, then it doesn't learn it," Cox said. "When Siri came out, it really struggled with Scottish accents because it didn't have enough Scottish accents in its training data."

More important for the Stanford study is the impact of African American Vernacular English, a dialect spoken by some Black speakers in the United States. AAVE is underrepresented in voice AI training sets. This lack of representation, said Koeneke, who co-authored the Stanford study, means that many of its linguistic features are poorly understood by speech recognition engines and thus poorly reproduced in script.

(It is worth noting that AAVE is only one factor at play. Gender is another: The study found that voice AI was significantly less accurate for Black men than for Black women.)

AAVE traces its legacy to enslaved persons, said John Baugh, a professor of linguistics and African American studies at Washington University in St. Louis. In many cases, they were separated from other speakers of their native languages by oppressors to limit the likelihood of uprisings.

Baugh, whose research focuses on linguistic discrimination and profiling, peer-reviewed the Stanford study.

"No indigenous African language survived intact. That set the stage for the kind of stereotyping we see today," Baugh said.

That linguistic isolation laid the foundation for AAVE, Baugh explained, but other factors contributed too. Early American legal prohibitions on schooling played a role, as did exposure to the speech patterns of European-born indentured servants working on plantations. Later, racial segregation in cities like Philadelphia, Baltimore, Detroit and Chicago contributed to its evolution.

Experts hold differing theories about the origins of African American Vernacular English. Some linguists point to roots in British regional dialects and its similarities with English Creole. However, there is broad consensus among linguists that it has phonological, grammatical and syntactical differences from the language referred to variously as standard English or Mainstream American English (MAE).

Camouflage Construction

For example, if someone asks, "Is your sister still married?" Baugh told me, the same response, "She been married," can mean two different things. If the word "been" is left unstressed, it is commonly interpreted to mean she was married and no longer is. The same phrase with strong emphasis on "been" is commonly interpreted to mean she has been married for a long time.

This linguistic trait likely has a historical basis: "English is not a tone language. African languages are tone languages," Baugh said.

Another key distinction between African American Vernacular English and MAE is the use of the verb form "to be." In AAVE, the "invariant habitual" form of the word used in phrases such as "they be happy" means "habitually happy, happy all the time," Baugh said.

This is distinct from expressions like "they happy" or "they are happy," which reflect a momentary state. Baugh speculates that the habitual verb form can be traced to an African grammatical legacy and the influence of the brogue of Irish overseers.

Voice Recognition Software Doesn't Capture These Nuances

To understand how this plays out in transcription algorithms, it is helpful to look at an example from the Stanford study. A transcribed audio snippet of a 67-year-old Black man from Washington, D.C., who speaks African American Vernacular English, is characteristic of the types of the errors these systems make:

Here's what the man actually said:

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The Acoustic Model Vs. The Language Model

Koeneke said that, although the voice recognition systems of the five software companies studied are proprietary and opaque, making any theory hard to verify, the disparities are most likely due to the limitations of the "acoustic model." This model detects variations in intonation and prosody: the rhythms, syllable stress, and rising and falling pitches that make a Boston accent different from a Chicago accent.

This is distinct from the "language model," which focuses on grammar and sentence structure.

Mistaking "second grade" for "seven braids" or "sitting" for "staying" appear to exemplify the faults of the acoustic model in recognizing subtle pronunciation differences, as described by Baugh.

Another part of the problem may lie in the recording technology used to collect the data. "From the days of Bell Labs," writes Joan Palmiter Bajorek, who is head of conversational research and strategy at the Australian voice and digital agency VERSA, " a specific voice frequency band was chosen that still governs how our phones and microphones work. Thus, the quality of the hardware and whether you're using a 180-degree microphone does matter significantly in accuracy rates."

In addition, "physical factors (women are typically shorter and have smaller vocal tracts) play a part in voice data," she wrote in an email. "However, this does not explain the disparities completely. If your data set does not contain diverse demographics, it will most likely not perform well for diverse demographics." And "if the data sets are incredibly biased, those discrepancies make it perform terribly for data it has not seen much of before, if at all," she wrote.

There can be problems on the language side of the model too. After the acoustic model makes its best guess at what a speaker is saying by parsing the audio file into phonemes, Cox said, the language model attempts to correct incongruities and fill in the gaps through linguistic associations. The machine learning applications that do this are likely to contain societal biases.

As Cox writes in the Harvard Business Review, "type the Turkish 'O bir hemşire. O bir doctor' into Google Translate and you'll find 'She is a nurse' and 'He's a doctor.' Despite 'o' being a gender-neutral third-person pronoun in Turkish, the presumption that a doctor is male and a nurse is female arises because the data used to train the translation algorithm is skewed by the gender bias in medical jobs."

He points out that the disproportionate number of African Americans incarcerated in the U.S,. and the number of news reports surrounding them, is a dangerous cocktail when it comes to machine learning training data, which historically has been culled from audiobooks, public talks, phone calls and YouTube videos.

And the structural disparities embedded in these systems could actually grow worse, if left unaddressed, Koeneke said: "If you think about Google's products, they're collecting data from their users, but, of course, if only white users are able to successfully use Google Voice or Google Assistant, then they'll be more likely to continue using the product and generating more training data for Google."

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A Self-Fulfilling Feedback Loop

The bias, in effect, could create a self-fulfilling feedback loop, in which machine learning applications become more adept at recognizing and accurately representing certain end users, to the exclusion of others, said Miguel Jette, director of speech R&D at the transcription service Rev.

" So, if 80 percent of your users are men and 20 percent are women, then the test set often represents that split. Now, when you use that data set to tune your system, you might, without noticing, bias your system toward men because it moves the needle on your test set," Jette said.

Without legal guardrails and social pressure, Cox said, large, multinational companies are unlikely to correct the imbalance on their own, as the market provides little incentive.

"If they have to have to decide where to put resources, they'll put them in making sure it works for China, for example," he said. "It's a much bigger market. So where there are big markets for their products is where things will tend to work well."

This is a phenomenon Dwayne Samuels, CEO of Samelogic, witnessed for himself. His company spent years developing video transcription tools for clients, such as Nielson, who used them to collect data from focus groups of English speakers in the Caribbean and Europe, among other places.

"At first, we wrote a lot of our own models, but it's a very expensive thing to actually do. So we turned to Microsoft Project Oxford, IBM services and Amazon Transcribe. And we've found that, for the most part, these worked for the general population, I would say for 70 percent of people they work well."

For the other 30 percent, however, largely speakers who lived outside the United States, the results were less impressive.

The effectiveness of speech recognition software in capturing regional dialects is an understudied area Baugh would like to see investigated further. Though the Stanford study clearly documented that the software makes mistakes, and that some programs perform better than others - Microsoft, the most accurate system, had a 27 percent error rate for Black speakers and 15 percent for white speakers; Apple, the lowest performer, missed the mark for 45 percent of words from Black speakers and 23 percent of white speakers - it has limitations in its scope, he said.

As reported by the New York Times, much of the speech corpus used to train voice assistants was culled from white speakers in Sacramento and northern California; the speech data for Black speakers was collected in "a largely African-American rural community in eastern North Carolina, a midsize city in western New York and Washington, D.C."

"The study calls attention to this issue in racial terms," Baugh said, "but voice recognition software might not evaluate all white dialects equally well either. The Stanford researchers simply didn't test that. I almost want to go back to the researchers and say, 'I really wish you had, in addition to looking at Black dialect, found white southern samples as well.' The point I'm emphasizing is I hope the racial divide is not masking another problem."

Fixing the Problems Will Require Real Investment

If casting a wider research net and drawing back the curtain on privately held algorithms represent significant challenges, correcting the disparities in practice may be even more difficult.

Open-source software libraries like Google's TensorFlow can help create more representative data sets, Samuels said, but building and testing use cases from scratch is extremely difficult for small or mid-sized companies, who often rely on fee-based, pre-built models. Even then, editing errors in transcripts to help train the software during the "supervised" learning phase can be extremely costly.

In Samelogic's case, poring over videos frame by frame to reach a 93 percent word error rate - a threshold that brought high confidence that the system could thereafter train itself - was ultimately unsustainable. The company shifted its business to provide a service for product managers to run experiments on SaaS products.

Image: Shutterstock

Open-Source Communities Are Taking on the Challenge

Thankfully, brighter days may be on the horizon.

VERSA's Bajorek told Built In that open-source projects like Artie Bias Corpus: An Open Dataset for Detecting Demographic Bias in Speech Applications and Mozilla Common Voice are working to make data sets more equitable and inclusive. Citing the website of Rachael Tatman, a developer advocate for who has published extensively on gender and dialect bias in speech recognition software, she said there is a growing body of research and publicly available resources for those eager to learn more about the disparities in common data sets used in the industry.

She also noted that "many companies are working on these problems," and that, "depending on elections, legislative bodies and who is in power politically, there is great potential for regulations and laws like General Data Protection Regulation and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights to drive mandatory changes in this industry."

Still, there are widely conflicting reports of the accuracy of automated speech recognition systems. In speech sciences, Bajorek wrote, "we measure the performance of a system through word error rate (WER). The best-performing systems have low WER and thus higher accuracy. To use a system reliably, the industry standard is that a system must have a 10 percent WER or lower, which means it's performing well 90 percent or more of the time."

The significant discrepancy between Google's 4.9 percent figure, as reported at the 2017 I/O developer conference, and the average figures reported in the Stanford study leave questions as to variance in the analysis methods and the demographics of the user pool Google applied to test its error rate.

"If our systems were specifically designed for a Spanish-English bilingual eight-year-old girl," Bajorek noted, "they would be radically different from the speech recognition systems we have today. This makes you wonder who is on the development and design teams of these systems. Having diversity on the building side is crucial. Recruiting and retaining diverse talent is paramount to fixing this problem - and that's systemic across tech."

Vogel said legal pressure could nudge companies toward better practices. She cites Ousmane Bah's $1 billion lawsuit against Apple over a false arrest he alleges resulted from Apple's face recognition system as the kind of " legal liability we can expect to see in the coming years, as lawyers are clued into the liabilities that could be embedded with these biases."

"AI algorithms may be flawed. Datasets may be insufficient or contain biased information. Inappropriate or controversial data practices by Microsoft or others could impair the acceptance of AI solutions. These deficiencies could undermine the decisions, predictions, or analysis AI applications produce, subjecting us to competitive harm, legal liability, and brand or reputational harm."

Koeneke said she hopes the public nature of the study will inspire action on the part of the companies studied and the tech community at large.

"Speaking on behalf of the authors of our paper," she said, "we're hoping that, not only do we end up collecting more diverse training data to help these pipelines, we also hope these companies will be more transparent in showing us, year over year, the amount of their improvement with regard to diversity and speech recognition systems. Some subset of them seem to be receptive to improving and have read our paper. And so that is a positive first step."

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Why Racial Bias Still Haunts Speech-Recognition AI

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When you ask Siri a question or request a song through Alexa, you're using automated speech recognition software. But uses of that technology go far beyond consumer electronics. Companies use AI services to screen job applicants. Court reporters use speech recognition tools to produce records of depositions and trial proceedings.

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Throughout his long career in tech, Blacks in Technology executive director Peter Beasley heard programmers use the terms "master" and "slave" to refer to development branches or databases many times.

"Did I, Peter Beasley, start a movement or make a big deal about it? No, I didn't do that. But I personally tried not to use those words," he said. "I would never use them."

Did that make his job harder?

"I'm going to say yes," he said. "Not the words themselves, but the fabric they're a part of."

A Black technologist could work, thrive, and even lead at an organization that uses those terms, Beasley said. But the presence of words like "whitelist," "blacklist," "master" and "slave" would serve as constant reminders - and reinforcers - of the racist structures that make a workplace less welcoming for Black people.

Many technologists like Beasley are fed up with both the words and the fabric they represent. In the wake of the most recent wave of #BlackLivesMatter protests against police violence and systemic racism, some notable companies and open-source projects announced the decommissioning of terms with offensive connotations.

"I personally tried not to use those words. I would never use them."

Some of these efforts - like the decision by the Jenkins governance board to replace three terms - came from the top down. Others came from engineers themselves. Twitter developer Regynald Augustin, along with his colleague Kevin Oliver, successfully lobbied to replace a variety of terms, including "man hours," "grandfathered," "dummy value" and "sanity check."

The problem of racist terminology in the workplace isn't new. But the commitments from large companies and projects may signal shifting dynamics for developers, both in and outside the codebase.

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Does changing code terminology make a difference for Black developers? | Image: Shutterstock

How Much Do Words Matter?

Terminology changes have met mixed reactions.

"I'm not trying to have yet another debate," Valsorda wrote. "It's clear that there are people who are hurt by [the terms] and who are made to feel unwelcome by their use due not to technical reasons but to their historical and social context. That 's simply enough reason to replace them."

Others, like writer and actor Kerry Coddett, criticized the broader pattern of name changes in response to #BlackLivesMatter.

But just because the impact of language changes isn't immediately clear doesn't mean those changes aren't significant, Peta Hoyes said. Hoyes is COO and a partner at Tag1 Consulting, a firm that helps optimize websites built with the open-source Drupal framework.

"I agree wholeheartedly that we should address the issues, not just the words - but the words are still important because they have real effects," she said.

She thought of tennis star Serena Williams, who in 2015 was named Sports Illustrated 's Sportsperson of the Year. The honor sparked a social media debate over which contender deserved the award more: Williams or American Pharoah, a Triple-Crown-winning horse.

"As a Black woman who exists in that air, there are a lot of things I shove to the side because I don't have that time in the day. I have to pick my battles."

By themselves, words are symbols. But you can't divorce words from their contexts, Hoyes said. If technology organizations are homogeneously white and male, that context may be lost on many. But as spaces become increasingly diverse, some language hits differently. Tech workers should take the time to listen to their peers and examine the historical and cultural contexts of the language they use, she added.

"This is the air we breathe, for all intents and purposes. When your diversity starts to reflect the actual population, people start to realize, 'This air works for me, but it might not work for other people,'" Hoyes said. "As a Black woman who exists in that air, there are a lot of things I shove to the side because I don't have that time in the day. I have to pick my battles."

Hoyes said that Black employees, especially Black women, face constant decisions about whether or not to address racism in the workplace, weighing their time, energy and security against the severity of the incident. That's what makes it especially important for white colleagues to think critically about language at work, as well as interactions, protocols and systems.

In that sense, terminology changes are indeed small - because they're the tip of an iceberg.

Some terminology changes come from the top down. Others come from developers in the weeds. | Image: Shutterstock

How Do Terminology Changes Happen?

Some technical terminology changes are coming from project leadership; others happen when developers like Augustin push for new company-wide language.

But not all are the result of organized efforts. Some changes happen line by line, merge by merge.

In 2017, Python core developer Mariatta Wijaya found herself helping out with a GitHub bot that flagged pull requests from accounts that hadn't signed the project's Contributor License Agreement. Since some pull requests come from automated processes, they needed a way to exempt those requests and prevent them from being flagged - Wijaya was asked, via a GitHub issue, to create a "whitelist."

"When I implemented the bot, I made a conscious decision," Wijaya said. "I didn't want to use the term whitelist."

So, she did a Google search for alternatives and settled on "allowlist" instead.

When she implemented the feature, she didn't call attention to the terminology swap. The developer who'd opened the issue accepted her contribution, and nothing more came of it.

"I don't know if he noticed. I never asked him about it," she said.

"When I implemented the bot, I made a conscious decision. I didn't want to use the term whitelist."

In that way, Wijaya changed the terminology in one project - quietly and unilaterally. For huge codebases such as Python, that approach to project-wide change would, admittedly, be slow going. But, particularly in open-source communities, more sweeping changes can lead to stronger blowback.

When a Python developer opened an issue the following year requesting that all instances of "master/slave" be replaced, that request was eventually accepted. But it also prompted ideological and personal attacks. The core developer involved with that change asked that Wijaya not share his name.

When discussions about terminology changes surfaced in the Linux community in early July, for example, some detractors directed death threats at Coraline Ehmke, the author of the Contributor Covenant, even though she wasn't directly involved in the changes, Ehmke told Built In.

While the removal of terms like "master/slave" specifically targets anti-Black racism, these terminology changes are part of a larger effort to make open-source spaces more inclusive. In a 2017 GitHub survey of open-source contributors - the sole formal source for data on open-source participation - 16 percent of respondents identified as racial or ethnic minorities. Three percent identified as women. Those imbalances have led to a variety of programs, including internships and mentorship programs aimed at boosting participation from people in underrepresented groups.

Wijaya herself became a Python core developer after being mentored by the language's creator, Guido Van Rossum. Her hope is that, by increasing access to mentors and removing barriers to entry, open-source communities will continue to diversify.

"It takes individuals [in the community] making an effort themselves," she said. "But if the leadership sets an example, people at the bottom who admire the leaders start doing the same."

For large open-source projects like Jenkins, implementing terminology changes is a long game. | Image: Shutterstock

Changes Are Announced - What Happens Next?

Alex Earl is a member of the Jenkins governance board, which helps guide the project and make important decisions.

After George Floyd's death at the hands of police made national news, the board decided it was time to move forward with terminology changes they'd been considering for years, Earl said. They'd started the process of removing "slave" back in 2016, but since then, contributors had reached out with concerns about other terms - "master," "whitelist" and "blacklist."

"I encourage Jenkins contributors to participate in this effort," one wrote. "It is not something we could change in a minute, but we could do a gradual clean-up and improve the overall documentation while doing so."

" I personally think without the 'slave' context, 'master' is pretty accurate," another weighed in. "To be absolutely honest, if it has more syllables than the current, people are super likely to stick with the existing wording."

Next, the governance board will collect the proposed replacement terms and list them in an online poll for the community to rank. The board will use those rankings to determine the final replacements.

"We can go in and make pull requests to their code to update those terms, but it is a long process."

According to Earl, the considerations are many. Jenkins is an international community, so the replacement terms will need to work well in English as well as other languages. They'll also have to make sense contextually - some terms may need one replacement for web interfaces and another for server applications, for instance.

Then comes implementing the changes. Editing the user interface and documentation are as simple as executing a find-and-replace. But replacing terms in the source code itself creates challenges. New class names may interact poorly with older versions of Jenkins or with the project's 1,500 user-created plug-ins, Earl said. And the creators of those plug-ins could continue using the old terms, if they chose.

"We have to find ways to encourage those people to make the changes," he added. "We can go in and make pull requests to their code to update those terms, which is something we've done with the replacement of the term 'slave' over the past few years. But it is a long process."

Diversity is important, but so is who gets promoted, who gets in trouble and who gets listened to. | Image: Shutterstock

How You Can Foster Change Beyond Terminology

Words matter. Language constructs our reality, as Beasley and Hoyes noted. Whether or not we notice it, it's the air we breathe.

Does that mean that codebase changes will translate into better representation and more opportunities for Black developers?

"No," Earl said. "Is it going to solve all the world's issues that we changed a term from 'slave' to 'agent?' Absolutely not. People have to actually get up and do something. We should be consistently looking for ways to include contributors from all different walks of life. And if we can help specifically some of these groups who are marginalized and oppressed, I think that's awesome."

"Is it going to solve all the world's issues that we changed a term from 'slave' to 'agent?' Absolutely not. People have to actually get up and do something."

Terminology isn't enough - companies and projects must purposefully diversify, Earl said. But efforts shouldn't stop there,either. What's equally important as bringing in more minority participants, Beasley noted, is making sure they're supported once they arrive.

"It's great that there's a focus on terminology and coding, but who gets promoted when two people walk in the room?" he asked. "How do we treat differences and diversity and allow all ideas to come forward?"

Beasley and Hoyes shared some ways they believe individual developers can build on codebase changes to fight racism and create more opportunities for Black technologists:

Don't Over-Rely on Your Network for Recruiting

Black founders are frequently passed over for venture funding. That leads to fewer Black founders - and more white founders - recruiting from their personal and professional networks, which often include people who look like themselves.

That's systemic racism, Beasley said - it goes beyond any single person, interaction or institution. To counteract it, the industry must work from the top, with who gets venture funding, as well as the bottom, with who gets invited to interview.

Call Out Unfair Interactions

Hoyes described an incident when a client seemed visibly threatened by her presence and authority. Her white colleagues witnessed the interaction, and commented on it later.

Sometimes, it's best to call out racist interactions in the moment. (We call out people's behavior when it affects clients," Hoyes said. "Why not when it affects people of color?")

Other times, it's better to debrief about the behavior after the fact, Hoyes said. Black employees shouldn't have to wonder if anyone else noticed what happened.

"It's very comforting when someone says, 'I saw what that person did,'" she said. "That's half of it, bothering to acknowledge it. That makes my environment so much more hospitable. You can't put it on people of color to point it out all the time."

Make Racism Fireable

Everyone has implicit bias. But some people exhibit intentional bias in the workplace when they say racist things, harass Black employees, prevent them from earning promotions or leading projects - or knowingly allow others to do the same.

Those people should lose their jobs, Beasley said. Campaigns against sexual harassment and assault have led to many public changes in company leadership, he added - a real anti-racist movement would likely do the same.

"It's not cool to allow those secrets to persist, because they will just keep going on," he said. "We have to be OK talking about race. We have to get intentional. We have to out the bad people."

Acknowledge Incidents of Racist Violence

When Black employees show up ready to do their best after racist violence occurs in your city, state or country, that's a testament to their excellent job performance, Hoyes said. Don't let them start the day without acknowledging what happened in your company communications.

Stop Interrupting

Pay close attention to who gets to talk and who tends to jump in.

Expand Your Diversity Efforts From Recruiting to Retention and Promotion

Leaders at Blacks in Technology consistently hear from companies that say they "want to hire more Black people," Beasley said. But the conversation can't end there. Do those new Black employees feel supported enough to stay at the company? Do they get promoted?

Blacks in Technology has an onboarding program for companies' senior leaders, in which new executives meet with a roundtable of Blacks in Technology representatives to discuss some of the challenges Black employees experience in the workplace. It also has a mentorship program that connects young people of color with professional mentors from the organization's network.

"They may feel isolated, they may feel alone, they may not feel comfortable talking to the HR department," Beasley said. "They may not feel the solidarity of others saying, 'You're not alone, baby girl, it's happened to me too.'"

More on Tech and Race The Advertising Industry Can't Stay This White

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Terms Like 'Slave' and 'Master' Finally Have Their Reckoning. It's a Start.

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Throughout his long career in tech, Blacks in Technology executive director Peter Beasley heard programmers use the terms "master" and "slave" to refer to development branches or databases many times. "Did I, Peter Beasley, start a movement or make a big deal about it? No, I didn't do that.

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Join the NEA EdJustice community to demand:

Our Pledge

For many Black students and families, our public schools are the heart of our communities. But far too many have been overlooked, neglected and forgotten by those in power who choose to bail out greedy corporations and line the pockets of privatizers. We must hold decision makers accountable to the people by reinvesting in policies and systems to achieve healthy and strong schools and communities.

Whether, Black, brown or white, native or newcomer, we will work together to not only address the cruel and unjust policies of the past, but to move forward to make our values of justice, safety, equity, and inclusion a reality for all of us...

Together, we make the future, and we will rewrite the rules to make this a country where all of us can prosper. The future is the sum of the changes we demand, the courage we display, and how we stand with and for each other.

We Demand

1 - Transforming Policing Policies for Safe and Just Communities

We demand that decision makers at all levels re-examine the role of the law enforcement in our communities and our public schools to ensure public safety, while dismantling unjust policies designed to disproportionately impact Black and Brown people, such as mass incarceration, militarization of law enforcement, unlawful separation and detention of immigrant children and families and the excessive use of force.

2 - Healthy and Strong Communities and Schools

We demand a transformative investment in the physical, mental and economic health and growth of Black, Brown and Indigenous communities. That means addressing the clear and consistent ways that corporations have exploited, stymied and stolen the wealth of communities of color - resulting in a frayed network of public services in communities of color, including school buildings lacking clean water, asbestos-free and lead-free facilities, proper heating and cooling and more.

We Demand

3 - Empowering Communities and Schools

We demand Black educators and student voices be integral to the decisions that impact their schools and communities. Whether Black, Brown, Indigenous or white, when students, families and educators come together to ensure racial justice in public schools - from pre-K to higher education - it strengthens the whole community.

4 - Ensuring the Right to Vote for Black, Brown, Native and AAPI Voters

We demand free, fair, and accessible elections that address the long-standing practices of voter suppression and discrimination in Black and Brown communities. While the right to vote is enshrined in the U.S. Constitution, politicians have used policies and voter suppression tactics to limit the participation of Black, Brown, AAPI and Native American communities impeding their ability to have a voice in our government.

Take Action

Learn more

Read more about the Justice for Black Lives Demands here.

Learn More

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NEA Demands: Justice for Black Lives - NEA EdJustice

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For many Black students and families, our public schools are the heart of our communities. But far too many have been overlooked, neglected and forgotten by those in power who choose to bail out greedy corporations and line the pockets of privatizers. We must hold decision makers accountable to the people by reinvesting in policies ...

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NEA EdJustice

2020 Home Page - NEA EdJustice

NEA EdJustice engages and mobilizes activists in the fight for racial, social and economic justice in public education.

Get connected and engaged to advocate for racial and social justice in our schools and communities.

Become part of the next story

Find inspiring stories, connect with others and get involved in culture change for racial and social justice in education.

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NEA EdJustice 2020 Home Page - NEA EdJustice NEA EdJustice engages and mobilizes activists in the fight for racial, social and economic justice in public education. Get connected and engaged to advocate for racial and social justice in our schools and communities.

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Daphne Koller: What we're learning from online education

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Daphne Koller is enticing top universities to put their most intriguing courses online for free -- not just as a service, but as a way to research how people learn. With Coursera (cofounded by Andrew Ng), each keystroke, quiz, peer-to-peer discussion and self-graded assignment builds an unprecedented pool of data on how knowledge is processed.

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Why Social Justice in School Matters | NEA

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Meet five educators who are determined to help young people realize their value and power.

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Teaching social justice in your classroom

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Spread the loveSocial justice is about reciprocity between the individual and society. Individuals owe the society in which they live, and the society owes individuals certain benefits. It begs the question, how should opportunity be distributed among everyone?

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With 2020 more than halfway over, there are countless challenges that social workers are currently facing. For many, it might feel like there are still more concerns to come. The COVID-19 pandemic has triggered a historic economic downturn leaving millions unemployed, and Black Lives Matter protests have reignited discussions about systemic racism, inequality as well as police reform. In addition to the topics that dominate the headlines, long-term issues such as food insecurity and climate justice are still ongoing. The list of social issues in the U.S. and around the globe in 2020 can seem overwhelming.

At Yeshiva University, we understand that pulling together nine emerging and pressing issues can't just be about recognizing the challenges individuals struggle with. It's the responsibility of social workers to understand how big picture issues impact our clients and take action to support the communities we serve.

1. Voting rights

Exercising the right to vote is one of the social justice issues prioritized by the National Association of Social Workers. NASW's goal is twofold: encourage those who can vote to exercise their right and work to eliminate barriers to participation. As the 2020 presidential election approaches, NASW is hosting webinars on engaging millennials to vote and on understanding the barriers that can hold back low-income individuals, college students, senior citizens, minorities and many others. ¹ These obstacles can include difficult voter registration, shortened early voting windows and stricter identification requirements. ²

2. Climate justice

On the list of social work's Great Challenges, it might be surprising to see "strengthen social responses to environmental changes." The effects of climate change can be seen all over the news from wildfires in Australia to record-breaking temps in the Arctic (one recent paper found that polar bears could be nearly extinct by the end of this century) ³. This might seem like a problem for scientists, not social workers, but climate change can put a strain on resources and impact the wellbeing of entire communities. In reality, addressing climate justice can positively affect many of the other issues on this list, and social workers have the network and skills to mobilize and educate others on its impact ⁴.

3. Healthcare

Social work and healthcare are intrinsically tied together. There are a number of challenges when it comes to receiving quality healthcare, particularly in the U.S. Despite the passage of the Affordable Care Act in 2010, gaps in coverage remain, particularly with mental health resources. The U.S. spends more on healthcare for individuals than any other country, but that increase in expenditure has not translated to higher life expectancies for Americans. ⁵ Social workers offer support to individuals, groups and entire communities, so it matters whether one person is struggling or whether an entire community is struggling to find the care they need. ⁶ This year, the COVID-19 pandemic has shown just how vital access to healthcare really is as many communities struggle to access tests, treatment and mental health professionals.

4. Refugee crisis

It dominated headlines in 2019, and it still remains a critical issue for those directly impacted. According to the United Nations, more people than ever before live in a different country than the one where they were born. Roughly 70.8 million people have been forced from their homes. Nearly 30 million of them are refugees, and more than half of the globe's refugees are under 18 years old. This displaced population faces the challenges of accessing education, healthcare, job opportunities and other resources. Whether it's escaping conflict in their home country or a natural disaster, refugees need additional support dealing with the logistical, mental and emotional burdens of their situation-support that social workers are uniquely adept at providing. ⁷

5. Racial Injustice

Racism has a long history in the United States, and its impact can be found in every facet of education, business, media and day-to-day life. After the killing of George Floyd in Minnesota and several other high-profile police shootings, Black Lives Matter protests took place across the country and have continued as activists demand substantial change. Many social workers are all too aware of the devastating and long-term consequences of racial injustice on the mental and physical health of individuals, and more recently, the NASW has vocalized its support for federal legislation that would enact police reform and address systemic racism within the criminal justice system. ⁸

6. Income Gap

A recent federal report found that in 2018, America's income gap was the largest it's ever been in 50 years. ⁹ Following the COVID-19 pandemic, that divide will most likely be much bigger. Social workers play a critical role in assisting those struggling. Also, pay disparities can be a factor at play, based on both race, gender and sexuality. Even in the field of social work, the gender pay gap exists, where there is a significant difference in how men and women are compensated for the same work. ¹⁰

7. Gun Violence

Many medical professionals consider gun violence to be a public health crisis, but its impact can be felt across health and human services fields. From homicides to mass shootings to suicides, gun violence is a particularly troubling problem in the U.S., where homicides tied to firearms is the highest among developed nations. ¹¹ However, the impact of gun violence goes beyond those who have been killed. Those who have been injured, witnessed gun violence or lost someone also suffer long-term effects, both mentally and physically.

8. Hunger and food insecurity

Even before the pandemic, Feeding America found that 37 million regularly face hunger in the U.S., and 38 million live in poverty ¹². Food insecurity remains a stubborn issue to solve, so as unemployment rises and many schools remain closed, accessing food through food banks and free school lunches will become more difficult. It's also one that will continue to gain attention as more Gen Zers become old enough to vote. One notable survey found that Gen Z believes poverty and hunger are essential matters to address, while older generations rate it lower on a social issues list. ¹³

9. Equality

It's something stated in NASW's Code of Ethics, but ensuring equality is an essential part of a social worker's role. It's an issue that pervades nearly all of the issues already presented-whether it's related to finances or access to resources. It's also become painfully more relevant as the COVID-19 pandemic impacts marginalized communities at higher rates both economically and medically Obtaining equality in America is a big picture issue that social workers have been and will continue to be dedicated to addressing.

Taking Action

At Yeshiva University, we know the importance of training social workers with the skills to address and advocate for the big and small issues impacting their communities and others.At Yeshiva University, we know the importance of training social workers with the skills and insights to work alongside any community. Our online Master of Social Work is CSWE accredited, and our innovative virtual learning environment, The Heights, provides students with real-world scenarios to help them gain experience in a number of different environments. Apply today and learn how you can make a greater impact.

Sources
¹ Retrieved on February 13, 2020 from socialworkers.org/Advocacy/Social-Justice/Increasing-Voter-Participation
² Retrieved on February 24, 2020 from aclu.org/issues/voting-rights
3 Molnár, P.K., Bitz, C.M., Holland, M.M. et al. Fasting season length sets temporal limits for global polar bear persistence. Nat. Clim. Chang. (2020). doi.org/10.1038/s41558-020-0818-9
⁴ Retrieved on February 13, 2020 from aaswsw.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Social-Work-and-Global-Environmental-Change-3.24.15.pdf
⁵ Retrieved on February 24, 2020 from businessinsider.com/cost-of-healthcare-countries-ranked-2019-3
⁶ Retrieved on February 13, 2020 from socialworktoday.com/news/pp_091119.shtml
⁷ Retrieved on February 12, 2020 from un.org/en/sections/issues-depth/refugees/index.html
⁸ Retrieved on July 22, 2020 from socialworkers.org/News/News-Releases/ID/2205/NASW-Seeks-to-Dismantle-Racist-Policing
⁹ Retrieved on February 24, 2020 from npr.org/2019/09/26/764654623/u-s-income-inequality-worsens-widening-to-a-new-gap
¹⁰ Retrieved on February 13, 2020 from socialworkers.org/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=5_8UM6PD82Y%3D&portalid=0
¹¹ Retrieved on February 24, 2020 from bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-41488081
¹² Retrieved on February 13, 2020 from feedingamerica.org/hunger-in-america/facts
¹³ Retrieved on February 13, 2020 from conecomm.com/news-blog/2017/9/12/gen-z-sees-social-media-activity-as-more-effective-than-community-involvement-according-to-new-research-by-cone-communications

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What are the social justice topics impacting social workers in 2020? Learn more from Yeshiva University.