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February 1st- 5th

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​We are committed to disrupting the Western-prescribed nuclear family structure requirement by supporting each other as extended families and "villages" that collectively care for one another, and especially "our" children to the degree that mothers, parents and children are comfortable

​On Septima Clark's birthday, May 3, we celebrate Black Radical Educator Day and commit to teaching the truth. Who are the radical educators in your life that allowed you to realize some truth?

"I believe unconditionally in the ability of people to respond when they are told the truth. We need to be taught to study rather than believe, to inquire rather than to affirm." - Septima Clark

This month, we want you to question: How are the themes and radical visions that revolutionary Black artists brought to their art reflected in your classrooms and communities? How can young people continue these legacies?

Join us on Wednesday, May 3, on Zoom at 7pm ET for a happy hour conversation with Keziah Ridgeway, Ismael Jimenez, Denisha Jones, and Sam Carwyn, facilitated by our newest steering committee member from Rethinking Schools, Cierra Kaler-Jones! We will be talking education censorship: banned books, the anti-woke bill, the AP African American Studies course, and more.

This activation is part of the Freedom to Learn National Day of Action organized by African American Policy Forum. There will be many activations across the nation. If you aren't already part of a local activation, join our live conversation and get geared up. It's important that we gather together to fight these continuing and worsening attacks on education. This is our celebration for our Year of Purpose Black Radical Educator Day!
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Follow African American Policy Forum on social media to stay tuned. Instagram: @aapolicyforum; Twitter: @AAPolicyForum

We are committed to fostering an intergenerational and communal network free from ageism. We believe that all people, regardless of age, show up with capacity to lead and learn.

"You can't sit around and wait for someone to say who you are. You need to write it and paint it and do it." - Faith Ringgold

This month, we want you to question: How are the themes and radical visions that revolutionary Black artists brought to their art reflected in your classrooms and communities? How can young people continue these legacies?

In celebration of our April Year of Purpose theme, Revolutionary Black Arts, join us for a panel with @teachingartistsguild @zinneducationproject @campaign4genc !!!
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A Day of Purpose: Decolonizing Arts Education with Black Lives Matter at School
WHEN: Saturday, April 1, 2023 from 11am-1pm EDT/8am-10am PDT
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This is a special professional development opportunity for teaching artists that focuses on the ongoing activations and reflections from BLM at School's Year of Purpose, which aims to uplift Black students and undo institutional racism. The centerpiece of the Year of Purpose is asking educators to reflect on their own work in relationship to antiracist pedagogy and abolitionist practice, persistently challenging themselves to center Black lives in their classrooms. Workshop facilitators from Black Lives Matter at School, Teaching Artists Guild, Zinn Education Project, and Creative Generation will partner on this event. Registration link - https://buff.ly/3FHt2PI

Image Description: Graphic with the panel's title, "A Day of Purpose: Decolonizing Arts Education with Black Lives Matter at School," and the logos of the four participating organizations: Creative Generation, Black Lives Matter at School, Teaching Artists Guild, and Zinn Education Project.
March
Loving Engagement and Empathy

It's Student Activity Month! Let's celebrate Barbara Johns and the many, many, many Black student activists at the forefront of liberation!We are committed to embodying and practicing justice, liberation, and peace in our engagements with one another.
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Loving Engagement

Empathy
We are committed to practicing empathy; we engage comrades with the intent to learn about and connect with their contexts.

As our supporter and follower @classroomforchange said, we must never underestimate the power of student activism!! Here are some highlights from students using their voices during the BLM At School Week of Action in February.

For BLM At School, March is Student Activist Month. For this month's Member Meet-Up, we are offering a student meeting space. We want to meet with you and learn about how youth are supported in your schools and hear your ideas about how Black Lives Matter at School National Committees can support you. Whether you are already active in organizing your community or you are interested in starting to organize in your area, this space is for you. Come get connected with other like-minded young people! One hour meeting. Register - bit.ly/MM-3-2023.
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Graphic Description: Text that states "Member Meet-Up on Sunday, March 26, 5pm ET. This month: Student Meeting Space - A time for check-ins, report backs, and a group needs assessment. Register - bit.ly/MM-3-2023." Black background with profile of a Black woman on the right.
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February
Unapologetically Black

To celebrate the birthdays of Audre Lorde and Toni Morrison, and to live in their embodiment of their unforgiving and unapologetic commitment to be their whole selves, we invite folks to complete Lorde's Questionnaire to Oneself and watch Morrison speak about what it means to continue writing in the face of hate.
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To return to this work day in and out, is an ongoing practice. It reaches far beyond a week of action and asks us to remain committed to hope and transformation. Let us too, live in the essence of Lorde and Morrison, to continue our commitment to teaching truthful histories and amassing the powerful practices, creative tools, and key strategies by which past, present, and future generations can advance the struggle of Black liberation.

January
Queer Organizing Behind the Scenes
We recognize that Queer people have always been a part of social change and are committed to fostering a queer‐affirming network. When we gather, we do so with the intention of freeing ourselves from the tight grip of heteronormative thinking or, rather, the belief that all in the world are heterosexual unless disclose otherwise.

​Saturday, December 3, is International People's With Disabilities Day. To fight against societal ableism, we must celebrate our differences and understand how the lessons from Black disabled organizers teach us how to build inclusive, accessible movements. Uplift the principles of globalism and collective value by incorporating the following resources into education spaces and personal practices.

As an outcome of internal talks on what it means to organize through a Black Queer Feminist lens, ABOLITION DAY expands upon BLM at School's "Justice for George" Day as a tribute to the continuing legacy of Black-led abolitionist organizing which have incited justice-oriented transformations of our world. We commit to continue to lift up the names and memories of our beloved ancestors in the global struggle against state violence, which have always included the leadership of those of oppressed genders, national origins, abilities, sexualities, and more.ACCESS RESOURCES HERE:

Expanding beyond U.S. borders to make connections with movements from Ayiti (Haiti) to Boriquien (Puerto Rico) and Palestine, ABOLITION DAY is a platform for students, educators, and community groups to investigate the ever-present opportunities to overturn policies which promote subjugation, dispossession, and premature death toward co-constructing life-making, earth-nurturing, communities of care.

bit.ly/abolitionday22
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LEARN MORE HERE: Join us in LIVING the Year of Purpose.

When Black Lives Matter At School launched the Year of Purpose framework, moving beyond our Week of Action, we invited educators to ponder several questions that ask educators to reflect on their practices and organizing work as the school year begins. This year, we're asking folks to submit testimonials (audio, video, image, text document) that answer those questions, as we collectively ground ourselves and set our intentions for the upcoming school year.

bit.ly/startyearofpurpose22

Learn from these two scholar- activists who document how Black-led education organizing in Philadelphia and Chicago actively struggled to reshape public education to serve Black liberation.

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National coalition organizing for racial justice in education.

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National Black Lives Matter in School Week of Action Starter Kit

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Monday: Restorative Justice, Empathy, and Loving Engagement

Tuesday: Diversity and Globalism

Wednesday: Trans-Affirming, Queer Affirming, and Collective Value

Thursday: Intergenerational, Black Families, and Black Villages

Friday: Black Women and Unapologetically Black

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Assessing Prior Knowledge of staff (before we implement)

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Assessing Prior Knowledge of staff (before we implement)

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I used to think, now I think caravan Wall?

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What does it mean to be developmentally appropriate when it comes to talking about race?

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What does it mean to be developmentally appropriate when it comes to talking about race?

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Border people often inhabit this in-between space created by the separation and collision of two cultures. From KPBS and PRX, "Port of Entry" tells personal stories from this place - stories of love, hope, struggle and survival from border crossers, fronterizxs and other people whose lives are shaped by the wall.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iyn1yCkPHig

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"James Baldwin's 'Talk to Teachers' is just as relevant today"

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"James Baldwin's 'Talk to Teachers' is just as relevant today"

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In 1963, James Baldwin delivered a speech, "A Talk to Teachers", where he proclaimed the responsibility educators have to addressing racism in America and empowering Black students to continue their fight for justice.  True education involves preparing our students to become active citizens and leaders in their democracy, striving for change where they see inequities nd injustices.
Our obligation as educators is to entrust in our students the abilities to create conscious citizens who are vocal about reexamining their society.
As James Baldwin began his speech, "Let's begin by saying that we are living through a very dangerous time, " and our children are watching history unfold right in front of them.
Are we educators prepared for this fight towards liberation and freedom?
The educational experience is not just about standardized testing and performance, it is a place for students to become holistic individuals who are cared for and protected.  Students who build this sense of community and empathy will lead the change in our society in the face of injustice.
Educators must be leaders and advocates in this nation and support our students as they examine their society.  Schools should be a home for this examination and a place for students and educators to become more culturally competent and actively ani-racist.
Thus, educators must also be proactive in dismantling white supremacy and anti-blackness in our educational institutions.  If education is just and seeks to inspire equity and the values of true democracy, educators and the students they teach will transform our country to truly hold liberty and justice for all.
Source: "James Baldwin's 'Talk to Teachers' Is Just as Relevant Today" by Jorge Santos

https://educationpost.org/james-baldwins-talk-to-teachers-is-just-as-relevant-today/