California Educator

June/July 2020

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out plan of action. Not just words. BOBBIE CHAVEZ It's so much more than teaching. It's about truly believing and living what we preach. To understand that this is deeply integrated into our society, into our structures, into who we are as a society. Empathy requires walking in someone else's shoes, sympathy requires pity. Do not pity the person of color who has survived! The word that needs to be shouted is remorse. Remorse for ignoring, remorse for inaction, remorse for allowing. We as teachers are required to look deep into our own souls and model deep remorse. CAROL A PERISHO Teaching history like it should be taught. Staying away from white- washed curriculum. Making sure that all my students are represented in our literature not only during all the different holidays or designated months but every day. JENNIFER DILLY I am using my title as Educator to speak out on my perspective so that I can be a part of a movement towards a greater place for us all. I am also using my voice as a Cauca- sian woman to make it known that I do not agree to such atrocities and to show my resolve towards union and equality for all. CELIA HARRIS Diverse leadership is critically important in our institutions in order to combat injustice and inequality. Stay strong and continue to speak up — it's what we tell our kids to do, so we need to live that and model it to build trust. IRENE DILLON NCTE, weneeddiversebooks.org and Project Lit have helped me grow and work through some of my feelings. Doing a book study this summer with colleagues on Push Out. MEAGAN TOWNLEY Ordering some books for me and my kids. Change begins in our own hearts and homes. Then bring that love to the classroom and our reach is boundless. I no longer tell people I'm "not racist" — I am anti-racist. I've learned the difference. Know bet- ter, do better. NIKOLE KEMPI SCARLET T It is our responsibility to reflect on how well we are doing our job and to be willing to learn and improve our trade and relations with the public we serve. When there are reoccurring issues like discipline or low academic achievement, it is our job with administrative leadership to address these to get better results, taking into consideration the needs of the community we serve. Teachers must be prepared to acknowledge, respect and understand students with substantially different cultural histories and diverse backgrounds so to deliver curriculum that reflects this and is accessible by all students. ELIZABETH RUBENSTEIN EVERY public school that employs "resource" and police officers should follow suit and end those contracts. To read more responses, go to CTA's Facebook page. invalidates and erases hundreds of years of oppression and systematic racism that continues to happen today. We will call out behaviors that continue to support White Supremacy Culture. Black lives matter. (Full text at cta.org/blacklivesmatter.) Community College Assn. President Eric Kaljumägi The institutional racism inherent in our society is tenacious, and as educators we have a responsibility to work to abolish it. We call upon members to enhance discussions of equity and diversity in light of these con- tinuing shocking events. ... Now is the time to press our campuses to be bastions of hope rather than simple reflections of society. Together, teachers can effect change in a way that most other professions cannot. Through your actions and influence, we can be the model that shows others how to reduce racism and inequity in our communities. (Full text at cca4us.org.) United Teachers Los Angeles In Los Angeles and in cities across the country, Black students are more likely to attend underresourced schools and face higher rates of expulsion and disci- pline, ... to lack access to health care, live in foster care, be housing insecure, or have a parent who is incarcer- ated because of racial inequality in the justice system. These realities reflect the dehumanizing institutional racism that must be dismantled. Educators, every one of us, need to look at our- selves ... every time we plan a lesson, pick a textbook, engage with a student, colleague, or parent of color. To be an educator in 2020 must mean being commit- ted to the fight for racial and social justice. This will take bold conversations and actions as union mem- bers and colleagues. As long as Black men and women can't breathe, we will not rest. (Full text at utla.net.) "As long as Black men and women can't breathe, we will not rest." —United Teachers Los Angeles 8 cta.org U P F R O N T

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