Not Business As Usual at the NEA (A Peek Into Institutional Racism)
On Friday, the National Education Association’s Representative Assembly heard the names of the nine Charleston victims. They then attended to New Business Item B, which read in part:
We, the members of the National Education Association, acknowledge the existence in our country of institutional racism–the societal patterns and practices that have the net effect of imposing oppressive conditions and denying rights, opportunity, and equality based upon race. This inequity manifests itself in our schools and in the conditions our students face in their communities.
The rest of the NBI reads like a well-intentioned yet vague plan for what the NEA may or may not do to help teachers, schools, and local chapters on the path towards cultural competency. As proud and thankful as some of us were that the item was voted in unanimously, we also knew the history of working with said members on a daily basis. The sorts of comments we get on and offline for just mentioning the word race would shock the inattentive.
Yet, it still felt odd because institutional racism wasn’t just the edifices and direct policies that affect people of color, but also the actors within that system that perpetuate it. Thus, EduColor came out with its own statement which also made its way around the web. The work done to move the dialogue from “We can’t do this race thing” to “We need to pass this bill for the betterment of our organization” shouldn’t be overlooked, but we have to recognize that many of our colleagues aren’t ready to hear that they may be part of the problem, too.
Blogger and friend of the program Fred Klonsky reads NBI 11, calling for the removal of the Confederate battle flag and all symbols from public schools and spaces. This NBI came out the day after NBI B, and happened an hour after we released our statement. In some ways, it proved Not Business As Usual at the NEA (A Peek Into Institutional Racism) | The Jose Vilson: