Why NEA Members Are Talking about Racism - NEA Today

Why NEA Members Are Talking about Racism - NEA Today

THE CANCER OF INSTITUTIONALIZED RACISM
It still exists—just more invisibly than ever before

Why do we care about racism in education?

Because we care about children.

Because we care about justice, and equity, and opportunity.

And because, says NEA President Lily Eskelsen García, our calling as public educators and union members is to “build a system where there is a place of honor for all in this diverse and interdependent world, a place where every blessed child has a fair chance to live the lives that will make them happy.”

And because we’re failing—not every child in America today gets a place of honor, or a fair chance, or even the full recognition of his or her humanity.

The problem is institutional racism, or the historic ways of seeing people and doing things in the United States, which our founding fathers entrenched in our public systems, including education, housing, law enforcement, and more. “As a teacher I have done my homework,” said Eskelsen García this spring in Austin, Texas. “Our history is clear: We have never in this country, from the Mayflower to this very moment, ever achieved racial justice in education. Never.”

In 2015, NEA committed the union to fight institutional racism through a “business item” submitted by NEA’s Board of Directors and adopted by NEA Representative Assembly (RA) delegates. It begins, “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.”

Three years later, RA delegates followed up with a resolution about white supremacy culture, saying, “(NEA) believes that, in order to achieve racial and social justice, educators must acknowledge the existence of white supremacy culture as a primary root cause of CONTINUE READING: Why NEA Members Are Talking about Racism - NEA Today

The History of Institutional Racism in U.S. Public Schools — Garn Press - https://www.garnpress.com/news/the-history-of-institutional-racism-in-us-public-schools
Amazon.com: The History of Institutional Racism in U.S. Public Schools (9781942146728): Susan DuFresne: Books - https://www.amazon.com/History-Institutional-Racism-Public-Schools/dp/1942146728