It’s ‘Black Lives Matter at School Week': Why that matters, and how classrooms are taking part
It speaks to our times that this year’s Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action starts when the Democratic governor of Virginia, Ralph Northam, is under intense pressure to resign. The calls have followed revelations that his 1984 medical school yearbook page included a racist photo and that he had applied shoe polish to his face to imitate Michael Jackson in a 1984 dance contest.
Black Lives Matter at School Week was started by teachers, parents and administrators who organize for racial justice in education and sponsor an annual week of action during the first week of February. It is connected to but not directly linked to the Black Lives Matter movement, and it has been supported by school boards, unions and other organizations along with public officials.
The goal of the week is to teach young people through lessons, discussions, art and social action about structural racism, black identity and history, and restorative justice and related issues. The organizers say thousands of people throughout the country took part last year and they expect a similar level of participation this year.
Israel Presley, a Seattle student activist, recalled last year’s Black Lives Matter at School Week in a video promoting the occasion. “I learned so much, so much, that really empowered me as a black male,” he said. “This was probably the first time I was really excited about school.”
The week-long event is taking place in an era when President Trump is seen as normalizing racism by disparaging people of color and refusing to condemn white supremacists. In many places throughout the country, incidents of racial bullying are rising on K-12 campuses. Just a few months ago, the Utah chapter of the NAACP called for schools to address a growing number of incidents in which white students were hurling racial slurs at black students. CONTINUE READING: It’s ‘Black Lives Matter at School Week': Why that matters, and how classrooms are taking part - The Washington Post
