Problem
Hate crimes have spiked severely across the United States. The school-to-prison-nexus is fueling mass incarceration. Black students are being suspended at dramatically disproportionate rates. Today, some 1.7 million students attend a school that has no school counselor but does have a police officer. Black teachers are being pushed out of classrooms around the country. Too often, classroom curriculum is whitewashed to exclude many of the struggles and contributions of Black people and other people of color.

Solution
Support the four demands of the Black Lives Matter At School national week of action:

1) End “zero tolerance” discipline, and implement restorative justice

2) Hire more Black teachers

3) Mandate Black history and ethnic studies in K-12 curriculum

4) Fund counselors, not cops


Additionally, join the pledge to teach lessons that coincide with the thirteen principles of the Black Lives Matter Global Network:

Monday, Feb. 4th: Restorative Justice, Empathy, and Loving Engagement

Tuesday, Feb. 5th: Diversity and Globalism

Wednesday, Feb. 6th: Trans-Affirming, Queer Affirming, and Collective Value

Thursday, Feb. 7th: Intergenerational, Black Families, and Black Villages

Friday, Feb. 8th: Black Women and Unapologetically Black

Personal story
Black Lives Matter At School national week of action was launched last year. During this week of action, thousands of educators around the U.S. wore Black Lives Matter shirts to school and taught lessons about structural racism, intersectional Black identities, Black history, and anti-racist movements. Educators in over 20 cities participated in this national uprising to affirm the lives of Black students, teachers, and families including, Seattle, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Chicago, Detroit, Boston, New York City, Rochester, Baltimore, Milwaukee, Washington, D.C., and beyond.

Join this growing movement of educators working to dismantle anti-Blackness in our school.