The Board of Directors and Steering Committee Directors of
The Badass Teachers Association Support the Black Lives Matter Week of Action
in our Schools
The Board of Directors and Steering Committee Directors of
The Badass Teachers Association are proud supporters of the Black Lives Matter
Week of Action in our Schools to be held from February 5-9. BATs is a national grassroots education
activist organization with over 300,000 in their network. The Badass Teachers Association Board of
Directors and Steering Committee Directors are committed to making social,
racial, and education justice a priority.
We are in strong support of the pillars that the week is uplifting. These pillars are: Racial justice, recruiting, and retaining,
teachers of color, strong support of restorative justice and denouncing
zero-tolerance discipline, and finally advocating for a curriculum that is
culturally responsive. We will continue
to advocate strongly for these pillars long after February 9th.
“The #BlackLivesMatter movement was created to affirm and
support black people, constantly reminded that our lives do not matter when
police kill so many unarmed black people. From the growth of the
school-to-prison pipeline to the persistence of the academic opportunity gap,
clearly public education does not value black lives. Please do not misconstrue
my words, many public-school teachers value black lives, but the system was
never designed for black children and will continue to underserve them, unless
we demand a change. If we are to succeed in valuing black lives in schools and
communities, we need all educators to join us in the #BlackLivesMatter Week of
Actions in Our School.” ~Dr. Denisha Jones, Board of Director Member
“In this country, Black Lives have never mattered. This
country's good fortune and the road taken to get there, is littered with the
bodies of Black people from the earliest days of slavery to today. This country
has never come to terms with its history of racism and how that very racism
propelled this country to the stature it currently enjoys in terms of wealth of
white people. White Supremacy was alive and well back then and it thrives now
under American Exceptionalism that is anything but. The healing has not even
yet begun to take place and we cannot move forward until such a time when
reparations are made in word and deed. It is not enough to espouse rhetoric;
action must meet words spoken. And here we stand shouting for the world to
hear: "If Black Lives Mattered, we wouldn't need the hashtag!" ~Gus
Morales, Board of Director Member
“In the past, voices have gone unheard in the call for the
public education system to be inclusive of all voices. The Black Lives Matter
movement has brought the fact that our country has not created space for the
culture, history, and truth of our citizens of color to the forefront. As
educators, we owe it not only to our students of color to incorporate the
values of their platform into our classrooms, we owe it to all of our students
so that the next generation of leaders can further the work of dismantling
racism.” ~ Melissa Tomlinson, Asst. Executive Director
To find resources for the week please go to the following
sites:
For resources to use in your schools and classroom go here -
Open Facebook page is filled with material that can be
shared
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