A Call to Action: #TeachTruth on George Floyd’s Birthday
As of September 25, 2021, there are 11 states—Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, Tennessee, Utah—that have passed restrictions on racial justice education in public K-12 schools. As programs that prepare educators to enter classrooms during this current onslaught of education censorship, it is imperative to ensure they are prepared to balance the harsh realities of these bills with their abilities to affirm student identities by teaching a curriculum that is a full and accurate representation of our nation’s history across disciplines.
AACTE invites you to join “Black Lives Matter at School ‘Year of Purpose’” in a national day of action to #TeachTruth about structural oppression on George Floyd’s birthday, Thursday, October 14. This day of action is co-sponsored by the African American Policy Forum and is supported and endorsed by the Zinn Education Project (a project of Rethinking Schools and Teaching for Change), National Education Association, Alliance for Quality Education, NYU Metropolitan Center for Research on Equity and the Transformation of Schools, and NYC Coalition for Educational Justice.
Call to Action: Programs, institutions, and organizations can support this national action in different ways, including but not limited to the following:
- Endorse promoting the day of action on all your platforms and encouraging your members to host and/or participate.
- Upload a resource or lesson you plan to teach on October 14 in your EPP program.
- Join the Higher Ed Teach-in: Emily Houh, University of Cincinnati Law, 3-4:30 p.m. ET
Pre-registration and breakout priority through 10/12
This initiative is being coordinated by and with the support of the organizations listed above; however, AACTE wants to ensure all endorsements and resources relevant to higher education and education prep reach our members. To that end, after you participate by engaging in one or both actions, please fill out this form to feature your lesson or endorsement through AACTE’s platforms such as Ed Prep Matters, AACTE Connect360, and more.
Tags: diversity, equity, inclusion, social justice
