Statement of MNEA Board of Directors on Racial Justice and Solidarity with the Movement for Black Lives
In light of the slayings of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, David McAtee, Daniel Hambrick, and Jocques Clemmons, we as MNEA stand in solidarity with all victims of police murder and systemic racism. These acts of violence carried out by institutions and individuals are a symptom of the deeper roots of white supremacy that are present in every aspect of our culture. We are in a crisis, one that has a legacy of over 400 years in this country, that continues to be put to the wayside with the changing of the news cycle.
We are outraged by these injustices, and we affirm that Black lives matter, now and always. We also assert that momentary anger and words of condemnation are not enough to combat this crisis. We will not keep accepting reactionary platitudes and hopes for change. We must act, and we must act now.
As educators, we recognize that racially and culturally responsive practices must be present in our classrooms in order to achieve racial justice. We need to acknowledge and combat our own weaknesses in cultural and racial competencies, stop feeding the school-to-prison pipeline, and ensure that our educational institutions don’t reproduce other forms of systemic racism. To that end, our MNEA Professional Practices Committee is dedicating itself to implementing cultural competencies training for our members. We can and must lead the change we want to see in our classrooms. The next, and maybe more difficult, step is to work to dismantle the institutionalized white supremacy that continues to criminalize and kill our Black families. Our district is composed of roughly 41% Black students and 25% Black educators, all of whom should have the same freedoms afforded to their non-Black counterparts. But we know this is not reality. We commit ourselves to changing this.
As we do the work within ourselves, our schools, and our association, we ask MNPS, Metro government, and the community to support and fund the following:
Reinstatement of the MNPS Department of Equity and Diversity
Resources for restorative justice over criminal justice
Social emotional resources aimed at addressing racialized trauma
Wages that do not perpetuate racialized poverty
