Statement of Solidarity

The New Haven Unified District Equity Council, made up of students, teachers, administrators and community members, stands alongside our brothers and sisters in this movement that demands justice for George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Steven Taylor, and others who have fallen due to police violence and racist attacks. We stand in solidarity with our community who are voicing their anguish, and anger with systems that devalue Black lives. We stand in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter Movement and furthermore…

We stand against police brutality in all forms.

We stand against a criminal justice system that disproportionately targets Black Americans.

We stand against the disenfranchisement of Black and Brown communities whose voices continue to be silenced at the polls.

We stand against an educational system that continues to marginalize, criminalize, and oppress our Black and Brown students.

Now is not the time to remain silent and we call upon the community to stand with us and demand justice.

Our charge as the District Equity Council is to identify and remedy habitual patterns of unintentional racism, bias, and at times, intentional racism and bias. Specifically, our actions include:

To improve the level to which curriculum, instruction, and grading address students’ cultural and individual needs, including materials, learning modalities, learning targets and assessments;

To ensure that students have safe and adequate opportunities to address issues of race, culture, gender orientation and religion by providing for student voice and perspective and a process for democratic action.

To support district staff and families with understanding the definition of Equity and Social Justice, by providing professional development.

Moving forward, we renew our commitment to the aforementioned actions with renewed vigor and purpose as we ensure that our students and staff understand the roots of racism, its consequences, and the role that education plays in perpetuating systemic racism and oppression. Our curriculum must be anti-racist. Our staff must be anti-racist. Our policies and practices must be anti-racist.

“One either allows racial inequities to persevere, as a racist, or confronts racial inequities, as an antiracist. There is no in-between safe space of “not racist.” The claim of “not racist” neutrality is a mask for racism.”

― Ibram X. Kendi, How to Be an Antiracist

We encourage our community and allies not to remain silent, but ACT in ways that serve the movement and will result in true change. First and foremost, EDUCATE yourself. READ, LISTEN. WRITE. DONATE.

In Solidarity,

The New Haven Unified School District Equity Council

Zetha Nobles, NHUSD Equity Council Chair

2022-2023