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
What If... White People Took Responsibilty for Our Role in This Moment? by Kathleen Osta
What If We Don't... Return to School As Usual by Hugh Vasquez
Leading Through the Portal to Claim Our Humanity by Kathleen Osta
Rebel Leadership for Our Collective Future by LaShawn Routé Chatmon
The American Nightmare by Ibram X Kendi
Don’t understand the protests? What you’re seeing is people pushed to the edge by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
America must listen to its wounds. They will tell us where to look for hope by Rev. William Barber
COVID-19: Using a Racial Justice Lens Now to Transform Our Future by Lori Villarosa
Have nonprofit and philanthropy become the “white moderate” that Dr. King warned us about? by Nonprofit AF
Open Question: What is a world without whiteness? by Dr. Vajra Watson
Anti-racism resources for white people
A Bold Pitch To Boost School Funding For The Nation's Most Vulnerable Students - Clean Slate Report by EdBuild
A New “New Deal” For Education: Top 10 Policy Moves For States In The COVID 2.0 Era by Linda Darling Hammond
"Don't go back to normal" by Sonya Renee Taylor
Abolitionist Teaching in a Global Pandemic featuring Stephanie Cariaga, Bettina Love, Sagnicthe Salazar, Carla Shalaby, Marylin Zuniga
Dear California kids, use your unprecedented power by Joe Mathews
Say Their Names: A toolkit to help foster productive conversations about race and civil disobedience by Chicago Public Schools
A school’s unique response to COVID-19 by FightBack! News
It's Time to Rethink the Language of Accessibility. And to Imagine a More Equal World by Eddie Ndopu
Webinar series (recorded): Accessing Deep Indigenous Knowing Amidst COVID-19 by K.I.N. Knowledge in Indigenous Networks
Responding, Recovering, Reinventing: 3 Jobs that Matter for School Communities Navigating a COVID World by Transcend Education
All of the Above Interview: Diversity in the Teacher Workforce with Dr. Micia Mosely
Black Lives Matter Global Network
National Bail Out
Know Your Rights Camp
Black Voters Matter Fund
BYP100
NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund
The National Police Accountability Project
Color of Change Education Fund
Unicorn Riot
Campaign Zero
Advancement Project
The Marshall Project