Where Do We Go From Here?

they give it to me

[Applause]

the world didn't give it to me don't you

know that this joy that I have

the world didn't give it to me oh I said

the world didn't give it the world can't

take it away

[Music]

[Applause]

[Music]

[Applause]

[Music]

oh yeah the world didn't give it to me

oh I said the world didn't give it the

world can't take it away

[Music]

[Applause]

[Music]

[Music]

[Applause]

[Music]

[Music]

oh yeah

I said the world didn't give it to me

don't you know that this is

[Applause]

[Music]

[Music]

why won't you sing about peace

[Music]

[Applause]

[Music]

[Applause]

[Applause]

the world didn't give it to me

the world can't take it away

[Applause]

[Music]

[Applause]

can't take it away

[Music]

[Applause]

[Applause]

hello hello and welcome I love that song

from the resistance Revival chorus so

what a way to Shepherd us into this

important conversation this evening

welcome everyone thank you for joining

us and for sharing this virtual space my

name is Sierra Keeler Jones and I am the

executive director of rethinking schools

today's conversation is being co-hosted

by the anti-racist teaching and learning

Collective and rethinking schools the

anti-racist teaching and learning

Collective is a community of Youth

organizers students teachers and teacher

Educators committed to advancing

anti-racist pedagogy curriculum and

practice within K-12 public schools in

Connecticut

and rethinking schools is a non-profit

publisher and advocacy organization

dedicated to sustaining and

strengthening public education through

social justice teaching and education

activism

our magazine books and other resources

promote equity and racial Justice in the

classroom

I'm thrilled to be joined here and to

welcome Natalia braginski and Daniel

Martinez Jose as co-moderators for

tonight's conversation

Natalya is a history educator and

organizer with the anti-racist teaching

and learning Collective and Dan Daniel

is a professor of ethnicity race and

migration at Yale and a member of the

anti-racist teaching and learning

Collective steering committee welcome

Dan and Natalia and welcome to everyone

we are so grateful that you're here

oh hi Natalia hi Sierra

um I just want to say on behalf of our

Collective it's just such an honor to be

in conversation and to be you know doing

something with rethinking schools which

like decades before all of this

attention has been on teaching and

learning

um has been doing this work and see I

just wanted to also congratulate you and

your new appointment the first executive

director of rethinking schools

um so thrilled for you and for the

organization

um and a really exciting moment I just

you know we're going to introduce this

amazing panel in a moment but while we

have you

um I want to ask you a question

um you know because rethinking schools

like

in everything in the Publications the

Articles when we share when I share them

with teachers I work with they always

say like yeah this matters and I can see

teachers voices in this I can see the

voices of students and that's been such

a big part of your work as well as a

scholar someone that does creative work

that does Consulting you know media work

so I just maybe wanted to invite you to

say a little bit more about that like

what's behind that philosophy of why

everything has to start when we're

talking about public education it has to

start with the voices of teachers and

their students

thank you and and thank you so much for

your congratulations congratulatory note

Dan I really appreciate it I'm right

over the 30 day Mark and really I'm just

so grateful to be able to serve an

organization that I love and that has

shaped me as an educator a teacher

educator and a writer and so your

question makes me think about how Bell

hooks talked about the classroom as a

site of radical possibility and how one

of my comrades Ali who is a middle

school teacher called classrooms

experiments and for your futures and I

love that because I think that teachers

and students help us to orient the

present moment in the historical context

allowing to view ourselves as part of a

long Legacy of Freedom Fighters

creatives and Architects really of

possibility and teachers and students

they remind us that there's joy in the

struggle that solidarity is essential

and that Justice and love go hand in

hand their stories give us strategies

and tools like ask critical questions

experimenting collaborating learning but

also unlearning analyzing and building

and so I'm really excited to hear from

the folks that we have on the panel

today because I know that they're going

to be talking about some of these

strategies these tools but also the

dreams and the possibilities for the

future so I'm I'm really looking forward

to hearing from them today

and so Natalia I'd like to turn to you

next because the anti-racist teaching

and learning and Collective has brought

together Educators and students for

conversations in previous webinars and

this webinar actually Builds on a

previous webinar and so our our event

today is building on a webinar that you

all hosted in January titled Beyond

schools in crisis so can you tell us

about what that discussion revealed and

and what you learned so we can really

ground ourselves in that foundation for

today yes absolutely so we organized the

previous panel and we called it Beyond

schools in crisis because we are tired

of schools in crisis both The Narrative

of failing public schools and also the

conditions that create crisis in our

schools so this panel brought together

Connecticut students and youth

organizers new and Veteran teachers and

union leaders to discuss the realities

that are facing our schools many of

which we feel are misrepresented and

misunderstood in the mainstream media

and our panelists identified so clearly

the real challenges in our schools but

they didn't approach this with

hopelessness because they know that

another way is possible and they spoke

of so many systemic Solutions and I hope

that this panel revealed that the

antidote to the crisis narrative and the

crisis conditions is found in the

classroom

and students and Educators hold the

solutions they deserve decision making

power and working together in solidarity

that's how we're going to make these

systemic changes possible and so today's

panel is meant to build off of this this

previous conversation and to turn our

gaze toward the future to consider where

do we go from here

and Dan the title of this panel is a

reference to a quote right and I

wondered if you could share a bit about

the title for today's events Where Do We

Go From Here what's that all about yeah

yeah and thanks Natalia is here both for

those really clarifying comments

um and we'll credit the Ursula and the

team at rethinking schools for reminding

us of Dr King's 1967 book was such an

important kind of a vision and framework

Where Do We Go From Here chaos or

community and we can think of the here

in so many different ways that here and

now in panicked of the pandemic of the

uprisings of the very coordinated

attacks on public schools and public

goods and teachers unions and the effort

to remove that and you know Dr King you

know always struck this amazing balance

of insisting we have to be so sober in

our analysis of the these these crises

the material conditions and yet also

reminding us at the same time that no

power part of the the crisis is is

um necessary or preordained or has to be

realized that there are always always

other kinds of possibilities and that's

of course like a reminder about keeping

cynicism at Bay and you know he has this

kind of wonderful wonderful formulation

at the end about the relationship

between love and power and he says what

is needed is a realization that power

without love is reckless and abusive

and that love without power is

sentimental and anemic and I think

that's such an important reminder that

we have to it's going to see her was

saying we have to keep both right love

and all of the relationships and the

orientations and the aspirations but

also remember that we're very much

talking about power and about who wields

and who exercises and what does it mean

to collectively be able to kind of

organize that

um so I'm just again grateful for that

and to be able to

um you know kind of keep our eyes on the

possibilities right not just the despair

um so um Natalia um it's always great to

be in conversation I'll turn it back to

you for a couple reminders and then what

we're going to get to our panelists

right yes that's right and so just as

Dan said we want this to be a

conversation and we want it to be as

dynamic as possible so in addition to

encouraging our panelists to talk with

one another we want to invite the

audience all um at this moment 215 of

you to join the conversation in the chat

so please use the chat to share your

thoughts Echo resonant themes you heard

or just soup up our panelists and please

feel free to tweet about your insights

throughout this conversation we will

Reserve about 10 to 15 minutes at the

end of the panel for audience q a so

throughout the panel also we encourage

you to share your questions in the Q a

function so we can collect them for our

closing we won't be able to get to all

the questions but we'll make sure to ask

those that um you know rise to the

surface and have similar themes and just

a few notes on technology and

accessibility before we introduce our

panelists closed captioning is available

and we have two wonderful ASL

interpreters shout out to Crystal who

you see on the screen right now and

Shannon who will be on in a bit

if at any point you can't see or hear

let us know and we'll do our best to fix

any issues

um and finally we'll follow up after the

webinar via email with a list of

resources mentioned throughout the

conversation and there will also be a

video of the panel so the conversation

can live on so let's let's get to it um

who do we have with us today Sierra

yeah so today just to briefly frame the

conversation we come together to reflect

on a few essential questions so where do

we go from here and as Dan mentioned

that here means so much and can mean

different things to each of us and so

how do we build the schools classrooms

and learning communities that every

student needs and deserves and what role

do teachers play in creating these

conditions and possibilities and so with

that I'll pass it over to Dan for to

introduce the panelists as we move

forward in the conversation and begin to

answer some of those questions great

thanks so for this conversation we have

this uh amazing panels as you hear in a

moment but also folks that come from a a

wide range of roles connected to schools

so a student classroom teachers teacher

educator someone that's doing coaching

and ethnic studies a principal a union

leader representing Oakland Chicago

Philadelphia Philly and Boston and right

this is all about we're going to be

stronger and better if we can think

together about these questions

so I'm going to introduce uh you know

our first two folks really thrilled to

have Ali Khan bulani as an educator from

Berkeley California

co-principal at Life Academy of health

and bioscience which is a public school

in uh the Oakland Unified School

District in California in the Fruitvale

neighborhood and then Kate savato a

student an amazing Community organizer

on Chicago's South Side so you'll get to

hear from them both in a second but

welcome Kate and Ali Khan and Sarah I'll

turn it over to you for the next two

thank you I am thrilled to welcome

Jackson Potter Jackson Potter is a

Chicago public schools graduate

co-founder of the caucus of rank and

file Educators Corps and vice president

of the Chicago Teachers Union welcome

Jackson

I'm also really honored to introduce

Carla shalaby Carla is a fierce believer

in the power of young children and their

teachers and works at the intersections

of writing research teacher support and

development and organizing to cultivate

that belief in and out of schools Carla

is located in Detroit welcome

pass it to Natalia to introduce the

final

yes joining them we have Adam Sanchez a

social studies teacher at Central High

School in Philadelphia and um on the

editorial board of rethinking schools

also the editor of teaching a people's

history of abolition and the Civil War a

book that I have used often in my

classroom

um and

in Boston we've got Nima avashya a

veteran educator in Boston Public

Schools currently working as an ethnic

studies coach so let's give a round of

applause to our wonderful beautiful

um wise panelists

and I'll I'll um keep it here for our

first question which we invite you all

to answer

so schools are under so many attacks

right now right we all know this we feel

this and at the same time we know that

there are so many brilliant and creative

practices and possibilities that already

exist

among our schools students and Educators

so for this first question can you give

us a specific snapshot or story from

your classroom school or District that

helps us understand why public schools

are worth fighting for and these will

just be brief snapshots why are public

schools worth fighting for and we'll

start with you Ali Khan

thank you Natalia hello everyone my name

is Ali kambilani calling in from Oakland

California

um so the question is why fight uh

uh for me it begins and it ends with

love

um I I really appreciate this framing of

love from MLK because that's the

definition that I want to use

um love not as emotional Bosch as MLK

would say but is strong and demanding

love

um so at best schools are are are

fertile ground for building love um

because they're honest places in fact

they're some of the only honest places

left where we're actually in public

institution

um interfacing in a sustained human way

for the messiness of humanity and

democracy and all the things we dream

about

um I don't think people really talk

about you know the post office or the

DMV quite that way but

um we we fight for public schools

because every single person uh not just

the Selected Few who meet a criteria for

grit or or some other abstraction

deserve to be loved

um I think immediately about a student

named Cheyenne uh that I taught in

grades nine through eleven

um I used to teach math and by all

accounts Cheyenne struggled with school

um I taught her three times because I

taught the lower level math classes and

she just kept showing up

um she ended up in all of them um and I

remember in Intermediate Algebra this

was her junior year of school uh she

suddenly just started killing it at math

and and I remember thinking this is such

a dramatic shift Cheyenne what's going

on like what what why did you just

suddenly start to get this math did I do

something different

um and and her answer always stuck with

me which was

um math was never the problem uh I

actually just feel at home here at this

school and I feel cared for

um so we definitely have a crisis in

this country right um around uh academic

development and all the things that we

hear about but ultimately to me it's

like a crisis of like a deeper love

um

so not only do we need a fight for

public schools but we actually need a

fight to build institutions that see

love as like the central thesis or

central part of the equation

um so if we're rigorous and we're

radical about that love I feel like the

academics follow and um that that's

where I'm at today

um hi

um my name is Kate I'm a student uh at

Julian High School on the south side of

Chicago

um I also have ADHD so holding that

question in my head was really hard

um but I think that moments that have

resonated with me over time right

because I think that it's a collective

of reasons why we continue to do this

work because it's really really hard

um and it takes a lot of energy but I

think a collective of moments has

definitely been this year uh in last

year I think that I was struggling a lot

trying to find my place in school last

year but seeing how it's become almost a

home but also how everyone plays

different factors into these homes so

when we talk about schools being the

hearts of our communities that means

that we actually have to put in the

energy to not only be there and be

present but to be able to nourish

um and care and love of and similar to

what was just said the points of Love is

that like love is a combination of

things you know it's kind of what bell

hooks once said it's a combination of

care and respect and I think that it's

not only just like what has happened

that I think is why I fight I think it's

what I would like to see

um but I would definitely say it's my

peers

um it's that feeling of family

um and especially being in a school

where we're conditioned to be segregated

and it's we all look the same

um in our black people and black

children

for me it's definitely when we're all

just existing

um and being the beautiful humans that

we are

um and accepting our own complexity

Jackson let's hear from you next thank

you alicon and Kate

yeah thanks

um I think similar to what's already

been said schools are sites of struggle

public education is where we can build

movements across our differences uh

whether it's gender class race ability

and

I was at the altgel gardens recently

which is uh housing public housing

development in Chicago South Side and it

had been labeled by an activist Hazel

Johnson as The Toxic donor because it's

an all-black public housing development

that had experienced Decades of

environmental racism dumping pollution

Mercury you know you name it industrial

toxins and it's under the ground where

people live where people go to school

and we talked with three schools parents

administrators teachers and discussed

our vision for a sustainable Community

School that would help turn the tide by

ensuring the crumbling infrastructure

was repaired replaced with you know uh

heat pumps with solar with a solar field

that could power the homes as well as

the schools with CTE programming where

young people could develop the next

generation of electric vehicles where

they can you know figure out how to use

Hazmat

suits and go in and remove pollutants

and address the cumulative impacts that

their Community has faced over all this

time it was really empowering and we got

a plan of action and I think

prioritizing communities like all girl

Gardens is going to be critical in our

work to realize Green Schools thank you

I'm grateful for all those stories

already told and for the number of times

that love has been raised and so a story

about what it might look like in

practice we had a first grader a

six-year-old suspended from school for

three days uh earlier in the school year

and it's an example of schools just

being Their Own Worst Enemy so in the

aftermath of the news that we were going

to be missing him for three days the

teacher a first-year teacher got the

idea that she really wanted to work with

the kids around how we were going to

welcome him back

and so I got the great joy of supporting

her as a beginning teacher in working

with the rest of the children to talk

through the fact that he was going to be

missing and how were they feeling about

the fact that he was going to be missing

which is engendered their own debate

around whether or not he deserved to be

suspended and what possible Alternatives

were that naturally emerged from that

conversation and they decided that they

were going to all make him welcome back

cards

um and to make those welcome back cards

they were going to think through how he

might be feeling Upon returning and put

themselves in his shoes imagining how

hard it would be to come back to school

after having been removed for three days

and so they made all the cards they set

them up on his desk for when he would

arrive in the morning of his return and

then somehow overnight all of the cards

disappeared and so we don't know what

happened to them now in the morning

these first graders are scrambling to

figure out their plan B and so they just

get you know a giant sheet of that

sticky poster paper and they gather in a

circle with all the markers and crayons

and like within 10 minutes they just

make this giant welcome back sign to put

on the front of the door and just the

image of kind of the tops of their heads

all in there together you know sharing

the colors and sharing the the crayons

and the space and so that to me is like

how Sierra LED us with that experiments

and Freer Futures that's an experiment

in a Freer future

um and that to me is the promise of

public schools that even when the

institution itself is doing its worst

the people within it are still imagining

and enacting in otherwise world in real

time all the time and that to me is the

most beautiful thing about the space of

public schools

beautiful answers

um you know I'll just add that I think

because

public schools are these places of love

and sites of struggle

um they also have the potential to

become Laboratories for Justice right

and I think that is the potential danger

that the right wing sees uh with these

anti-crt bills and so forth right and so

I'll give an example you know simple

example from my class that you know I

teach African-American history in

Philadelphia every year

um since 2020 we've start with started

with a discussion of the questions

raised by the black lives matter

movement and students investigate the

questions of should police be in schools

and should we reform defund or abolish

beliefs right and when students

investigate these questions they find

that

um the people arguing uh on uh the side

of more funding for police have very

little evidence to back up their

argument when they read our

superintendent when they read Joe Biden

that's the first thing students point

out right whereas abolitionists like

Miriam Caba uh and others

um they they are able to find plenty of

evidence

um and you know and not to say that all

students immediately become

abolitionists but I think this is just

you know one microcosm of an example

um that these are the kind of

discussions that we can have in public

school tools

um and and it's there's very few spaces

in this Society other than activist

circles where we invite

um anyone to participate in these kind

of conversations

um and I think this is incredibly

dangerous to those in power right which

is why you see this backlash but it's

incredibly crucial that we involve young

people in these discussions about how do

we move towards a better future because

we see throughout history that it is

young people who are at the Forefront of

pushing

um our our country our world to be a

better more Equitable more uh justice

full place

it's very hard to go left

incredible I think I would just

um Echo the idea that schools are

incredibly dangerous places to fascists

um because when um when young people and

teachers are in conversation with each

other honestly about the oppressive

structures that exist in our society and

when they're building the tools together

to fight back

um they can be unstoppable

um a few years ago uh the Boston Public

Schools tried to shut down my school and

uh the young people in our school were

very quick to make the connections

between gentrification in the

neighborhood and what it looks like for

schools to be Jennifer guide for schools

to be closed and handed over to other

entities

and it was a situation where there

weren't answers and so it wasn't like

teachers were in charge no one was in

charge we were all just responding all

the hierarchy got taken out of the

situation which meant amazing things

started to happen young people were

annotating copies of e-viewing's book

ghosts in the schoolyard shouts my

Chicago folks and like dropping them off

to school committee members right and

hacking into the parent list serve to

send emails to parents being like don't

let this happened

um they were going to school committee

they were lobbying City councilors they

were fully taking

responsibility for their home for their

community and saying like this is ours

and we're not going to let it go without

a fight and as adults what we could do

is give them language and lenses to help

them make meaning of what was happening

in the world around them I think that's

what Public Schools can do is to give

young people a space in which to process

all of the hard that exists instead of

denying that it exists or gaslighting

them and saying that they don't that

they're imagining that it exists we can

name it and we can think about what to

do about it and that that I think is

such a powerful thing that uh that

scares a lot of people who don't want us

to do that work

I am so glad that we started with this

question because I'm just all of your

responses are so beautiful and powerful

and um I think so often schools are

talked about it especially these days as

these um like hard impossible

um challenging spaces and yes I mean

they're Dynamic so there are a lot of

things but missing from the conversation

is exactly

um what you all are sharing schools are

powerful places

um Dan you're you're joining us here

what did you think about this first

round of responses yeah I got you know

it's that combination of like when

you're kind of mind is moved but also

you feel something you know kind of

across and I just also just this kind of

continued emphasis on schools as a place

this urgent place of right now not some

place that in 10 15 years is preparing

people for a job or something else right

now the site in which the biggest

biggest forms of uncertainty in crisis

are going to be figured out

um so it's just really moving and

um we're kind of looking forward to

digging in more yeah and it makes for

all the teachers out there for all the

students out there and all the other

Educators everyone who works in schools

I hope that hearing those responses just

made you feel um like the work that you

do is powerful and that the place that

you go every day is is like a place of

immense possibility and I think um you

know you all said it like this site of

struggle um that we need right now more

than ever thank you all yeah thanks

Natalia

um so we're going to go into a second

round we're going to do this in

conversations kind of groups of three

years so really happy to have Kate

alakan and Carla join for the first

round

so um great to be with you all you know

we're at this moment when many Educators

just both feel under attack

um and a growing sense of just kind of

outrage and frustration about what the

future holds and we've all seen these

surveys that show just a growing number

of colleagues considering leaving the

profession or if not that compelled to

in some way restrict what or how they

teach out of fear of censure or

punishment but we also know this picture

is not complete there's so much more as

Natalia was saying happening in our

school so for this round we want to

really think with you all and with the

panelists in your role as as teachers

and Educators students organizers

writers administrators union leaders

despite all these attacks kind of what

um keeps you going gets you to take

action organize and build solidarity and

Kate um let's start with you again

um one of the main narratives that

certainly we're hearing all about like

you know as it pertains to students is

about quote learning loss and young

people in crisis but this leaves out so

much right it reproduces this kind of

deficit framework students as problems

right that need to be fixed in some ways

can you paint a picture for us about the

work you do

um and other students are doing in

Chicago and how that work uh really

challenges those stories of students who

are disengaged or somehow don't care

um yeah totally I think one of the main

points

of that young people even young people

who aren't aware of the conditions that

they're conditioned to is rewriting the

narratives that we have been put in I

think a lot of times when adults who are

in positions of power

um decide what young people are going

through that creates such a capacity for

young people to be able to imagine and

create and believe and so if you tell

someone that like this is you and you're

this small right in this big world then

that's what they're going to believe in

that's what they're going to go by

um in Chicago right now we're actually

going through an election in our past

mayor

um like literally went through so much

of just like belittling Chicago's Youth

and dehumanizing Chicago's youth

um and I could go on and on about that

um but the reaction from Chicago's youth

exactly has continuously been rewriting

our own stories I think myself as an

organizer even in organizing spaces has

always been to rethink outside of the

boxes that we already exist in trying to

find new tools I think someone mentioned

like new language and lenses because

when we instead inform young people and

and condition us to this box instead of

allowing young people to write out our

own stories

um we enable that kind of like learning

loss

um narrative but I think the other half

of that narrative that young people are

these bad people who need to be fixed

um and who are so small in this big

world I think the other half of that is

definitely that we don't have the access

to the things that make us larger

um that make us feel bigger than life

um that allow us to build our

imaginations and so when we don't have

access to those resources or even that

knowledge

in my African-American dual credit

studies class we're like talking about

these different theories

um and my teacher is always like okay

what's something that you can connect to

this and some people talk about

experiences that they've always had or

like that they have before with like

different classes

um and I've continuously responded about

like what if everyone had access to this

knowledge right and it's intentional

that we're put down and it's intentional

that we don't know

um why we live in the world that we live

in it's intentional that we're

segregated it's intentional level red

line and don't have access

um to these different things uh so I

think that the response has always been

resilience

um even in past generations of Chicago's

young people has always been resilience

I think it's in like the air of Chicago

um but not only Chicago all across the

nation young people are becoming woke RV

are aware of what is happening I I think

the only question now is how do we move

forward and how do we make that more

tangible and how do we make sure that

the people are who who are the most

harmed and impacted are at the Forefront

of these fights

uh okay you know you just have this

beautiful command of the like language

that you're inviting us to see these

through and you know when you said small

and big you know

um that communicated so much

um and and this the point you're making

about

um the stories that people carry with

them and how Central those are

um so so uh deep and Ali Khan I'm gonna

turn to you and

um you know you've described your school

as this kind of place where many folks

in the community and neighborhood have a

stake so neighbors parents students

teachers also the teachers who attended

the school as students uh and

administrators I mean you could talk a

little bit more about the kind of this

culture and vision for public schools as

a place where everyone has a stake right

and the school itself is Central to the

world that all of us are trying to build

no thanks for that and Shout Out Kate

man that was amazing um

uh yeah I mean it's just what I heard

Kate say which is like we don't we don't

have I think you said we don't have like

the place to see ourselves in the bigger

thing right and I think like

I feel like the purpose of schools is

how do we actually create the conditions

for everybody to see themselves as a

part of this bigger thing

schools are not these you know places

that are immune from society sometimes

we pretend that we have to just reflect

what they like we have to reflect

Society in these ways that

um someone tells us to do so and blah

blah blah blah we really don't have to

and I think Adam said it really well it

is true historically that at the

Forefront of every change movement there

have been young people I believe that

sincerely I come from a place called

Oakland California where the Black

Panthers were young people who radically

changed the not only the material

conditions of our society but the

radical imagination of our society so

when we think about that potential that

could happen in all of our schools no

matter where we are right

um and so so all that to say that any

Vision we're struggling for has to be a

vision that actually centers bipoc folks

and what we need

um and what do we need what's the most

important thing that we need I think we

need each other I think we need each

other um we know we know the stats uh 80

of public educator Public School

educators are white

um 55 of students of students are people

of color

um I've been lucky to work in a

community uh where we flip that a little

bit right 100 of our students are

students of color and eighty percent of

our teachers are bypoc folks

um and uh in many cases about like 20 30

of our staff actually graduated from

Oakland Public Schools graduated from

this school and I've returned as alumni

to work here and then in some really

beautiful cases for me personally some

of these folks were actually my students

at the school that I taught at down a

little further east in Oakland who have

come and returned to this profession

um and so I mean maybe maybe lucky is

not the word actually if there's a

little bit of work in there and to be

honest I don't have like a real this is

where that love thing comes in for me as

to like what you we could be doing now

to plant seeds for the future because 17

years ago I did not know the season I

was planting per se and not just me but

the whole community that we built

um I didn't know the seeds that we were

planted I didn't know that 17 years

later I'd be working with kids I've

known since the kids adults amazing

Educators that I've known since they

were 16.

um who uh have become these my family

right and I think like that kind of

family orientation is something that we

should attune ourselves to because to me

that's where the Hope lives

um and when I say family I just want to

be very clear

um families are complex

um families are not just it's not just

it's not just like you know cheesy love

it it really is complex we hold each

other accountable as families we push

each other as families right so we come

back to this question I'm not just

talking about oh um a vision for schools

needs to be one in which we all feel

good and connected to one another of

course but that Vision also has to be

that a family where we actually hold

each other the high ass standards right

because as family we hold each other to

standards we push each other

um and that lives in academics it does

and so for me

um I think there has to be uh the debate

can't be is it all about you know this

path where we all make each other feel

good or academics I think there's a way

to do both and um I believe that our

vision for schools has to be one in

which we're thinking about the long term

then thinking about what it means to

inspire people to return to this work uh

with the lens of justice and the lens of

making the society they want to see

and silicon that's so powerful and just

that remind her like we live in a messy

messy world a world where people are you

know encouraged to humiliate one another

to turn their backs on one another and

these schools are the very sites and we

can practice a different set of skills

about accountability a vowel and

connection so

um uh just such a rich sight to think

with and I think this is a good time to

bring Carla into the discussion

um

so Carl as you know so many of these

attacks on public you know that we've

more recently witnessed have come under

this guise of quote uh parental rights

and it's really constructed this image

of students and especially younger

students as kind of apolitical and

always needing protection from Educators

right and from their unduly influence

and your amazing book troublemakers

lessons and freedom from young children

at school you know just starts from a

much different account so hoping you can

talk and you know your story certainly

Illustrated this but what is that

dominant narrative get wrong and what

does it fail to understand about the

agency and vision of students in moving

us beyond the current crisis yeah I

think sometimes even those of us who are

really Adept at talking about the power

of young people forget this particular

power of young children kind of ignore

their role in social change or imagine

them as future change makers as they

grow older rather than as people who

impact their communities day in and day

out so I am tired of saying it but what

children are full people they are

smaller than us but they are in all ways

and in all regards full human beings

with full human rights they are the

opposite of apolitical and so far as you

know being political is about

understanding power testing power

figuring out how to make decisions as

groups figuring out how to share

resources in ways that are fair they're

doing that through their play and

through their everyday interactions all

the time they are doing the work of

politics they're practicing the work of

politics and they are much more

naturally oriented too and frankly

obsessed with fairness in ways you know

that are like completely just natural to

their development as young children and

so

this idea that children are the property

of parents they are not children are not

property no human being is property a

child is not the property of their

parent and so

um I would like love for us to just

really think hard about the power of

young children in particular to be

practicing a world that we want rather

than a world that is because they are

young and they have more time right so

if we can get them practicing at two

three four and five they have more years

of practicing freedom of practicing

their responsibilities as free people

and so you know it's amazing that I

still have to remind people that young

children are full human beings and I see

evidence of it every day so I'll leave

with just one more tiny story so that I

know that we're short on time but you

know children also have almost no no

regard for the rule of law okay like

they do their own thing you know Against

All Odds like they they really are free

they're free people and so I just think

about even when no opportunity presents

itself how they find the crawl spaces to

do what they want and every day in our

hallway I walk past this line of artwork

and all of the artwork is identical the

teacher had read them the book the

beautiful black bird by think Ashley

Bryan is the author and they just did

these black birds with you know these

kind of rainbow Stripes coming out

anyway they all look exactly the same

and then on one second graders in the

corner she wrote The Rise of the

Blackbird you know I know she was

certainly not invited to

so even when there when they're really

given an opportunity to make a political

statement they take whatever

opportunities they create for themselves

and so it's just so important to take

them seriously as whole people and I'm

grateful for that question

um thanks Carla I just love you know

that returning us to this idea of

classrooms and sites where students are

already practicing Freedom

um uh what a kind of compelling and

importance Insight so um alecan Caden

Carla just grateful for that interaction

really look forward to coming back for

our final round to get your thoughts

about you have this question about where

we we do go from here we're going to

welcome back now uh Jackson Nema and

Adam

[Music]

um

and great to be with all of you

um just to do one more round here and

you know part of what we'll uh talk

about hey Jackson is um you know so many

of the decisions that are made about

schools and our current moment are made

by people that don't spend their days in

the classroom talking to teachers engage

with teachers and students

um and yet we still always know that

it's teachers and students who are

holding concrete real practical

solutions for the problems that their

their schools face even as a rarely

given decision-making power

um so here we're thinking about the ways

that Educators carve out places in spite

of not being invited to do so carve out

places of leadership and Direction and

vision

um uh against the strictures that say

that's not your your role so Jackson

let's start with you you know you're a

vice president of the Chicago's teachers

union you spend a lot of time with

teachers listening to their vision right

what do they what do they see and

imagine for their own schools

um and you know in the last 15 years the

CTU has really demonstrated that unions

can both fight for wages and working

conditions that teachers need and

deserve to make this a dignified life

and occupation but also link those

efforts to a vision of public education

in which everyone can Thrive so I'm

hoping to start us off can you just say

a little bit more about that about the

role of the Chicago Teachers Union and I

think unions more generally in asserting

this role for teachers as Champions and

Visionaries of public education

yeah first I you know I just want to

mention a lot of Americans are

experiences to have a opportunity to

shape democracy like twice a year or

once every four years or whatever it is

and the union movement like we have

democracy by workers for workers

365 days a year like I don't think

because it's outside the normal

experience as Labor's been attacked we

appreciate as an institution that

there's a lot of similar similar

qualities to what Public Schools bring

and at CTU I spend time talking both to

students and to teachers and

paraprofessionals about you know why is

it that we have a contract that

references safe and healthy working

conditions why is it that it has to

reference textbooks why does it have to

say something about academic freedom and

anti-racist curriculum well because

those things have been violated or you

have asbestos in your classroom or lead

pipes and lead paint or lack of

materials and appropriate resources and

Staffing and so we've had to fight for

these things over a long period of time

and help memorialize them through

struggle and one of the ways that this

shows up for me personally and for us

organizationally you know I was a first

grader in CPS Chicago public schools in

1984 I'll age myself and I went to one

of the better funded schools right there

is a lot of inequity within Public

Schools let's not fool ourselves

and we didn't have full-time social

workers or full-time nurses while I was

handing out literature on Election Day

to elect one of our own because Brandon

is better he's about to become the first

educator ever elected to Chicago as

mayor

and um I was talking to a social worker

and she described what her life is like

since we won for the first time in over

a hundred years in our contract a

full-time social worker and a full-time

nurse in every classroom across the

district and she said I've been a social

worker for 32 years and the last two

years have been absolutely

transformational because I've been able

to focus my attention in one school

every day on a group of young people and

it's made a transformative difference

and so to me that's really a testament

to what we fight for how we do it with

community and how it has broader social

impact for transformation

thanks Jackson I just I so appreciate

there how you're talking about something

like very very concrete and material in

a contract actually opens up and

unleashes all of these other kinds of

possibilities and of course that

Educators see that directly right like I

want to be supported in doing my role uh

to advance the school let Nema let's

turn to you now in Boston so I mean

similarly the Boston Teachers have been

I mean really this is a national model

Central and developing a new ethnic

studies program and curriculum for

Boston public schools and advocating for

the resources and support to make the

program a success and this really is

building on the idea of teachers as

Scholars and writers and curriculum

developers uh student Advocates and much

more so can you talk a little bit more

about how you and your colleagues in the

union understood ethnic studies and

anti-racist education as a foundational

issue for the union and the kind of

collaborative process in the curriculum

development and teachers artwork you've

been doing

sure thing you know I think the most

important thing to remember is that

schools and classrooms are ecosystems

right and they only function if the

relationships are healthy and if uh and

if the folks in those contexts are

listening to each other and so really

um so much of the movement for ethnic

studies was the product of Educators

listening to their students and

listening to their students ask

questions about

why why do we learn certain curriculum

and not learn other things why is so

much of what we're talking external to

us why are our communities not the site

of learning why are our identities not

at the center of learning those are

questions I think have only become even

more intensified in the context of covid

um where young people you know counter

to the learning loss narrative young

people were learning a lot of things

outside of school they were learning

things that were of deep interest and

meaning to them but that isn't necessary

barely what they were being offered in

schools I think Educators were hearing

young people be hungry for a kind of

learning in schools that wasn't

happening it wasn't happening in the

context of package curriculum it wasn't

happening in the context of standardized

testing and that dictates what you can

learn and so ethnic studies really

emerged as a way to respond to young

people who are hungry to know more about

themselves know more about their

communities know more about their

history what's so powerful is that that

was teacher and student-led work that

happened outside

um it happened in the context of the

Union it wasn't something that the

district was initiating it was the union

and Educators and young people pushing

and pushing and pushing from the outside

to say we want this we want this we're

going to work to we're going to write a

curriculum before they're we're going to

write grants to write curriculum before

there's even any infrastructure right

and then we're going to push you to fund

infrastructure and we went from having

one funded position to this year we have

eight funded ethnic studies positions we

have two coaches and six hybrid teachers

who teach for half of their day but for

the other half of their day are

collaborating with one another to build

curriculum and work together to problem

solve and think about how do we do

ethnic studies work with our young

people none of that would have happened

if Educators hadn't started by listening

and responding to the young people in

their classrooms and I think that that's

for me like the most important thing to

think about because that's so often the

opposite of what's happening when it

comes to decision making around our

schools 99 of the time the decisions

that are being made are not connected to

the ideas or feelings or thoughts of

young people at all and that's why I

think so often initiatives imposed on

our schools fail because we're not

listening to what young people are

saying and in this in this model and in

this moment that's that is what happened

we listen to Young people and we're

building from what they say

um that's just

you know like the reminder that it's not

just that it's like top down and

teachers being instructed but that

always will come at the cost of students

getting being invited to Envision their

own education

um and and transforming those Dynamics

they're kind of how Central that is and

just that point about not waiting for

the district to design a curriculum that

we can teach but insisting you know the

kind of we are the ones we've been

waiting for to be able to do this

um and Adam that's a good you know

transition to take us to you

um we know that over the last 20 years

we've just seen this proliferation for

K-12 educators of pre-packaged

curriculum textbooks insisting teachers

either teach to the test or to certain

kind of metrics that really denies them

the opportunity to co-create curricula

pedagogy Etc

um but you and your colleagues in

Philadelphia and this is true for many

teachers in the kind of rethinking

schools Network I've taken a much

different approach so I understand

Philadelphia I think since 2005 has

required all students to take on

African-American history class to

graduate but you really insisted that

teachers and students be at the center

of how that classes envisioned expanded

and taught so can you talk a little bit

more about that work and also just that

role of supporting and inviting and

developing uh teachers to be writers

creators and designers of their own

curriculum and pedagogy

sure

um Let me let me just start by saying I

I wish this was a union pushed

um uh activity that we're engaging here

and I and I have to you know shout out

to all of us who are still

um in Fairly undemocratic unions

operating on the old business model

um and I you know so much so much

solidarity and and maybe a little bit of

jealousy out to y'all and uh Chicago and

and Boston

um you know but the interesting thing

about Philly is that this this kind of

top-down mandate for African-American

history of course there's a whole

history goes back to the 1960s of

students fighting for African-American

history

um but the the Mandate in 2005 opens up

opens up this

um place in Philly where we need an

African-American history curriculum and

that's not a very in 2005 there's not a

ton of you know ready to go curriculum

out there and so that begins a process

by which um teach this before I'm even

in Philly teachers have gotten together

begun to put together curriculum

um and uh the latest social studies uh

educator and really the the district has

a team now of curriculum Specialists

um have the but the latest social

studies uh development specialist an

incredible person from our social

justice caucus here in Philly um Israel

Jimenez just took uh the Reigns I think

of that position a year or two ago and

began putting teams together to rewrite

the district curriculum and has said you

know we're not gonna get any more

textbooks we are going to hire our own

um to create to recreate this this

curriculum

um and that has opened up a lot of space

for Teacher created

um curriculum in Philadelphia

um but I'll just you know to say really

about the question of the importance

here I think maybe even a better example

is what we've done in this in education

project with the teach reconstruction

campaign because if you look at the way

reconstruction was taught in schools for

nearly a century right it was

essentially a racist narrative crafted

by ex-confederates that was popularized

by uh the Dunning School historians at

Columbia and then birth of in the film

Birth of a Nation right and it's and

it's really not till the the the

1970s and 80s where you get

um a whole new crop of historians after

the Civil Rights Movement that totally

devastate and debunked this history of

course there's folks like the boys who

had been doing it decades earlier

um but but this becomes now the there's

a new established consensus that you

know this is an openly racist narrative

we should not be teaching this

um but that that new historical

consensus doesn't actually filter down

in the K-12 State Standards into

um the textbooks and so forth because

they still teach a top-down perspective

they still and they still have these

remnants of the old racist Dunning

school right

um and so that so for me you know that

this is what the teach reconstruction

campaign that there's an education

project has led us about is that we

actually need teacher experts to who

understand

um the the new historical consensus and

can translate that for students into

curricula because the textbooks are not

doing it the state standards are not

doing it right um and so we have to

build the space

um through our unions through our

districts

um for teachers to get release time to

do this sort of work right

thanks I mean there's just so much there

and about also just I think you're

reminding us like attention to what the

larger narratives are that we're going

to be structuring all of the curriculum

and pedagogy and that we have to lay

claim to that as well not simply what's

in a scope and sequence or what

essential questions are but what's the

larger narrative at work here the

Fantastic exchanges I learned so much

I'm grateful uh Jackson Adam and Nema

and looking forward to this next round

Sierra what did you think there of the

uh that last Exchange

oof oh I don't know about you Dan but

I'm feeling so fired up right now that

I'm speaking there's so much that I'm

taking from that conversation I was

furiously typing notes and I just keep

coming back to people power right we

need each other and the fact that people

built these systems and structures of

Oppression and as people we can disrupt

and create something better so with the

two conversations that's really what I

keep coming back to it's just being

reminded of the power of solidarity and

so I'm excited for this next phase of

the competition of the conversation

because we'll be diving into that a bit

more

so as we go into this next portion we're

really going to be thinking about how as

abolitionists teach us that we both have

to dismantle and build a quote that

grounds and guides me comes from Robin

DG Kelly he says without New Visions we

don't know what to build only what to

knock down we not only end up confused

rudderless and cynical but we forget

that making a revolution is not a series

of clever Maneuvers and tactics but a

process that can and must transform us

and so I've learned from my comrades and

organizing that once something has been

transformed it can never go back to the

way that it was so how do we truly

transform how can we imagine and

construct that's why there are these

attacks because the opposition knows

that we have joy and creativity on our

side and they try to exhaust us so we

don't have the capacity to dream because

when we're not well we can't show up to

the movement but I love that we are

resisting that by having this

conversation and so I'd like to turn to

Jackson and Ali Khan to kick off this

part of the conversation really to just

think about some insights and some

advice about what can be possible and so

uh Jackson I'd love to turn to you first

in your role what are the policies that

we need to be organizing for in our

schools and unions like I was just

learning so much from you from what you

shared about what a democratic process

can look like as teachers organize and

and unionize

yeah the beautiful thing about teachers

organizing taking strikes for not just

themselves but their students in the

broader Community this bargaining for

the common good is we we have Boston as

a critical example where they worked

with their mayor to get 4 000 units of

affordable housing for their unhoused

students you know our mayor told us that

that was not germane to a contract so we

just fired her

and we're going to get a teacher in

there who's responsive to the needs of

young people and it's almost

all black students increasingly Latin a

as more students are coming from Texas

and Florida but that's the kind of

transformation that we need to see and

Bettina love has a good piece in Ed week

this issue where she says you know we

can't really teach black lives matter we

can't teach black history without black

teachers

and we've seen you know I think Ali Khan

has had pointed this out a huge

reduction in the number in Chicago and

Philly and New Orleans wherever the

attacks and privatization have happened

it's led to displacement of black

teachers and black families and so um

you know Minneapolis I think has shown

us the way they just voted up a contract

that gave super seniority to black

teachers so not only do we have to fight

for students and families not just our

members in our unions but we have to

fight for the people in our unions who

are being attacked the most so in our

2019 agreement we raised salaries by a

historic 41 percent for our

paraprofessionals who are exclusively

you know black and Latin name women

predominantly I should say uh like 90

plus percent and those are workers that

have been paid the least and so if we

can really tackle white supremacy and

have solidarity it means that white

teachers have to be willing to say I

don't expect the the Privileges the

um advantages in my Union contract that

we need to bestow on people who have

been attacked you know so much Through

This Racist system so those are the kind

of things that I think would really make

schools stronger places that connect

with our communities

yes yes yes you are getting right at the

root of these issues and and really

thinking about what Equity is but how do

we actually enact it in our everyday

practices so with that alternative to

you Ali Khan what are what are the

policies that we need to be organizing

for in our schools absolutely I mean I'm

not far away from what Jax is saying I

think we I'm talking to I imagine I'm

talking a lot of Educators who

definitely have been systemically

undervalued in our profession from the

very beginning of our careers we enter

this career I know I entered this career

because of my

um my push to to be a change agent in

society because I see schools as these

sites of of change and power

um unfortunately uh in every other

aspect of this work we are just totally

and utterly disrespected

um you know it's unfortunate and like

you know the capitalist world that we

gotta assign money to our value but I

mean it is a simple truth what are the

barriers for people of color to engage

with this work

living Our Lives you cannot live in

Oakland California on a teacher's salary

you just cannot it's literally

impossible right we're having

discussions about changing District

buildings into teacher dorms where's the

dignity in that what does that even mean

right and so when I think about like the

where we're going to for quote unquote

Creative Solutions it it is a little

disturbing to consider the fact that we

wouldn't be

really focusing our efforts on how to

ensure that teachers are paid like

doctors because that's what we are in

society right that's what we should be

respected as in society so I think

um the professionalizing of the

profession is something that I feel very

passionate about and I saw a question in

the Q a about

um what it means to be

um a a school leader um in this place

and where's our sites of things so I'll

speak to that specifically because that

is my kind of position at the moment

right and I think a lot of

professionalizing actually comes from

the work of actually teaching and

learning and professionalizing the work

that we do to build ourselves as

Educators because education is an art I

mean teaching is an art if you if you're

into this work you know that it it is

more Picasso than it is you know I can't

think of the other word but like you

know a structured kind of boring thing

there there's a lot of Art and Beauty in

this work and so when we think about the

Investments so one thing you have as a

principle is you do have hopefully

control of your budget somehow please

take in curriculum please hide from the

district if you have to do what you got

to do to create space in your school not

to just simply do what the curriculum

outlines but to create ways for teachers

to one build their Artful professions

their Artful skills also to interact

with curriculum and build curriculum

that's actually Soulful for young people

right because kids need to come to

school and feel invigorated in their

souls and if we're just giving them

packet after packet and worksheet after

worksheet why would you show up so uh

for my principals out there for my

school leaders out there take the small

places that you have control of and just

run with them budget curriculum whatever

you can get

oh yes yes yes because I think that's

something that you and Jackson both

mentioned is this idea that budgets are

moral documents right budgets tells

stories about what we value and what we

don't and we see that that's very

intentional how money is often

weaponized as a way to

de-professionalize the profession when

in reality we should be investing and

there's been a long-term disinvestment

from public schools for very strategic

reasons thank you both so much I

appreciate it

now to continue the conversation one

thing that Jackson alicon also both

mentioned is the concept of solidarity

and and building solidarity whether it

be with Administration and teachers

teachers and other teachers so I'd like

to talk to Kate and Nema a little bit

more about how do we do the both and

work of staying rooted in supporting our

communities while also building

solidarity in coalitions across States

across geographic regions I've seen a

lot of questions come through the chat

folks in places like Iowa and Florida so

how do we right thinking about our panel

Boston Chicago DC how do we extend

support and solidarity to folks who are

experiencing the brunt of the anti-crt

anti-black and anti-queer and trans laws

and curriculum bans so okay I love to

turn to you first to talk to us a little

bit about solidarity and how do we do

the both and work

um yeah I I think one of the biggest

things is that we learn it ourselves

um I think that there are different ways

to view solidarity

um and there are different ways to

approach it as well

um I know here in Chicago I like Jackson

and I work to Jackson actually just

plugged Brandon uh but I actually

plugged CTU today at school like like

literally it's just simple things like

that but it's building those

relationships and connections

um and it's learning to have that within

ourselves as well I'm always dropping

Bell hooks quotes but Bell hooks talked

about community and communion

um and we can't reflect those things if

we don't do the same things for

ourselves you know

um and I think that when we are given

the access to that love to be able to

love on ourselves and hug on ourselves

then we can do it for our communities

and then we can go on and extend hands

um and Grace for folks who are in those

sanctuaries where they're being attacked

um I know even like organizations in

Chicago I think it was Haymarket books

sent out books to like folks in Florida

um it's actions like that but it's also

educating students here

um in different places where we hold

that kind of privilege about the

conditions and other sanctuaries

um I talked a little bit about uh things

that were happening on like in our own

city

um with my classmates and they were just

so stunned that in the exact same city

that these like bizarre things were

happening and that people were being

displaced and like just so many

different things but if we aren't aware

of the things that's happening then we

can't really you know take action upon

it ourselves so I think when we talk

about like what radicalizes us and what

what builds us forward I think that

the center of that is knowledge

um and having the care and respect

enough for people who are in those

conditions and sanctuaries to be able to

acknowledge our own privilege and then

go ahead and then kind of imagine what

can we do for others uh simultaneously

with ourselves as well

oh yes that was a whole word I love that

you were talking about we have to

practice this for ourselves and what

does it mean like Carla was talking

about earlier to practice living out the

world that we're trying to build every

day in each of our interactions and

experiences with each other and I love

that you plug the book giveaways I'll do

a quick plug too that are rethinking

schools we've been able to give out

copies of teaching for black lives and

solidarity with Florida Educators and I

think the more that we can come together

and do these sorts of things and support

one another like you said Caitlyn with

with knowledge and extending

opportunities to be in conversation and

to continue to build that understanding

the better because that's really I love

that you're pointing to that piece of

solidarity for us thank you Nema I'd

love to turn to you next to think about

solidarity what does that look like what

does it feel like how do we how do we do

this both in strategy yeah I mean I

think the first thing I want to say is

while the intensity of these attacks

seems to be largely in red places

currently I don't think it's going to

stay there I think that those places are

just sort of like at the front of what

is coming to all of us everywhere so I

think in some ways we have to

um

disabuse ourselves of the idea that this

is not gonna happen in Boston or not

going to happen in Philly I think it's

going to happen everywhere and we would

be better off if we acknowledge that and

sort of really got together with people

who are experiencing it first to be like

okay let's learn like how do we learn

from you about what this has looked like

and then how do we work together to

figure out what we're going to do from

here I think the second thing that I

would say and I really appreciated what

Kate was saying um it's really a hold on

to people's Humanity even in the reddest

reddest place you can imagine there are

queer people and black people and

immigrants in those spaces and they are

living their lives and fighting for

their lives and they deserve their full

humanity and they deserve for us to see

them and I think so often right now in

the in the narrative that's playing out

in our country

um spaces and places are just so reduced

that we forget

um that there are queer folks in those

places and trans folks in those places

and we write off entire States and we're

like well forget about Florida forget

about Kentucky forget about you this

place and it's like you can't do that

um there are real people in these places

who these policies are coming down on

and we need to extend solidarity to

those people and we need to bring them

closer to us because they really need us

right now so I think the biggest thing

we can do is to recognize that shared

space and keep leaning into the shared

space instead of sort of putting up

these false distinctions of like well

we're in a city and they're in a rural

place or we're in a blue State and

they're in Red State I think those

distinctions are really harming us

um and making it easier I think for

forces that are seeking to sow division

um I think it's working I think they are

selling division because we're losing

sight of our shared solidarity

yes absolutely that divide and conquer

strategy continues to be at the helm of

white supremacy culture right and so how

do we disrupt and dismantle that Nema

like you were saying by holding on to

people's Humanity I really love that and

everything that you're saying too about

the chilling effects we see it in so

many different places I know I've been

in conversation with a teacher in

Massachusetts who the superintendent is

taking legal action against her for

having black lives matter sign in her

classroom right I've talked to folks in

New Jersey where it's my home state

where that's happening in Jersey too so

it's happening everywhere and so we have

to really be strategic about

holding on to that humanity and

extending extending care extending love

extending support and learning together

so that we can use that as a foundation

to continue to move forward so I

appreciate you both feeling so energized

from this conversation and as we

continue on I'd like to turn to Adam and

Carla because we were just talking about

the chilling effects of this legislation

and I think that lends itself to the

next part of this conversation really

around safety because a lot of folks are

feeling and are unsafe in their

classrooms in their schools in their

communities because of this pushback and

so how do we keep each other safe what

does safety look and feel like

especially when there's been a lot of

pushback against police-free schools and

abolition and how do we explore

conversations about safety with students

so Adam I'd like to turn to you first

yeah

um

you know one of the stories I

um just can't I I can't get out of my

head has been the earlier this year in

Philadelphia

um there was a student who was shot

outside of uh after a football game who

was the the son of a Philadelphia

teacher

um and he was shot by other

uh Philadelphia students teenagers right

I have a teacher at our school who

taught one of the students

um who are not you know who are now in

jail and

um and there's a real epidemic of gun

violence right and and you know an

uptick in crime in in cities and I think

this is a real

um

this is scary for a number of reasons

because I think

um especially you know there's there's

limited control in the city over over

God over gun control as at the state

level and so what city officials tend to

do right is like push Law and Order

politics push more police

um the school the school district of

Philadelphia is pushing for more police

outside of our schools right

um you see this kind of politics with

Eric Adams in New York

um and then on the other side of course

right like it's not like the people from

who came out in 2020 are are gone right

like that though there that was you know

think of that as a TR as a tree of

protests that planted seeds all over

this country right

um and and you see that right like who

the the other person who's running uh

who's like running against in a runoff

with the Brandon Johnson in Chicago is

that like Paul Dallas right like the

Paul Valles from like New Orleans Public

School disaster faster right like you

know these are the choices we have right

now right

um and you know and and that's a real

danger in cities

um as as these kind of Law and Order

folks kind of take control and I think

it's really important to reframe The

Narrative and the other story I've been

thinking about right is in Pennsylvania

we just had this big Court decision that

says for decades the Pennsylvania

legislature has been unconstitutionally

um underfunding our schools right and so

it just begs a question like who are the

real criminals here

right is it is it the teenagers right

who've been disinvested from who have

few resources at their school no Mental

Health Resource access right aren't able

to see a vibrant future in their

community and so they pick up a gun

right to shoot other teenagers right or

is it these legislators that have

unconstitutionally disinvested in that

teenager you know school and Community

uh and created the conditions they are

operating in right and but no one is

arresting those people

right no one is arresting those

legislators and maybe you know that

might be a good function for our school

safety officers maybe we could send them

down to Harrisburg

um to arrest some of those folks

um but I think I think we have to

reframe some of these conversations

about

crime and Law and Order because if we

don't you know

um uh we're we're

hopefully we're not going to get ball

valves right we need the Helen Gibbs the

the Brandon Johnsons um and that and

that is going to take reframing this

conversation

yes I appreciate you so much for talking

about how we reframe The Narrative

because the stories that have been

passed down are stories that are so

harmful right these dominant narratives

and how do we provide the counter

narratives that show how we keep us safe

and on that note Carla I'd really love

to turn to you to talk even more about

safety what does it look like what does

it feel like how do we engage in these

conversations with with young children

I agree that our inclination given the

violence of the world is to double down

on already failed strategies of safety

and so as we are less and less and less

safe

somehow our common sense is telling us

to do more of the same dumb ideas you

know that have not helped us in all of

this time and so we have to do the

opposite of our instincts I think and so

this bucket of policing of surveillance

of doubling and tripling down on control

is the opposite strategy so we want to

like swing in the total opposite

direction and recognize that in fact the

only way for every person to be safe is

for every person to practice their

freedom responsibly

violence and control and surveillance

will never ever get us safety the only

way for every person to be safe is for

every other person to mind their

responsibility as someone who is

um committed to keeping us safe so how

do we talk to young children about it we

say to them we keep us safe we protect

everyone's bodies and feelings we say

that as a mantra all day every day we

keep us safe we protect everyone's

bodies and feelings and we act as

educators

in teach in the teaching and learning of

how difficult it actually is

to protect everyone's bodies and

feelings and we are real with young

children that there are times when I may

want to do something but it will harm

you and that those are times to teach

and learn right to discuss to debate to

think about who's had this problem

before and so I often think about that

proverb right like the child will burn

the village down just to feel it's

warmth

I am not naive I live in the world like

everybody else but I genuinely believe

that starting with young children we

need to teach and learn consent

care you know communion community

collectivism these are this is the kind

of teaching and learning starting with

our infants and our Toddlers and those

in early childhood to teach them like

the only viable model of safety is that

anyone who can do harm is responsible

for keeping everybody else safe and so

we can all do harm we are all

responsible for keeping each other safe

and I I think people dismiss this

strategy as naive given the violence of

the world it's not naive we can't keep

practicing the world we already have we

have to practice an otherwise world and

that is one where we take responsibility

for the well-being of other human beings

oh yes so so moving I appreciate you

both for outlining the harms of what the

narratives say about

safety and how we can get in front of

that narrative to tell a better story a

more loving more human centered story

about how we can be with each other in

this world

I appreciate you both so much

and with that I'm going to pass it over

to Natalya to guide us through the

question and answer portion

hello everybody I am just feel really

moved by so much of what was shared

today and we are definitely short on

time but luckily I think we've answered

a lot of your questions throughout the

panel and I'm just going to pull on some

strands from several questions and any

of the panelists and we can have the

panelists you know join us on the screen

can answer maybe even just one person

um to answer so

um as we mentioned earlier we're working

Within These often dehumanizing systems

and we're getting pushback sometimes

from folks within our own communities as

we fight and so maybe we could have just

one or two people briefly tell us what's

one way that you stay energized well

hopeful or connected

one way you're staying well hopeful

energized connected uh amidst it all

who wants to give us a little a little

something as we near our clothes

I stay with young kids

that's it they're hilarious they are

brilliant and they are the only reason I

get up in the morning half the time

I would say connected that that I stay

in touch with a lot of my former

students because seeing them as adults

helps me to remember why this work is so

important and they give me a lot of Hope

because of the adults that they've

become

yes yes wow you're able to you all are

packing so much wisdom in just like 10

second bits who else has a little a

little piece for us

colleagues you gotta find colleagues

that you can Vibe with so essential

akin to what Nima said I just pop into

Hector coculus class he's the best

teacher in the school and I've seen him

since he was 16 and it makes me joyful

every day

yes I think just working with Caitlyn

you know having her leadership to help

Direct

teacher student solidarity and put us in

conversation with one another so we're

co-thinking and strategizing together is

really a huge lift in in our Chicago

space

uh I would definitely add on to that and

uh acknowledging and like taking moments

to breathe and acknowledge the

greatness of like

the unique experience that we get to

have

um I'm a huge believer that Chicago is

the best city to ever live in

um and just being able to analyze the

different aspects that makes up the

lifestyle here

um and be intentional with the way that

I interact with people and the way that

I treat myself and the way that I engage

in my community definitely keeps me

going because if I was not intentional I

would not be here

well thank you thank you for this um

unique experience that we all got to be

a part of um let's bring Sierra back for

for a quick closing um just feeling so

much gratitude

um to all of you uh the audience and our

panelists

thank you thank you so much Natalia and

thank you to each of you for sharing

this beautiful Reflections I'll just say

a couple more thank yous and extend my

gratitude to my co-moderators Natalia

and Dan thank you to all of the

panelists alicon Kate Jackson Carla Adam

and Nema I've learned so much from you

this evening and I'm feeling so hopeful

and so inspired about the possibilities

of what we can create together thank you

to Shannon and Crystal our ASL

interpreters thank you to Ursula Marco

and Deja for tech support on the back

end thank you to rethinking schools and

the anti-racist teaching and learning

Collective and as we just close out

reminding ourselves of the question that

brought us all here together tonight

where do we go from here and the

panelists each shared so many Sparks

about what that could mean it's

beautiful to see folks come together in

solidarity to share knowledge to be in

community and share space to experience

joy and laughter in hard times Kate

pointed us to how intentional these

structures and systems are but it's

learning and Nema reminded us the

language and the lenses learning these

languages and lenses to process the hard

that exists and then also the importance

of needing to listen and learn from each

other from students from other Educators

and take action actually taking action

by be being reminded of our Humanity

and like Jackson pointed us to teacher

and student solidarity Carla reminding

us of the power of young children to

practicing the world that we want rather

than the world that is practicing

freedom and practicing beef being Free

People

Ali Khan reminded us that this work is

rigorous and we have to be radical about

love and Adam reminded us that

classrooms and schools are Laboratories

for justice so let's continue building

together let's keep fighting let's be in

solidarity most importantly let's Lean

Into Love because that's what we'll

counter all of the hard

thank you all so much again we're going

to follow up with an email with more

information and resources that were

shared throughout the conversation today

this conversation is being recorded and

it will be shared on our YouTube page

thank you for joining us we appreciate

you sending love solidarity and light to

all

[Music]

oh

wow

[Music]

[Music]

well I woke up this morning with my mind

[Music]

woke up this morning with my mind

stay on freedom

woke up this morning with my mind

[Music]

oh yeah

[Music]

oh well I'm walking and talking with my

mind come on

[Applause]

let it stay foreign