We at COACH are outraged about the murder of yet another Black person by police officers on May 25 and the continued violent response of police against protestors. We have to speak out. We have to stand with those whom our racist and prejudiced system and culture treat as ‘the enemy’ because of their skin color, and with those who seek justice through protests across our country. We have to say their names: George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, Oscar Grant, Eric Garner, Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Emmett Till, and many more.
The murder of these Black men and women was not the result of a “few bad apples”; it was the predictable consequence of a racist and prejudiced system and a culture that has treated Black bodies as the enemy from the beginning. Indeed, it is the fruit borne of toxic seeds planted on the shores of our country in Jamestown in 1619, when the first enslaved men and women arrived on this continent.
Unless and until white America is willing to collectively acknowledge its privilege, take responsibility for its past and the impact it has on the present, and commit to creating a future steeped in justice, the list of names that George Floyd has been added to will never end. We have to use this moment to accelerate our nation’s long journey towards justice and a more perfect union. We must work to make ‘liberty and justice for all’ more than words in a recitation.
The officers that murdered these men and women must be brought to justice. At the same time, we must embark on the more complicated work of delivering justice for all the victims of the systemic violence and racism that disproportionately impacts the Black community. As an organization of teachers, we know that unless we fundamentally change, those future victims are sitting in our current classrooms.
As individuals, we must work to ensure that the words ‘liberty and justice for all’ become more than mere words in a recitation. As an organization, COACH must ensure our words and actions align with our core values. To our Black colleagues and students: we are allies, we are learning and we believe that Black lives matter.
COACH has spent the last week listening and reflecting on next steps, looking internally to see how we can do better. We recognize our responsibility to address the internal systemic change that we can make as an organization. We are asking ourselves: Do our actions, such as our invitations to the team, match our values and words? If they do not, how can we bring them into alignment with our principles? How do we facilitate the necessary but sometimes uncomfortable conversations in our classrooms? How do we ensure our Black students are heard and protected?
As ACTFL stated this week, “Our words and actions matter.” In addition to our words condemning systemic racism in our country, we have identified actionable steps COACH can take to enact meaningful change within our organization and education.
- We will participate in ongoing training in culturally responsive pedagogy.
- We will recruit talented CI teachers of color for our team through our professional relationships and partnerships with local universities.
- We will offer a series of webinars to train and support our participants in social justice teaching in the World Language classroom.
- We will bring in presenters of diverse cultural backgrounds to provide quality professional development from a range of voices and perspectives .
We first need to educate ourselves. To this end, we are partnering with leaders in social justice teaching to receive training on how to acknowledge and confront bias, how to facilitate necessary discussion in our classrooms around the topics of racism and privilege, and how to shift our focus to teach World Language through the lens of social justice. This training will inform us as we move forward in the work of planning professional development for our community of students and teachers.
We stand with our Black students and colleagues. We support you and we will be a part of the meaningful change that we want to see. Teachers have a platform. We play a pivotal role in developing the world view of young people in this country. We are calling on all teachers to examine and reflect on the platform they have and to make a difference.
We will report on the progress of our goals to our participants through our social media accounts. We will continue this very important conversation with our WL community on social media; we would love to hear from you and include you in the conversation. We are speaking publicly about our goals for accountability, and to spark change not just for this week or month, but permanently. We invite you to join with COACH as we embark on this journey.
BLACK LIVES MATTER.
Sincerely,Your Professional Family, COACH
When trying to find the words to express our frustration, we found the message from Ben and Jerry’s to be especially powerful. Their sentiments strongly inspired what we shared today. We would like to encourage anyone who is interested to read the concrete steps spelled out in their message that we need to take to dismantle white supremacy in all its forms.
Below are links to language organizations that have also issued statements.