Why Black Lives still don't matter? 2020 Edition

Here is the good news. The School District of Philadelphia officially endorsed and will support Black Lives Matter Week of Action - Philly, which is now a part of the National Black Lives Matter at School. The work that went into this becoming a reality should be applauded and celebrated. But when I heard it, my stomach instantly sank. Because I knew it was a symbolic gesture devoid of what it actually means to fully support Black Lives. I know that the School District of Philadelphia lacks the moral will to fully realize what it looks and feels like to make sure that Black Lives Matter. 

Over 100 speakers were ready to speak at the Philadelphia School Board meeting this past Thursday. Many of them were rejecting the reopening plan. Many spoke to the dangers of placing students and staff in such uncertain conditions. Many highlighted what the district still has not done to remedy the current toxicity of the buildings that include unsafe levels of asbestos, unmaintained HVAC filters, poor cleanliness, rodents, roaches, a lack of AC in some spaces, and the overall nastiness that comes with older buildings and a lack of funding. They want to open so that millions of dollars worth of corporate contracts do not go unpaid or unfulfilled. Contracts that have little to do with improving school safety. Just look at the state of the sanitation workers, the water department, and other essential services in Philadelphia to see how COVID is way more serious then what is being reported or shared in the media, and many of them work outdoors.

Many also supported the ten demands written by the Racial Justice Organizing Committee for Radical Education Transformation which includes everything from anti-racist training for staff to the development of culturally responsive curriculum and everything in between. It is a ten-step plan that if followed could actually result in a better school district for everyone. But our history continues to show us that no one actually wants public education to work for everyone, just the chosen and often privileged few. Consider the "pandemic" pods already being advertised. 

Many of the students that spoke continue to share the ongoing racist incidents that have been happening in Philly schools for a very long time, unchecked and without consequences. Students have suffered racist terrorism and trauma in their school buildings by the very educators who they should have been able to trust. And removing police from the school is just one step in the right direction, and yet we can't even agree on that without sanitizing them to "Safety Officers."

And let's chat briefly on why the current SDP Harassment Policy #248 may do little to nothing to protect future incidents of racial or sexual harassment. The policy was last updated in 2013. It has the SRC or School Reform Commission, which is now defunct, as the governing entity. There is no reference or inclusion of the Philadelphia Federation Contract Article 6, Sections C and D which provides a consequence but not detailed steps regarding when a union member takes part in harassment. It is only a few sentences, but at least it states one could be discharged. But no mention of how and why the assignment to the "rubber room" may or may not be an adequate measure. Especially when one has been sent several times for using racial slurs towards students, at the same school. But I digress. Policy #248 encourages teachers who observe these behaviors to report it, but there is no anonymous or protected reporting process outside of the form that is solely for the victim. And the School Board is not even referenced in the policy nor has it been updated to reflect the change, which means it is pretty much rendered toothless and null and void if it ever went to court. Policy #249 for bullying and cyberbullying is similar in that it also includes the SRC and not the school board, but at least it was updated in 2016. And policy #252 for LGTBQ+ students is new and robust, but like the others, there are no actual consequences when it is not followed, and it is often not followed.

Other union contracts in large cities like LA and Chicago have recently expanded the processes for educators that engage in harmful behaviors, and both include more protections for their union employees to fight harassment in the workplace. Some even include parenting boards like Local School Councils as conduits for input about professional conduct. Imagine that! Parents and the community being invited in as accountability partners. That sounds like Black Lives may matter a bit more there, not perfect, but definitely a move in the right direction. Chicago Public Schools till has police, ugh! We tried that here to uplift parent voices with School Advisory Boards (SACS), and then just like that. they had no power or pull whatsoever. The same will occur for Equity Boards, which are not only unpaid, but the language is so sanitized it might as well just be written in invisible ink.

These are just some of the examples of why Black Lives don't really matter to the leaders of the School District of Philadelphia (SDP). Over 70% of the students in the Philadelphia School District are Black and Latinx/Hispanic. And we are also living through a pandemic where Black and Latinx adults are dying or testing positive at an exponentially higher rate. (Blacks make up 13% of the population, but in most urban centers Blacks make up nearly 50% of the COVID-19 cases). Even Superintendent Hite mentioned racial justice as a reason for why our students benefit more from a face to face interaction. True! But, as usual, the idea and hue of racial justice are offered up to defend something that is actually placing BIPOC students and staff in danger. 

We need to call all of these inequities what they have always been, a civil rights issue, or even more accurate,  a state of educational apartheid.

Between the marches, actions, rallies, and protests that have been occurring across the City of Philadelphia and across the country, I believe America is ready for yet another reckoning. I said another because we have been here before. We have seen this anger and push back each time that Black people in the words of the Fannie Lou Hamer "Get sick and tired of being sick and tired." When they get exhausted of death and all that racism brings to their doorstep each and every day.Today is different because there are no clear leaders, which makes everyone nervous. No one to murder or maim in order to silence the masses. The students, organizers, educators, and protesters are great examples of this. Each day a new voice is uplifted and another wrong is thrown into the light. SO much so that none of us can sit back any longer and pretend as if bullshit isn't actually bullshit. 

Each time is marked with an uprising. The murder of Emmett Till in 1955. The student walkout and march of 1967. The MOVE bombing of 1972. The murder of Trayvon Martin 2012. Ferguson in 2014. Black Lives Matter Week of Action 2017. Police Free Schools 2020. No PILOTS. Black educators and students speaking out about racism in their schools. Each time there is an uprising, voices screaming, "No More!" And a city trying to cash a check that has been returned one too many times marked "insufficient funds."

It is time to connect the dots and stop telling half histories of how and why we got here. It is time to say aloud that no one is stopping or going anywhere until we see big, sustainable changes. NO more optical gestures of goodwill laced with white guilt. NO more placing our children in the eye of the storm praying that they will be okay. NO more ignoring the actual problems by always offering up band-aids and watered down antiseptic. And finally admit that it is un-American to be generous, kind, and anti-racist. America has yet to achieve a new personality, and today she continues to live out her racist legacy violently and with purpose because that's the image she was created in. My hope is that I live to see that day. Unlike Baldwin, King, X, Parks, Baker, Hurston, Angelou, and Morrison who spoke and wrote about that day, but also died waiting. I hold my breath for the day that America is un-American. We fight so that our children can stop waiting and finally breathe air filled with liberation and freedom.