They weren’t sure what to do with my curiosity, my willingness to engage them without showing fear or launching a counterattack. Who was a Klan member, who was a Christian Identity adherent, who was neo-Nazi? These were among the subculture variants of white nationalism at the time. De-escalation was the direction I was determined to try. As they surrounded the rabbi and me, I knew it could go one of two ways. He made it clear: he simply wasn’t going to leave me, let the chips fall where they may. At my side was a local rabbi, the only person who had refused my plea to go indoors. I hustled everyone inside and turned to face the group approaching us. All of a sudden, I saw them marching our way: about a dozen Aryan Pride members decked out in full regalia. We’d heard that neo-Nazis might attempt to disrupt the event. Before the screening started, I was standing under the lights outside the entry to the venue, a public utility meeting hall that was in a pretty deserted part of town, greeting people. On one particular night, I travelled down to Eugene, Oregon, where I’d gotten my start as an anti-bigotry organizer and helped found a program called Communities Against Hate. We were cosponsoring dozens of screenings with discussions featuring local anti-hate leaders. 1 I was the field organizer for the Northwest Coalition Against Malicious Harassment at the time, working with over 120 local anti-bigotry community groups in six western states. In the mid-1990s, the documentary Not in Our Town II told the story of communities following in the footsteps of Billings, Montana, as neighbors united in response to a series of racist and antisemitic hate crimes. But where I want to start is somewhere in the middle, about 25 years ago. This story has everything to do with how I came to understand unconscious bias, white nationalism, and the fundamental threat to democracy we face today-and what each of us can do about it. This is the story of how I came to understand race and racism in America. We do best when we ground ourselves in stories. There are two fundamental questions underlying the nationwide debates about racial equity, mask mandates, local control, and other controversies bedeviling public education today: Who is an American? and What is America becoming? This is always the conversation we’re having as a country, even when it seems like we’re talking about something else.Įarly in my 30 years of leading racial equity trainings, I became a firm believer that how we have this conversation matters. AFT resources for organizing and back to school programs.What Kids, Teachers and Communities Need.Health Hub: Indoor Environmental Quality and Mold.Injury & Illness Reporting Requirements.Safe and welcoming public schools for all.DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals).Standing united to protect immigrant rights.Standing in Solidarity with Our AAPI Community.Real Solutions for Kids and Communities.Harvard and Students for Fair Admissions v. FAQ on Students for Fair Admissions v.Paraprofessionals & school-related personnel.
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