Hi everyone,
I hope you are having a great first week of school!
The school year kicks off with so many great opportunities to grow in our abilities to become educators dedicated to strengthening the sense of inclusion and belonging for our students. Below are a few of those opportunities:
- Twentieth anniversary of September 11 was last week. One of the many things to come from this awful day in history was a rapid rise in Islamophobia. Click here for a lesson on some ways we can counter this type of hate. You can also check out the 9/11 Memorial Museum’s resources here. Finally, activist Deepa Iyer writes about the many ways anti-Muslim, anti-Sikh, and anti-South Asian sentiment is perpetrated through US policies in her book We Too Sing America: South Asian, Arab, Muslim, and Sikh Immigrants Shape Our Multiracial Future.
- Latinx Heritage Month (starts today, September 15 and goes on until October 15): This month began as an acknowledgement of the independence of the Central American nations of Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras (today, on 9/15); Mexico on 9/16. It has grown to become a celebration of everything Latinx. Want to learn the conditions under which Latinx, the US’ largest group of color, arrived here? Check out Juan Gonzalez’ Harvest of Empire (also available as a documentary). Want to go deeper? Learn more about the history of New York City’s largest (and the nation’s second largest) Latinx group in Nelson Denis’ War Against All Puerto Ricans: Revolution and Terror in America’s Colony. There, you will also learn about revolutionary Pedro Albizu Campos (born September 12).
- In light of the slew of voter restriction laws that have been passed and are being considered across the country, we can hold up people like Amzie Moore (born September 23), Mississippi-based civil rights activist and an advocate for voter registration. Moore persuaded SNCC to focus on voter registration drives rather than sit-ins, in effort to help African American folks to effect change in their communities. Check out SNCC’s Digital Gateway here.
There are many, many more ways you can engage in the necessary work of equity. Many of you have been intentionally engaged in this work during the summer. Be sure to share that with one another; you are such amazing resources for us all.
I look forward to working with you in my capacity as high school DEI facilitator.
Warmly,
Charlene