How do white teachers learn how to teach Black students? Somebody has gotta teach them!
Every summer, educators attend conferences, training sessions and workshops focused on the newest developments and research in their fields. Some teachers attend because they are genuinely interested in being better educators. Some only go because their school systems require teachers to take a certain number of continuing education classes to maintain their teaching certificate or their employment.
In many cases, school districts, individual schools or the state education department actually foots the bill for the registration fees, travel and expenses associated with these conferences. In fact, some states funded education conferences specifically for this purpose. The practice was never controversial; everyone agreed that students benefit from teachers constantly expanding their knowledge.
Until Black kids started benefiting.
When states began passing laws banning the white definition of “critical race theory,” these events were the perfect scapegoats. Apparently, the “woke” teachers from all around the country were dedicating their summers to making Thomas Jefferson look bad. They were destroying the legacy of the greatest white icons right under our noses. Even worse, they were doing it with white people’s tax dollars. Something had to be done!
In 2021, right-wing “anti-woke” agitators began targeting schools, attendees and the institutions that sponsored continuing education conferences focused on Black history and education. And because anything Black could be considered CRT under the intentionally hazy legislation, many public education systems used the new anti-Black laws as an excuse to back away from their responsibility to Black students. Their teachers could still attend; they just had to pay their own way. Their districts banned the curricula and the praxis they learned from their peers. In some cases, the very conferences themselves were deemed illegal.
Slowly, many of these events evaporated into thin air.
This is the danger of this current white nonsense movement. They’re not just targeting museums, textbooks and curricula; they’re trying to kill Black history from the source. Fortunately, there are thousands of teachers and hundreds of institutions that are willing to resist this latest development in white nonsense.
That’s why ContrabandCamp decided to take the Wake-Up Call regulars on a field trip.
Each year, hundreds of teachers convene at the University of Buffalo for the Teaching Black History Conference. As the signature event of the university’s Center for K-12 Black History and Racial Literacy Education, the conference gives educators the opportunity to learn the best curricular and instructional practices surrounding Black history education. Scholars and professors also have the opportunity to share their experience and research with people who are in the classroom.
Join me as I give the keynote speech entitled, “Everything I Know About Black History I Learned From Cookie Monster.”
Thank you, KJ Kearney, Cort Gross, Greg Owens, Fat News Daily 📰, Victoria, and many others for tuning into my live video! Join me for my next live video in the app.
Today’s Reading List
South Carolina’s Critical Race War Part 2: How to Be a Pro Racist by Michael Harriot
Trump Wants to Silence His Critics. Colleges, Nonprofits and Corporations are Doing It For Him by Michael Harriot
‘I’m not afraid’: after Buffalo racist attack, Black residents remain unbowed by terror by Michael Harriot
Punished for Dreaming: How School Reform Harms Black Children and How We Heal by Bettina Love
