Read on Twitter
Tweeting from the “Do Black Lives Matter un Public Education?” forum— @DisuSami facilitating, sharing how he was one of 3000 adjuncts laid off @CUNY. So many radical groups coming together for this event: @MOREcaucusUFT, @AFROSOCDSA @cuny_free @DSA_Labor
As well as @DC37progressives and numerous students and parents of students...this is not an easy event to facilitate!
Drew Drake opens with a poem demanding that the DOE be held accountable for such failures as the story of Jazmiah Vasquez, who can’t find a suitable public school https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/education/ny-18-month-wait-school-disabilities-20190505-kfmsidunyjhzfmmkfvve2ylsv4-story.html
Now a speaker (Liv) is describing unsafe working conditions. “having wisdom is learning from the mistakes of others”—witnessing other schools rushing back prematurely and then having to close should send us a strong message. Infection rate in her school’s district is still 7%!
“hey, we’ll paint BLM on these street corners, but there’s no action behind that. If you really cared about Black lives, you would make sure schools can open safely.” (-Liv [apologies that I don’t know her last name, please fill me in])
@AlisonHirsh are you listening? There are 100 people in this call on a Friday night building a coalition of teachers and students demanding the DOE fight with action (not just words) for racial justice in the wake of the COVID pandemic.
Now Kekeli Amekudzi from Brooklyn Tech discusses her experience with the public school system and disparities between the opportunities presented to her versus those presented to students at prestigious white schools.
Dr. Kaliris Salas opens with a gutting claim: the DOE is failing our Black and Brown students. Not every school even has a school nurse—there are 700 missing. Concerns over how schools can be sufficiently cleaned in two weeks. PPE protocols are developmentally inappropriate.
James Parra is a paraprofessional who receives a salary of $26,000 for the full year. 28 paras have died due to COVID!!! “Paras have been left out of the conversation when it comes to reopening schools.” This is heartbreaking.
Majority of paras are older black women.
Majority of paras are older black women.
After a breakout session where we discussed how to organize against in-person reopening of schools, RAFA member Reiko Tahara shares about what our group is doing to fight for a more democratic and more militant union 
at Medgar Evers, the CUNY campus with the highest percentage of Black professors (63%), ALL adjuncts on three-year contracts were laid off. What is the @PSC_CUNY doing to address this bloodbath?
Now a Hunter MFA student Whit Harris is describing their initiative to decolonize the university. Their five demands involve 1) no further cuts to the budget, 2) no funding of police, 3) a diversified faculty, 4) anti-racism training, and 5) adjunct hires with pay parity.
see their website here: http://DMFSC.com
Finally Teona Pagan shares her initiative for more Black faculty as well as mental health professionals for Black students
follow these insta accounts!!: https://www.instagram.com/bsuofcuny/
https://www.instagram.com/bsuofcuny/
follow these insta accounts!!: https://www.instagram.com/bsuofcuny/
https://www.instagram.com/bsuofcuny/
Pagan: why doesn’t @BaruchCollege have a Black Studies major??
What happens after we “say their name”? How do we build toward real change? This is definitely a governing theme tonight. Inspiring evening but of course this isn’t enough.
What happens after we “say their name”? How do we build toward real change? This is definitely a governing theme tonight. Inspiring evening but of course this isn’t enough.
Running out of time for these last few speakers, tragically, but Marc Polite called for a coalition of public educators and recently penned this op-ed about re-opening http://amsterdamnews.com/news/2020/aug/13/gov-cuomos-school-reopening-decree-unsound/
