ITOC STATEMENT OF POST-ELECTION SOLIDARITY
The Institute for Teachers of Color Committed to Racial Justice (ITOC) stands in solidarity with all peoples who are being targeted, terrorized, and dehumanized by our government and its regime. The institutionalized ideologies and policies are life and death for many in our communities, and the oppressive force of this extreme power can be debilitating physically, emotionally, and spiritually. We send love and strength to all the teachers and leaders of Color committed to racial justice, as you resist and reimagine alongside young people and our most marginalized communities.
ITOC STATEMENT OF SOLIDARITY WITH #BlackLivesMatters
The Institute for Teachers of Color (ITOC) stands in solidarity with those who are outraged by the current system’s blatant disregard for Black lives. We feel a responsibility to take a formal stance against the anti-black racism that plagues our schools, our justice system, and society. Rekia Boyd, Michael Brown, twelve year old Tamir Rice, and Eric Garner (to name just a few) were unarmed and brutally murdered by the police within the past few months. With the justice system’s failure to indict police on crimes like these, we are reminded of the callous disregard this nation has for People of Color generally, and Black people specifically. As educators, we have a role in reframing the deficit discourse on how our rightfully angered communities are responding. We must ourselves, but also provide youth the space and language to process, speak out and challenge racism.
ITOC is a community of critical, active teachers of color leaders from across the nation. From the classroom to the streets, we know that many of you have been holding teach-ins, sharing resources and creating curriculum to engage youth about these manifestations of historical and current day white supremacy. We commend you in your activism, and with you we stand in solidarity, justice and power.
The Institute for Teachers of Color Committed to Racial Justice (ITOC) stands in solidarity with all peoples who are being targeted, terrorized, and dehumanized by our government and its regime. The institutionalized ideologies and policies are life and death for many in our communities, and the oppressive force of this extreme power can be debilitating physically, emotionally, and spiritually. We send love and strength to all the teachers and leaders of Color committed to racial justice, as you resist and reimagine alongside young people and our most marginalized communities.
ITOC STATEMENT OF SOLIDARITY WITH #BlackLivesMatters
The Institute for Teachers of Color (ITOC) stands in solidarity with those who are outraged by the current system’s blatant disregard for Black lives. We feel a responsibility to take a formal stance against the anti-black racism that plagues our schools, our justice system, and society. Rekia Boyd, Michael Brown, twelve year old Tamir Rice, and Eric Garner (to name just a few) were unarmed and brutally murdered by the police within the past few months. With the justice system’s failure to indict police on crimes like these, we are reminded of the callous disregard this nation has for People of Color generally, and Black people specifically. As educators, we have a role in reframing the deficit discourse on how our rightfully angered communities are responding. We must ourselves, but also provide youth the space and language to process, speak out and challenge racism.
ITOC is a community of critical, active teachers of color leaders from across the nation. From the classroom to the streets, we know that many of you have been holding teach-ins, sharing resources and creating curriculum to engage youth about these manifestations of historical and current day white supremacy. We commend you in your activism, and with you we stand in solidarity, justice and power.
Social Justice Teacher Resources
Social Justice Teacher Networks and Conferences:
Creating Balance in an Unjust World: Conference on Math Education and Social Justice
Education for Liberation Network
Bi-annual National Conference: Free Minds Free People
New York Collective of Radical Educators; New York City , NY
National Conference: New York City, NY
Northwest Conference on Teaching for Social Justice; Portland, OR
The People's Education Movement; Los Angeles, CA
Teacher Action Group- Philadelphia; Philadelphia, PA
Teachers 4 Social Justice; San Francisco, CA
National Conference: San Francisco, CA
Teachers for Social Justice; Chicago, IL
Social Justice Curriculum:
Rethinking Schools
Your Baltimore "Syllabus"
2017-2018 ITOC Racial Justice Teacher Innovation Grant
The work we did together was to support teachers of color and provide a healing space to support and grow with each other. With the experience of setting up teachers of Color groups prior at varying success we knew we wanted this to be better. Having Rita Kohli as our mentor and the support of ITOC was a big part of what helped us move forward and we felt more capable in leading this group. Additionally, we thought deeply about building relationships to create a strong community of teachers of Color as our foundation. We intentionally connected with teachers we knew and trusted were on the path with us at the same distance. We reached out to them and made sure they knew that this would be a place we were collaborating and building together as an event they wanted to go to rather than an “add on” to everything we were doing already in our work lives. To go an extra layer deeper we decided to host at our homes. Juan decided to offer his home first and show vulnerability and hospitality in order to begin bridging trust amongst the group. We decided from that point to meet monthly and gradually discuss different topics. In order to have equity of voice and power, different members would share a piece of media on a topic and would facilitate a conversation on the topic. We also rotated hosting and bringing food to share. The structure allowed us to converse and eat together to bring humanity back to our practice and then dive into the work of critical thinking around a relevant topic that we could take back to our classrooms.
Creating Balance in an Unjust World: Conference on Math Education and Social Justice
Education for Liberation Network
Bi-annual National Conference: Free Minds Free People
New York Collective of Radical Educators; New York City , NY
National Conference: New York City, NY
Northwest Conference on Teaching for Social Justice; Portland, OR
The People's Education Movement; Los Angeles, CA
Teacher Action Group- Philadelphia; Philadelphia, PA
Teachers 4 Social Justice; San Francisco, CA
National Conference: San Francisco, CA
Teachers for Social Justice; Chicago, IL
Social Justice Curriculum:
Rethinking Schools
Your Baltimore "Syllabus"
2017-2018 ITOC Racial Justice Teacher Innovation Grant
The work we did together was to support teachers of color and provide a healing space to support and grow with each other. With the experience of setting up teachers of Color groups prior at varying success we knew we wanted this to be better. Having Rita Kohli as our mentor and the support of ITOC was a big part of what helped us move forward and we felt more capable in leading this group. Additionally, we thought deeply about building relationships to create a strong community of teachers of Color as our foundation. We intentionally connected with teachers we knew and trusted were on the path with us at the same distance. We reached out to them and made sure they knew that this would be a place we were collaborating and building together as an event they wanted to go to rather than an “add on” to everything we were doing already in our work lives. To go an extra layer deeper we decided to host at our homes. Juan decided to offer his home first and show vulnerability and hospitality in order to begin bridging trust amongst the group. We decided from that point to meet monthly and gradually discuss different topics. In order to have equity of voice and power, different members would share a piece of media on a topic and would facilitate a conversation on the topic. We also rotated hosting and bringing food to share. The structure allowed us to converse and eat together to bring humanity back to our practice and then dive into the work of critical thinking around a relevant topic that we could take back to our classrooms.
