The National Education Policy Center posted this notification about #ScholarStrike, inviting higher education professionals to speak out together against racial violence and injustice. I joined. Will you?
Today and tomorrow, scholars at colleges across America will follow in the footsteps of the NBA, Major League Baseball and celebrities in speaking out against racial violence and unjust policing in the wake of the police shooting of Jacob Blake, an unarmed Black man, in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
The effort, which is to include actions such as devoting class time to discussions of racial injustice, was started by a tweet from Anthea Butler, a professor of religious and Africana studies at the University of Pennsylvania.
“I would be down as a professor to follow the NBA and Strike for a few days to protest police violence in America,” Professor Butler wrote in her initial tweet.
The movement has since spread, via social media, to a diverse array of institutions and academic fields, including education. Although in-person demonstrations may occur, they may be impractical due to the pervasiveness of online learning.
The subjects of policing and race are particularly relevant to education scholars, given that the discriminatory law enforcement practices experienced by communities of color typically start in childhood and even occur within schools. “Systemic violence and disparate school discipline policies hinder equitable, just, and safe schooling,” according to Law and Order in School, an NEPC brief published in 2017 and authored by professors Janelle Scott, Michele Moses, Kara Finnigan, Tina Trujillo, and Darrell Jackson. “Research demonstrates that Black and Latinx students experience police violence and school discipline unequally,” the authors write. “Punitive educational and criminal justice policies disproportionately affect students, families, and communities of color, as well as the teachers and schools that serve them.”
Anticipating the current movement, the 2017 brief suggests addressing racially disparate school policing and discipline with such actions as redirecting funds for school police officers to expenditures such as guidance counseling, advanced and enrichment courses and other practices shown to “improve student engagement and social connectivity.”
For more information on #ScholarStrike, go to Butler’s Twitter profile.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Diane, put yourself on your blog’s honor roll.
Agree.
This is a noble effort… but WILL THEY VOTE
However – this is not the ’60s and the quarantine social distancing campuses exacerbates the problem?
Focusing on policing and policy is essential however the term “Defunding” has pretty well neutralized the impact of protests as they are painted as “get rid of police” and “all protests are violent.
This movement in a matter of weeks must go to deeper CURRENT issues:
Outrage over a WH and supporters that wants to extort funds from colleges and schools that use the 1619 project,eliminate dismantling racism and understanding prejudice and discrimination in any government training, reroute millions to non-public segregated schools and more.
He and they are unapologetic and actually strut and goosestep their blatant racism.
(And, do these students understand that the reason they are not in classrooms 100% is because of these fools?)
Classroom discussions? Ok.
Are we going to see marches, sit-ins, teach-ins, and a wave of dissent on campuses across the country?
And, most importantly in the short term: WILL THEY VOTE?!
“Racism is so American that when you protest it, people think that you are attacking America.”
Robin DiAngelo, White Fragility
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScLV5atb1PZU17WsPzleStf_cfGG2kepAmA4_o7S2IQtuPEnA/viewform?fbzx=-1419334903022635662
In my estimation (from viewing social media comments and yard signs and talking with people), the chorus of “defund the police” is the one issue that might cause Democrats to lose in Montana elections this fall. Several Democrats (Senate, governor, Congress) have a decent chance of winning this year, even in our state that leans Republican–unless this issue takes them down.
People here personally know and are friends with our law enforcement officers, who have not been proven to be racist, and they are ready to defend them. There are “Back the Blue” signs all over my neighborhood, and I live in a Democratic area. Montanans want safe communities and law and order. “Defunding the police” could really backfire, if the goal is to get more open-minded people elected in rural states. We could end up instead with the mini-Trumps who are on the ballot.
I would be willing to sign a pledge to work on racial issues, especially in regard to curriculum or encouraging and funding people of color to enter the teaching profession or the law enforcement profession. But I am not willing to move our police officers out of our schools. I have witnessed them interacting in a supportive way toward students of all colors, and this positive relationship between students and law enforcement will help heal relations rather than aggravate relations.
I’d like to point out that the Montana Senate seat could be one of the four needed to flip the Senate to the Democrats (Governor Steve Bullock v. Greg Gianforte, who body slammed a Guardian reporter and has Trump’s full support). It’s imperative that we handle all issues carefully. Steve Bullock is on the air stating clearly that he will support law enforcement.
I agree Montana Teacher, we must be careful about “defunding the police” and what that means to communities where many family members are police officers. My son in law is a police officer in Camden, NJ, which has become a model for police across the country. (Their force was featured on Good Morning America a few months ago.) Years ago, every officer was let go and had to reapply with pages and pages of questions and psychological testing. Many left. Since this new model was enacted, murders and crimes have significantly decreased. The officers are required to walk in the community and meet people daily. They are expected to make friends and get to know community leaders. The Camden police were the FIRST to walk in the Camden streets with the Black Life’s Matter” protesters. The residents, especially older people want their presence in their town.
They believe , as many of us do, that one can support Black Lives AND the police.