Racial Justice, what do we do now?

We have watched and absorbed a lot in the last few weeks and our attention has turned to what it means to stand up for racial equity and justice. The teachable, actionable moment is one that is rich with possibility for a better world for all, not just the few that the system was built to support. But how do we do that? That is not an easy question to answer, nor is there one right way.

The Black Lives Matter movement has been on our doorstep as a nation for several years. The sad part about the recent events is that they are not new occurrences. The difference is that now we see the events first hand in our news feed and on tv. With this knowledge are given the opportunity to join People of Color to stand at their side and demand change. Living where we do (but really anywhere in the U.S.) it is important to recognize that what we are seeing happen in the Black Lives Matter movement has also played out in the Ideginous Peoples communities for generations.

Parents are asking for resources, so we have shared a set of resources on our website that was created by Equity Arcata. For background, Equity Arcata is a diverse group of people who have been meeting regularly since the murder of David Josiah Lawson. The groups goal is to support anti-racist work in Arcata and the greater Humboldt region.

A list of resources is a place to start, but as we all know this work is hard. For some of us, we may find that our learning curve is steep and we have much to learn and unlearn about racial injustices. For others, this is a reality they have lived. No matter what, supporting anti-racist work at home with your children is essential to us bringing about true change.

As a school, we would like to open the discussion about how we can be a resource to parents to support the dialogue. As a school we are collectively committed to anti-racist work, now and into the future. To this end, I will host a coffee hour with the director on Wednesday June 17th at 8:30am. This will be a place for us to begin the dialogue and explore the potential support that we can provide as a school. It is a place to come and ask questions and share experiences.

As you may remember, Fuente Nueva is part of the Tk-12 Equity Partnership that focuses on anti-racist work. All staff have been participating in multiple workshops this year. In addition, three of us are in a cohort of educators who have been trained to train other educators. All this to say, we are well poised to continue our learning with you as our partners. None of us have “figured it out” but we are willing to dive in, make mistakes and then correct them, all in an effort to make change for the better.

If you can’t make it to the coffee hour and have some ideas or questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out. Thank you for listening and your endless support of Fuente Nueva and beyond.

Truly,

Beth