District/College: Beaverton School District
Job Assignment/Position: 6th Grade Language Arts
Local Association: BEA
Years of Educator Experience: 24
What are three ways you have actively elevated equity?
- I participated in my district's equity summit in which I stated to all employees of the district that becoming an antiracist educator is no longer optional and that they will be making themselves obsolete if they do not join in the work. As a result, I was publicly doxxed by Fox News. I used this platform to fight for the protection of BIPOC educators who are harassed due to the race work they do.
- I became an OEA delegate and passed 3 of 4 NBIs that ensured that teachers are compensated for the racial work they do outside the classroom for the benefit of the union as well as making Land Acknowledgements and Labor Recognitions part of their foundational practices and events.
- I have also written articles for OEA Today and Learning for Justice about Indigenous issues.
What is your equity stance?
I am a staunch abolitionist because everything I am is threatened too often. I see others suffering, and I have compassion for the struggle others fight. This is not a race, but a marathon, so I am more than willing to fight as hard as possible until I get knocked down. Then I rely on my community to support me and keep going with the work as I pass the baton for a few laps as I recover. At this point, I feel we cannot fix racism, but we can ensure it does not grow and destroy the hearts of others. We must make sure that we are protecting ourselves and others from burnout as this is our lives' work. Our children deserve better. We all deserve better. Therefore, we must fight through our discomfort and fear. It is not just people of color who suffer from racism. It is everyone in America. It just presents in a different way that needs to heal. The wounds of our past and present can and will destroy us if we are not willing to stand up to injustice and act. Words without action are useless.
What is your favorite social justice quote?
If one really wishes to know how justice is administered in a country, one does not question the policemen, the lawyers, the judges, or the protected members of the middle class. One goes to the unprotected – those, precisely, who need the law’s protection most! – and listens to their testimony.
-James Baldwin
Can you share one equity focused resource or student read that you recommend?
Stay Woke: A Meditation Guide for the Rest of Us by Justin Michael Williams
