Stand with Us: Higher Education Statement of Support for 2018 National Black Lives Matter Week of Action
The URBAN Philadelphia node endorses the following initiative:
Dear higher education colleagues and friends,
We, the undersigned professors and scholars, publicly express our support for, and solidarity with, teachers and community members who have organized the 2018 National Black Lives Matter Week of Action[workingeducators.org] to be held between February 5-10, 2018. This week of action focuses on making Black Lives Matter in our universities and schools by engaging our communities in discussions centered on the 13 guiding principles that extend Black Lives Matter into a movement. We believe that this week of action is vital for educators, parents, students, and all communities in order to…
- Create a space for introspection and dialogue around the 13 guiding principles;
- Build deeper connections between educators, parents, students, and community organizations;
- Stand in support of national organizing of Black Lives Matter;
- Work with students and student groups to take a leading role in this week and moving forward.
We are asking you, our colleagues, to:
- sign on to this Statement of Support,
- introduce the week of action in your institutions, and
- invite other colleagues to stand with us
As this work continues beyond February 10th, we point to the Racial Justice Statement written by the Caucus of Working Educators (Philadelphia), which asserts that “purposeful action needs to be taken in order to eliminate the adverse outcomes derived from perpetual structural racism evident in public education.”
This ongoing work will promote equity; the value of human life; and educational, political, and social justice. It requires that all of us, as educators, develop the knowledge and actions necessary to eliminate the barriers that intersecting forms of structural prejudice, stereotyping, discrimination, and bias create in Philadelphia and beyond. We are committed to teaching, learning, and co-creating culture in our classrooms that reflect these mission and goals in order to build the leadership of our students so that we may all live by these principles. The survival and liberation of Black people and, by extension, all people demands this.
Thank you for your time and attention.
In Solidarity,
Jen Bradley, Swarthmore College
David I. Backer, West Chester University
Dana M Simone, West Chester University
Miranda Weinberg, Graduate School of Education, University of Pennsylvania
Mark C. Lewis, University of Pennsylvania, Graduate School of Education
Elaine Leigh, University of Pennsylvania
Marybeth Gasman, University of Pennsylvania
Sharon Ravitch, Penn GSE
Richard Liuzzi, University of Pennsylvania
Elly Porter-Webb, Community College of Philadelphia
Kathleen Riley, West Chester University
Nicholas Toloudis, The College of New Jersey
Katie Pak , Penn GSE
Krystal Strong , University of Pennsylvania
Casey Bohrman, West Chester University
Rosemary A Barbera, La Salle University
Amy Brown, University of Pennsylvania
Kyle Schultz, University of Pennsylvania
Susan L. DeJarnatt, Temple University
Encarna Rodríguez, Saint Joseph’s University
Kristen Goessling, Penn State, Brandywine
Sarah Byker James, Community College of Philadelphia
Jody Polleck, Hunter College
Steven Davis, Community College of Philadelphia
Edwin Mayorga, Swarthmore College
Laura Roy, La Salle University
Cassie Lo, University of Pennsylvania
Lauren Anderson, Connecticut College
Camika Royal, Loyola University Maryland
Bree Picower, Montclair State University
Tanya Maloney, Montclair State University
Nirmala Erevelles, The University of Alabama
Keisha McIntosh Allen, University of Maryland, Baltimore County
Rema Reynolds, Eastern Michigan University
Jamel K. Donnor, The College of William & Mary
Charles H.F. Davis III, University of Southern California
Gloria Ladson-Billings, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Jessica Shiller, Towson University
Ramon Goings, Loyola University Maryland
Karin Lange, Loyola University Chicago
Roderick L. Carey, University of Delaware
Sonia M. Rosen, Arcadia University
Kathryn Strom, California State University East Bay
Bobby Rivers, St. John’s University
Jennifer V. Jones
Jenna Cushing-Leubner, University of Wisconsin – Whitewater
Erin Whitney, California State University, Chico
Mary Enoch Elizabeth Baxter, Temple University
Juliet Curci, Temple University
Tabitha Dell’Angelo, The College of New Jersey
Beth C Rubin, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
James Arrington, University of Pennsylvania
Lisa Smulyan, Swarthmore College
Monica Taylor, Montclair State University
Sara Tolbert, University of Arizona
Lara Cohen, Swarthmore College
Zoe Burkholder, Montclair State University
Edwin Mayorga | Assistant Professor
Swarthmore College | Department of Educational Studies | Prog in Latin American & Latino Studies
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Principal Investigator | Education in our Barrios Project, #BarrioEdProj #BarrioEdPHL
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#CritEdPol | Critical Education Policy Studies Group & Online Journal
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