Require Anitracism Education in the Massachusetts Learning Standards

To create a truly inclusive culture and system, we must go beyond being not racist; we must be actively anti-racist in all of our actions. This activism needs to start in our elementary and secondary education systems. By including anti-racist teachings in our education system, we can inform and educate future generations about the many facets of racism and provide the skills to promote and create real change.

Many adults and young adults hold deeply-embedded racist ideologies that have been perpetuated and reinforced through the lack of discussion around and the lack of recognition of race and racial issues during the developmental years they spent in school. Children learn to embody racially-informed tendencies before kindergarten, which continues to develop as they mature. Students learn of racism only as individual acts of discrimination and prejudice committed by immoral people. As a society, we promote the idea that having a racial perspective is biased and wrong, and that acknowledging racial differences such as skin color is rude. Not only does this send children a message that some skin colors are undesirable, but it prevents them from developing the ability to identify acts and systems of discrimination and prejudice. Schools focus on treating everyone equally and reinforce the idea that race does not matter. However, this actually serves to uphold the current system of racial injustice, since, in reality, the social construct of race results in extreme differences in the opportunities and experiences children and families have. Schools teach children not to question the differences in people, but to embrace everyone as they are. However, in doing so, colorblind racism has manifested, leaving students unable to recognize and accept their individual racial biases and those of the institutions that uphold white privilege in our communities, our state, and our nation.

As soon as we can see and hear, we are exposed to racist ideology in more ways than we realize. In movies, TV, books, news, and social media children see representations of black versus white that shape their feelings and perspectives of race. Without helping students to acknowledge and discuss the social constructs of race, how can we expect them to begin to recognize, question, and understand the deep-rooted issues in their individual experiences and society at large? How can we expect them to become citizens who will one day promote progress in our collective fight against racism? How can we consider that we are doing our part to end discrimination and prejudice in the United States and beyond if we are not teaching our children the skills and knowledge needed to be antiracist?

Ultimately, by avoiding the conversation of race, our schools uphold the systems that support racism. By requiring the addition of an antiracist curriculum to the Massachusetts state standards, we can move towards rectifying and transforming our broken systems from the ground up, since our youth is our future.
As a state and as a nation, we still hugely struggle with racism. If schools continue to teach only the history of slavery and segregation, we will not solve this problem. We must teach children the skills and awareness they need to recognize and change the current policies and practices that continue to uphold white privilege. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts has led the nation in many areas of education, however, progressive action to fight racism is not one of them. By requiring an anti-racist curriculum in our school, our state can be among the first to do so and can continue to show leadership in setting high standards and expectations for our students. The mission of Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education is: "to strengthen the Commonwealth's public education system so that every student is prepared to succeed in postsecondary education, compete in the global economy, and understand the rights and responsibilities of American citizens." To live up to this statement, we must require the teaching of anti-racist knowledge and skills in our schools, and we must begin at the start line, with the youth.

Citizens of Massachusetts please sign this petition to join us in taking action against racism by advocating for our schools to require antiracism education.