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Inquiry Series
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Current Year: '25-'26 School Year
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- September: What is keeping us together, focused, and motivated to do this work in 2025?
- October: Revisiting the Helms White Identity Model
- November: Learning from White Anti-Racists of the Past
- December: How can we identify and challenge white supremacy culture in ourselves and our institutions?
- January: How can we create classroom culture that resists white supremacy and that nourishes Black joy?
- February: How can we co-create joy with students?
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Current Year: '25-'26 School Year
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This month we are sharing a case study in white supremacy on a school and district level. As you take in the specifics of this story, we encourage you to think about parallels to events in your own educational setting or community.
Primary Resource: Philly schools censored a podcast about Palestinian resistance art because of complaints of antisemitism. Now, there’s pushback. (Free Version)
Primary Resource: Philly schools censored a podcast about Palestinian resistance art because of complaints of antisemitism. Now, there’s pushback. (Free Version)
Questions:
- How is white supremacy at work in the response to the student project?
- How does this situation relate to student rights to free speech and expression? You might review this ACLU fact sheet when discussing this question.
- Consider your own environment. Have students or teachers faced any backlash for speaking out for justice? Discuss the dynamics of what happened.
- How can we take proactive action when facing backlash?
Secondary Resources:
- Fighting Campus Censorship: The ACLU Defends Pro-Palestinian Voices in Florida
- Teachers Are Being Silenced: What Can Be Done About It?
- Know Your Rights: Students’ Rights
- Letter from BARWE to the School District of Philadelphia calling for a response
- Letter from Parent to the School District of Philadelphia reacting to the censorship of student work
- Support for Palestinian Arts and Culture Organizations: A curated list of vital initiatives
Facilitation Reference Guide:
- Set a day and time for your group to meet - Make sure to send reminders. If you’re meeting in person, snacks are always a good idea!
- Send this month’s Primary Resource to your group. Look through the additional readings to see if there is another reading that might be better suited to your group and its interests.
- Prepare yourself to facilitate by reading through our Norms and Discussion Protocol.
- Pass the Hat and collect donations for Inaash Tatreez’ Ramadan campaign this month.
- Complete the Feedback Form.
- Prepare yourself for next month by setting a date and time, inviting colleagues, and looking out for our next Discussion Guide on May1st.
Feedback Form:
As we grow in year six, we hope that one person in your group can take a few minutes to fill out our feedback form to let us know how it went.
Pass The Hat:
In addition to being accountable to our colleagues and students of color, we believe it is important to be financially accountable to people of color who are doing this work on a daily basis. Each month, we will recommend an organization led by people of color, in education and beyond, doing the work of pushing for justice.
At the end of each monthly discussion, pass a hat (or a box) and collect donations for the designated organization. You can then have one group member go online and donate in the name of your school. If you want, you can add “Building Anti-Racist White Educators” after your school name
Inaash Tatreez is “dedicated to improving the lives of women in the Palestinian refugee camps of Lebanon. Maximizing employment opportunities for Palestinian female artisans one stitch at a time, by producing high quality, hand-made traditional embroidery. Embroidery is the living heritage of Palestine, transferred from mother to daughter through the ages. Our vision is to conserve it, promote its beauty and keep it relevant in today’s world on behalf of those who produce it.” Read more about them here. Donate here.