#Zimbabwe president speech about racism how to#

He compared racism to his experience with metastatic cancer, which he describes in his book How to Be an Antiracist.В To ignore cancer because it makes someone uncomfortable to talk about it would be unacceptable-and in his case would have prevented him from getting the treatments he needed to get healthy. Kendi reinforced that teaching about racism is crucial if we want students to understand and recognize racism. ItвЂ™s why the AFT has a 19-point resolution to combat racism and violence against Black people. ThatвЂ™s why the AFT has supported educators like Marcia Howard, who has been holding space at George Floyd Square for grief and hope, fighting racism in her community. вЂњLiving up to those values, building an anti-racist society, is vitally important.вЂќ And education, she said, plays an important role. вЂњAmericaвЂ™s professed values-life, liberty, equal justice under the law-have never squared with the lived experiences of many,вЂќ said Weingarten. In her introductory remarks, Weingarten underscored those disparities, which have been magnified by the pandemic: underfunded schools, voter suppression, substandard housing and racial health disparities, along with more premature deaths and more exposure to unsafe water, unhealthy air and the environmental conditions that cause asthma, among Black families. All children should know that while some people have less, that doesnвЂ™t mean they are less. Kendi stressed that children should not feel as though they are bad-or good-just because of the color of their skin. And thatвЂ™s why anti-racist education is so very important. This too offers hope because policies and practices can be changed. Although we live in a society with harmful racial disparities, Kendi emphasized that those disparities are due to policies and practices.

KendiвЂ™s message was uplifting and hopeful as he explained that being racist or anti-racist is not a fixed attribute. The connection between anti-racism and education was crystal clear. Joined by AFT President Randi Weingarten and AFT Secretary-Treasurer Fedrick Ingram, Kendi responded to questions from Ingram and from AFT members and students from across the country.

On July 7, he joined the AFTвЂ™s TEACH conference to talk about how his work-from his bestselling, award-winning books to his teaching-intersects with educators and their work with students and their communities. Kendi is one of the most recognized, most popular thought leaders in the anti-racist movement that has swept the nation over the last few years.

Zimbabwe president speech about racism