CLX Social Justice League
Feb/March 2019 Newsletter
Thank you for attending our first Family + Community Workshop for 2019!
Wow! We are so grateful for the amount of folks that joined us on a rainy Thursday night to have honest conversations with people we do not know in order to discuss colorblindness versus color consciousness. Thank you so much and we hope that you will consider joining us for future sessions (listed below; please register!).
Here is our resource list:
Claxton also uses the Teaching Tolerance Social Justice Standards in order to aligned our NC Standard Course of Study with a social justice lens.
These books are in our CLX media center to help facilitate conversation about race with your student and families.
Support our work!
We're relaunching our #clxsocialjustice t-shirt fundraiser! This fundraiser helps provide resources to our team including making our Family + Community Workshops happen.
Available in two different t-shirt styles, a long sleeve and a youth shirt, get yours here: https://goo.gl/ho8nk3
Our series of social justice workshops is designed to provide Claxton Elementary families, caregivers and staff with a safe space to learn and grow, but anyone is welcome to attend. These sessions are facilitated by the Claxton Social Justice Team and Craig White and sponsored by the Claxton PTO.
All sessions are from 6-8pm.
Childcare is free for Claxton Families ONLY and available starting at 5:45pm.
Register here: https://goo.gl/24GyHJ
Register here: https://goo.gl/ixBYjx
Register here: https://goo.gl/gqejzD
The Listening Project Live
For more information go to https://www.acsf.org/hanif-listening-project-live
Wednesday, Feb 27, 2019, 07:00 PM
UNC Asheville Lipinsky Auditorium
Rhythm + Resilience : The Brooklyn Five
Determined Activists Share Wisdom
During the Civil Rights Movement, The Brooklyn Five, were students and young activists at JHS 271. These five girls were in the vanguard of The Ocean Hill-Brownsville Fight for Community Control and in the epicenter of the NYC Teacher's Strike of 1968-69 by the United Federation of Teachers. The "BK5" share stories of their beautiful, unwavering friendship, survival through tumultuous times and triumphs.
They examine the historic events of their lives that affected the entire city of New York as well as the events of these times that created bonds of love and erased ethnic, cultural, racial, class and religious distinctions for these five young girls. The Brooklyn Five, now living throughout the nation, are the embodiment of the mind, body and spiritual practices that enabled them to create that 'bridge over troubled waters' in challenging times while nurturing lifelong friendships and lives of activism.
Join us as they share their story of resilience!
Sunday, Mar 3, 2019, 03:00 PM
YMI Cultural Center, Eagle Street, Asheville, NC, USA
Brown v. Board of Education 65th Anniversary Keynote Talk by Sylvia Mendez
Monday, Apr 8, 2019, 07:00 PM
UNC-Asheville Lipinsky Auditorium
Around Here: Shiloh: A Historic African American Community
The Shiloh Community, originally established circa 1865-1870, is one of the oldest continuously inhabited African American communities in the Asheville Area. This talk will explore the community’s origins on a small parcel of land in the area of present day Biltmore Estate and its relocation in 1889 to the current location in South Asheville. The talk will also focus on Shiloh’s relationship to the nearby African American neighborhoods of Rock Hill and Petersburg and the institutional and cultural elements that helped Shiloh grow from a sparsely populated rural area to the vibrant community that it is today.
Anita White-Carter is a retired librarian. She grew up in Shiloh and has spent most of her adult years in the community. She retired from the UNC-Asheville library after 30 years as a Public Services Librarian. She is active in the community and is currently researching the history of the neighborhood. She is a graduate of Allen High School (Asheville), Bennett College (Greensboro), and the University of Pittsburgh (Pennsylvania).
Bobbette Kilgore Mays grew up in the Montford District in an African American community known as Stump Town. She attended Rock Hill Missionary Baptist Church in Shiloh. Her extended family also lived in Shiloh. Bobbette graduated from Asheville High School and attended Winston-Salem State University where she studied nursing and psychology. After living in California for 14 years, she returned to Asheville and retired from the American Red Cross as a phlebotomist.
Around Here talks are free of charge and all are welcome. Complimentary coffee and cookies will be provided. The event will be held in the Ramsey Center, which is located inside Renfro Library on the campus of Mars Hill University.
For events that happen before 6pm on a weekday, please park in the lot on Bailey Street just next to the Greenway – across the street from Chambers Gym. After 6pm, visitors may park in any available green or white parking space, even if it is designated “faculty” or “students.”
More information here: https://www.facebook.com/events/2135146896810266/
Monday, Apr 15, 2019, 03:30 PM
Mars Hill University 100 Athletic St, Mars Hill, North Carolina 28754
An evening with Bryan Stevenson
The talk is free and open to everyone, with support from The David and Lin Brown Visionary Lecture Series and The Van Winkle Law Firm Public Policy Lectures.
Stevenson is the founder and executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI). Under his leadership, EJI has won major legal challenges eliminating excessive and unfair sentencing, exonerating innocent death row prisoners, confronting abuse of the incarcerated and the mentally ill and aiding children prosecuted as adults. Stevenson recently won a historic ruling in the U.S. Supreme Court banning mandatory life-without-parole sentences for all children 17 or younger. He also is the author of award-winning New York Times best-selling book "Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption."
A professor of clinical law at the New York University School of Law, Stevenson has been awarded the American Bar Association’s highest honor, the ABA Medal, and the National Medal of Liberty from the American Civil Liberties Union – he was nominated for the latter by U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Stevens. Stevenson has been dubbed “America’s Nelson Mandela” by none other than Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa.
Stevenson also has become a national leader in advocacy and public education about mass incarceration and its roots. In April 2018, EJI opened a new museum, The Legacy Museum: From Enslavement to Mass Incarceration, built on the site of a former slave warehouse in downtown Montgomery. This is a companion to a national memorial to victims of lynching, The National Memorial for Peace and Justice, which opened at the same time, gaining national news coverage, including a feature by Oprah Winfrey on CBS’ 60 Minutes.
Stevenson, who has been awarded the prestigious MacArthur Foundation “Genius” Prize and 34 honorary degrees, is a graduate of the Harvard Law School.
His lecture at UNC Asheville is a special event as part of the installation celebration for UNC Asheville’s Chancellor Nancy J. Cable.
Seating at this free, unticketed event is first-come, first served. Kimmel Arena’s “Clear Bag Policy” will be in effect; please do not bring backpacks. Parking is limited at UNC Asheville; please consider using public transportation.
For more information, contact the UNC Asheville Events & Conferences Office, 828.251.6853 or events@unca.edu.
Thursday, Apr 25, 2019, 07:00 PM
UNC-Asheville, Kimmel Arena
Stand Against Racism Day
Monday, Apr 29, 2019, 09:00 AM
Claxton Elementary School, Merrimon Avenue, Asheville, NC, USA
Have some recommendations for us? Retweet, share or post with #clxsocialjustice
Podcasts:
Cult of Pedagogy, 10 Ways Educators Can Take Action in Pursuit of Equity: This episode features professor and activist, Pedro Noguera about 10 specific things we can do to help pursue equity. Great blog post about it here as well.
Code Switch: This NPR podcast features conversations around race and identity in America.
Podcast: Seeing White: A 14-part documentary series exploring whiteness in America—where it came from, what it means, and how it works.
Podcast: The Waters and Harvey Show: This Asheville podcast explores the experiences of historically marginalized people and their communities, and considers the influence those experiences have within our increasingly diverse society.
Articles:
What is Social Justice Education Anyway? from EdWeek.org
Early, Often, and With Increasing Depth: Talking with Children about Racism and White Privilege: This article was shared by a community member with our team. Check it out!
Actions for Allies for LGBTQ students: Here you can find specific ways to be an ally for LGBTQ students of color, students with disabilities, & trans and GNC students.
Webinars:
Fun Social Justice Activities for Elementary Students: Are you looking for fun and creative ways to engage elementary students in anti-bias learning? This on-demand webinar will feature entertaining and educational activities you can use in your classroom as soon as tomorrow. Help young students learn the meaning and value of Identity, Diversity, Justice and Action—the four domains of the Teaching Tolerance Social Justice Standards. Find out how to implement these activities in your classroom with this exciting webinar!
You’ll receive a certificate of completion once you finish this webinar.
Latinx History is Black History: In this webinar, TT Staff Writer Coshandra Dillard and Teaching and Learning Specialist Stef Bernal-Martinez will share stories and strategies for teaching Afro-Latinx history and doing it justice. Latinx History Is Black History will clarify the confusion between race and ethnicity, provide a historical primer on Afro-Latinx identities and review resources for teaching Elizabeth Acevedo’s poem “Afro-Latina,” which beautifully illustrates this intersectional identity.
What is White Privilege, really?, What is white privilege, anyway? And do we really need to teach about it? Deconstructing white privilege in the classroom requires educators and students to understand the origins of whiteness and how the legacy of white supremacy endures. In our webinar What Is White Privilege, Anyway? educators will learn about all this and more, reaffirming their commitment to anti-racist education and developing practices for inviting students into this work. Join Teaching and Learning Specialist Stef Bernal-Martinez and anti-racist educator and scholar Ronda Taylor Bullock for this interactive, resource-rich opportunity that can help you create a more racially just classroom and community. Register here!
Books:
So You Want to Talk About Race? by Ijeoma Oluo:
Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson
What is your team all about?
Our team has been working on racial equity since 2014 when we received funding from Asheville City Schools Foundation and a recap of that work can be found here.
This year, we are self-funded with the support of Claxton administrators and our fabulous Claxton PTO. Our team felt strongly that we need to carry the momentum of our work on and were able to build a bigger team to create sustainability for our school in order to make sure we have socially just and culturally responsive classrooms.We strive to grow our work with trust in each other, the process, and ourselves that will see us through any imperfection to a place of deeper understanding and respect for all.
We will continue to measure our progress by the changes we see in ourselves, and the whole Claxton staff, and the impact those changes have on our students.
Contact us!
Link to our CLX Social Justice Website
#clxsocialjustice
Email: kimberly.eggett@ashevillecityschools.net
Website: https://sites.google.com/acsgmail.net/clxsocialjustice/home
Location: 241 Merrimon Avenue, Asheville, NC, USA
Phone: 828-350-6500
Facebook: facebook.com/claxtonelem
Twitter: @claxtonelem