INTRODUCTION TO
THE YEAR OF PURPOSE
THE YEAR OF PURPOSE
In addition to the BLM at School Week of Action (that is organized during the first week of February), educators, students, and parents are encouraged to participate in ongoing activations and reflection throughout the school year.
In the wake of the murders of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, and others named and unnamed, a great Uprising for Black Lives has swept the nation and the world, inciting new urgency and radical possibilities for advancing abolitionist practice and uprooting institutional racism. The uprising has helped create a national discussion about what public safety could be. For too long public safety has been defined as spending more money on the legal punishment system and funding for more police in schools and communities. We believe it is vital to redefine public safety in terms of the holistic social and emotional wellbeing of students and educators. During this time of the coronavirus pandemic, public safety has to also mean not opening schools until the science supports it can be done safely, COVID-19 testing at schools and in communities is widely available, personal protective equipment is funded and supplied for educators and students, schools are provided functioning ventilation systems, and so much more.
The Uprising for Black lives has prompted the Black Lives Matter at School movement to expand its proposed activities to a “Year of Purpose,” in addition to the annual Week of Action held during the first week of February. The centerpiece of the Year of Purpose is asking educators to reflect on their own work in relationship to antiracist pedagogy and abolitionist practice, persistently challenging themselves to center Black lives in their classrooms. In addition, educators will be asked to participate in intentional days of action throughout the school year uplifting different intersectional themes vital to making Black lives matter in schools, communities, and beyond (see the days of action below).
The learning environments we aspire to create reflect a deep understanding of the experiences of Black children, families, and communities, as well as our own ongoing work of critical self-reflection and personal transformation. Are we creating humanizing communities that respond to the concerns of our students? Are we committed to leveling up our expectations for Black students? As educators, we turn inward in order to reach outward, linking our efforts to broad, integrated movements for social justice. As our ancestor, the Black lesbian warrior poet Audre Lorde, stated, “There is no such thing as a single-issue struggle because we do not live single issue lives.” This means we must commit to living our principles everyday, in and out of our classrooms, within our homes, and with our communities. It is a commitment to the village.
The excerpted questions we choose to focus upon are meant to support educators--and parents who are educating their kids at home during the pandemic--throughout the year. These questions, as well as pieces from our paragraphs above, first appeared in the book Planning to Change the World: A Plan Book for Social Justice Teachers (2019–2020). We invite educators and educators-in-training to meditate on the questions that follow, and—given that no such list can be comprehensive—to pose questions of their own. Only through deliberate reflection can we realign our teaching practices to meet our current challenges and invent new practices where there are none.
In the wake of the murders of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, and others named and unnamed, a great Uprising for Black Lives has swept the nation and the world, inciting new urgency and radical possibilities for advancing abolitionist practice and uprooting institutional racism. The uprising has helped create a national discussion about what public safety could be. For too long public safety has been defined as spending more money on the legal punishment system and funding for more police in schools and communities. We believe it is vital to redefine public safety in terms of the holistic social and emotional wellbeing of students and educators. During this time of the coronavirus pandemic, public safety has to also mean not opening schools until the science supports it can be done safely, COVID-19 testing at schools and in communities is widely available, personal protective equipment is funded and supplied for educators and students, schools are provided functioning ventilation systems, and so much more.
The Uprising for Black lives has prompted the Black Lives Matter at School movement to expand its proposed activities to a “Year of Purpose,” in addition to the annual Week of Action held during the first week of February. The centerpiece of the Year of Purpose is asking educators to reflect on their own work in relationship to antiracist pedagogy and abolitionist practice, persistently challenging themselves to center Black lives in their classrooms. In addition, educators will be asked to participate in intentional days of action throughout the school year uplifting different intersectional themes vital to making Black lives matter in schools, communities, and beyond (see the days of action below).
The learning environments we aspire to create reflect a deep understanding of the experiences of Black children, families, and communities, as well as our own ongoing work of critical self-reflection and personal transformation. Are we creating humanizing communities that respond to the concerns of our students? Are we committed to leveling up our expectations for Black students? As educators, we turn inward in order to reach outward, linking our efforts to broad, integrated movements for social justice. As our ancestor, the Black lesbian warrior poet Audre Lorde, stated, “There is no such thing as a single-issue struggle because we do not live single issue lives.” This means we must commit to living our principles everyday, in and out of our classrooms, within our homes, and with our communities. It is a commitment to the village.
The excerpted questions we choose to focus upon are meant to support educators--and parents who are educating their kids at home during the pandemic--throughout the year. These questions, as well as pieces from our paragraphs above, first appeared in the book Planning to Change the World: A Plan Book for Social Justice Teachers (2019–2020). We invite educators and educators-in-training to meditate on the questions that follow, and—given that no such list can be comprehensive—to pose questions of their own. Only through deliberate reflection can we realign our teaching practices to meet our current challenges and invent new practices where there are none.
SELF REFLECTION QUESTIONS
- What is our school’s relationship to Black community organizing? Do we have relationships with local movement organizers? Do they see our school as a place that believes in their mission? Do they see our school as a place to connect with local families?
- How are school-wide policies and practices – especially disciplinary practices – applied across categories of race? Do problematic patterns emerge when we look at how policies are applied to Black students and when we also consider the intersections of gender, sexual orientation, and (dis)ability with Blackness?
- How are the voices, accomplishments, and successes of Black folx uplifted in my lessons, units, and curriculum? Rather than focus on singular events or individuals, does my approach highlight the everyday actions and community organizing that will lead to change?
- In what ways do our practices erase the histories of our students and prevent them from bringing their whole selves into the learning environment?
- How do I understand the role that local/state laws and policies have on the educational experiences of my students? What is my role in working to change policies, regulations, and practices that harm Black students and families?
ACTIONS AND ACTIVITIES
In addition to the self-reflection, we will encourage educators to participate in the following days of action throughout the year. Each action is grounded in the Movement for Black Lives Principles that we adopted as well:
1. September: Black 2 School
- Pledge to support BLM at School all year long!
- Ways to participate in the Year of Purpose for the month of September:
- Wear a Black Lives Matter at School T-Shirt
- Answer and review the reflection questions and write up your anti-racist plan for the year
- Create a graffiti wall: "What are we going to do this differently this year to further the movement for Black lives in our school."
- Post a video about BLM at YOUR school to social media #BLMatSchool #Black2School #CollectivelyCare
2. October 14th: Abolition Day
- Principle: Restorative Justice
- Expanding beyond U.S. borders to make connections with movements from Ayiti (Haiti) to Boriquien (Puerto Rico) and Palestine, Abolition Day, formerly known as Justice for George Day, is a platform for students, educators and community groups to investigate the ever-present opportunities to overturn policies which promotes subjugation, dispossession, and premature death toward co-constructing life-making, earth-nurturing, communities of care.
- George Floyd’s Birthday
- Decolonize the Curriculum
3. November 20: Transgender Day of Remembrance
- Principle: Trans Affirming
- Friday, November 20, Transgender Day of Remembrance
- Remember William Dorsey Swann.
4. December 3: International People’s with Disabilities Day
- Principle: Globalism and Collective Value
- December 3 is International People’s with Disabilities Day. Harriet Tubman, Fannie Lou Hamer are two disabled freedom fighters we revere, even as the disabilities they carried with them into struggle aren’t consistently lifted up as assets in their fight. To fight against societal ableism, we must celebrate our differences and understand how the lessons from Black disabled organizers teach us how to build inclusive, accessible movements.
5. Queer Organizing Behind the Scenes
- Principle: Queer Affirming
- January- During January, we find it critical to lift up Bayard Rustin, one of the principal organizers behind the March on Washington which is crowned as one of MLK’s lasting achievements. To be queer-affirming means lifting up our queer ancestors who were at the foundation of our movements throughout time. This deepens the purpose of MLK day to understand that no one person makes a movement, highlighting how MLK’s legacy encompasses the contributions of many.
6. Unapologetically Black Day
- Principle: Unapologetically Black
- Audre Lorde/Toni Morrison Birthday February 18th
7. Student Activist Day
- Principles: Loving engagement and Empathy
- March 6: Barbara Johns Black student activist day--Day to celebrate Black student activists.
8. Revolutionary Black Arts
- Principle: Intergenerational
- April- During National Library Week, we seek to center the classic contributions of Black Writers and artists across the generations: Zora Neale Huston, Faith Ringgold, Alma Thomas, Augusta Savage, Jasmine Mans. How are the themes and radical vision that they brought to their art reflected in your classrooms and communities? How can young people extend on these legacies?
9. Black Radical Educator Day
- Principle: Black Villages
- May 3rd: On Septima Clark’s birthday we celebrate Black Radical educator day.
10. #SayHerName Day
- Principle: Black Women
- June 5, Breonna Taylor's Birthday--Day to call for justice for Breonna and uplift the #SayHerName movement
11. Education for Liberation Day
- Principles: Black Families and Diversity
- Juneteenth: Education for Liberation day--A day to celebrate the struggle that brought down slavery and reflects on what must be done to win Black liberation
12. A Day for Self Reflection
- Review all 13 Principles
- Last day of School, Reflection Day: reflect on your year of antiracist teaching. Possibly in groups.
2023-2024 ACTIONS & ACTIVITES
August
Year of Purpose Kick-Off
As we begin the new school year, join us for our Year of Purpose kickoff on Wednesday, August 30 at 5pm PDT/8pm EDT for a group discussion.
Robin D.G. Kelley’s article Black Study, Black Struggle: Black Studies Against the Long Shadow of Facism was banned from the AP African American Studies course after Florida Governor Ron DeSantis attacked the original course framework early this year. Kelley joined us during our summer freedom school and recorded a talk with the same title as his article. In the video, he goes on to define Black Studies and in defining it, shares with us what drives the political struggle over power.
Participants will watch the pre-recorded video and then on August 30, join National BLM at School, Robin D.G. Kelley, and folks from our network in a shared group discussion of questions and thoughts that came up during and after watching the video. Share your ideas on how we can push back on the criminalization of education and empower students to interrupt and challenge power. Come ready to share!
Robin D.G. Kelley’s article Black Study, Black Struggle: Black Studies Against the Long Shadow of Facism was banned from the AP African American Studies course after Florida Governor Ron DeSantis attacked the original course framework early this year. Kelley joined us during our summer freedom school and recorded a talk with the same title as his article. In the video, he goes on to define Black Studies and in defining it, shares with us what drives the political struggle over power.
Participants will watch the pre-recorded video and then on August 30, join National BLM at School, Robin D.G. Kelley, and folks from our network in a shared group discussion of questions and thoughts that came up during and after watching the video. Share your ideas on how we can push back on the criminalization of education and empower students to interrupt and challenge power. Come ready to share!
Pledge #BLMatSchool 2023-2024
It's been more than six years since the seeds that led to the Black Lives Matter at School movement were first planted.
We still adamantly declare Black Lives Matter at School.
Students need Black teachers, support from school counselors not cops, Black History and Ethnic Studies, and an end to zero tolerance policies. We must attend to systems and networks of care to achieve safe equitable school communities where students feel they belong.
Let it be known that you are a part of a national movement to ensure that Black Lives Matter at School.
We still adamantly declare Black Lives Matter at School.
Students need Black teachers, support from school counselors not cops, Black History and Ethnic Studies, and an end to zero tolerance policies. We must attend to systems and networks of care to achieve safe equitable school communities where students feel they belong.
Let it be known that you are a part of a national movement to ensure that Black Lives Matter at School.
2022-2023 Year of Purpose Actions & Activites
May
Black Villages
We are committed to disrupting the Western-prescribed nuclear family structure requirement by supporting each other as extended families and “villages” that collectively care for one another, and especially “our” children to the degree that mothers, parents and children are comfortable
On Septima Clark’s birthday, May 3, we celebrate Black Radical Educator Day and commit to teaching the truth. Who are the radical educators in your life that allowed you to realize some truth?
“I believe unconditionally in the ability of people to respond when they are told the truth. We need to be taught to study rather than believe, to inquire rather than to affirm.” - Septima Clark
This month, we want you to question: How are the themes and radical visions that revolutionary Black artists brought to their art reflected in your classrooms and communities? How can young people continue these legacies?
“I believe unconditionally in the ability of people to respond when they are told the truth. We need to be taught to study rather than believe, to inquire rather than to affirm.” - Septima Clark
This month, we want you to question: How are the themes and radical visions that revolutionary Black artists brought to their art reflected in your classrooms and communities? How can young people continue these legacies?
Join us on Wednesday, May 3, on Zoom at 7pm ET for a happy hour conversation with Keziah Ridgeway, Ismael Jimenez, Denisha Jones, and Sam Carwyn, facilitated by our newest steering committee member from Rethinking Schools, Cierra Kaler-Jones! We will be talking education censorship: banned books, the anti-woke bill, the AP African American Studies course, and more.
This activation is part of the Freedom to Learn National Day of Action organized by African American Policy Forum. There will be many activations across the nation. If you aren’t already part of a local activation, join our live conversation and get geared up. It’s important that we gather together to fight these continuing and worsening attacks on education. This is our celebration for our Year of Purpose Black Radical Educator Day!
Follow African American Policy Forum on social media to stay tuned. Instagram: @aapolicyforum; Twitter: @AAPolicyForum
This activation is part of the Freedom to Learn National Day of Action organized by African American Policy Forum. There will be many activations across the nation. If you aren’t already part of a local activation, join our live conversation and get geared up. It’s important that we gather together to fight these continuing and worsening attacks on education. This is our celebration for our Year of Purpose Black Radical Educator Day!
Follow African American Policy Forum on social media to stay tuned. Instagram: @aapolicyforum; Twitter: @AAPolicyForum
April
Intergenerational
Intergenerational
We are committed to fostering an intergenerational and communal network free from ageism. We believe that all people, regardless of age, show up with capacity to lead and learn.
“You can’t sit around and wait for someone to say who you are. You need to write it and paint it and do it.” - Faith Ringgold
This month, we want you to question: How are the themes and radical visions that revolutionary Black artists brought to their art reflected in your classrooms and communities? How can young people continue these legacies?
“You can’t sit around and wait for someone to say who you are. You need to write it and paint it and do it.” - Faith Ringgold
This month, we want you to question: How are the themes and radical visions that revolutionary Black artists brought to their art reflected in your classrooms and communities? How can young people continue these legacies?
In celebration of our April Year of Purpose theme, Revolutionary Black Arts, join us for a panel with @teachingartistsguild @zinneducationproject @campaign4genc !!!
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A Day of Purpose: Decolonizing Arts Education with Black Lives Matter at School
WHEN: Saturday, April 1, 2023 from 11am-1pm EDT/8am-10am PDT
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This is a special professional development opportunity for teaching artists that focuses on the ongoing activations and reflections from BLM at School’s Year of Purpose, which aims to uplift Black students and undo institutional racism. The centerpiece of the Year of Purpose is asking educators to reflect on their own work in relationship to antiracist pedagogy and abolitionist practice, persistently challenging themselves to center Black lives in their classrooms. Workshop facilitators from Black Lives Matter at School, Teaching Artists Guild, Zinn Education Project, and Creative Generation will partner on this event. Registration link - https://buff.ly/3FHt2PI
Image Description: Graphic with the panel's title, "A Day of Purpose: Decolonizing Arts Education with Black Lives Matter at School," and the logos of the four participating organizations: Creative Generation, Black Lives Matter at School, Teaching Artists Guild, and Zinn Education Project.
⠀
A Day of Purpose: Decolonizing Arts Education with Black Lives Matter at School
WHEN: Saturday, April 1, 2023 from 11am-1pm EDT/8am-10am PDT
⠀
This is a special professional development opportunity for teaching artists that focuses on the ongoing activations and reflections from BLM at School’s Year of Purpose, which aims to uplift Black students and undo institutional racism. The centerpiece of the Year of Purpose is asking educators to reflect on their own work in relationship to antiracist pedagogy and abolitionist practice, persistently challenging themselves to center Black lives in their classrooms. Workshop facilitators from Black Lives Matter at School, Teaching Artists Guild, Zinn Education Project, and Creative Generation will partner on this event. Registration link - https://buff.ly/3FHt2PI
Image Description: Graphic with the panel's title, "A Day of Purpose: Decolonizing Arts Education with Black Lives Matter at School," and the logos of the four participating organizations: Creative Generation, Black Lives Matter at School, Teaching Artists Guild, and Zinn Education Project.
March
Loving Engagement and Empathy
Loving Engagement and Empathy
It's Student Activity Month! Let's celebrate Barbara Johns and the many, many, many Black student activists at the forefront of liberation!
Loving Engagement
We are committed to embodying and practicing justice, liberation, and peace in our engagements with one another.
Empathy
We are committed to practicing empathy; we engage comrades with the intent to learn about and connect with their contexts.
Loving Engagement
We are committed to embodying and practicing justice, liberation, and peace in our engagements with one another.
Empathy
We are committed to practicing empathy; we engage comrades with the intent to learn about and connect with their contexts.
As our supporter and follower @classroomforchange said, we must never underestimate the power of student activism!! Here are some highlights from students using their voices during the BLM At School Week of Action in February.
For BLM At School, March is Student Activist Month. For this month's Member Meet-Up, we are offering a student meeting space. We want to meet with you and learn about how youth are supported in your schools and hear your ideas about how Black Lives Matter at School National Committees can support you. Whether you are already active in organizing your community or you are interested in starting to organize in your area, this space is for you. Come get connected with other like-minded young people! One hour meeting. Register - bit.ly/MM-3-2023.
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Graphic Description: Text that states "Member Meet-Up on Sunday, March 26, 5pm ET. This month: Student Meeting Space - A time for check-ins, report backs, and a group needs assessment. Register - bit.ly/MM-3-2023." Black background with profile of a Black woman on the right.
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Graphic Description: Text that states "Member Meet-Up on Sunday, March 26, 5pm ET. This month: Student Meeting Space - A time for check-ins, report backs, and a group needs assessment. Register - bit.ly/MM-3-2023." Black background with profile of a Black woman on the right.
February
Unapologetically Black
Unapologetically Black
To celebrate the birthdays of Audre Lorde and Toni Morrison, and to live in their embodiment of their unforgiving and unapologetic commitment to be their whole selves, we invite folks to complete Lorde’s Questionnaire to Oneself and watch Morrison speak about what it means to continue writing in the face of hate.
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To return to this work day in and out, is an ongoing practice. It reaches far beyond a week of action and asks us to remain committed to hope and transformation. Let us too, live in the essence of Lorde and Morrison, to continue our commitment to teaching truthful histories and amassing the powerful practices, creative tools, and key strategies by which past, present, and future generations can advance the struggle of Black liberation.
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To return to this work day in and out, is an ongoing practice. It reaches far beyond a week of action and asks us to remain committed to hope and transformation. Let us too, live in the essence of Lorde and Morrison, to continue our commitment to teaching truthful histories and amassing the powerful practices, creative tools, and key strategies by which past, present, and future generations can advance the struggle of Black liberation.
January
Queer Organizing Behind the Scenes
Queer Organizing Behind the Scenes
We recognize that Queer people have always been a part of social change and are committed to fostering a queer‐affirming network. When we gather, we do so with the intention of freeing ourselves from the tight grip of heteronormative thinking or, rather, the belief that all in the world are heterosexual unless disclose otherwise.
2022
December
Disability Justice and Collective Value
Image Description: Circle graphic celebrating International People's With Disabilities Day, with portraits of Harriet Tubman and Fannie Lou Hamer.
Saturday, December 3, is International People's With Disabilities Day. To fight against societal ableism, we must celebrate our differences and understand how the lessons from Black disabled organizers teach us how to build inclusive, accessible movements. Uplift the principles of globalism and collective value by incorporating the following resources into education spaces and personal practices.
November
Black Trans Lives Matter!
READ our 2022 Transgender Affirming Statement
October
"Justice for George" Day has expanded to
ABOLITION DAY!
As an outcome of internal talks on what it means to organize through a Black Queer Feminist lens, ABOLITION DAY expands upon BLM at School's "Justice for George" Day as a tribute to the continuing legacy of Black-led abolitionist organizing which have incited justice-oriented transformations of our world.
We commit to continue to lift up the names and memories of our beloved ancestors in the global struggle against state violence, which have always included the leadership of those of oppressed genders, national origins, abilities, sexualities, and more.
Expanding beyond U.S. borders to make connections with movements from Ayiti (Haiti) to Boriquien (Puerto Rico) and Palestine, ABOLITION DAY is a platform for students, educators, and community groups to investigate the ever-present opportunities to overturn policies which promote subjugation, dispossession, and premature death toward co-constructing life-making, earth-nurturing, communities of care.
ACCESS RESOURCES HERE: bit.ly/abolitionday22
We commit to continue to lift up the names and memories of our beloved ancestors in the global struggle against state violence, which have always included the leadership of those of oppressed genders, national origins, abilities, sexualities, and more.
Expanding beyond U.S. borders to make connections with movements from Ayiti (Haiti) to Boriquien (Puerto Rico) and Palestine, ABOLITION DAY is a platform for students, educators, and community groups to investigate the ever-present opportunities to overturn policies which promote subjugation, dispossession, and premature death toward co-constructing life-making, earth-nurturing, communities of care.
ACCESS RESOURCES HERE: bit.ly/abolitionday22
September
YOP Reflections
Join us in LIVING the Year of Purpose.
When Black Lives Matter At School launched the Year of Purpose framework, moving beyond our Week of Action, we invited educators to ponder several questions that ask educators to reflect on their practices and organizing work as the school year begins. This year, we’re asking folks to submit testimonials (audio, video, image, text document) that answer those questions, as we collectively ground ourselves and set our intentions for the upcoming school year.
LEARN MORE HERE: bit.ly/startyearofpurpose22
When Black Lives Matter At School launched the Year of Purpose framework, moving beyond our Week of Action, we invited educators to ponder several questions that ask educators to reflect on their practices and organizing work as the school year begins. This year, we’re asking folks to submit testimonials (audio, video, image, text document) that answer those questions, as we collectively ground ourselves and set our intentions for the upcoming school year.
LEARN MORE HERE: bit.ly/startyearofpurpose22
August
RSVP TODAY: 2022 - 2023 Year of Purpose Kick-Off
Learn from these two scholar- activists who document how Black-led education organizing in Philadelphia and Chicago actively struggled to reshape public education to serve Black liberation.