Position Statement on Racial Injustice

In a recent position statement, the National Council for the Social Studies Board of Directors put forth that, “As the home of democratic citizenship education, social studies educators have a duty to address race and racism.” 

These words are clear and reflect the burdening weight of the tragic deaths of Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd, and countless others connected to the dark history of systemic racism in the United States. The North Carolina Council for the Social Studies believes we must recognize and call out the painful past in which Black Americans are the victims of chattel slavery, Jim Crow laws, extrajudicial activities (lynchings), an unjust criminal justice system (disparities in prosecution and sentencing, convict leasing, mass incarceration and neo-slavery), and fatal excessive force from law enforcement, etc. 

Nationwide, from 2013 to 2019, Black citizens have been three times more likely to be killed by police than their White counterparts.  

Despite Blacks being just over one-fifth (22 percent) of the population of North Carolina, police officers, in the line of duty, have killed 50 Black individuals (32% of the 155 killed overall) in the state since 2015. Of the 50 killed, 49 were Black men, and 21 of them were between the ages of 18 to 29.

Social Studies educators have a paramount obligation to instruct our students on the long, and often violent, struggles for racial justice, equity, and equality. We must decolonize our local curricula to not only teach of domestic racial terrorism like the Wilmington Coup of 1898 and the Greensboro Massacre of 1979, but also stories of resistance and resilience, including the peaceful protests of the Royal Seven and Greensboro Four, landmark civil- rights lawsuits like Keys v. Carolina Coach Company, Johnson v. Branch, Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education, and Simkins v. Moses Cone Memorial Hospital; the founding of stalwart civil rights organizations like the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) at in-state HBCUs (Historically Black Colleges and Universities) like Shaw University, and the armed vigilance of the Lumbee Tribe at the Battle of Hayes Pond (near Maxton, NC) and Robert F. Williams and the Black Armed Guard (Monroe, NC). We need to conduct research, study, and effectively teach history that is inclusive of all voices and experiences, especially those of historically oppressed and marginalized populations that have been silenced; and actively create anti-racist spaces for students to learn and master content. 

Yet, it is not enough to discuss and explore racial bigotry and prejudice in our classrooms; we must acknowledge the effect of centuries of institutionalized racial discrimination, dehumanization, intolerance and persecution on our students, colleagues, and schools. 

The vestiges of over 400 years of racial marginalization, segregation and injustice linger in our educational systems where our Black students are disciplined at an exorbitant rate when compared to their white peers. For nearly a decade in our state, data from the NC Department of Public Instruction shows that Black students have received the most in-school, short-term and long-term suspensions, the majority of placements in alternative learning programs for disciplinary reasons and account for the largest percentage of expulsions. In 2017 alone, despite only being 25 percent of the student population, Black students were 54 percent of juvenile complaints, 65 percent of juvenile detention admissions and 74 percent of youth development center commitments. Black students also have the third highest dropout and chronic absentee rates. These factors contribute to NC’s school-to-prison pipeline, where nearly 52 percent of state prisoners are Black, with almost 50 percent being Black men.

The findings of the Leandro Commission prove that the educational experience provided to all of the students in our state is not equitable. We must do better. Reflection is an essential piece of the education profession; Social Studies educators must engage in vigilant thought regarding their own experiences and privilege in order to successfully model what it means to be anti-racist; as well as the ability to grow in our own knowledge and humanity. 

The NCCSS Board of Directors understands that the work of racial justice often leads to cognitive conflict, as many educators may be forced to question long-held personal beliefs, and grapple with their own biases, privilege, and complacency in a system that has denied Black Americans their inalienable rights while never guaranteeing liberty and justice for all. NCCSS is committed to denouncing racist policies and practices, advocating for racial equity, promoting and providing anti-racist instructional content for use in classrooms across our state, and emphatically says, Black Lives Matter! 

NCCSS Board of Directors

References

1 (https://mappingpoliceviolence.org/)

2 (https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/investigations/police-shootings-database/).

3 (https://www.southerncoalition.org/youth-justice-project/2018-racial-equity-report-cards/)

4 (https://www.ednc.org/chronic-absenteeism-how-does-north-carolina-compare/)

5 (https://webapps.doc.state.nc.us/apps/asqExt/ASQ)