Dear Community:
We are deeply concerned about ongoing vile attacks directed at Dr. Ronda Taylor Bullock and other members of the organization, we are. We call upon NC House Speaker Tim Moore to renounce his instigation of such dangerous harassment, to fulfill his responsibilities to promote serious and respectful dialogue, and to protect all citizens of North Carolina, including Dr. Bullock.
The trolling of Dr. Bullock – which has included physical threats − began shortly after the Wake County school board approved a program that would be paid for by a grant from her organization. Rep. Moore seized the opportunity to mischaracterize her sincere and recognized educational work as “un-American.” His statement generated a maelstrom of vitriol and shifted the media narrative away from the important needs of North Carolina’s students and teachers.
Our finest teachers encourage civic discourse, build social connection, and foster community cohesion. We expect state leaders, like Speaker Moore, to do the same. Amplifying weaponized talking points designed by national strategists divides our communities and does little to support our NC students and teachers. Manufacturing hysteria that has led to personal attacks on a respected teacher, mother, advocate, and scholar is not the type of leadership our students and teachers deserve.
In North Carolina, our district leaders, teachers, and staff strive not only to provide our children with robust foundational skills in reading, writing, math, science and history, but also to prepare them to be full participants in our civil democracy. We are confident that our children can handle truthful accounts of our shared past, and believe that our neighbors can, too. Certainly, there is nothing more American than our capacity to acknowledge our failures as well as our triumphs and to move forward with redoubled conviction that we will one day become a land where life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness can be had by all. We urge Speaker Moore to support schools and communities in these efforts.
As our students know, EVERYONE has a right to participate in public discourse, without fear for their safety. Dr. Bullock’s statement that all students need to be ‘acknowledged, respected, understood’ is to be praised. We would celebrate Speaker Moore for saying the same, and for then pursuing this objective – even if exactly how to eliminate persistent gaps and injustices in our schools requires respectful civil debate.
In closing, schools are under enormous stress, needing to deal with the impacts of COVID, budget cuts, and teacher loss, while providing students with safe, respectful, high-quality educational environments in which all students are valued and supported. Too often schools must waste scarce resources, intended to advance the education and wellbeing of our children, managing distracting attacks and media circuses designed to trigger fear and discord among parents.
As Dr. Bullock describes on her website, she is “fighting for love,” yet she has faced ugly and wrongful attacks. We encourage all who value truth and democracy to stand with Dr. Bullock and her well-respected organization in protective love for the sake of our schools and our children.
We thank all communities for supporting all sincere & safe efforts to advance education in NC.
Sincerely,
The members of
The Campaign for Racial Equity in Our Schools (CFRE)
Chapel Hill-Carrboro NAACP
コメント