Keeanga-Yamahtta T.Konto zweryfikowane

Pandemic that has devastated Black communities across this country. Instead in this genre of newly discovered white liberal and right wing angst about the poor, wayward and directionless Black children being left behind, Black parents are derelict, ignorant or just uninterested

In the well being of their children. The reality, of course, is that the conditions of Black children and their parents are ignored. Our society has failed poor and working class children in general and

blaming teachers for fearing for their lives and not wanting to work in doors won’t change that. It’s a pathetic effort to shift the blame from the failures of this country to address racism, inequality and that which has made Black families vulnerable to COVID-19

Onto the backs of teachers. There are predictions that 90k more people will die in four weeks. Teachers aren’t selfish for resisting returning to work at THE PEAK OF THE PANDEMIC!!! Thousands of people are dying every week. It’s not selfish to want to protect

Yourself and your family from this disease. What is unconscionable is the bullying of teachers and the demands that they sacrifice snd risk their lives when those with power and authority to rein this virus in have failed in every way imaginable. Instead of blaming

Teachers, the US could be spending hundreds of billions to make remote learning better, to pay working class parents to stay home, to provide money for rent, food and healthcare.

They could pay for teletherapy and stop the assault on working class lives that is turning their homes into pressure cookers. But that costs money and requires resources. It is cheaper to kick teachers in the teeth and say “mush!”

The Chicago Teachers Union is fighting this degradation of the teaching profession and the bullying of educators. They should be supported as people who know best what the poor snd working class children of Chicago need right now.

They are also deserving of empathy as human beings who love children and want to help them during this horrible period but who are afraid for their lives and their family’s lives. This has been roundly mocked with shouts of “BUT THE STUDIES!! ITS SAFE!!”

It’s not anti-science to know there will be cases in schools. “Cases” has been rendered into an abstraction but in reality it poses the possibility of death. And which teacher should be willing to die for her job? It’s is utterly irresponsible and unreasonable and cruel.

It is a risk that almost none of the decision makers or pundits condemning these teachers are willing to take for themselves. Instead of vilifying teachers, elected officials should create a systematic approach to distributing the vaccine instead of the clusterfuck